Where Has Ivo Been?
| Where Has Ivo Been? | |
|---|---|
| Date of Cutscene: | 14 May 2013 |
| Location: | Hawaii |
| Synopsis: | In which several months' absence is exploited for comedic effect. |
| Cast of Characters: | Ivo Galvan, Maira, Priel Aylin, Raiya Fujihara, Avira |
The deck sways beneath the young swordsman's booted feet, his blue cloak rippling in the ocean breeze, hand on Hauteclare's hilt in a posture too nonchalant to be unintentional. "The anomaly that the Shard Seeker device detected should have been here," Ivo says to the ship's captain, surveying the cerulean expanse where sea meets sky. In his off-hand is not said device but a chart inked with an engineer's clean lines and tight scrawl. "I left the prototype behind, just in case, but if there's a chance that it reacted to a World Shard--"
Suddenly, the ship begins to tremble with an overwhelming force, and as Ivo crouches to regain his balance the sailors rush around him. 'It's a whirlpool!' one shouts. 'Impossible! It came out of nowhere!' cries one from the rigging. Seeing the hardened veterans around him in a panic, Ivo grits his teeth, clear eyes hardening.
"This is ridiculous," he mutters. "I can't die here. I have to think... of all the women who would cry!"
And before him, the ethereal visage of remembered beauties blossoms.
"I'd cry if you died!" Maira says earnestly, before faltering slightly. "Though you mostly make me cry by being alive, so, all things considered..."
"All the same to me," is a smirking Priel's blase contribution. "Whether you live or die, I'll be laughing at you."
"No, he must live," Raiya demurs, "so that when he returns, I can kill him."
"Why am I here!?" shouts Avira. "I don't want anything to do with this!"
"I don't want you here either!" Ivo shouts at the sky. "Get out of my heeaaAAAAA--"
- * * SOME TIME LATER * * *
"So you're alive."
Dazed and bedraggled, Ivo haltingly lifts himself to his feet, blank gaze sweeping the pristine beaches around him before settling upon the powerfully-built dark-skinned man in sunglasses who has spoken. "So it seems," the knight-errant murmurs distantly. "Ivo Galvan, Shard Seeker. Where is this, and who are...?"
"A 'Shard Seeker'? I expected something like that. We don't see too many swords around here," the man rumbles, tilting his chin down to regard Ivo over the rims of his shades. "This is Hawai'i, Seeker, and I am... Bubbles. Cobra Bubbles. Ex-CIA."
"What's an 'Ex-CIA'?"
"It's like being in the CIA... but extreme."
"Lacking any context, I'll elect to be impressed."
"Let me be frank," Cobra says. "We've begun having some troubles in paradise, and we need some Portal-wanderers like you to help take care of it. Our government is trying to hide the existence of the Heartless to avoid throwing people into a panic, but they've begun roaming the beaches, and we don't have enough people who can fight them."
"I'd like to help, of course," Ivo replies, regaining his composure, "but my mission went wrong, and I have to return to my allies and report. If you could help me get off this island, I could return with them and--"
"We don't have that kind of time. No one is coming to the beaches anymore because the Heartless are scaring away all the gorgeous women--"
"I'll do it."
- * * THREE MONTHS LATER * * *
"Ah ha ha ha!"
Ivo is on a yacht off the coast, in a swimsuit, holding a glass of champagne with his arms around two bikini-clad women, laughing with delight.
"I love Hawai'i!"
Whereupon he pauses, and eventually furrows his brow in contemplation.
"But I... feel like I've forgotten something."
