Guardians' Tales
Chapter VIII: Race To The Finish
Era: Tranquil-Mystic Calendar
Cycle: June 24, 2548
Time: 24:42 Galactic Standard Time, 15:25 Resident Time
Star Cluster: HUB
Planet: Resident
Location: SOLDIER Institute, Main Gym
Sora's POV
That Guard Armor is really getting on my nerves! Isaac and Xion were taking care of Rayne on the other end of the platform we were standing on. Xion was keeping Rayne's movements to a minimum with her gunfire while Isaac kept her on defense with his quick swordplay. Even with them both, they had a tough time keeping her movements under wraps.
Us on the other hand? Thume! That was the sound of the Guard Armor discharging another blue orb directly at us. Kairi was running around the giant cannon of a Heartless and occasionally trying to jump on it to give the Heartless a proper beating, every time she did the Guard Armor would lift up higher than she could jump. Terra fired her arrows at the thing, but they simply bounced off of the armored frame.
"Any bright ideas?" I asked as I blocked another swipe from the Guard Armor's gauntlets.
"Besides not getting hit?" Riku replied.
"We need to trap its movements!" Terra commented. She fired another arrow at the Heartless, the arrow harmlessly bounced off of the Guard Armor's body. One of its arms flew off toward Terra and swiped at her. Terra flew around the swipe and pushed her hand out in front of her. "Firaga!" She chanted and a giant ball of flame discharged toward the Guard Armor, temporarily knocking it off balance before it retaliated with another ball of energy being discharged towards the flying mage.
"No matter what we do, it just recovers and fires another energy blast at us!" Kairi blared as she tried to jump at the thing again.
"If only we had some light elemental-That's it!" Shin exclaimed mid-thought. "Kairi, Sora, you need to use your light magic!"
Is he crazy? "I don't think you noticed, but we can't exactly use our powers that well!" I replied back to him, blocking a swipe from the gauntlets.
"I can barely make a spark." Kairi added.
"And I can't even control mine!"
"You don't have to control it, just use it!" Shin shot back, ducking another swipe from the Guard Armor. "We'll buy you some time."
"And how are we supposed to use our powers?" I breathed out.
Kairi landed next to me with a thud as her iron boots hit the stone floor. "Good question. Do you remember how to use your powers?"
"Somewhat. You just will it and it happens." I ducked another strike from the Guard Armor. "But how am I supposed to control it?"
Kairi looked at Shin for a moment, eyeing his weapon for some reason, then she looked at her gauntlet for a moment. "Maybe if we used a conduit…" She said under her breath.
"What?"
"A conduit. A way to channel the energy. We don't have to use all of our power, just pour it into something that we can physically control."
She pointed to her gauntlets and I got her meaning. "I hear ya."
She looked back to Shin. "Shin, we have a plan, but we're gonna need a minute!" Shin just nodded and focused his attention on the Guard Armor. "Alright, Sora. Let's get to it."
I closed my eyes and focused on my blade, feeling the light radiate within me and tried to urge it toward my blade.
Riku's POV
"You heard, Kairi. Keep the things attention on us." Shin told us and enchanted his blade with thunder again.
"That won't be a problem!" I shouted as a large ball of energy flew towards me. I dodged out of the way and the ball collided with the ground. By now a solid fifth of the platform had been destroyed and we were running out of room.
"Fire!" Roxas shouted and a flame discharged and hit harmlessly against the Guard Armor's torso. "Should've figured that wouldn't work." Roxas replied and deflected a swipe from the large purple gauntlet. The gauntlet lodged itself into the ground and he stabbed at it with his spare blade.
I joined in and ran my blade through the gauntlet at the same time. "Naminé! A little help?" I shouted. Between Roxas and me, we managed to keep the gauntlet from moving. Naminé ran forward with her scythe held behind her and close to the ground. She hopped on the gauntlet and lodged the blade into the clawed hand before jumping up and severing the hand in two, doing a backflip as she did. "Nice! Way to go Naminé!"
"Aerora!" Terra chanted and I saw the remaining gauntlet begin to twirl in a vortex of wind. "Riku, Roxas! Use your fire spells!" She called to us.
We nodded and held our hands out. "Fire!" We chanted in unison and two balls of fire discharged towards the hand, my fire ball being of a black hue with a white center, probably from the dark element I am naturally attuned to.
"Firaga!" Terra chanted and the balls of flame connected with the spinning hand, the wind taking the balls of flame and making them swirl in a flaming whirlwind. Terra flicked her hand and the flames compressed around the gauntlet, spinning faster and faster until Terra chanted "Erupt!" and the whirlwind exploded outward.
The gauntlet emerged from the ball of fire, melted and mangled from the intense heat. It fell to the ground with a thud and disappeared into a cloud of black smoke. "Now for the big man himself." I turned to see that the 'big man' I had mention earlier, was now spinning like a top towards me and I had no time to dodge when it collided with me and sent me rolling towards the pedestal in the center of the room my head colliding against it with a painful thud.
I rose to my feet slowly, dazed by the impact, and dodged another charge from the spinning Guard Armor. My dodge was lazy and I felt my leg get grazed by the spinning top, propelling me forward and making my body skid across the platform. "Didn't see that coming." I rose to my feet again and turned to see Naminé and Roxas blocking the thing with their weapons, Roxas standing behind the blonde with his blades in front of her scythe.
Shin came up behind the Guard Armor and jammed his blade into it, cutting it slightly but getting repelled at the same time. The Guard Armor flew back up into the air and relinquished its pressure on the two blondes.
"How's that light magic coming?!" I called to Sora and Kairi to see that their weapons were glowing a golden white light, well Sora's sword and Kairi's right fist were glowing.
"We're ready!" Sora exclaimed and striking a goofy fighting pose with that long sword of his.
"Try and slow it down for us!" Kairi asked as the two separated when the Guard Armor charged them and slammed into the wall.
"How?" I asked.
"Shin." Naminé began. "You, Roxas, and Terra get its attention for us. Riku, you give me a hand."
"Firaga!" Terra chanted and the ball discharged at the spinning Heartless, knocking it off balance and slowing its rotation.
Shin and Roxas ran towards the Guard Armor and stabbed their blades into the front of its torso.
Naminé ran around behind it and jammed her scythe into the back of the Guard Armor. "Riku, give me a hand!" She called and I ran around behind the Guard Armor with her and grabbed the scythe and held it steady with her. "Do it now, Kairi!"
Sora's POV
We ran toward the rook shaped Heartless, its hands and feet no longer an issue. The others were holding the Heartless in place and giving us a chance to strike it down.
