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~~~~~~Agrabah (City)-Empire/Trident-Class Warship~~~~~~

The large hangar doors on the underside of the ship slowly began to creak open, the beams of light now having no trouble with the two unconscious bodies they had in their grasp, easily maneuvering them into the awaiting loading room of the ship. With the cargo now safely on board, the beams of light finally cut out, causing the few scraps of metal and stone it still had caught, to fall lifelessly back towards the ground, the larger chunks of stone either crushing anything it landed on or exploding into flying shrapnel, like those that fell back down the great shaft through the Factory.

After a slow heavy creak the doors of the ship once again were closed, the hot dust riddled air which had blown into the metal clad room soon removed with the whirling of some kind of fans, and replaced with the ship-wide cold dry atmosphere. Soon shuffling through into the room, the handful of Hooded Figures and accompanying Birugs made straight for the two unconscious women, the machines already scanning them after hovering on ahead.

It didn’t take long for the two women to be moved not only out from the large cargo room, but shortly after entering the winding hallways of the ship, soon from each other. Asahina, carried easily by two of the Hooded Figures, would eventually awaken to find herself in a rather spacious enough room, covered in the same silver metal that appeared to make up most of the ship, all while Jasmine was escorted by the remaining group of Hooded Figures and Birugs to some unknown part of the vessel.

A massive roar from the ship’s engines signalled the beginning of its final action, the great hulking metal vessel soon ascending higher into the clear skies of Agrabah and widening the gap between it and the city below, until the ship was nothing more than a dot in the distance. Soon the cold darkness that made up the space between worlds surrounded the ship, the vessel having broken away from the desert covered planet and already beginning to head along on some kind of pre-determined course, further distancing itself from those left behind on the world.

The monitors presently in front of Nomis soon switched to more pressing details after departing from Agrabah, the largest of which already showing the older man the route the ship was about to take in order to reach a familiar world.

“Has her Highness been properly fastened?” Asked Nomis, his voice soon echoing throughout the room of the ship, the Hooded Figures crowding around a large spherical machine before sealing a bulkhead styled door, the still unconscious Jasmine lying within it.

“Epomen-Core has been altered and readied for subject...Master Clacverk. Safe transport should now be possible…” Soon replied one of the Hooded Figures, the rest shuffling along to the few other machines around the room that appeared to have some sort of connection with the largest that they had left Jasmine within.

