Cross Worlds

Chapter 32-1: "The Resistance's Strongest; The Ten Teikoki"

Being around such powerful members of the resistance all at once, being "a little nervous" was an understatement when it came to describing Riku's current disposition. After wishing the three a good night, Riku quickly retreats into his room, collapsing on his bed. "Holy crap..! I can't believe I'm still alive!" Riku sighs in exhaustion, burying his face into his pillow. "Just who the hell are those three..? It's hard to believe I missed them when I first arrived here..."

Riku thinks back to the day he first arrived, narrowing his eyes. "I'd second thought...maybe it's not so hard to believe after all." Riku sighs, closing his eyes. "Something tells me tomorrow's gonna be a busy day... I'll deliver the new flowers tomorrow with Gina and Haruto instead. Yeah...that seems...better..." Riku drifts off to sleep with that thought in mind.

The next morning, Riku's slumber is disrupted by the voice of a young woman. "Riku... wake up...~" The young woman coos, making Riku groan and turn away. "I said wake up!"

Riku's eyes shoot open as he feels a punch at the top of his head, sitting up and holding his head in pain. "Owwww! What the hell is your problem?!" Riku looks over and glares with slight tears in his eyes at his attacker.

"Good, you're awake! Come on, Artemis is calling for you and I was told to come get you because of what happened yesterday." Aseiko grins innocently, as if she didn't just strike the poor lad.

"And it really can't wait..? What time even is it?" Riku groans in annoyance in pain as he looks over at his clock. It's only just past 10:00am.

"Late enough for you to have slept enough. Now get your ass up before I drag you to the meeting room!" Aseiko starts pulling him out of bed.

"At least let me get dressed for crying out loud!" Riku whines as he pulls himself free from Aseiko's grasp. Aseiko patiently waits for him outside his room as he gets dressed into his uniform. "Alright, lead the way..." Riku mutters with a hint of annoyance in his voice, not even trying to hide the small temper he currently has.

Aseiko snickers as she leads him down the halls of the resistance base. "Since you're so close to our previous leader, and the fact that you were able to stand against me in battle- even though I wasn't going all out, Artemis thinks you're worthy of getting to know all of us."

"Getting to know all of you..?" Riku tilts his head in confusion, eyeing her curiously.

"You'll find out soon enough." Aseiko smirks playfully before leading him to a set of double doors, the doors looking like elevator doors almost. Before getting inside, Aseiko has to press her thumb against a finger-print scanner beside the doors, as well as apply her magic to it. "This is a true privilege. Not many other resistance members get to step foot in this room, so you should feel honored." Aseiko smiles back at him as the double doors slide open.

Riku looks at her curiously once more before peeking into the room. This room gives a much different feeling compared to the rest of the base. The room is filled with all sorts of tech and is almost as large as the tavern-like space within the base. Oddly enough however, there's nobody in the room. "Come on, where we're going is further in." Aseiko nods for him to walk in ahead of her, and she stays back to make sure no one follows them inside before leading him deeper into the room.

As the two walk deeper into the large space, Riku can see there's much more to this area than meets the eye. There appears to be ten separate areas including the one the first set foot in, each one looking like an entirely different room than the last. While the first space looks to be some sort of highly advanced lab, with pods and beakers filled with chemicals all over the place, one of the other spaces looks like a rather intense training room, filled with all kinds of equipment and technology that makes Riku Fantasy's personal gym look like a playground.

However, Riku doesn't get much chance to view any of the other spaces, since Aseiko stops in front of another set of double doors. "Here we are. I'll let you walk in first." Aseiko smiles.

Riku stares at her for a moment before hesitantly grabbing the handle of one of the doors and pulls it open. Upon opening the door, it's clear the room they're about to walk into is a meeting room, with a simply layout; a oval-shaped table with about a dozen chairs around it, not a window to be seen on any of the white walls, and a holographic screen on the wall opposite to the door.

"Ah, there you are." Artemis smiles as she sees the two. Inside the room sits Arima, the other man from the day before, and seven other men and women that each give off their own unique presence. Some look over with blank stares, whilst others smile with curiosity and/or excitement in their eyes.

Riku immediately locks eyes with the man from yesterday, who simply gives him a kind smile and a wave. Riku can't help but recall the last few words the man said to him before they parted ways, "Before you go, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sorey, Sorey Isao. I look forward to seeing what you will do in the future, comrade."

Sorey tilts his head, looking at Riku with a confused smile on his face as the light shines in his neon blue eyes, his snow-white hair dipping to the side as his head tilts. Riku awkwardly waves, averting his eyes and getting lost in thought. "Powerful and looks that could make any girl fall for him... Just look at that nicely balanced and tanned skin! No doubt he's got a muscular build under the multiple layers he's wearing... God I hate pretty boys like him...and they're all OVER the place in this room!" Though, there isn't a lack of gorgeous looking women in the room either, Riku just can't bring himself to look at any of them aside from Artemis.

"Take your seat Aseiko. Riku, you're free to stand or take a seat at the end of the table. Whichever you prefer, I don't want this to take too long." Artemis speaks in her usual kind and gentle tone, giving Riku a smile as he awkwardly rubs the back of his neck.

"I...think I'd prefer to stand over here if that's alright." Riku's social anxiety was getting to him. He was in a room filled with mostly strangers, so of course he wouldn't feel comfortable sitting at a table with all of them.

"No need to be nervous. After all, we're allies who are soon going to be fighting on the same battlefield! We aren't gonna try to beat you up like Aseiko did." One of the younger men speaks up, snickering afterward.

"How many times do I have to say I just wanted to test him?!" Aseiko grumbles, crossing her arms.

"Alright alright, before we make Riku any more nervous, let's just start by introducing ourselves, yes?" Artemis asks, looking at the man sitting at the end of the table. "We'll start by counting backwards, is that alright with everyone?"

Everyone either nods or verbally agrees to Artemis' decision, and the young man sitting at the end of the table opens his mouth to speak. "I suppose that would make me first then." With his golden hair tied back into a ponytail and his blue eyes shining brilliantly, the man looks directly at Riku as he speaks. Though his skin is a bit paler than Sorey's, he has a tall, well-built figure that can be seen through both his resistance robes and the noble clothing he wears. "My name is Kei. For personal reasons, I will not reveal my last name. What I can tell you, is that my place in this group is tenth, and my magic ability is to copy."

A/N: And with that, we'll end the chapter here. I know I'm cutting it a bit short, but I wanna leave you guys on a bit of a cliffhanger before posting any other chapters. It just feels right to end it right at this spot before we reveal all of the big members of the resistance (And I feel like being mean c:). Don't worry, when I post again, I'll post two extra chapters for Cross Worlds to make up for the two extra chapters Unnatural Disasters got this week. It just makes sense to leave you guys on a little cliffhanger here. Don't worry, I'll post again real soon without any sort of hiccups or delays next week (maybe). Until then my friends~