Fall into the Star Ocean (World: SO3/4)

Amber eyes slowly flickered open, blinking with a hint of confusion as a metal hand came up to meet the shaking head of the Magi. A bright, sunny light was cast over him as he took a gander around, taking note of the fact that he was in some sort of rather fancy hallway, a beautiful fountain in the center with benches and seats scattered around the area. It looked like a paradise, but he certainly had no idea where the bloody hell he was, at all. Takato ran a finger over the floor he was sat down upon, a rather odd warmth yet comfy stone meeting the tip. He had honestly never felt flooring quite like it. Safe to say, he didn't plan to stay crunched up upon it, slowly standing up while starting to stretch out his arms.

It felt like he had ran a marathon.

His footsteps echoed quite loudly with each movement he took, walking forward to take a closer look at the sight up upon the roof section. The writing was certainly odd, even to someone who knew how to speak Ancient Greek and Latin. He could faintly spot echoes of old English, the words quickly coming to form in his mind. Grantier Resort Hotel? He was in some sort of hotel? How far was that from the city of Japanese Mages? He had no idea, resisting the urge to pout after running over a few things. Unknown to him, he made for a rather odd sight to those at the hotel, decked within a rather unusual red coat and standing at a height that made him seem like a teenager while holding aged eyes.

Every step Takato took made him increasingly more confused. Why was it so hard to sense the magic in the air, let alone get a grasp on his Guardian Force? It felt like a whisper, a whisper that was growing weaker. He brought up his arm, his stare meeting the sphere that he had formed from midair before putting the orb in his pocket. He had no idea what was going on, but the orb was merely draining his energy and, unlike normal, he wasn't gaining anything in return. A grunt echoed over his lips as he felt himself bump into something, his shoulder stinging slightly as his stare switched to whatever was now standing before him.

He blinked.

Then, he blinked again.

A blue haired boy around his age stood staring back at him, standing at around the same height as himself while decked within a pair of sunny shorts, sandals, and a rather sleek looking white shirt that let his pale arms hang out. A rather pretty female brunette stood next to him, dressed within a simple short top and a pair of blue jeans that were obviously not zipped all the way up at the top. Takato had to hide a rude comment, and a blush. Still, that was not why he was stumped. No. It was the fact that he could sense something from this boy and girl.

Or not.

Why the hell didn't these two have any mana? Were they some kind of god damn robot? Everything had mana, it was the life essence of the universe, an essence that was called many a thing. Chakra. Ki. Chi. Youkai. Whatever shape it took and was bent into, every being that was alive and well had it within them, a small spark that gave a clue of both DNA and life. Yet, neither of the two had even a single drop within them. He was stunned.

"S-Sorry about that, are you okay?" asked the boy, a small smile across his features as he scratched the back of his head in a nervous manner. The girl gave him a sly push and then shook her head, rolling her eyes at both himself and her friend (or was it something more?) "Fayt, you should watch where you are going. I thought we were going for a walk?" 'Fayt' seemed a bit annoyed by that, looking at her with a sigh and scratch of his cheek. "I would of, Sophia, but you were going to yank my arm off..."

Ima, while confused, was more curious than anything else.

She couldn't remember how she had gotten here. She had no idea at all. The little girl wasn't particularly worried, however. How could she be? There were so many neat looking things here, she could barely take them all in!

Ima had been walking along and looking around when she caught sight of someone that she knew very well. She grinned widely. "Takato!" She said as she bounded over to said mage's side. The child gave him a hug. "How are you? It feels like it's been forever since I've seen you!"

Then she noticed the other people. "Oh, hi people!" She said enthusiastically. "I'm Ima. Who are you?"

"Meow"

Zora groaned at the sound of Kuro's meow as she put her arm over her face. "Five more minutes..." she muttered. Kuro's ears flatten, then he manifested into a human shape. With a mischievous grin, he pushed Zora off and ran out of the room they were in as fast as a small cat could run.

