[SoA] Antia's Power~ (under construction)

[Arcaiia]

Introduction~

The Job~

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"What, exactly, am I looking at here?"
Kj took a step back from what appeared to be some kind of mirror with grey decorated edges, although the thing did not really do a well job of reflecting much. It was very much like looking at the surface of a lake after a breeze had blown past it, sending ripples all across the surface.
"I'm not sure. It puzzles me."
She turned to look at Captain as he stood leaning against his desk, arms crossed and one hand resting on his chin, and she raised an eyebrow.
"It puzzles you? I didn't think anything could puzzle you."
She rested her hands on her hips as he raised his eyebrows for a moment and looked at her. She had figured that that was his way of laughing at her.
"Oh, I am puzzled by more than you know."
He returned his gaze to the mirror.
"Yeah, sure."
She shook her head and reached out with her hand to touch the mirror, only to quickly retract it as it gave off a spark from the touch. "Ow! Well, it's definitely a portal of some kind."
She frowned and leaned in to inspect it some more.
"It's not like any portal I've ever seen before."
She straightened her back and looked at him with a smirk.
"You may be one of the oldest living people around here, but trust me; you haven't seen all kinds of portals out there."
Again, he raised his eyebrows for a moment as he looked at her, before he let out a small hmph.
"Considering you were created to BE a portal, I do trust you on that subject."
She chuckled in response.
"So, what's the deal with this then?"
She gestured towards the mirror, and he sighed and shook his head.
"It's what I found on my latest search, and it seems to be connected to my problem, somehow."
She crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side.
"Still no solution to that, eh?"
Again, he shook his head.
"No, not really."
He looked at the mirror, frowning, before looking back at her as she let out a rather loud humph.
"I find that kind of odd, to be honest. I mean, You've lived through 2 different worlds of existence, and you're currently on the 3rd one, and you STILL can't figure out how to get them out of that crystal? Dude, you've certainly had time to gather at least SOME info!"
She completely turned around and focused on him entirely.
"Yes, I know, I find that odd myself. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that something, or someone, was deliberately keeping that information from me."
He got up and walked around the desk to his chair, leaning back with his arms still crossed as he sat down.
"And who in the world would be able to do that?"
She raised an eyebrow.
"Someone of the 1st World, I'd say."
He looked her calmly in the eyes as she took a deep breath and let out a sigh.
"...Like Margo."
"Or Avery."
She stopped her inner cursing and frowned at him.
"Wha..? Come on. You really think he'd do that?"
He just looked at her.
"I mean, I know you guys hate eachother and all that, but I don't see a good reason for why he'd interfere with you like that. It doesn't suit his goals."
He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk, and his chin on his hands.
"Maybe, but I don't like taking that chance."
She looked at him for a long moment, before leaning against against the desk.
"Hmm... Well, that aside, what do you want me to do with this.. Thing?"
She gestured towards the mirror again, and he raised his eyebrows for a moment at her. Again with the laughing.
"Look into it."
She placed her hands on the desk and gave him a grin.
"Ah, you want me and my guild on the case then."
He barely nodded.
"Yes, thank you."
"And what are you paying?"
She grinned even wider, and he raised his eyebrows at her for a moment.
"One of your debts to me."
She leaned back and crossed her arms again.
"...Funny."
He didn't even blink.
"Very."
She frowned to herself as she mentally went through a couple of things, then looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"Am I in that much debt to you?"
He nodded, but she could see a tiny hint of a smirk playing across his lips.
"Oh, I am keeping count."
She stuck her tongue out before chuckling.
"Hah! Well, you know, I'll do you this freebie then, in exchange for some info."
He nodded and leaned back.
"Sounds reasonable."
She leaned against his desk again, almost sitting on it, and scratched the side of her cheek.
"Actually, I'm doing another case on the side that I've been struggling with for some time now, and I could use some help on it. I didn't want to ask you, cause, well, I know you don't want to talk about that period of your life, but I'm kind of running out of options." She took a deep breath. "It's about the lab."
She mentally braced for impact as he just looked at her without showing a single trace of emotion.
"You know I don't feel comfortable discussing that."
She waved her hands in front of her as a defencive motion.
"I know, I know! But you don't have to discuss your time there. What I'm looking into is Dr. Fiddlesticks."
Again, he didn't show any sign of emotion.
"Fyodrovi."
She picked up a pen and inspected it without any real interest while answering him.
"That's what I said; Fiddlesticks. Anyway! I need to know more about his experiments, and we all know asking HIM is out of the question, so I was wondering if he had any assistants I could try and hunt down?"
He sighed as she looked at him hopefully.
"Most of his so called 'assistants' were his experiments."
He crossed his arms again.
"Yeah, like Spider's mom, I know. But, he's our resident Hojo, so didn't he have, like, a Lucrecia or something?"
He raised his eyebrows.
"Excuse me?"
She shook her head and waved her hand infront of her face in a dismissive way.
"Sorry. Game reference. All I'm saying is, most mad scientist have at least ONE person working with them that they can steal credit from."
She crossed her arms as he sat quiet for a moment.
"...I'll see what I can find."
He sighed and she grinned widely.
"Dude, you're the best!"
She jumped off the desk, throwing his pen at him.
"Please refer from calling me 'dude'."
He didn't even flinch as he catched the pen.
"And we'll take on the job, and look into your shiny new portal. You can count on the Dragonflies!"
She laughed confidently as he just shook his head.

