"The RPG Of Experiencing Many Things."

 

This is a Fan Fiction based on the Tales Of JRPG Video Game Franchise.

 

Prologue: "Our World.".

 

Efreet, Undine, Sylph, Gnome,

 

These are the four Summon Spirits that govern the world of "Union", named after the four gigantic kingdoms that make up the entire planet itself with one of the four Summon Spirits governing one of the four giant kingdoms each respectively.

 

A young man by the name of "Hart Corazon", 21 years old, a reporting journalist lives in the kingdom governed by the fire Summon Spirit Efreet known, as "Fire Earth", where here, due to some unfortunate circumstances, his life, as he knew it was turned upside down forever more.

 

Whilst he started out his morning one day, moaning about low pay he received for a freelancing job on reporting, a childhood friend of his by the name of "Mika Hardaker", 22 years old, appeared at the door step of a flat he was renting out and informed Hart that something known, as the "Summon Spirit Festival" was about to begin, to pay in honour of tribute of not just the four primordial elemental Summon Spirits that guard both the balance and stability of the world of Union but also all of the other lesser major player Summon Spirits, as well, for their parts in providing day to day daily life functions to the four kingdoms of Union, Fire Earth, the kingdom that Hart is currently situated in and is his home/birthplace of origin, "Water Terra", Mika's original home/birthplace before she moved to the kingdom of Fire Earth at the age of 8, one year before she met Hart and both "Wind Gaia" and "Earth Sol", the other two that both Hart and Mika have never travelled to before in their whole lives.

 

Mika informs Hart that, as a worker of a printing press called "Four Eyes and Three Ears", their motto being "Keep your ears widened, keep your eyes widened even more", it is both Hart's job and responsibility to on behalf of the press to get all the good news that he possibly can from reporting on the festival and not slack off, sleeping in his flat a whole week long just because the pay is bad for him doing a job at the time and/or he's just feeling miserable all together, Mika works, as a maid at a café called "Nurse Boutique", where customers come to revitalizing themselves after hard days full of work and because Mika follows the cafe's number one creed, its policy of "Never letting even a single customer down", she believes it to be her job to wake up her lazy childhood friend, knowing that he himself would not move unless he was forced to by a certain someone in his life, in this case, Mika.

 

Hart has always had feelings for Mika and had even used his latest pay check to buy her a Platinum ring, intending to ask her to marry him but because she is one year older then him, he believes the gap to be too large and that Mika would flat out refuse him, due to his more or less carefree personality, although he is against the idea, Hart, on Mika's personal request and wish, decides to go back out into the world and do the job that he is meant to do.

 

Hart's latest job, as given to him by his chief editor of the press at the Four Eyes and Three Ears named "Percival "Percy" Almont", 39 years old is to go to the outskirts town known, as "Reidamoria" and begin a report on why monsters had started rampaging there, just before coming back in time to do a report on the Summon Spirit Festival, Hart, although lazy in personality is still nevertheless an adamant worker and thus, he decides to fulfil the job that he had been given.

 

At Reidamoria, just outside of the capital of Fire Earth known, as "Fire Haven" where Hart had come from, it is here that Hart sees for himself a barbaric site that the village had become from suffering at the hands of all of its monster attacks, blood and bodies everywhere and because the survivors of the attacks knew that he was a reporter from the Four Eyes and Three Ears back in Fire Haven, they forcibly tried to throw him out of the village, even worse, however, things then took a turn for the worse for both the villagers and Hart himself, as an Eggbear then appeared on the scene, intending to eat everyone alive, although the villagers had escaped in fear and panic, Hart was too scared to move, knowing that he was about to die at the hands of the Eggbear's claws and just before it seemed like he was about to be killed, as Hart had one last thought of Mika inside his head, suddenly, the Eggbear instead had died, as it laid down on the ground non moving with Hart opening up his eyes to see that a young girl wielding a Katana had appeared before his eyes, she appeared around the age of 14, wiping the blood off her Katana with paper before sheathing it back into its Scabbard, as Hart tried to get answers from her but failed to do so, only with the girl saying to Hart that her name was "Aina Strozeweld" and that it was unsafe for him to be in Reidamoria and that he should return back to the capital, as soon, as he can, for very soon, something called "The Eve of Apocalypse" was about to begin, not understanding any single one of her words but seeing that the villagers were fleeing to Fire Haven's direction, Hart decided to do the same but not before picking up one of the blood stained papers that this girl who calls herself Aina had used to wipe the Eggbear's blood off her blade.

 

At the Four Eyes and Three Ears, Hart was brought down by harsh words given to him by Percy after he told the latter the truth of what happened in Reidamoria, not receiving any money whatsoever for a scatter-brained report, as Percy put it, Hart was also taken off the reporting for the Summon Spirit Festival, his only biggest chance to earn big bucks and to propose to Mika finally after mustering up his courage, Hart became disillusioned, depressed and especially above all else, angry.

 

A few hours at night, the festival was already underway and giant floats of all the Summon Spirits were seen passing by, under a giant water bridge was seen Hart, angry and alone, about to throw away the piece of paper he gained back in Reidamoria into the water but at the last minute, stopped himself from doing so, knowing that it was only lead to something big, concerning what the Aina girl said to be The Eve of Apocalypse, as a journalist, it was in Hart's stubborn nature not to give up and keep on pressing onwards, finding out the truth of things and delivering it to the public, as that was what he believed to be the soul existence of a journalist.

 

Suddenly, just then, in the distance on the other side of the water bridge, Hart saw a ninja garbed like man in black and white, entering through a sewer line, Hart, believing this to be related to the Aina girl from before, followed after the ninja into the sewer line, here, Hart found two abandoned brass knuckles and knowing that monsters were lurking in the sewers, decided to use them to fight with, having once taking up boxing lessons to give him an advantage against the monsters.

 

Deeper inside, Hart soon found a secret entrance into a science laboratory like place and after exploring the lab a bit, he then overheard talking in the distance, he walked up a staircase into a old and dusty roof, next he found himself on the surface up-top, out of an old sewer tunnel that was directly connected to the roof he was in moments before, just outside of a clock tower that was far away from all the action taking deeper into place in Fire Haven's capital, where the Summon Spirit Festival was taking place, seeing the ninja like person enter the clock tower, Hart followed after him, climbed up the tower's long staircases until finally, he somehow found himself inside of the tower's roof, spying down on the ninja like man along with three other ninja like people, the rest of them wearing only green coloured garbs, meaning that the ninja that Hart was chasing must be a higher rank then them, as he deducts, the three ninja are seeing kneeling down towards their leader in black and white whilst he stands up, awaiting an elderly old man with a short beard and a right monocle who then appears on the scene, of whom Hart instantly recognises to be an important business enterprise man named "Trowhouser Elderbik" of "Bilin Enterprises", stationed all the way in the kingdom of Earth Sol.

