#zines feat nova

Finally! Finally my zine arrived!

This is the first ever zine I was accepted into and finally having the bundle in my hands feels so amazing! It’s so beautiful and I’m so happy to have been a part of this zine. Thank you to the mods and creators for bringing this to life and bringing me along. <3 

Because I got a beautiful recommendation from my ever graceful queen @kingdomcarrots for Scala kid stuff, I suppose I’d better post some Scala kid stuff.

Please enjoy my piece from the @khparkszine which was an absolute blast to write. And no, this is not part of my most recent series of madness. 

~~~~~

           The headband slips into his silver hair and Xehanort complains, “Why am I wearing these again?”

           “Don’t be a spoil-sport, man,” his friend, Bragi, replies. “Everyone’s wearing them.” His gesture to their four friends reveals he’s right: they are all wearing mouse ears.

           “Cool. So, peer-pressure.”

           “You know it!” Finger guns wave at the oppressed.

           The colorful, magical world of Disneyland—it’s a surprise visit for the herd of students, but one enjoyed nonetheless. So far, they’ve encountered a variety of characters and ventured onto rides of all sorts, from story-telling tours to exciting coasters; not to mention a ride picked by Hermod early in the day. The mistake was assuming it was a peaceful log flume. By the end of it, they had all been drenched and Vor was thrilled to have a photo of everyone’s shock at the sudden drop. The perpetrator was not allowed to live down his pick of “Splash Mountain” and everyone turned on Urd as well when she pointed out that none of them noticed the red flags either. Yet in spite of splashing surprises, none of them can deny that the day has been fun.

           Currently, the hoard is adventuring into Tomorrowland, passing by the Astro Orbiter for now, but the following building on the left catches some eyes.

           “Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters,” Bragi hums, reiterating the entrance sign’s yellow lettering.

           Urd waves towards the empty line where only a handful of people trickle through. “The wait’s not very long.”

           “Let’s go!” Without waiting on her friends, little Vor makes a mad dash through the queue.

           The rest of the group follows through the space-toy-themed halls, eventually coming across the white sign that stirs up some excitement.

           “Operating instructions: aim laser and pull trigger,” Vor reads aloud. “Aim for the ‘Z.’ Bonus points when lit.”

           Immediately, Eraqus’s face lights up. He’s come to the same conclusion that Xehanort has. “Wait! This a game?!”

           Silver eyes meet stone-grey with a look their classmates have seen a million times and can only describe as “trouble.”

           From day one, Xehanort sought out the competition, the marker against which he can prove himself, which he originally found in the aristocratic Eraqus. At first, it was the sheer rivalry of a nobody against nobility, but Eraqus lost, and lost again, and again. And then he won. The blueblood’s current win rate is only one out every four games and yet he never seems to lose any sleep over it. He comes time after time to challenge Xehanort and he never makes it easy—he loses often but not by much, always keeping the original challenger on his toes. The pair have become unlikely friends in their time spent clashing, but Eraqus never lets a challenge go untaken and Xehanort always has to prove his slogan of “I never lose.”

           The boys’ most recent competition at the Frontierland Shootin’ Exposition, in which they made their friends keep track of targets hit, had resulted in one of those blue-moon ties. Xehanort would argue that he won, having hit four of the moving train targets while Eraqus only managed to hit one. The latter would then shoot back that Xehanort’s declaration meant he missed at least three stationary targets and, in the end, nobody was satisfied. This new game, though, could prove to be the comeback they’ve each been waiting for.

           “Uh oh. There they go again,” sighs Hermod, not that either of the competitors are listening as they hustle through the ropes. To their displeasure, the line forces them to hold their horses and wait their turn at the challenge. This gives Vor the chance to point out the large animatronic waving around a blaster.

           “Who’s that?”

           Bragi tilts his head. “Considering his chest says ‘Lightyear’ I’m guessin’ that’s Buzz Lightyear.”

           The space ranger tells his audience of their mission to defeat Zurg. Xehanort hardly pays attention, too busy staring at the sign of targets—triangle, diamond, square, and circle respectively—that he swears must mean something.

           The line passes by the boarding bay and the boys eye up the “battery-powered” vehicles; passengers sit two to a cart, get locked in, and are sent into the darkness to earn their scores. The youth in white eagerly awaits his turn. Meanwhile, not about to let on how excited he is, the opposition pretends he’s already got this in the bag. Even if he thought there was a chance of losing, Xehanort would never show it.

           Up next, Eraqus scoots in and the ride operator ushers in the boy in black second. Sharing a car with his foe was not in Xehanort’s plan but, given that foe’s affinity to bend the rules, at least they’ll start on an even playing field.

           With enthusiasm, the blasters are pulled from their holsters and examined. A couple test shots show that Xehanort’s sights are barely off, but it’s nothing he can’t adjust for. Buzz Lightyear reminds them to aim for the “Z” targets and the adventure begins.

           Right around the corner comes a pair of bots. Eraqus begins fervently but the silver-haired boy takes a closer look. The boxobot on the right has one of each target—a perfect opportunity to test a theory. After a second to adjust his aim, each target takes a couple hits.

           Noting his score, Xehanort muses, “So that’s it—triangles are worth the most.”

