{Leaving Dark Depths}

Odin ignored the silent reply from his fowl, grumpy comrade in the air. He always hoped Merlin would get rid of him. Maybe a fish would be better... It certainly wouldn't be flipping- His thoughts suddenly came short as he turned his head, looking over to Lern. He shook his head a bit. "Not very frequent. But an attack of any kind is always more than you would like... I am Odin, an Eidolon." The large, muscular warrior said nothing further, leaving their trek back to town very quiet.

{Town Gates}

Odin had arrived, noticing the wizard immediately as soon as he was in view. Without a sound, Odin hovered his visage up and over to the wizard as others began drawing in. When Merlin began to speak, he waited, letting the wizard finish what he needed. Odin took a glance around, taking better note of each person that he now knew he'd bee seeing more of. When Lern spoke up, Odin felt it time to voice a few words.

"Those creatures... They are only half of a real problem." He said, immediately realizing how vague it sounded. "Any being with a strong heart and will to bend Darkness can control the Heartless. And what they lack individually, they more then compensate with sheer numbers." He folded his arms over his translucent chest. "But those were Shadows and Soldiers, from what I saw before I reached the Depths... There are still many more unseen, and each many more times powerful than these were." He then tilted his head back, thinking about what Merlin had said.

"... You are better minded with the mystic arts than I... But hopefully the manner in which I simply exist will prove a hindrance for them, old friend." He floated past the others, then floated straight through Merlin, moving to hover just behind him and wait. The others would like want answers first. Odin and Merlin could both help with that.

_________________

[}Furor, Town Gates{]

"Furor Elogium, Hollow Bastion native and now hunter of the Heartless." he replied curtly to the elderly man, accepting the gesture.

He stepped back, noting the "giant". He listened to him talk, contemplating what other Heartless could be lurking about, and who, or what, might be controlling them.

_________________
'Samus. That's the only name you'll hear. Samus. It means the end and the death. Samus. I am Samus. Samus is all around you. Samus is the man beside you. Samus will gnaw upon your bones. Look out! Samus is here.' - Horus Rising by Dan Abnett

I can see clearly now the rain is gone! I can see all obsta-- *runs into a pole*

The Ardent Sun landed in its usual space in Cid's Gummi Workshop, and the entire crew, after unloading the supplies onto a wagon, got off the ship, even Vesper, who hardly left the ship even when they were planetside.

"Lesca, Monteblanc, I'm going to ask you to go make the transaction without me this time - I want to go see what started this entire fiasco," said Sol, buckling his sword at his side.

"No!" said Vesper grumpily from behind. "Lesca's coming with me to Tron's world. I've gotta smash her face in there."

Lesca didn't look particularly pleased about the idea, but Sol knew better about his First Mate's competitive streak, and so waved them off, looking pointedly at Shao and Milton.

"Yeah, yeah," said Milton, scratching one of his large ears and re-buckling his rapier. "I'll go with Monteblanc."

"As will I," said Shao, not making much expression, as per usual.

"Good," said Sol. "We'll meet back here in three hours, no exceptions. That means you, Silva."

The large engineer grinned a swung his giant hammer onto his shoulder.

"Gotcha, captain," he said.

Sol nodded, and his crew dispersed, with Lesca blatantly ignoring Vesper's attempts to rile her, Silva whistling to himself, and the three in charge of selling supplies walking away with the cargo either being pulled on a cart, or floating in the air around Monteblanc's gravira spell.

Sol himself began making his way to Merlin's place, hoping to run into Cid on the way.

_________________
Akaine: And a boner from this? Why not. If guys can walk around all day with boners, why not from slight provocation?
Jay: All day would indicate a health problem. But yes, at the most random times, several times a day for maybe half an hour, once every few hours at least, for absolutely no reason, sounds about right.
Redsnow: Stop teaching at preschools, Jay.

zenieth wrote:

I love you red.

*Hollow Bastion - The Streets of Hollow Bastion, near the gate*

A red-haired young man, carrying a dual-bladed greataxe, was running through the streets, checking if any heartless were still around that might assault the shelters, as he was assigned to do. He was worried some might had gotten through, with all the chaos of those gummi ships coming down, and the giant heartless that had appeared.