 

Trowhouser is known to be a suave and political businessman that has dealt in multiple deals across all kinds of genres though currently at the moment is discussing military application profits with the kingdom of Wind Gaia, Earth Sol's neighbour, Hart recalls inside his mind, as he also remembers his boss Percy having both met and done an article on Trowhouser himself personally, Hart wonders to why Trowhouser is seen with a bunch of suspicious characters, as they talk about things that don't make sense to Hart except during one part of the conversation, he overhears Reidamoria being mentioned and upon being both shocked and surprised to hear this, Hart accidentally gave away his position to the people below him, forcing Hart to run away from the three ninjas in green chasing him, just, as he exits the clock tower and makes his way into the streets where the festival is taking place, Hart is attacked by the ninja in black and white shooting a poison dart through a float of Gnome into Hart's shoulder, causing a great deal of panic amongst the public, as they then saw an army of ninjas fill up the streets, disrupting the festival whilst Hart himself could feel paralysis enter through his entire body through his shoulder, the ninja in black and white wielding a scythe holds it to Hart's neck and calls himself "Ryozetsu" and that, as a member of "The Silent Pack", it is Ryozetsu's job to eliminate any and all who know of the Pack, however, just when it seemed like he was about to slice off Hart's neck, the girl named Aina appeared once more, pushing Ryozetsu back, using a Panacea Bottle to cure Hart from his affliction and asked that together with his help, they drive the enemy leader back, Hart, having regained his senses and seeing how Aina saved him like she did agreed to aide her and using his brass knuckles, fought alongside Aina against Ryozetsu.

 

The battle ends prematurely however, Ryozetsu is called back on a com link of his by his superiors and warns Hart that now that he knows who Ryozetsu is, he won't stop until he and the rest of The Silent Pack have killed Hart, confused, as hell about everything, Hart is dragged off by Aina out of Fire Haven, knowing that Hart can no longer stay in the city but just before leaving, Hart sees Mika amongst the streets filled with panicking people and vice versa, as the two caught a last gaze of one another, Mika silently said Hart's name, to which he did not hear, as Hart then left Mika's viewing distance, being dragged off on-top beyond the walls of Fire Haven by Aina...

 

Into our vast and expanding world, of Union, Hart's journey, has only just begun.

 

Prologue Concluded.

 

Thoughts everybody :]?

Edited July 27, 201510 yr by Iamkingdomhearts1000

Chapter I: "The Journalist and the Slicer.".

 

Part I: "The Boy of Fire.".

 

Upon escaping the outer walls of Fire Haven and avoiding contact with the authorities, Aina quickly proceeded to knock out Hart before he woke up the next day in a small empty hut with only both himself and Aina, his wounds from when he was both chased by The Silent Pack and during his fight alongside Aina against Ryozetsu were patched up by her, as wanting answers from Aina, did she proceed to give him answers.

 

Aina is what is secretly known, as a "Slicer" and that it is the duty of the Slicers, wielding trademark Katanas of theirs that symbolize them, as Slicers that are apart of an overall organization called "The Guard" that protects the balance of all things living in the world to prevent a great cataclysmic event that they call The Eve of Apocalypse from happening and that the world famous businessman Trowhouser Elderbik is working with The Silent Pack in order to bring about this terrible disaster, The Eve of Apocalypse would only come about once four keys of elemental properties are brought together to open a certain door at a certain place and once that was fulfilled, would the great king of evil from ancient lore past known, as "Dark Chaos" emerge from an ancient seal keeping him imprisoned, having been broken by the four keys unlocking the door that serves, as the seal itself.

 

In the very beginning of Union's history, it is said that Summon Spirits are the personification and manifestation that represents all things good within the world whilst Dark Chaos was otherwise the bad, inheriting all of the evil that life had to offer, during the time of mankind's birth, Dark Chaos, seeing them, as inferior to himself tried to destroy them but by the combined efforts of the four strongest Summon Spirits that there ever were, Efreet, Undine, Sylph and Gnome was Dark Chaos defeated by their combined effort and sealed away into the heart of the planet itself, now known today to the people of the present, as "Turak'A'Dor", the castle made of stone occupied by the royal family that command the leaders of all four kingdoms of Fire Earth, Water Terra, Wind Gaia and Earth Sol.

 

Turak'A'Dor occupies the very centre of Union and keeps the ancient seal door that keeps Dark Chaos intact locked away, knowing that he could one day escape from his imprisonment, the locks on his seal were transformed into four elemental keys and scattered across Union by the founding leaders of The Guard upon the original ancestors' of the royal family order, so that could Dark Chaos never again feel the light of day.

 

The current generation of The Guard believe that Trowhouser is both backing The Silent Pack, The Guard's mortal archenemies with off the books funding to cause trouble and secretly sending monsters to attack innocent bystander villages in hopes that this will fuel Dark Chaos' dormant power in the meantime until his return whilst Trowhouser's personal organization, Bilin Enterprises will hunt down the four elemental keys on the public excuse of archaeological research for future products and profits.

 

Hart, now knowing the truth behind the monster attacks on Reidamoria and also knowing that this is the scoop of the century, asks Aina to allow him to accompany her, however, she refuses, knowing that Hart is only using this, as an excuse for personal gain and also the only reason that she saved him was so that he could go into hiding, away from both The Silent Pack and Bilin's ever watchful eyes, although he is adamant to accompany her, Aina uses a smoke pellet to ditch Hart, leaving him no choice whatsoever but to head to the next nearby town, knowing that he can't exactly go back to Fire Haven and that Aina has already ditched him.

 

The next town is called "Felis" and is said to be the hometown of Fire Haven's original founder, the original king of Fire Earth, not to mention its original benefactor, as well named "Archibald Fire", going onto accord of what Aina said about the whole Dark Chaos thing she told Hart earlier about, Hart deduces that the original kingdom leaders must of had a hand in founding The Guard alongside the royal family of Union and thus decides to do background research into Archibald's history, of how he gained power, hoping to learn something about Dark Chaos, The Guard, The Silent Pack, everything.

 

Whilst looking at a statue of Felis' hero Archibald, Hart meets a young 9 year old boy named "Anthony "Tony" Fire" who proclaims that he is Archibald's great grandson by a few decades but who nobody believes, as Tony is an orphan with no parents and no home and because of his flame like shaped hair and crimson eyes, is persecuted by Felis' villagers for being a outsider who only adopted their ancestral hero's identity, making them hate Tony for it and adding more fuel to the flames because of so, although Tony still proclaims he is Archibald's descendant and sees him, as a hero of Tony's, Tony also hates Archibald not because of the persecution he gets from the villagers but because apparently Archibald had an affair with an official from the royal family's government all the way back then, leaving behind his original family that he had to go on to become the 1st ever king of Fire Earth, which is why, as Tony reveals that he has never once step foot inside the boundaries of Fire Haven.

 

Hart senses a connection between both him and Tony, as like Tony, Hart too has more or less distant relationships concerning familial ties and that the only real family he had ever considered to still have was Mika, Hart's childhood friend, upon realising what Aina meant about personal gain through Tony's suffering at the hands of those that treat him differently, Hart realises the two things to both be wrong and upon getting to know Tony a bit better and vice versa, offered to adopt Tony, just before hearing the boy's answer, the two were attacked by a giant man belonging to The Silent Pack wielding a double bladed axe named "Taros", Taros proclaims he was sent by Ryozetsu to kill Hart and retrieve something called "Efreet's Layer", not understanding what Taros was talking about, Hart proceeded to use his fists to protect Tony from Taros, as both Hart and Taros battled one another.

