SD Gundam Fan Fiction ❯ The Songstress ❯ Welcome to the Celsius ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

"Wow... where am I?" I glanced around in the fairly crowded room while standing in front of a sliding door on a balcony. The room was really advanced, there looked like a central orb displaying a big screen in the middle of the room. One person wearing all white was playing on a joint-set of computers all lined up in a row. The walls past the central orb was actually thick glass, showing a great view of the ocean. I strolled down the stairs, still glancing around my new surroundings, but I ran into a girl with dark pink hair. "Oh, I'm sorry."
"That's okay, I'm still trying to figure out everything that's going on." I looked up to her face... why did it seem so familiar? Her blue eyes glanced back at me and I, feeling uncomfortable for staring, looked down at the ground.
"Um... do I know you?" She blinked and looked me over a bit.
"I don't think so..." Suddenly it came back to me as my face lit up.
"Oh!! You're Makii!" Makii took a step back in surprise.
"Hey, I guess you do know me... but I still have no clue to who you are," she said while scratching the back of her head. "Sorry." I let my eyes fall to the floor again as they started to water. She forgot me? Well, that's a great way to start a day. Now I feel so...
inferior.
She saw how depressed I was and put her hand on my shoulder.
"Aww, I'm sorry! Really! Why don't you jog my memory?" I sniffled a bit before looking up at her shyly.
"I'm Bakunetsumaru..." She stumbled backwards in surprise.
"B-Baku-chan?! Y-You're... human!" She blinked before looking down at her own hands to examine them. "Does that mean... I'm human too??"
"I'm human?" I glanced down at my fleshy hands also and moved my arms in circles. Weird. "Well, I am more flexible..." I jumped up and down to test how much better I could move. Wow, I can jump higher like this!
"Aw, but, humans are so... insufficient!!" She held her head in agony. "I can FEEL all of the deformities!"
"Hey!! Everyone, quiet!!" The room soon settled down as all eyes fixed on the central orb with the image of a person. I couldn't get a good view of the person until I moved around some people. I was filled with dread and indigestion upon realizing who it was.
"RW...," I groaned.
"What are you doing to us now?" Someone hollered at her from the now angry crowd. It seemed everyone had one or two reasons to hate RW... Maybe I knew them?
"Heh heh, sorry people, I couldn't resist," She said while scratching the back of her head and sweatdropping. "Alright, overall- I've turned you all into humans and sent you to the land of Spira two years after Sin was defeated. Your jobs are to find spheres, hence why you are sphere hunters, and reach the end of the game of Final Fantasy X-2! Everyone in this room, and six more people, have their own dresspheres that they are automatically equipped with. No one can change dresspheres at any time, and four of the six other dressphere holders are your allies." I began to feel my head spin, she was giving us too much information far too fast! Someone in dark blue armor came over next to me and tried to help me stand up. Well, actually, they wanted to talk to me and I used them as a pole to hold on to.
"What is she blabbering about now?" It was hard for me to get a good look at their face since I was too busy teetering off balance in my vertigo.
"I dunno, but I'm confuuuused...."
"You wouldn't happen to be...... Baku??" Before I could regain my sense of balance or even answer, I was engulfed in warm arms that wrapped around me. I closed my eyes and embraced the feeling. Nice and... soothing... just like...
"Zero," I moaned while hugging back. It was so comforting, Zero standing there holding me in his strong warm arms, that I almost fell asleep right there.
"Will you two love birds quit long enough for me to finish explaining!?!?"
Almost.
Drowsily, I opened my eyes to find everyone staring at the two of us. I gulped while feeling increasingly nervous as I pulled Zero even closer to me. They turned back to RW as she continued to dish out rules and the basics.
"Three of your four allies are hanging out in the cabin area, and the last one has disappeared in the city of Luca, which is actually your first mission: to find your Gunner in Luca! There is a poster on the side of this room with the locations of dressphere holders. 6 are located in here, 3 in the cabin, 1 in Luca, and the remaining two are blanked out until you meet them personally."
