Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time Fan Fiction ❯ Constellocean ❯ The School of Heart Nox, Part 1 ( Chapter 4 )

With Luther defeated, Albel Nox roamed his boring home planet of Elicoor II in freedom. Upon arriving in Peterny from Arias, though, a ruckus in the street to the west came to his attention. {Hmm… A rumble, perhaps…} he wondered, hoping to get in on a fight that wasn't his. When he got as far as the inn, he stopped. A myriad of familiar faces was among the crowd around the Craftsman's Guild. Misty Lear, Aqua and Evia, even Chilico stood/hovered through the crowd! {Oh… Just a bunch of maggots wanting in on guild re-registration. Seems every worm on this planet wants to make some foolish contraptions for money.} As he continued forward, rudely pushing through the crowd [without a care in the world], a nicely built Foxtail boy in torn, dark-blue jeans, a black, sleeveless shirt, and black, leather, biker-style boots caught his eyes. He appeared to be around Albel's age, but with two tails, the boy had to be at least two hundred. (A/N: Read the description about Foxtails in the SOTET dictionary.) However, one thing was obvious: the boy was NOT from the Elicoorian galaxy.

 

Wait… Foxtail or Felinefolk? The deeply tan boy had a humanoid body and two chocolate-brown foxtails, but a pair of golden cat ears atop his head of LONG, blond hair. Such a creature seemed greatly intriguing. Hoping to learn something about the true mutt, Albel approached the boy.

 

“So, what are you maggots standing around here for?” he asked, setting his artificial arm in the space between his body and his sword.

 

The cross-armed boy turned his head to Albel and gave a totally sexy “bad-boy” grin, ignoring the “you maggots” bit. “This `Craftsman's Guild' just opened up a new school to help people improve their all-around inventing skills. I'm here to sign up. I'm gonna double-major in alchemy and forge work.” The boy seemed pretty built to be a blacksmith, but to be an ALCHEMIST… Albel was surprisingly impressed.

 

“With knowledge of alchemy and skills in forging, do you really need this school-for-losers?” he asked, “More than HALF of this lot has no talent. In this world, alchemy and weaponsmith are all that matter. Who needs pathetic gadgets or oddly shaped metal that releases a luminous blast? You must FIGHT to live, and only BLOOD-SHEDDING weapons aid that! Alchemy sides with magic. Just synthesize weapons with the products of alchemy and you've got true power in your hands!”

 

“You can synthesize weapons like that!?!” the boy asked upon his surprise.

 

Albel laughed. “Hah! Just stick with me, fool. I'll sign up and teach you what these maggots CAN'T! You see, I specialize in weaponsmith myself.”

 

The boy laughed. “Yeah, you look like you can make some pretty good weapons,” he complimented, studying Albel's body.

 

Albel grinned with pride. “You have a keen eye,” he mentioned, “I like that!”

 

Hold up! Was that a COMPLIMENT… or was Albel being HIT ON? Well, it didn't matter, since he didn't pick up the pun-phrase.

 

“My name is Lukas Balmhart. You are…?”

 

Albel was surprised to hear that the boy had never heard of him, but… not really. After all, Lukas wasn't from Elicoor II. “I'm Sir Albel Nox, better known as `Albel the Wicked,' Captain of the Black Brigade of Airyglyph,” he boasted.

 

Lukas snickered. “My, I scored a LORD!”

 

“What?”

 

“For a class partner, I mean. We haven't even signed up, yet.” Lukas smiled innocently.

 

Welch Vineyard, the Guild Master's assistant, pushed her way through the crowd and ordered with her loud, bitchy tone, “ALRIGHT! EVERYBODY, BREAK UP INTO LINES OF MAJORS AND DOUBLE MAJORS, DAMN IT!”

 

Lukas looked over at Welch, then at Albel and suggested, “Double-major in forging and alchemy. We'll be in the same classes.”

 

Albel didn't realize it, but he was doing everything just to help one guy. Stepping into the double majors' line with Lukas, he remembered why he'd approached the boy in the first place. Brashly, he asked, “By the way, what exactly ARE you?”

 

Lukas was used to the question, so he wasn't at all offended. “I'm a crossbreed. My mom is of the Felinefolk, and my dad is of the Foxtails. In case you ask about my two tails next, I turn 300 in a week, but I don't have the transformation ability that pure Foxtails have. If I was human, my appearance would make me about 22-25 years old.”