 

Midway, Taros gained the upper hand against Hart, knocking him through at Archibald's statue, breaking it in half and just when it seemed Taros was about to kill Hart, he was saved by shockingly and surprisingly Tony using Fire magic and a small hand sized staff, Tony reveals that he has grown to like Hart and refuses to let him be killed by Taros who the boy sees, as nothing more then a big bully, resuming the fight, though reluctantly, as now he is fighting alongside a child he refuses to let be endangered, Hart now fights alongside Tony to defeat Taros, during the entire battle defending the boy, as he used his Fire spells to knock down Taros until finally Hart punched the big man right in the temple of his face, sending him flying towards near the exit of Felis, catching the villagers' attention.

 

Taros, knowing that the advantage was now against him sworn vengeance on Hart before leaving Felis, as Hart is helped up by Tony off the ground after the backlash of Hart's punch on Taros' face sent him down towards the ground, as Hart and Tony praise each other skills and abilities, especially the latter in his case of mastery over Fire spells despite only being 9 years old, just then, the prejudice villagers started gawking at Tony, calling him a freak for causing trouble in Felis, seeing Tony was about to reduce tears, not being able to take the harsh and hurtful comments being swung at him, Hart stood up for the boy, calling the villagers themselves freaks for picking on only just a boy 9 years old when he hasn't done anything wrong at all, as the villagers were starting to gang up on Hart and Tony, the mayor of Felis shouted out and halted them, calling everyone disgraces for their behaviour against only a young child and that are these people lord Archibald from the past really lived his life protecting? founding the kingdom of Fire Earth for? upon the mayor's stern and calm words, the villagers were halted in their prejudice acts against Tony, the mayor then proceeding to bow towards the young boy, his eyes swelling up with tears, as he begged for Tony's forgiveness on behalf of the village, realising that he should have stood up for Tony earlier and that he made the young boy suffer so much alone with no one by his side to help and defend him, Tony remained silent towards the mayor, Hart took the mayor by his collar and shouted out him that it was too late since the damage was done and now scars will forever remain on Tony that will never ever heal, if the mayor really wanted to speak up for Tony, he should have done so in the beginning, not when there was a convenient reporter just hanging about in the area, referring to Hart himself, believing Felis to be full of "trash", Hart had asked Tony to accompany him if Tony so wanted to, Tony after thinking it over agreed to join Hart, now seeing him like a big brother figure.

 

As the two were about to leave Felis, the mayor, although admitting to Hart's words about him, nevertheless wanted to part something onto Tony, of which was a good luck charm with a flame symbol embedded into it, Tony, despite not forgiving the mayor, proceeded to hug the mayor, as the mayor was the one who provided Tony home, shelter and food within Felis, the mayor, welling up with even more tears in his eyes, slammed his fists into the ground, as Hart and Tony left Felis behind them, truly and genuinely showing remorse for the actions that were made against Tony, as Hart left with Tony, he thought inside his head that with a man like that showing that kind of guilt, grief and pain, there may still be hope for the village of Felis, including a possible home if Tony ever decided he wanted to come back to Felis and live there.

Edited July 27, 201510 yr by Iamkingdomhearts1000

Part II: "A New-Born Trio.".

 

Now with Tony accompanying him, Hart had to figure out what to do to feed two mouths until finally, he and Tony came across a small inn entitled "Tanaka's", here they meet the owner of the inn named "Hiroshi Tanaka" and his beautiful teenage daughter named "Ayaka Tanaka", 45 and 15 years old respectively and upon receiving on the house treatment due to how both Hart and Tony appeared, all dirty and stomachs growling, it is at Tanaka's that Hart and Tony shockingly and surprisingly meet up with Aina, who reveals that she was waiting for them both after secretly watching their actions back in Felis.

 

Aina watched over Hart after ditching him in order to observe if he had a true and virtuous personality underneath his self important journalist like persona and upon seeing his interactions with Tony realised that there was true goodness inside of Hart to which he merely brushed off Aina's observation, once after introducing herself to Tony and explaining everything to him clearly due to his keen mind for a boy his age, Tony jokingly proclaimed the name of the Slicers to sound like that of a bad guy's organization, of which Aina agreed with whilst smirking about it before returning to more important affairs, namely wanting to discuss something with Hart about something called a Sorcerer's Ring that The Silent Pack are after in a place not too far from Tanaka's known, as "The Abyss Mines", said to be home to the most fearsome creatures that there are.

 

Aina reveals to Hart that the Sorcerer's Ring has the power to locate hidden objects and with it, The Silent Pack and Trowhouser could easily locate the four elemental keys in regards to Dark Chaos, upon becoming more virtuous like Aina described, Hart knew that this was something that could not be allowed to happen and thus with Aina, set out the next morning to the Abyss Mines leaving Tony without knowing in the care of the Tanakas, not wanting to endanger him more then already.

 

At the mines, Hart and Aina at first had trouble working together when facing monsters but whilst they continued onwards deeper into the mines, a bond between them started to take shape and Aina felt like she could trust Hart more, seeing him in a more positive light then before, upon reaching the 3rd lower level of the mines, Hart and Aina found themselves spying on a conversation involving Trowhouser, Ryozetsu, Taros and another unknown ninja, Trowhouser comments on Taros' failure back at Felis on failing to eliminate Hart who knows what they are plotting now thanks to the Slicers and that he criticises Ryozetsu on failing to stop Aina before killing Hart back in Fire Haven, now that more unnecessary elements have been added to the playing field, Trowhouser believes it to become more harder to finding the four elemental keys then it already is, however, the unknown ninja speaks up, identifying herself, as "Asuka", saying that she would be more then thrilled to kill both Hart and the Slicers by staining their blood on her two claw like weapons, showing that she is a psychopath who revels in the deaths of others and likes to lick their blood off her weapons, Trowhouser expels her idea of this, more concerned on finding the other three elemental keys, as he reveals that because of his connections in Earth Sol have Bilin Enterprises already found the Earth key and are now almost on their way to obtaining the Fire Key, upon hearing this, Hart and Aina accidentally give away their positions to the enemy, as the two confront Trowhouser and his group, asking the former about why he wishes to revive Dark Chaos, Trowhouser merely laughs, saying that he wishes to become a god under Dark Chaos' command, believing the ancient evil will grant the businessman both eternal life and youth, no longer wishing to be an old man that is eventually close to dying in return for freeing Dark Chaos from his imprisonment at Turak'A'Dor, Aina calls Trowhouser pitiable for this but he merely shrugs this off, saying that he, Ryozetsu and Taros have more important affairs to attend to whilst leaving Asuka behind to deal with both the Slicer and her pet tool, as Hart is called.

 

Taking anger to this, Hart tries to punch Trowhouser, only to reveal that he, Ryozetsu and Taros were actually illusions and that Asuka reveals that currently elsewhere, the aforementioned three are off gallivanting in search of the other three elemental keys, the Fire key being located at a place beyond the mines called the "Hahoda Mountains", however, the reason for Asuka's revealing of this information is that she intends to kill both Hart and Aina using the power of the Sorcerer's Ring she has now obtained, just before the three could engage in battle, Tony, using Fire magic to distract Asuka had appeared before escaping with both Hart and Aina all the way back up to the Abyss Mines' 1st level, Hart scolds Tony for leaving the Tanakas but the latter replies that he didn't want to miss out on all the fun, as he too wants to fight alongside his friends, not wanting Hart and Aina to do everything whilst Tony sits back just because he is a child, Aina convinces Hart that because she is a child too should Tony fight, as well for no matter how much Hart will not want otherwise will both Aina and Tony still fight alongside him regardless, not wanting him to do all the dirty work and letting their friend fight all by himself, although Hart was swayed by Aina's words to let Tony fight, he still wanted the boy to only cast magic from the background to which that was an acceptable decision for both Tony and Aina.

