Author's Note: And we're back with a chapter I had too much fun with. Poking fun at Oboromaru and Sundown's dungeons were two of my favorite moments... Though the one bad thing about "properly" showing off Sundown and Cube's dungeons was that I didn't get to Akira until a bit later than intended. Still, lots of fun stuff in his recruitment scene, too.

Chapter Five: Akira, Part 1

After leaving the castle, Oboromaru had suggested checking the homes in the castle town, just to make sure they were truly unoccupied. That made sense, Lei agreed—even if they were, they might contain something useful.

And, well…the team had found something useful, but that had been a bizarre trip.

"A trial of keys," Lei mused upon exiting. "A strange one, that."

Wasn't that what the fish in Pogo's dungeon had said? (Odd; it wasn't really "Pogo's" dungeon, but Lei thought of it like that anyway.) And those buildings had certainly been full of keys…

Come to think of it, how did multiple houses share a basement like that, anyway? Had they simply become connected after…whatever had happened here? Who could say?

Oboromaru glanced up from the blade he'd been studying for the past few minutes. "…It is a nice katana, though."

Lei nodded as she leaned down to examine it. Once again, they'd found a conveniently-placed weapon at the end… It was almost like it had been left there, just for him.

But they needed to leave. Lei shook her head as the group passed through the castle town's gates. She could ponder the details later.

Okay, they'd obviously taken a wrong turn somewhere.

Lei scowled as the party passed through a thick patch of trees. She'd looked at the map enough times that she really should've known where she was going… The village was in the southwest, not the southeast. This was wasting so much time!

Then there was a sudden noise off to the right. Sundown looked up and abruptly started walking in that direction. Lei blinked at his retreating back for several seconds before calling, "Where are you going?"

"There's a horse," he said bluntly, as if that explained everything.

Lei glanced at Oboromaru and Cube. They stared back at her. Well, it was probably a bad idea to let Sundown wander off alone… Lei was sure he could take care of himself, but just to be safe…

Lei shrugged and turned around to follow him. She could hear the other two trailing after her as well. Soon enough, they caught up to Sundown outside a small tunnel. The horse was placidly eating some grass nearby, and Sundown glanced over his shoulder at them.

"Might as well," he said.

"…Might as well," Lei agreed.

They ducked inside one by one. Lei looked around curiously; they'd entered into a musty, winding cave with flickering torches along the walls. There was nothing too unusual yet, but then again, they hadn't been here very long…

After a few minutes' walk, there was a dull ringing noise that made Lei jump. It sounded like a gong or some kind of large bell, but…where was it coming from? The others glanced around uncertainly, but then they shrugged and continued walking.

Then, a few minutes later, there was another ring. Sundown actually paused and narrowed his eyes in apparent thought. That was…interesting, Lei thought. But then she noticed something else. It had been more subtle the first time, but now…

"Does it seem darker in here to you?" she asked.

Oboromaru and Sundown both nodded. Well, Lei hoped this wouldn't be an issue later, but…they were already partway through the dungeon. For now, they may as well press on.

Several bell-rings later, they arrived at another large pedestal. This one held another weapon, much like the one Sundown carried. Still, it was clearly newer and fancier than his current gun. He examined it for a few seconds before nodding and picking it up.

"…'s a nice gun," he commented simply.

Then, he holstered it, and the group turned towards the next doorway. There was another loud gong, and suddenly—

The lights dimmed entirely. Lei actually yelped in surprise when four large, blue, eye-like shapes appeared around them. Then, there was the slightest increase in light, revealing that four jagged, spiky monsters had surrounded the group.

"Ohoho, a tasty treat! Let's eat!"

The nearest one swiped at Lei, and she quickly dodged. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes before responding with a Monkey's Withdrawal of her own. It was admittedly satisfying to send the bizarre monster skidding back a few feet.

Oboromaru and Sundown appeared to have teamed up on one of them. Lei heard the distinctive sound of one of Oboromaru's wind blades striking the monster, followed up by a flurry of bullets from Sundown's new gun. Then, there was a metallic screeching noise, and Lei spun around. Cube had just skidded backwards, and one of the disembodied-head-things was floating towards them.