"Okay, Sora. Just like we planned!" She jumped high into the air and got ready for her attack.
I jumped as well, but I was aiming for the black heart on its chest. "Spell Blade, Holy Blade!" I chanted the incantation and my sword glowed even brighter than before. I sunk my blade directly into its heart. "You're up Kairi!" The Guard Armor made a noise that sounded like a twisted groan and began to thrash in an attempt to get away.
"Oh no you don't!" Kairi roared and reared her glowing fist back. "Spell Gauntlets, Holy Fist!" She slammed her fist directly into the Guard Amor's helmeted face.
"Move!" Shin shouted and the squad dispersed.
The Guard Armored toppled over and landed on its back. I retrieved my blade and jumped off of it with Kairi landing next to me, both of us tired from the spells. I looked to see that Guard Armor's head was knocked across the room with a massive dent in the front of it. "Nice hit." I commented. The rest of the Guard Armor disappearing.
"Thanks." She replied, but our celebration was cut short when… Thump! That was Isaac colliding face first with the wall behind us.
"Not bad." Rayne commented and I completely forgot that we were fighting a Demon Hunter. I turned to see that she had her pistol at Xion's head. "But you still won't get the artifact!"
Xion slashed the gun away from her face and ran back towards us. "We don't even know what the artifact is." Kairi whispered next to me. Thud! That was Isaac falling on his back.
"You seem to be doing fine." Shin joked. I really don't see how he can tell jokes at a time like this.
"Got her right where I want her." Isaac groaned as he slowly rose to his feet, he had a slash on his chest was bleeding from it. I saw that Rayne had blood on her right arm blade so I guessed at what happened.
"Any ideas?" I asked aloud as she opened fire on us again and we dispersed.
"Nothing comes to mind unless she has the artifact on her." Kairi replied. She and Xion were running with me as Rayne alternated between shooting us, a still airborne Terra, and the others to keep us from getting close.
"Wait a minute." Xion told us below a whisper. "Her necklace."
I eyed the yin yang emblem that hung from her neck. "What about it?" I asked.
"Rayne always wears a red amulet with a black devil's cross on a chain around her neck." Xion replied making me very confused at anything she was trying to say.
"So why is her necklace important?" I asked.
I received a smack to the back of the head from Kairi. "Don't you know anything about girls?" She asked.
"Outside of helping to change Xion's diapers, nothing." I replied earning another smack from Xion.
"We notice everything about appearance, Sora." Xion replied. "So I can tell a blood red amulet…" She gripped my chin and turned towards Rayne. "From a maroon medallion."
That's when it hit me. "The medallion…"
"Exactly."
"But how do we get to it?" I asked. I dreaded the idea of going near that woman. Giant Heartless are one thing, but an angry woman with blades, guns, and a chain to choke me with is ANOTHER thing entirely!
"If I can cast Haste on myself, then I may be able to rush in and snatch the medallion from her." Xion told me.
"But you're going to need a distraction…" Kairi turned to look at me and I instantly dreaded what she was about to ask me with that sly grin on her lips.
Roxas' POV
We were doing the best we could to dodge Rayne's gunfire. Isaac was having the most difficult time with the cut on his chest, even with his powers. I couldn't tell if he managed to stop the bleeding or not, but it was clear that he was using his powers just to keep himself moving now.
"Look out!" Riku exclaimed as he ducked under a ghostly green image of Rayne that was flying towards us.
I dodged to the side and the ghost Rayne just whirled around and shot back towards us.
"Do you like my Twin?" Rayne taunted. "She feeds off of blood. And one of you is bleeding~." She sung the last part in the most sadistically creepy way possible. Wait… One of us is bleeding?
"Isaac!" I turned to see Isaac backing away from the green ghost as fast as he could.
"Don't worry about me, just focus on not getting shot!" He put up an electrical shield to stop the ghost from getting closer.
I ducked out of the way of another barrage of bullets and managed to block a few with my swords, the sparks hitting my cheek and forearms. The last shot the leather clad woman fired had struck against my blade right as I was about to catch myself for my next step and knocked me off balance. I looked up and saw the woman standing over me bringing her arm blade down on my head.
I placed my blades in front of me and block the strike, the blade mere inches from my face. She leaned in close with a wicked smile on her features, giving me a clear view of her pearl white teeth and razor sharp…fangs?! "You look tasty. I wonder if your blood is any good."
"Get away from him!" Naminé shouted and swiped at Rayne with her scythe.
Rayne lifted her body up and pushed off of me using only her arm blade as a platform to lift and flipped into the air, firing her gun off at Naminé and hitting her in her right shoulder, blood shooting out and coating part of her white dress. "Naminé!" I quickly got up and moved in front of her with both my blades at the ready.
"Aw, young love. How about a little wedding gift? I'll carve out both your hearts and shove them in your chests. That way you can always hold each other close!" I thought she was crazy at first, but now I know she's just mental!
Suddenly a black flame struck her in the back and she whirled around to see Riku standing behind her with a black aura around him. "Hands off my friends!" He shouted and struck his taunting fighting stance.
"Oh! Finally got some confidence, eh?" Rayne mused. "Let's see how well that confidence holds up." Rayne rushed towards Riku and began slashing at him.
"Hold still." Terra told Naminé from behind me. "Cura!" I turned to see the bullet pull out of Naminé's shoulder and the wound closed. "You should be fine now." I turned to see that Isaac had dealt with the green doppelganger and was making his way towards Sora and the others.
"Fira!" I know that voice. I turned to see Riku enveloped in a black fog.
"Oh no. It looks like Riku's losing control again." Shin told us as he made his way towards us.
"No wait." Naminé interjected. "Look, he seems to be channeling it." I looked back to see that the fog was moving up his body and towards his blade flowing and wafting off of the sword.
"He must be using his blade as conduit for the excess darkness." I reasoned, since his eyes still looked relatively calm and collected. "I'm not sure how long he can keep that up. Shin, we'll back him up." I rushed toward Rayne with Shin in tow.
We circled around to get the best vantage we could, every step closer we took was a hazard since Rayne was shooting at us with her handguns. I thought they were SMGs from the way they were crafted and how fast they fired. However she modified them made it difficult to get within melee range of her.
I ducked under one of her deadly back hands and stabbed up at her. She parried and rolled over my back as Shin swiped at her from the side. "You need to do better than that." She taunted us again.
"You alright, Riku?" Shin asked as I fought the red head, an arrow came whizzing past as Terra and Naminé joined the fray.
"Better. Though I still feel a little…odd." He replied with a shaky tone. "The darkness is tougher to control than I thought."
