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Author of 21 Stories |
Abandon, Inc.
Author's Notes:
No tengo nada. In English, I own nothing. Just so you know, all rights will go to Namco & Nintendo. And various other companies and such. Man, I don't even own a toaster . . .The story is PG-13 for language, violence, and mild unsettling events.
Pairings: Hinted Colloyd, Shelos, and some Gesea. It's not going to kill you, I promise. This isn't a love story.
Timeline: Disk Two, Zelos in Party, no Origin or Maxwell. Sorry, Kratos fans – he's on vacation. But, he's having a good time, and he'll send you a card.
Chapter 1: Watership Down
Storms at sea are the worst, especially in mid-flight. The sky had swollen with dark clouds so fast that there was little time to react. The winds blew furiously from the southwest, shoving the little Rheairds further and further off course. Rain spat in their eyes, blinding and stinging with such force. Everyone was drenched, clothing drooping heavily with rainwater. Nothing was quite as terrible as that first crackle of lightening, zinging past one aircraft and downward. They had to find land, soon.
"Do you have any idea where we are?", Lloyd Irving hollered through the storm, flying on instinct alone. The rain had squashed his hair down, bangs dripping in front of his face.
His teacher Raine Sage answered back, "We passed Altamira a little while ago. Beyond that, I have no clue!" She was trying to read the group's map, but it was difficult with the turbulence and the storm dancing around them. Giving up, she shoved the map in one of her orange coat pockets, "Drop altitude! We'll have to get down lower."
"What!", Lloyd called, "What do you mean by that!"
"She means get down, bumpkin!", Zelos Wilder yelled to the young boy. His white headband was holding pack most of his hair so it didn't interfere with his vision, but even he was lost, "I can't see Genis anymore. I think he's gone down!"
In the distance, someone shouted, "I'm still here!" Genis's voice was way too tiny for the storm, almost swallowed up in the rumbling in the distance. He was concerning himself with another matter, "Colette and Presea are having engine trouble! I'm going to see if I can get them down."
Another Rheaird floated down next to Genis's, the engine roaring heavily through the sky. Regal dropped to help the younger half-elf, "Hold on!" He just about made it to the other faltering Rheairds when his own engine started coughing and sputtering like theirs. Something shot out of the back of the system, and smoke started clogging up the area, "This is not good! I think a seagull got sucked into the propulsion unit!"
"Whoa! Shit!", Zelos swore as something struck his Rheaird in the belly. Looking down, he saw little pieces of mechanical objects and wires go spiraling below. He called for help, "Sheena! Can't you summon anything!"
The ninja angrily hissed back, "Are you kidding! This is way too unstable to summon in! Besides, what would I do? Summon Volt?"
Zelos tried encouraging her to do it, "Yeah! Something would be good about now!" He jarred again, a bright ball searing through his machine's left wing. He began spinning out of control, swearing as he went down, "Someone's shooting at us! Help!"
Lloyd dove to catch up with Zelos's dying craft, hovering side-to-side with the vehicle. In a moment of panic and insanity, Zelos leapt from his Rheaird to Lloyd's. He slipped from the slick metal, shrieking in fright. Lloyd grabbed the Chosen's hand, hauling him into his back seat. He grabbed onto Lloyd's shoulders, gratefully crying, "Thank you, thank you! I thought I was going to loose my pretty—"
He didn't get to finish that thought. Something wrong had happened so dreadfully fast that neither of them got the time to understand it. The shots that had downed Zelos's craft had turned their guns towards Lloyd's, lacing the undercarriage with ballistics. Lloyd didn't know how far up they were, but he could at least sea the ocean below them at this point. It was going to have to be low enough. Grabbing the Chosen, both of them jumped out of the aircraft in one moment of insanity before it burst like a fiery flower. Both screamed as they fell to the ocean, both hitting the sea like anvils.
Whatever happened next, Lloyd was not entirely sure. Lightening lanced into one Rheiard, and he was sure he could hear Sheena desperately trying to summon something. The smoking one with half its engine destroyed by an unsuspecting bird plummeted away from the three children, crashing somewhere in the distance. Somebody else jumped from their seat before their Rheaird exploded, a bright pink beacon in the sky. Everyone was dropping form the sky so fast, it was hard to keep up.
His vision glazed, and Lloyd slipped underwater, passing out beneath the waves.
"Buddy! You're okay!"
Lloyd winced, eyes clenching shut. That was not the sound he wanted to hear right now. He wished for Colette's cheerful morning cry, or for Genis's sarcasm, or even Raine's rebukes. It would have been okay to hear Sheena snap at someone, or Presea's soft cooing voice, or the absence of sound from Regal. But not this. The fates were stacked against him, he was sure of it.
Zelos squeezed Lloyd, happy to see he was awake, "I was so worried! You were bleeding so much! Luckily, I know first aid, so you are okay! Mmm, you must love me to have saved me like that!"