"Cube!" she shouted.

Lei darted towards them, catching Cube and slowing them to a halt. They beeped in acknowledgement before a familiar red glow appeared in their eyes. Lei nodded; they were probably preparing their laser attack. She knew it needed a few seconds to charge, so it was her job to distract the monster.

Lei closed her eyes and folded her hands. She took a deep breath and then launched herself at the creature, performing the familiar flurry of movements her shifu had taught her.

"Heavenly Peaks Descent!"

The monster screeched as it was knocked straight into Cube's laser. It fell to the ground in a twitching heap, disintegrating a moment later. Cube beeped happily at her, and Lei smiled and nodded before turning her attention to the others.

Sundown and Oboromaru had felled the one they'd been fighting earlier, bringing them down to two remaining monsters. One of them had just taken a swipe at Sundown, leaving a jagged mark across his face. He grunted and instinctively raised a hand to the injury, and Cube quickly aimed at the monster attacking him.

Thankfully, four-against-two odds were significantly better, and it didn't take much longer to defeat the last two creatures. The last one whimpered something that sounded like "I'm dead-y dead…" before vanishing. What on earth…?

But, as it faded away, there was a small shape on the ground beneath it. Lei leaned down and squinted. Was that a glove?

Suddenly, the lights returned, and they were almost blinding after being in near-complete darkness for the past few minutes. Lei squinted as she picked up the item. It was indeed a glove, and it was made of a similar material to that ring Lucretius had given them.

"…Well, I guess that could've gone worse," Lei said after a moment. "But what even were those things?"

Cube tapped her on the leg. Lei obligingly glanced down and saw they were holding up a message. 'They resembled enemies from the Captain Square game.'

"Huh," Lei replied. "And are game enemies…real things?"

It was a question she'd vaguely wondered about when Masaru and Cube had discussed the "arcade game" earlier. From what little they'd said, she didn't think so, but…

After a few seconds, Cube displayed the response: 'No, they are fictional creations.'

Lei furrowed her eyebrows and raised a hand to her chin. Okay, she'd decided not to question things too much… But this was ridiculous!

"You know what? I don't even want to know how that works," she finally said. "Let's just get out of here."

Everyone nodded, and Lei simply decided to be grateful the lights stayed on as they made their way to the exit.

Sunlight was a welcome relief, and Lei had to admit the southwestern village was nice when they finally arrived. Well, it was "pretty" in that same "slightly spooky" way that most of the kingdom was… But it probably had been actually nice back when people were living there.

(Lei wondered again if "Condemned Village" had always been its name. If not, who'd renamed it? And why? She had a sneaking suspicion that whoever had brought them here was responsible for that, but…for now, it was just a suspicion.)

At any rate, Cube had a curious reaction shortly after they entered the village. The robot turned in a half-circle before whirring lightly and staring at the nearest house. Lei blinked at them before glancing up at the house as well.

"You think there's something in there?"

Cube nodded. Lei shrugged before heading towards the building. Cube rolled after her, and Lei glanced over her shoulder. Oboromaru and Sundown looked at each other, shrugged as well, and followed her.

"Let's go, then," she called.

They entered the house, and Lei blinked again. This had to be one of the oddest homes she'd been in… It was exceptionally stark, with minimal furniture and walls made out of a strange gray material. There were stairs in the corner of the single room, and the group filed down into a narrow hallway.

In the next room, there was a single chair that appeared to be empty at first. But when they approached, it was suddenly filled with another robot that looked remarkably like Cube. They actually looked surprised; they backed up slightly and beeped again.

"Welcome to the Trial of Wisdom," the Cube-like robot said. "I am a portion of Cube's knowledge. Solve the puzzles ahead to claim your prize. Should you need my help…simply ask for it."

Then it shimmered and faded away. Lei stared at the empty space, trying to process the encounter. That robot had actually spoken—in a very strange, flat, mechanical kind of voice, to be sure. But it spoke—no written messages required.

