All right, next update. It's a long one, so prepare yourselves. Thanks for the compliment guys, and I hope I live up to that expectation, lol. SMK, check the note at the bottom.
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Wyrda was standing against the wall now, his head bowed, and his mousey brown hair hanging in front of his face, partially obscuring his face. It looked like he was resting casually against the wall, but in reality he was as tense as ever, his eyes wide open, the Third Eye band allowing him to have full range of vision over the mountainous cavern. He had not been completely honest with the scientists. He had noticed something among the gargantuan crevices and cracks that he had not mentioned, or any way recognized. He wasn’t sure yet, and he didn’t want to alarm the others. So he stood with his head bowed, his Third Eye band active as he scanned the area he had glimpsed before while scanning the cave. His vision zoomed as he saw through the hair covering his eyes, through his eyelids, and looked out toward the small group of crevices he had seen before. A few stalagmites were hanging there, and in the shadows of the darkness, he glimpsed the small white glow of a small floating object… He frowned slightly and zoomed in further, looking closer, and closer until it was if he could reach out and touch the small white sphere hanging in the shadows of the ceiling. It bore a small grey eye outlined on its surface, and even though it hung motionless in the shadowed air, Wyrda only had to wait for a few moments before it swiveled slightly, this time its eye pointed at the scientists finishing up among the burning rubble. It confirmed his suspicion. Whatever that orb was, it sure as hell wasn’t working for the Government.
“Wyrda,” said a voice, and Wyrda blinked, his eyesight returning to normal as he looked up to see the voice that had spoken. Riku, his long silver hair glistening slightly with the heat of the lava below, was walking toward him, and he leaned against the wall next to Wyrda, his blue eyes sharp and focused, similar to the look that Wyrda bore himself. As Wyrda looked at the cool and collected Riku, he had to admit, that besides his arrogance and pride, Riku was the most down to earth of the group, and would most likely be the one to understand this new information Wyrda had discovered.
“Riku,” he replied in equally vague fashion, turning his head so that he was looking at the silver haired Keyblader, “How’s it like holding the Keyblade again? Most wielders usually loose the feel for it after this long.”
“It’s been tough,” admitted Riku, summoning the Keyblade and swinging it experimentally, “But it all comes back. Like riding a bike.”
“Yeah,” said Wyrda, his mind still on the orb he had seen, “Hey Riku, can I see the Keyblade for a second?” Riku raised an eyebrow slightly suspiciously. Wyrda had always been too governmental for his liking. He claimed to know so much about this whole thing, and Riku couldn’t help but feeling a little in the dark. But he had shown himself to be trustworthy, and Riku wordlessly handed him over the Keyblade, and Wyrda gripped the handle, the lightness of the weapon surprising him as he swung it experimentally, gripping it hard, before leaning over the Riku, acting as if he was going to give it to him. Instead, as Riku reached over to take it, Wyrda pulled him close, so that they were neck and neck, their mouths hidden by Keyblade Wyrda strategically held up to block out that area, or more specifically, the area that the orb would be able to see.
“Don’t react to what I’m saying,” hissed Wyrda, his eyes locking onto Riku’s as he gripped his shoulder hard, “After I’m done, act like I was challenging you to a battle or something and push me away.” Riku nodded, his blue eyes reflecting confusion before they slowly shifted to acceptance, and then curiosity.
“There’s a small white sphere floating above two hundred feet in the air above us,” he said, his voice a whisper in case the sphere could somehow hear their words, “It has a grey eye engraved on it, and it turns to face various ends of the cavern. I think it’s some kind of spy, probably sent by the Nobody. Don’t look for it, trust me it’s there.”
“So does this mean that the Nobody is spying on us?” whispered Riku, his eyes focused on Wyrda, but his mind obviously on that spot, “It knows we’re after it?”