 

After signing up for their classes, all students were given slips of paper with their class information written on them. The school wasn't like one of academia, with classroom and labs. The students had to venture to designated locations on Elicoor II in order to attend classes, which meant that they had to fight monsters. {What is this, a SCAVENGER HUNT?} Albel mentally criticized. He looked over at Lukas' slip once he got it. {Same classes, of course… Same times and locations… Damn…} Lukas had a body built for fighting, but Albel wondered if the boy really COULD fight.

 

“The Ruins of Mosel… They're a long way from here,” Albel told his… “partner.”

 

Lukas glanced over at the small clock on Welch's desk, then calmly shrugged his shoulders and said, “We've got an hour to get there. Think we can make it by then?”

 

“Depends on whether or not you can fight.” After laughing at Albel's response, Lukas told Albel to follow him; thusly, he did. He led the swordsman into a narrow alley. “What are you doing?” Without saying a word, Lukas pulled out a long, black… “thing…” from his first left beltloop. “Hey! Wh-what are you trying to do, you sick worm!?”

 

“Relax!” Lukas exclaimed, “I'm not undressing!” He yanked the entire black “thing” out and lashed the ground with it. “It's my weapon.” Albel cocked an eyebrow and slowly nodded to the whip that was in the boy's grip. “Let's go!” Lukas firmly insisted, looping the whip around his neck so that the two ends hung down the front, “I'm pretty smart with symbology, too, but you might not be familiar with some of the symbols that I use.”

 

“Can you heal?”

 

“If you want me to…”

 

“Good.” Albel turned and emerged from the alley. Lukas followed. “Once we leave through the west gate—” Albel just thought that what Lukas said sounded… somewhat disturbing. “What did you say?” he asked in a delayed reaction, not turning his head back.

 

Lukas looked right, then left, then [slightly] up at Albel and rephrased, “If you want me to heal, then I'll heal.”

 

{That sounded a lot more normal than the first time…} Albel thought. He shook his head and turned to walk down the street. “We cross Sanmite Steppe first to reach Surferio, then through the Passage from Parch to Plenty and the Mosel Dunes to reach the ruins. The desert's a bastard, so we'll need to stop at a few oases.”

 

“We'd better get it on, then,” Lukas suggested.

 

Albel thought that “get it on” sounded disturbing too, but decided not to question about it, since it also had a more appropriate meaning.

Onto the steppes they went. Lukas walked calmly, humming along with the background music of the area. (LOL) Albel was feeling a bit uneasy, what with the boy's use of pun-phrases. He had no idea whether Lukas was trying to tell him somethinnnng… y'know… or just saying things to freak him out. Thusly, Albel kept his distance, a few yards behind the “felox.” (A/N: That's my made-up combo-word for “feline + fox.”) Lukas heard a river flowing to his left; his tails reacted to the sound, straightening with alertness. He shifted his head right and left twice, leaving only a fourth of a second's time in between shifts, indicating his excitement about something. He looked to his direct left and became aware of a slope. At the bottom flowed the river that had been playing with his cute, tweak-able ears since he and Albel left Peterny.

 

“Oo-yeah! Water!” he cheered, spring down from the top of the hill and coming to a cat's landing, “Alright! This is GREAT! I LOVE water!” Lukas cried out triumphantly and punched the air above him as he ran up to the bank and took a great hop into the running water. Albel watched motionlessly in utter consternation, his right eyebrow twitching from the sight of his assumedly mature peer displaying such… unexpected behavior. He remained in his position while the boy melange laughed and played in the gentle current as if he was a toddler in the mud.

 

“{What the hell…?}” Albel mumbled his thoughts to himself, left in complete wonder about the boy, “{This maggot's such a CHILD! This very SIGHT makes me wonder if he's going to fight monsters or sing and dance with them!}” Suddenly, Lukas altered the swordsman's emotion.

