[01] City Sector

[Kaden]

"Pull!"

A small rock was went soaring into the air, drifting higher and higher. Without warning, a cerulean bolt blazed into the sky, reducing the rock to nothing more than vapor. The arrow of energy streaked almost out of sight before shattering into a cloud of lights and drifting away. From the city streets below, Kaden and Sophia watched the show.

"I'm not sure this is the best use of our time," Sophia said. Though she voiced a concern, it didn't stop her from bending down and scooping up another rock.

"Not like we have anything better to do," Kaden said with a dismissive shrug. When silence greeted him, he sighed and turned towards the priestess. "Sorry. I'm just... I'm not exactly walking on sunshine over here."

"I understand," Sophia replied in a compassionate tone. "Sometimes it's hard to see the silver lining."

"Amen to that." Though Kaden was joking, he immediately regretted having said that. He very distinctly caught her reference to a higher power... or rather, a lack of one. It was an odd choice of words for a priestess, without question. Hoping Sophia hadn't though twice about the courier's choice of phrase, he moved on. "Pull."

As Sophia hurled another rock into the air, the two of them continued down the sidewalk. Stopping as they approached a crosswalk, Kaden raised an arm and took aim. More than anything else, the courier was interested in making sure his aim and his ki were both functioning as they should be.

Upon walking up in front of a random hospital, one of the first things the duo noticed was the collars around each others necks. Sage had mentioned them in the bar, but that didn't make Kaden feel any better about wearing it. Sage had also mentioned something about ridiculously powerful fighters wearing such collars, which lead Kaden to wonder whether or not they were designed to interrupt a person's flow of ki. As far as he could tell, everything was in working order. A second cloud of cerulean light erupted above their heads.

"Aren't you worried about... giving away our position? Or something?" Sophia asked as she watched Kaden's display.

"Not really," Kaden replied. "I think I'd notice someone before they'd be able to see my little light show."

"You think you'd notice someone?"

"Well..." Kaden cleared his throat. "Yeah. I can feel other people on the island. I'd even go so far as to say there are other people in this... city, but I don't feel anyone particularly close by."

"All my fears are put to rest," Sophia replied with faux relief.

With nothing left to say, and still no clear direction, Kaden frowned, turned in a random direction, and continued walking. As his eyes roved from building to building, Kaden noticed something off. He hadn't noticed it at first, because there had been no reason to think about it. As they continued walking, though, it became increasingly apparent.

"There's no one around," Kaden said as he came to a halt.

"Yeah." Sophia stopped next to Kaden and tried to follow the direction of his glowing eyes. "You already mentioned that."

"No. I mean... there's no one around."

Confused, Sophia's head immediately snapped towards the nearest building, then the next, then the next. Confusion quickly spread across her features as she turned her attention back to the courier. Her confusion slowly gave way to the same feeling of uneasiness that was worming its way into Kaden's mind.

While there wasn't a single person within sight -- or Sight -- the two contestants were surrounded by the sounds and smells of city night life. Traffic off in the distance, animals barking, howling and hissing at one another, even the occasional unintelligible yell reached their ears. It was creepy.

"Why...?" Sophia let her voice drift off.

Really, the priestess could have asked any number of questions. Why would Damon Dukes set things up like that? Why were they hearing things that weren't really there? Why was it so completely unnerving? Why did they have to be stuck in a creepy-ass ghost town in the middle of the night? Kaden answered all of them at once.

"I have no idea."

There was no telling how longer Kaden would have simply stood, listening to the empty city, letting his mind turn over, endlessly, what such a setting might have in store for the least lucky courier/priestess combo ever. Fortunately, an immediate biological urge tore Kaden from his stupor.

"I need to find... a restaurant. Or something."

"Are you hungry?" Sophia asked, turning to her Kaden. "It looks like there's one across the street."

"No, not hungry. I just... having a seal in need of breaking."

"What? A seal... ?"

Having sprinted across the street, Kaden hadn't heard the priestess' confused question, not that he would have really elaborated. Had he been on his own, an alley would have been perfectly fine for his needs, but he didn't think that would sit particularly well with Soph.

Of course, the door to the restaurant was locked. This didn't surprise the courier, he had given up any hope that, if left to chance, even the smallest thing would go his way. While he didn't like the idea of breaking into someone else's property, the rationale that 'since no one lived in the town, it had to belong to Damon Dukes and, since Damon Dukes was a douche, it was ok to break his stuff' took Kaden about half a second. A bright blue flash of light served as a perfect lock pick. Sophia was quick to follow the courier… until she saw him dash into the bathroom.

As Kaden stood in front of the nearest urinal – second nearest, actually, since he wasn’t about to use the obligatory midget-pisser – he briefed a multi-faceted sigh of relief. While the physical relief was immediately welcome, the psychological relief of being alone for a moment also washed over Kaden. He was immensely grateful for Sophia’s presence, but the fact that she could be present at all was something the courier had yet to really deal with.