Disappearance~

A couple of weeks later, Captain walked into the public guild house of the mercenary guild known as Dragonflies.

"How are things going here?" He barely nodded to the few people in the room as he turned his attention to Kj, whom was leaning against a desk, arms crossed, and frowning as she looked at the mirror that had been placed on a shelf. "I am stumped. I can't believe it, but I am." She shook her head, not even taking her eyes off the mirror, and he raised an eyebrow. "You're stumped about a portal? That would be a first." He stopped next to the desk and looked at the mirror. "I know! It's bugging the hell outta me." She threw her arms up in frustration and stood up, turning towards the room. She stood there for a moment, arms on her hips before sighing. "I just... I can't shake the feeling that I'm missing something." She chewed on her lip as she become lost in thought, and the redheaded woman by her side, named Aria, whom was sitting on top of the desk, tilted her head and gave Captain an apologetic look. "Sorry, Captain. I've never even seen her this bothered by something like this before." She sighed as her hands automatically petted the white cat sleeping in her lap, and Captain just shook his head in responce.

"Not even my runes had any kind of effect on that thing, not that I thought that they would. If the Boss can't find her way around a portal, then I doubt anyone else can." A man with a strange mohawk - green and purple in colour - stood up from one of the chairs and came up to the desk, scratching his head as he looked at the mirror. His eyes, hidden behind glasses, had a strange silver gleam to them, but as he turned to look at Aria, they turned light blue in colour, matching her icy blue eyes. He gave the black cat perched on her shoulder a light pat on the head before he leaned back with his hands behind his head and looked at Captain, his eyes instantly becoming a light grey-ish green. "I think we've tried just about everything now."
He shrugged, then turned his attention to a door on the other side of the room as a woman entered through it. Her hair was brown and kept in a ponytail, though most of it was hidden under a black cap with a golden Triforce symbol on the front, and her eyes had a steel-blue colour to them. She nodded to Captain, but walked right up to Kj and stopped in front of her, crossing her arms as she did. "No luck, Boss. Max just reported back, and she found diddlysquat. I'm really sorry, but I don't think we can crack this case." Kj was still frowning, but looked up at the woman and sighed. She really hated running out of options. She tilted her head to the side and looked at Captain. "We've tried everything now. Agi's runes do jack s**t, and as G just said; Max and the guys haven't found anything, and they were on the last run. Can't think of any other places to look for answers." She turned around and sat on top of the desk, next to Aria, and leaned back against Gina, the woman who had just entered, whom was now sitting on the other side of the desk and leaning to the side. Captain sighed and was about to answer as Kj held up her hand.