 

As the trio neared the entrance to the Mines, appearing in front of them blocking their path was Asuka, using her claws to dig her way up from the 3rd level, Asuka swore revenge on Hart, Aina and especially Tony all alike, as burns appeared across her eyes, damaging her self proclaimed beauty due to Tony's earlier attack to merely distract Asuka whilst he and the others could escape, Tony apologizing deeply and sincerely for what he had accidentally done to Asuka, due to his forgiving and innocent nature, as a child, however, she would not hear any of it, instead, amplifying her strength using the power of the Sorcerer's Ring to face everybody head on, only in the end to be beaten by Hart, Aina and Tony, as Aina takes the Sorcerer's Ring off from Asuka before she and the other two proceeded to leave the Mines behind.

 

Leaving the Abyss Mines and Asuka behind them, Hart and company returned to Tanaka's before plotting their next move, now learning that their primary objective, the Fire key was located in the Hahoda Mountains beyond the Abyss Mines, not wanting to go back the way they came, they decided on a shortcut called "The Greenleaf", a forest bridging the interconnection between both the plains of Fire Earth to the mountains beyond the Abyss Mines, it would be here that Aina could consult an elderly sage woman known, as "Babalda", said to know how to restore the Sorcerer's Ring's proper capabilities, as due to Asuka's use of the Ring has its power almost completely died out, meaning the way to find the four elemental keys would be wasted upon the heroic group of Hart, Aina and Tony, of whom its leader, Hart, now realising the importance of teamwork from the fight with Asuka agreed to fight alongside with both Aina and Tony despite them being children, especially in the latter's case in order to protect them both, as that is Hart's both duty and responsibility, as an adult and now with their new formed bond of teamwork, the three prepare to head out the next day to the Hahoda Mountains beyond the Greenleaf, in order to finally retrieve the Fire key before their villainous counterparts do.

 

Chapter I Concluded.

 

Thoughts everybody :]?

Chapter II: "Efreet's Layer.".

 

Part I: "Traversing the Greenleaf.".

 

As soon, as they were prepared, the trio of Hart, Aina and Tony had set off for the Greenleaf, the inter-pass towards their destination of the Hahoda Mountains, where lay buried the Fire key, their primary objective.

 

Upon entering the giant forest full of greenery and all kinds of other things, monsters to be notable, Hart had wondered if it was all right to allow the children, Aina and Tony to be travelling through such a dangerous forest, even though he more or less realised the importance of teamwork and because he was there to protect them, wondering if he can keep up to the promise of that task, Aina, eyeballing Hart, reminded him without having to say anything that regardless of his thoughts on their presence there with him and if he could protect both Aina and Tony or not didn't matter, as she knew that he wouldn't let the two get hurt at all and that also the two could take care of themselves with both Aina's skills, as a Slicer and Tony's Fire magic respectively, Hart, accepting things for what they are though not having to like them, proceeded onwards with his young companions, protecting them and fighting alongside them, as they journeyed forth to find the elderly sage woman Aina mentioned known, as Babalda.

 

Eventually, they come across a small empty hut occupied by a rude little creature calling himself "Miaoze", as he resembled the creature that Humans keep, as pets, Cats and thus, decided to call himself Miaoze in order for a name to be given to him that Humans can understand and call him, Miaoze reveals that he is Babalda's familiar guardian Summon Spirit and that she was currently off mediating at the Hahoda Mountains, leaving himself in charge of handling those that would come looking for Babalda's ancient wisdom, Aina, quickly getting down to the topic at hand, asked Miaoze if there was a way to restore the Sorcerer's Ring, Miaoze revealed that there was though it would require getting a special type of fruit that grows only in the Greenleaf called the "Ember Apple" and that the apple itself was guarded by a beastly creature of a wolf called by the forest loving residents of the Greenleaf "De'Luna", of whom loves to feast on Ember Apples and keep them all to himself, the sap required from the Ember Apple is what is needed in the restoration spell to restore the Sorcerer's Ring's power.

 

Deciding to immediately head out to confront the De'Luna after preparing themselves, Hart, Aina and Tony journeyed forth deeper into the Greenleaf's deeper monster infested territories whilst making their way through the forest's more wild like passages, eventually, they came across a withered tree with only one Ember Apple remaining left and just, as they were about to collect the apple, De'Luna appeared, using telepathy to communicate with those that would "steal" the Ember Apple from it, saying that the apple belongs to the wolf alone, not willing to come to a bargain for the apple, Hart, Aina and Tony face off against De'Luna but the giant wolf proves to be more then a match for the trio to fight back against it, as all hope seemed to be lost, suddenly, a man wearing a Fedora and a cape appeared, using a shotgun to blind De'Luna's eyes, giving the group the chance to strike back and seize the Ember Apple.

 

Upon De'Luna's defeat, the stranger seized the apple for himself, disappearing with it, Hart, Aina and Tony feeling the loss of letting the man escape with it return to Babalda's hut where there, they find that the strange man had went on ahead of them and that he was intending to give the Ember Apple to them in the first place, he reveals his name to be "Feist F. Launcher", 23 years old and upon hearing Feist's name, Hart recalls a famous young businessman in rivalry against Trowhouser also named Feist F. Launcher that is the head of a gigantic corporation called the "Lilicos Corporation" though Hart has trouble believing it is the same man, especially in light of all that's happened, regardless of believing him or not, Feist had been monitoring the actions of the Slicers and has been watching over both Hart and Aina ever since they left Fire Haven, when the two momentarily split up, Feist spied on Aina, leaving Hart to his devices concerning the small incident in Felis and now upon closer inspection of Hart, realises that he works for Percy at the Four Eyes and Three Ears, of whom once interviewed Feist, the same case just like Trowhouser, Feist wishes to travel with Hart and the others, wanting to stop Trowhouser's ambitions whilst already knowing about them, however, despite Tony's approval of Feist joining are both Hart and Aina sceptical of the man, seeing, as he just came from out of nowhere both strangely and mysteriously, even so, they are at his whim, as he will not supply the Ember Apple unless they meet his demands, having no choice whatsoever, they agree but on the condition that Hart keeps a close eye on Feist, being the reporter that Hart is, accepting that term, Feist hands over the Ember Apple to Tony, allowing Miaoze to begin restoring the Sorcerer's Ring back to its full capacity.

 

Now with the ring fully restored, they use its tracking abilities to lead them down the nearest path into the Hahoda Mountains where there, the now formed group of four intend to find the Fire key and stop Trowhouser from obtaining it but just who is this Feist F. Launcher truly?

Part II: "The Domain of Fire.".

 

Taking the path of "Gurichia Step", Hart, Aina, Tony and Feist had finally arrived at the lower level entrance of the Hahoda Mountains, correctly guessing that they could find the Fire key on the upper levels of the mountains, maybe even at its very peak, Hart, keeping true to word of not letting Feist out of his sight did just that, earning a dislike from the latter though could understand Hart's intentions, as the four travelled up the mountains, fighting any and all of the Fire and Earth based monsters that came across the heroes' way, they momentarily took a break at one point, where Hart and Aina shared their story so far with Feist, starting to trust him a little bit.