 

“Hey, Albel! Come eng'get wet with me!” The reason for Albel's twitching eye switched from surprise about the hybrid's immaturity to irritation regarding the third pun-phrase that he'd caught. He growled as his right (only) fist trembled. He felt a strong need to run into the river and sock one right to the other boy's jaw. “Oh… Ha ha! I just realized how wrong that sounded,” Lukas mentioned, scratching the back of his head. Albel's fist pacified from trembling. He felt slightly more comfortable, assuming that the boy didn't realize the perverted meaning. “Well, we should get back to the road, huh?” Lukas asked. Albel simply nodded. Lukas hopped out of the water and climbed the slope to the road. He stepped onto a knoll at a few meters from Albel, treating it as if it was a pedestal for his beauty. The beast boy squatted, and with a rapid shake his body, dried himself off. (Inuyasha-style! AWW! That was for you, Nova!) Shielding himself from the scattered droplets of water, Albel grinned with a cocked eyebrow. He found Lukas' cute behavior quite amusing… but only slightly. When he looked back, he was impressed with the chiseled torso that the black, sleeveless shirt was clinging to.

 

“Impressive…” he accidentally said. He decided to leave it alone and not make it known that he'd only intended to THINK his opinion. It was out already, so acting as if he didn't intend to say it was pointless.

 

“What is?” Lukas asked, looking at Albel with a tipped head. (AWW!)

 

“You LOOK like you can fight, but you ACT like you prance around in the woods with the Flau fairies.” Albel continued up the path toward the bridge that crossed over the river.

 

“How'd YOU know?” Albel abruptly stopped and spun around as if he was going to yell at Lukas for saying something offensive, except his face displayed a horrified expression. Lukas instantly broke out hysterically, even as he attempted to walk ahead of Albel, only causing him to trip a few times; he was pressing one arm into his diaphragm and his other hand to his heart, so he couldn't keep his balance well enough to support his shaking legs. He had pretty much put all of his muscles into that one lengthy laugh. Once he'd calmed down, he turned to the swordsman and declared, “I'll SHOW you that I can fight! You just wait until we find some REAL opponents!”

 

“You fool! We're not out to fight, as much as I hate to say it,” Albel begrudgingly reminded him, “We're trying to get to class. I hate sounding like a pansy, but I signed up for this school, so I might as well make the best of my having done so. We fight only if enemies stand in our way to class.”

 

“How about those?” Lukas asked, pointing to three harpies that had assembled into a group up ahead, “Those canaries are in our way.”

 

Albel calmly walked up to Lukas' side, scanning the enemies from their distance. His eyes narrowed. Without any movement, he devilishly hiss, “We trash them…” Lukas assumed his battle stance. His right side faced the enemies, and his feet were a foot-and-a-half apart. His body bobbed on his legs alternately. In his left hand, he held the lashing end of his whip. He nodded, ready to tame only his energetic heart of battle with the whip that rested firmly in his grasp. Albel drew his sword and assumed his battle stance. His artificial arm (NOOOO! WHY!?! I THOUGHT IT WAS A CLAW THAT HIS ARM WAS INSIDE OF! I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM, EITHER! SOMEONE TELL ME!!! IT BOTHERS ME!!!) hung limply as if it was only good for swinging if he applied enough force to an abrupt turn. Lukas and Albel looked at each other out of the corners of their eyes and nodded once. They locked their eyes onto the enemies that air-tread before them while laughing semi-flirtatiously. In stereo, the two young men made their declaration of battle known.

 

“Let's erase them!”

 

Lukas steeled himself as one of the harpies dashed toward him with tremendous speed. At the ideal moment, he raised his grasp of his whip and flicked his wrist, lashing his weapon bullwhip-style. The harpy let out a nearly ear-splitting squawk in its recoil. “Yeah! RIGHT in the eye!” Lukas cheered, punching the air above him triumphantly. Suddenly, the squawking sounded more of a desperate call for help. Albel remained in his ready stance. “Albel, DO something!” the boy barked.

 

“DON'T yell at ME, maggot!” Albel returned quickly, “YOU'RE the one who stupidly refused to raise your Triple-A!”

 

Lukas blinked twice in confusion. “My what?” Upon the recognition of one of their flock's call, four harpies emerged from the trees and joined the fight. “Oh, GREAT!” Lukas celebrated with a smirk on his kyoxyjous (cute + hot + sexy + gorgeous) face, “I don't normally DO `fun' with the ladies, but I'm down with this!” The pun was hidden so well that Albel didn't even catch it.

 

“Great!” he grunted, then realized how worked up he was getting over an alchemy class. “Well, I'm one who takes his time with things, anyway. Let's go!” Lukas nodded, and the two of them immediately rushed out at the enemies.