Then, looking to where the fighting had been going on, he noticed the large horse-like heartless had been vanquished. Hoping everyone was alright, he continued his search for any stray heartless.

After going through some more alleys and streets, taking out the few heartless he encountered, he saw a large group of people at the gates. Most of them he'd never seen before, but noticing his comrades among them, he let out a sigh of relief and walked over to the group.

When he got close enough to be heard by everyone, The young man spoke up
"Great work on taking that giant heartless out, you all. Good to see everyone's alright after all that."

_________________
- If you don't give a crap, go out and find a reason to.
- Life is as good as your current state permits you to enjoy it.
- To block out the world, I put headphones on, so I don't have to listen, to anyone.

*Hollow Bastion- Entrance to the Castle*

Cid growled for a moment, then threw Damien off him with a yell. He turned and said "What the hell was that!? Aw damn! My cigarette!" The cigarette that he had been smoking had fallen on the ground. He patted his pockets and pulled out a pack. He pulled a cigarette out, lighted it, put it in his mouth, grabbed Damien with one hand, and pulled him to his feet. "Be more careful next time!" He let Damien go in time to see a gummi ship flying overhead. "That'd be Sol... and there he is." He waited for Sol to make his way down and said "Damien, this is Sol, Sol, this is Damien. He can wield one of the keyblades. Maybe that's why the heartless were so active. Let's go meet up with Merlin." He led the two to City Hall.


*Main Gates*

Merlin nodded as they introduced themselves, then turned to the newcomer. "Pyre, good, you're here. We need everyone for this." He led them to City Hall and waited for Cid and the other two to arrive. Cid told Merlin something that caused Merlin to stroke his beard.


*City Hall*

Merlin made all of them introduce themselves again before begining. "Some of you may not know this but there are actually many different worlds. You are not in your own anymore, I am afraid. Ths world is called Hollow Bastion. Either you left or, sadly, it has been consumed. Those creatures you fought are called the Heartless. They are created when a person's heart has been stolen. They exist only to consume more and more until every heart has been stolen. They can be destroyed but the problem exists that the heart has still been stolen so they simply reappear somewhere else. There exists weapons called 'keyblades' that have the ability to permanently defeat heartless."

"The keyblades only allow themselves to be used by certain individuals. Until recently, three of the wielders were fighting the heartless. However, they were destroyed by some powerful force. Since then, the keyblades have been waiting for someone with the right qualifications to appear. One of them has." He pointed at Damien "This boy has managed to secure himself as one of the keyblade wielders. There are two others but we have yet to find them." He did not mention that they had yet to locate the fourth keyblade wielder as well but he felt that they didn't need to know about that quite yet. He also had a feeling something else was happening but couldn't quite put his finger on it. The man from earlier was definitely part of it, though.

"The worlds are in peril and we do not have the resources to go to other worlds and stop their destruction. The problem is that the longer we wait, the more powerful the heartless will become and the less likely we will be able to do anything. Therefore, I am pleading for your assistance. Will you help save the worlds?"

_________________
Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

-City Hall-

Lern followed along with the group, studying the town a bit as they past through all the way up into the town hall. Once there he listened to Merlin talk, though couldn't help but wander and look through anything that caught his attention. He knew portions of what the wizard was saying, there had been some research on the heartless that had yielded knowledge even before he was sent out on this journey. Still he kept a part of his mind devoted to listening, so that he would at least know what words these people were using to describe their mutual enemy.

After Merlin had finished Lern spoke up returning to the group. "If by trying to save those worlds we might find a way to save them all, then it is worthwhile venture in my opinion. Though I fear we will not be able to assist many worlds if our only true-weapon is one keyblade."

Damien wasn’t all that upset to see he had put out the guys smoking stick, it smelled awful to begin with and he could hardly believe the man actually kept on puffing them directly in... maybe he had no sense of smell? He yelped a bit as he was dragged to his feet to meet... Sol? Some guy anyway, still it was a welcome alternative to the foul-mouthed stick smoking Cid, really those things stunk... Damien put out a hand to shake Sol’s.

“Hey there, how do ya do?”

The boy listened intently as he got a bit more explanation of what the hell was going on, hearing that his world was most probably destroyed really... sucked... still he was apparently the only person in the universe capable of properly defeating so he hadn’t got the time for mourning... and hell, if he had teleported to another world his parents might have too, the actual planet didn’t mean that much to him.