"GOD DAMN IT!" Zora shouted as she face planted into the ground. She got up and rubbed her face as she glared around the room. "Stupid cat.........." She paused and blinked.

"........where the hell am I?" was her first words in the minute long silence. Shaking her head, she staggered up, ignoring the pain throughout her body.

~OK...recap....We were in Spira...weird underdeveloped place that doesn't bother to move on...we were at Kilika Island kicking a three headed dog's butt.......~ Zora rubbed her head as she took mroe time to look around.

The room she was in was...normal. It had two beds and a couch....heck, it was like a deluxe suite in a five star hotel. To her left, she could see the entire wall was nothing but a giant window. She didn't even need to walk five feet before running up to it and widening her eyes in amazement.

"Wow...." she managed to say as she scanned the area. Where ever she is right now...

...it was a hell a lot better than Spira.

Then it hits her. ~Takato and the others could have popped up here too, wouldn't they?~ She thought as she ran out of the room. "Crap...where do I start looking?" She looked around before heading over to her left to a door. Slowing herself dow to a walk, she lookd out of the wall windows and saw more of what the area out of the hotel looked like. Noticing there was a door to her right, she walked right in, only to see something she really didn't want to see as the first person to find.

"Takato, what the hell are you doing...?" Zora grunted, noticing he was doin't nothing but staring at the two kids. She noticed the blue boy and averted her eyes away from him, focusing on Takato. "Don't tell me you were trying to pick up on the girl."

Eh? Sophia blinked and took a glance at the blond male, before blushing crimson after realizing what had been said. She received an annoyed look in response, the Magi rubbing his eyes as he slowly shook his head at the embarrassing comment while running his free hand through the hair of Ima. There was no denying the small tint of red across his features, but he made no comment other than looking at Zora with two sighing amber eyes. The blue haired boy seemed rather amused with his petty brunette companion, hiding a small grin that inched across and a following of sly laughter. "Heh, you three don't look like you're from around here. You on vacation too?"

Takato froze, but quickly glanced behind him to the window at the side. He wanted to see how far he was from where he last was. Safe to say, he continued to stay frozen. Where the bloody hell was he? He never noticed the odd looked that passed over the face of Fayt as he began to walk over to the window, ignoring the blue haired boy with wide eyes. The Magi twitched for a few moments, bringing up a hand before letting it drop limply to his side. No magic. Technology that stretched beyond anything he imagined. People with wings, tails, and other such oddities walking around? Species even he had never heard of calmly chatting with each.

"...You could say that."

The air seemed to grow cold with his words, his amber eyes straying up to the sky above. Well, he had best gather information. Sadly for him, he was not going to have the time. A bright light lit up the blue scene above outside the window, the ground suddenly shaking. Takato backed up and nearly fell over, ears twitching as he picked up the sounds of people panicking, growing with each passing second. Fayt helped steady the girl next to him, his voice echoing. "An earthquake?" That didn't make much sense to the blue gamer, seeing as Hyda IV was a stable world with no tectonic activity. There shouldn’t be any earthquakes.

This is an emergency alert. Hyda IV is currently under attack by a unidentified spacecraft. All civilians should follow immediate evacuation instructions on the nearest console.

Well, fuck.

Zora smirked before placing a hand on Takato's shoulder. "Relax, I was kidding, bean sprout." She said.

Then the alarm went off.

Zora managed to stay balanced and looked around. After hearing the announcement, she sighed.

"So much for taking a break from all this weird crud..." she hissed before looking at Fayt and Sophia. "Hey, you guys know your way around this place? Can you tell us where to go?"

When the quaking started, Ima simply floated a bit, and therefore was unaffected. But she was confused, not quite sure what was happening. The announcement had a lot of words that she didn't know.

She needed one of those big books that made big words smaller. But then she would need to learn how to read better...

What Ima could pick up, however, was that something bad was happening.

She just floated there, glancing between her friends and the other people while waiting to see what they should do.

