Team Nora

Herc s ship landed down slowly with the engine s sounds getting louder. The ship settled in a special docking station, one that Jaden had never seen before, but as Mado recognized it as if he was in some science-fiction film. The three of them got out of the space ship, and into the large station hall. It was crowded with travelers holding gigantic cases and luggages, and engineers in yellow uniform. Among the crowds, there were two people that eagerly approached them. One was a guy with a blonde afro, the same as Jeremiah s age. And the other was a teenage girl with tan skin and glasses.

"Maqi! Nico!" Herc yelled happily."Hey, Nicollet!" Jeremiah said."We were waiting for you!" Nico said as she was looking in Herc s luggages. "Did you bring it?" "Yes, we did! We brought a whole bunch of em!" Herc replied."Oh, yeah! My fingers are all tingly!" giggled Nico in an absurd excitement.
"Oh, this is Jaden!" Jeremiah said. "He ll be staying with us for a while.""He s from Red Grave?!" Maqi was gazing straight at Jaden. "Dude, you re tall!"Jaden stuttered, and couldn t find anything to reply to that, except giving off an awkward smile.
They all walked through the station as Nicollet and Herc were talking about the Red Crystal shards, and the adjustments she s going to make. And the other two were discussing something else entirely."I ll still have to get a defibrillator." Nico said."Jeremiah and I can take care of it." Herc explained.But then he noticed Jaden being in silence for most of the time."What?" he asked him. "Homesick already?!" "Nuh, just felt like I m being watched.." Jaden replied."Well, you better lighten up!" Herc said as they walked outside the station.
Once they made it out, Mado could see the unbelievably tall skyscrapers, the flying cars, and the wild floating billboards. The general atmosphere was foggy, but that only added to the depth and complexicity."Welcome to Bae City, Jaden!" Herc said. "What do you think?!"Seriously, like you need an answer to this?!, Mado thought. It s like I entered a futuristic cyberpunk timeline. Like I m in a wild dream! "It s very exotic!" Jaden replied. 
They took a lift straight to their residence. 
"WELCOME TO BAE CITY! WHERE ALL YOUR WILDEST DESIRES ARE BROUGHT TO LIFE!" announced a robotic female voice through hidden speakers. "WE SERIOUSLY DOUBT THAT YOU D WANT TO LEAVE!" 
On the way, Mado couldn t take in everything that came to his eye. It was all full of life and detail. The demon hunter, Jaden was completely fooled by this new vivid environment. He only kept his neck twisting from one direction to the next; trying desperately to eye anything they passed by.
"Here we are, home sweet home!" Herc sighed in exhaustion when the vehicle parked next to a small worn out building."This is team Nora s headquarters," Maqi told Jaden. "Which is also our home..""So you guys are... team Nora?" Jaden asked."..yeah.." Maqi stuttered in embarrassment.Jaden cracked a slight smile, and walked in after Herc. At the entrance, there was a girl waiting for them. She had a black bob cut hair, and was wearing a half toped vest and shorts with a loose silk jacket. She seemed in her mid twenties."Welcome back, Captain!" she said in a deep voice."Hey there, Libruou!""When I asked you to bring a suovneir, I never thought you d bring me a boy-toy!" Libruou was examining Jaden."Uhh, excuse me.." Jaden felt uncomfortable as she wrapped her arms around him and stroked his hair."This is Jaden Inferno, Ovan s apprentice!" Herc explained with strange hand gestures. "He wants to travel across the realm of light." "Oh, lookin for an adventure, little guy?" She put her face close to Jaden s face. He was able to feel her breath on his cheeks. "Or you wanna go search for missing Ovan?!" "I m looking for something," Jaden uttered. "Something else.."Libruou grinned at him.Then she put her warm soft face against his cheeks. Her tinder soft lips caressed Jaden s left cheek slowly as though they prepared to deliver a deep kiss. She then giggled lightly before she stepped back. "You re boring.."
"Herc, let s go work on the defibrillator right now!" Nico jumped in excitement."Why don t ya give it a head start?" Herc yawned. "I need to take a nap.." "Oh! I can help!" Maqi suggested."Yeah, you two go knock yourselves out in that workshop."Herc dropped himself onto the couch. And Nico and Maqi ran to the workshop.
