Zephyria 8 To Gather

On this fine sun-blessed morning, at the heart of Zephyria was the Royal Palace.

It was huge.

Comprised of 7 skysc.r.a.pers equally s.p.a.ced around the central tower standing at a height of 2000 meters, it was the tallest building in the entire kingdom. It represented the pinnacle of power and technological evolution, flaunting the advancements over the past 200 years, yet retained the majestic aura that the original (more traditional) palace possessed. It was heavily fortified, surrounded by huge sOr barrier fences and there were 4-Star Protector Knights plastered around the perimeter. Each smaller building acted as watchtowers, fully equiped with sOr cannons and s.h.i.+elds, with squads each led by a 5-Star Commander. Both Air Force and Police Force had a presence, patrolling the sky and ground perimeters respectively. Truly an impenetrable fortress.

At the gates of the palace stood Xero and Amber , the latter of whom stared at the colossal structure in admiration. Despite being visible from anywhere in Central Zephyria, she had not come this close to truly appreciate the view. At the sight of this, Xero's face drew a cool smile. He was excited for her, that she finally had the opportunity to thrive in this Kingdom (officially anyway).

"We're here" he said into his earpiece, which then almost immediately triggered the main gates to slide open for them. As they walked through they were greeted by a squad of Intel Knights, who had agreed to bolster the palace's security for this meeting. They were escorted through to the main tower, entering the ground floor lobby where both Gale and Hikari were waiting. As with the previous day, they sported the New Vanguard Uniform, white suits (Gale with a skirt, Hikari with trousers) with silver and gold cloaks respectively. Hikari's Hammer was casually next to him.

"Xero! It's been a while!" Hikari said joyously, greeting him with a pound hug. For those uninformed, a pound hug is performed with an initial interlocking hand clasp, followed by a hug using the free arm. Very Bro.

"It really has! Haven't seen either of you in a while" Xero replied, greeting Gale with a more traditional hug.

"Aren't you going to formally introduce us to your girlfriend?" Gale said before glancing at Amber with a huge smile.

"Ah, well, it's not quite like that, but I really do respec-"

"STOP TRYNA BE COOL ALL THE TIME!" Amber interrupted, smacking him again with her blaster, to which Gale's smile grew even bigger.

"I like her" Gale said as she nudged Hikari, before exchanging hugs with Amber. "Hi, I'm Gale, I've heard incredible things about you."

"As have I. " Amber replied, having quickly calmed down to a peaceful and loving tone lol. She observed that their uniform matched Xero's new getup, who sported a sky blue cloak. "I'm guessing I have to wear one of these too?"

"Yup, I'll take you to get dressed. Formalities dictate that we have to wear these things, but theyre suuuuper comfortable u003c3" Gale said, who linked arms and walked off with her. Hikari and Xero watched as they left, about to comment about the girls before a third girl's voice had entered the room.

"Hold it!" Elektra shouted playfully, stopping Gale and Amber in their tracks. "Lemme join you! u003c3"

She had just entered the lobby escorting both Aloe and Yami, both of whom had prior connections to Elektra but had not met each other. All three wore the Vanguard uniform, with Elektra wearing a lavendar cloak, Aloe a mint green cloak and Yami a black cloak. After walking through the courtyard in awkward silence, Elektra saw this as an opportunity to quickly introduce and leave them them, saying "Okay so Aloe, meet Yami, Yami meet Aloe. Have fun u003c3" before zooming to Amber and Gale's location in an instant and walking off with them.

Standing at the entrance by their mutual friend who had abandoned them for the two girls, Aloe and Yami looked at eachother with both tired eyes.

"Man I need to take a nap" they both said in unison, before instantly waking up to the sound of the other sharing their desire to sleep, then stood there in awkard silence. They had both gained an instant respect for eachother, for they both understood the value of sleep (though some may say that at this particular moment, it was NOT the right time to think about sleep).

Hikari, standing with Xero at the other end of the room, waved them over, and the four greeted each other accordingly.

"I'm Yami, and you must be Hikari." Yami said, extending his hand to his new leader.

"Yes, it's a pleasure finally meeting you." Hikari said as he enthusiastically grasped his hand.

The impact these two individuals created as they shook hands was immense, creating a large shockwave that was felt a mile away. Whilst everyone else in the lobby was starstruck at this power, Aloe and Xero stood with faint smiles, simply acknowledging it.

"Wow you're so strong!" Yami exclaimed. He had finally come into contact with another who had shared his natural super strength, and he did not have to hold back when squeezing this hand. He squeezed harder, but Hikari didn't budge.

As they let go, Yami stood amazed. "We should work out some time!"

"Sure thing! We'll have a lot of time to train together!" Hikari replied, also happy to be in the presence of someone with such power.

"Sure thing, I'll join you too bro" Xero said calmly, as he squeezed himself in between the two.

"You don't always have to act cool, noone's watching you" Hikari replied with an unimpressed demeanour.

"Yea I guess" Xero replied, retreating onto a sofa. "Weights aren't really my thing anyway."

"Meh it's my rest day today." Yami said as he sat besides Aloe, who had already settled on the opposite sofa. He had almost fell asleep on the spot, before that same bubbly, interrupting voice invaded the lobby.

"Yami Wake up!"

Hikari was in the process of sitting down, before he noticed something moving towards their location at an incredible speed. As his perception of time slowed, he observed Elektra swiftly running across the room to land a sneaky attack on Yami.

"So fast" he thought to himself, before he grabbed his hammer and just about blocked Elektra's kick.

Elektra, who had never met Hikari before, was equally as amazed at his reaction speed. "Woaaa, you can keep up?"

"Just about! Nice to finally meet you in person." Hikari replied.

Before he could continue the conversation, Xero recieved the go signal via his earpiece. "It's time. We're being summoned to the throne room." he said.

"Let's go" Hikari said, now with a more serious and determined face, as all five made their way to the main elevator, where Gale, Amber and about 20 Intel Knights awaited them. Amber was now dressed in the uniform, sporting a scarlet cloak.

As they ascended to the 300th floor, none of them said a word. They observed the increasingly spectacular view of the city, progressively spreading further and further as they climbed. The elevator finally stopped, and the doors opened to reveal the throne room.

In contrast to the rest of the palace, this room seemed to be made of purely white marble, with statues on the left and right sides, leading to three large white thrones, which were elevated and preceded by a large staircase. These thrones stood in front of a huge gla.s.s window, which allowed the sun to s.h.i.+ne directly on them.

As the doors shut and the escorting knights left them, Hikari led the group in silence as they positioned themselves before the currently throne.

The seven stood equally s.p.a.ced apart, now all unified in their posture and attire, waiting.

"Scarlet. Sky. Mint. Gold. Silver. Lavendar. Black."

A female voice entered the room. It exuded power and finesse. The voice slowly strided past them and up towards the central throne, where it settled.

"Those uniforms certainly look great. Having all of you in one room is surely a sight to behold."

"We're here as you summoned us," Hikari said with pure respect and humility.

"Empress."