Fayt nodded before looking over to the large device on the wall, bringing up his hands before speaking to it. "Computer, what’s going on?" He waited for a few seconds before a female voice answered him, rather emotionless. "Remote Station #7, Hyda III, and Hyda IV are currently under attack by unidentified ships. Remote Station #7 has scrambled its own ships to mount a counterattack, but they are outnumbered and therefore unable to provide evacuation assistance to Hyda IV." Safe to say, the blue haired boy looked stunned, clenching his fist before he continued,

"An attack by unidentified ships!?"

The device activated the screen that was on the side, images forming in a flash. It was hell, sheer hell. A massive red battleship formed in the sky within the screen, explosions echoing over buildings as flickers of bright lights overtook many homes and people. Takato was utterly silent, staring in horror at the sheer amount of power being shown on the advanced computer, the spaceship erasing life with simple ease. It far surpassed anything he had seen technology wise back home.

"As an emergency measure, all transporters have been directly linked to the Evacuation Terminal. Please commence evacuation by following the established route." finished the voice within the computer. Sophia shivered and seemed to edge against her companion, eyes looking up at him with fear burning in the depths. "Fayt…" Obviously the boy was scared too, but he didn't show this in the slightest as he smiled and nodded to her, "Don’t worry, Sophia. I’ll stick with you." He paused, looking over at Zora, Takato, and Ima. "You guys too. Come on, we've got to get out of here."

Due to the state of emergency, all transporters have been redirected to send guests to a special floor, where a large transporter waits to take you to the Emergency Shelter. After the arrival of all guests at the shelter has been confirmed, the transport jammer located in the evacuation facility will be activated. Please evacuate in an orderly and speedy manner.

Fayt blinked at that before making a gesture to the glowing sphere object in the corner with circular strands of light spinning up and down in a loop. He directed Sophia onto it and then stepped inside, his image becoming a blur as the transporter activated. Takato followed, making sure to clasp the hand of the alien girl after quickly realizing how much danger they were all in, beckoning Zora. It took several seconds before they were all transported, barely missing being caught in an explosion.

Emergency Shelter

After stepping out of the transporter, they were greeted by a long, large hallway with guards with rifle-like weapons gesturing for the many running people into the final transporter at the end. Fayt and Sophia seemed to spot two people at the back, running up them just as Takato jumped out and shook his head, taking a glance around. Everyone seemed to be in a panic, the Magi noting that Fayt was rapidly taking with an elder couple at the back, possibly family. After a few moments Fayt looked over at the blond and group, pointing at the last transporter.

"Let's go!"

Takato nodded sharply and began to dash after him, making sure his companions were keeping up. Just as they were all reaching the last exit, he heard an explosion. The shockwave made him fall to the ground, a grunt echoing as he rolled over and looked back, slowly standing up. A man in rather impressive gear and holding a odd gun looked up, aiming at the smoke. "Damn! How’d they get in this far!?" The guard grunted and looked at the many citizens, including Zora and gang "Get going! Keep moving forward!"

A blast of light was shot from the smoke, a blast that instantly erased a part of the metal wall. Footsteps echoed before many humanoid figures jumped out, white fish-like masks over their faces and odd blue robe-like armor painted over their bodies. The many guards responded with the same type of attack, only to curse when the shots hit a blue field of energy, fading out. Takato stood up and held up his fingers, trying to summon a spark of lightning. He didn't even get a fizzle of dust. The absence of mana within the air was screwing with his abilities, so he had no doubt that he was less than what he once was.

"Damn. Ima, Zora - Run!"

A shatter of light was his answer, the odd shot hitting straight on the Magi and sending him flying past many of those fleeing and straight into a hard wall. Amber eyes flickered open, ears twitching at the sound of something moving. Spider-like machines crawled from objects thrown by the solders attacking, around twice the size of a large dog and moving rapidly towards the downed Englishman.

The mechanical arachnids marched closer and closer, souless plans to slaughter running in an endless, vicious circle within the programming, unable to be stopped.