Jaden was led by Libruou to see where he s supposed to sleep the night. And then sat him with her for tea on table near a large window. After he sat down, Jaden was able to look the cloudy sky that stretched to no end over the futuristic city with all it s gorgeous colors. "So, Herc said you re a church kid!" She said. "What you seek here at Bae City?""For now, I guess I m looking for information." Jaden sipped on the hot green tea."What sorta info?" Libruou asked."About this world, and this realm, any kind of fundamentals that would aid me through." Jaden replied. "Well, that s... odd." she took a gulp from her cup. "What re you gonna do after that?! What is it that you want?""I think, I ll know when I see it.." Jaden explained."So, you re gun-holo-ed out of show choir, so you can venture in a realm you have zero idea about.. looking for something that you don t know.." she laughed."Saying it like that makes it odd!" Jaden laughed embarrassingly.
"Well, Lacrima is quite vast! Do you believe it is possible to find this ambiguous thing of yours?!" Libruou complained."What s Lacrima?" Jaden asked in concern. Libruou stared at him silently for a few seconds.
"Oh shit, you re serious.." she muttered.
"Maybe the Grand Church didn t tell us much about the outside world." Jaden said in a raspy voice."Alright then," Libruou gulped some tea. "Get ready for one heck of a history lesson!"Libruou gave Jaden an overview of ?Lacrima?, the actual existence that contains them. This universe had been split in the distant past into two equal realms with an unbreakable barrier between them."?The Realm of Light?, is where we all are at moment. It s where all humans live." Libruou explained. "And the other realm, the ?Realm of Darkness? is..?""It s where all the demons come from!" Jaden finished."Good! Do you know how they were split?" She asked."Umm, no.." he replied."It was Goddess Shiva s doing." she explained.
Libruou then informed Jaden about the existence of deities other than Bahamut. In the Realm of Light there were four worshiped entities known as ?Astrals?. Bahamut: deity of war, Ramuh: deity of nature, Titan: deity of the lands, and Shiva: deity of peace.
"So basically, there are like, four different religions!" Jaden wondered."Yeah, but the Axiom only worships one deity, Shiva." Libruou corrected. "It s their primary religion.""the Axiom?!" Jaden was confused."It s the name of the government! You can t not know about that!" she cried. "It s in short, made of 4 ?Administrators?, in which one of them in particular, is in hold of the main military force, the almighty «Eternal Knights»."Then, she brought a heavy book to the table. Libruou explained that it was the rule book the ?Axiom? used for this realm. The «Azerrak Almanac»."It s huge.." said Jaden."Well, the thing is from the age of Soliheim Empire!" she said. "It was created by the greatest Oracle Azerrak nearly 600 years ago!" "Is it mandatory to memorize it?" Jaden asked."No way!" Libruou said. "Although some folks do in order to decipher it.""For what?" "For the Seven Keys of Azerrak!" Libruou explained that there are seven magical keys called «Keys of Azerrak» that if gathered all together, can summon the soul of the «Falling Queen» that will grant one impossible wish. Jaden felt skeptical about it, but Libruou assured him. "It s tried and true, pal!" she said. "This very damn planetoid wasn t gonna exist if it was some bedtime story.""Oh really?!" Jaden exclaimed."Yeah, the guy found em seventy years ago, and wished for a planetoid beyond his wildest dreams." she said. "We don t even know who or where the hell is he, nobody does! He s off the radar!""Not even the Axiom knows his identity?!" Jaden asked."Not even them!" Libruou answered. "Unseen, untouched, unknown.."
If there s something like that, and there s a living proof for it, he thought. Then maybe if I get my hands on them, it d grant me a way out! This is a virtual world after all, generating a new planetoid is as issuing a command for a new landscape on a modeling software. Maybe that s how it is. Granting a command!
"It s said that these keys have some connection to the Life Stream." Libruou said. "Please don t tell me you haven t heard of that, either!"Jaden sighed "Yeah, I know about this one.." How can I forget it, old Sanctus must ve said it more than the times he calls for Keryto, he thought."It s the source of life for everything that lives." 

But then, they heard screaming! It was Maqi rushing to their room. "Guys! Captain!" he yelled. "HELP!"
~Panting.. panting!