He waved when he was brought up, holding up the keyblade which he’d just been holding onto the whole time... it was kind of annoying having this thing all the time... he’d need to get some kind of holster but with the freaky shape of it he had no idea how that would work. Anyway, now was the time to go save all of everything from... shadowy monster things.

“I’ll do it, I am kind of necessary to do the saving right? Well... this thing is...”

_________________
I... am plotting something... he he he he...

{]Furor Elogium[}

Nodding in agreement at what Merlin was saying, Furor simply flipped through his memory, confirming nearly everything he said from his research. HE looked in awe when the new keyblade wielder was announced. 'This isn't fair! Why did it choose him? He doesn't even appear to know how to use it! It should 'ave chosen me.'

His thoughts would have sounded incredibly immature if they had been broadcasted, like a child whining about how he didn't get a toy.

_________________
'Samus. That's the only name you'll hear. Samus. It means the end and the death. Samus. I am Samus. Samus is all around you. Samus is the man beside you. Samus will gnaw upon your bones. Look out! Samus is here.' - Horus Rising by Dan Abnett

I can see clearly now the rain is gone! I can see all obsta-- *runs into a pole*

Sol nodded at the new Keywielder, sizing him up. Fate had a strange taste in its heroes, it seemed. He wasn't especially keen on entering Merlin's enchanted abode, but he could really see no other choice if he wanted to know what had happened to create such a ruckus.

After he had introduced himself properly again to the ragtag group, he listened rather absentmindedly as Merlin droned on about facts of the state of universe that the seasoned Gummi Ship captain already knew.

Brushing aside Merlin's uncharacteristic request for help, Sol said, "I'm more interested in where that large Heartless came from. Hollow Bastion has its fair share of Heartless, to be sure, but nothing like that. And its skies have never been so congested. In other words, I want to know what the deal is with that other ship and its crew."

_________________
Akaine: And a boner from this? Why not. If guys can walk around all day with boners, why not from slight provocation?
Jay: All day would indicate a health problem. But yes, at the most random times, several times a day for maybe half an hour, once every few hours at least, for absolutely no reason, sounds about right.
Redsnow: Stop teaching at preschools, Jay.

zenieth wrote:

I love you red.

Alucard had been following the group, quietly, waiting for an opprtunity to arrise where he could be of some use. It was painful, walking around his childhood home. It had changed so much since he left...since...the incident. he barley reconized anything anymore. All this was painful, and stirred the darkness in his heart. Alucard forced himself to keep it under control as Merlin began his speech. He already knew all of this, of course, traveling to the other worlds, and wiping out the heartless. What he hadn't known was the exsistence of these keyblades. When Merlin mentioned the word, his heart quivered, as if the darkness was scared of the word itself. Finally, Merlin ended his speech by pleading with them to help him. Alucard took a step forward, and bowed deeply. "The heartless...they took my family away...stole my childhood, drove me from my world, THIS world, and almost made me a monster like them. Merlin, it would by my honor and my pirvlage to fight along side you, find the keyblade weilders, and wipe out the heartless once and for all." Alucard spoke from his heart, his words echoing deeply within himself. He would not let them take anymore innocent lives...and most of all...he would have his revenge.

_________________


You think your evil? You want to see real evil? Then allow me to educate you...

*Town Hall*

Merlin clapped his hands together "Good! Very good. Now, it is going to take some time for the gummi ships to be made ready. You will use those ships to get to worlds that are in trouble. Your job is to eliminate the main source of the heartless in that world. Those with a keyblade can lock the world's heart away to prevent the heartless from getting a hold of it and dragging it down into the darkness. Nobody knows how to find the heart except that it will be in an exceptional place. While you do this, we in this world will plan and research to end the threat of the teaming heartless."

"You should introduce yourselves as you will need to divide up into three teams, two teams of three and one team of two. Damien and you," He pointed at Furor "Are to be on separate teams. You both are not to be on the team with only two people. Now, I need to get ready. There are a few things that need to be done. If assistance is required, I will be in my tower." Merlin left the room in a puff of blue smoke.