“Good, keep careful watch of the pressure levels, and prepare to emergency vent any excess Darkness that happens to build-up during our journey. We should reach the castle of Bastion in a few hours.”

~~~~~~(Halfway along projected route)Storm Raging Sea/Port Royale~~~~~~

Though the booming sound of the sea’s waves crashing loudly against the shores of the Port would have drowned out any other sort of noise,
the sign that it wasn’t able to completely do it now, meant something immense was happening right this moment. While it started as only a faint whining, the sound soon grew with a series of mis-timed booms, each one appearing as if to signal the rest to grow louder in each others wake.

It would have appeared like a flaming ball, shooting across the sky, once it pierced through the black storm clouds. The sound only got louder and more violent once it appeared, the sheer size of the thing could be watched even from a great distance, and still it hurdled downwards and far away over the horizon from any kind of port as if with a guiding purpose.

While the intense heat soon started to cool along the metal shell of the ship, the black smoke which bellowed out from some of the large engines, as well as vents along that part of the ship, continued to spew out as the great vessel fell greater towards the sea below. Soon the large waves had begun to lap against the still hot metal on the underside of the ship, the water hissing loudly as it cooled, causing brief flashes of steam to erupt from underneath the metal beast as it seemed to glide along the surface of the bobbing ocean rather smoothly.

Though its speed had dropped drastically since it first appeared, diving down into the world, it still wasn’t enough to stop the ship from crashing against the rock-filled reef it found itself upon. The metal screeched as the shards of stone dug into the belly, scratching and shattering against the huge weight and resistance of the ship, yet some of the weakened panels were still no match for the sheer force of the crash, they ripping apart the second the reef struck against them.

With the ship having now finally come to rest, the stirring of Nomis happened once the dimming lights and shaking had stopped, the man having done all he could to stop the vessel from tearing itself apart in the initial plunge towards the world. The view of the still raging sea outside the control room’s window was of apparently no concern right now to Nomis, the older man already busy trying to find a monitor which hadn’t been ripped free from its place after the crash, the scientist soon finding one such screen, although barely hanging on before him.

Swiftly swiping through the numerous images which showed up for him, some of battered and twisted hallways, caved in rooms that couldn’t handle some parts of the force, the man found what he was looking for, the sight of Jasmine’s containment room. The large Epomen-Core was nothing more than a shattered shell, the force that rocked and damaging the ship clearly only a part of the full impact that should have happened, the large metal core having taken the rest and paying for it. While those within the room were either crushed by the falling debris or just gone, it was the sight of Jasmine, still unconscious in the blast-zone of her eruption, that had Nomis’ attention.

Using the one working monitor while those of the surviving Hooded Figures began work on repairing the Command Room, Nomis soon had a small group of Birugs heading for the Princess’ containment chamber. Right now it was best to keep both subjects together, the systems strained enough while trying to focus on key-places of repair, let alone having to worry about multiple monitorings of rooms at all times. Still, Nomis intended to find how the second subject used that energy of hers from before, and when she would, he would be there to find out all about it.

The giant metal ship in the sky was gone, vanishing to god knows where. By the time Ace and the rest of the rebels had arrived at the ruined palace grounds they were far too late to do anything. Jasmine and Asahina were gone, having been separated from Rika and Alem by the ship's tractor beam. Ace took all of the new information as well as a parent hearing that their child had brought knives and firecrackers to school. He was currently groaning to himself with his hand firmly placed on his forehead. Shizuka was rather drained as well, having little idea as to what to do next.

With the Empire's base of operations destroyed, their presence on the world was in jeopardy. Seeing the symbol of their oppression toppled before their very eyes had a bit of a rallying effect on the citizens within Agrabah, with a little help they could easily take back their home world. Osa was in the midst of speaking with Alem about their plans. She wanted to act as quickly as possible, to capitalize on the population's fervor and the Empire's weakened state before they called in more reinforcements. With him and Okal's assistance, she was positive they would be successful.

"Ace?" Shizuka spoke to Ace, waving her hand in front of his face. "Could you move your hand, I don't think you can see me waving at you." She said. Ace sighed and looked at her.

"This is a mess, Shizuka. We've lost not one, but two Princesses of Heart. If we at least knew where that ship went we could follow them, but we don't even know that. Maybe I could call Chizuma and ask her to contact people on the other worlds, ask them if a hulking metal spaceship has entered their atmosphere..." Another sigh. Shizuka patted him on the shoulder.

"It's fine, we'll think of something."

"What, you have an idea?"

"No, not really."



"I could use a cure migraine spell right about now... Or maybe a 'Make my life not stink' spell actually..." Asahina mumbled as she looked around the mangled room she was in. The ship had crash landed, yet somehow both her and Jasmine were still alive. Aside from the noise inside the ship, she could faintly hear water crashing against the ship, if she was going to escape she needed to account for the fact that she was likely in the middle of nowhere.

Picking up Jasmine and hoisting her on her back, she exited the room. "This place is in worse shape than I thought..." She said. The walls were buckling and sparking, it felt as if the place could collapse at any moment. She hurried her pace, which was unfortunately not very fast considering the person weighing on her. As she rounded a corner she heard something behind her. It was faint at first, like a jackhammer blocks away chipping at a sidewalk, but it was getting closer and louder. She couldn't assume it was anything friendly.

He tread along, bright and absorbed neon signs seemed to be a product of this world's "culture" for lack of better word. The mercenary was being followed, the intruder yet to reveal themselves, only speaking to him with utmost hostility. Trying to detain a detainer...usually does not work out for their efforts.

"You wanna give me a little to go on, like, a face?" he said, as if speaking to no one.

Coming from up top, there was a figure that wore white armor, and a reflective helm. Their overall body was painted red and blue, mostly overlapped by a chatter white finish. Although this person said nothing right away, the mercenary could detect some level of familiar and in this instance he began to question it?

"Have we met before? You could also loose the mas-"

It took a step forward with provocation in mind, entering a stance of aggression. The mercenary withdrew conversation for his keen eyes and intuition, this was a passive approach before enacting hostility. Then the voice started chatter, as if this were a ventriloquist act.

"Now now. Why so stern and forceful Sal? Don't you recognize this person?"

"I have a strange suspicion we've met before."

"Exactly. See we did some investigating on your background and found someone that knew you, this is them. Amazing how the master made a lifeless machine out of us all, and oddly enough you are the one still stuck, hardest to break."

"Your starting to spout nonsense like General O'nam did, the very first time we met five years ago. Do you know him as well? Then you must also know that the master-"

"That the master brainwashed you, and used you to satiate his research, turning you into the prototype weapon against us. Eventually converting us to what you are now. But you'll see, we beat being machines! And we've all got a vendetta against you to pay back...in full."

Chains circle just above the mercenaries head, carrying open shackles that quickly latched to the mercenary's wrist. The knight in white jumped straight up. A sword that spewed a violet colored burst of heat, hit the ground in front of him with a massive impact, slinging a mound of granite-rock the size of a boulder straight up (similar to a see-saw launching like a catapult). A collection of winds followed the white knight to boosted their elevation, propagating themselves for a spike, smacking the granite boulder straight for the bound mercenary.

"You've gotta be kidding..." he stared at the boulder, then the sword. "Shit, improvising a dodge!"

He formed a block around the blade and brought it to his hands, cupping the grip and turning the stream of propulsion was enough to throw him straight up (while bound) out of the direct impact of the boulder. He hit a balcony and tugged on the chains to throw someone down. Vaguely catching glimpse of a blind giving him a sinister smile, a yellow pelt of light, flying in a straight line for the mercenary's head.

PING!

The block disintegrated almost instantly, creating one the size of a basketball to protect his head from being penetrated. As he looked over, it was the General. As he looked down, they began to group up, a green haired man picking up the sword, the blond to whom bound him, the white knight to whom was supposably an acquaintance of his past, and this massive male with a muscular build, towering at the very least seven feet in height. They were joined by O'nam. He could now see all their faces with the exception of the one clad in Armor.

"You're all...Steel Hearts?"

"Finally starting to remember?"

"Five of us..."

"Bingo." said the blond pointing to his own head with the hand gesture of a gun.

Salforge sighed, and he sat on the balcony up top and let his feet dangle. "Take your pick, which one of you wants to explain, i'll even let you vote."

"Prick! You should be- Wait. Forgot your still a machine, my mistake."

Salforge shrugged, "Please stop wasting my time, I can only be polite for so long." he'd already began ninja-coating the entire area since upon running through the district, and he was nearly done. The longer he stood still, the faster this could be achieved.

"You wish to know, do you even remember our names?"

"Huh? Names? Isn't shorty over there O'um Van Glieth or in short O'nam? That blonde guy is Justin Black aka Black Justice. The Bladed swordsmen is known as Phillip FLLFFL or just as "Alfa", you are Vortemis, a cross of Vortex and Artemis, basically you're a hunter that manipulates the wind. Yes, I remember all of you, but that doesn't answer my question of why you're here, who that knight is, and why I'm even still relevant after 20 years."

The mercenary started to impose a manufactured laugh, before instantly returning to his usual neutrality devoid of any mixed signals or interference.

"We came to recruit you."

"Pfft. Send a letter next time, so I can respond swiftly by saying not interested. Are we done?"

They all said the first word in unison and Vortemis finished, "No. That was to see if you'd cooperate, we actually just want you dead."

His feet stopped dangling, and he stood up. There was a reflective sheen visible to everyone, (similar to right before a boss fight) "There area has been sealed off. It's either you cooperate and tell me the knight's identity and leave quietly or I beat every single one of you senseless or worse.

"It's looking like worse old friend."

The mercenary sighed, "I won't tell the commander about this O'nam if you promise not to pull some outlandish story out of your ass, after I throw the impact on it, no hard feelings ok?"

As everyone geared into the ready state, in five voices the same sentence.

"Busou Renkin!"

"Heads up!"

Lin's head immediately turned at Rika's voice, eyes catching a canteen soaring through the air. Catching it with outreached hands, a smile of thanks came to the young girl's face. Bowing her head to the assassin, she unscrewed the top and began to drink the water within. Becoming refreshed almost immediately after the liquid graced her dry tongue, a small moan of satisfaction vibrated from her throat. Prying it away after a few seconds and sighing in relief, Lin's attention turned to Shizuka and Ace just as Rika moved to take a seat on a sturdy crate nearby. Emotions were flaring all around her; some of the Arabian people were relieved at the Empire's decisive defeat, but among her friends she had felt emotional disturbances, some small, others larger. From Ace she felt confusion and doubt, from Rika irritability and anger, and lastly Alem. Lin's focus was directed towards him for several short seconds. As calm as he appeared speaking with Osa and Okal from afar while the Mercenary, Yu, rested under the shade of a nearby abandoned market stand, there was darkness that threatened to overwhelm him if left unattended. Yet somehow even on the verge of releasing his aggression, he remained still and focused on the task given to him. She couldn't pinpoint what kept him together, but she was thankful that whatever it was was there for him.

"I say forget it, Asahina ran off like a moron and gave a perfectly good victory up only to make it a minor one. That stupid bitch," Rika's eyes narrowed, making her beautiful emerald eyes momentarily darken without the sun to reflect off of them. It was a pain working with others, a pain made absolutely unbearable when they actively jeopardized an easy assignment. "We're better off without her."

"You don't mean that," Lin began, approaching the disturbed and unhappy assassin before her. Leaning down, the girl placed a hand on her bare shoulder and grasped it firmly in the hopes that Rika would look her in the eye. Thankfully, she did. "She might have gotten scared. Not everyone is as fearless as you, not everyone can laugh at the peril. She'll need us."

"If she needed us, she wouldn't have--" Rika's voiced trailed off. Looking at Lin long enough was showing her that disturbing that innocent stare wasn't going to help her any better than sitting around. Asahina was a moron, but she was a moron who was going to need help getting saved. No one could be as accomplished as her, it couldn't be denied that individuals like that were few and far between. Alem was the closest thing she had to an equal in her eyes. "Okay," she surrendered any will to stay bitter, "fine, you're right, I admit it. We need to start discussing this. Ace, Shizuka, look alive." gathering their attention, she stood up and put focus on Osa, Okal, and Alem who had come over to join them.

"Allow me." Someone had spoken before Rika nearby, yet Rika was the only one to recognize the voice. Approaching the group from behind was a familiar face to the assassin; as young as she was in physical appearance and an attire of a typical schoolgirl with a dark fuku, the stare her eyes gave them implied wisdom and danger the likes of which they'd never seen. Aeva took in the various reactions and got a good look at the group before her. Assumptions had been made previously, yet it was good to measure who they were in front of someone who knew more than they. Some held curiosity, others guarded themselves in subtle ways. "Rika, good to see you again."

"Sup," Rika brought her hands to her hips, surprisingly keen at her arrival. "I have the feeling you've been monitoring us this entire time though."

"Correct. Congratulations, all of you, on defeating the Empire and liberating this world ...some of you worked much harder than others, but the important thing is that you've gotten results." Aeva brushed her black hair aside and diverted her attention off to the east, where moments later a disturbance could be heard. "Don't mind that, Pepper is just cleaning up for us." the dark woman looked to Ace with a disappointed expression. "Don't call yourself a leader if you cannot formulate a plan when things change. Agrabah is won, it's time you move on. Head to the Caribbean."

---

“So what do we do now?” Flora asked.

Looking at each other, both Cerden and Flora knew that with the Destroyer Warship leaving Agrabah’s orbit and into the blackness of outer space, their chances of saving Dominic and Shinto flew away along with it. If that wasn’t bad enough, there was no telling where Nomis and that ship went. It could have flown off to god-knows where and that’s what the worst of it was for Flora.

“I have no idea. I don’t even know where they could be heading, but don’t worry. I’m sure Dominic and Shin will be fine for the moment.” Cerden said

Flora looked at him as she sighed. “I guess so,” She said. “But that still begs the question on what we do next? If we have no idea where they’re heading, that kind of makes it hard to follow, no?” Flora asked.

“You do have a point,” Cerden said, agreeing with Flora.

Cerden’s eyes came to his surroundings, looking at the rubble that was the result of what had just happened. There was gravel and blown up chunks of beige-colored stone from the palace. He took a few paces examining it. He went down on one knee and picked up one of the chunks of stone. For whatever reason, Cerden thought this was worth his time.

“Funny that this all used to be a beautiful palace. Now, it’s destroyed.” Cerden said.
“Okay, but what does that mean?” Flora seemed confused by where Cerden was heading with this.
“I’m just saying. The Empire might be gone, but this beautiful palace paid. Just a pity.”
“I didn’t peg you for the sentimental type.” She said, a light chuckle escaping her mouth.

Cerden laughed, and put the chunk of rock down to the ground. He got up and dusted his pants off. He started taking off and Flora followed curious as to where he was heading. Cerden continued walking through the rubble of the palace without saying a word. Flora didn’t know where he was going or what brought on this sudden desire to take a walk.

It would be about five minutes and several hundred paces around the rubble until Cerden came to a stop, Flora not far behind. She peered through the wall that Cerden was hiding behind and she saw a group of kids. She recognized a few of them from Hollow Bastion. They must be the Resistance against The Empire.

She quickly turned to Cerden, looking at him. He had a rather serious look on his face, “so you want to tell me what this is about?” She asked him.

“You’ll see,” was all he said.

Flora made a noise of slight annoyance, but she trusted Cerden.

Waiting for the perfect chance, Cerden noticed that there was someone else coming up to them. It was someone he didn’t recognize. However, he and Flora were close enough to hear what she was saying, but it wasn’t much. All he heard was the new person telling them that what just happened was a victory. Cerden laughed lowly at that, smiling somewhat.

And then Cerden heard the mention about some place called the Caribbean.

“That’s our cue.” Cerden said.

He didn’t wait for Flora to respond. He walked on over to the group of kids with a wave of the hand and a half smile. “Yo, remember me?” Cerden asked as he approached the group. “I overheard you lot talking,” Cerden wasn’t lying. Though, it was more like eavesdropping on their conversation. “Anyways, I--” Flora punched Cerden in the arm, “--I mean we would like to come if that’s okay.” Cerden somewhat asked. His tone was as laidback and calm as it would get in this situation.

---

---

“I wonder what’s going on.”

Shinto had a lot of time to think when he was left alone after Caleb left. He had been counting and it was at least eight hours since all of that shit occurred. In that time, he was thinking back to the good old days when he, Flora, Cerden, Nomis, Dominic, Jaakuna, and Sarah were all still apart of the Dactyl Program all those years ago. He remembered back to how simpler things were then and how all of them were the best of friends. Even though Shinto didn’t care for Jaakuna all that much, he still looked up to the dumbass and even cared for him in his own special way. Yes, those were the good old days.

“And now I’m here, a prisoner.” Shinto loved the irony in all of that.

As Shinto in all of the boredom that was present hummed a casual tune, he heard an explosion of some kind. Shortly thereafter, he felt the ship rumble and various items and tool in the room that he was in fell from the shelves that they were on and those very shelves came off their hinges. All Shinto could do as he saw everything become affected by the ship’s sudden movement was look. He was still restrained to the table-like prison cell he was on, so he couldn’t really do much.

Silently cursing himself, Shinto sighed and then he felt something and this time it was more than just the rumbling in the room. It was sinister, and yet…”I know this feeling and there’s two of them.” Shinto said as he tried to fixate where exactly on the ship that feeling was coming from. “It’s on this level, I know that for sure.” Shinto was at least narrowing the location of them. “GOT IT!”

Shinto had found them. He closed his eyes and felt out the feeling. It was a power familiar to him, but it was also something that was different. It was a good kind of different, though. He would reach out nonetheless, “Hello? If you can hear me, say something?” Shinto said, sending out words via telepathy. “Listen, I don’t know what happened to get people like you on here, but it must mean that something big happened on Agrabah. Regardless, you seem to be on the same floor I am and I assume something happened to the ship as well since the power seemed to be out or something.” Shinto had to get what he was going to say out before he ran out of time, “anyways, I have a feeling that Nomis and his crazy machines might be coming for you first if I’m right in thinking who you two are. So, here’s what you need to do. Leave your room, take a right, and run down the hall until you pass seven hallways. There is a door on the left. Take it and free me. I know this ship and I can help us escape.” Shinto said, “oh and you better hurry. Odds are is you two only have one minute until Nomis arrives. So, haste is encouraged.”

---

---

“That was not fun.”

Dominic was free from the machine that had him in its clutches. It was at the cost of most of his energy reserves though. Combined with what was drained of him after the pasty, torturer had his fun, Dominic felt that he had enough to at least defend himself and zip through any distance shorter than two hundred miles. After that little shakedown with the ship, he knew that anywhere but here would be best for him.

“I just hope Shin is okay.”

Ace stared at the young woman in the school uniform. She looked a tad old to be wearing that, and much too mature to even be near it. This woman was a stranger to him, yet he felt vulnerable when she looked at him with a chiding expression and told him off. She wasn't human, the thought blared in his head like a siren. Ace looked to Shizuka, who only shrugged her shoulders.

"The Caribbean? Is that where the ship went?" He said, taking out a communication device from his pocket. "Um, do I know you, by the way?" He asked. This woman seemed to know him, and was apparently trying to help them, but he'd never seen her before. Rika clearly knew her, but the two didn't seem close. Shizuka nudged him, nearly knocking the device out of his hand.