Jaden and Libruou were jolted of their seats, while Herc moved a little on the couch."What s the matter?!" Libruou asked."It s Nico!" Maqi was panting. "She s gone! I left her alone for one second and then I heard her calling for me, and then she disappeared!""How come?!" Jaden asked. "Isn t there something else disappeared as well?""Huh?!" Maqi wondered. "Oh yeah, those red shards, they re gone, too!""SAID WHAT!" Herc jumped on his feat. "What do you mean by gone?!"Herc start walking to the workshop in wide steps. Jaden, Maqi, and Libruou followed him soon after. Jeremiah was there as well. Herc asked him what happened, but poor Jeremaih didn t know. "I m really sorry Captain. I was busy in the kitchen, I couldn t hear a thing.."
When they reached the workshop, it was in a hot mess. Scraps are in every direction, and the ground was oily. There were apparently security cameras, but they also were in a very bad shape. Jaden noticed something as everybody else was still in a shock. It wouldn t be logical for Nico to pull some sort of a prank like this."Wait a sec!" Jaden crouched down on his knees to examine the floor more thoroughly. When he slid his fingers on the oily ground, he noticed there were small oil-free areas."What s up, Jaden?" Herc asked in concern."There was someone here, other than Nico." Jaden replied. "Someone with a vehicle." "You re saying she was kidnaped?!" Libruou was shocked."Why would somebody do that?!" Jeremaih shouted."Not sure yet, but maybe they knew about the shards." Jaden said."How in the hell somebody would know about em, man!" Maqi said."Me and Nico were working on the defibrilator since we got back! We talked to no one!""That s right, they only went to the station today." Jeremiah said."The station!" Jaden mumbled, and Herc heard him loud and clear."Nico was talking about the defibrilator and using the crystal!" Herc finished."Yeah, I felt like somebody was watching us!" Jaden said."Libruou," Herc said. "Can you get us the station s footage?" "Yes, will do!" she said."I ll try to take out the last footage from our cameras as well!" said Jeremiah.
When Jeremiah and Libruou were both done, Jaden and Team Nora saw a lean body man with red Mohawk haircut dragged Nico out of the workshop after making her take the shards. Then they started to compare that guy in both videos."See! Here he was," Jaden pointed. "Right behind us! He definitely heard Nico talking about the shards!""I thought we ve being watched, not followed!" Maqi muttered."Who is this guy?!" Jeremiah asked."Never seen him my whole life.." Herc said.Jaden then noticed a tattoo on the back of his neck. "Libruou, can you pause when he walks inside the workshop?" Jaden asked. "Then zoom in on that tattoo!"When she did, Jaden didn t recognize it, but the rest did. It was an insignia of a gang called the Animals."Those hungry assholes were eying us since we got off the ship!" Herc punched the wall."Not a good time for a meltdown, Captain!" Libruou shouted."But how do we get to them?!" Jeremiah complained. "These gangs are seepy and slippery!""Isn t there a way we can know their hideout?" Jaden wondered. Libruou snapped "Maybe..? there is someone who may tell us!" she walked and grabbed a card. "There s a new employee at Luzix club that used to be in a mob!" "But that s a bad part of town!" Maqi muttered."You can t go alone, I m coming with..?" Herc said."Who said I m going alone?!" Libruou finished. "But you got a race in a day, and you gotta prep yourself." She then looked at Jaden. "Ready to go rouge, church kid?""Yeah, let s go." Jaden smirked."But I can t get you involved in this!" Herc said."It s all right!" Jaden rest his hand on Herc s shoulder. "Besides, if it weren t for the Crystal shards, those bad guys wouldn t have crossed you.""..Yeah, but..." mumbled Herc."It s gonna be fine, Herc!" Libruou pulled Jaden out. "Let s hit the road already!"

Minutes later, Jaden and Libruou reached Luzix alley heading to the club. As they were walking through the semi-lit, wet, crowded, and alcohol reeking way, Jaden noticed commercial in holograms. They were advertising for illegals or shady things.The two then entered the club which was also very crowded and only neon lighted. There was loud dance music, strip dancers, and there were few almost naked women sucking on their thumb and laying down on each other. Jaden even saw one of them signaling for him to come closer.
Is this even real?!, he thought. My heart is racing, and my body wants to move by itself..