"We've tried almost everything." Everyone looked at her, clearly having no idea what she was talking about, but she paid them no attention as she held her hand out to Captain. "I need a Valeo Crystal." He looked at her for a long time, and everyone else in the room held their breath, before he held his hand out and a crystal suddenly formed in the palm of it, which he then dropped into her hand. She just smiled, then jumped off the desk and walked up to the mirror. The crystal in one hand, she snapped the fingers on her other hand and a key suddenly appeared in that one. She stood there for a moment, looking from the crystal to the key, and back again, before suddenly smashing her hands together, causing a sudden flash of light that made everyone hold their hands up to shield their eyes.
"Anatha!" Captain took a step towards her, almost appearing slightly uneasy, but she just waved her hand at him. "I know what I'm doing." She looked at the strange key-shaped crystal in her hand before she leaned towards the mirror with it, mumbling under her breath. "I think..."

The very second the key touched the mirror, a brilliant shimmering light suddenly spread across the surface, making it riple as if it was made of water, and Kj stepped back with a satisfied smile on her face. Just as planned! Or, sort of, at least. As usual, she had just acted on a whim, following a random idea that had popped to mind, but it seemed as if, this time, there weren't any uncomfortable consequences. She turned to the others, still smiling, and met their baffled faces. She just loved it when she could show off! Then the room suddenly started swirling before her eyes, and she let out a groan as her feet gave in, forcing her to her knees. She closed her eyes tightly, focusing hard on keeping down the lunch that was threatening to do a reappearing show, then opened them again as her hands that was supposed to be leaning on the floor felt grass underneath them. Grass? What the hell? She blinked and slowly looked up, seeing the others scattered around on the grass in front of her. Captain had managed to stay on his feet, but he wasn't looking particularily great.

[continues here]  

[KeyJester]

[Somewhere in Antia Dark Side]

"Well?"

A man stood leaning against the wall of what looked like a Dojo of some kind, arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed. His dark brown hair hid parts of his pale face, and his features were hard to see in the lack of light. Despite the full moon, the area was shrouded in the dark night, making it hard to see. As another man came walking up to him - white in skin, with pitch black hair and eyes just as dark - he opened his eyes and looked to his side.

"Well what?"

The white-skinned man seemed annoyed and let out a groan. "Well, where is he?"

The man just shrugged, turning his gaze forwards, as if the other man wasn't of any importance to him. "Doing his job, I gather."

"He's sure taking his damn time doing it, if he really is doing it." The white-skinned man growled lowly - a sound not quite at place with someone whom appeared human - and crossed his arms.

"Of course I'm doing my job, a*****e." They both looked up at the roof behind them, and saw the outline of a man crouched there, the swaying tail and the ears giving away his feline nature, despite the lack of light that would've allowed to see his appearance.

With a low murring sound, he jumped down and landed perfectly on the ground besides the two men, and he stretched his limbs as he stood up and looked at them, his dark red eyes almost glowing in the dark. "I got what we came for, so let's get out of here." His ears twitched, giving away that he was on edge, and the two just nodded in responce, while the first man held out his hand in a demanding gesture towards the feline. "The statue." The feling shrugged and reached into a bag hanging over his shoulder, taking out something wrapped in cloth and handing it to the man.

Meow.

The white-skinned man looked up at the roof again, and rolled his eyes as he saw at least six cats perched up there. Turning to the feline, he jerked his thumb in the direction of the cats and spoke in a sarcastic tone. "Do you always have to bring your entourage?" The feline shot a glance up at the roof, inwardly cursing, before giving the man a glare and speaking between gritted teeth. "It can't exactly help it. It comes with the shifting. They get attracted to it."