"We can trust her, nobody evil dresses like that." She said. Sadly, she had a point. Though he was quite put off by the thought that he was being constantly watched this whole time. And whoever Pepper was could still be heard firing rounds in the distance, rounds that sounded oddly unlike conventional gunfire.

"Alright." Ace said. "Just how are we getting... there..." His voice trailed off as he saw a familiar face approaching, Cerden. He wasn't alone this time, as there was a woman alongside him. He greeted them on friendly terms, and asked if he could come with them. Ace began to question the man's sanity. After what he had said to him the last time they spoke, how could he think this was okay?

"Cerden, wasn't it? Someone important was just taken by that ship, a ship I have a strong feeling is connected to Nomis. Now I know I'm in no position to order you to do anything, but I did say that before I would even think of working with you, you had to take care of your brother. You haven't done that, and the man is still causing us trouble." Ace glanced towards the woman next to Cerden. "I don't have much reason to trust someone that has family in the Empire, much less used to work for them, can you give me a good reason as to why I should trust him?"



Running was taking it's toll on Asahina's legs, and her lungs, and her back with Jasmine on it... Overall she was yearning for the comfort of a nice couch and a glass of lemonade. Jasmine was still unconscious so unfortunately she couldn't drop her and take care of whatever was chasing her easily.

As she came across an intersection of halls she felt something strange, like a light pulling on her mind. Then a voice started speaking to her. "Okay... um, voice in my head. Whatever you say." Thankfully telepathy wasn't something she was unfamiliar with, as she'd learned about it in the academy, but experiencing it was something else entirely.

Taking a deep breath she sprinted, following the voice's directions. trying to pass by seven halls exactly proved to be a tad difficult considering how damaged the ship was, but she managed to find her way to the cell. she summoned her keyblade, and unlocked the cell door. Before whoever was inside could leave she sent the keyblade away, it wasn't a good idea to broadcast that you were a wielder these days. "Hello?" She called out, hoping she wasn't walking into a trap. Again.



Having arrived via a corridor of darkness, Ryoko had decided to rent a room in a hotel in Twilight Town. Considering many of her things had been blown to smithereens, she also had to do some shopping later. Meanwhile, Gavin was locked inside her room. She rented out the entire hotel, not a difficult thing to do given her status.

She was currently standing in front of a large building, the mayor's office. Standing at the door were two men in black suits. One with red spiked hair, and the other bald and wearing sunglasses. The red haired man opened his mouth to say something to her, but one look at her eyes convinced him otherwise. Ryoko wasn't in the mood for games at the moment. "Reno, Rude. Since you are here I'm assuming he's in, yes?" She held up a hand, not waiting for a response. "I need to speak with him."

She walked past the duo and into the building, she'd been here before, so she was quickly able to find the Mayor's office. Upon opening the door, she was greeted by a blond young woman and a dark haired man, both also wearing black suits.

"Ryoko! The boss is having a meeting right now, you'll have to come back later." The blond said, trying her best to avoid eye contact.

"Helen, move."

"It's Elena! You didn't even try that time. Leave or I'm gonna make you." She said.

"Do it then."

"F-Fine!" Elena threw a punch at Ryoko, which she easily side-stepped, leaving the girl to trip and tumble forward, rolling into the far wall.

"Anyway..." Ryoko stepped into the room, ignoring the odd looks from the man sitting at the desk in front of her, a middle aged, balding man that was currently meeting with the Mayor. Sitting across the impressive mahogany desk was a much more intimidating man, even sitting down one could see that he was easily over six feet tall. He wore a suit, but it did little to hide his strong physique.

"Shinobu, may I have a word?"

---

Cerden smiled. He waited for Ace to say what he was going to say before he would respond. He remembered the last time that Ace spoke to him. As much as it was then as it was now, Ace’s hate for the Empire was ever-present. If anything, it might have gone up a bit after those two princesses were taken by Nomis. So it wasn’t a surprise that Ace was just as hostile(without being rude of course) as ever.

“Yes, losing two Princesses of Heart at the same time would indeed kill team morale, now wouldn’t it?” Cerden said, eyes closed and a smile cracked. “Surprised? Don’t be. As I’ve told you, I was formally with the Empire, so it shouldn’t come to you as a surprise that I know who those two lovely girls were.” Cerden said, “but that is not why we approached you.” Cerden.

Suddenly, Ace’s attention went to Flora as he asked her why he should trust Cerden. The latter also looked at Flora as he was curious what she was going to say. Meanwhile, Flora knew that she had to choose her words carefully.

“It’s true that both of us are former Empire personnel and you kids, whose lives have been taken by The Empire, have all rights to hate anyone affiliated with the Empire -- former or otherwise. However,” She paused, looking Ace directly in the eyes, but a tear formed from the edge of her left eye, “we are not like them. We’re trying to do right by the worlds and fix what we both feel was our fault. Plus--” FLora siad, her voice trailing off as more tears formed in her eyes.

Cerden put a hand on her shoulder, comforting her. She turned away, trying to hide her tears. --plus, her brother along with one of our closest and oldest friends was kidnapped by The Empire along with those Princesses of Heart.”Cerden said, finally revealing why they really wanted to join with the kids, “you can hate me and my past, but you can’t let your stupid pride cloud a great opportunity for both parties.” Cerden walked up to Ace,looking down at him as they were eight inches in height difference and not cause he viewed Ace lower than him, “You want to take down the Empire and so do we. You want to rescue your two friends and we want to rescue our two friends. You want knowledge on the Empire that you couldn’t get on your own and we can provide you with that knowledge.” Cerden said, holding out his hand hoping it wouldn’t be like last time when Ace blew Cerden off. “What do you say, Ace?”

---

---

Good, they’re heading this way. . All Shinto could do now was play the waiting game as the two minds that he reached out to would find themselves to his prison cell.

Minutes went on by until Shinto felt the two minds come in. Due to the absence of light, Shinto couldn’t tell who it was. All his ears would hear next was the cell door turning as if being unlocked by a key. He thought that was weird since he didn’t remember seeing a key being anywhere in the room. In fact, Shinto was almost positive that Nomis wouldn’t just leave a key lying around for anyone to use. If he did, Shinto would have used it long ago via the use of his telekinesis.

Whatever. Shinto shrugged at the thought.

It didn’t matter because within the next few seconds, the cell door opened and he would walk out. When he did, he came to a view of two teenaged girls -- one of them standing in a slightly defensive position and the other over her shoulder. “I’m so glad you didn’t think I was some weirdo who potentially lead you to your deaths.” Shinto said, chuckling.

As he got situated with the lack of light, Shinto started to stretch his muscles and joints. He had been cramped up in that small cell for god-knows how long. A half of a minute of just releasing the tension in his arms and legs and back and neck was all that he needed. He rolled his arms a few times, having his right hand on his left shoulder as he rotated that arm and then he did the same to his other arm, then he popped his back lightly, cracked his neck, and all of his knuckles.

When Shinto finished all of that, he finally gave the teen girl who rescued him his full and undivided attention. “I thank you for rescuing me. The name is Shinto, and yo--”


“SHIN! GET AWAY FROM THOSE TWO!” A loud voice interrupted, “I’LL SAVE YOU!”

A crimson-haired male entered the room, zipping towards Shinto and the latter used his telekinetic powers to force the male back, crashing into the left side of the doorway.

“You idiot. This one here saved my life, no thanks to you.” Shinto annoyingly said.

Dominic rubbed his neck as he had hit the wall pretty hard. “Oh.” He said, realizing that he acted first and didn’t think. He always did that.

“In any case, I think we should get going. I don’t know how long until Nomis gets here, but no doubt with Dominic loud vocal burst, it didn’t help.” Shinto said, leading the girl to follow him. “Oh, Dominic, be a lad and carry the unconscious girl. I think she’s too heavy for the little one.” Shinto ordered Dominic

"You got it, Shinny my boy!" Dominic said.

Just like Dominic does when Shinto does just that, he grabbed the unconscious girl over the teen’s shoulders. Whether she wanted him to or not, it would be a lot easier if Dominic was the one to do it. Time was not on their side and they needed all of the seconds that they could manage.

A greater explanation of who and what Aeva was had been put on hold. The focus of the rebel group were all placed on the newer arrivals: a pair of adults, one familiar to Lin in a negative light, and both unfamiliar to Rika. To allow Ace the opportunity to grow, as well as the rest of the group, Aeva stood in silence and waited for the exchange between the youth and the unfamiliar to go on.

The assassin and the great warrior in training were listening with care. Much more than Ace and Shizuka, they were observing the mannerisms of the strangers to break down the positives and negatives, if any, in their appeal for assistance. Rika's posture expressed a lack of caring; her posture was no longer straight, arms crossed over her chest and head tilted to her left in a mixture of disbelief and loss of appreciation. There were some holes in this presentation that were glaring, almost blinding the blonde after the woman of the pair began to tear up. Unable to help but roll her eyes and slowly shake her head no more than three times, Rika glanced back towards Aeva for a moment, finding her patience astounding in a situation such as this. Aeva looked back, prompting the two to have a silent exchange in expression, practically communicating through them. Determining that Aeva had not been in any hurry and was letting this play out, Rika pointed to herself. Aeva gestured towards the pair, offering a silent approval of her voice in these matters. Just as the guy began to wrap up his big exposition as to what the hell he was doing here, Rika cleared her throat to keep Ace, Shizuka, or anyone else present from interrupting.

"So, that presentation of yours, kind of weak." she bluntly stated, placing apathy in the tone of her voice and the shrug of her shoulders. If left up to Ace he would probably fail to understand just what was wrong with all of this, or worse, he'd probably let his emotions for the guy being Empire completely decide the outcome of this laughable attempt to get recruited. Hopefully he would keep silent and learn a little bit, as she hoped Shizuka and Lin would.

"It's good to value your abilities, but the shock value of someone who used to work with the Empire having knowledge of who the Princesses are? Nonexistent right now. The fact is, we know who they were, you knowing isn't of any consequence to us, or a boon. Congratulations, you know what we know." The green glow of Rika's faultfinding eyes looked to Flora. "Your girlfriend almost saved you. Almost. Ace apparently asked you to take care of a little problem before, which I wasn't present for, and you apparently failed in that task. So riding on the coattail of an emotional outbreak was probably your best chance. Heck, it might even work on some of them, but then ...you shot yourself in the foot." Her attention returned to the male. "You don't suggest to join forces with people and then build yourself up at the same time. You came to us. You need us. All that attention to Ace is cute, yet his role as leader is subjective, pretty much a kindness. Everyone here gets a say on this decision, so your best chance was to offer your attention to everyone present. And-- can I just say something else real fast?"

Holding up her hands, the demeanor of a judgmental assassin had turned to one of unbound cheer. She was recalling something in recent memory, the build-up of laughter practically becoming contagious again when she thought about it. The loss of Asahina aside, it was going to be funny to her for the rest of her life.

"We are dealing with possibly the worst -- the WORST -- strategic leaders that the Empire can offer. Hell, maybe even the worst of all time. I suppose you were missing in action when they crippled their own base of operations and rendered that bloodsucking factory inoperable of their own accord?" The laughter died, yet the grin was still on display, no sign of dying down just yet. "But you want to know what really, really killed you? It's the fact you can't help but underestimate each and everyone one of us when it comes to this info of yours, and I doubt you know the full extent of what we are all capable of to begin with. No strong foothold to make your companionship desirable, going in a subtle circle about how your information is so important, how we'd be crazy to pass this opportunity up -- none of this helps you. What helps you most is stepping off that high horse and coming down to the level of everyone else, of properly valuing the people you actually seek out for assistance. Sucking your own dick is a great talent, yet it's not useful here. You couldn't even offer any legitimate intel before you did so. Beautiful."

Rika clapped her hands together just once, peering around at her comrades. "Was that everything or does someone have something to add? Because my vote is pretty damn clear right now."

Lin's hand had shot up immediately, although her physical attention had never left Cerden. Highly unusual for her, her eyes had been narrowed slightly to capture every inch of the man's attitude and choice of expression. Throughout Rika's monologue, she was left to look into her own heart to make a decision she could feel comfortable with. This was a decision that everyone should come to, not only one. She believed in Ace's decisions and believed in him, yet her previous feelings about Cerden had not changed. Nor had he. Lowering her hand, the young warrior offered her own opinion on the matter.

"You're conceited. The way you smiled about our group losing two people, people important to us and those not present, was disgusting and shameful. And not only that, but the way you speak of pride getting in the way is most ironic, especially if you consider that you did not intend to humble yourself upon announcing your intentions. Not once did you offer any condolence for our predicament, even when you had made clear that you share it." The normally peaceful, balanced Meilin was shaking lightly, fists balled tight at her sides. In her eyes was unmistakable contempt. "After last time, after you arrogantly observed as innocent people were put at risk and stood by, I believed you might have seen the error, that you might have opened your eyes to the helplessness of others."

The silence that followed was deafening. For Rika, it was something major when the sweetheart of the group was being realistic about everything. She smiled still, her cheer replaced by approval.

"I dedicate my life to helping others, but you're ...impossible. If you changed, if you could humble yourself, I would have gladly forgiven you." Lin lowered her head in thought, wanting to choose the next set of words carefully. The passion in her voice had not wavered, even now. "For now, I say no. I do not wish to travel with you, even if it is for a short time."

~-~

The deep brown eyes of the Mayor stared back at the distraught visage of his sudden visitor. His guest was shivering with fright at the abrupt appearance of this young, beautiful woman with a stare so hard it could kill were it directed entirely at him. Meanwhile, as the colorful group of his personal unit came to join just behind Ryoko as if waiting for an order from him, Shinobu raised a hand to halt any sudden action from them. He stood up quietly, his firm form easily towering over his guest. Extending a hand, the intimidation that the Mayor carried appeared only due to his size; pleasantly, and with an apologetic tone, his address to the guest was brief but meaningful. The majority of their discussion had already been concluded, fortunate for Ryoko considering he had valued his word being kept. If you scheduled time with him, you got it. Offering thanks, the man had grabbed his things and quickly left the room. The Turks had not let his wide range to stay clear of Ryoko slip by them. The redhead snickered quietly and closed the door behind him, moving past Ryoko and taking the seat the man left. All at once the desire to be professional had left him. Strange to those that might not know him, Shinobu had said nothing about the casualness of his guard's actions.

"You know, only two women in my life could get away with that comfortably." Shinobu took a seat once more, gesturing an open hand towards one of the free seats that weren't taken by his guard. As if on cue the redhead moved to place his feet on the desk, which prompted an immediate look of dare from Shinobu, resulting in the young man trying to play it off by stretching his arms and sinking into his chair.

"One of these days she's going to make me actually have to escort her out of the building," Reno joked, offering a wink to Ryoko. Rude, Tseng and Elena had taken placed in different areas of his office. Rude had settled beside the door, Tseng comfortably stood beside Shinobu, while Elena had stuck her tongue out at Ryoko before moving to the free side of Shinobu's flank.

"Calling worked too, by the way." Shinobu stated, "I'd offer you a drink but I'm currently out of stock ...and given that look in your eye, something tells me you either want to drown in booze, or kill someone. Let's hear it."

His comrades had made it clear, almost excessively so, one could say. Cerden was being put on trial by a duo of prosecutors, his character had been so thoroughly assassinated that Ace could almost hear the jury crying out guilty and calling for the gallows. Rika enjoyed tearing into the man, as anyone could see or hear as plain as day. He couldn't see the entertainment himself. Lin, on the other hand, was quite serious. He rarely saw the girl this upset, it took a lot to get on her bad side and stay there. Ace shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I'd say we're done here, no one here cares to work with you." He said.

"Excuse me." Shizuka, who had remained quiet the entire time, spoke up. "I'll go with them." She said, her face as serious as an 80 year old politician.

"What are you talking about Shizuka, we just-"

"No, not we, all of you. I haven't said a thing yet. I'll take them to the Caribbean, you guys can go with... umm." Shizuka's serious countenance morphed into one of confusion. "I didn't get your name actually." She glanced at the young woman's uniform, and reflected on how mysterious she was. "You guys can go with the Chuunibyou, I'll take the ship."

Shizuka took the communication device from Ace's hands. "Chizuma, that's you on the line isn't it? So you've heard everything. Send the ship to my location." She frowned and looked around as Chizuma spoke back to her. "It'll be fine, I've flown a gummie ship plenty of times, and I've only crashed a few times." She said. Ace let out a groan and stepped towards her.

"You can't just go off like this, we need to stick together." He said. Shizuka pouted and crossed her arms. "This isn't a game Shizuka, you need to listen to me and stop being so stubborn." Ace's voice began to rise.

"I don't need to do anything, Ace. I joined this cause under my own terms, and I will do what I think is right. We need to find them as soon as possible." She said back, her tone increasing in intensity as well.

"You can't trust these people, what if they leave you behind as soon as things go wrong? Stop trying to play hero, or you'll end up like Capell!" As soon as the words had come out of his mouth, Shizuka slapped him. Her lips were pressed tight, and her head hung low.

"We can't keep fighting in fear, Acesto." She said, talking to herself as much as she was him. Ace moved her stinging jaw around, Shizuka was stronger than she looked.

"Fine." He said, a few seconds later a sharp edged gummie ship warped into the sky above them, courtesy of Chizuma. From her command center she had access to a staggering amount of things, remote access to a ship waiting in orbit was just the tip of the iceberg.



"Your wife is taking good care of you, I assume?" Ryoko said, taking the free seat offered to her. Shinobu was a man that looked like he should be in a gym somewhere chewing on a raw piece of steak as he bench pressed kegs of beer, but in truth he was an honest, respectable man that she had known for years. Even she had friends.

Reno made an offhand comment, she didn't want to strangle the man so she nonchalantly flipped him off while still looking towards the person she had actually came to see.

"I have had literally the third worst day of my life today." Ryoko grumbled. "I feel like downing an entire bottle of whiskey." She leaned back in her seat and rubbed her forehead with the palm of her hand. She almost forgot why she had come to see Shinobu, but the ringing in her head reminded her of explosions, which reminded her why she had come. "I'm sure you've heard about what happened in Hollow Bastion. That was fucked up enough, but then those damn rebels decided to head for Agrabah next. They invaded the palace, and..." Ryoko let out a nauseated groan, feeling ill just thinking about what happened.

"He blew it up, damn him to oblivion he blew it up Shinobu. Nomis's ship just turned the palace into a crater." Ryoko slammed her hands on the desk. "Can you give me one.. no three good reasons why I shouldn't murder that asshole?"



"Heh, yeah. Who would think something terrible like that?" Asahina said with a guilty chuckle, not like she could be blamed for being a little paranoid at this point. The man had apparently been in that cell far longer than she had, as his eyes were forced to adjust to the light, and his body had to become accustomed to having space to move around in again. When he was finished stretching he introduced himself, only barely getting his name out before a loud voice started yelling through the corridor. "Wha!?" Asahina turned bug-eyed as a large man sprinted in her direction. Not knowing what to say to ease the misunderstanding quickly she only managed to blurt out "No teamkilling!"

Thankfully Shinto blocked the man from treating her like a spare pin in the last roll of a blowing championship game. After a short exchange between the two, Dominic took the liberty of lifting Jasmine from her shoulders. "Oh, um, okay." Asahina wasn't sure if letting him take her was a good idea, but she did know not having to carry her anymore was a blessing.

The familiar sound of skittering metal against the ship's floor sent a shiver down her spine. She turned to Shinto. "Now would be a good idea to take us to that way out of here."

---------------------------------------------------