"Hey!" Libruou took Jaden s hand, and brought him back to reality. "Stay close to me if you don t wanna lose your virginity, choir boy!" They went to the bar. There, they found the guy Libruou was looking for. His name was Snake Face, and he was a thin man with straight long black hair, and a red big scar on half of his face, and his arms were covered with tattoos. The moment he saw Libruou, he hurried close to her."Is that you Libruou?!" he said."Lookin lively, Snake!" Libruou shot back."What brings ya to Luzix?! A night out or what?!" he playfully asked."We re.. me and this guy, are looking for somebody." Libruou replied. "We thought you may get us to him.""Damn, cut to the chase as always!" Snake stepped back. "What type is your guy?""Libruou brought a hologram screen out of her pinky s nail, and it floated in midair above her palm. Snake s face changed the second he saw the gangster in the picture."Oh, wow! I didn t expect that sorta people!" he stuttered."Can you tell us where we can find him?" Libruou asked."Or at least where his gang s hideout!" Jaden interjected."Well, that s some solid ass questions, yo!" Snake looked concerned."See! We know he s part of the Animals, and we know that he s dangerous." Libruou tried to persuade him. "Just tell us where this shithead and his pals hang.""I honestly don t know myself, but I know someone who does.." Snake turned up a floating display. It showed what it seemed to Mado like a messaging program. Snake was texting an associates of his who think he ll give him the information needed. After few minutes, Snake ended the conversation."C mon, that place s like a fortress!" Snake Face said reluctantly."Can you give us an address?" Jaden asked."It s a dom-like small building in Pacifica," Snake said."No shit.." Libruou was concerned."Wha..what s wrong?" Jaden asked."Pacifica is a shithole!" Snake replied."It was this sort of place that was meant to be a resort, but it didn t pan out.." Libruou explained. "Now, it s a dark yard for gang wars.""And the way to it is heavily guarded by their pawns; especially that one fella!""What fella?!" Jaden asked."The Demon Rider!" Snake whispered."Really?!" Libruou said."Hunting demons is like, my specialty! I ll take care of it." Jaden bragged."What s wrong with him?!" Snake told Libruou. "Is he joking, or does he really think there re demons out here?!" "As if! My friend here just loves cracking jokes!" she laughed, and then punched Jaden in the shoulder. "Tell us a bit about this Demon Rider!"Snake Face then explained that this Rider is a member of the Animals. He s a psychopathic biker who doesn t let anybody who doesn t belong roam in Pacifica. Libruou then asked Snake to lend her a bike; so he told them to go to the club s back door. When both Libruou and Jaden went there, Libruou said "I m sorry that I was acting like that in front of Snake. People in Bae City almost never seen a demon their whole life.""But how come?!" Jaden was confused."Remember when I told you that Shiva s barrier split both light and dark realms?" she said. "She also separated the Realm of Light with thinner penetrable barriers into small six segments, called ?Levels?. Each level consists of.. a number of planetoids."Libruou turned to face Jaden. "The Axiom supposed to be responsible for that. Yet, all they re doing is overshadowing it." she explained. "That s where Team Nora comes in! We try to open people s eyes, and basically show the real truth..""I see.." Jaden said as they reached the motorcycle. "So the Levels closer to the Realm of Darkness encounter demons more frequently.." "Exactly," she shot back, and then gestured for Jaden to drive. "But we ll finish your history lesson later. It s time for you to give me a ride!""Uhh, me?!" Jaden was surprised. "Oh, okay.." I d never driven a motorbike, not as Mado or even as Jaden!, he thought in panic. He then got on the bike with Libruou sitting behind him, and hoped for the best. The moment he turned the engine on, he heard a voice.
  ...Driving Mode Activated...
"God bless technology!" Jaden sighed quietly. The UI showed up with directions for Mado to follow in order to drive the bike. He quickly adjusted himself to it, and the two drove off.

They reached the tunnel that leads to Pacifica. It was barely lit with few red light bulbs with darkness stretching in between. As they were going steady forward, they heard sounds of other engines. "Here comes trouble!" Libruou shouted. When she looked back, they were three bikers following them. 
~BANG! ~BANG!