Cid spoke to Sol "The four that arrived were given one of the free houses." He told Sol the address. "Their ship was brought to the town workshop. The boy and the man who was lit on fire are asleep. I don't know where the girl is. The pilot is repairing his ship. I was just about to head over there myself."

_________________
Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

"Solvan Jones," he said shortly to the gathering, and no one in particular. "Captain of the Ardent Sun and its crew. I'll leave you to decide who's coming with me, but I just want to make one thing clear if you're going to be traveling with us. As long as you're on my ship, I don't give a damn if you're a Keywielder or the King of Atlantis - you follow my rules, and you pull your own weight when I tell you to and how I tell you to. As long as we're clear on that, any one of you are welcome aboard my ship."

Sol nodded at Cid, and motioned his head in the direction of the town workshop, indicating that he wanted to leave as soon as possible.

_________________
Akaine: And a boner from this? Why not. If guys can walk around all day with boners, why not from slight provocation?
Jay: All day would indicate a health problem. But yes, at the most random times, several times a day for maybe half an hour, once every few hours at least, for absolutely no reason, sounds about right.
Redsnow: Stop teaching at preschools, Jay.

zenieth wrote:

I love you red.

-City Hall-

"My name is Lern. I need one person to come with me." Lern introduced himself again after Merlin had left them on their own. Did the old wizard have some hidden insight that he'd failed to share, as it stood one group would be short a keyblade thus not have the ability save whatever world they would go to. Perhaps the wizard intended that group to serve more of a reconnaissance function, holding back the heartless until one of the other groups could finish the job. It was hard to tell what the old man had planned since he'd disappeared almost immediately.

Either way it seem that the situation would be far more technical for that group hence why he'd volunteered. After Sol's introduction he felt the need to add to his his earlier request. "Really anyone except that guy or those two will do, though we should probably find out what Merlin has in mind sending out a keyless group before we depart." He stuck a thumb from one hand at Sol and two fingers from his other hand at the keyblade wielders.

*Hollow Bastion - Town Hall*

Memorizing the most important things Merlin had said, along with what he already knew, he now had a clear image of what had to be done. However, now knowing that his world probably had been consumed, his mind went dark for a moment, but it wasn't noticable to the rest of the group.

After Merlin had left, Pyre was a bit uneasy, pretty much everyone of those left were unknown to him. The only one he'd previously met was Sol, when Yuffie had been giving him a tour 'round town, realising halfway through she had to ask Cid something, so they dropped in right when Cid had been talking with Sol. Needless to say, they had been kicked out of the hangar not much later. And now he was about to take his leave too...

Listening to Lern introduce himself, he wondered about the same thing. 'Why were there 3 groups with only a single keyblade wielder known, and why are those two not allowed to be on the same team? Unless...'
A few moments after Lern had finished, he introduced himself "I'm Pyremius Gerra, but just call me Pyre for short." Then, thinking about Sol's words, he said "Hmm, I have never even been inside one of those gummi ships, so I'd to see how it works, and as such, I opt to go with Sol's group."

_________________
- If you don't give a crap, go out and find a reason to.
- Life is as good as your current state permits you to enjoy it.
- To block out the world, I put headphones on, so I don't have to listen, to anyone.

Alucard took a step forward towards Lern, and bowed slightly. "My name is Alucard. If it is acceptable for you, I shall accompany you." Alucard took a step back, awaiting for his response. The sooner he got out of Hollow Bastion, the better. After the fight with that heartless, he hadn't been feeling to well. Using his powers, and the memories of this place. Was anyone still alive from when he lived here? Or had the Heartless seen to their demise? What had happened? What was happening in the other worlds? He hated being left in the dark...

_________________


You think your evil? You want to see real evil? Then allow me to educate you...

Damien listened to the rest of his explanation... so he was supposed to use this giant key to lock the world up, sounded simple enough, he’d just have to look for the gigantic keyhole to match it. Sadly he didn’t have much to go on for finding it when they got there, sooo... just somewhere amazing... yeah that was going to be difficult to decide which part of these new fantastical worlds was the most incredible. He didn’t really get why he wasn’t allowed on the team with that one guy, though the not being on a team of two made more sense since it would be important to get this magic blade thing to save a world so the more people meant higher chances...