 

On Feist's part, the reason he wishes to travel with the group is because he wants revenge on Trowhouser, who took away everything from Feist, his Corporation, his money and especially above all else, his family, Trowhouser is holding Feist's younger sister captive after murdering their parents and intends to use her to make sure Feist does not go to the proper authorities to report on Trowhouser and his secretive black market dealings, unless he wants to see his sister dead, having no choice, Feist was forced to absolve his control over the Lilicos Corporation, leaving it to be merged into Bilin Enterprises, granting Trowhouser even more financial and political power over the Earth Sol government, corrupting some of its leaders and extending his grip practically over the whole kingdom itself, disgusted with Trowhouser's means to an end, Feist swore eternal vengeance on the elderly man and will not stop until he has shot a bullet right into Trowhouser's lobe.

 

Hart, although wanting to stop Trowhouser also, silently does not agree with Feist's lust for revenge and upon seeing this characteristic of his new companion, comes to trust him more and especially wants to help Feist avoid that vengeance at all costs when the time comes, Aina however still distrusts Feist, thinking that something with his story is fishy and how come he knows about the Slicers, a few hours had passed and the group continued onward, in their eyesight, they could see a huge shrine above them and believing that where the Fire key to entombed, Tony quickly rushed up the stairs leading to the shrine, however, just then, his path was blocked by a huge mechanical golem covered in fire called the "Ifrit", wanting to save Tony before he would be killed by the Ifrit, Hart, Aina and Feist teamed up with one another, forcing the giant back after working all three together against it, however, the Ifrit then suddenly activated its Overlimit, allowing it to knock both Hart and Aina into nearby rock pillars, leaving Tony completely and utterly defenceless, as the boy was about to be murdered by the golem's fist, blocking it was the shotgun of Feist, using his body to cover Tony, telling him to run for it, even though he is frightened by what was currently happening in front of him, as Feist was getting pushed back and Tony looked like he was about to suffer from a panic attack, seeing his friends in the danger they were, suddenly, something snapped inside Hart's mind, hearing a hollow voice inside it, the voice told Hart to take up the fire within him and upon accepting the voice's words, just then both shockingly and surprisingly, Tony's good luck charm started glowing, it ripped itself off from around his neck and floated over to Hart, wearing itself around his neck instead, as his black coloured hair suddenly turned bright gold and his green coloured eyes turned deep crimson, a huge fiery aura emitted around him before it suddenly took shape in the form of a humanoid like being, who Hart called Efreet, working together with this being he named Efreet, Hart and his now spiritual like partner recommenced the battle against the Ifrit, destroying its body parts one by one until finally leaving only its head, of which Hart upon seeing it deactivated left the Efreet to drop down on the ground before the Efreet proceeded to disappear from everyone's sights, leaving an exhausted Hart to pass out after his hair and eye colours went back to their normal colours.

 

Tony, Feist and especially Aina were flabbergasted by what they just saw, wondering what the hell had transpired, looking from inside rocky catacombs was Ryozetsu, commenting about what Taros said to Hart in Felis about finding something called Efreet's Layer and that at this point, Ryozetsu deemed Hart himself to be that very same Efreet's Layer, grasping the Fire key in his hands whilst remaining silent, he appeared before the group of heroes, battered and bruised, unable to fight, however, instead of finishing them off, Ryozetsu passed on to Aina the Fire key, believing there to be no honour in killing people that cannot fight back, causing Aina to wonder if this was some kind of trap, Ryozetsu did not care about the young teenager's opinions, only that he tells her to make Hart stronger, as soon, very soon, Ryozetsu will come to take Hart's life and settle things between them both once and for all and with that, Ryozetsu leaves in a very ninja like fashion, however, the group of heroes, although gaining the Fire key in the process, see this, as a complete and utter loss on their parts, unable to get it with their own strengths and powers and proving to themselves just how much they need to get stronger if they want to secure the other remaining two keys before Trowhouser does.

 

At this point, the journey, had only just begun...

 

Chapter II Concluded.

 

Thoughts everybody :]?

Edited July 28, 201510 yr by Iamkingdomhearts1000

Chapter III: "Out of the Frying Pan, into the Water.".

 

Part I: "Legend of the Layers.".

 

Two days had passed since their victory back at the Hahoda Mountains, Hart woke up the previous day and was explained everything to by Feist on what just exactly happened, cursing his own strength failing at a critical point where lives could have been decided by death, not wanting anyone's death on his conscience, Hart vowed to become stronger then he ever was before in his entire life so that he can protect all of the people all around him, earning a slight praise from Feist towards Hart on this gutsy vow of his, to which he intended to keep no matter what but first, there were two things that needed to be brought attention for Hart to move onwards.

 

The 1st was checking up on both Aina and Tony to see if the children were safe after all that occurred and the 2nd was to speak with Babalda, who was the one that brought back the group after finding them at the Hahoda Mountains to the Tanakas' residential inn upon finishing her meditation at the mountains and then finding the group of four at the shrine of the Fire key, Hart wanted to know more about the mysterious power he manifested in the fight with the Ifrit and recalling what Taros said back in Felis about a Efreet's Layer had wondered if they were both one in the same thing, gathering Aina, Tony and Feist after confirming the condition of the former two and speaking with Babalda, Hart asked the elderly sage woman if she knew anything at all about something called Efreet's Layer.

 

Remaining silent first and then taking a sigh, Babalda revealed that the Efreet's Layer is directly tied to that of The Eve of Apocalypse, in that during the final battle against Dark Chaos because Summon Spirits could not fight with their own kind without taking physical bodily form which despite all of their grand powers they had naught the power to enter the world of Union properly, they instead had to rely on vessels that could inhabit the Summon Spirits inside Human bodies and combined the Summon Spirits' powers with that of the strength of resolve that lives within every single Human being, by combining the two together was Dark Chaos eventually defeated and sealed away forever more, however, it is said that without the four "Layers" that the Human vessels are called to tap into their elemental powers upon the four elemental keys that each one of them respectively responds to, will Dark Chaos never again see the light of day and thus, that is why the enemy is currently searching for the beings called Layers, without them using their powers to fuel the four keys, the seal will not open and Dark Chaos will remain trapped, Trowhouser wants to gather up the four keys and the four Layers that will fuel the power of the keys, enabling him to finally break Dark Chaos' seal and free him from his eternal imprisonment.

 