"They re shooting us!" Libruou said."Yeah, I can tell!" Jaden shot back."Try to reduce the gap, so I could shoot them!" she took a small laser gun and started to shoot back.
~PIEW!~PIEW! ~PIEW!~BLAST!
"BINGO!" Libruou hit one of the bad bikers, and it collapsed."I m slowing down, get ready!" Jaden lowered the speed. Their bike became surrounded by the other two. Libruou shot the one on the right. Jaden took out his Rebellion, and hit the biker on the left. After the two bad biker dropped down, Jaden raised the speed and rushed forward."Whow-ho, yeah! Go team!" Yelled Libruou. "Look, it s the end of the tunnel!" Jaden said.They arrived to Pacifica. As the road was linear and narrow, Jaden speeded up straight as fast as he can. Their rush attracted somebody, who blew a kiss to them when they passed him by. He got on his bike, and speeded behind them.
While on their way in Pacifica, Mado noticed the damaged buildings and streets around, and countless of homeless people laying on every corner. It reeks of despair, he thought, and then hurried onward. Once they reached a wider road, Libruou heard a bike sound, getting closer very fast. "Oh, no!" she turned to look at it, but it passed her sight very quickly.
"Uh, look what we got!" said the mysterious blonde biker on their right. "Is this a private party?!" He widened his eyes, and his hand started glowing blue like lightning. "Let there be light!" he shouted as a lightning blast just erupted towards Jaden and Libruou. It hit even the wall beyond that, and dust rose up. When it was clear enough for him to see, the mysterious biker saw the bike he targeted still running. Jaden evaded the attack. If I didn t push faster, we would ve been toast by now, he thought."That was close!" Libruou muttered."Oh, you two got nerve!" the biker got at their speed again. "Since we re all friends by now, Imma introduce myself! Name s Speck." he raised his hand that was holding what it seemed to resembles a lightning rod, and he directly attacked them.
~Smash!
At last second, Jaden was able to block it. And the biker went ahead of them. "But you may have heard some call me by my other name," he lifted up his bike s rear in the air. "Demon Rider!" he slammed that raised part into the ground, and the impact released an electric shock all around Jaden and Libruou.
~Bam!
"We almost lost balance!" Libruou cried."Hang on!" Jaden yelled as Speck was driving on the walls, and charging his electric power to blast them. He shot multiple times on them, but missed.
~BLING! BANG!
~BANG!
He kept on raining lightning on their bike while Jaden kept avoiding them in all directions."Yeah, baby! I ve Been lookin for a dance partner!" Speck laughed out loud. But not too long after that, he came back down to attack Jaden and Libruou with the lightning rod up close. Libruou tried shooting him with her laser gun, but Speck blocked them with a lightning force field.
~FLING!
"That tickles, sweetie!" he laughed at her."What s his deal?!" Libruou went mad."The lady s curiosity is piqued!" he shot back as he dropped a number of electric balls that kept chasing them.
~Vhimm!
~BLING! BANG!
~BANG!
"Shit!" Jaden muttered. I can t let em get closer, he thought. And I m totally not interested in what might happen if they touch us. 
Jaden then drove off into some crumbled building. Few of the electric balls hit the walls and blew up.
~BLOW! BLOW!
~BLAST!
Jaden kept changing course in and out until he got rid of them all before returning to the road. He was so fast, everything around him started to get blurry. But all of the sudden, the Demon Rider Speck appeared in front of their faces. "Pikka-boo!" his arm was firmly rushing to blast them with lightning. It was to late to try to speed up like before. Jaden had no other choice, but to face it head on. Once Speck s arm was almost upon them both, Jaden forcibly steered it away; so the blast missed by few centimeters. 
~Bam!
Libruou found a chance to shoot him, but the Demon Rider snapped fast and blocked her. 
~Clack!
"Naughty, naughty!" he shouted and then steered away and ahead of them to blow another attack.
"Can you drive for a bit?" Jaden asked Libruou."..Uh, but why..?" she stuttered."Do it!" Jaden told her, and jumped off the bike and ran up on the walls before he leaped towards Speck s bike. Speck shot an electric blast that missed Jaden who landed on the front end of the bike. "Oh, I just can t resist close confrontations.." Speck grinned as Jaden was looking straight into eyes."Wanna bet?!" said Jaden as he slashed two critical hits onto Speck s bike which made it wabble."Now, you re just being a bitch.." Speck replied as Jaden jumped off and dangled on a rod on top of a building, and fell back to his bike when Libruou came below. The Demon Rider lost all control, and speeded into a dumpster at a dead end and crashed.