The first man sighed and rolled his eyes. "Cajo, Cain. Stop bickering. Let's get out of here before anyone notices the meowing choir."

"And who made you the boss?" Cain growled in responce. The man just ignored him, as he looked at Cajo's twitching ears. "You hear something?" Cajo's red eyes was narrowed, scanning the area, and he looked ready to pounce any second. "Not sure. It's more of a feeling. Let's just skit, Rin." Rin nodded, then gestured to Cain before turning around and heading towards the nearby woods.

They didn't make it very far before a loud roar pierced the night, and the three spun around to see a large beast making its way towards them. "Tch. They never mentioned these guys had behemoths as guard dogs. Let's get outta here!" Rin turned to run, but stopped as Cajo lingered behind, and he turned around and raised an eyebrow while looking at him. Cajo just sighed and jerked his thumb to his side where Cain was already heading towards the beast, his skin rapidly gaining dark blue scales and horns growing out of his head. Rin let out a groan, then held out his hand to allow a sword to materialize out of pure darkness. "That idiot just have to pick a fight, don't he?"


Cain stood in front of the beast, now in a form that was half human, half dragon, and with his hands out to each side, he leaned forward and let out a beastly roar fitting that of a dragon, making the beast aiming for him come to a complete hault in pure shock and surprise. With a growl, he then leaped forward, claws ready, and attacked. At the same time, Cajo was running in a circle around the beast, getting almost behind it, and, using a nearby pile of rocks to gain some height, he waved his hands and created a slide of ice, with a ramp aiming directly at the beast, and jumped down it. With the added speed of sliding down the ice, he managed to jump quite high above the beast, as blades suddenly appeared in his hands, and he landed on the base of the beast's neck, his blades now piercing its shoulders.

Rin held up the sword in front of him, focusing his powers through it, and suddenly the clouds that had been blocking some of the moonlight vanished and the light of the moon shone just bright enough to form shadows. With a flick of his hand, Rin made the shadows move forward at a surprising speed, and surrounding the beast completely, before slowly rising from the ground to wrap themselves aorund it. As Rin's shadows grabbed hold of the beast, making it impossible for it to move, and Cain's claws dug themselves into its chest, Cajo managed to deliever the final blow to its neck, instantly killing it.

The beast fell to the ground with a loud thump, and as Cajo jumped down from its back, the sound of more howls could be heard. "Damn it. Cain, we're leaving. Now." He didn't even wait to hear Cain's refusal, as he commanded the shadows around the beast and quickly had them grab hold of the other two men. And just like that, the three of them disappeared into darkness.

---

[Crevida's Head Office]

"Uh.. What do you mean, gone?"

Cajo was leaning on the desk in the lobby of Crevida's Head Office, looking at the woman sitting in front of the computer with a slightly bothered look on her face. After finishing the job, the three - Cajo, Cain, and Rin - had returned to the Head Office, where they had been met with some rather unpleasant news from Aiia, the woman in charge of the office. Rin crossed his arms and looked at her. "What, they're missing?" Aiia shook her head, biting her lip. "We're not sure. Max returned to the public guild house, expecting to find Kj and the others there, and, well... They weren't. Mj did a search, and he can't seem to find them. It's as if they just vanished into thin air! And they left that weird mirror behind. You know, the one Captain hired them to look into...?" The three men looked at eachother, and Rin let out a sigh. He had a suspicion as to what could have happened.

"I'll look into it. I need to return to my... I have to return, anyway, which will take me down there." He turned to walk out the door, and Aiia tilted her head to the side. "Down... there?" He stopped in the door opening and looked back at her. "Down where the Pocket Dimesnsions are. If Mj can't find them, then that's where they are. And that's kind of my backyard, so I'll find them and get them home." Before any of them had the chance to answer him, he disappeared out the door, and vanished into the nearby shadows.