“Hey, i’m Damien”

Looking at the gathering of people whom he could team up with he decided he felt most comfortable joining the guy who already had a ship and crew, it would be similar to normal, going out onto the open seas tending to the duties as he was required. Simple enough stuff so he just walked off to follow him to adventure!

“Hey Sol, i’d like to join your group too!”

Seeing as that guy Pyre had volunteered to go with him too this would mean they’d have a full team for their epic quest to... lock a world... still sounded weird, honestly the keyblade may be big but he did sort of think a keyhole for a planet would be a couple hundred times bigger than this. It was also getting a bit of a pain to keep on carrying it and he wondered if the wizard guy would make some kind of holster for the thing when it suddenly disappeared in a flash of light. Immediately panicked he looked around freaked at losing the incredibly important weapon then just as suddenly as it went it reappeared in his hand... when he’d calmed down a little he tried experimenting with it a bit, sending it away, calling it back, swapping the hand it was in by that... it was already giving him a few ideas of how to fight with his magic sword....

_________________
I... am plotting something... he he he he...

-City Hall-

"Ah yes, we met over at that crash site. I have no objections to having your company and from a battle strengths perspective we should make an effective team." Lern calmly responded, giving his reasoning for accepting the offer. From what he'd observed in the earlier battle, this man was strong close range fighter and while Lern had qualms with with close combat it was always complimentary to have an actual weapon wielder in there. Further if he wasn't mistaken this man had some sort of abnormal condition. Lern hadn't determined precisely what it was but it should prove to be an interesting distraction to try and figure out along the way.

"Now then, we should probably go to that tower Merlin spoke of... we'll lose a little time but I'd like to know what he forgot to mention."

Alucard nodded in agreement. "Very well. There is something I would like to ask him myself." Alucard looked past Lern. He had a feeling that this jounrey would be his last. That he would not survive this trip, or at least...his humanity wouldn't. Alucard hoped that Merlin would know something, anything, about his condition, and even it meant revealing it to Lern, if Merlin could help him control his darkness, or better yet, vanquish all together, then so be it. Alucard knew the risk of revealing himself. Who would trust him, someone who could, at any second, turn into a beast similiar to a heartless? Would they treat him like one? Would they even allow him to travel with them? Or would they simply try to slay him, one less being from the dark to take care of? Those questions were the reasons why Alucard traveled alone, and whenever he did travel with people, he kept his secret hidden. Having to reveal it...even for the answers he sought, it scared him.

_________________


You think your evil? You want to see real evil? Then allow me to educate you...

Sol gave Pyre and Damien a nod, while saying, "Happy to have you both on board. I - "

He stopped, seemed to think for a second, then seemed to come to a conclusion. "I'll forget the other craft for now - they'll probably be there if we stop by at any point anyway."

He waved Pyre and Damien over towards Cid's Gummi Garage, where the Ardent Sun was docked.

_________________
Akaine: And a boner from this? Why not. If guys can walk around all day with boners, why not from slight provocation?
Jay: All day would indicate a health problem. But yes, at the most random times, several times a day for maybe half an hour, once every few hours at least, for absolutely no reason, sounds about right.
Redsnow: Stop teaching at preschools, Jay.

zenieth wrote:

I love you red.

*Town Hall*

Merlin reappeared in a puff of blue smoke. He dusted off the bottom of his robe and said "Sorry for leaving you all so abruptly but I had to tend to someone who got into something he shouldn't have." He shook his head, then said "So, have you decided?" After listening, he said "Good, good. So the teams are decided. I've found the worlds that you need to go to. Lern and Alucard, you will need to go to a jungle world called Fern Gully. Damien, Sol, and Pyre, you are to go to a little tropical island. They have the most delightful culture there. Odin and Furor, you two are to go to a strange kingdom ruled by, oh I don't want to really say this but, a selfish fool of a king. I don't know who your third member will be but I do know that you will meet him somewhere in that world. Odin, Cid will be able to supply you with a gummy ship."

He turned to Lern and said "I believe you've expressed an interest in coming to my tower." He touched both Lern and Alucard with his wand and they poofed into the tower.

Cid led the groups to the garage. Sol's ship was there and the other ship was nearby. The owner, the shirtless man, was grumbling to himself as he fixed it. He seemed very attached to his ship.