"Oh, get a hold of yourself . . .", Lloyd whimpered as the Chosen refused to let go, his head still spinning from the crash. He pushed Zelos off him, scrambling to get up. Making a quick check, he found he had both of his swords and a couple of other emergency items still on him. Well, even if he was stuck with Zelos, at least they had some supplies.
Zelos crossed his arms, now cold to Lloyd, "Oh, sure. That's how you greet the person that saved your life. I could have let you drown, you know."
"Ugh . . .Thank you, Zelos," Lloyd managed to muster up a compliment for the Chosen. He was going to be broody otherwise. Scanning the landscape around him, he found that both of them had washed up on the shoreline of some island. It looked all ragged and inhabited, trees choking the skyline. He ruled out Altamira as a crash site, as well as any of its islands. Lloyd couldn't see civilization anywhere.
Lloyd sat down next to Zelos, trying to figure out their situation, "Where is everybody?"
"You've got me there," Zelos shrugged, equally distressed about that fact, "I don't know where anyone else is, besides you of course. It's rather disturbing. I hope they're okay, wherever they are." He then slyly added, "Well, at least, I hope my hunnies are."
Lloyd snapped, "Zelos!" It was just like him to only think about girls!
Zelos defended himself, "I'm kidding, Lloyd! Just trying to lighten the mood with a little humor, you know?" He dusted off his white pants, standing up and taking in the scenery, "It was pretty bad last night. I'm not sure how we made it out alive."
"Well, we did. I bet the others are okay, too," Lloyd assured his friend. He began pacing around the beach, trying to figure out how they were going to start searching this place. Casually noticing the sea, he didn't find any ship on the horizon. It was still dark and cloudy out, even for early morning. If it was early morning. He still felt very disoriented.
Zelos smiled, hand on his sheath, "You're right, Lloyd. There's no point in sticking around here, anyway." He looped one arm into Lloyd's, playfully skipping around like he was on a yellow brick road, "We're off to find my hunnies! Oh, and those other guys."
Lloyd would have corrected Zelos again, but what was the point? At least he was willing to help him out. The two began scanning the beach, walking around the coastline. Lloyd placed some driftwood upright at one spot away from the tide, hoping it would be a good marker in case they would come around the island full circle. The skies kept swelling darker and darker, and Lloyd could only hope he'd find his friends in time before the storm could hit again.
"Hold still!", somebody else commanded as his hands shot out and caught the neck of the albino constrictor. It hissed and snapped at him, biting into his arms and leaving nasty gashes. He didn't seem to mind too badly, carefully uncoiling the snake from around the distraught Chosen of Sylvarant, "Just don't move, and it won't react."
Colette kept deathly still, deeply fearful of the snake. It had managed to twist around her legs and waist while she was out, and it was all she could do not to shake with fear. Regal kept calmly talking to her as he unraveled the snake's coils, wrapping the creature around a nearby tree limb. She wasn't sure she understood most of it, though. All she could think about was that huge thing that nearly had eaten her.
"It's all right, Colette," Regal kept trying to reassure the girl, "It's not poisonous." It snapped him in the arm again, but he grabbed it by the jaws and unhinged it from him. There was serious strength behind those jaws, but he wasn't going to let it frighten Colette. It was just a large and confused animal, that's all.
The Chosen closed her eyes, not looking at it. It seemed to help her nerves if she pretended it wasn't there. After a few more seconds, she could feel the last of it being lifted off her. She relaxed, watching as it slithered away to another tree. Crossing herself, she threw herself at Regal, "Thank you! Snakes scare me a lot!"
He patted the girl on the head, "It's okay. Most of the time, they're much more afraid of you than you are of them."
"What happened last night?", Colette asked, still unsettled, "Where's Lloyd? Have you seen anybody else?"
Regal sighed, shaking his head, "I'm afraid not. I haven't even been down yet."
" . . .Down?", Colette had a new thing to be concerned about. Glancing into the trees below her, she noticed that the ground was achingly far away. She wasn't sure how high up she was, but she guessed it had to be at least fifty feet or more. Much more. Somehow, she had crashed into a rainforest, and knowing places like that, it was going to be a long drop to get down.
Regal pointed upwards, showing her the wreckage above their heads, "That's the only way I found you. I'm afraid I won't be a great help climbing with these shackles still on." It was all twisted and grimy, the insides of the Rheiards hanging out like intestines. She saw another one just like it a few feet away, crumpled in the canopy.
Colette smiled, knowing that wouldn't be a problem, "It's okay! I can fly, and then we can look for people in the sky! It's much easier to find people up there."
