Okay ne chapter is up… yeah.
Riku looked around as he entered the lower city. No light reached down this low on the planet, the buildings, platforms, and pipes blocked everything. The orange lights that illuminated everything cast a creepy glow on people and made a normal alleyway look 10 times scarier. Rats scurried from trashcan to trashcan and Riku was sure that he could hear gun fire off in the distance.
Riku looked over at his new friends to see how they were holding up. Neku was walking without even the smallest thought to what was going on around him. Shiki stayed close to Neku making it appear that they were a young couple. Beat had picked Rhyme up and carried her piggy back style.
Beat was extremely protective of his younger sister.
“Sorry Beat,” Rhyme said her voice tiny as if she thought it would hurt someone if she talked too loud “I’m know I must be a burden.” Her eyes darted away from Beat and towards the ground. It was obvious she didn’t have much self confidence.
Beat lifted Rhyme up a little bit to get a better hold of her tiny body “Rhyme, how many times to I have to tell you that you’re not a burden. I like having you around, were family and family takes care of family.”
Rhyme blushed as she rested her head on her brother’s shoulder.
It was times like this where Riku wished he had a younger brother or sister to care for. He guessed trying to be nicer to River was just as good..
“The place we’re suppose to meet the contact is just up ahead.” Neku said as he took off his headphones. “It’s a small diner so there shouldn’t be too many cops about.”
The gang walked into the diner and looked around. They didn’t see anybody out of the ordinary at first but that was to be expected. If Neku’s information was right and this guy did work for the Tono then he should be an expert at hiding in a crowd.
“Over there…” Neku pointed his finger to the man in the corner of the room.
Riku looked to see if he had any weapons and when he was satisfied that they were safe he nodded at the others. They walked over and sat down.
“You gotta be kidding me!” the man said, “You guys are just kids. I mean come on the girl looks like she’s nine!” His eyes darted over to Rhyme.
Riku slammed his fist on the table.
“It doesn’t matter if were kids or not! Do you know anything or not?”
The man took off his hat and smiled a evil grin.
“Yeah, as a matter of fact I do.”
There was a long silence.
“Well!?” Shiki exclaimed.
“Well what?” the man said
“Stop being a jackass and just say what you know.” Beat snapped.
“Fine, fine.” The man shrugged his shoulders in frustration, “Some guys from Saints are dropping off a supply of spice today. They are riding in white vans with the words ‘Zap ‘em exterminators’ on the side. The spice is in the barrels that have the toxic sign on them.” The man said. “If you can slap a tracker on one of the vans you can find out where the Tono is getting his spice from. These guys aren’t stupid though. If they thinks something is up they will drop the stash and run.”
“When is the drop and where is it going down?” Neku asked
“4:50 today at the old warehouse.” The man answered.
“Thanks uh… we never got your name.” Shiki said.
“It’s Marco.” With that the man left.
Riku looked down at his watch. It read 4:00 even. They had an hour to make it to the drop point.
Riku looked down at the warehouse from the building across the street. They had set up a fake raid on the drug drop. They could care less about the drugs so they didn’t care if they destroyed them. In fact Rhyme had set up charges to go off a signal of detonator she had made. If a massive explosion of a warehouse that supplied an almost endless supply of the cash crop of the Tono didn’t get him to notice Riku and the others than nothing would.
Riku raised his radio and hit the switch.
“Okay I see the cars approaching. Are you guys set?” he asked in a hushed voice.
“Roger that!” Shiki answered, her voice filled with enthusiasm.
Riku waited for the right moment where they could be the most affective in a surprise attack. The men were just about to take the drugs out of the van when Riku put his radio up to his mouth to give the command. But just then Riku heard a loud chopping noise. It was a helicopter!
It didn’t take Riku to figure out that Marco had betrayed them and alerted his higher ups about the gangs plan. Riku saw a machine gun mount on the side of the chopper and he didn’t wait for the gun man to unload. He jumped to his feat and started to run across the roof.
“Guys were fu*ked! The double crossing bastard Marco fooled us! The Tono knows were here, get the hell out of there!” Riku didn’t wait for an answer.
His thoughts were interrupted as the crack of bullets hitting around him blasted into his ears. Riku reached the edge of the roof and turned about to face the chopper. He pushed off the side of the roof, magic backing his jump, towards the helicopter. In midair Riku pulled his keyblade from the air.
He through the blade out in front of him and he watched it hit the gunman square in the chest making the gun’s recoil to go unhindered. Riku pulled his blade from the man’s body as he reached the copter’s floor. He then proceeded in slashing the machine gun’s support beam off and turned it on the cockpit sending hundreds of armor piercing rounds at the pilot. Blood splattered the window as the siren of impending danger in the helicopter went off.
Riku took the sidearm of the gunmen and then plunged his blade into the floor of the helicopter and sawed a opening. Riku jumped out head first towards the vans bellow. Riku targeted the canisters of spice with his gun and fired. He was rewarded with the sight of the splattering liquid. As Riku neared the ground he stashed the gun in his holster and cast a time warp spell so he could guide his leap of faith safely down to the ground.