*Merlin's Tower*

They poofed in and Merlin immediately pushed a pile of books upright. He had bumped them a little and they had almost toppled over. "So, Lern, what is it I can do for you?" Nearby, a young boy with straw-colored hair was stacking books. He was covered in ash and presumably was the reason Merlin left in such a hurry.

_________________
Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

{Cid's Garage}

The warrior Eidolon had silently began following Cid and stayed as silent during the travel into the ship garage. Upon seeing the ships, he tilted his head a bit toward Cid. Knowing the blonde human so well, he stated, "Since you'll have looked them over, would you say they're both in excellent condition? Or will there be any...hiccups that might need attention during travel?"

Odin began thinking back, recalling one of Cid's stories about an old ship the man had used when he had left his world for the first time. As I recall, he had a female stowaway. And she'd warned him of a faulty piece of equipment, which he had ignored... I certainly hope he's gone through multiple checks to ensure everything's fine.

_________________

-Merlin's Tower-

Truthfully Lern was pondering where exactly Merlin's tower was, not sure where they should go. Though after a moment he no longer had to worry, the wizard appearing again to announce their destinations. This Fern Gully sounded like an interesting place, though it was probably frivolous to try and imagine the world based only on it's name. When Merlin finished his announcements he took Lern and Alucard back to the tower with him, solving that little dilemma rather handily.

"I'll get straight to the point, I'd like to know what the two of us should do. We don't exactly have a key with us, so finding the heart of that Fern Gully place won't do us much good at the moment." He stated saving his speculations for his own thoughts this time. He noticed a stack of books that boy had finished building leaning heavily to one side and took it on himself to slide a few of the books around to better align the stack, preventing an avalanche.

Sol waved Damien and Pyre to follow him, stepping lightly up the ramp that was open to reveal the cargo bay. Monteblanc, the Moogle, was already there, checking inventory, his small wings fluttering behind him as he muttered to himself.

"Monteblanc," said Sol. "I want to introduce Damien and Pyre - they're going to be joining us on our next few raids. Damien, Pyre, this is Monteblanc - he's in charge of inventory and weapons maintenance. He's extremely proficient in black magic, so if you have any questions, just ask him. Lastly, don't touch his..."

Sol trailed off, looking more closely at Monteblanc, whose squinted eyes were frowning even more than usual.

"What's going on, Monteblanc?" asked Sol.

"Why don't you go ask Lesca and Vesper, kupo," said Monteblanc in an irritated voice, before turning back to check inventory.

Sol sighed and motioned Damien and Pyre to follow him again. As they walked through the nicer parts of the ship, the crew's quarters, Sol pointed out the rooms Damien and Pyre could use, while saying, "Don't mind Monteblanc, he's as irritable as Moogles can come. Ah, here's the bridge."

He pushed the button at the side of the door and entered as it slid open.

"Captain on deck," he announced. A chorus of "Aye's" came back in response, but much of it was less enthusiastic than usual. Sol frowned, but did not forget his manners, and began to introduce everyone in the room, leaving out Vesper and Lesca, neither whom had turned to look at him.

"...And the two who haven't turned towards us are Lesca, the First Mate, and Vesper, our pilot. Alright, children, what is it about this time?"

Neither of them responded with words and Lesca, who seemed to relish smashing her keys as she ran ship diagnostics, made an irritated noise.

"Apparently it got a little rough...in there," said Milton, finally. "There was an accident...and, well..."

"It wasn't an accident," snapped Lesca. "The little genius got sick of getting beat by me and tried something stupid."

"If you would've dodged instead of being retard stubborn," said Vesper, turning to look at Lesca. "None of it would have happened, you giant slut."

As Vesper turned, however, Sol groaned and slammed his hand against his forehead. Vesper had broken his arm, and, as far as Sol could see, Lesca had broken her leg.

"Alright," he said, rubbing his temple. "Lesca can stay. Vesper, go to your quarters - no, you can't pilot with one arm," he said as an addendum as Vesper began to protest.

He waited until Vesper left before turning to his new companions.

"You'll get used to things around here soon enough," he said. "Now, it looks like I'm going to have to pilot...which I haven't done in...a very long time. Have either of you been on any sort of ship before on your worlds?"