 

Three of the harpies spread their wings and stilled their bodies. White light radiated from their beaks. Lukas caught wind of what was going on and raised his whip-grip. (Heh…) He straightened the whip with his other hand holding the whip-tip down. (LOL) He closed his eyes and focused on the symbols that would stop those of the enemies. From the grip of the whip shined the light of his symbology.

 

Albel managed to pull one of the harpies down before its symbols could activate, but he took a couple of hits from two of the other bird-women.

 

Lukas was a smart guy; thus was proven when he activated his unfamiliar symbols before the harpies could do so theirs. Without delay, as he lashed the ground before himself, he announced, “Aqua Lash!” A stream of water trailed his whistling weapon, and then shot out in a vertical crescent shape.

 

Albel struck the second casting enemy, but was too late. Consequently, he was hit with two bolts of fire.

 

Lukas' water strike met its target in the moment just before the enemy's symbols could activate. He followed his symbological attack with a technique that impressed Albel due to its complexity. After one swift UR-diagonal lash that brought the target down, Lukas let his whip fall, then raised his arm, twirling the whip above his head and heroically yelling, “Flailing Kraken!” His lashing to his left and right alternately with such great speed protected him from both bullet-beak attacks that were commenced upon him.

 

Albel locked his attention to the harpy that started singing its Injurious Song. It was only a few meters behind Lukas. He yelled, “Air Slash!” as he slashed upward with his katana. A rush of air tore through the singing foe, sweeping it upward before bringing it to the ground.

 

Once the speed of his whip-cracking was obviously unmatchable, he returned the spinning weapon to above himself, then lowered it to look like he was shielding himself with it. He had to cat-swipe a few of the other baddies (?) that tried to peck at him in their attempts to either protect his target or divert his attention. Neither happened. Lukas thrust his arm forth, and the spiraling whip pierced through a sky-blue wing. Before the whip could pacify, he jerked the grip back. (That's naughty… o_O) He jutted his palm out at the right time to add smashing impact. The harpy squawked loudly as it faded in red, then vanished before its slayer.

 

“Damn! There are too many!” the “felox” complained once his enemy was down.

 

Albel got PISSED. He and Lukas ran into the middle of the circle of flying foes, going back-to-back. “YOU wanted to SHOW OFF! Remember!?” He growled.

 

Lukas liked when Albel got upset. It sounded quite cute. He resisted his urge to pet Albel's head and say, “Aw, CUTE doggy!” (Ironically, HE'S the one with the canine traits.) However, he failed to realize that his two tails were wagging lightly as if to be swaying in a capricious breeze. Albel flinched and abruptly jerked his foot forward to the awkward sensation of soft fluff sweeping against the back of his legs. It got on Albel's nerves, but then irritated them until he nearly trembled.

 

{This guy had BETTER not be…} He couldn't bring himself to even THINK the word. It disgusted him too immensely. {Men… who like other men… APPALLING!}

 

“Yeah, my bad,” Lukas grumbled, “So, what, is this it? Should we run?”

 

“How DARE you!?” Albel barked back, spinning back a little to face the “fool” who had offended him, “I'm Albel the Wicked! I don't `run' from ANY opponent!”

 

“Laaa-laaa-mmmm-MMMM…”

 

Albel spun back to his enemy and indignantly shouted, “Oh shut up! Your songs don't injure me one bit!” The harpies grew offended by Albel's yelling, so they tossed the singing idea aside and pecked and tackled the human and the “felox” immobilized.

 

“Pulverize!”

 

Suddenly, from out of nowhere came a large boulder that easily took out two of the harpies. When the view was clear, Lukas and Albel turned to see a little girl wearing a pink fur coat and rather revealing, white slit-bellbottoms. Her vermilion hair was actually fairly long, but she kept it tied by a pink, cloth turban, making her look like she had candle-fire pigtails. She closed her eyes and pleaded the compliance of the sun gods of two different galaxies: hers and Elicoor's. “Elore, of my home galaxy, and Apris, of Elicoor, I beseech thee to join hands and grant me thy powers to fight and protect!” Apris shone his sunlight down upon the girl. Her body sparkled in the divinity of the golden rays. “Thank you!” the girl cheered graciously, opening her eyes once the light had faded, “Now, I can get to class!” She looked at Lukas, then to Albel, and then to the enemies. “First, though…” Making a circle in the air, she raised her hands like she was worshipping something/one, bringing them down to her heart in fists. “Move!” she directed the guys. Lukas dashed out of the girl's way; begrudgingly, due to the girl's command, Albel did the same. The girl closed her eyes again and nodded. Sparkling lights coiled about her. Lukas and Albel were speechless, yet curious. What kind of power was THIS!?! It certainly was NOT Symbology. This “magic” of some sort was slightly unnerving, especially since the girl, who was obviously not from any galaxy that they knew of, was granted such powers from the sun gods of her galaxy AND the Elicoorian galaxy's. “Sunray!” the girl called her power by name. She jumped with her hands out to their sides. Her heart fired a remarkable blast of sunlight at one of the flying foes. The monster faded away in red.