By this time the men had started to leave in the vans. As they rounded the corner Rhyme set off the charges making one of the cars flip over. As Riku hit the ground he pulled his gun out again and shot the driver of the overturned car in the chest. The man was dead before he hit the ground.
“Go!” He heard Neku scream over the radio.
Shiki jumped out from an alleyway that the last van was heading for. She trough a small, almost unnoticeable tracking device on the van’s turning wheel. It was a once in a life time Godly through that Shiki knew she could never mirror.
Riku looked over the carnage of the crashed helicopter and ruins of a destroyed warehouse. He smiled to himself as he lifted his radio to his ear.
“Job well done everybody.”
Riku was met with the enthusiastic replies of all of new friends, that is all but Neku.
Sora peered out the window of the gummi ship as they approached the Hollow Bastion space port. The city could only be described as a utopia. Sora’s mouth laid open in awe as some of the world’s greatest achievements both architecture and technology passed in front of his eyes.
The sky was a bright blue and surprisingly free of smog, the buildings were tall as colossus of legend and as bright as candles as their shinny metal reflected the hot summer sun.
The Pilot’s voice crackled over the ship’s intercom.
“This is your Captain speaking; Welcome to Hollow Bastion! We at Gummi Interworld travel thank you for flying with us.”
Cloud took Sora and Kairi’s hand as the doors lowered allowing them to leave.
Sora had to close his eyes as the rush of the cool air hit his face. He breathed in deeply. He nearly gasped at how… good it smelled; it was crisp in a sense.
Sora looked around in awe at the millions of people in the spaceport. Large monitors hanging from the ceiling streamed an endless amount of adds in hundreds of different languages. It was simply amazing to see.
“Come on,” Cloud said, pulling Sora out of his thoughts and imagination “We gotta go.”
Sora looked up at Cloud’s smiling face and then at Kairi’s and Tifa’s. He could feel the warmth of their emotions. They felt… nice. They headed down to baggage claim to get their luggage.
Sora pulled his bag towards the door following Cloud the best he could with such a large load. The motion sensitive sliding doors activated as the four friends neared them and slid open allowing them another glance at the bustling metropolis.
“So who is picking us up?” Kairi asked as she set her bag down on the ground.
“Reno,” Cloud answered “He’s an old friend of ours.” Cloud smiled “If you’re lucky you might get to see his cheery partner Rude.”
Kairi and Sora nodded. A few minutes later a limo pulled up and the back seat window lowered. A young man around Cloud’s age with red hair stuck his head out and called over to them.
“Hurry up slow pokes! Leon and the others are waiting for you!” The man yelled at them, he turned to look at Sora and Kairi “What’s with the kids Cloud? You weren’t gone that long!” The man laughed “Well hurry up and get in whoever you are.”
The driver of the limo, and elderly man with a light mustache, walked out and took their luggage. The friends hurried into the car and sat down on the fine leather seats and buckled up.
“Hey kids.” The red haired man said to Sora and Kairi, “My name is Reno, R-E-N-O. Got it memorized? You should because I’m the one having to deal with you while you two stay here.
“Axel, A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?”
Sora grabbed his head and gasped suddenly.
“What’s with you?” Reno asked a weird look spread across his face as he looked at Sora’s expression.
“Sora?” Kairi said.
Sora shook his head and blinked a few times.
“I’m okay… just a headache.” He answered.
“Whatever…” Reno said in a bored tone. “In a few minutes you’ll meet Satoshi Ronin. He’s the head of Eco Corp. It’s the corporation that sponsors the Hollow Bastion restoration force. Those are the people that are trying to take back the castle from the heartless that still hold it.”
“What?” Sora and Kairi said in unison.
“Mr. Ronin is the guy were going to help get rid of the heartless.” Tifa answered.
“Oh… Okay.” The two said.
Reno glanced at Tifa and she responded with a smile.
“Well let me fill you in with what were going to do.” Reno started, “A little while ago an unknown gummi ship snuck under our capital’s radar and destroyed some of our ships and turret towers. It somehow made its way towards the castle and the pilot lifted off some time later and snuck back out of our airspace undetected by our scanners.” Reno stopped to allow them to digest what he just said.
Hollow Bastion had the most high-tech Navy in all the worlds. It spent more money on its armed forces then council worlds of Slecus, Ukiz, and Ciencia combined. The Hollow Bastion had the largest capital ship ever made. It was basically a city in the sky; it could hold the entire population of Riloc, the capital city of Hollow Bastion, plus snub fighters, tanks, and food for the crew. If something could slip by the scanners of over Riloc then it was a serious problem for every person everywhere.
“We don’t know how that ship got past our scanners but how it got passed the heartless amazed us the most. The heartless as you might know sense hearts and magical energy, not heat signature or by some type of radar. That must mean where that ship got in is somehow blocked from magic completely.” Reno stopped again as Cloud spoke.