The convict seemed shocked at what the girl was suggesting, "Colette, I can't—"
"I've got it figured out. Don't worry!", she giggled, "Besides, I've done it before." Without a second to argue, Colette threw Regal on her shoulder and jetted into the sky in a flash of bright pink wings and mana. The prisoner barely had time to get adjusted to the new heights before Colette was off again.
Trying to avoid looking down, Regal asked, "When did you do this!"
"Oh, I forgot!", Colette explained, "I carried you to Mizuho after we knocked you out in that big scary forest!"
"Well, then," Regal cringed, hoping this wouldn't last too long, "Good to know."
Her head hurt as she wobbled up, taking quick looks at the abundant flora. There were giant trees that stretched up into the sky like rooted skyscrapers. Vines and ferns wound around every plant, almost covering up the ground in a spongy mass. There were mushrooms growing along some trees, and as far as Sheena could tell by her ninja training, they were edible. Birds were flying to and fro, and dragonflies danced around in the air, but there was hardly any other life. She began to feel lonely and abandoned.
"Good, you're awake," Raine greeted the summoner. She had been exploring the area to the east, and returned with a few items, "I was afraid you might have had a concussion."
Sheena half-heartedly laughed, feeling a wound on the side of her head, "Where did you go so fast?"
Raine was more than happy to share that with her, "Well, I found some medicinal items, and a couple different varieties of fruit. I'm not sure if I can use all of it, but I figured you'd be able to help me identify what's toxic." She had wrapped up a couple different kinds of berries, bananas, kirima, aloes, and more like that in a sack she happened to have on her.
"It all looks fine, Raine," Sheena was impressed with what Raine had found, "If push comes to shove, I suppose we could eat beetles, too." The teacher gave her a funny look, and then decided she was just kidding. That, or it was the whack on her head that set her off.
"Anyway, I thought you should know about our current situation," Raine informed the summoner, "Currently, you're the only person I've seen around here. Our Rheairds were destroyed last night, so they're officially useless. I haven't heard from anyone, and I don't know where we are. However, I still think we're in Tethe'alla, most likely to the far east."
Sheena frowned, "Well, that's not good. At least you can heal, and I can fight."
Raine sighed and lowered her head, "I suppose being optimistic would be the best right now. I'm . . .worried about Genis."
"Bah," Sheena threw that off as nothing, "The kid's probably just fine. I mean, he's stubborn and relentless. It's probably a family trait or something." Raine twitched her eye, but allowed that comment to fly. Besides, Sheena was most likely right, anyway.
Picking her collected goods up, Raine began, "I wonder what the best way to sear-"
"AHH!"
She didn't finish her sentence, "Genis!" Raine ran off into the rainforest, taking the fastest path to the sound as possible. Sheena growled, jumping off after her in classic Mizuho fashion. There was something nice to be said about having the power to leap and bound over leaves and twigs without making a sound.
Presea calmly asserted, "Genis, calm down. We can face it."
Genis shook his head, still a little dazed from last night's crash, "Are you kidding? There's no way we can kill it fast enough!"
Whatever it was, it crashed through another tree. The heavy thousand year old tree gave way with a heavy crack of splinters, nearly crushing the mage and the axe-wielding girl. Presea quickly ditched her plan, grabbing Genis's hand and running as fast as she could with the mage in tow. They scurried through trees and vines like frightened rabbits, finally finding a grove of trees where they could hide for some time.
" . . .is it coming back?", Genis timidly asked.
Presea was just as uncertain, "I do not know."
They could hear its footsteps heavily digging into the moist ground. More trees collapsed in its wake, shaking the earth with their deaths. The two children held their breath, hoping it would not come and find them again. It was all they could do to hide.
. . . it found them. "Bao-OOoooWOoooWOoooWoooo!"
Well, it wasn't what I had in mind, but I'm glad it's coming out. After struggling with five separate story lines, I began to lop them all together and this came out of it. Sort of. The more and more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do just a creepy (yet funny) story. So, I guess you could say I was writing with a lot of Sci-Fi in my head. Jurassic Park, Resident Evil, Lost, the new Battlestar Galactica, and even a little bit of the scarier Ninja Turtles stuff – this story is kind of along those lines. Wait, do they even nicely come together? Ah . . .nevermind.
Speaking of Lost, is anyone excited to see what that monster really is! I know I am! I read a spoiler-ific article on MSN about what it might be from a 'scrapped script page', and if it's anything like that . . .hoo, boy. Seriously creative. It's probably one of the few reasons I still watch television! (PS—Anyone remember what Watership Down has to do with Lost? Bonus points if you know it!)
And now for something completely different. RANDOM STATUS CHECK TIME!
Currently Equipped Titles –
Lloyd – Gung Ho
Colette – Tiny Angel
Genis – Friend
Raine – Survivor
Sheena – Acrobat
Zelos – Casanova
Presea – Lone Girl
Regal – Way of the Jungle
Review, if you'd like to. It'd be nice!