"I'm just glad you used it when you did." Naminé commented as she slashed at Rayne's feet and quickly brought the back end of the scythe up, hitting Rayne in the chin and then thrusting the bottom end of the staff into Rayne's stomach, making her stagger back.
I charged Rayne and began slashing at her with a series of strong and fast strikes to stagger and keep Rayne off balance, occasionally bringing one sword to my chest while I held the other out in order to maximize my reach and creating a pseudo barrier around me. Terra had lined up three arrows on her bow and fired them in a straight line at Rayne, one arrow encased in flame as she launched it at the red head.
Rayne jumped over the arrows and kicked at me, trapping my out stretched sword in her bladed heel, abruptly stopping my momentum. She then jumped up and round house kicked me in the head, knocking me to the side and firing at Terra to keep her from firing more arrows. "This is getting boring." Rayne said with a disappointed sigh.
"Hey, Red!" Kairi called from across the platform, Sora standing next to her with a nervous look on his face. "Who does your hair? A color blind monkey?"
"Excuse me?" Rayne growled.
"I haven't seen hair that bright since the last time I went to the circus and saw the elephants in wigs!"
"Is your sister trying to get eviscerated?" I asked Naminé.
"You got me?" She whispered back. "Kairi's always had a sharp tongue."
"You're asking for it now girly." Rayne charged at Kairi and Sora with her blades to her sides and her elbows tucked in to prepare for a series of quick slashes.
I saw a sly grin cross Kairi's lips and she whispered something to Sora before he dashed off to the side with a worried look on his face.
"Are they going to flank her?" Riku asked, somewhat recovered from his dark episode. I'm sure that second level Fire spell did not help any.
Kairi's POV
That got her riled up. Rayne was charging us at full speed with blood lust in her eyes. I figured her hair would be a sore point since me and Aqua get enough flak about our natural colors. Given how she reacted when Isaac threw her against a wall, it wasn't farfetched.
I looked over to make sure Sora was getting into position. I saw him rounding to the side to reach Terra. Good. Let's hope Xion's plan works. I brought my arms in front of me to block the slash from Rayne's arm blade, the force of which pushing me back against the wall. She stabbed at me and I brought my right fist up and my left fist down to redirect her blades from my face and torso.
Her face was right in mine afterward. "I'm going to enjoy ripping your tongue out." She breathed out darkly.
"I was always told my mouth would get me in trouble." I kicked her away from me, one of her blades dislodging from the wall.
Rayne tried to stab me again, but I rolled away from the strike and jumped away as far as I could in order to gain some distance. Rayne was close behind me and I was immediately put back on the defensive.
'Man she's fast. Kinda figures since she's a Demon Slayer.'
"KAIRI!" Naminé exclaimed and swiped at Rayne's feet. Rayne back flipped away from me, giving me a much needed breather.
"Thanks, Nam!" I took my chance to go on the offense. I punched and kicked as fast as I could without tiring myself out. Assuming Sora did everything the way we planned, I need to conserve my stamina and wait for the proper moment.
"Fire!" Riku and Roxas chanted. The two balls of flame shot behind Rayne to stop her back pedaling from my barrage. It worked and allowed Sora to jump over the flames and make a downward stab at Rayne.
'Everything's going to plan. Now Shin should…' On cue the brunette dashed towards her with his blade drawn back and charged with silver arcing lightning, ready for a power strike, just in case Rayne blocked instead of dodged. As expected, Rayne blocked the strike since she had little time to gain the footing required for an evasion. Her blades conducted the charge from Shin's blade, coupled with the force he swung it made Rayne recoil and open her up for another strike, which hopefully should be happening soon.
"Thunder Arrow!" Terra chanted and fired four pink-purple lightning charged arrows at the recoiling Rayne. Rayne jumped high into the air to avoid the attack. "Now, Isaac!" Terra exclaimed.
I looked to see Isaac holding Xion in a launch position. "You heard the lady." Isaac told Xion as he launched her towards Rayne.
"Haste!" Xion chanted and she was engulfed in a golden glow that accelerated her speed. As she flew towards the free floating woman.
Xion's POV
I soared toward Rayne, my right blade drawn back and ready to strike at Rayne's neck. I looked her square in the eye. She was moving so slow to me that I thought she knew she would at least get a scar. When our eyes made contact however, I saw that she was not concerned about her current situation. Her emerald eyes instead formed to a vampiric slit and I instantly knew what she was doing.
'Dilated Vision?! I might as well have cast slow on myself!' From what I've heard, Rayne's Dilated Vision slows the world around her and enhances her reflexes. 'I need to make this count!'
I put my free blade out in front of me, I really need to name these things, and aimed it at Rayne's head in hopes that it would distract from my goal. As I got closer to Rayne, I saw that she was drawing one of her Carpathian Dragon handguns and was preparing to shoot me with her Blood Spray that essentially turn those things into a high powered shotgun. I had a backup plan in case she did pull this on me.
We were barely an inch from each other now when I saw Rayne begin to pull the trigger. I pulled mine as well, feeling the Haste spell quicken my movements, and brought my other blade forward against her neck. 'I hope this works.' I waited until my swinging blade was at her neck before chanting. "Blizzara!" I heard both our weapons discharge and felt myself get knocked back from the impact of Rayne's bullets on my torso.
I tumbled towards the floor and went over the edge. I thought I was going to fall when Riku grabbed my wrist and stopped me from plummeting to the bottom of the Tower. "I got ya." I'm beyond glad he did. Using that level two magic left me feeling drained, I'm lucky the ice I cast on my body acted as a bullet proof vest or I would feel a LOT more than the intense soreness I was feeling right now. I was pulled up and saw Rayne with an amused smirk on her face.
"Not bad. If you were trying to kill me; that was a good effort." I saw Sora and the others edging towards the stairs leading up the Tower. "Had I been careless, you might have succeeded." She aimed the gun at Riku and me as we edged closer to the others.
"Too bad for us." Riku sarcastically replied.
"If only we were trying to kill you." I added to her confusion.
"I think you dropped something." She looked to Isaac who was holding Rayne's medallion with black-blue sparks fading from his person.
Rayne quickly looked at her chest and placed a hand on her collar, realizing that the medallion had been cut free from her during our exchange. She looked back up towards us and with an expression that screamed pissed.
"Let's get out of here!" I exclaimed as we shot towards the stairs with Rayne following closely behind.
"Get back here!" She exclaimed as she fired repeated shots from her pistols at us.
"Good idea with the medallion, Xi!" My brother complimented.
"Got an idea on how to get her off our tails?" Roxas asked. Terra was already doing a well enough job slowing the red head down with her Thunder and Fire spells.
"Nothing comes to mind!" I shouted back.