“That’s my guess,” muttered Wyrda, his eyes lowering, glazing over in concentration, in thought, “Most likely scenario is that the Nobody is conducting some sort of plan. Some sort of operation. You know that Nobody’s actually have intelligence as opposed to Heartless, which rely on instinct only. This Nobody will be far smarter then the Heartless… If what Haerthos says is true, then the Nobody’s plot revolves around some attempt to get to him.”
“Does that mean that something big is about to happen?” asked Riku, his eyes narrowing as his hand twitched involuntarily. Wyrda didn’t have time to answer, because a loud ringing noise suddenly filled the cavern. They both looked up to see the source of the beeping suddenly silenced, the Lead Scientist’s cell phone opening with a click as the scientist in question hooked up the cell phone to a portable hologram projector, which sat upon a makeshift desk in the center of the immense cavern, in the coolest section, away from the heat of the lava. The hologram projector whirred to life, a small blue beam shot from the tip of the projector, shooting outward until it formed a large floating image, a 3D rendering of the person on the other side of the line. Right now, it was the see through projection of a large talking head. A very familiar large talking head.
“President Chuck Norris is online,” said the head scientist, somewhat unnecessarily, and the President grunted, turning to face the group of heroes, Wyrda handing Riku his Keyblade before turning to attention, his boss looking down at him, an expectant look on his face.
“Wyrda,” he said, a statement more then anything, “Report. What is the situation?”
“Ira’s Heartless has been defeated,” replied Wyrda, somewhat dully, obviously disliking the formal reports he frequently had to make, “Ira’s Heart is in possession. Ira’s Nobody’s location is currently unknown. No indications of future actions have been found in the evidence, or what is left of it. We are at a dead end until Ira’s Nobody shows up.” The President nodded, the information seeping into his grizzled bearded face. He seemed to already know all this information, and yet absorbed it with a fierce intensity that surprised even Wyrda. He had never known the President to become this personally involved with a case.
“Well we’ve got good news and bad news fellows,” he said after he had finished absorbing the information, his voice amplified slightly be the technology, but retaining its powerful aura of intensity, “The good news is, we’ve found the location of Ira’s Nobody.”
“I thought that was impossible,” questioned the King, his eyes narrowing in confusion as his big ears perked up, “Haerthos said you couldn’t track things that didn’t exist.”
“66728 was correct in that matter,” replied the President coolly, and Haerthos narrowed his eyes and cocked his flamethrower, much to the amusement of the President on screen, “We cannot trace what does not exist. However, we can track certain signals that emit from a Nobody using a Dark Portal. Dark Portals normally do not release enough signal to lock on to, but this time we have enough. The Nobody must have amassed a great number of Nobody’s in order to make this many Dark Portals.”
“Uh huh,” said Wyrda, his eyes narrowed in suspicion, and he and Riku glanced at each other, a knowing look passing between them. This was no dumb luck situation. But the President seem not to surmise that, instead beginning to issue orders to the surrounding scientists.
“Pack up here and get back to headquarters,” he ordered his eyes flaming with commanding presence, “Wyrda, you and the others get over to this location. We’re sending it to 66728’s mini-computer.”
“I have a name you know, Norris,” spat out Haerthos, his anger apparent as he gazed contemptibly up at the President before him.
“Of course you do 66728,” replied the President coolly, his eyes flashing as he looked down at the convicted spirit, “But you still are a convicted criminal. Only after this is over do you get amnesty.”
“Don’t remind me,” muttered Haerthos, his flamethrower growing hot as he fingered the trigger lightly, “But how about a little respect for the people who are going to save you’re as—“
“You said there was bad news?” asked Riku, interrupting Haerthos’s tirade and staring up at the President, awaiting his response.
“Oh… well…” the President seemed actually seemed regretful for a moment, “As you know, the Ultima hasn’t exactly been staying still during this entire time…”
“Oh…” said Kairi, her eyes widening in horror, and Sora’s eyes narrowed as the question in all of their minds sprang to its lips.