~~~~~~Storm Raging Sea/Port Royale/Command Room of Trident Warship~~~~~~

...Command(Core Diagnostic): Main Core - Offline.

Reason: Primary Connectors severed.
Solution: Remaining power has been rerouted and transferred to Reserve Power Stations.

......

…Command(Reserve Power Diagnostic): 62% remaining within Reserve Power Stations.

Reason: Stations 3, 7, and 8 damaged beyond basic use. Secondary Connectors to hold non-stored energy until Stations are available.
Solution: Remaining Stations 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 currently storing excess energy beyond safety limits. Warning, measure insures release of static build-up through available outputs to allow non-stored energy access to available Stations.

......

...Command(Lyphemus Systems Diagnostic):
Primary Engines - Offline
Secondary Engines - Offline
Primary Weapons - Offline
Secondary Weapons - Online/70%
Gravitational Tethers - Online/40%
T.R.I.D.E.N.T Class C Shield Emitters - Online/90%
Primary Long-Range Communication - Offline/Power Conserve
Secondary Short-Range Communication - Offline/Power Conserve
Internal Sensors - Online/63%
External Sensors - Online/55%
.......

The list on the screen went on and on for Nomis, the many Offline symbols clearly outnumbering those that were Online, even the partially working systems. It was clear the main problem was that of a lack of power. Without the Main Core many of the systems were simply dead, the Reserve Power having a hard enough time trying to keep the systems it deemed important, that of Air-Filtration, Sensors, even Weapons, from going Offline. The event of the crash causing a similar situation to that of a ship damaged after battle.

The raising of the ship’s shield helped with keeping the waves from crashing against the sides of the vessel, though the force behind them was still enough to echo loudly once they now had another surface to strike against. From the looks of the storm from inside the shield, it appeared it wasn’t going to end anytime soon, in fact the increasing intensity of the waves was a good enough sign that things were going to get much worse.

The ship was in no way capable of taking flight again, at least not without help, and definitely not within the timeframe until the power ran out. And so as each non-necessary system was shut down by Nomis, and the Reserve Power slowly began to rise, the single monitor Nomis had to work with already was busy with another program, the initials L.R.C printed on the top of said open window.

“Ilios...send a ship immediately to the source of this transmission. An explosive discharge of energy has grounded this vessel and I need to extract any usable data from the systems. Respond with estimated timeframe for arrival.”

No voice came as a reply. The readings for the outgoing signal appeared to show it breaking up time to time, the strength of the broadcast wavering even reaching dangerously low levels before rising again. Any kind of a message sent through would become the same way, stretching and distorting before finally fading out of existence. Only bits of the message would be sent out if lucky, but this wasn’t what Nomis wanted.

...Command(Primary Long-Range Communication Diagnostic): Long-Range Communication Array - Online/23%

Reason: Redirection/Booster Arrays severely damaged, unable to project signal over greater distances.
Solution: Damaged systems and Energy Limiters disengaged from Main Array will allow higher input of power for continual transmission. Warning, course of action may cause further damage to Array’s internal systems over prolonged use.

“...some of the Primary Connectors may be salvageable...pieces anyway...and perhaps the reinforced plating from the damaged sections could be used to take the brunt of the heat during the transmission…” The list Nomis seemed to be making to himself appeared to get longer the more he spoke to himself.

Already the few Hooded Figures that had survived the crash in the room were already silently moving once again. The figures seemingly knowing exactly what to do as they began to cannibalise the damaged monitors and machines from around them, carrying piles of metal and wires before marching out and into the connecting hallways.

It was only when the Control Room went dark that Nomis finally made his way out after the Hooded Figures, the sound of metal scraping against one another echoed loudly throughout the hallway as Nomis swiped his Tainted hand through the air, forcing the heavy steel doors to close after him. The Hooded beings stood waiting at the end of the hallway, the rest of the way blocked just like many other sections of the ship had become, yet the group waited for their Master, standing to the side to allow the man to inspect the collapsed rubble for himself.

Just like with the heavy set of dark laced doors, the rubble easily parted once Nomis raised his hand, the struts of dark metal seeming to have no problem taking the weight of the rubble as they formed a basic archway for the group to immediately start passing under. The sight of the floating Birugs hard at work was what waited Nomis and the others on the other side of the rubble, the hovering machines taking the places of workers, management, and even transport, the little robots having no trouble levitating the expertly cut panels the others had taken from the hallway.

Taking one of the watching Birugs, its large red lense staring wide at it’s creator, Nomis seemed not to be talking to the one before him, but actually ordering the others through it.