_________________
Akaine: And a boner from this? Why not. If guys can walk around all day with boners, why not from slight provocation?
Jay: All day would indicate a health problem. But yes, at the most random times, several times a day for maybe half an hour, once every few hours at least, for absolutely no reason, sounds about right.
Redsnow: Stop teaching at preschools, Jay.

zenieth wrote:

I love you red.

*Cid's Garage*

Cid looked up at the semi-apparition. "I've got a few better ships but they are prototypes. I'm going to send you out on one of the older ones. It's not as fast but it is armed well enough and will get you there. In addition, it is large enough to handle your bulk." He led Odin and Furor to a large gummi ship. "This is the Tetra. Go on in. The auto pilot will be able to take care of the flight." He went in the ship and turned on the systems. Then he looked at a piece of paper and entered in some coordinates. "This will take you to the kingdom. Good luck."

Cid then went to Sol and gave him the coordinates, leaving him to figure out how his ship is going to get there.

For Lern and Alucard, he set up a slim ship that would be able to outrun most of the heartless that lurked between the worlds.


*The Tower*

Merlin looked at a crystal ball for a moment, then said "I'm not certain but I believe that there will be a person in that world who will be able to wield a keyblade. They won't be a native. It'll be up to you to find them, however. Reading the future is a tricky business at best."



*Some Time Later*

The three ships set off, each heading for a different world. For some reason, there were very few heartless after them. Well, relatively. There were still dozens of them trying to rip apart/blow up the ships and get at the passengers but they were dealt with.

Except for one ship. Sol's vessel was attracting enormous attention. Two huge battleship heartless had converged on it (New entry in Heartless list). They both held many smaller heartless which shot out to destroy the ship. Presumably they were drawn by keyblade wielder. While the fight went on, a bomb floated around, hid in a smoke cloud. It latched onto the engine and exploded, sending the ship on a crash course towards the planet.


*Rain Forest*

The ship streaked through the forest. The first thing Lern and Alucard noticed was that the world was either huge or they were tiny. Walking around one of the trees would have taken whole minutes and they were small enough that bugs posed a threat. It was a very pleasant place. Life was everywhere. There were critters everywhere, scurrying about their business.

After a few moments, however, the heroes noted that the animals were moving quickly, running away from something. Far away, a river of black was coming toward them. They realized that the 'river' was a huge swarm of ant-like heartless. They were as big as horses if horses were shrunken with them. Anything that came in contact with them were devoured. They even attacked the plants but the trees were ignored for some reason. In all of the confusion, it was unlikely that the heroes would notice that there were large, red 'x's on the trees.


*Tropical Island*

The ship streaked through the air, making a great show for those below. The night was filled with light as the ship fell to the ground. Well, not ground. Water, actually. Normally that would be less likely but considering the size of the island, the odds were that anything falling would land in the water rather than on the island. In a strange house, a little girl watched the descent with binoculars. She ran to the elevator and yelled "Stitch! Someone's here!"

Back at the ship, the passengers would find the water to be cool, not cold. The air was still warm and it was incredibly muggy. The moon was full so there was enough light to see. They didn't see anything man-made from where they were and were too busy trying not to crash to have taken a look while they were falling. For all they knew, they were on a deserted island.


*Hills*

Odin and Furor exited the ship to find themselves near a pleasant village. Well, nearish anyway. They were on top of a very steep hill and the village was on another very steep hill. If they could walk across the air, they'd be there in no time. But without the ability to fly, it would be a long walk. There were several other hills but there wasn't anything exciting on them. Unless you count llamas as exciting. A jungle lay in another direction. It looked big and unfriendly.



*Another World*

A man was flung across the room by a blast of green fire. A thin, terrifying woman retracted her hand. "You came all this way, just to be defeated? How marvelous." She grinned, a sight no one should have to witness. "Now I shall be on my way. Feel free to die here. The room has been sealed off and the castle will crumble in just a few moments." She opened a door to darkness and stepped through it. However, by some freak chance, the door stayed open.