“Blocked off from magic? Is that even possible?” Cloud interjected.
“Merlin himself helped us with the readings. It’s blocked off from magic.” Reno answered. “Ansem must have left a void when he was killed.” Reno looked at Sora and Kairi. “Cloud why in the hell did you bring kids here when you knew that this was going to be dangerous? Even I’m not that bad of a role model.”
“About that…” Cloud started “Sora was the one who killed Ansem to rescue Kairi, who is a princess of heart.”
Reno’s jaw dropped to the floor.
“What!?” Reno pointed at Sora, “This little punk is a keyblade master and his girl friend is a princess of heart?”
Sora and Kairi looked at each other as Reno said “Girl Friend” and blushed.
“Yeah…” Cloud said as he rested his hand on Reno’s shoulder.
“Surprise.” Tifa said cheerfully.
“Were here sir.” The driver said as he lowered the window to the back of the limo.
“I’ll let Satoshi tell you what were going to pull, but,” Reno looked at Sora “If you can do what they say you can do, I don’t think we’ll have too much trouble.”
Sora and the others got out of the car. Sora and Kairi gasped as the peered up at the Eco Corp building that towered before them. It was so tall that they couldn’t see the top of it. It was by far the largest buildings that they would ever see in their lives.
“Are you going to look at it or are you going to follow me inside?” Reno said as he walked past them and opened the door.
They shook their heads and ran after the red haired man.
Sora stepped out of the elevator and let out a held breath. It felt like the ride took an hour but in reality it had only been 3 minutes. It was still a long time to be in an elevator to be sure but nothing quite that exhausting.
“It’s this way, just down the hall.” Reno said as he walked up to two large wooden doors with gold, decretive bars that ran the length of the door that were used for opening it.
Reno opened the door and walked in.
An old man surrounded by bodyguards stood up and walked over to them. Reno bowed as low as he could.
“Mr. Ronin our gusts have arrived.” He said as he raised his head. “This is Cloud, and Tifa. The two kids are Sora and Kairi. The keyblade master and princess of heart.”
Cloud, Tifa, Sora, and Kairi bowed as low as they could just like Reno.
“It’s an honor to meet you.” Sora and Kairi said. It wasn’t everyday that you meet one of the richest and most powerful men in the worlds.
“No!” Mr. Ronin said making Sora and Kairi jump back. “The honor is mine.” He said as he took a knee and bowed his head to Sora and Kairi.
Sora and Kairi looked over at Cloud and Tifa to see what they should do, but they just shook their heads.
“I once had the pleasure of meeting a young master by the name of Ventus and a apprentice of master Ansem himself named Xion.” Mr. Ronin said as he stood up, putting pressure on his ivory cane, “Strange you two look just like them.” He made his way back to his chair and let out a breath as he sat. He looked at Sora. “You look so much like him. For a moment I thought Cloud here was his friend Terra.” He looked down at the papers on his desk, “That though is impossible. Those five died a long time ago.”
“What?” Sora said.
“Hmmm…”
“You said five but you said only 3 keyblade masters.” Sora exclaimed.
“Oh, did I?” Mr. Ronin said
“Uh… Mr. Ronin.” Reno interjected.
“Oh of course down to business.” He fiddled with his tie and spoke again, “We will be sneaking a snub fighters through the small pocket of the magic free zone. The pilots will plant bombs on the face of the cliff overlooking the valley where the heartless have gathered. Bombers are too big, long range missiles are picked up from the heartless and scatter them, and an orbital strike may end up destroying the castle by mistake. The only way we could kill the majority of the heartless without losing thousands of men is to plant those charges and let the rocks do the work. The stones on the plateau blend with the heartless vision and they don’t read it as a hazard.
“Cloud was one of Hollow Bastion’s best pilots and one of the few available for the mission. Leon and Vaan have already signed up but were missing two more.”
Could stepped forward.
“No one else can reach match my skills sir. If it will save lives then I’m all for it.” Cloud said.
“Good we just need one mo…”
“Let me fly!” Sora interrupted.
“What!?” Kairi yelled as Sora stepped forward and saluted.
“S.O.L.D.I.E.R. second class Sora ready for duty.” Sora said firmly.
Mr. Ronin raised an eyebrow and looked at Cloud.
“So you have been training S.O.L.D.I.E.R.s in your absence have you Cloud? That’s good. A Keyblade master and a S.O.L.D.I.E.R. will need you on this mission son. You’ll have to make your way through the castle to the other side to plant the charges. Are you two ready to go?”
“Yes sir!” Sora and Cloud said in unison.
“Good! I’ve set up a room for you at the hotel. Reno and Rude will be there in the morning to brief you on your mission. Until then get some rest. You’ll need it.
Sorry it took so long! I got sick during the week. I hope you liked the chapter. Thanks for reading.