“Repurpose all useful items from the Main Core, including any workable Primary Connectors, and gather them all at the base of the Communication Array. And if any guests are running around down there, keep them out of the way until I’m ready to deal with them.”

~~~~~~Storm Raging Sea/Port Royale/Lower Decks of Trident Warship~~~~~~

The skittering of many legs continued to echo through the hallway with Dominic, Asahina, and the others, the sound seeming to say that the small group should be seeing the source of the noises right there, and yet the sounds still continued all around them. The moment some of the noises stopped near one of the walls was the moment a focused beam of energy shot out from behind the sheet of metal, the energy appearing just ahead of the leading Shinto but soon began to follow the wall back towards him.

Soon more of the same types of beams began to pierce through the walls of the hallway, each one taking a few seconds to start moving in their own particular direction, yet it soon became clear what exactly they were doing once all the beams started to close in on one another. Having cut perfectly shaped squares, the panels easily fell from their place with a heavy thud, revealing the Birugs latched onto their surface with spider-like legs.

Turning to face the group of four, the closest Spider Birug glared with its red lense of an eye, the gears inside it whirling into a sound close to a hiss, and causing the others that now littered the hallway ahead of the group to do the same. Scurrying towards Shinto, the lead Spider Birug gave a warning in the form of a brief blast from its laser, the red beam of energy burning past his shoulder before leaving the scorch mark on the wall behind the man, while the familiar sounds of skittering legs began to echo once again from behind the walls, this time coming from behind the group.

---

A minute passed after Cerden and Flora pleaded their case and nothing came. The silence was awkward and uncomfortable. Both Cerden and Flora looked at each other within in those thirty seconds. While they didn’t say anything, the looks that they exchanged were of uncertainty. They neither had any feeling that what they said was bad or good. All they knew that the silence was a killer.

And then one of them spoke.

He stood there listening not saying anything. Cerden wanted to hear every word from those who had anything to say. He knew these kids wouldn’t just let he and Flora join them, especially given who they used to be aligned with. In fact, Cerden would have found it odd if they blindly accepted them just because they needed help or something of the like.

The blonde spoke about how Cerden’s case was flawed and the presentation weak. She stated that most of what he said they already knew and provided them with literally no new knowledge. She would then go on to remind Cerden of the obvious and that was that he hadn’t dealt with Nomis yet. She continued on and on about what Cerden said, mainly breaking and ripping apart every little thing he said. And then she would further speak negatively towards Cerden, stating that he gravely underestimated them, which wasn’t true.

On the inside, Cerden had a feeling of genuine intrigue. Did he really come off that way? Really, he didn’t know that. Cerden had always been like that for as long as he could remember. Maybe it was these kids felt like they deserved more than they were getting and perhaps they do. They were giving a universal Empire trouble for it just being a few of them. Perhaps Cerden should lower his own self-worth and actually try to see it from their point of view and by extension, view them as his equals, which he does.

“I’ll admit--” Just as he was going to speak, one of the more silent and more emotional ones of their team interrupted Cerden.

Right off the bat, she called Cerden conceited. Well, that’s a bit harsh, Cerden thought as he listened intently. She would continue to state that the way that Cerden smiled after that they lost two of their friends — The Princesses of Heart — was, in her own words, disgusting and shameful. Okay, Cerden wouldn’t have used those words, but it was her call. At least that was Cerden’s guess.

As she would continue to speak, Cerden allowed each and every word to enter his mind, plant themselves in his memory and he would then analyze. Where the first -- the blonde -- was all about bluntness and maintaining as much of an emotionless stance as possible, the other one -- the Chinese-looking gal -- was filled with emotions and seemed to wear them on her sleeve. She definitely cares for her friends, so much so she would not hold anything back, even her hands shaking. Yes, the Chinese gal seems to be the more emotional one and perhaps that’s a good thing. The blonde was too distant and cold with her emotions, but seemed to enjoy ripping apart my so-called “case”.

Just as Ace had said that the vote was unanimous, one of them spoke up. She was a tall thing, towering over most of the kids. She had remained silent throughout the entire thing, no doubt taking in everything before forming her own opinion and her own decision. Cerden looked at Flora with a surprised look on his face. He had expected all of them to turn them down, but this one that had the grace of royalty stood up to Ace(or so what Cerden viewed at it), and denied agreeing with the rest of her comrades.

When Ace protested, Shizuka cited that they couldn’t fight in fear. Cerden couldn’t help but form a smile and for good reason. Not only did something he said work for at least one of them, but the way she spoke to the supposed leader of the group and the way her ideals came through, Cerden felt a feeling of hope. It sounded crazy, but perhaps for people like he and Flora, acceptance from the rebels and even anyone else they might run into could be possible yet.

And just like that, Ace admitted defeat and he, along with everyone else, were beamed up by Scotty.

With just the three of them, Cerden approached Shizuka. “Gotta admit, I’m surprised. I didn’t think any of you would trust us.” Cerden said absolutely shocked, but in a good way.

Cerden was going to say something, but he saw Flora, who had been silent throughout the entire ordeal, speak out of nowhere, “Shizuka was it? I know that couldn’t have been easy, letting them go off like that,” Flora said calmly, emitting a comforting tone to Shizuka. “You have my thanks…and his too,” Flora punched Cerden’s arm.

“Oh yeah, thanks.” Cerden said, rubbing his arm.

“Now, I think we should get going. Together, I’m sure we’ll find them.” Flora smiled and there was something motherly about it. Cerden took notice to it and smiled softly.

---

“You are correct.” Shinto said, thinking.

They kept on running down a hallway. The idea was for Shinto to figure out how they could escape the ship with as little confrontation with Nomis’ machines as possible. It was definitely a godsend for the ship to be in as bad as condition as it was. The fact of the matter was that, due to how hard the ship crashed, most of his machines were probably damaged. At least, the more powerful ones. There was still a matter of those less-powerful ones aboard and probably still in full-working condition. Shinto would have to keep an eye out for those.

Turning a left, the group continued forth. About a dozen paces, Shinto heard sounds coming from a few hallways ahead of him. In an instant, he stopped, making Dominic stop behind him and Asahina behind him.

“What’s the deal? Why did we stop?” Dominic asked.

Shinto waved his hands, gesturing his friend to shut up. “I hear something.” Shinto said quietly, almost in a loud whisper.

Dominic listened too and he recognized that sound. “It’s the creepy-crawlies..” Dominic said as he backed to the wall behind him.

“The crawlies?”
“Yeah man, the crawlies. Those spider-like machines that Nomis made all those years ago. You remember right?”
“Oh yeah, those.” Shinto said..

They were those machines that Nomis made back during their Dactyl days. They did always creep out Dominic for some reason. The blonde could never understand why. They were only mechanical spiders and they weren’t even that bad. Some of them were actually pretty cute. Though, back then, they mostly reflected what Nomis was like and he wasn’t nearly as bad as he has been in recent years.

“I have a bad feeling…” Dominic said.

And he was right to have said feeling. It was with several sounds of blown up metal that the spider-like machines came to their view. There was a pack of them. Several dozen were surrounding the group. The leader of the pack shot forth a red laser at Shinto, which he waved away with the force of his telekinetic powers.

“Dominic, take the girls and start running.”
“What!? Fuck that man..”
“Look at you, you’re shaking.
“Am not.”
“Just shut up and do as I say.
“Fine.”
“Now, take the hallway to the left of me. I know this area of the ship and taking this hallway all the way through, you should arrive at an elevator that should take you all the way to the highest level. When you’re there, get on the roof and notify me if you spot a way out.” Shinto said, looking towards Dominic, “You still know how to access the telekinetic link between us, right?”
“As if I’d forget.”
“Good. Now go. I will handle these freaks.”
“You better not die or else what will the kids say if their daddy died?”
“I don’t plan on dying here.”

As Dominic left with the girls, one over his shoulder and the other by hand, Shinto turned his attention to the Spider Birugs who were poising for their next attack. He grinned confidently, "So what are you lot waiting for? I dare you to come at me!"

Spectating the exchange between Ace and Shizuka, both Lin and Rika remained silent as the two bickered. Both equally confused at what they were referencing, Rika was the most surprised about Shizuka’s decision to stay with the two strangers, while Lin’s expression had not changed. The young girl’s decision was not an easy one, as she would have been on Shizuka’s side of things had her reasons not been considerable. Still, she held nothing against her for her choice. Rika on the other hand rolled her eyes at the decision but kept silent about her disagreement overall. The reason behind working with them was silly, and just displayed how desperate Shizuka was, but it was her choice to make like it was everyone else’s. For that reason, the Masaki said nothing when all was said and done. Whoever Capell was, it was clearly a tender subject between both of them.

Lin rushed forward to give Shizuka a tight hug, nuzzling her head against her chest and providing a comfortable warmth to her, “Be safe, Shizuka. We’ll see you soon!” she assured her friend before reluctantly pulling away and allowing her to set off on her own.

“Take care of yourself.” Rika could not help but hope for the best for Shizuka, even if she disagreed with her choice. With the matter of the strangers settled, Lin and Rika reunited with Aeva who had stood in silence. Her expression hadn’t changed at all. All Rika had noticed was that the mysterious woman’s eyes lingered on Shizuka for a few moments longer before she had continued.

“As I said, the Caribbean.” Aeva looked among the three presently taking her route to the world. “Of the three of you, Rika has the best pull in that world based on her familial connection and experience. I recommend you allow her to take the lead in that world.” Rika’s expression changed to curiosity, but before she could interrupt with her share of questions related to this new information, a rift beside Aeva had slowly opened out of thin air. From the hole that was created, a tropical set of trees beside a mansion could be seen. “You’ll begin at Port Royal, and from there the world leader will find you. Until then, do nothing reckless.”

Lin’s visage shifted to bewilderment, her hand slowly being raised. After Aeva nodded, her question was given.“World leader? Like …an Emperor, or King?”

“Not quite,” Aeva looked towards the portal, “it’s because of people you’ve encountered here – Okal, Osa and Alem for example – that success here was guaranteed. By my definition, a world leader is someone renown and has almost unrivaled influence, someone that can change the status of the Empire’s occupation and make it concrete, or crumble at its foundation. Okal did not have physical power, but he had information and knew people. Osa provided you a safe haven to recover from your last battle at Hollow Bastion, as well as provided much needed food and water. Alem cared for Asahina and kept her from the Empire’s hold until she could meet with you. Each of them are individuals who encouraged your success on this world and it is because of their aid that you managed to perform so well.”

Lin nodded her head, seeming to understand Aeva’s reasoning, “So Okal, Osa, and Alem are world leaders by that definition?”

“More or less. The Empire is set on absolute power, at the same time underestimating the power of local knowledge and strength. They cannot face your intelligence, and so they take desperate measures to keep up with you, as you all witnessed at the palace.”

Rika snickered. What happened in that dungeon wasn’t getting old any time soon. “You’re right, we can’t overpower them but we can definitely outwit them.”

“You can overpower them …in due time.” Aeva’s eyes touched on Lin momentarily before she resumed looking towards the portal. “However, with the Caribbean, your success is determined strictly by working with a world leader, unlike here. You were fortunate enough to encounter leaders here without stress, but the Caribbean is much more bloodthirsty and cruel. Operating here without the aid of a trustworthy leader is next to impossible unless resources are already present. The Empire has those, and now so do you.”

“The resource, as in the world leader?” Lin asked.

“Yes. Let me conclude by saying that this world is going to test your abilities beyond all others. Stealth, morality, battle, the ability to listen to an order without question, and so on. What has occurred here was just a warm-up for you. You still have much to learn and grow as comrades, and individuals.” Aeva paused, glancing to Rika. “A man of power and influence will be your world leader here, with few to rival him.”

“Is he handsome?” Rika asked. Her tone presented complete seriousness, as did her face.

“He’s familiar. Any final questions or concerns?”

~-~

“I feel like that’s a loaded question, so I’ll just say that I’m happy with my marriage and leave it at that.” Shinobu chuckled. Ryoko and his wife, Nikuya, were old friends too. They had some common interests, but more specifically they had the same temperament. He’d almost consider them sisters if it wasn’t for a few glaring differences between them, namely their ability to interact with others and play nice. With Reno winking at Ryoko in response to her nonverbal request to have him go screw himself, Shinobu and company waited for her to cut to the chase, with Reno resorting to verbal goading more than patience.

“We’re fresh out, and the suspense is killing me. Come on, get to it.” He mumbled impatiently, bringing his hands to the back of his head and resisting the urge to yawn, if only so she didn’t begin to act on her irritation of him.

Touching on the events that took place in Hollow Bastion and then Agrabah, all interest in Ryoko’s story was locked in once she had mentioned that this ‘Nomis’ had chosen to destroy a landmark of another world, all for the sake of wiping out a rebel cell. Shinobu’s face tightened as his whole body grew tense at the news. Tseng and Elena exchanged looks, with Rude looking at Reno, and Reno at Rude. The Turks gathered had their share of emotions hearing that, yet when their eyes fell on Shinobu they had seen him battling with his own responses deep within. He was silent enough that everyone was beginning to grow uncomfortable, even Reno who had picked himself up and moved out of the way of the desk while whistling quietly. The Mayor was a man with a healthy temperament, yet it was when he fell silent that things usually tended to be broken.

After a long period of staring at Ryoko, Shinobu closed his eyes and clasped his hands together in front of his face.

“I’m going to ask you several questions, Ryoko. I don’t want your offense. I don’t want excuses. And I especially do not want short, vague responses. I only want the complete truth as you know it. Are we clear?” He paused, taking a deep breath as he lined his questions up for her in his mind. All lighthearted goodness in the room was overshadowed by the tension emitted from this one man. Not even Reno could save the mood if he wanted. “My first question: where were you when this imbecile began to open fire within a civilian location, especially one as important as the Palace?”

Ace stood by and listened as the mysterious young woman spoke with precise cadence. His mind attempted to drift towards Shizuka, he worried for her safety as she was in the company of people he did not trust. Nevertheless, he paid mind to the stranger's instructions. As she continued to speak, and others asked questions, he grew more uncomfortable. She knew too much, was certain about too much. He no longer felt as if he was in the presence of a normal human being, she seemed almost omnipotent. God isn't a woman wearing a schoolgirl uniform, right?

The shooting in the distance had stopped, apparently Pepper was finished cleaning up. The woman had finished speaking, and asked if they had any questions. Who wouldn't? Ace stepped forward. "How do you know so much, and who are you?" He asked. Typical questions for sure, but important questions.



Shizuka let out a loud yawn, and laid her head down on a control panel in front of her. She had always been fond of the comforting hum that could be heard from the inside of a gummie ship. During her time in the academy she would often drift to sleep while in transit to different worlds for training. She missed how simple things once were.

"You're welcome." Shizuka said, her cheek pressed against the blinking board. "It shouldn't take us too long to get there, with the warp drive we can just follow the coordinates of that ship..." She let out a sigh, blowing air out of her mouth like a leaking balloon. She regretted slapping Ace, even if he had said something stupid, that was a terrible way to part ways. She knew this could be a foolhardy venture, but she felt obligated to help Asahina.

"You two, you're responsible adults, right? Please don't make me regret doing this." Shizuka said, before pressing a button that sent the ship into warp drive. Within moments the ship blasted forwards, and left Agrabah.



Asahina did not feel entirely comfortable leaving Shinto behind to deal with Nomis's machinations, but she couldn't exactly force him to come with them. At the very least he seemed capable enough to fight, he was able to knock Dominic into a wall easily after all.

"Here it is!" Asahina rushed through a doorway, having followed Shinto's instructions. As she ran onto the roof of the ruined ship, she had to shield her eyes from the light of the sun. As her eyes adjusted she strained her eyes to look around. Blue, everywhere she looked around her it was blue. A sense of dread filled her stomach as she realized they were stuck in the middle of an ocean. She walked to the edge of the ship and looked down, by a stroke of luck they had landed on a small island, otherwise they'd be at the bottom of the sea right now. Her options were grim, it seemed as if they would have to fight eventually regardless.



Ryoko tapped a finger on the arm of her chair, her sharp nail nearly tearing into the cushioned material. Shinobu could be quite imposing when he wanted to be. Luckily he was one of the few people she respected, so she tried not to take offense to the way he was speaking to her, she had expected this, after all. "I was handling something else, in the streets. I had encountered another group of rebels, myself and a mercenary engaged them. They all escaped, except for one that decided to teleport the others away and sacrifice himself. He was bound and I was making my way back to the palace. He's in my hotel room at the moment, by the way." Ryoko said with a snicker.

"As for Nomis, I told him to use his ship to stop the rebels if they got too far, as they had infiltrated the palace. I sure as shit did not tell him to just blast the thing into ground zero. I swear that man is going to give me an ulcer. Between this and him blowing up the warehouse in Hollow Bastion, he seems to have a predilection towards destroying Empire property." Ryoko said. She crossed her legs and sat back. "He's getting out of control, I don't see why someone like him should be kept around... What do you think, Shinobu?"

Predictable, but necessary.

“I know so much because I am one of the most omnipotent beings alive, second only to one. I gather intelligence by looking through the part of yourselves that you are the least aware of, the part of you that is always present. It is through that source that I acquire information about you.” Aeva offered cryptically. “And your second question offers me too many accurate answers. Settling for one is nearly impossible, so instead you can just consider me a much needed ally in this fight.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Rika mumbled, cocking her head towards Ace with an unimpressed expression. Teaming up with the rebellion was a great moral decision, yet the leadership had left a lot to be desired.

“Will our friends here be okay?” Lin’s voice brimful of concern for her new friends and comrades, she looked to Alem, Osa and Okal who had still been together in the distance. She had already said her goodbyes with them, followed by Alem offering her a small trinket of unknown origin. He intended it to be for Asahina’s benefit, as well as a memento of Agrabah. With her vanishing, something Alem quietly blamed her for, he had passed it down to Lin instead. It was resting in her pocket, tucked away as a precious item. A tearful goodbye with Osa and Okal followed Alem’s offering, with Okal mentioning that if she were to ever come back she could have a permanent discount of his items. Their time was short, but she’d cherish what little they had.

Aeva nodded her head, “My associate and I will remain behind to work with the rebel presence here. The last of the Empire’s stragglers are being dealt with as we speak. You do not have to worry about them – they’re capable people.”

Lin returned the confidence Aeva gave with a smile, “I’m very glad to hear that!”

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get going!” Rika took the initiative of entering the portal first, but not before offering Aeva a quick wink. Lin took off next, leaving Ace to be the last to enter.

The trip was brief and thankfully not at all like the trip to Agrabah. Rather than a panicked state of mind, Lin was uplifted by the experience of traversing the unknown. While intimidating, the mysterious woman offered Rika and Lin a decent ride for the short time they spent crossing from one realm to another, leaving the couple to experience a free fall effect that left them experience a weightless sensation. Once they had landed their feet again, the ladies’ took immediate notice of the new environment. The dry, humid air of Agrabah was replaced by the welcoming salt-ridden breeze of the port town. Both pairs of eyes examined the surrounding area; an impressive, seemingly abandoned mansion was just behind them. Up ahead was an open gate that likely descended to town.

“Alright. She knows how to withhold details, but I trust her, she hasn’t been wrong so far.” Rika spoke, approaching the open gate with Lin close beside her. With the change in scenery being most welcome, the assassin unbound the jacket wrapped around her waist and shook it free of the dirt and debris that might have clung to it. As she equipped the clothing back onto her body and left it unzipped, she stopped and looked out towards the town with Lin. A beautiful day coupled with a bustling town with several ships in the harbor – Rika thought it was the opening to a film.

“This is a beautiful world,” Lin was beginning to grow excited at the change in scenery, especially scenery so colorful and alive.

“Beautiful, but even more dangerous than Agrabah,” Rika saw the curiosity in Lin’s eyes, but her enthusiastic smile didn’t fade, “Give it a little time and you’ll understand.”
~-~

A multitude of expressions were shared among the Turks as Ryoko continued her story; none showed much sympathy regarding her own trauma, especially since the world they were in was peaceful, and they intended to keep it that way by any means necessary. In place of the compassion the Turks lacked, they were listening to Ryoko steadily make her position worse with each and every word. All eyes eventually returned to Shinobu as she decided to ask a question, yet Shinobu was in another mode of silence in order to process her new information. With the break, Reno cleared his throat and raised his hand.

“Let me just say that I called it; I mean that speech we caught was pretty bad, we all know it, but I was the one who bet that he blew it up. None of you believed it as much as I did.” Reno looked smug about his guess, almost proud of it. It was rare that he could completely one-up his partners like this.

“That’s because it was a ridiculous outcome. Who blows up their own storehouse?” Elena asked.

Reno shrugged, “I don’t know, someone desperate? I’m not paid to monitor that guy,” his eyes fell on Ryoko, “but you on the other hand, you are working with the cream of the crop, aren’t you? What good is being a big, bad general if you can’t—“

Shinobu had slowly gotten to his feet, immediately making Reno silence himself and stand a little straighter. The others weren’t sure of what was about to come next. The well-groomed man in power slowly stepped out from his desk and moved around to approach Ryoko, keeping his pace slow and uncertain. His next move was unknown to the Turks present, yet the suspicion that Ryoko was going to be torn apart psychologically was the strongest possibility. It was rare that Shinobu acted on anyone physically. Ryoko could at least feel some small measure of comfort knowing he would not strike her, but that did not take away from his piercing eyes staring directly at her as he came around. For the few moments he settled beside her, Shinobu up towards the ceiling and took a deep breath before he figured out a good starting point.

“So,” he spoke suddenly, making Elena flinch slightly, “I am to understand that your chain-of-command is both inefficient and reckless? I’ll admit I had my suspicions about the true story behind that warehouse incident as the rest of my companions. There was no value in a rebel attack on a facility only known for storing food and precious supplies, supplies obviously kept from the people.” His jaw tightened, eyes narrowing dangerously towards Ryoko’s hands as if monitoring her stress level. She was never strong at keeping her composure. What she understood now, most importantly, was that she had no choice now. He was her old friend, but that did not mean he would ignore her mistakes, mistakes that could have easily been avoided. “This character you’re upset with, this ‘Nomis’, is precisely the reason why the rebel groups exist. An Empire can maintain order and be valued by the people they’re working with, yet the good deeds of any competent representative of that Empire can be ignored because of a complete simpleton’s actions, a simpleton who was so quick to pin something on the rebel faction that he cost innocent lives and wasted precious resources. Was that not an alarm, Ryoko?” Shinobu’s tone was growing much deeper and unfriendly due to the subject. He paused to recompose himself before he continued again. “Do you know why a rebel presence is essentially nonexistent in Twilight Town? It’s because I work closely with the people here; I listen, I aid, and I especially do not remain lax when I see an unjustified use of power. I took the slander, I endured my critics, and I kept in control of the situation. I took a risk to back the Empire during my campaign run because I believed in the order it could provide to this world – to ALL worlds. I am the Mayor of this beautiful, serene town. Do you know what you are, Ryoko?”

His voice was beginning to rise, the power of his chords unmatched by anyone in this room. If Ryoko wanted to get into a screaming contest, she’d always lose. Her best interests were his; her pride was always a problem, yet he was not a complete stranger to who she is and what she’s lived through.

Even now, he was still her friend.

“You are a beautiful, strong, and intelligent woman who had fought her way to the role of General within the Empire’s military forces. So what I am wondering is why someone I respect so much is sitting here ranting to me about something that is in her power to fix with her own two hands? Take control of the situation as a leader, or you go to someone who can, and who will. The very top of the leadership. The one person you answer to.” He didn’t have to say the name. She no doubt understood what he was saying by now. “Now let me ignore that poor excuse of a leader for just one moment, and let me address what now concerns me. You bring a single rebel here and leave him in a hotel room, unattended? For what purpose? Perhaps we should go there right now and set him free. After all, he was probably trying to stop people like Nomis from destroying the architecture of a world that does not belong to him, of a palace that did not belong to him, for a few people who threatened him. What do you think, Ryoko?”

There was a bit of sound breaking to be heard across the third district. The mercenary came wafting down, standing in front of the fountain while carrying a body-sized blade, harboring a curved hook at the end. It arched in a design that could easily be intended to behead a foe. Justin's body dismembered into disseminated chains, coupled with a transform capability related to wooden locks, steel shackled, and curved bladed similar to guillotine. Phillip became enticed in rather impressive armor, used to reduce the pressure implemented on his body from biding upon making strokes with his sword as an extension of himself. Vortemis carried two massive gauntlets, each contained a massive compression of aero-spells, tightly fitting the shape of his fists. Lastly General O'nam outfitted a multi-faceted bow carved entirely out of a yellow light, most notable, a circle spins in between the center of the bow.

"The master always said, it would be a waste of time to try. Well, let's see how his completed article stacks against his prototype system."

Salforge spawned a bank of his specialized blocks to set of a defensive perimeter. A slow walk was performed, his back ablaze with an orange light of his specialized weapon spawned from the Kakugane CI. This had to be the most vulnerable he'd been, and each of them there, with the exception of Justin and the white knight, understood why this was. They would be in for a surprise.

The knight came first, followed by a loud thud against the marble ground, the sound of a loud ping echoed through the air as even the floor was being protected. The mercenary waved his finger at the enigmatic adversary, "We can't have you doing that a second time."
The knight stepped in followed behind by Phillip who swung in sync as the knight armed with a right jab. Both were greeted with blocks to parry their melee attacks and they quickly bounced off with a push away from the blocks.

A chain jettisoned past them both, slicing straight through one of Salforge's blocks. Nailing him in the back, but protected by his blade it ricocheted off. A strong wind blew his way, disharmonizing the rotation of his blocks, creating an opening for the largest of their group. He came in, issuing a shoulder charge and collecting enough movement to trigger a charge animation. The mercenary turned an raised his wide sword to act as parry, stopping his brutal charge by diminishing the surrounding momentum.

"Surprised? No worries, it gets better."

The mercenary stepped to the side and tucked Vortemis' arm under his, using his what strength he had, threw the massive giant over his shoulder and into Justin, the two toppled and rolled into the third district's main door leading to first. A violent ping was heard, and they sat in a daze for a few moments. Salforge had eyes on Phillip, the knight, and the general now, O'nam raised his bow dubbed "Perjury" and the wheel mechanism spun violently.

"You won't survive this time, my Perjury's Full Circle will emancipate your futile existence contracted with our ranks."

"I don't ever really remember seeing this before. You were always conservative and secretive, if it's anything like your base skills, then the effects must be terrifying."

"Oh. You actually sound frightened."

"Is that an emotion of some kind? I was remaining rational, yet cautious, but if you care to equate it with fear, by all means friend."

"Join the countless other i've slain in the Death Garden. Perjury: Full Circle."

O'nam's declaration was one rumored before a wipe, Commander kept him close as this was an example of what it meant to be a war machine. The circle spun from the bow, detaching, and growing larger encompassing the space around the mercenary exclusively, the ring turning into a dome-like structure, painting a ceiling above Salforge's head. It appeared as though at that point he was officially boxed in and left at the mercy of a complete "wipe." Arrows began to phase in, brimming with light, but only slightly distinguishable from the yellow dome. Salforge jabbed his blade through the ground he coated earlier, and drew in the blocks he set in place. He shield himself down to the skin with his strongest layers, coated with O'nam's own light of decay he'd attained upon their first confrontation. As the lights collected, they began to fly at him, ruthlessly hammering away at him as a single target. Magic had a higher impact ratio than physical damage, and even with decay he wouldn't pose the necessary resistance to resist this manner of attack if it didn't end soon, let alone another one.

Eyes looked on, inside of the barrier. There was a click of a cellphone, as if someone was making a phone call. "Hello Cat? You won't believe the NPCs right now in the middle of our game." There was a brief pause, it was a single person against five, it was hardly a fair predicament. A blast came from above and shattered the dome hitting the mercenary directly before leaving nothing left where he was standing.

"What!?" O'nam snapped, but looked forward to see a singed spot where Salforge was just standing, now no one was there. "By the Empire, what just happened!? Is he dead?!"

Their group pulled together, the white knight included. Salforge was nowhere to be found, and absent of where he would've been sent if eradicated by O'nam's Full Circle. He possessed only the power to defend, and this by far was his only visit to this world according to official travel logs. Where did he end up or was he even still alive to begin with?

"I don't like this. What was that light just now O'nam?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Was it her that did it?" the general pointed to the white knight. "I wouldn't put it past her, she knows him. Right? Concordia."

"........." the knight said nothing.

------------------------------------------