Babalda specifically calls Hart Efreet's Layer, as he is the Layer of that who is known, as Efreet, thus Efreet's Layer, the Layers do not awaken their powers until they reach the age of 17, however, for some reason in Hart's case has he never awoken his Layer powers until back at the Hahoda Mountains, causing everyone, especially Hart himself to question and wonder why? even so, Hart, intending to keep his vow of protecting both Aina and Tony, shrugs off the how and why and instead asks Babalda for training on how to control Efreet's Layer powers, Babalda reveals she cannot help Hart in his training but that she knows of an old colleague of hers named "Daeoji" who lives in the kingdom of Water Terra and that he once taught a student who would be Hart's age in present day on how to control her Layer powers, believing it to be a good way on their journey to next find the Water key, Hart agrees and decides to spend the next few days training and learning what he can from his Layer powers before he can get down to the proper basics with Daeoji in Water Terra, as everyone else wait in the meantime so that they do can prepare, Aina and Feist head off their own ways temporaily and Tony stays with Hart, using his Fire magic to help his big brother like figure in controlling his Layer powers, Babalda intends to accompany the group on their journey to Water Terra whilst leaving Miaoze in charge of the Greenleaf until she returns, believing that Daeoji will not simply train Hart unless Babalda goes with the group herself, finally, the next few days pass, Hart and the others reunite at Tanaka's and according to Babalda's wisdom, they must first travel across the plains of Fire Earth known, as "Fire Verse" until finally, they reach a pier called "The Aquea Mermaid's Dock", it will be here that they will meet "Captain Seabad", proud captain and sailor of the prized Water Terra cruiser, "The Finite Siren", realising that this will be the very 1st time he has ever set foot out of Fire Earth, Hart sends off a letter to Mika, saying the words "I don't know if i'll ever come back or not but there is one thing I want to say to you Mika and that is: I WILL come back because there's something that I want to share with you, I don't know how long I will be but please don't worry Mika, i'll be fine, a reporter is dedicated after all, heh, keep yourself healthy, okay?" Hart sends off this final letter, donning a new haircut style and clothes, he and his companions set off from the Tanaka's with both Hiroshi and Ayaka bidding Hart, Aina, Tony, Feist and Babalda farewell and a good luck's journey, as the small group of heroes embark onwards across Fire Verse to the Aquea Mermaid's Dock, starting the adventure towards the kingdom of Water Terra.

 

Elsewhere, Mika has been tirelessly working with Percy at the Four Eyes and Three Ears to track down Hart, desperately worried about him, even temporarily quitting her job at the Nurse Boutique until suddenly, she received Hart's letter and upon reading it, told Percy of her decision that she will travel to the kingdom of Water Terra to find and bring back Hart and that Percy will be accompanying her, despite his disagreement on the matter, the final scene shows Mika inside her spiritual self crying tears of sadness, as she worries about the safety of Hart elsewhere, symbolizing her very own love for Hart, just, as much, as Hart loves Mika.

 

"The distant paths will now converge onto one road.".

 

"What awaits the travellers of the paths walking the one road?".

 

Volume I: "The Fire Epic." Concluded.

Volume II: "The Water Log.".

 

Part II: "The Finite Siren Versus the Squid of the Seas.".

 

The group now bearing new travelling gear had finally arrived at the Aquea Mermaid's Dock, having traversed the many dangers of the Fire Verse, the plains of the kingdom of Fire Earth and now were on their way to the kingdom of Water Terra, to find both Daeoji to help train Hart in mastering his Efreet's Layer powers and especially to keep Trowhouser Elderbik from procuring the Water key in his attempt to revive the evil ancient Summon Spirit Dark Chaos, having already in his possession the Earth key, rivalling Hart and company's possession of the Fire key, there was little time for debate, as the group had to continue onwards and find the other two keys before it was too late.

 

On-board the Siren, they meet Captain Seabad, 45 years old and of whom will be commanding their voyage across the seas until they reach the city harbour of "Equalelis", the 2nd largest city in all of Water Terra and hopefully where they will meet up with Daeoji after Babalda sent him a letter of their impending arrival there, Equalelis is also the home of people wanting to be equal to others, who want more say in how their lives are run by the Water Terra government and thus behind the city's name being Equalelis, the reason of why people want more say, as Hart reveals to the young Tony is that the Water Terra higher politicians are strict with how they provide water to only higher class citizens born of nobility rather then "meagre peasants", as it were, since water is Water Terra's only primary source to get around within the entire kingdom itself and without rationalising will the water all drain and dry up, the inner workings of the kingdom's government will crumble and eventually following after that, so will the whole structure of all of the kingdom of Water Terra, to prevent that, Equalelis was founded on the notion of giving water to the people of Water Terra's people when they especially need it and not just hogging it all to the higher nobility, they want to be equal to those that have it good in their lives, that is what Equalelis is founded upon reveals Hart to Tony, as he also mentions that they are protesting against Water Terra's government since they are trying to prevent both civil war and war with the other three kingdoms over their resources, the people of Equalelis have come to realise what that would mean and thus are trying everything that they can without resorting to violence to make the higher officials themselves understand that.

 

Aina also reveals Equalelis to be a major Slicers' headquarters and that an old friend of hers named "Tamokioka Hirudanushi" would be meeting up with Hart and company there to discuss the location of the Water key, having found out thanks to a spy within Bilin Enterprises, the plan and course of action set for them, the group travel the sea, now setting sail on-board the Finite Siren, as Feist displays motion sickness, Tony displaying a great love for all of the ship's entertainment and food values, Aina displaying exceptional swimming skills, Babalda displaying relaxation at massage treatments and last but certainly not least, Hart displaying a love for literature including writing his very own story inside a small diary that he keeps on his person at all times, as it contains a picture of both him and Mika together.

 

At night time, Feist after slightly becoming tipsy talks with Hart, who displays his concerns on if Trowhouser will succeed or not and if Hart will ever get to see Mika again, Feist reassures Hart that although it may take a while, Hart will return to Mika after stopping Trowhouser and Feist can finally take his revenge on the old man, at this point, Hart tries to talk Feist out of his revenge but taking great offense to this, Feist somehow immediately knocks himself out of his drunken state and tells Hart to fight him, not wanting a half assed answer from Hart like that, however he disagrees to fight but just before anything more could be said and done, the ship came under attack by three giant octopus like tentacle claws and Captain Seabad then appeared on deck and revealed it to be the name of his long lost archenemy, as he calls it named "The Octa-Hydra", when Seabad was just a young lad serving on his very first ship, the Octa-Hydra had appeared, sunk the ship and killed all of Seabad's crewmates, leaving only naught but him to survive its treacherous attack at sea, now with experience by his side and the skills to go with it, Seabad believed it to be his life's purpose to now kill the Octa-Hydra and avenge his old crewmates with the help of his trustworthy trident called "The Exseidon", the tip of its three blades made from the prong of his original ship's mast, carrying the spirits of all those who died at sea from the Octa-Hydra's relentless assaults, Seabad asked both Hart and Feist to help him distract the Octa-Hydra's tentacles whilst he aims for the giant head submerged deep underwater before jumping off the Siren into the sea, causing both Hart and Feist to be in concern but nevertheless putting aside their differences and helping the captain like he asked them they would, as the two back to back fend off the three giant tentacles before then being joined by both Aina and Tony, the four all together taking out the tentacles before Hart alone chased after Seabad underwater, seeing him badly injured before the Octa-Hydra's head which is in the shape of a giant eyeball with smaller tentacles surrounding the cornea of its eye, as Hart tried to escape with the unconscious Seabad, four tentacles latched onto Hart, preventing his escape, only to be saved by Feist coming after Hart, using water proof bullets and special gunpowder to fend off the tentacles before using the Healing Arte First Aid on Seabad, allowing the old captain to wake up, as he, Hart and Feist all proceeded to work together and take down the Octa-Hydra, in the final moment of battle, Hart unlocked his Efreet's Layer powers once more, gaining gold hair and crimson eyes once more, Seabad passed Hart his Exseidon trident of which the Efreet manifestation behind Hart took hold of and started to wield, as its own, it then threw the trident right into the iris of the Octa-Hydra's eye before deciding the finishing blow to end it all was Feist using his shotgun to shoot two bullets into the trident, forwarding its descent into the iris, finally killing the Octa-Hydra.