At least two people had been… brought back from the dead? For Dante’s Abyss? That made absolutely no sense to the courier whatsoever, but it was absolutely true. Both Sophia and Orion had been standing next to the courier, talking and joking with him in the flesh. How that was even possible was beyond Kaden’s ability to comprehend. Dead people were supposed to stay dead, weren’t they? That was one of the governing principals of Kaden’s fairly depressing life and it had just been turned on its head.

Shaking his head, Kaden took in a deep breath and tried to focus his thoughts. As he stepped away from the urinal, he approached the sink and took his time washing his hands. Even if he just accepted that Sophia was alive intellectually, he was nowhere near ready to deal with it emotionally. Just like Sage, he had been there when she died. With a sudden and unexpected growl, Kaden slammed his fist into the nearest wall.

No… he hadn’t been there. He had left all of them to… do what? At the time it felt like he was doing something meaningful. At the time it felt like looking for transportation was something that they would need. As he stood in that bathroom, glaring at his own reflection, all Kaden could think was that he had simply turned tail and run. Ashe, Sage, Sophia, and even Piper. He left a handful of girls to fight while he ran away. It didn’t get much more pathetic than that. If he had stayed, maybe things would have turned out differently. He would have gladly maybe the sacrifice in Sophia’s place.

Maybe the priestess being in the tournament would give Kaden a second chance. A chance to… do what? What was the worst that could actually happen to someone who was already dead? Pulling his fist away from the wall, Kaden rubbed it gingerly for a second. She could probably feel pain, at least. So… there was that.

“Oh son of a bitch…” Kaden felt physically ill when he remembered the trip he had taken right after Friend or Foe.

He had actually gone to Sophia’s temple to tell everyone that she was dead. Wonderful. The courier couldn’t wait until he found a way to bring up that gem. Who was he to have done that in the first place? It certainly seemed like a good idea at the time. Maybe Kaden simply needed to make it a rule to never think about things he had already done. It was turning out to be a very depressing practice.

Shutting off the faucet, Kaden took another look at himself in the mirror. What was done, was done. No amount of self-loathing was going to change that – despite the fact that all Kaden really wanted to do was crawl in a corner and be emo. He was stuck in some stupid tournament and the only thing he could do, really, was see it through to the end. It was a momentary pep talk that wasn’t likely to last more than a few hours, but Kaden felt his spirits lift. He was ready to get back to their aimless wandering.

“Took you long enough,” Sophia said as Kaden stepped out of the restaurant.

The courier opened his mouth to reply with a joke about having to wait for girls, but caught himself. Instead, he suddenly found himself laughing. Moments ago he had been consumed with self-destructive spiral of loathing and doubt while Sophia had done nothing but smile a joke. More or less. If she, the person who was actually dead, could look on the bright side of things, who was he to do anything different. Flashing a genuine smile, Kaden looked Sophia square in the eyes.

“Hey. I’m glad you’re here, Sophia.”

“Wha--?” Sophia looked understandably confused as her cheeks reddened ever so slightly. “Where did that come from?”

“Dunno,” Kaden lied. “Now c’mon, we should get moving.”

“Moving where?” Sophia jogged up next to Kaden as she spoke.

“Let’s see…” Kaden swiveled his head from side to side. “How about that way?”

As he pointed, Kaden felt something tug at the back of his mind. Kaden wasn’t a huge fan of “fate” as an idea. The concept of all your actions and choices being largely irrelevant because the final outcome had already been decided just seemed… depressing. Despite that, the courier couldn’t help but wonder whether or not that was the way things worked.

In the exact direction he pointed, he could feel… someone. Either he hadn’t felt their presence before, or they hadn’t been there, either way, Kaden was quite curious to see who he hadn’t picked up on. Moreover, he was interested in trying to use his sixth sense to actually track someone. Most of his experience with his Ki Sense – a recent encounter with Blaze in Central City made it clear that Kaden’s ability had a documented name – made the ability out to sporadic and unreliable. Kaden attributed this to a lack of actual practice. It seemed ridiculous that, though he could magically sense people with his mind, he had allowed himself to be caught off guard so many times in the past.

With the exceptions of Sophia and himself, Kaden knew that there were talented fighters entered into Dante’s Abyss and, though he did not consider himself one of them, he wasn’t about to get himself killed. If that meant focusing on honing abilities he had simply taken for granted in the past, then that’s what he would do.

“There’s someone over there,” Kaden added, his arm still outstretched.

“Someone?” Sophia repeated. A hint of uncertainty was evident in her voice. “Should we… go see who it is?”

“I… guess so. I mean, both Sage and that Dukes jackass made it sound like we wouldn’t have a choice about fighting. We might as well see who the nearest competition is, right?”

“Yeah,” Sophia nodded.

Kaden’s reasoning was paper thin, and they both knew it. The only real reason they had to move towards someone was simply because they didn’t have anywhere else to go. They had no idea how the city they were in was laid out, or when they might be forced to fight someone else. At least having some sense direction, or purpose, was better than simply wandering.

Though initially reconnaissance was the only thing in Kaden’s mind, he had never considered the possibility that they would encounter someone who wasn’t an enemy. Well… the courier understood that, technically, everyone they came across was an enemy, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t get along, right? It made sense to him… as long as he didn’t think about it too hard.