~~~~~~Hour after Crash / Port Royal - (Fading) Storm Raging Sea / Rocky Reef - Trident Hull/Bow~~~~~~

While the dull droning of rain could faintly be heard the closer one got to the hull of the ship, it was nothing compared to the mixed sound and senses once they stepped out onto the outer shell. The faint smell of salt clinging to the air along with the gently swishing waves along the rocky reef the huge metal ship was stuck on, it almost seemed like a calm time at sea. That was until one actually looked out towards the horizon to see large waves battering violently against the crackling blue energy, an energy that appeared to have no problem not only holding back the ferociousness of the storm strengthened seas but the raging winds and torrential downpours from above. Streaks of water fell down across the surface of the shield, further revealing the the range to which the energy encompassed as well as the extent it had to go to in order to protect all that was within this isolated bubble of calming existence.

Like most of the other original technology on the ship, the appearance of the large platform that began to rise up from an opening on the ship’s hull, came with a continuing sound of creaking and scraping of metal as it raised up from its lower depths. It seemed like a vast majority of the Birugs throughout the entire ship were meeting here, the normally slow moving machines racing through the air as they levitated chunks of metal and wire towards a large structure being constructed some distance away from Nomis and the arriving Hooded Figures. While the patchwork casing grew higher with every new layer of steel the Birugs brought, the partially deconstructed machine within it could just be noticed peaking over the topmost edges, the parts which once belonged to it now carefully laid to the side, and just like its original form, it too seemed to be in the middle of an upgrade.

Already the Hooded Figures were busy working like the still buzzing Birugs, the monitors and connecting interfaces soon being added to the lowest parts of the casing soon giving the Figures the means to follow the current build of the machine. Stepping towards the towering structure it was only once Nomis and his cane came to a halt on one of the still laying sheets of metal that faced a growing pile of metal scraps that he too began to work. It happened once the older man looked up at the Birugs busy with their levitating, the machines immediately letting go of their heavy steel cargo the moment the layers were suddenly floating through the air by themselves.

Soon flying away to continue their gathering, Nomis appeared to effortlessly guide the metal sheets into multiple places along the structure. Increasing its height and density much quicker than the Birugs could and letting them focus on the rest of the construction, Nomis continued the work along with the machines and Hooded Figures, the bright purple glow from the pile of scrap illuminating the base of the structure whenever the light being cast from one of the ship’s hull lining beacons faded briefly, something which had been growing more common as time went on.

~~~~~~(Present)First Morning Light / Port Royal - Calm Seas / Rocky Reef - Trident Hull/Bow~~~~~~

The downpour had stopped shortly before the sun started to rise, the light somehow signalling the end to the storm raging outside the massive shield of energy. Yet even then the shield stayed on, keeping back the waves even though they were greatly weakened since the fading away of the storm. With the now clear skies and blue ocean bobbing around a pretty large radius from the ship, there was no other sign of the barrier that separated the rest of this world from the ship, unless one knew the exact signs to look out for.

Though the piles of scrap had grown larger as time went on during the construction, by its end, once the last sheets of metal were soldered into place, only a few mounds of cables and shards remained, the actually metal from the piles seeming to not exist any more. The towering array creaked as its top began to turn, the spinning of the large communication wings clearly just the beginning as various other parts of the structure started to react, some twirling around in place like the top while others appeared to piston in time with cracks of static.

“Let us try this again…” Said Nomis as he worked on the final commands needed for the machine to complete its purpose, the dark metal fingers tapping away on the console just before a large release of static which erupted from the circling pistons immediately caused the rest of the machine to speed up in operation.

A sudden but sharp screech of noise echoed out from the monitor the moment Nomis pressed a button, the sound of constant static buzzing out so long as he held his finger in place.

“Broadcasting on all secure channels common to Eleus, Lyphemus, and Thalassa, Class ships. Ilios, once you receive this you are to send a ship immediately to the source of this transmission. Last known flight coordinates are programmed to transmit along with this message. Due to an explosive discharge during flight we are unable to break atmosphere. Information and cargo stored here must return back to the Thalassa as soon as possible. Respond with confirmation…” Nothing but static could be heard as soon as Nomis stopped his recording, though while the seconds soon turned to minutes and it seemed like everything was to be in vain, there came a reply. Not much of one, but still a reply.

“.......is Thyia, message rece….. Master Clacverk. Ilios is b……….formed this second. Additional informati……………….eived and examined. Estim……...ime of available Lyphem………..ship to locati………. four hours, 14 minu……….smission end.”

“The ship should be able to better process the message...perhaps running it through a…” The sudden beeps that came from what appeared to be the lead Birug caused Nomis to look up from the monitor, and to see what looked like a kind of warning light dim in and out from the floating machine’s large eye lense.

“Show me.” Said Nomis, allowing the Birug to whirl around before slotting in beside the console its creator had been using, the screen immediately changing to show the outline of the ship, specifically that of the hull judging by the great gathering of dots in one particular place, although now with an added three much further along the skin of the ship, close towards the back sections.

Swiping his hand in the air towards the flying Birugs, a rather sizeable chunk of the great gathering immediately stopped what they were doing and were soon flying off in formation towards the location of the three signals, leaving Nomis and the majority of Birugs to keep working.