 

Night had passed, it was daytime and Seabad had thanked the two young men from relieving him of what felt like a lifetime's burden, to show his appreciation, he wishes Hart to take possession of the Exseidon for the Efreet to use, giving it the power to wield water alongside fire, of which can provide devastating but helpful outcomes, Seabad believes both Hart and Feist make good rivals for one another but tells them that they must always remember one very important lesson, that they are also friends, upon hearing this, Hart and Feist share a moment of reconnecting with one another and the latter tells Hart that although he has no intention of giving up revenge upon Trowhouser, Feist nevertheless shouldn't take that out on his friends and Hart, although disagreeing with the revenge altogether, knows it was wrong of him to force Feist to give it up, upon these words, the two grown men shake hands with one another and establish a true friendship between one another, Hart now no longer possessing any at all suspicions of Feist from earlier.

 

Seabad reveals that he would like to have accompanied the heroes on their journey but that, as captain, it is his responsibility to head the Finite Siren, just, as much Hart and co have the responsibility of finding the next elemental key, although Hart believes it to be a great loss considering the captain's daring do and great strength, it would be an even greater loss if the Siren were to lose its best and its only captain, Seabad is nearly brought to tears by Hart's words but holds them in, on the account of a man's pride, just then, the horn blows, showing that the city of Equalelis was in the distance and, as all of the on-board passengers and crew amaze at its magnificent glory, Aina meanwhile secretly discusses something via com link with her superiors...

 

Chapter III Concluded.

 

Thoughts everybody :]?

 

Chapter IV: "The City of Equality.".

 

Part I: "The Four Heavenly Kings.".

 

After the long sea voyage on-board the Finite Siren, Hart and his friends have finally properly entered the boarders of the kingdom of Water Terra by docking at Equalelis, called by the people of the outside kingdoms the City of Equality, as our heroes had now finally arrived at the 1st destination of their next primary target, however, Aina immediately interrupted the rest of the group upon leaving the Siren and collecting all their luggage, revealing to everyone that she would like for them to finally meet with her superiors who are currently in Equalelis, the leaders of both The Guard and all of the Slicers known, as "The Four Shields" at their secret base called "The Swallow Nest", one of the Slicers' primary major bases and the centre of The Guard's activities in all of Water Terra.

 

Specifically, Aina asks for both Hart and Feist to meet with the Four Shields whilst Tony remains with Babalda outside of the secret entrance leading to the Swallow Nest upon arriving outside its less conspicuous surroundings, inside the building, they are greeted by the old friend Aina previously mentioned, Tamokioka who Aina calls Tamo for short whilst everyone else just calls him Tamoki and upon seeing him brandishing his two trademark Katanas of his, Aina knew that Tamoki was there to test both Hart and Feist before they could meet with the Four Shields and so she politely asked if they could demonstrate the will of their strengths and powers respectively, Hart and Feist, despite both feeling a little uneasy about doing this nevertheless agree to Aina's request and begin facing off against Tamoki, of whom during the battle shows that he is equally a match for both Hart and Feist even working together, especially with Hart activating his Efreet's Layer powers in order to take Tamoki head on, catching the attention of all the Slicers shown in the shadows of the background, as it seemed like both Hart and Feist were no match for Tamoki, the latter made the mistake of mocking their reasons for fighting, Hart's love for Mika and Feist's attempt to rescue his younger sister named "Elle K. Launcher", 20 years old from Trowhouser's clutches, by mocking them, Hart whilst using his Layer powers in turn wielding the Exseidon trident he received, as a gift from Seabad had managed to channel his anger into great power and alongside his Efreet, pin Tamoki against a nearby wall, instantly winning the battle in Hart and Feist's favour whilst Tamoki shows that he was impressed by their resolves, having purposely made them angry in order to find out the true limits of their abilities, although confused on why, Hart and the others are then approached by four both strange and mysterious men who Aina identified, as the Four Shields of The Guard, their names being "Kuro Genbu", the head instructor of all the trainee Slicers and the one who assigns them all missions, "Shiro Byakko", the number one combat expert within The Guard and the one who assigns the trainee Slicers the training with their Katanas, also being the one who hands out the Katanas to the trainee Slicers upon officially completing their proper Slicers training and graduating to become true Slicers and members of The Guard, "Ao Seiryu", The Guard's leading taciturn tactician, of whom leads The Guard's secret black ops Slicer groups to handle deadly missions that cannot be done by the normal kind of Slicers, not to mention Aina's mentor when she was studying, as a trainee Slicer herself and finally last but not least, "Aka Suzuku", the high commander of both The Guard and all of the Slicers, leader of the Four Shields and the strongest member of the Slicers in all of their history up to date, the Four Shields have saved the world of Union time and time again and they intend to do so again by stopping the rampages of Bilin Enterprises being caused across the four kingdoms of Fire Earth, Suzuku's territory, Water Terra, Seiryu's territory, Wind Gaia, Byakko's territory and Earth Sol, Genbu's territory respectively without the people of the world knowing about Trowhouser's true evil deeds and persona, in order to relay the identity of Trowhouser's true self to the world, Aka Suzuku asks Hart to return being a journalist once he has helped stopped Trowhouser and relay to the people of Union what Trowhouser is truly like with Feist's help, once he has regained control over the Lilicos Corporation, the combination of both Hart and Feist working in the Four Shields' favour, although feeling like they are being used, knowing that the overall goal was the same, Hart and Feist agreed to the Four Shields' request.

 

Appearing then on the scene was an old man who Ao Seiryu revealed to be Daeoji, the very one in the same Daeoji that Hart was looking for in order to train under, revealing that he is a founding member of The Guard's current generation, having helped mould the Four Shields into what they currently are now, although blind and can no longer hear and speak, Daeoji agreed to train Hart upon receiving Babalda's letter from Hart and sensing that she was currently travelling with his group, however, Daeoji warned Hart that the training would take up all of his life-force stamina and that if he was truly ready to train under the elderly sage who taught the Four Shields themselves, must Hart take a whole day off and relax whilst viewing the sights of Equalelis, wanting the young man to see with eyes unclouded and his spirit opened up to new heights and senses, although disappointed slightly after journeying so far, including now at a critical point being told to simply just wait until Daeoji told Hart that he was ready to learn the full extent of his Layer powers, upon seeing the expressions of the Four Shields, Aina and Feist, Hart took a moment's breath and had decided to agree to Daeoji's method, waiting one whole day whilst exploring Equalelis and learn something new about the City of Equality in the process.

 

Meanwhile, appearing at the Aquea Mermaid's dock back in Fire Earth was seen both a determined Mika and a tired out Percy, preparing to set sail across the sea towards Equalelis with the intent of meeting up with Hart.

Edited July 29, 201510 yr by Iamkingdomhearts1000

Part II: "Dragon and the Hopes and Dreams of the People.".