~SLAM!
Jaden and Libruou heard him one last time saying "This isn t over my friends!" before they drove away. 
"That bastard steered us off!" Libruou complained. "Yeah, but I can see a dom shaped building in the distance!" Jaden said as he speeded towards it.
Once they reached the building they were targeting, they remembered what Snake told them, to sneak from the back side, than climb up through the fire exit to the attic .After successfully acheiving that, Jaden and Libruou gained a viewpoint on the main hall. They could see whoever was there, and what was going on. The two saw a woman that was apparently talking to someone on the phone."Yeah, it s goin all as planned. We ll get full access onto the «Old-Net» really soon." the gang woman said. 
Then Jaden asked Libruou "What s the Old-Net?""It s an ancient version of the «Net»" she explained. "The thing that Snake used to communicate through with his useful friend.""You mean, the Internet?" Jaden asked."What?! No, it s just called the Net." Libruou replied. " N. E. T okay? But why a gang need something like the Old-Net?!" "Guess we re about to find out.." Jaden whispered as they were looking at the woman that was dressed in yellow jump suit below them. "Yes, this new item is capable of breaking the firewall." the woman was still speaking on the phone, and in her other hand was a shard of the Red Crystal.What are these psychos want to do with the shards, he thought. And what firewall she s talking about?!
Then, the gang woman gestured to someone. It was the same guy that kidnaped Nico. And he was dragging her to that woman as she was resisting."Nico!" Libruou cried quietly. "Get your hands off of her!"
"The new expert is gonna take care of it. Just make sure to get here on time. Don t send me any boomerang buffalos on Anthem, alright?" The woman then told her other guy to take Nico away. 
"Yeah, pleasure doin biz!" she ended her call.
Libruou and Jaden had enough watching. It was time to take action. Jaden came up with a plan."So, you go after that kidnaper.. guy and retrieve Nico and the shards." Jaden told her. "I ll take care of Ms. Kingpin." Jaden then jumped down to land in front of the gang lady. 
~Drop!
"Huh?! And what are you supposed to be?!" she shouted."Well, that was a pretty nasty performance there!" Jaden stalled to give Libruou time to walk behind.
"I thought Speck was on watch.." she muttered."Yeah, nice guy by the way!" Jaden shot back. "Didn t your mom teach ya it s not nice to steal?!" "Oh, so you re from those Nora people!" she glared. "Remembering your victims identities! That s some work ethic you got there, ma am!" Jaden smirked, but deep down, he knew something was off. One scroungy lady with no apparent weapons around, and no protection or guards, or anything!, he thought. Come on UI, time for battle mode.
 ...Initiating Battle Mode... 
Huh?! Her level is only 8, and her HP is 200!, he was surprised. For real?!
"Here s the thing," Jaden said. "How about you give us back what you kidnaped and stole safe and sound, and we maybe let it slide with an apology?""Don t you see who you re talking to?!" she asked with anger. "I m Edith, the bone smasher!""I see a middle age lady with a skin disease and a possible malabsorption."The woman then smirked as she swallowed a strange disc shaped pill. Seconds later, she started to grow muscles twenty times bigger than any muscular person Mado remembered. And got twice as tall as the tallest person he could recall.What the heck is this?!, Mado thought. Her level just got multiplied by ten, she s level 80 now!His body started to shake from the terror, but he manage to grab his knife.
"How about you say that offer again, you little piece of snot?!" The gigantic woman, Edith, said with a gholish deep voice.This doesn t look good at all!, Jaden took a deep breath. But when was the last time I didn t break through thick walls?! This isn t the first time I go up against something way too impossible to overcome. I m no stranger to despair. Those Statues that killed off all that hunter squad were no different. They made me feel like it was impossible to endure. But when I pressed on, I found my memories. The only thing that gives me clarity.
Jaden tightened his grip. 
...There s no way I ll let it end this soon!
"Alright then," Jaden said as he readied his knife and glared forward. "Let s dance!"