~~~~~~Port Royal - Calm Seas / Hallways of Trident Warship~~~~~~

The Arianrhods (Crawlies) quickly began to multiply as each new panel that was expertly lasered from the wall revealed more of the spider-like machines, the once small group now a massive swarm covering the entire floor as they gave chase after Shinto. While those at the head of the crawling masse continued to shoot their highly dangerous beams at the running Dactyl, it seemed some of the newer ‘Crawlies’ had another idea. The robots quickly leapt from their now exposed hiding places behind the walls, their sharp legs reaching out in order to latch onto Shinto in anyway possible, even if it meant straight through to the bone.

~~~~~~Port Royal - Calm Seas / Rocky Reef - Trident Warship/Stern~~~~~~

The sound of the Birugs internal gears ticking would have been the first thing Dominic and Asahina noticed, the sheer number of them creating a much louder sound than normally possible. The large flock of them suddenly scattered the moment they were in sight of the three figures, the two dozen or so machines soon flying wildly around the group, some unleashing the familiar bursts of stored electricity at Asahina, while a few seemed to prefer a more physical style of attack, actively slamming into Dominic from many sides, possibly as a way to hurt him though most likely trying to disorientate the man more than anything.

During all this, three of the eye-bots suddenly positioned themselves above the group, watching as only two were capable of facing off against the machines, while the third still laid unconscious in the older one’s grasp. Just like they had done with the gathering of supplies, the beams of blue energy reappeared from the machines large eyes, this time focusing on the Princess’ body as they started to levitate her away from the protection of Dominic and Asahina.

---

It didn’t take long at all for the three of them to get into the ship. It was only a matter of minutes until Agrabah was all but vivid memories to Cerden and Flora. From the ruins of the Palace to the vast desert of Arabian Sands, it was planted well into their memory and now they could focus on what lied ahead. More importantly, who lied ahead.

As Shizuka wanted to reassure herself that she didn’t make a mistake, she asked them a rather fair question. Though, it made Cerden and Flora look at each other. They exchanged a look, staring at each other for about a forth of a minute before they both looked at Shizuka.

“Of course we are. Two perfectly responsible adults who in no way have immature tendencies…” Cerden said, a tone of uncertainty covering the sureness of his voice.

Flora shook her head, “don’t mind him, Shizuka. He’s just being an idiot,” Flora said, sighing, “We are both very capable at our job. If you’re worried if we’ll hold you back, don’t be. We weren’t former generals for nothing, you know.” Flora said, leaning back into her chair. “You can say what you will about the Empire, be it they are the most vile organization this universe has seen or that they are the personification of evil. When it all comes down to it, they don’t pick their generals without first knowing their strengths and weaknesses.” Flora said, “so, yes we are very capable of holding our own. “Flora said, reassuring Shizuka that she did not choose wrong.

Looking up, Flora’s gaze came to the empty blackness of space. It was funny for Flora to feel such peace in space considering her abilities only work when she’s on land. It was funny that she had such clarity in the stars where the basis of her being is rooted into the earth with the trees and leaves and plants and water.

“So, Shizuka, what can you tell me about the situation on the Caribbean? I understand that The Empire does not have a factory on that world?” Flora said, recalling what she remembered about that specific world and how it was a unique one that was mostly water and islands of various sizes.

---

How long had it been? A full day? Perhaps even longer? The day had gone on for so long, with all of Nomis’ experiments of torture. Of seeing how long Dominic could remain conscious when bits of his power and reserves were drained thanks in large part to that cruel machine he was hooked to.

Due to everything he was put through, the sight of the blue sky and the birds flying overhead was a welcomed change to the darkness he was in. It was so relaxing and relieving that Dominic set down the unconscious girl for a moment to admire the view of the sky.

A smile cracked on his face. This was a different smile than his usual one. It was something of genuine happiness, not some façade he puts on to hide the pain of his past. It wasn’t the false smile he would put on for Shinto or his sister to keep their spirits up when the situation would be dire. It was something of one-hundred percent joy. It was something that Dominic hasn’t felt in over twenty years, not since the days he was back home and with his mother again. Yes truly this smile was one that Dominic would hold for as long as possible.

“This is a sight that we should enjoy properly.” Dominic spoke, obviously to Asahina, “we don’t know how long the sun will stay out and how long blue skies will remain, especially with the unpredictable weather here on this world.” Dominic spoke as if he knew the Caribbean world. Perhaps he did or perhaps he didn’t and he was just going off of what he felt inside his heart.

Looking over to Asahina, Dominic saw that she was most likely scaling the distance between the ship and the island that it was on. The Crimson Flash also did it and he saw that it was a good distance down. It was maybe two hundred or possibly even three hundred meters down.

Letting out a low whistle, Dominic turned back to where had set the unconscious one down. However, she wasn’t there. Slowly rising his eyes, he saw that she was starting to rise up to the sky. “That’s not normal,” Dominic said

What was even worse, he caught the eye of the storm when a burst of electricity emitted from one of the Birug’s eyes, aimed at Asahina. In a swift motion of pushing Asahina to the left, Dominic put his hand in front of the electricity and absorbed it as if his hand was a sponge to the electricity’s water.

“Thanks for the recharge, Nomis,” Dominic cocked a grin as he waved to the Birug, knowing Nomis was watching somewhere from within the ship.

Suddenly the Birugs came at Dominic with a full-force bot tackle. Dominic would match the speed and strength, possibly even more.

By manipulating his lightning around his body, Dominic sped forward, stepping off of his right foot. In a burst of crimson light, Dominic pushe dhis right arm forward, and crushed the Birug’s red circular lens with such force that it not only sent it crashing into the other Birug’s behind it, but sent electricity through the inner-workings of its being. All three of the birugs exploded simultaneously.

All of that happened in such short time that Dominic didn’t stop as he had aimed his body like a speeding bullet to the three trying to raise up the unconscious girl. He effectively rammed them in a similar fashion to the others. The same effect that had them would have these next three.

In all of but ten seconds, Dominic had rid the top of the ship of fifteen of the Birugs as more kept on coming once Dominic got hold of the unconscious one.

Even though Dominic had the strength to fight them, he knew that keeping on fending all of the birugs off would drain him of what little reserves he had left. So, he had to do something to get away. But with the limited options, that seemed highly unlikely. There was only a small island of reef down below, so DOminic and the others couldn't jump down there. The only other option that they had was to fight and hopefully find some way to catch a ride on some passing-by ship. The latter, however, seemed highly unlikely.

"So, it seems that we have no choice to fight." Dominic said as he appeared next to Asahina at the edge of the ship, "can you fight?" He asked Asahina, looking at the teen with a half-concerned, half-curious look.

---

At first, the Arianhods attempted to shoot Dominic, Asahina, and the unconscious girl, but Shinto put an end to that plan real quick. By releasing a pulse of telekinetic energy, the lasers’ trajectory was slightly elevated to hit the roof instead of the backs of those escaping.

Shinto heard sounds from the Arianhods that, to him, sounded like cries of anger or annoyance. Shinto couldn’t really make it out, but he didn’t have the time to do so because there came more of those eight-legged, mechanical spiders from the walls and their first instinct was to attempt to latch onto Shinto.

Spinning around counterclockwise, Shinto used his powers to create a strong telekinetic barrier of three meters around him. Within the circle he created, Shinto waved his hands around, sending additional telekinetic force on the outer edges of his barrier which would send all of those spiders that wanted to latch their sharp legs onto him back to where they came from.

“Nice try,” Shinto said as he saw that the spiders were now bits and pieces of literal scrap metal.

"Let's get going." Rika said, before going through the portal that Aeva had opened. Lin followed behind, leaving Ace alone with Aeva. Was that it? Was he the odd one for being so unsettled right now? Had they simply not believed this woman when she told them that she was an omnipotent being? She was speaking with vague words on purpose, as if he was on a need to know basis. He had no choice but to trust her, because he did not want to find out what would happen to him if he crossed her. He glanced at her one last time before entering the portal, hoping she couldn't also pry into his head and read his thoughts.

Exiting the portal he found himself in Port Royal, just as Aeva said he would. He had only ever heard of the world, and looking around it seemed the stories had done it a half-justice. The wind blew in the humid, salty air from the ocean, a welcome change from the arid, stale climate of Agrabah. The sea it's self could be seen in the distance, a vastness of blue that draped the edge of the horizon. You couldn't blame anyone for wanting to sail in this world after seeing that.

"If the Empire won't give us trouble here, pirates will." Ace said, turning towards Rika and Lin. "She's right, it is dangerous here, we'd do well to stick together, especially considering how... foreign we appear." He said. His attention then went to the large mansion behind them, it overlooked the town, and it was abandoned. "Whoever lived here must have been important, I bet the empire's first order of business was getting rid of anyone that had influence here... So." He said, looking to Rika. "What's our plan? Go into town? We might need a change of clothes if we want to fit in."



"I think so." Asahina said. She was slightly shaken up by the attack from the mechanical monsters. She had never seen things like them before, Heartless sure, but lightning shooting robots was something else. She had little reason to be confident in her fighting abilities, as far as she knew dealing with Jasmine's berserk state was just a fluke. She watched as Dominic fought off many of the robots, he was coating himself with electricity and moving quite quickly, she wasn't sure if it was some type of magic or martial art. Regardless, she had to help him. She was still uncomfortable using her keyblade, so she decided to use magic. She wasn't exactly a grand wizard, but she had learned all of the basics in the academy. She held up the palm of her hand towards a group of the machines, which seemed to be focusing more on Dominic at the moment.

A swirling ball of ice shot from her hand, and shattered against a machine, completely freezing it, and slowing down those around it as frost clogged their parts. That wasn't all, a fireball followed the ice, exploding upon contact and tearing them to metallic shreds.



Shizuka raised a brow at Cerden and Flora, the answer to her question reminded her of how things went om Agrabah. "Just how often do you bail him out of trouble?" She said, giggling at Flora. "If I didn't know any better, which actually I don't, I'd say you two were dating or something." She said, turning back to the ship's controls. She had successfully locked onto the empire ship's exit point, and were now on their way towards it. She she got out of her seat to prepare to land Flora asked her if she knew anything about the Caribbean. Does a bear play craps in the woods?

"Huh?" Shizuka looked back at Flora and Cerden. "All I know is that it's a nice looking world, and has a pirate problem or something. I don't know if there's a factory or not."

The ship exited warp space, and a clear sky could be seen outside the ship. "Looks like we're here... though it looks like there's no land near us..." Shizuka moved back to her seat, and lowered the ship. "Wait, what is that?" As she lowered the ship closer to the ocean she saw a large object that appeared to be resting on top of the sea. It was the ship they were looking for. "Whaaaaaaat." Shizuka was in disbelief, she had expected the ship to be long gone, not crashed in the sea. Even more unlikely, she saw that there were people on top of the ship, well, people and a bunch of machines trying to murder them, but still lucky.

"Hey, get back!" Shizuka yelled into a receiver that blasted her voice to those below. Locking onto the machines, she activated the gummie ship's cannons, blowing away nearly all of the machines. "Hahaa! Where is your false machine god now!?" She cried out, as she took the ship in to land on the massive cruiser. She lowered the exiting ramp, and hurried down.

Asahina stood dumbfounded as Shizuka ran up to her. "Hey, I know you, you're that girl that was always moping around the academy... you're the Princess of Heart!?" Shizuka said. Asahina looked away with a mixture of embarrassment and disgust.

"I'd rather you didn't call me that. But thank you so much for coming." She looked back to the ship hoping to see Alem or the blond haired woman behind her, but they weren't there. While Asahina was busy sighing upon this revelation, one of the machines attacked her from behind. Asahina was aware of this, though Shizuka decided to step in regardless.

Pulling out a bat seemingly from nowhere, Shizuka dashed forward and slammed the aluminum bat into the bot, sending it smashing into the floor. She tossed the bat off the side of the ship and looked back. "Hey, responsible adults, come and help, the red brick house is one of your buddies, right!?"



Shinobu stood from his seat, an action that made some in the room flinch like startled kitten. Ryoko was more than accustomed to Shinobu's body language, however. He moved beside her and looked her in the eyes, she looked back. He began by criticizing the state of the empire's chain of command, considering Nomis's actions how could he not? He looked at her hands to read her, but she crossed her arms to hide them. Nomis had embarrassed not only himself but anyone that carried the title of general within the empire. And here she was being interrogated by her only friend because of it. Of course it was cause for alarm. She thought to herself. But what was she supposed to do about it then? She hadn't even seen Nomis for months.

Shinobu's mention of good deeds did not go unnoticed either. He was still under the impression that the empire was working in the best interests of the people, he had been lied too. She couldn't tell him otherwise now, it was too late, and there was no telling how it would affect their relationship. For the time being she would leave him in the dark. He next spoke of his position within Twilight Town, and it only made things worse. He backed the empire and was hated for it, yet he won the people over anyhow. Of course he managed to do that.

"Do you know what you are, Ryoko?" The question pierced her, and the silence only made it more painful.

A liar, a killer... someone that has no right to call you a friend. Many things crossed her mind, but Shinobu said none of these things, instead he complemented her. He criticized her for not doing what he believed she was capable of doing. She could no longer look him in the eyes. She lowered her head, and gripped her legs in a vice.
This was what she hated about Shinobu. He could so easily dig into her skin and make her vulnerable. But this is also why I admire him.
This is why she couldn't be with him. She couldn't stand being with anyone that she couldn't dominate. But I've always wanted to be with him regardless.

She was furious, not at herself but towards Nomis. It was his fault that she was being spoken to like this, his fault that she was losing her controlled demeanor in front of Shinobu.

"Could the rest of you leave? I need to speak with Shinobu privately." She said between clenched teeth. There was only one person that was allowed to see her like this, who had always been the one to see her like this.

Rika and Lin looked to Ace as his input was offered. The Royal Navy offered some protection, yet on the open seas they would be fair game. As the Empire settled into more and more foreign worlds, it would be a surprise if the group wasn’t treated as a hostile force. The ability to make an impression might already be determined by those who had erected a flag before them. Rika believed that they could get by if they acted the role they needed to, while Lin looked at her garments and frowned slightly after Ace’s observation. Rika had witnessed Lin’s attention turn towards her clothing and had placed a hand on her shoulder to help put her at ease.

“Don’t worry,” The assassin started, “a little fun fact: the Chinese are here, too. Your clothing may not be so strange. It’s Ace and I who might need to worry, but then again maybe not.”

Lin appeared much more at ease after the fact, nearly hugging herself. The clothing she wore was custom made from her world. To shed it would only be appropriate for bathing herself or washing the outfit. “I am glad to hear it.”

“Chin up.” Rika patted the shoulder of her companion twice before her eyes returned to Ace. She beckoned him to follow closely, eyes momentarily laying on the mansion they were leaving behind. It did seem odd that a home that impressive appeared to be empty. As annoying as it was to admit, Ace might be on to something.

Beginning a descent towards the port, Rika’s eyes traveled from the idle ships resting in the harbor to the line of guards along the towers of the nearby fort. It was difficult to tell from this distance, but the colors were a little too dark for her tastes.

“Our plan …is to not do anything stupid in the meantime, like that woman said. And as much as I’d want to scout out that fort and see what’s changed since the Empire’s shown up, I’m starting to suspect that’ll be a bad idea.” Her hands took hold of her hips, eyes wandering downward to the coarse dirt road beneath them. Tracing several wheel tracks forward towards town, she came to an immediate stop and looked back up. The lids of her eyes had partly closed. “The person we’re meant to meet up with, the world leader that the woman referred to, we can’t do this without them. I thrive in environments like this, but it demands more than skill, it demands immense reputation and ample leadership. None of us have that here, not even myself.”

“Then, do we have any advantage?” Lin questioned curiously, “That woman placed you in charge for a reason. She must see your ability to work well here in some form.”

“Yeah, but that only goes so far. I could gather information, I could kill a target, yet my skills can’t contribute to a complete uprising on the scale we’d need in a world this large. I’m not enough.” Rika shook her head. “That woman said my experience would count, but also my ‘familial connection’. Not only that, she said the world leader would be someone familiar …could she have meant—“

A hand had immediately clasped onto her mouth, followed by a strong yank backwards into the pistol-covered chest of a man who’s visage was hidden beneath a white hood. A pistol was aimed directly to her temple, cocked after the fact for good measure. Although Lin had attempted to summon her weapon immediately, the cocking of the foreign, dangerous weapon caused her to hesitate. She couldn’t see the man beneath the hood, yet his identity was of no use to her at the moment. Taking notice of how tightly the man’s hand was pressed against Rika’s mouth, as well as the knee pressed against her waist to keep her lower body pressed forward at an angle, the young girl determined that this man was doing his best to disable her. The man was not taking aim at them with his pistol in spite of the position he already had Rika in. She was completely subdued, and her expression was both alarmed and curious.

Lin knew of Ace’s ability of detection, and Rika already held considerable skill herself in the art of sneaking. How could someone manage to sneak up on the both of them?

“You,” The hooded man looked toward Ace, the darkness of his hood keeping his features masked except for the tan of his lips and the distinct fuzz of facial hair that shone from the sun, “the one with the pretty face and the sword; state your business.”

~-~

The Turks immediately looked to Shinobu upon Ryoko’s sudden request. Rude and Tseng had no issue with walking away, but it was Elena and Reno who wanted to stick around. The former wanted to see Ryoko squirm a little more just so she knew what it was like to be the one getting yelled at, while Reno just liked the drama unfolding, just as long as it wasn’t becoming too uncomfortable for him. Shinobu had seen the familiar signs of Ryoko losing her grip; rare, but still a surprise after all this time. Despite his impatience for the failures of an Empire he supported up until this point, he was hesitant in making her bear the weight of the consequences now, especially in front of his subordinates. He pulled away from her and relocated to his desk, drawing out the action for a few more seconds than necessary, as if weighing his options in his mind. No matter how he felt, Ryoko still deserved better than this for now. It wasn’t as if she was the one who ordered a careless strike.

“Tseng,” the Mayor muttered, pulling out the topmost drawer of his fine desk and retrieving some keys, “I need you to head to Agrabah immediately and confirm the destruction. When you arrive and get a good measure of it, send me images. And should the people be in a good state of mind to tell you what occurred, have them tell you all they possibly can about what led up to this. Am I clear?” He tossed them to Tseng before any clarification was given.

Tseng – having caught the keys in hand without moving any other inch of his body – nodded his head once. “Understood.”

“Good. Elena will be joining you. This is ample time for her to get some experience in the field.” Shinobu looked to Elena and nodded her head, to which she returned the nod and stood a little straighter. “You’ll do well.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“As for you two,” Shinobu’s eyes rested on Reno and Rude, “I made the mistake of not attending to that trouble in Hollow Bastion. I need you to visit the site of that destroyed storehouse and examine the area; should anything appear out of place, get back to me.” He dug into his drawer again and retrieved another set of keys, tossing them to Reno who had caught them as Tseng did, although with a lot more excitement in his catch.

“These things go to what I think they go to?” Reno asked, his tone oozing with excited suspicion.

“My private hangar, yes. They go to my fastest ships, and can get you to those worlds within the next thirty minutes. That’s as long as there’s no joyriding.”

“You talkin’ about me, boss? I wouldn’t—“

“You would.”

“I so would.” Reno agreed shamelessly.

“Glad that’s settled. Message me once you’ve landed, and call once you’ve made some progress. Dismissed.”

Reno snickered and hustled out of the room quickly, quietly muttering for Rude to hurry up before Shinobu had changed his mind. Tseng followed suit, with Elena tagging behind him appearing very pleased with herself. A rookie finally getting a real field assignment, at long last. With Rude to nod his head at Shinobu and close the door behind him, Shinobu waited until the excited voices of Elena and Reno died down outside before he came to join beside Ryoko again, this time taking the seat Reno had filled and turning it towards her. Taking a deep breath, he gestured towards her with his left hand.

“Continue.”

---------------------------------------------------------

