The Rift Transport

The weather in the Vast Expanse had been clear, making it the ideal time for sailors to visit a marine restaurant built on top of a large ship. A marine group sailed there, led by a man with pink hair who ordered his crew to land.

"Everyone, dock the ship at that sea restaurant!" A woman stood by him, enthusiastic and beautifully clothed in formal wear with a chain wrapped around his left wrist.

"My love, I will share the nicest supper of the day for you. Built on the perfect blue water, a five-star restaurant. A lovely setting in which we can have a glitzy talk."

"Aren't you a proper gentleman, Zach?"

The anchor and the ladder were lowered, and Zach and the woman strolled into the massive, spotless restaurant, holding hands lovingly.

The patrons of the restaurant were puzzled and cast glances towards them. Zach and the woman sat at the most romantic table, they could find and awaited the arrival of the waiter.

Tim and Elliott sat on the floor in a butterfly squat, looking forward with a bored expression as the Sanguine Rose sailed over the ocean under a clear blue sky. They considered eating, but they were sleepy at the time.

"Ayuka, might we get some food? I've been hungry for a couple of hours. Please, please, please!" Their stomachs were growling, embarrassing them even more, but Ayuka kept a neutral expression on her face.

"All right, but only because you said 'please'." She took a hand tissue and walked up to the kitchen's door, knocking.

"Are you done with the kitchen, Natan? I should go make some lunch for us."

With a broom and a pail in his hands, Natan stepped out of the door slowly, his face serene and lifeless.

"The kitchen is spick-and-span..." Tim and Codey began to chuckle quietly, which quickly escalated into thunderous chuckles that tore their bodies apart and brought tears to their eyes.

"Who'd have guessed that someone like you is a clean freak? That is extremely inconvenient!" With Tim grasping the pole, Elliott laughed, while Natan popped a vein on his forehead and screamed out words.

"I want the ship to be clean if I'm already locked on board with you! You should shut up and leave me alone unless you want to work!" Tim and Elliott paused in their laughter and smiled, then scrutinized Natan.

Natan stared at them silently until they burst out laughing and rolled around on the floor. "I just can't! Somebody like him to be obsessed with cleaning! That's so funny!"

It enraged Natan to the point where he threw a bucket and a broom in their faces, causing them to bump their heads. "You sluggish sloths, get to work!" As they finally shut talking and helped to clean the ship, Tim and Elliott's clothes and hair were saturated.

The ship was covered in bubbles and foam, and Tim and Elliott were having fun skating on the wet wood. They slid their brooms across the floor to clean it, and their loud cheering awoke Nina, who had come out of her bedroom exhausted.

"What's going on...?" She inquired, raising her eyes to the top of the deck, where Karisa was bent over the fence, drawing a map. "Oh, they're simply cleaning the ship; it's preferable than them slacking."

Tim called out her name as he raised his arm and waved to her. "Nina, hello! Would you like to join us in cleaning the ship? It's a lot of fun!"

"Oh, Nina! There's no need to labor so hard! My darling angel, leave the housework to the boys!"

"Would you mind if I asked you to keep it down? I'm trying to concentrate up here!" Codey yelled from the crow's nest, where he was examining the front of the ship with goggles in the hopes of spotting an island in the distance.

"Aw... Codey, you should definitely join us! It's so much fun to skate on a wet floor!"

"I can't! Someone needs to keep an eye on the weather and the way ahead of us, should we collide with a rock or something! You morons!"

Ayuka stepped through the kitchen door with a wave through the frame as it opened instantly. "Guys, hurry up! The food is served! Let's eat before it gets cold!"

Tim and Elliott hurriedly dropped their cleaning supplies and dashed to the door, getting jammed in the frame as they competed to be the first to enter.

"Hey! I'll go first! I came here quicker!" Elliott yelled as he rubbed his shoulders against Tim's, who remained cheerful. "I'm considerably more hungry than you are! So, I'll take the lead!" Finally, the two of them crammed into the kitchen, causing a tremor to reverberate throughout the room.

They slipped on the floor and made the most awkward faces as they collided with the wall.

Ayuka's eyes were closed, but she flinched from her annoyance when she swung the hand cloth. The sound of skin being smacked echoed from the kitchen, and she screamed.

"If you spilled any of my food! I'll kill you! You idiots!" Together in sync, Tim and Elliott apologized.

Everyone's tummies were stuffed, and Tim chuckled as he yawned and touched his own belly. "Mmm! Delicious!" When they were about to resume their healthy lunch, the sky erupted in a looping and whirling rift that extended gorgeous rays of light. The weather suddenly shifted to a strong breeze, and the sea waves began to climb in height.

When Karisa pointed to the rift, they all glanced up in unison and waited for something to happen. They prepared their defenses in case they had to battle.

Instead, they all observed a boy clad in a yellow trench coat and brown boots falling through the air. He had blue hair and blue eyes, identical to Elliott's.

"Somebody! Help me!"

Tim dashed to the front of the ship, observing how the youngster attempted to fly by flapping his arms, but instead fell into the sea with a huge splash.

Everyone looked over the ship's edge, expecting the youngster to swim to the surface, only to hear him beg for aid, terrified of the sea. It was enough to have Tim take a risk and jump from the ledge.

"I'm on my way! Stay there!" Ayuka leaned forward as Tim leaped over and bombed into the sea. "Are you crazy?! You still can't swim!" With Elliott's eyes wide open, Ayuka quickly undressed her top into her bra and vaulted over the ship in the ocean, chasing down Tim who sunk underneath.

"Oh, my sweet angel! That outfit is perfect for you! Why don't you leave it like that? It makes you all hot and stuff! I swear I'm not going to look at you! Please, please, please!" Codey pursued them and assisted the boy who had fallen from the sky in boarding the ship.

Tim's body was on the ground, his eyes whirling, and Karisa walked across his stomach, causing him to spit water like a fountain. She felt underwhelmed and disgusted by his misbehavior.

"Seriously. When will you understand you can't swim?" Tim leapt to his feet and exhaled a sigh of delight. "That was incredible! You swooped down from the sky, all amazing and stuff! What's the secret to making such a grand entrance?"

After thanking the others, the boy raised his head slightly, and the first thing he saw was Ayuka's chest, bulging out from beneath her dried T-shirt. He raised his head and stroked it slowly before asking a curious question.

"Um... Ayuka? Codey? Tim? And... wait. Is that me?!"

When he looked at Elliott, who was perplexed by his words, the boy's eyes bulged out. "Whoa! What exactly are you doing here?! And what gives that there are two of me?!" Ayuka took the risk of inquiring about the boy's knowledge.

"Huh? How did you figure out our names? Furthermore, what do you mean by the fact that there are two of you?" The boy reddened into his cheeks as he stroked them and bowed his head slightly, but maintained his gaze on them all.

"Um. You all have a similar appearance to my friends, with a few minor variances... My name is Ellie Thundere, and I'm from the Zero World, a society comprised of the twelve clans created to exorcise the demons and any evil associated with that designation..."

"Your name is very close to Elliott's... That's convenient..."

Ellie regained his balance and folded his arms as he pondered. He had access to extremely precise information about each of them. "Where's Imiko?"

Ayuka's eyes widened and her hair waved from side to side in the seconds after Ellie asked that exact inquiry, giving her the most frightening thoughts daring to reach her inner mind. Upon eradication, it seemed like a frigid dispersion of a human's body that entered the core of a human's body.

To be continued...