And then the front runner stopped.......

A splash of emerald slammed head first into the legs of the robotic spider-like weapon, a sizzling unlike anything naturally heard. Metal bent in a screech, twisting, and then falling to the ground with a snap. Corrosive rounds.

"I hate bugs......"

Words shot through the air just as dozens more rounds did take flight, smashing when they could into the oncoming enemies. Eased foot steps danced along the floor with a slight echo buried beneath the roars of twin blasts. Every step teamed with the force thrown back by the shots, sending a black camoflauge trench coat on a flowing movement.

"Especially ones trying to kill me!"

The owner of the voice made his way past the downed magi, a final shot leaving the barrel of a black handgun resting in his right hand. The air around them whistled as both guns whirled in a break neck fashion, one sent flying into the air behind it's owners back, the sister firearm set in it's holster, the flying gun caught with ease and placed in it's own.

Silver hair swayed into place as a toothy smirk cracked his face, canines slightly sharper than the others. The face of Raven Blair looked over to his fellow wanderers, lost within yet another new world.

"Miss Me?"

"Yeah! Where were you?" Ima asked Raven, smiling happily. "You're late!"

Ima took out her own gun, quickly shooting down a few of the machines bugs that Raven had missed, before floating over to Takato. "You okay?" She asked him, a concerned look on her face. "You need to stop getting hurt so much..."

The child held out a small hand to help the mage stand.

She always got a funny feeling she didn't like when she saw her friends getting hurt.

"Takato!" Zora cried out as she saw the short mage hitting the wall. She ran towards him, only to be blocked off by the robot spiders. "Shit!" She could see Ima and Raven on the other side of this wall of killer robot spiders. "Get out of my way!" She shouted as she punched one of them.

.....

"FUCK!" She quickly staggered back, holding her right fist in pain. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!" The spiders grew closer as she was frozen in pain. Taking a deep breath, she grabs one of the robots, picks it up by its heat, and smashes it into the others. Taking in deep breaths, she looked at her right hand. The bandages on it were ripped off due to the punch, revealing her black hand

~Damn...It's all weakened now thanks to my overuse...~ She thought. She looked up at the sound of multiple pieces of metal hitting the ground to see more robot spiders headed towards her. She tried turning around to draw them away from the others, only to see more of the strange humanoid gunners. ~Fuuuuuuck.....~

Suddenly, one of the humanoids fired off his gun. Zora barely dodged the bullet of light, letting out a string of curses as she ran to the others.

"What are you guys, rocks?! Let's get out of here!" She said.

Takato chuckled lightly as Ima helped him up, his amber gaze landing on the gunslinger with a nod. "Heh, thanks for the save, Raven." He paused and took a look back over to the transporter, rapidly beckoning the two after gathering himself. He dashed towards the transporter, skidding to a stop before noticing Fayt was being carried towards it by a large man after refusing to go. A small white haired girl jumped in the transporter, followed by Sophia and the guy carrying Fayt, leaving the Magi to look at his companions. Oddly enough, he had dug out a small blue sphere-like object, seemingly waiting for them to go ahead.

"What are you waiting for? Get in!"

Raven turned back to their attackers, his hand quickly pressing against his forehead with two fingers, snapping them down quick in a form of salute. The Crimson Beast followed this with a wink.

"Sorry to leave the party so soon, boys, but I'm sure I'll end up killing you eventually!Take care now!

He jogged off into the direction of the transporter, wedging himself into the small crowd within. He awkwardly nodded to the inhabitants.

"Hey, Raven Blair, how are ya? Hi, how's it goin'?"

He buried his hands into his coat pockets, even taking the time to whistle a tune in the face of chaos as he awaited the others.

Ima nodded, letting herself fall to the ground before joining Raven in the transporter. She turned to the others and motioned for them to come as well. "Come on! Hurry up!" She said, giggling a bit at Raven's random introductions and whistling.