"How are we supposed to know who is who??" Makii asked.
"Hm... what to do about that... oh! Tokeiko, you run the Celsius at the moment, introduce everyone!" The person typing on the joint computers paused and turned around, a white hood covering over her face.
"Why do I have to do it?"
"Because I am just a hologram! Duh!" RW turned back to our group. "Okay everyone, enjoy your first mission!" With a little blip, the hologram closed and the central orb returned to it's crystal blue color.
"Tokeiko-san...?" I murmured quietly to myself while still snuggling in Zero's armored chest. Ahh... Zero is so intoxicating to be near...
"Aw, how come I have to be the White Mage?" Tokeiko flipped off the hood while standing up and pouting. She flicked back her short, wavy orange hair before continuing. "Okay in case any of you didn't catch that, I run the Celsius, the airship we are on right now."
"That isn't a very comforting thought. I mean, you are the only thing keeping us from plummeting to our deaths into the ocean..." Woah! I double-taked, glancing back at the weird green thing in our group.
"W-What ARE you??" I pulled myself away from Zero for the moment to poke the material. The green person grabbed the sides of their head and and began to pull their head off. "Gah!" I fell over backwards as the head popped off to reveal...
"What's wrong? You didn't think I was a ghost or anything, didja'?" Shute! Boy, he startled me.
"Shute, why are you wearing that ridiculous costume?" Zero grabbed my arm to help me up.
"That is his dressphere," Tokeiko-san intervened. "Shute is equipped with the Mascot dressphere. Although the role does fit him, it is very controversial that he is the strongest out of the dresspheres..."
"I'm a deadly Tonberry!" He held up his lantern and knife and waved them around. "Ph33r /Tokeiko sweatdropped.
"Yes... anyway, Baku, you are a samurai and Zero is a Dark Knight." I glanced at my single sword and frowned.
"But I don't like using the single-sword style," I whined aloud.
"At least you don't have to crawl out of a bloody hole from the pits of hell... why can't I be a Black Mage," Zero asked while pouting. I rubbed his back in hopes to make him feel better, even though he is irresistible when he is pouting.
"Because Kane is the Black Mage," Tokeiko-san said while pointing to a very uncomfortable Kane in the back of the room.
"Honestly, I would love to trade, I think this outfit makes me look bisexual..." Makii and Zero burst out laughing at Kane as he sank down and blushed. Kane glared at them while trying to cover up the very tight outfit.
"Alright, and, finally, Makii is the Gun Mage." Makii pulled out the fancy, multi-colored gun and pointed it at the ceiling.
"I'd rather be the Gunner, but this will do, I suppose. As long as I've got a gun, I'm just fine," she commented while tucking it away again.
"Well, as RW said, we can't change what we have been assigned with. The three dressphere holders in the cabin are the Trainer, the Warrior, and the Alchemist. Why don't you all go explore the ship a bit and meet back up here in a half an hour?" I smiled and tugged on Zero's arm as Makii and Shute shrugged and left the room.
"What is it?" My eyes sparkled as I tried to drag him back up the balcony.
"Come on, let's see who they are!" Zero frowned.
"I'd rather just stay here like Kane. All of this is a bit overwhelming still..." My heart sank as I pouted, but I decided not to push it since I understood how he felt.
"Alright," I mumbled while hanging my head. He kissed me gently on the forehead as I smiled again. Ah, heaven. I scurried out the sliding metal door and into a hallway with a giant blue sphere sitting next to the door I came out of.
"Oooh... pretty," I went to touch it but pulled my hand back. I shouldn't touch it, it looks fragile. I went out through another sliding door which ended up being an elevator. I looked over the buttons. Deck, Engine Room... Cabin! I pushed the button as it slide downward gently. Well, this is a nice elevator, a nice smooth ride. It stopped and opened the sliding metal door again to another hallway with another sliding door at the end. I walked through that door and looked around at the new surroundings. On the left was a table with an overhead light and pictures lined along the wall. Makii sat on the table while examining the bottles and kicking her legs. On the right was a bar with 4 stools and a plasma screen near the end of the wooden overhang. An overhead fan spun in the center of the room and a giant blue painting was stretched across the back wall. I looked back to my right, someone was sitting on one of the bar stools, not facing the bar. I walked up to him.