"I got one idea, just keep running." Isaac told us. I turned to see him turn to face Rayne with an unsure expression on his face. "This had better work, Mutt." He groaned under his breath before touching his bloodied chest and rearing his blood covered hands back. "Here goes nothing. Blades of Blood!" He swung his arms and rings of his hardened blood shot towards the stairs in front of Rayne. The shards collided against the stairs and they crumbled before Rayne, halting her advance and kicking up a large amount of dirt into the air that let us get further away from her.
Rayne's POV
I fired a few more rounds at those kids before they got out of range. 'I have to admit. That was pretty clever of that Raven head.' I touched my collar again to reaffirm that I had lost the Seal. 'Tricked me into letting them attain the Seal. I'll be keeping a close eye on her.'
I heard a thud behind me and saw that there was movement and whirled around with my pistols drawn. Expecting the Heartless to have gone wild by now with the Guard Armor destroyed. To my surprise, I saw the other team arriving on the platform.
"Slow down, Rikku!" The silver haired guy yelled at the blonde girl. "We don't know what to expect in the Tower."
The girl he was talking to was wearing next to nothing in what I can only see as a yellow bikini with an olive green mini-skirt with two pouches on a yellow belt. She had long, white, ruffled bell sleeves with fingerless leather gloves and blue and white shoes with a yellow string tied on the Achilles. Around her neck was a long scarf that faded from red to orange. Her hair? Wild would be the best way to describe that look. It raged to the right and was tied in several free hanging braids that were held together with multi-colored beads and held up by a blue bandana. On her hips were crimson daggers with circular guards on either sides of the hilt.
"Don't be such a worrier Ceodore." The girl named Rikku replied with an obnoxiously bubbly attitude. Her Jade green eyes adding to her energetic mood.
"I wouldn't have to worry if you hadn't alerted the Cybermen to us." Ceodore replied. I could tell he was younger than the girl by the way his asserted himself. "Tidus and Bartz barely kept them off of us long enough for Yuna to lift the door up with the Aeons.
He motioned to a brunette girl in an altered halter neck top with a strange jagged T emblem in the middle that was formed from gun metal grey material. The T was sewn in red on the pant leg of a blonde that was standing next to her. The top had a pink hood and trimming along the hem. She had on denim boy-shorts with a tribal style pouch on her hip over an ankle length, sea blue sash that faded into white. She had laced up knee-high black combat boots.
"You can thank Ifrit for that one." The brunette replied. "He's the one who lifted the door for us." When she turned around I caught a glimpse of two silver and gold trimmed Tiny Bee pistols in a holster on her lower back and her short brunette hair tied in a long braid that stretched to her ankles. A silver winged pendant and a blue beaded earring with a single strand of hair tied into a blue braid with a gold ring were the only accessories I could see on her person. I saw that her eyes were two different colors her right being emerald green and her left being navy blue, telling me that she has Heterochromia.
"Give yourself some more credit, Yuna!" The Rikku girl beamed before putting the brunette in a big girly hug. "You took down a number of those Cybermen by yourself."
"I'll say." The boy with the ruby red sword agreed. "Wasn't expecting that from a dainty girl like yourself."
"Now if only we could find that artifact." The bronze skinned guy added as he moved to the pedestal. "If only I was a treasure hunter."
"Relax, Vaan." The energetic blonde boy with the odd choice of leg-wear commented. "From the looks of things, the other team hasn't gotten the artifact yet." He motioned to the holes that Guard Armor had left from the fight with the ARK team.
'Oh! This could prove useful. And it should give that lazy klutz a much needed workout.'
"Okay, Tidus. Where is the artifact then?" The kid called Vaan asked. "I can't even read this pedestal."
That would be my cue. "If you're looking for the artifact, then you're a little late." I said and jumped down to greet my new guests like a gracious hostess.
They drew there weapons at me. Not all that unexpected, but cute none the less. "And who are you." The boy called Ceodore asked me.
I just smirked at them. "I'm the keeper of the artifact." I replied with a wave of my hand. "Unfortunately, the other team has already retrieved the artifact from me and is currently making their way to the top of the Tower." That seemed to get their attention as they looked to each other with panic in their eyes. "If you want to catch them, you'd better get moving." That got them going. They took off toward the top. 'This will be fun.'
Sora's POV
We charged up the stairs as fast as we could. I had Xion on my back, she was exhausted from using the Blizzara spell to block Rayne's Blood Spray, as Xion informed me. Riku seemed a little shaken, but he managed to get a hold of himself enough to keep pace. Terra was still flying next to us.
"How you holding up, Sis?" Kairi asked Naminé, whose white lace gown was now stained crimson part way down her right side.
"I'm fine, thanks to Terra. She removed the bullet and closed the wound."
"We'll have to get your clothes washed afterward."
"A little blood ain't too bad." Isaac called, bringing up the rear. His chest scar was closed and his shirt repaired. "It can be useful sometimes." Referring that blood attack he used earlier.
"Oh shut it, Isaac." Kairi jokingly replied.
"How are you holding up, Xi?" I asked over my shoulder.
She weekly smiled back at me. "Getting better, Bro." She sounds better at least and the color was coming back in her face. I'm sure taking a point blank shot from Rayne's gun didn't help matters as she winced every time I took a step on this stone staircase.
"Just hang on a little longer. We'll be finished soon." I saw the top of the Tower coming into view and the pale glow of the moon shining through. We went through the opening to be met with a large thirty-five meter long ship that was landed atop the Tower. It was lime green and had four jets on the outer side of the hull that appeared to rotate to change directions. The back dipped upwards and had an attachment for ferrying vehicles and a bay for soldiers to ride in.
"We made it!" Roxas beamed.
"Not quite yet, kiddo." We heard a voice call from the bay and a man, at least six feet tall, in a long red coat with a turned up collar with Italian and western accents throughout its design. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows with black sleeves stretching partially up his forearms gave an impression of a laid back uncle. The sleeves on his forearms were probably from the black shirt her wore underneath with three black straps on various parts of his torso that connected with gold buckles. His pants resembled that of a cowboy with red denim jeans and black leather chaps connected to his black belt, that had a large silver buckle, the bottom of the leather had red leather from the bottom of his knees down to his shoes and zipped up down the middle with what looked to be phoenix wings on the sides.
"Not another one." I groaned.
The man stepped out into the light and I saw his snow white hair, that stretched so far that it parted into bangs, and stubble on his chin. His deep cerulean blue eyes staring at us with an amused curiosity, unlike Rayne who looked like she was sizing us up. His hands bore black gloves with the index and thumb missing. In his right hand was a spoon and in his left hand was a…is that a strawberry sundae?