Zora just stared at Raven before facepalming and making her way to the transporter. She stopped just short of it before grabbing Takato's red hoodie and dragging him with her.

"You, sir, are a complete douchebag in a level all on your own." Zora stated as she got into the transporter.

"Maybe..." chuckled Takato as he threw the blue sphere up and down in his hand, catching it with a hint of an idea burning in his eyes. He got what he needed. "Or maybe not. Guess we shall have to see." With that the transporter activated with a flash, every single person on it becoming dust before being shot over a great distance. When they arrived, they were no longer in that hallway, a female voice echoing over them all. "Welcome to Iruba Shelter #5. This is an evacuation shelter located underneath Hyda IV. Please wait in your assigned rooms until the rescue ship arrives. You are allowed to move freely about the facility, but there are some restricted areas. Please refer to the consoles or ask the nearest official for detailed instructions."

The Magi noticed Fayt and Sophia speaking with a little dark skinned girl and her group, leaving Takato to shrug and turn to speak to the guard walking up them. The man looked over the blond, Raven, Ima, and Zora before pointing at the small alien girl and Raven. "Oh, one second, please. You two been assigned to room #504. Remember that." He paused, looking back at the remaining female and her short friend. "While you two have been placed within room #502. There is a map screen located on the wall if you cannot find your way, feel free to call on me if you need to. I expect the rescue transports will be here soon. Please try to relax and wait."

Takato blinked before nodding, looking at the group,

"Feel free to look around, I'm going to have a nap and try to make heads or tails of a few things at that room he mentioned....."

"So I'm bunking with the kid, huh?"

Raven looked down to the alien child, a wink transferring from he to her, his hands then folding behind his head as he leaned back against the wall, exhaling with a deep sigh. A few wise cracks could help relieve a bit of stress, but even he felt himself racked with questions. Where was he now? What was with those stranges attackers? What had happened before this moment?

"This is boring."

He slipped his hands into his pockets, his head leaned back and slightly tapping the skull ornament upon the hilt of his sword.

"Where the hell are we, anyway?"

Ima gave Raven a grin in return to his wink, before looking around again. This place was so different than anything that she had ever seen before. Certainly a lot different than Spira...

"I don't know where we are." Ima said. "But I'm gonna go exploring, and maybe I'll find out too!"

And with that, the small alien dashed off.

"Better than being with that douchebag..." Zora muttered as she walked out of the transporter room. After hearing Takato's little announcement of heading to his room, she stopped him with her hand. "I'll come with you, if you don't mind...nothing else to do in this damn situation."

The facility was quite large in it's self, if only a set of metal halls and rooms with the odd computer on the wall. Takato nodded to the red-eyed girl with a small chuckle, his torn red coat swishing slightly as he walked down the set of long halls, suiting to glance over each door that he passed. It didn't take long for them arrive at the room, his amber eyes taking in the scene. It was a norm for any room in the building, a large device on the wall with a potted plant in the corner, two medical-like beds sitting near each other by the left side. All in, far more advanced than they were used to, but simple nonetheless.

He tossed the blue sphere in the air before catching it in his gloved metal hand, taking a seat on one of the beds with a hint of silence. His confused stare gave study of the orb before he sighed and placed it within his dirty coat, letting said coat fall off his shoulders and onto the bed itself. The Magi slowly brought up his metal arm and clenched the palm, as if testing it out. Finally, after a few seconds, he let it drop to his side and his eyes trail over to the blue-haired girl that had followed him in. He glanced at her arm and then into her eyes, amber meeting crimson for a single moment, his concern echoing through the room,

"You okay, Zora? It took a nasty turn back there, and not just for me.."

"Figures."

Raven shrugged at the abrupt leaving of his comrads. They were making him a little sick anyway. All those teamwork vibes clashed with his style, too many "Friends" around sort of drained him. After all, parties are a blast, but too many people turn parties into riots. He pushed off of the wall with a nudged from his shoulders, taking a walk through the area, weaving in and out of fellow escaping parties.