~~~~~~Port Royal - Calm Seas / Rocky Reef - Trident Hull/Bow~~~~~~

Power was being stretched thin once again. Though he was still busy working on clearing up the message sent to him, Nomis still took time to monitor the progress of the Birugs he had sent off to deal with the new arrivals on the hull. While the screen revealed the quickness in which each of the Birugs appeared to be dealt with, the echoing sounds of explosions from further down the length of the ship was the real indicator to how things were going. Yet it still didn’t seem to faze Nomis, the man soon adding more power to the array even when it meant weakening the bubble-like shield that surrounded the outskirts of the reef and everything within it.

Swiping his hand once more, sending a handful more of the Birugs to the source of the fighting, Nomis’ attention came fully back to the screen, the message once more repeating, this time much clearer than before.

“This is Thyia, message rece….. Master Clacverk. Ilios is being informed this second. Additional informati…has also bee...re.eived and examined. Estim……..time of available Lyphemus class ship to locati…is that...four hours, 14 minu…tr..smission end.”

It was at that moment the shield of energy rippled throughout its surface, as if something had struck it suddenly. Glancing to the distance, Nomis’ eyes glared at the sight of a Gummi Ship, something no ordinary person would have means to owning, even those confiscated by the Empire usually had some kind of markings, yet it was clear this was not the case. At full operation something so small wouldn’t have even gotten close to the outer shields, the weapons more than capable of obliterating the tiny ship, something like this only being possible with the event of the crash and the drain in power by just keeping the basic systems online.

"Hey, get back!" Roared a voice from the newly arrived ship, the weapons latched onto its sides suddenly firing before a series of loud explosions echoed louder from the source of the fighting, and coming in time with the immediate deletion of the red Birug dots on the second screen.

Things were beginning to get out of hand, and that was something Nomis was not going to allow again. Already the scientist was busy with the console the message came through, the green text soon reappearing to tell its user that the actions were immediately done.

...Command(Lyphemus System Re-Order):

Power Distribution Order (Previous):

Enabled

(1)Internal Carbon Dioxide Converters
(2)Internal Magnetic Locks (Floor 12 - Sections A1/E9)
(3)Internal Magnetic Locks (Floors 1/11, Floors 13/20)
(4)Internal Sensors
(5)T.R.I.D.E.N.T Class C Shield Emitters
(6)Central Processing
(7)Long Range Communications Array
(8)Short Range Communications Array
……

Power Distribution Order(Current)

Enabled

(1)T.R.I.D.E.N.T Class C Shield Emitters
(2)Long Range Communications Array
(3)Central Processing
(4)External Sensors
(5)Secondary Weapons

Disabled

(6)Internal Carbon Dioxide Converters
(7)Internal Magnetic Locks (Floor 12 - Sections A1/E9, Automatic Sealing)
(8)Internal Magnetic Locks (Floors 1/11, Floors 13/20, Automatic Sealing)
(9)Internal Sensors
……………
The first thing to be noticed was that of the shield. What had once been completely invisible suddenly shimmered into existence, the light blue energy that made it up now much clearer, tinting everything that laid beyond the shield in the brighter colour. While the rest of the functions wouldn’t be as noticeable unless used, the way the shield seemed that much more stable was the important part of the reordering.

It was now that Nomis finally turned his sights down towards the back of the ship, the vague sight of what appeared to be the Gummi Ship already having landed during the time he was busy enacting the new commands. The Birugs he had sent down were nothing but scrap and gears now, he could sense it as he raised his clawed hand in their direction, and though there were many more still buzzing around the array tower with him, the older man now had a better use for the destroyed swarm he had sent originally.

~~~~~~Port Royal - Calm Seas / Rocky Reef - Trident Warship/Stern~~~~~~

As the two groups began to reunite and introduce their new companions to the others, the shattered steel and gears strewn across the entire hull soon took on a familiar dark glow, the gears themselves the first to react before affecting the rest of the scraps. Suddenly it was like a wave of mice or rats skittering around the legs of Asahina, Shizuki and the others, the dark gears of various sizes moving together as if they were alive, the force of them just moving appearing to be more than enough to attract the metal pieces that made up the Birug’s casing, the entire swarm ignoring those around them in order to gather upon the landed Gummi Ship. Building from the hull of the cruiser up, the gears along with their raw resources soon took the shape of what could only be described as claws, their grasp spreading over the surface of the Gummi’s with every passing second until the points of all eventually crossed paths over the top of the ship itself, completing the cage like shape it had become.

Though the ticking of the familiar gears could be heard like before the Birugs had just arrived, this time while being much closer than the flying machines, the sound was more dulled, the scraps the gears brought having doubled up during the cage’s construction, clearly to further stop any sort of escape act. While it was clear they were in no way capable of fighting back in their current form, the added layers would most likely give the living gears time to adapt and repair if damaged head-on.

~~~~~~Port Royal - Calm Seas / Hallways of Trident Warship~~~~~~

With the majority of the Arianhods destroyed, their scrap metal bodies littering the floor around the telekinetic wielder, those that remained soon began to back away from the man and the range of the force he had used to completely break the other spider-like machines. While the sound of the robots squeaks and clicks of gears made it sound as if they were communicating with one another, everything, including the Arianhods themselves, went silent the moment power seemed to immediately cut off through the entire hallway, plunging it into darkness.

The next noise of something changing was that of the repeated slamming of the heavy steel doors that were common throughout the ship, the shutters echoing loudly as they sealed themselves up, even the familiar glow of the doors consoles appearing dead to the world. The most troubling sound however was something that was very important, especially to the living Shinto, that of the many vents which collected and redistributed the re-oxygenated air throughout the ship, going deathly silent.

While the now finite air within the hallway and others would last long for a single person as they were, it was unfortunate for Shinto this was not to be the case. The sudden event of complete darkness seemed to cause the Arianhods to re-evaluate the situation, the only sign of light now coming from the brief glow of the lenses from the machines just before their blasts of energy fired upon Shinto. Though some blasts would no doubt be redirected, the familiar sound of the lasers striking the surrounding metal walls along with the smell of smoke meant only one inevitability, that in time the oxygen within the hallway would be replaced with a heavy cloud of laser burnt smoke.