"Hey!" He replied with mock offense in his tone and took a spoonful of his sundae. I still can't believe he's eating a sundae right now. "If you're referring to Rayne…" He took another bite of his sundae. "Let me assure that I am nothing like her." He swallowed his sundae and eyed us with a playful sternness. "I'll actually kill ya." I drew my blade and everyone prepared to fight the man, I could see the body length clamore on his back. The gunmetal colored hilt resembled bones, more specifically the actual guards were singular bones with a skull for a pummel and a ribcage at the base of the blade. Looking near his feet, I could see that the blade was notched near the end before bulging outward and forming into a point. Wait…I know this guy.
"Holy crap, you're Dante!" I exclaimed and everyone looked at me with wide eyed expressions of appropriate fear. I could feel Xion groan inwardly on my back. To put it simply, Xion likes Rayne and I like Dante and we are constantly at each other's throats on who is the best Demon Hunter.
"You don't mean the son of Sparda?" Roxas asked. "The Sparda that killed the Demon King Mundus during the Fallout Wars."
"The one and only." Dante boasted like he was being introduced for the first time. "I see my work precedes me."
"More like my brother is a fan boy." Xion replied.
"Hey, you can fan girl over Rayne, I can fan boy over Dante. Deal with it." I shot back and Dante just seemed to laugh at the reactions.
"At least your brother has good taste." Dante burned my sister. "I don't see how anyone could like Rayne. She wouldn't know fun if it bit her in the rear."
"At least she isn't a total klutz!" Xion shot back.
"Now is not the time for a flame war you two!" Shin interrupted us.
"Especially a sibling rivalry." Riku added.
"Trust me. That's quarrel." Dante added. "I know sibling rivalries. Anyway." He tossed his finished desert off the platform and drew his clamore, the Rebellion, in his right hand and withdrew his black pistol, Ebony, in his left. "Time for the final stretch."
Cue DMC 3 OST: Dante's Office 7 Hells Battle
"Great, so we have to beat you to get to the ship?" Kairi groaned.
"Pretty much, kiddo." Dante opened with a taunt as he waved his gun in a come at me fashion.
Kairi rushed Dante, Terra firing off an arrow at the white haired Demon Hunter. Dante Just shot the arrow out of the sky and slashed at Kairi's gauntleted fist, the double-edged blade clanging against her wrist. Dante pointed Ebony at Kairi's head again, but Kairi knocked Rebellion away and dodged out of the way of the bullet he fired.
"Sora, get me to the ship." Xion whispered in my ear.
I ran around the side, leaving the others to handle Dante. Shin had ducked under a swing and attempted to slash up at Dante. Dante back flipped and shot at Shin while he was still in mid-air. Shin blocked the bullet and followed up with a horizontal slash at the Demon Hunter while he landed on the platform. Dante just blocked with his clamore and fired off his pistol again.
I reached the ship and laid Xion against the back wall. "Stay out of sight. I'll help the others." I told her and darted toward the fight, Roxas had put Dante in a power struggle and Riku was dodging around his gun fire. I ran at the red covered man and attempted to stab at his back. Isaac jumped up in the air and readied to stab with his split blades and Kairi was charging at Dante from the side. We had him now...! Or so I thought.
Dante flipped his blade on Roxas' swords, disrupting his grip briefly, but long enough for him to kick Roxas in the face and push him away, causing the blonde to fall on his back. He then threw his blade like a boomerang at Riku, the size and force proving too much for Riku to block and knocked him on his back as well, the blade returned to the Demon Hunter somehow, I doubt swords actually work that way, and he placed it on his back quickly and drew his other pistol, Ivory, a white version of Ebony and started firing at me and Isaac. Dante grazed my shin, but hit Isaac in his right shoulder. I stumbled from the hit, but kept going since Xion was in no shape to make rapid maneuvers and I had to keep the attention on me. Isaac on the other hand, winced and hit the ground with a hard thud.
When Kairi was within striking distance of Dante she attempted to punch the guy, but Dante quickly crouched into a Kung Fu stance that you would generally see be enacted by someone who had some knowledge of the martial art but was comfortable enough to be a little goofy in his posture. He blocked her punch with his right hand, which was held higher in the air and further from his body than his left, and knocked her hand to the side before palm striking Kairi in her jaw and then grabbing her and throwing her at me, pushing me back and knocking me on my rear.
"Keep trying kids. You'll get me eventually." Dante joked and pulled his pistols out again. Terra fired off a string of arrows at the man while Naminé and Roxas rushed in with weapons in hand.
"This is getting ridiculous!" Riku blared as he helped Isaac up from the floor.
"We need a miracle to pull this off." I told myself as me and Kairi rose to our feet.
As if on cue… "Trigger Happy!" A female voice shouted and a hail storm of bullets assaulted Dante, the Demon Hunter spinning his sword like a windmill to block the bullets.
He turned to see a brunette standing next to… Tidus? They're the other team?!
"Hey, Sora!" Tidus called to me and the rest of his squad fanned out around the platform. "Hand over the artifact!"
"Oh, more newbies!" Dante exclaimed. "This party's getting crazy!" He aimed his guns at Tidus and the brunette. "Let's Rock!" Best. Lines. EVER!
Calm down Sora, now is not the time to nerd out. "Can you still fight?" Riku asked Isaac.
Isaac electrified his hand and placed it over his shoulder, pulling the bullet out and closing the wound somewhat. "Barely." He placed his sword back on his right hip and flipped the blade on his left hand to be in a more traditional style. He held it down with the point to the ground, his right hand drawn back and held it like a claw near his face, and leaned away from the fight. From the looks of things he was ready to play defense. "I'll do what I can…but no promises." His heavy breathing told me he was in bad shape.
Clang! Dante had crossed swords with a girl decked out in all black leather with silver hair and crimson red eyes that showed a no-nonsense attitude. Her aforementioned dress consisted of black leather high heeled boots with thigh high stockings that opened on both the inside and outside of her leg with various black straps to keep the stockings from falling off of her person and black boy shorts with several silver buckles on a black and red trimmed belt that hung off of her hip and three black leather belts, one on her waist and two around her mid-drift. The stockings had a red strap that ran up her person and resembled suspenders. Her top was a black leather fold over that showed her shoulders and had a veil of silver studs along the bottom with a large silver X on the left side, probably to button up the top. Coupled with her elbow length leather gloves and silver pendant on a barbed wire chain and studded leather choker, she looked like a punk rocker. Even her blade held the motif, though not as long as Dante's it still had a metal skull at the base of the black blade, a silver edge along one side and red cloth on the hilt with no visible guard. The skull was placed differently than Dante's as his blade looked like the body of the skull when he stabbed it into the ground.