 

“That was amazing!” Lukas exclaimed, excited like a kid again, “Who ARE you?!”

 

The girl turned to Lukas and giggled, “I'm Aisha, a Taralian from the world of Mardias.”

 

“That wasn't Symbology, was it?” Albel asked the girl rather roughly. Aisha gave the swordsman a look that expressed her displeasure in his attitude. “Well?!” Albel asked impatiently.

 

“What's your problem?” the girl asked back, reprimanding him sternly, “Didn't your mother ever teach you about manners? You should be ashamed of yourself!” Albel thought that Aisha sounded a lot like Sophia Esteed, the “princess” of the group from which he'd only recently separated, except Aisha was the size of, as he calls Peppita, “that over-tanned circus fool.” (A/N: He doesn't really call her that.)

 

“Now's not the time for lessons in proper etiquette, you two!” Lukas alerted, “We've still got three to take out!”

 

“Allow me to help,” Aisha almost sang cheerfully as she reached behind herself and pulled a violet crystal sword out from nowhere. (I love that gag.) She looked pretty frail and inexperienced, but she had so much spunk (?) in herself that she fooled the two guys with a persuasive ready stance. It wasn't a good one, but a persuasive one. “Here we go!” she declared as she charged off, dodging a swooping attack by sliding under her attacker. She quickly got to her feet and turned 180 degrees to face the enemies and her allies.

 

“Let's go, Albel!” Lukas enjoined, taking one of the three remaining monsters.

 

“You don't have to tell ME!” Albel argued, taking another monster.

 

Aisha was small and light, which made it easier for her to dodge aerial attacks. When she raised her sword, the sunlight reflected different colors off of the edges of the crooked blade. “You like singing, right?” she asked the winged beast before herself, “Think you can sing to a melody like THIS?” The dirt around the girl seemed to blow away from her as if she was emitting a wind-like aura. Aisha ran up to the harpy, then abruptly stopped before it. “Golden Note!” She swung her crystal sword like she was smacking a tennis ball underhandedly, then swung again, crossing the sword back to her right side. Finally, she swung the sword as if she was slapping someone in the face. With each hit, her sword sang a note. The three slashes specifically sang the notes Fa, Sol, and La. Golden musical staffs flowed out from each swing, and each hit produced a sound similar to that of an angelic organ fused with the ring of a ceremonial bell. The harpy hadn't fallen yet, but the Taralian girl wasn't about to let it slip a chance to attack. “Mage Thrust!” Aisha brought her sword back, pointing it at the enemy, and then began an amazing series of thrusts. Her arm moved like a jackhammer on various parts of the targeted body, literally at the speed of sound. Once she'd completed her attack, the harpy before her was nothing more than an overused dartboard fading red in midair.

 

Lukas and Albel were in wide-eyed, open-mouthed, speechless, and mind-blown awe. Having witnessed the horrible fate of the little girl's opponents, the two remaining harpies fled. (A/N: Just for kicks, I've decided to do this…) Albel sheathed his sword. Lukas swung his whip up and around his neck, standing coolly, commenting, “Big things come from small… pink… packages. Heh…” Aisha returned her sword to the nothingness behind her, jump-spun with joy, and made fists as if she was flexing her muscles. Albel leveled up, learning [um…] Dragon Claw. (Yeeeeah…) Lukas leveled up, learning [think, think…] Jet Helix and Critical Hit. Aisha levels up, learning Sword Ballet. The trio gained 387 Fol from the battle. (Oh my Gaia, that's so damn stupid, it's hilarious! [Rereads the paragraph, then cracks up.] PRICELESS! I'll do this for EVERY battle!)