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Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

~*Solvan Jones - Between Worlds*~

"Strap yourselves in, everyone!" shouted Sol as he rapidly pressed keys and tried to take better control of his ship. The customization job they had done to make the Ardent Sun cater to Vesper's full abilities was having a toll on his piloting, which had never been shabby, ever. Yet, after having been privy to Vesper's full abilities, combined with Sol's uplifting magic, Sol seemed an amateur.

Especially against battleships.

"Where the hell did these come from!" shouted Silva over the intercom.

"Captain," squeeked Milton Mouse from Sol's left. "The Ultima/G's aren't working efficiently - there are too many to target!"

"We've never taken on more than one battleship before," observed Shao from Sol's right. "And even with Vesper in full capacity we did not manage to make it out unscathed. We should retreat to warp and take another route from another planet."

"Stop whining and concentrate on your jobs, you two," snapped Lesca from her seat above them. "The captain's got his hands full as it is, he doesn't need your input."

What Shao said may have been accurate, but it was too late in the game for it.

"We don't have a clear line of space to warp," said Sol, clenching his teeth as he made the ship swerve into a hard right. "We're just going to have to buck it up and keep going. Are our passengers ok, Lesca?"

"They're fine, captain," said Lesca, sounding particularly uninterested.

"I didn't really care," quipped Sol, this time swerving the ship upwards. "I just thought it was polite to ask."

"Captain," said Shao, cutting off Lesca's pissed off retort, "I see the planet - one minute in a straight course, two at the pace we're going."

"That's too long," snarled Silva. "The shields won't hold for another minute."

"Then we'll force them to!" shouted Sol, who began to glow - the golden aura spread throughout the ship, though not to the people within it. Soon the glow was a bright radiance of golden light emanating from the ship and the blasters it fired.

However, even with the added support of Sol's magic, he was not his pilot, and the shields went down at a minute and forty-five seconds, just as they were about to enter the planet's protective shield. A bomb heartless latched onto one of the engines and exploded, sending the ship hurtling towards the planet and out of Sol's control.

"Dammit," shouted Sol as the shining ship hurtled towards the planet. "Silva! Reroute all energy to the other engine! Silva!"

Static answered them from the engine room. But Sol couldn't worry for Silva now.

"Grab something," shouted Sol. "This isn't going to be pretty!"

The large gummi-ship seemed to skid along the top of the water before finally crashing into it, before it finally stopped, half submerged in the lapping waves, on the beach.

Sol was the first to recover, and snapped off his seatbelt before bounding through the ship to the engine room. Waving and shouting for his engineer through the smoke and heat, he finally found the large man on the floor and did not waste time before pulling him from the room and to the corridor, where he locked the doors to the engine room..

The large man wasn't breathing, and the front of his body was horribly scarred. Bits of shrapnel from the exploding engine embedded the upper right of his chest and large arms. Sol was busy trying to pry open his friend's mouth when the sound of incoming footsteps announced the rest of his crew's arrival.

Sol could hear Shao break open a first-aid box and select one of the hi-potions stored within.

"Dump it all in," said Sol, keeping Silva's mouth open. Shao did so, and Sol could hear the clink of bottles as everyone else began to open more hi-potions and dump them over Silva's body. Then they could only wait.

After a time that seemed to drag on eternal, Silva took a deep breath, and everyone else let one out.

===Deserted Island===

The air was muggy, and the night was pitch-black, save for the moon and stars. The crew were going about their business - mostly attempting to build a camp and check damaged equipment. Silva was still unconscious and gravely injured, so his safety came first.

After a fire had been started on the beach, Sol walked up to his two passengers and told them the extant of the damage to the ship.

"One of our engines is almost completely fried," said Sol, frowning. "Silva almost gave his life rerouting all remaining shields to cover our other engine when he realized the first was done for. We can make some repairs and fly on one engine, but that won't get us far, especially with that blockade up there, waiting for us. And with Silva out of it, repairing the first engine is not an option. But there is good news - I think we're on the planet we're supposed to be on. Not sure about the location on the planet, though."

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Akaine: And a boner from this? Why not. If guys can walk around all day with boners, why not from slight provocation?
Jay: All day would indicate a health problem. But yes, at the most random times, several times a day for maybe half an hour, once every few hours at least, for absolutely no reason, sounds about right.
Redsnow: Stop teaching at preschools, Jay.

zenieth wrote:

I love you red.