"Pretty strong for a punk." Dante taunted.
"Who're you calling a punk, old man?" The girl taunted back.
"Hey!" Dante exclaimed in reply and pushed the girl back with his sword before swinging the large blade like it weighed nothing, using the weight of the blade to help direct the momentum in the direction he swung. "I'm not that old." He whipped out his Ivory pistol and began firing on the silverette.
"Should we bother with them?" Riku asked, noticing that the attention had shifted away from us.
"Probably not." Kairi agreed. "We should just focus on getting into the ship. Do you have the medallion?"
"Yeah." Isaac replied, backing towards the ship. "Try to get our three blondes and meet inside the ship."
"I think not." We turned around to see three blondes behind us, but not our three blondes. Behind us was Vaan, a girl in a bikini, and a blonde with two braided tails and side bangs with blue eyes that was wearing a cornflower blue and yellow top with bronze thigh high boots, armlets and shoulder armor that turned into short wing like appendages on her back with short white sleeves.
"Especially since we have this." The pigtailed blonde told us as she held up the maroon medallion in her hand.
Isaac quickly tapped his front pocket with his free hand and looked up in disbelief. "Sneaky girl."
"Thank you most kindly." She replied.
"Now is not to time to be flattered, Penelo." Vaan told the girl.
"I know, Vaan." She replied in an annoyed tone and placed the medallion in a pouch on her hip before pulling out a chain sickle with a dagger at the end of the ten meter long chain. "Alright. Vaan, Rikku." I snickered at Riku when I saw that a girl shared his name. "Let's beat them."
"Not likely." Kairi replied and charged the girl. "Now give back that medallion!" She was blocked by a blonde in a red cheongsam with a green and teal flower pattern throughout and white shoes and matching clawed gauntlets. Her blonde hair tied in puffy pigtails at the base of her skull with a red rose in her hair and green earrings that resembled coral. Her Hazel eyes shone with the same intensity that Kairi's amethyst eyes held.
"You'll have to go through me." The blonde taunted and began striking at Kairi, the two were locked in a fist fight with Kairi on the defensive! I never thought I would see the day.
"Way to go, Ursula!" Rikku shouted. "That makes it three on three!" She pulled out her red daggers and started striking at Riku. I swear this is going to get confusing.
Vaan pulled out a broadsword and began fighting Isaac, who used his new stance to parry and deflect the strikes. Leaving Penelo to come at me with her chain sickle. She used the dagger to stab at me with her left hand and swinging the actual sickle with her right.
"We thought we wouldn't catch you guys in time." Penelo told me as she attempted another stab at me.
"We would've if not for the Demon Hunters." I repulsed her swing with her sickle and struck downward on her, her chain blocking the strike and showing me that she has some amount of strength as she was holding me off fairly well, even though I could tell it was taking its toll on her.
"Just doing my job, Kid!" Dante called. He was now fending off Tidus, Bartz, Zidane and Roxas while the gun totting brunette and a girl in Victorian style clothing, wearing a full orange suit with a white frilled under shirt and leather gloves and shoes with long dark brown hair tied in a small ponytail, fought Naminé and Terra. Dante was fending off his assailants with ease while Kairi managed to get some stable footing against that Ursula chick and Isaac managed to put Vaan on the defensive.
"All we have to do now is beat you guys and Dante, and we complete the mission." She relaxed her grip on the chain, allowing my blade to fall towards her head slightly before pulling it taut again and bouncing me away. She wrapped her chain around my neck pulled me toward her with the sickle at my throat, the bladed end facing me in a reverse grip. "Why don't you say we call it a draw? You guys are too tired to fight us." She had a sweet tone to her voice, but damn if it didn't come off condescending.
I was honestly out of options at the moment. My blade was to my side and I had no back up to get me out of this like with Rayne. Click! Or did I? "Take your sickle away from my Brothers throat." Xion growled, her gunblade to Penelo's neck and barrels lined up to blow her brains out.
"That threat isn't going to work." Penelo mused, matching Xion's tone. "You don't have any weight in this situation."
I saw Xion smirk and relent her force on Penelo's neck. "I guess you're right." Xion limped back into the Pelican, but not before her lips curled into a wide smirk. "But I guess it doesn't matter since we already won!"
Penelo went wide eyed at the response and quickly reached for her pouch and saw that it was opened and empty. I looked at Xion to see that she was holding the medallion in her hand.
"Simulation over." The Aurora unit's voice called through the sky and the simulation lit up in white lines. Our equipment fading from our persons.
"Aw, come on!" Dante called, an amalgamation of disappointment and boredom. "It was just starting to get interesting!"
We were teleported back into the center of the arena where the other four team pairings were sitting. Apparently we took the longest and everyone had been watching since the Guard Armor appeared, the upperclassmen had been watching since before that obviously. I couldn't see the other proctors for the exams since they had apparently left.
"What happened?!" Tidus whined.
"We lost." Rikku replied. In an equally disappointed tone.
I saw Isaac, Riku, and Naminé collapse to the ground in exhaustion. The blood on Isaac and Naminé clearing up since it was a simulation. "I'm just glad it's over." Isaac breathed out in response
"This concludes your first exam. Scores will be posted on the bulletin board outside the main gym at the end of the week. Class dismissed."
"Hey kid!" I turned to see Dante and Rayne approaching us. "That wasn't bad planning out there."
"I have to admit. I wasn't expecting you guys to actually get past us." Rayne added with a hand under her chin.
"Well that goes without say. I am pretty amazing." Dante said with arms wide.
"That's debatable." Rayne replied under her breath and moved toward Xion. "The next time I get a free moment, you and I are gonna have a photo shoot."
"Yes!" Xion beamed with stars in her blue eyes. "I'd love nothing more!"
"And maybe I'll take you all out for pizza." Dante added. "My treat of course."
"Oh please, you barely make enough money to pay for that dilapidated building of yours." Rayne replied with a condescending wave of her hand.
"At least I get the tough stuff. When was the last time you had to put down a Darkside and two Nightmare βs at once?"
"Maybe when I took down a Heartless Behemoth and a horde of Defenders."
"Oh, so difficult. Call me when you do something challenging." Dante turned and left out of the gym.
"How he could be the son of Sparda is beyond me." Rayne left soon afterward.
We exited out of the gym, most of the upperclassmen left ahead of us. Xion was talking to Penelo and Rikku on the way out. Naminé and Terra conversing with the two brunettes, who I found out to be named Yuna and Dagger respectively. The silverette named Paine was off to the side and reframed from socializing with us. Ursula and Kairi were talking to each other about their fight. Bartz, Ceodore, and Vaan were talking to Isaac and Shin about their fighting style while I chatted to Tidus and Zidane with Riku and Roxas.
