Before we start, just wanted to inform everyone that reads this that this story will feature some Mild Language and Violence. If this is not your cup of tea, please feel free to return to the main Treasure Vault forum, and pick something of a lighter tone. You have been informed.

Zen's Field Notes
By; Zero_Starlight

Log 1; Ground Zero

Ironically, it's those first few minutes after landing that have really stuck with me this entire time.

I suppose in a way, I was lucky, really. Most Knights ejected in the escape pods and ended up strewn all over the world like so much scrap metal, while I ended up sprawled on the somewhat soft soil that has grown to become the Hub, listening to the sounds of the machine beneath me, in tune with my own mechanical soul. Sure, I was one of the few who remained on board, riding the Skylark down to a quick end, doing everything we could to repair the damage the poor girl had taken.

Doesn't make the looks the other Knights give me any less painful.

---

I had come to visit Ground Zero again. I knew it was pointless, I had searched the entirety of the place for any hints as to where She had been taken, but I had returned there every day for five years, and it gave me a small measure of stability in my life.

I knelt before the large tombstone, etched with the names of the hundreds of Knights who had not survived. Her name was on this list, but I disregarded it. I knew She was still alive.

I had watched, trapped beneath a sheet of metal that had torn off of the Skylark on impact, as the void itself pulled Her deep into the machine that was this planet.

"Hey!" A voice called, interrupting my thoughts. I looked up, the familiar feeling of anger coming to a boil as I recognized the Knight running up to me. I knelt at the tombstone, placing a few shards of extra gold crystal before it, giving my thanks for those who had made the ultimate sacrifice, before standing to face the other Knight, my sword planted firmly in the ground.

"What do you want, Ray." I said, though I didn't really give a damn as to what anyone wanted.

Ray was a relatively new Knight, and I didn't like him. The kid was a punk, he had no respect for anyone, not even for the Knights who fought there way deep into the clockworks in search of a new power source for the Skylark.

"Wasting crystals on that stupid tombstone again?" Ray asked, "Shouldn't you be at the Hub breaking something?"

"Ray, you do not want to test me today. Now back off." I replied, gripping the hilt of my sword tightly, the strip of fabric on it's sheath blowing in the wind.

"And what if I don't?" Ray replied.

I looked at him for a moment, "Then I suppose you've played your hand."

I pulled my sword from the ground, holding it behind my back as I ran at him, faster than he could have anticipated. I swung the sword into the air.

"Here's mine."

I brought it down in an arcing motion, the blunt edge of the blade tossing him away. He hit the ground, his momentum bouncing him further, again, again, before coming to a rest in the dirt.

I walked up beside him and raised my blade again, stabbing it into the soil beside his head.

"Bother me again, and I won't play nice." I informed him, pulling my blade, and a chunk of soil, from the ground, sheathing it.

---

Now, looking back, I was a bit harsh on the kid. Sure, he was an ass and all, but aren't all kids his age? At the time though, I had places to be, and I wasn't in the mood for his crap.

I had to find my girl, after all.

---

The Hub was bustling as usual, hundreds of Knights chatting, bartering, the usual fare. The atmosphere was light and happy.

Well, until I walked through. I had gained a reputation as being an outcast, someone who didn't get along with others, and Knights tended to back off when I came through.

I walked into the arcade, activating the tower I had been adding crystals to, and stepped onto the elevator, not bothering to invite anyone to join me, not that they would accept anyway.

"Where you going Zenny?" A cat-like voice called, and I groaned, stabbing at the down button on the elevator in the hopes that the thing would send me deep into the bowls of Cradle, and away from that obnoxious girl.

Unfortunately, it seems that I wasn't going to be that lucky, as before I knew it, balancing cat-like on the safety rail of the elevator, was Kit, or as everyone was fond of calling her, "Cat Girl".

I just called her a pain in the ass.

"Can you get off the elevator Kit? I've got important things to do and I don't fancy having to drag you along for the ride." I pleaded, hoping that asking nicely would make her change her current plan of action.

I was destined for disappointment it seems.

"Nya... No, I think I'll stay and help you out!" Kit replied, smiling as the elevator began to descend.

"Kit... I'm asking you nicely. Get off the damn elevator or so help me-" I said, cut off by screech of broken brakes, followed by the ground beneath my feet dropping.