Lei looked down at Cube, who was very intently examining the chair. "Did your creator happen to make another one of you, by any chance?"

Cube paused, and then nodded.

"So was that it?"

Cube paused again before finally shaking their head. They didn't think so, at least… So Lei would just have to take their word for it.

"Well, let's get going, then."

Cube beeped and nodded, and the group slowly made their way through the series of rooms. Lei hadn't expected the series of puzzles to be easy, but some of them were…mildly annoying. There were two rooms where Lei's body simply wouldn't cooperate, moving left instead of right and backward instead of forward. Everyone stumbled through eventually, but Lei thought she heard Sundown mutter "Ain't drunk enough for this shit" at one point.

At least the final chamber was something that Lei expected by now. Once again, there was a large pedestal with a weapon placed atop it. But this one was very strange—even stranger than Sundown's gun and those arm bandages Masaru had picked up. (She wasn't sure how those qualified as "weapons," but if Masaru wanted to refer to them as such, Lei wouldn't stop him.)

"What is it?" she finally asked.

Cube leaned up, trying to reach for it. Lei smiled, picked them up, and set them down on the pedestal. After examining it for a few seconds, Cube whirred and took out their message device. 'A 17 nm diode,' they typed.

"A diode," Lei repeated. "Well, if you know how to use it, then go ahead, I guess."

Cube beeped and took the item. They looked happy, so Lei supposed the trip had been worth it. Now they just needed to get out of here—but at least they knew what to expect on the way out.

The village was small, and it didn't take very long to examine the rest of it. However, there was one more surprise when they reached the southwest corner. There was a large stone table near another house, and a boy was dozing on the bench in front of it.

…Lei couldn't fairly call his outfit bizarre when everyone's styles were so varied. Still, she wished he would've closed his jacket before lying down. Who sat around with that much skin showing, anyway?!

She cleared her throat and glanced aside. Then, the boy yawned; he must not have been sleeping too deeply. When Lei looked back over, she saw that he'd sat up and stretched.

"Huh, guess I'm not alone here after all," he commented as he observed them.

"No," Lei replied. "What are you taking a nap here for, anyway?"

"Better than lying on the ground," he said, as if that was obvious. "What are you doing here? Wait, no, hang on."

He briefly closed his eyes, and there was a faint but noticeable golden glow around him. What the heck was that about? But then the boy grinned and nodded.

"Lei Kugo, Earthen Heart Master? Searching for clues like some kinda fancy detective?"

"Hey!" Lei said indignantly, unnerved by the accuracy of his statement. "How'd you even know that?"

He shrugged a little dramatically. "I doubt you'd believe me if I told you. But let's just say you're like an open book."

Lei chewed the inside of her cheek. Don't get mad, don't get mad, she told herself. He obviously had some kind of weird powers, but she didn't think they were connected to whoever had brought her here… His voice sounded quite different, at least.

But speaking of weird things… Lei squinted as she took another look at him. Now that he was sitting up, it was easier to see just how strange his hair was. Goodness, it was even weirder than Oboromaru's and Pogo's—at least theirs was all one color—

The boy raised an eyebrow curiously. Then, he glanced at the other human members of the group. Finally, his eyes settled on Oboromaru, and he laughed.

"She takes back everything she's ever said about your hair, by the way."

"Hey!" she said again. "I didn't say that! …Wait, I didn't even think that!"

He chuckled and raised his hands in mock-defeat. "All right, all right. Well, whatever—I usually like to do stuff myself, but you don't seem like a total asshole—"

"Just a bit of one," Lei interrupted dryly.

"—so I don't mind tagging along if you want me to."

Lei narrowed her eyes as she mulled it over. Well, he was probably like them, too… And there wasn't much left for them to investigate, but if he was offering to come along…

He sighed heavily, but he was still grinning. "I get it, you don't trust me."

"Of course not!"

"Heh, I wouldn't either. Oh, right, might help if I introduce myself—name's Akira, by the way."

…Wait, what? Lei had assumed he'd be more offended by that. Well, whatever. She'd take any help she could get.