"So you guys didn't beat Rayne?" Zidane said, his hands behind his head. We were standing by the fountain since a lot of us were too tired or sore to make the two mile trek back to the dorms.
"Nah. We just got the medallion and ran." I replied.
"Thanks to your sister's quick thinking." Roxas added. "I never would've noticed the medallion on Rayne's neck."
"That's just because Xion is a big fan of Rayne." I replied with an unimpressed tone.
"Speaking of siblings." Tidus replied. "You two look oddly similar." Huh? "It's a little uncanny."
I looked at Roxas and, besides the blonde hair, I can kinda see where he was coming from. "You know what they say. Everyone has a twin somewhere." Roxas replied with a shrug and a smirk.
"I suppose. But meeting your twin is just a little weird." Tidus added with a shrug.
"I don't pay it much mind." Roxas replied. "It would only be weird if we acted the same."
"I know, right?" I added to the conversation with a small amount of giddiness. "I think one of me is more than enough for the galaxy."
"Without a doubt." Tidus joked. "Your mug is ugly enough as is. We don't need to double it."
"Hey!" Me and my blonde look alike exclaimed.
"Hey!" The silverette named Paine called in a bored tone. "We need to get back to the dorms. We got homework, remember?"
"Ah, sheesh." Zidane complained. "Why must you be such a…"
"If you say pain, I'm gonna skin you alive." That shut Zidane up in a heartbeat.
"She does have a point." Ceodore commented. "Not to mention the sun is starting to set. Classes start at nine tomorrow and I'd rather not be tired from lack of sleep."
"Don't remind me." Rikku piped up. "I really don't want to deal with Quistis tomorrow."
"At least you can dodge a whip." Bartz added.
"Chun Li is liable to punt your head off." Zidane added.
"Either way, we should be getting back." Ceodore added.
"See ya around, Sora." Tidus replied and gave a fist bump before leaving with his group.
"We should be getting back too." Riku told us. "You three up for a walk?" He asked Isaac, Terra, and Xion who just nodded.
We were half way to the dorms when trouble showed up. Along the stone path we were taking, propped against a tree was Seifer and he was slow clapping. "Not bad. For a couple of newbies." I did not like where this was going. "Especially from the big mouth." He pointed to Isaac, who still looked drained.
"Thanks…" He replied, trying not to seem tired.
"Don't try to play tough with me. I know you're exhausted. Even if it was a simulation, your body still feels sore from the hits you took. Which means…" He pulled his gunblade out. "I can pay you back for this morning." Isaac took a tentative step back, a cautious hand on his sword. "Go ahead. Make my day."
That's when I decided to do something that would haunt me for the rest of my days here at SOLDIER. I stepped in between Isaac and Seifer. "You must be pretty gutless to fight a tired opponent." At this point I was just running off of pure adrenaline. My weapons now dematerialized.
"You must be pretty stupid to challenge me without a weapon." Seifer shot back and took aim with his blade, ready to charge us. Kairi and Riku took a position next to me.
"You are seriously annoying me right now." Kairi told the blonde with an arrogant tone in her voice.
"I would rather not get my hands dirty on a spineless coward." Riku got in a fighting stance you would see in an MMA ring.
"Who are you calling a coward?!" Seifer blared.
"Probably the blonde with a superiority complex." A voice called from behind Seifer. We saw a black leather glove with a bronze arm guard touch Seifer's shoulder and the blonde immediately whirled around to face the owner of said arm.
He was met with a blue eyed spikey brunette. His gloved left arm held a series of beige and steel panels along the length, a single beige panel on the back of his fingerless glove, that stopped at his shoulder guard that was steel in the center with a gold ring on top of his shoulder and gold protrusion around his actual shoulder. He wore, for the most part, brown. A brown muscle shirt with red straps that crossed on his chest and back. A tan hakama with a gold heart emblem on the front, similar to Aqua's, with beige and gold trimmed armored boots and a single black sweat band around his right arm.
"Terra!" Terra exclaimed. Wait. Terra knows this guy? And they share the same name! How do they not get mixed up?
"How's it going, Tina?!" The guy Terra replied with a wave of his hand. I guess that's how they distinguish.
"What's your problem, Terra?!" Seifer shouted in annoyance and seriously the whole two Terra's thing is going to get annoying real fast.
"My problem, is that you are messing with my little sister's group after they've been put through the ringer." Wait. Did he just say little sister? "And I ain't the only one." He pointed behind us and I saw Squall walking up to us in his new clothes. A short black leather jacket with a red emblem of his lion pendant on the short sleeves and a white fur collar. He wore a white shirt underneath with black leather pants and boots matching gloves and holy belts batman! Seriously, he has three belts on his arm and around his pants. Did his personality consist of being restrained?
The guy next to him was a spikey blonde with deep blue eyes. He wore all black. Black combat pants and boots. A black drape that covered his left leg. A black SOLDIER uniform top with two straps for holding up a sword, and let me just say, it was quite the sword, a single sleeve on his left arm with a wolf's head on his shoulder that had a ring in its mouth. His blade was a Buster Sword that was as tall the blonde holding it and since he was a little taller than Squall, yeah, it was pretty freaking big.
"You giving my cousin a hard time?" Squall asked in his trademarked calm tone.
"Well, if it isn't Squall? And you've brought friends." Seifer sneered. "I know when I'm beat. Don't think we're through yet." He turned and walked away pass the guy Terra.
"What a pain." Squall commented.
We continued towards the dorm, now escorted by our saviors.
"Thanks for helping us out back there, Leon." I told him, using his public name since that's what he prefers.
"Don't mention it." He replied simply.
"You did pretty good out there, Roxas." The blonde named Cloud complimented. "I see all that practice has paid off."
"You call swinging your Buster Sword at me while I was armed with a dagger practice?" Roxas replied.
"Hey, you dodged didn't you?" Cloud joked with a wide grin on his face.
"You still didn't have to come at me full force!"
"You'll only learn to dodge if I keep whacking you in the head."
"You early took my head off!"
"Be lucky I was using the blunt end." Man do I feel sorry for Roxas.
"Are you really Terra's older brother? " Naminé asked the brunette Terra.
"Nah~." He replied with a wide teasing grin. "Tina's more of a stray cat that I found one day and she followed me home." Well that is just plain rude.
"Terra!" Blonde Terra exclaimed to the brunette Terra with bright red embarrassed cheeks. Seriously, this is going to get annoying.
