Fellowship & Fairydust

How did I get to this point? Rummaging around some creepy hooded person’s computer just to find information about who I was working with? Guess it was after leaving that girl and the princess in the swamp. That battle we had, I had not expected her to call forth such power. Who would’ve thought the squirt had it in her? Whatever. Power was useless if someone wasn’t willing to use it to do what needed to be done. Even if she turned into a goddess I would have no respect for her. 

As Leroy typed away at the computer, he asked, “What are we looking for again?”
“Something. Anything.” I growled. “That old coot is up to something and I want to know what it is. The kid froze when that figure called her Bookworm, and the first mission I got was to destroy some teleporter device. See if you can find any correlation because I can’t read whatever language is on here.”
“It’s not that hard once you get the basic syllables.” The little red monster paused at a certain file. “Hmmm. Interesting.” 

“What? What does it say?”

“Well, from what I learned, I think it’s Project Final.” Clicking on it, a wide selection of files opened up showing various videos that seemed dated of seemingly unrelated events. The people talked about wrecked ships being found with giant claw marks in them, and others reported how entire islands had been devastated by large natural disasters. 

Throughout it all, I saw images of what looked like carvings and paintings of strange creatures on ruined temple walls, and drawings of them in old parchments. Why would they be shared in the same file as a bunch of old news footage? Then, as I was about to leave the file I saw a video that made me freeze. No, it couldn’t be. That was impossible. 

The video clip showed the shadow of a giant monster. 

As I stood there, I saw more clips showcasing other giant monsters, attacking and destroying large metropolises like they were made of cardboard. Not sure how I knew of that substance, but it was terrifying to see the death count rise as I watched the clips of death and destruction. I did see armies mobilize to try to combat these threats but in the early clips, they were completely obliterated. 

“A traumatizing history to watch isn’t it?” An all-too-familiar voice asked from behind. Turning, I saw the person who claimed I owed my life to standing there. “I see you’ve grown curious about the world your opponents come from.” 

“What? That’s from their world?” I couldn’t believe it. “This Harthyn is home to those beasts?” 

With a nod, the figure continued, “Kaiju, as the natives call them. My research has revealed that in ancient times many civilizations on Harthyn worshipped these monsters as gods, but for some reason, they vanished. Then, seventy-five years ago, the monsters reappeared and wrought havoc upon their advanced civilization.” 

Narrowing my eyes, I said, “Thanks for the history lesson, but what does this have to do with me or those brats? What is Project Final?” 

“Just a side-project that you need not concern yourself with, Mortem.” While the figure talked, I noticed Leroy put something together and place it into the computer. As numbers appeared all over, I rose an eyebrow. Was he downloading the data? Couldn’t let the mystery man see that, so I picked something up to look over. As he took it from me he gave his instructions. “Mortem. I think you have rested here long enough. Any longer and you risk the children becoming a threat to your goals. Do you want that?”
With a scoff, I decided to test him. “And why are my goals important to you? Why are you so concerned about those two?” 

“Do not concern yourself with that. And in the future, stay out of my equipment. If there’s something I want to share with you, I will. Now, go. Make sure they do not get in your way again.” 

Huffing in response I turned and began to march away while Leroy leaped onto my back, handing me the drive with the data on it. Taking it from him I slipped it into my jacket. If my so-called partner wasn’t going to give me answers I was going to find them on my own. 

***

CLAIR’S POV

The Lanes Between
Umi 28, 92 KA…

As we flew inside the Gummi, I sat at the window thinking about everything, like was this in-between space called the Starocean or the Lanes Between? The books Merlin allowed me to borrow used both terms indiscriminately, so maybe both were correct? At least Scrooge agreed to give Jason a second chance, and he was learning right and wrong from Jiminy. 

Another thing on my mind was this place we were traveling to, Neverland. I couldn’t find much in my books, other than it was a place outside of time. You could spend weeks there but find no time has passed in any other world, or you could spend a day only to lose years in other worlds. It was unpredictable and strange, and the thought of losing time kind of scared me. So why would Merlin recommend we come here? 

Taking out my holo-screen, I contemplated the new communication system we established. Now that we could contact home more readily I wished one of our friends was there. Were they our friends now? They were trying to help us, but I didn’t know them that well. If they did find a way home, then I was going to change that. I’d dress like Eini if it meant seeing my Mom and Dad again. 

The ship then rocked, sending me flying forward. “Heartless!” Scrooge called out as we looked out the window and saw several ships flying around us. Heading to the controls, Jason and I took our positions while we began firing at the enemies around us. Several of them flew on while Scrooge navigated through the floating rocks and hoops that surrounded us, but my cousin and I managed to hit a few of them. That gave me a sense of accomplishment but more swarmed around us. I didn’t like the violence but it wasn’t like I was attacking people. 

As we fired, Scrooge spun the ship in what he called a barrel roll, causing us to lose our grips on the controls. With a gasp, I grabbed the back of my seat to avoid crashing into the floor and walls while the maneuver succeeded in avoiding the blasts from the Heartless. As the ship righted itself, Jason and I got into our seats and resumed firing at the Heartless. “I got one!” I said as one blew up.

“That was me.” Scrooge corrected me, causing Jason and I to look at each other as we continued to fire at our enemies. From the ship’s window, I saw what looked like a pair of pillars floating out in the middle of nowhere, connected by slides of all sorts. I rose an eyebrow at the strange sight, but the old duck flew towards it. 

“Is there no other way?” I asked

“Not at the moment!” As he said this Scrooge spun around, sending us flying again. His spin ended up hitting two of the Heartless vessels, sending them crashing into some of their buddies. Upon contact they ended up exploding, taking out some other vessels with them.

“Nice trick!” Jason complimented the rich duck once he set the ship straight, allowing us to get back into our seats.

With a smile, Scrooge explained, “Well, they’re not that smart. And that’s not the only trick I have in this craft.” Pressing a few buttons, the ship then shot straight forward, making me cry out in fear. We lost track of the Heartless ships behind us, but we encountered some more vessels in front of us, so Jason and I went crazy blasting them while our chaperone navigated through the floating rocks. 

As we passed through a twin set of waterfalls, I noticed something up ahead. “Is that an island?” A bit redundant because it was, with several tall mountains and forests coating it everywhere. Were those two rainbows over some of the mountains? It looked friendly and inviting to look at, and I felt a desire to visit that world. 

“There it is.” Scrooge smiled as we destroyed more Heartless vessels. “Neverland.” Once we had destroyed all the Heartless vessels in our sight he piloted the ship towards the world.

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