~Might as well just go to the room.~

He closed his eyes as he continued, manuevering strictly by the sounds around him. He really didn't care where he was going or even if he was heading in the right direction. Sitting here and hiding for his life didn't feel right.

"What, you mean what just happened?" Zora said, raising her eyebrow. "Shorty, I'm not the one who took in a light bullet. It's just what happens when I overuse this damn arm of mine." She took off the bandages off her right arm, revealing its slender yet demonic form. She opened and closed her hand a few times before letting out a sigh, leaning against a wall. "Just our luck we got into another mess..." She stared at the ceiling, silence filling the air...

"By the way, what happened to that kit of yours?" She finally said, turning to Takato. "You know, that little fox thing that's usually around with you."

Ima walked down the hallways and looked around this strange place they were now in. She had forced herself to slow down, as there wasn't any sunlight inside here, and it would be very bad if she ran out of energy. Still, she couldn't help but skip a little.

The child knew that she should probably be more concerned with this new situation. After all, they had once again been placed somewhere they didn't know by some means they weren't sure of. But Ima still couldn't help but want to learn everything she could here!

With that though in mind, the alien continued to skip down the hallway, humming a nameless happy tune.

"Touche'" chuckled Takato as he shook his head, pausing at her question. He was silent for quite awhile, his amber eyes a bit hard and hinting at sadness. "I don't know if a non-magic user like yourself can feel it, but there isn't a drop of mana in this world. Wherever we are. This means a Pactio bond cannot link together, and Al was hopefully returned to the spirit realm. If I'm wrong though..." He trailed off, not wanting to continue. Safe to say, she would be dead. A sudden snap of such a bond can shatter the core of the familiar, so much so that they would die instantly. He brought up his metal arm and let the gloved fingers stretch out, his amber eyes falling. "...." It would also make sense why he couldn't cast a spell that did not require mana in the air. His own core was...

Safe to say, he didn't utter this to his companion. He looked up and gave her a small smile, his short form standing up off the bed and walking over the device on the wall. His mind flashed back to Fayt before he spoke, an idea brimming within. "Computer. Tell me the present location of Zora Yamakuzi." It was an odd question, but he got an answer nonetheless. "Zora Yamakuzi is currently located within Iruba Shelter #5." Made sense, seeing as she was standing right beside him, but that wasn't what he wanted to test. "Got it, now tell me where Ima Terran and Raven Blair are." Once more, he got a rather base answer. "Ima Terran and Revan Blair are currently located within Iruba Shelter #5."

A stiff nod, the Magi closing his eyes. So the computer did know them? Good. They were not as alone as they thought.

"Where is Takato Rutherford located?"

Oddly enough, he didn't get answer.

Huh?

"Computer, answer me. I am Takato Rutherford, so where is Takato Rutherford?"

Cold, hard silence....

...

...

Finally, he got a response,

"I'm sorry, but you not have authorization to access data on Maria Traydor."

"I see...sorry, didn't mean to give you a bad image." Zora said, waving her hand as he fell silent. She sat down on the other bed and sighed, using her left hand to support her head. "So much crud has been happening to us as of late...think I'm about to snap at this point..."

She raised her head as Takato was talking to the computer. She even narrowed her eyes when it mistaken him for a 'Maria Traydor'. "Computer's probably a little haywire with this emergency." Zora insisted, hoping to break Takato's mind away from that odd response. "Come on, we should get some sleep...we're gonna need it, I bet."

"Screw it."

Raven had arrived at his assigned room. Five zero........whatever, he didn't care. He snapped the door open, walking into the less than favorable surroundings. It was nice and dark, though, that was a plus. He could already feel his strength returning, his energy rejuvinating. His coat fell to the floor after snapping the front clip which held his harness to his frame. He leaned it next to his bed, doing the same with his body as he hopped shirtless upon it.

Crossing his heads behind his head and bending one knee, he allowed his tensed body to rest, his eyeslids slowly closing.