"All right, fine; welcome to the group, Akira," she said reluctantly.

"Gotcha. Wait, hang on…" Akira did that weird glowing thing again. "I got Oboromaru and the Sundown Kid earlier, and you're…Cube? Who names a sphere 'Cube'?"

Sundown looked mildly disconcerted—which was about as much emotion as he typically showed—and Cube cocked themselves to the side. Then, they took out their communicator and typed the message: 'Kato thought he was being ironic.'

Akira blinked at the response. "…Okay, then. Guess it's not too much worse than Doc calling Tarokichi 'Taroimo,' but…"

Lei felt like there was some kind of story there. Before she could ask, however, Sundown spoke up instead.

"I'll just…leave y'all to whatever's going on here."

"Oh, okay," Lei responded vaguely.

"…Try not to die on me out there."

Was that some actual warmth in his voice? Lei was so busy pondering the open display of emotion that she didn't think of something else until Sundown was halfway out of the village.

She glanced at Oboromaru and said, "You don't think we'll have to chase him halfway across the kingdom again if we need him for something, do you?"

"…Probably not?" he replied uncertainly.

Well, he was probably right. Hopefully. Lei shook herself and looked back over at Akira. Currently, he was crouched down near Cube, poking curiously at the small robot.

"Speaking of which…how do you even work? You're not made of liquid, too, are you?"

What? Lei squinted at the question. Wouldn't a single look at Cube prove that wrong? They typed 'No, I am made of metal, wire, and whatever Kato could find around the ship' in response. Akira stared at the message for several long seconds before nodding and straightening up.

"All right, just gotta be sure. Anyway—"

"Aiiiieeeeeee!"

There was a sudden loud screech from behind them. Then, Pogo appeared around Lei's elbow with a massive pile of herbs in his arms. He grinned and rubbed his face into Lei's arm, clearly proud of the work he'd done. Well, he'd certainly gathered a lot; that explained why he'd been gone for so long.

"…What the hell is that, some kind of gremlin?" Akira said blankly.

"No, he's a Pogo." Lei quickly patted him on the head in thanks. "Good job, by the way."

Pogo leaned back, still looking pleased with himself. Akira stared at him in obvious bewilderment. Apparently, even he couldn't get a good read on whatever Pogo was thinking.

"Okay, he's a Pogo, then. What's he yelling about love for?"

Lei cleared her throat. "No idea."

Well, she had some idea, but it was better to go with the simpler option. Meanwhile, Oboromaru said nothing, but he gave her a rather pointed look.

"It still doesn't sound like that to me!" she said defensively. "Anyway…"

She glanced around at the group. It was getting large…and while Pogo seemed like a good enough kid, he was kind of a handful. Maybe it'd be best to let someone take a break…

"Hey, Cube," Lei finally said. "You remember where Masaru is, right? He should be back at the castle. You wanna go hang out with him? I bet he'd like that."

Cube lowered themselves slightly and made a lower-pitched whir than usual. Oh, no, were they…sad? Lei actually felt bad now.

But before she could change her mind, Cube perked back up and nodded. Then, they turned around and started rolling out of the village. …Well, she hoped they got back to the castle all right, but Lei was sure Cube knew where to go.

"Anyway," she said, "I think we're almost done looking around. But it couldn't hurt to make sure we didn't miss anything, right?"

Akira hummed in thought. "You already look through all the houses here? Bet you could find some stuff in there if you haven't already."

"Well, we went into the one near the entrance…and it looked like the tunnel connected to the one over there…" Lei gestured absently at the other house. "But we may as well, since we're already here."

Akira nodded, and everyone paused to take a few herbs from Pogo. Then, they were off to do some last-minute investigation.

Lei didn't think anything could faze her at this point, but they'd find out soon enough, she supposed.

Author's Note x2: I know I'm cheating a bit by implying that they went back into the Trial of Wisdom without Cube. It's just kind of weird to me that that's literally the only dungeon (besides Akira's, for obvious reasons) that you can't even get into later without its respective party member. So just...roll with it for fic purposes, I guess.