“What has it done?” he asked, and the rest of them nodded, the question hanging in the air seeming to raise the tension even more then it already had been. The President didn’t answer, hesitating a minute before raising his hand and pressing a small button located on his desk, out of sight of the holo-projector’s range. The vision switched instantly, and suddenly the floating image was not of the President’s head, but of something far worse.
A hellish image covered the screen. There was no burning fires any more, no running people, no more battle noises. There was silence and desolation, and in the eyes of Haerthos, that was far more nerve-wracking then the previous noises of battle. The vision was of a sinister black landscape, completely flattened and destroyed, the only remnants of what once was a paradise being a few scattered piles of smoking rubble, the only thing left of the what looked like houses. The vision turned, and Haerthos knew that whatever remote camera transmitter they were using was panning across the field of destruction. More piles of rubble, everything that was not turned to dust ending up being a smoldering pile of rocks or wood. Endless it seemed, the uniform destruction stretching out as far as the eye could seem, so that the ground was utterly unrecognizable. However, as the camera turned, another something came into sight, the vision causing Kairi to gasp and hide her face in Sora’s shoulder. The King whispered a slight noise of disbelief and horror. Donald and Goofy held on to each other with a look of terror upon their faces. Riku did not make a noise, but the look in his eyes made evident pain he was feeling inside. Sora himself whispered a soft “No…” while Wyrda, professional by nature, stood in stoic silence. Haerthos was the only one that spoke, masking the pain he felt with a usual unfeeling comment…
“Well this sucks,” he said bluntly, and the others somehow knew that this was his way of dealing with the pain of what they saw and ignored him. The great castle of Radiant Gardens, the powerful golden castle that had reigned above all the other buildings in the area; the peak of glory in Hollow Bastion had been utterly decimated. The pride of the world was now reduced to an ashen pile of twisted metal, the only recognizable piece of the once might castle being the large golden heart ignesia, which now was charred black, slightly twisted and melted so it appeared as if the heart was ripped in two. The camera zoomed in on this twisted heart for a moment before switching back to the President’s face, a look of graven seriousness upon it.
“Yes Haerthos, this does suck,” he said, and everyone knew he was serious because he had called Haerthos by his real name. He needed all the help he could get if they were to stop this thing. “This is a prerecorded video surveillance. Shortly after this video was taken, the entire world of Hollow Bastion was taken apart. Yes,” he stated staring at their stunned faces, “The Ultima managed to actually disintegrate the world of Hollow Bastion, physically destroying the world until nothing was left but empty space. Hollow Bastion has fallen. And other worlds have already begun to fall…”
“What can we do?” asked Riku, his voice strong and cool, as if he was forcefully keeping his face blank and calm, “How do you stop something that can disintegrate entire worlds?”
“That Riku,” said the President, his eyes narrowed and very, very steely, “Is why we’ve recruited some… extra help.”
“What kind of extra help?” asked Haerthos suspiciously, and the President rubbed his eyes, as if in exhaustion before answering.
“Haerthos, we are dealing with a very powerful force,” he said, his voice sounding resolute and determined, “We needed some people with enough power to even make a dent on this thing. So we did a little snooping in the Government archives, and dug up some connections we’ve had with other forces strong enough to possibly do damage to the Ultima. We found four files still active.”
“So you hired out mercenaries?” said Wyrda, his eyes narrowed in anger, “President Norris, we can’t resort to…”
“I can resort to whatever the hell I want,” said the President, his face growing angrier by the minute, “And I say we need some more muscle on our side. These four people will be aiding you on your journey, some of them working with you on the Nobody. Mostly though, they will be dealing with the Ultima while you all save Ira. And for the record,” he added with a venomous look at Wyrda, “They are not mercenaries. They came once we told them the situation. They are… heroes as well...”
“Keybladers?” asked Sora, curiously, and for the first time this evening, the President laughed.
“Sora, compared to these guys, Keyblades are a relic of the past…”
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Comments, critique, and all that jazz.
Oh and SMK? I intro'd them, but they will not be there until next post. Sorry.
