AKARI

"Alright. Who's ready for some sun!" Sander shouts as he stands beside me in the dispatch center and stretches his taut arms, a golden arm band around his right bicep which matches his white muscle shirt and ripped blue jeans with white flip flops, a white beanie on his head with some of his messy hair sticking out from underneath as his eyes shine brightly, his signature wooden cross bracelet still on his wrist.

"You do realize this is a mission, not a vacation. Right?" Kit sighs as she crosses her arms against her chest, showing off her salmon and white lattice styled bikini top which match the bikini bottoms that are sticking out from underneath her blue jean shorts and her white wedges that tie into bows.

"Yeah, but come on. We get to stay at the water park for two days!" Sander grins. "Sounds like fun to me. Besides, beating around monsters is always fun too."

"Until they beat you around," Shae muses as he walks over to us, wearing a black muscle shirt and grey board shorts with black converse.

"Oh, come on," Sander pouts. "When have I ever let that happen?"

"Well—" Shae, Kit, and I start.

"Okay, okay!" Sander sighs in defeat. "You weren't supposed to answer literally."

The four of us talk light heartedly together for a little while before Isabella eventually comes running up to us in a sheer white sundress with a white bikini underneath and a tan floppy beach hat on top of her head to match her tan wedges and tan belt, as well as her own signature bracelet that she usually wears.

"Sorry I'm late!" Isabella shouts as she runs and nearly trips over her own feet before she reaches us.

"You aren't late," Kit assures her.

"I know, but most of you were here before me, so I feel late," Isabella sighs.

"Nah," Sander stretches once more. "We still have to wait on Sora."

As if on queue, Sora enters the room, looking somewhat disoriented in his white v-neck, black shorts, and black vans as he runs a hand through his hair, his necklace still hidden underneath his shirt.

"Sora?" I raise a brow. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Sora swallows thickly and forces a smile as he approaches us, his eyes meeting mine. "I'm fine. I just didn't sleep very well last night."

"Sora!" Merrick shouts as he races into the room, making Sora whirl around so quickly that he almost falls over in the process.

"Merrick?" Sora breathes out just as Merrick collides with him and pulls him into a tight hug.

"I know," Merrick says quietly and Sora slowly raises his arms to hug him back, making Merrick squeeze him tighter.

"Yeah..." Sora breathes out before he smiles whenever Merrick pulls away to smile at him.

"Good luck out there," Merrick grins. "Come back in one piece, alright? I don't need an explanation right now. Sorry I wasn't in my room last night. I just slipped out to think."

"I'll try," Sora grins back before Merrick winks and walks off, his arms behind his head.

"What was that about?" Sander raises his eyebrows.

"Oh," Sora turns back to us and chuckles sheepishly as he rubs the back of his neck. "I just went to check on Merrick last night and he wasn't in his room. That's all."

"But—" Sander starts and Kit elbows him in the ribs, making me raise a brow.

"Come on," Kit sighs as Sander pouts. "Let's get going now that we're all here."

"Geez," Sander sighs. "Alright, alright."

With that, the six of us head through the archway to Kalahara. We end up appearing in the jungle part of Kalahara, not too far from the resorts in the mountains. We begin our hike there, surprisingly the only problem we come across being mosquitoes and gnats on our way there.

"Oh, man! Look!" Sander exclaims excitedly and points in the distance at the resorts that lie ahead up the mountain path. "It's so awesome!"

The nearest resort, the one that we booked to stay in, is one of the biggest attractions in Kalahara. It's famous for it's ginormous water park and spa and is a common place for people to come on vacation. The resort supposedly has the runestone of Gluttony and Temperance hidden somewhere in the water park, which honestly seems a little risky to me, but I guess it must be working because it hasn't been found yet.

"Race you there!" Sander shouts before he takes off in a run.

"Sander!" Kit shouts in exasperation before she takes off after him.

"Well, I guess we should go after them," Isabella laughs sheepishly before she takes off in a light jog.

"Do I really feel like running after them?" Shae sighs. "Not really..."

Despite his words, Shae chases after his brother and our friends, leaving just me and Sora. The two of us exchange a glance before we grin at each other and then take off in a run towards the resort.

By the time Sora and I reach the resort, Kit is already chasing Sander around the water park, which is packed with people.

"Get back here!" Kit shouts before she skids to a halt, having lost sight of Sander.

Kit lets out a scream of surprise as Sander tackles her from the side and the two of them go flying into the pool, Sander laughing when they resurface and Kit splashing water in his face while she pouts.

"Lighten up, princess," Sander grins and Kit blushes slightly before she crosses her arms.

"Whatever..." Kit sighs before she smiles softly and begins to splash Sander more, who laughs before he goes under only to grab Kit's ankle and pull her under too.

"So, what exactly are we supposed to be doing?" Isabella asks as she stands by the edge of the pool with Shae, Sora, and me.

"Apparently we just have to search the park for it. They told us they'd let us keep it once we show them our IDs since we're Arias," I shrug.

"Then why don't they just give it to us?" Sora asks.

"Either a Temperance or a Gluttony would have to find it to awaken it, just like how the runestone of Lust and Chastity floated to Isabella," I explain. "So, we need Sander to awaken it before the park will allow us to take it. You know, as further proof I guess."