"Hi!" He looked over at me then back at the air he was staring at.
"Hello." I glanced at the sword strapped to his shoulder and over on his back.
"Are you our Warrior," I asked while taking a seat next to him.
"Looks like it," he mumbled, still paying no attention to me. I finally decided to cut to the chase.
"Who are you?"
"Ybasomaru." I almost fell off my chair.
"Y-Ybaso-sensei??" He glanced over at me again.
"Ah, I assume you are Baku then." I stood up again and nodded sheepishly.
"What can I do for yoo?" I blinked and turned around to the bar to be greeted by a dopey, blue creature with large arms and legs and huge yellow, spacey eyes. I stumbled backwards in surprise.
"Woah, what is that thing?!" Makii laughed at me and jumped off of the table.
"He says his name is Barkeep and that he is a Hypello."
"What is a Hypello," I asked while standing up straight again.
"Well... what he is!" Makii walked over to Barkeep. "He is kinda cute," she giggled while patting Barkeep's head. "We don't need anything, but thank you."
"Shee yoo shoon?" Makii giggled some more as Ybaso-sensei rolled his eyes. I shook off my shock before walking to the back side of the room. Shute was standing next to the Trainer dressphere holder, petting what looked to be a seagull.
"Nice birdy," he cooed as I came up next to them. "Hey Baku, look at the pretty seagull Kaibasomaru got!" I blinked and looked over at the Trainer.
"Sensei?! YOU'RE the Trainer dressphere holder??" He nodded sadly.
"Yes, unfortunately, I am. It isn't a seagull, seagulls have different calls and live in-land," Sensei snapped at Shute. He certainly seemed to be in a bad mood today.
"So what kind of bird is it then?"
"A Kittiwake..." He sighed heavily. "Why did I have to get this dressphere, I don't even like animals that much..." I chuckled while scratching the back of my head and looking around. It seemed to be that very few people liked the dressphere they had.
"So, where is our Alchemist?" Sensei sweatdropped and pointed to the stairs that lead up over the left side.
"Try upstairs..." I nodded while hurrying up to the top. Windows lined the wall on the left, a guardrail on the right prevented anyone from falling off and hitting the floor downstairs. Past the stairs was three beds, each looking the same, then a nice little study area with a bookshelf, couch, coffee table, sofa chair, and a tv. I glanced around some more but still couldn't find the Alchemist.
"Hello? Is anyone up here?" Soon after I had said that, I heard a noise that I couldn't distinguish. After listening to it a few more times, I concluded it was coming from the bed closest to the stairs. I pulled back the covers on the bed to find nothing there. I heard the noise again. Under the bed maybe? I kneeled down to look under. Something under there was trembling but I still couldn't make out the face. "Who is this? Why are you under there?" I waited a few more seconds before it occurred to me. My older brother! "Taishi?? Is that you under there?" Yeah, I could tell it was him. Poor Taishi, stuck on an airship when he's terrified of heights. And it's not like he can just ignore it either. The floor moves under you, and this place if filled with windows, there's no escape from realizing where you are. Maybe it's better if he's under the bed.
"Taishi is up here?" I looked up at Makii, who probably heard me mention his name from downstairs. I glanced back down at the bed.
"He's under here..." Makii came over also and kneeled down as I stepped aside.
"Tai? Are you okay? Come on dear, it's alright..." She crawled under the bed to see if she could help comfort him. I sighed and went back downstairs, knowing the only way I could help was to leave him alone... or make him riceballs later on...
Suddenly, an announcement came on as Tokeiko yelled through the speaker phone.
"Everyone, please report to the bridge. It's time to get this over with!" I looked down at the stairs I stood on, feeling suddenly gloomy and mellow. This adventure hasn't even started yet and I was sick of it.
I guess, maybe, I've been away from Zero too long.

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