The person Kaden sensed ended up being closer than he would have guessed. Gauging distances based on a tingle in the back of his mind was more difficult than the courier would have guessed, believe it or not. As Sophia and Kaden rounded a corner, still following the sidewalk despite the lack of active traffic, the figure came into view.

Sophia reacted before Kaden could, though he wasn’t quite sure what he would have done anyway. Breaking into a light jog, the priestess broke away from Kaden and raised her arm into the air. With a smile on her face, she called out to the familiar figure.

“Sage! Hey Sage!”

Sage, having been moving in the same direction as Kaden and Sophia, whirled about as she heard her name called. Kaden wasn’t sure whether or not Sophia was aware of it, but as Sage turned, he could feel her ki spike. His eyes illuminated as he watched Sage’s ki creep outward into the surrounding air and immediately make the surrounding area significantly colder. As she realized who Sophia was, though, this all subsided instantly.

Kaden definitely couldn’t blame Sage for her reaction, though it didn’t exactly put him at ease. During Friend or Foe, and even his adventure with Belle Hibiki, Kaden had seen the reactions of trained warriors. That was not how Sage acted. As Kaden gazed at her with his Sight, even her ki was flowing erratically. The girl seemed very on-edge. If she had been telling the truth about having to win Dante’s Abyss, Kaden could see how that could take her out of her psychological element.

With immediate danger out of the way, Kaden suddenly realized he had been holding his breath. Relieving his lungs of the momentary lapse, the courier quickly caught up with Sophia and Sage. The two of them were exchanging pleasantries, bizarre as that was, when he approached. Giving Sage a quick wave, Kaden found his eyes pulled down her frame.

“What’s that?” he asked, pointing to Sage’s side.

“This?” Sage lifted her arm, displaying the ki rifle to Kaden. “It’s a… ki rifle. We all got one… right?”

“What?” Kaden turned to Sophia. “Do you have one?”

There priestess extended her arms to either side. “Do you see one? Where would I hide something like that?”

“Well that’s just great. They’re probably back by the hospital.” Kaden ran a hand through his hair and cast a glance back in the direction he had just come from. “Think we should go get them?”

“Do we need them?” Sophia asked. She cocked an eyebrow at the contraption in Sage’s hands.

“It’s a gun… that shoots ki. Why wouldn’t you want one?” Kaden tried to explain. “Tell you what. You ladies stay here. I’ll go back and grab the guns. Sound like a plan?”

“Are you going to remember how to get back here?” Sophia asked, casting a glance over Kaden’s shoulder at the sidewalk behind him.

“Hahahahaha… c’mon, Soph. Go somewhere, pick something up, come back. I do this for a living.”

The priestess had to concede Kaden’s point, and Sage voiced no complaint, though he wasn’t sure she would even if she had one. With a quick wave to both of them, he turned and moved back down the sidewalk in a light jog. Though it had initially felt like Kaden and Sophia had been walking for hours upon hours, it turned out they hadn’t gone nearly as far as Kaden would have guessed.

In the hospital plaza lay two ki rifles, out in the open, right where Kaden and Sophia had woken up. That he had missed something so blatant was more than a little embarrassing. As he scooped up the first rifle, a sensation flared in the back of his mind. In seconds, he found himself doing the exact same thing Sage had just done.

Kaden could feel someone approaching him from behind and reacted with speed as his top priority. As he spun, the courier dropped to one knee and raised his arm. Tilting his head, Kaden sighted down the length of his arm as he would a rifle. Ironically, he completely forgot that he was holding an actual rifle in his other hand. Within his outstretched hand, Kaden held a glowing orb of energy. Though it was small in size, Kaden had simply compacted the energy in an effort to maximize the impact it would have; he had learned that trick from Orion during Friend or Foe. Fortunately, he didn’t need it.

“Kaden?” came a girl’s voice.

Tilting his head away from his arm – ironically, the glow from his ki obscured most of his vision when he tried to “take aim” – Kaden realized who it was that had approached him. With a sigh, the courier dropped his arm, letting his ki dissipate harmlessly. Standing up, Kaden flashed a smile and gave a quick wave.

“Hey, Ashe. Uh… sorry about that.”

“Quite the welcome,” the pink-haired girl joked.

“Oh hey! You should come with me. Sophia and Sage are waiting for me not too far away. I just came back here to grab this thing.” Kaden held up the ki rifle. He would have picked up the other one, but his encounter with Ashe showed him how likely he was to rely on a weapon.

“They’re waiting for you?”

“Yeah. When we ran into Sage we realized that, uh, Sophia forgot to bring her gun. C’mon.”

With a wave of his arm, Kaden set off back towards his allies. Ashe seemed to consider the proposition for roughly one second before catching up to the courier. As the two made their way down the streets, Kaden couldn’t help but laugh at how similar their situation was. Stuck in some ridiculous tournament with no way out and at the mercy of jackass’ rules… yeah, sounded like fun.