"I see," Sora sighs. "So, let's start then?"

"Yeah," Isabella nods. "I'll go check the lazy river."

"I'll check the wave pool," Shae says just before him and Isabella head off together.

"So..." Sora starts, his eyes landing on me. "Where should we go?"

"I'm gonna go check the slides and the pool because..." I trail off as I watch Kit and Sander playing around in the pool. "Those two probably aren't checking at the moment. I don't mind too much though. It's nice seeing Kit have fun for once."

"It seems Sander may be the only one capable of bringing that out in her," Sora muses as we head toward the slides.

"Yeah," I smile softly at the thought.

Once we reach the slides, we wait in line for about ten minutes before we reach the top where two white slides lead down into the multi-colored pool filled with blue and purple tiles down below.

I decide to go before Sora, and once I'm down the slide for about a good five seconds, I hear Sora shout something from behind me and all I can do is watch as he barrels towards me down the slide, my eyes widening in surprise.

"Sora!" I shout just before he collides with me and I end up sitting on his lap.

I manage to turn myself around so that I'm pressed against his chest and my arms are around his neck as I glare at him and he blushes under my gaze.

"What do you think you're doing?!" I shout.

"I was pushed!" Sora defends himself and I narrow my eyes further.

Whenever we crash into the pool below, it takes me a few seconds to actually get my senses back and Sora helps pull me up out of the water and he pulls me into his chest.

"Thanks..." I mumble and blush, averting my gaze only to be left staring at his six-pack, his shirt having been soaked through.

"Here," Sora says and strips off his shirt only to place it over my head and I squeak in surprise.

"Why..." I breathe out in surprise.

"People were staring. You just look too cute in that bikini," Sora blushes lightly and chuckles.

"O—Oh, thanks..." I mumble once again, my blush growing even further.

As I glance down once more, I notice that one of the stone tiles at the bottom of the pool looks odd compared to the others if you stare at it long enough.

"Hey, Sora," I breathe out and point to the tiles. "Look..."

Sora moves around so that he can see where I'm pointing and his breath hitches before the two of us exchange a glance and begin to swim to the bottom of the pool. As we're swimming to the bottom, a sudden eruption of water explodes from the pool and sends us whirling back through the water. As the water falls back down into the pool where the blast was, I'm able to see a figure dressed in all black with a black jacket, black shirt, black pants with thigh holsters for daggers, a silver chain belt, and black combat boots standing on the end of the one water slide, the runestone in his gloved hand and a black scarf covering the bottom half of his face.

"Hey!" I shout and go to draw my weapon only to realize that I left it over by the edge of the pool hidden in its compacted mode in a bag where everyone else left their stuff, making my eyes widen.

Immediately, the figure before us narrows his eyes before he leaps off of the slide and over to the edge of the pool before he takes off in a run, Sora shouting and taking after him, followed by Kit and Sander. I follow after all four of them after I grab my weapon and I follow them out of the park, Shae and Isabella coming up behind me after hearing the explosion and all the commotion.

The thief leads us into the jungle and manages to escape us as he glances over his shoulder while he runs to see a group of nightmare panthers surrounding us.

"Dammit!" Sander shouts as he swings his naginata through a panther and it disperses. He's getting away!"

"Not on my watch!" Kit shouts and throws her katana towards the thief, who's almost out of sight by now.

Without looking back, the thief throws his body to the side as he turns on his heel, his blue eyes meeting Kit's as her katana barely grazes by him and she gasps before he runs out of sight.

Sora and I fight back to back while Isabella stands in the center of all of us and casts spells of protection from her book, bright white light auras surrounding us and lights going off as she casts spells, Shae guarding her and taking down any panthers that try to attack her.

Kit summons her katana back and turns just in time to slash through a panther that lunges at her, bright blue energy radiating off of her katana. Kit spins around and continues to fight, killing tens upon tens of creatures that keep flocking to us. Her katana begins to glow brighter as she summons more energy and she clenches her teeth as she performs her lithe and agile movements, her attacks all fierce, coordinated, and swift. Kit then glances over out of the corner of her eye and she spins and drop kicks a nightmare panther as she throws her katana through the air and it impales a panther that was about to attack Sander from behind. Sander then glances over at Kit and his eyes widen slightly.

"Kit!" Sander shouts and leaps towards her only to turn sideways whenever he reaches her, a panther lunging at that exact moment and Sander's naginata going straight through the panther.

"Thanks," Kit breathes out and Sander nods whenever he climbs back to his feet while Kit summons her katana back.

Kit and Sander then fight back to back like the rest of us do and soon the creatures stop coming, having defeated most of the ones in the area.

"This...is a problem," Isabella breathes out.

"Yeah," Kit nods in agreement. "No kidding..."

Just then, Shae's phone begins to ring and he pulls it out of his pocket to put it on speaker, seeing that it's Gambit.

"Sorry to break up your party, but you need to come back now. We need to head to Elvenowl immediately," Gambit says. "But it seems you already know that the stone's been stolen, right?"

"Oh yeah, we know," Kit sighs. "Why Elvenowl?"

"Because, according to our sources, your thief just arrived there via gateway," Gambit explains and the six of us exchange knowing glances.

"Alright," Shae says. "We're on it."