"I just call her my sister because of a joke my Father used once. By the way. I'm Terra Xein. Spelled X.E.I.N; but pronounced like Zain." He must get mispronunciations all the time if that's his introduction.
"How long have you two known each other?" Naminé continued to poke.
"Let's see… Tina's sixteen now and I'm nineteen so… About eleven years."
"That's a long time to know a stray." Isaac added with a joking smile.
"That's how they get ya, Isaac." Brunette Terra replied with an equally teasing tone. "You walk past them, then they take an interest and follow you. Flash some big blue eyes to make you feel sorry and before you know it you take them in and they're apart of the family."
"I am not some lost cat!" Terra, the blonde, exclaimed in response to which we all simply laughed. Her face was so beet red I thought she was gonna pop a blood vessel. But I'll be damned if she didn't look cute like that.
The brunette Terra, gah, seriously we need to distinguish these two when they are in the same chapter! Anyway, male Terra put our Terra in a brotherly headlock and rubbed her hair lightly. I learned that lesson with Xion when she was younger. Don't mess with a girl's hair!
"Relax, Tina. I'm just messing with you." He released Terra from the headlock, more like Terra ripped the brunette's arm from around her neck. "Besides, most guys like strays."
"You did not just say that!" Terra replied turning even redder.
"He's right you know." Cloud added with a wide smirk.
"OH~!" Terra growled in an almost cat like purr, which did not help her case. "You guys are mean!" She pouted at the teasing.
"I wouldn't be so teasing if Rydia had kept a better eye on you when you were younger." Male Terra replied with his hands behind his head.
"She was busy trying to get a job to keep a roof over our heads, you know that!" Blonde Terra shot back.
"I know. I know." Male Terra just waved the response off casually. "How is Rydia doing? She should be teaching Summoning soon."
"I don't know. I haven't seen her since I left for school."
"Huh? She must be having some trouble setting up."
"Here we are." Squall told us as we reached the dorm. "You mind letting us in?"
"Sure." We opened the door and went in to be greeted by the Doctor, Aqua, Tifa, and some dude with white hair in a business suit and sunglasses.
"You guys are really cleaning house." Tifa told us as she smacked me on the back.
"I'll say!" A loud energetic tone blared from atop the stairs.
"Oh, please no." Riku groaned.
"Zack Fair, coming in!" The black spikey haired lunatic jumped from atop the stairs and aimed straight for Riku.
Riku side stepped the Raven head, who I guess is named Zack, and let him land face first in the ground. "Nice entrance, Zack." Doctor Smith joked. Getting a closer look, Zack was dressed in a SOLDIER First class uniform with a clamore on his back.
"It would've worked if Riku didn't move out of the way." He got up and dusted himself off. "Hey guys. I'm Riku's older Brother Zack. You guys were kicking some seriously tail out there!"
"Thanks." I replied. Most of the dorm had taken a seat on the open spots for the chairs, Asili sitting in Isaac's lap. I didn't see Shin anywhere. I guess he went to his room.
"I never expected them to use Vashta Nerada or infuse them with Heartless." Zack added.
"I've never heard of Heartless living in symbiosis with Vashta Nerada before." Aqua interjected.
"I wonder when this started happening." Naminé added. "The history books usually document cases of Vashta Nerada colonies being overrun and wiped out by Heartless."
"It happened recently." The Doctor interjected in a joyful relaxed tone. "During one of my travels, I went to visit a world that had recently discovered a colony of Vashta Nerada. When I arrived, the colony had been ravished by a Darkside, but the colony itself was not destroyed. Instead, it had been embedded into the Darkside itself!"
"How is that even possible?" Riku asked with an understandable amount of confusion. Xion and I just remained quiet since we knew little about Heartless and just wanted to get to where we could grasp the situation somehow.
"I don't know." The Doctor replied with a weird since of excitement. "Amazing isn't it. I love not knowing about stuff. Makes discovering the answers that much more exciting."
"Or fatal." Squall added.
The Doctor gave a concurring nod. "Yeah, well~… It's still exciting."
"I say who cares." Zack replied and put Riku in a casual headlock. Riku flailed and thrashed to get out of Zack's grip, but the Raven haired guy didn't look fazed by the movements. He barely even moved from Riku's attempts to break free. "They survived an encounter with the unknown and planned accordingly. I say we celebrate!"
"Maybe later." The white haired man finally spoke up. "There are more pressing issues that need to be addressed." He looked around the room and raised a white eyebrow, telling me that his hair was natural. "Where is your ninth? Shinryu, I think his name is."
"I think he went upstairs." Terra replied.
"Would you go get him, please?" The man asked again.
"Don't bother." He turned to the kitchen to see Shin entering into the room. "I just went to get some water."
"Well then, since everyone is gathered, let's get straight to business. I am called Jack. I work to assign missions to the various dorms here at SOLDIER."
"What does that have to do with us?" Riku interjected, finally getting out of Zack's choke hold. "Underclassmen don't get to go on missions till junior year."
"That was the case." Jack replied, still in his suave businessman demeanor. "But with the growing skirmishes and the ever expanding Galaxy Charts, the various military factions are having a difficult time keeping up the peace. SOLDIER, the UNSC, and the Galactic Federation are spread thin. The UNSC now have to deal with Insurrectionist from their own side. So SOLDIER has decided to step up its curriculum and have all levels participate in various missions."
"In other words, we'll have to go on a mission very soon." Shin added.
"Try two weeks." Jack added with a sly smile.
"Why so soon?" Terra asked.
"Allow me to explain. Your first solo mission without your RAs will be at the end of this month. Your first mission will be in two weeks. The whole school will be closed on these days, allowing students the chance to keep up with their studies."
"Can you tell us anything about these missions?" Isaac asked.
"More details will be given as the date draws closer. As for your mission in the next two weeks. I have little details to offer you."
"Well that certainly helps." Riku sarcastically replied.
"All part of the experience." Jack replied simply and turned to leave. "Have a good year. I'll be in touch."
"Well that was informative." Roxas added.
"Not really." Riku replied and got up to head for the kitchen. "I'm gonna grab myself a bite and then get to my homework."
"What about celebrating?" Zack exclaimed.
"Some of us have responsibilities, Zack." Riku shot at his older brother in an annoyed tone and disappeared into the kitchen.
"Well that was unexpected." I said aloud.
"He's always been a perfectionist." Zack replied, rubbing his spikey hair. "I don't know where he gets it from though."
"At any rate. We should be heading back." Squall suggested. "We have our homework to deal with."
"Aw man." Zack whined. "Well whatever. We can always party later. See ya around girls."
All four of them left and everyone went to their separate rooms to do…homework.