 

Meeting back up with Babalda and Tony, taking the rest of the night off at a 5 star luxury hotel in Equalelis, wearing relaxation clothes, the next day did Hart accompanied by both Aina and Tony started exploring the sight sceneries of Equalelis whilst both Feist and Babalda went off together elsewhere, apparently needing to attend to a matter of great urgency, as Tony enjoyed himself, Hart and Aina talked amongst themselves of how they both got themselves into the positions that they are in now, Aina reveals that she was only a baby that was abandoned on the steps of a ruined church called Strozeweld where she was found, taken in and raised by a man named "Hakuma Eiyori", of whom was Ao Seiryu's grandfather and hence revealing the reason of how Aina was inducted into the Slicers under Seiryu's direct tutelage, as for Hart himself, he reveals that he is not originally from the kingdom of Fire Earth but rather the kingdom of Wind Gaia and that he is former nobility of a clan called "The Corazon Household", however, upon turning age 17, for reasons Hart does not feel like talking about, he left the nobility and went to live with his childhood friend Mika in the capital of Fire Earth, Fire Haven, as a journalist, just recently, Hart had discovered that an older half brother was brought in to take his place, as the leader of the Corazon Household, of whom Hart has never even met to this present day, asides from knowing that his name is "Caan Canaan", Hart reveals that he has no regrets about the decision of leaving Corazon behind him and that he now enjoys his current life, especially thanks to Aina, who if Hart had not met back in Reidamoria would none of this have ever happened, thus Hart thanks Aina truly, sincerely and deeply and sees her, as his partner, Aina, not good at showing her emotions, shies away from Hart, feeling embarrassed by his kind words.

 

Just before anything else could transpire, suddenly, a Kunai nicked a bit of Aina's hair off, causing her to back away whilst Hart gets Tony to safety, Aina shouts out to whoever just attacked them now, appearing before the trio was another man dressed in ninja garb coloured both brown and blue, possessing an X shaped scar across the centre of his right eyeball, revealing himself to be called "Ryu" and that he has come to assassinate the Layer of Efreet, namely Hart himself, as Hart immediately starts to use his Layer powers to attack Ryu, shockingly and surprisingly blocking Efreet's attack was Gnome and that Ryu reveals to Hart that whilst he is the Layer of Efreet, is Ryu the Layer of Gnome, the Summon Spirit of Earth.

 

Encountering another Layer just like himself, Hart is easily outmatched by Ryu and Gnome's perfect combination teamwork together, even with both Aina and Tony backing Hart up, showing to the young journalist that he and Efreet are not perfectly in tune and sync with one another, now realising the reason behind why he felt that he needed more training in mastering his Layer powers and why Daeoji wanted Hart to clear his mind, it was to make him open up to the fact that he has not tempered Efreet's flames, only kept them in check, knowing that this was to become a losing battle, Hart took on Ryu and Gnome's attacks head on in order to protect both Aina and Tony like Hart vowed to himself that he would and upon seeing this kind of act before his very eyes, did Ryu stop ordering Gnome to attack Hart, finding that there is no honour in killing a man when he is not at his very best and when others are concerned, instead of killing Hart like he promised that he would, Ryu had instead decided to steal Hart's Fire key from him, issuing a challenge that come tomorrow would Ryu appear again before Hart and they would face off against one another in a one on one fight and should Hart have not learnt any improvements whatsoever from today, would Ryu take the Fire key, deliver it to Bilin Enterprises and ultimately, kill Hart in the process, giving him the deadline for the rest of the day to get ready, Ryu leaves with Fire key in hand, causing Hart to experience the feel of failure once more at the hands of an enemy.

 

Furious and angry with himself, Hart refuses to listen to Aina to calm down and upon venting his anger out on Tony, causing the boy to run away in tears and for Aina to first scold Hart and then chase after Tony, Hart realises the mistake he had just made and proceeds to follow after Aina in finding Tony, Aina meets up with Feist, who asks Aina that Hart find Tony by himself, wanting things to be settled between just those two, eventually, Hart finds Tony, asks for forgiveness from him for a bad end on Hart's part, Tony forgives Hart easily, knowing that he was only just angry and upon being relieved for being forgiven, do Hart and Tony talk amongst themselves about how far they have come together with one another despite it only being such a very short time of being together with each other, Tony reveals that he turned 10 during Hart's training at the Tanaka's, trying to master Efreet's flames and that it is only now that Hart gives Tony a birthday present, revealed to be the good luck charm that the mayor of Felis gave Tony, Tony reveals that the charm was actually a gift from his mother and that he lost it during his stay in Felis and if it wasn't for the mayor, would Tony probably never have found the charm again, as for it being a birthday present, Hart had engraved the good luck charm now into a pendant that Tony can keep around his neck at all times so that way, he can feel the soul of his mother close to his heart, as the night grew more and more darker, Tony asked Hart about his dreams for the future, a question very mature for a child to which Hart replied that his one and only dream would be that the woman he loves will see him in the exact same way, earning a comical scoff from Tony, believing romance is all yuck and stuff, as Hart placed his arm around Tony's neck, comically trying to strangling him for saying yuck at Hart's romantic dream before the two proceeded to laugh, showing the brotherly bond between them both despite the age gap.

 

It had finally turned midnight, Hart had put Tony to bed back at their 5 star luxury hotel before proceeding to head out to the Swallow Nest, intending to ask Daeoji for Hart's official proper Layer training to begin, now that the stakes had been raised even higher, thanks to Ryu stealing the Fire key, to which Daeoji upon seeing the resolve within Hart's eyes accepts and alongside with Tamoki's help, do the two proceed to begin to help Hart master his connection to Efreet in order to take on both Ryu and Gnome and win.

 

Throughout the rest of the entire night-time, Feist and Aina watched over Hart's training taking place whilst Babalda was taking care of Tony, talking amongst themselves either or not Hart will succeed in beating both Ryu and Gnome with Efreet's help, of which Feist displayed confidence that Hart could make a connection with Efreet, seeing him, as a worthy rival, a worthy Layer and above all else, a good best friend, Aina, happy by Feist's answer had decided to no longer worry about Hart and instead watch over him, placing confidence in him that he could get the Fire key back and in a way make up for the failures that were displayed during the fights against both the Ifrit back at the Hahoda Mountains and the fight with Ryu that took place just morning time.

 

Finally, it became morning and upon meeting with Ryu in the central plaza of Equalelis where a gathering crowd could be seen was Hart seen all tattered and bruised, having not slept at all, not even once during the training period very late last night, shown by having black bags full of sleep under his eyes accompanied with Feist to his left and Aina, Tony and Tamoki to his right, facing off against Ryu across the street, not wanting to fight in a place full of people, Ryu had moved the fight destination towards the rocky outskirts outside Equalelis and had even given Hart a handicap of 3 hours' worth of rest which Hart had taken Ryu up on his offer, knowing that he could not fight Ryu unless he had at least some kip, for his reason of giving Hart a handicap is that Ryu reveals to Aina, Feist, Tony and Tamoki whilst Hart rests during his given 3 hours is because he has seen the sheer dedication that Hart had put into his training, despite only having the deadline of exactly one night, of which normally is not possible to get any at all training whatsoever done within that very short amount of time but because of Hart's guts to never give up has Ryu become honour bound by that to at least allow Hart to regain a fair portion of his strength for their fight, not wanting to use deceitful tricks to kill off Hart whilst he lacks stamina, despite being a ninja, something Aina asks Ryu about, wanting to know if he is a member of The Silent Pack, Ryu reveals that he both he is yet is not but refused to clarify anymore then that, just before Aina could enforce an answer from Ryu, Hart stopped her, his 3 hours of rest now already up but thanks to that, does a both strange and mysterious purple coloured aura emit around Hart, apparently symbolizing the results of his training, as Feist guessed whilst Tamoki merely smirked, Hart was now prepared for the one on one rematch against Ryu, the latter delighted in that regard, as he proceeded to summon Gnome by his side.

 

To be continued.

Edited July 29, 201510 yr by Iamkingdomhearts1000