           “Thanks for the info.” Eraqus gives him a devious smirk. Taking hold of the joystick on the console and jerking it towards him, he shifts the whole ride towards the left—Xehanort didn’t even know it did that. That fox hasn’t missed a beat aiming for the triangle on the back of the boxobot’s hand. Barely thirty seconds in and the enemy is already pulling tricks, jumping his score much to his irritation. Xehanort focuses instead on the targets he can hit before the car enters a hall full of toppling batteries.

           Zurg approaches from around the corner, flashing his gun at the players. While he wears two tempting square targets, Xehanort recalls something about targets being worth more while lit and aims for the easy neon circle on his right. Once it’s out of reach, he begins to realize that the targets thus far have favored Eraqus’s side of the vehicle and that advantage may not change. That boy always had a ridiculous amount of luck on top of his veiled talents—another reason he’s such a challenging rival.

           There are a couple of squares on the left in the next hall but, just as the sights are lined up, the car abruptly jerks—this is Eraqus’s doing. Annoyed but refusing to let his score drop, Xehanort shoves the saboteur himself, trying to get him off the controls. Eraqus, smushed up against the side panel, gives up his subversion and returns his full attention to boosting his own score.

           The following room is full of alien monsters, again favoring Eraqus’s side. Having won control of the car, though, Xehanort turns the vehicle all the way around, aiming for a lit diamond above his head. He’s proud of that move, until he realizes he gave away a high target’s position to Eraqus.

           The following tunnel is vastly different from the rest of the ride: pitch black with streams of light zooming past—but a familiar orange flicker stands out. Just short of smacking his best friend in the head, Xehanort aims.

           “Nice spot!” Eraqus jeers.

           These flashing blasters make it impossible to hide a player’s aim. “Quit cheating!”

           “I’m just playing the game!” Shoving the arm away, the black-haired boy aims straight up at another hidden target.

           Darkness gives way to another room featuring Zurg and Buzz Lightyear. A glance has Xehanort’s confidence swelling—he’s winning, but there are still enough targets to close that gap if he doesn’t pay attention. However, the young man’s focus on the glowing circle on Zurg’s chest is thrown when Eraqus turns them around to face another vermillion bot with a circle. Xehanort is about to jerk the car back to the more exciting scene behind them but the circle flashes and a new target pops up: the triangle.

           As fast as their trigger fingers will let them, they fire away until the target is out of range. The pair gets a few more hits on Zurg and the diamond rocket before they enter the next room. In the narrative of the ride, the little green men celebrate that Zurg has been captured and put back in his box—which is where the last circle target sits.

           Final desperate attempts are made to raise their score before they near the exit and Buzz Lightyear speaks to the space cadets once again.

           “Mission accomplished, space rangers! It’s been an honor serving with you! Check the status board to determine your ranking. And don’t forget to holster those blasters.”

           “Aw, is that it?” Eraqus puts his blaster down. “What did you get?”

           Xehanort’s eyes drop to the yellow score displaying all nines. “I think it maxed out. What about you?”

           “Same.”

           “What? That’s it? So there’s no way to tell who won?” Xehanort protests, taunted by the glowing score. He’s absolutely offended that, twice today, he hasn’t come out on top as the clear victor. “Lame.”

           “Guess that’s one more tally on the draw column,” sighs Eraqus.

           The pair disembarks their ride and scurry off the moving walkway. There’s a large board displaying score ranges and informing passengers of their ranks. The fact that the top rank says “+999,999” is interesting.

           “That was so much fun!” Vor announces. Pointing to the board, she adds, “I made it into level six! Bragi barely got into level five.”

           The offended boy seems to disapprove of her tactless declaration, and turns to the others. “What did you two eager beavers get?”

           Urd and Hermod join the group and they all begin to amble down the long hallway.

           “We maxed out,” Eraqus tells them.

           “You got level seven?” Bragi asks with an arching brow.

           Xehanort scorns, “Yeah but Eraqus only did because he was cheating.”

           “I didn’t cheat. You’re just mad it ended in another draw.”

           “You deliberately tried to sabotage me.”

           “If it was cheating, they wouldn’t have put it in the game.”

           The bickering continues until they emerge into a room lined with screens. Curious, Xehanort follows Eraqus towards one.

           “What’s this?” The boy in white jams a finger against the glass. In response, it displays various pictures of the attraction vehicles. “Look! Here we are!”

           Up pops an image of the two. Apparently, this was taken during their argument in the pitch-black part of the ride and they look ridiculously serious. Another finger points to the green sign over Eraqus’s image stating his rank and “1,159,600.”

           “Hey, I got ranked number nine! And you got…Aw man!”

           Xehanort was eighth with 1,218,100, successfully achieving his comeback.

           Not exactly a gracious winner, he smirks. “Looks like I’m better than you at shooting too.”

           “Beginners luck!”

           “You’re a beginner too!”

           From behind them comes just two words that interrupt the argument. “Uh guys…”

           They look back to Hermod who’s sporting a pitying smile. Both sets of eyes follow his point up. Above all the meandering visitors is a scoreboard reading “Today’s High Scores.” In their respective places are “XNT” in eighth and “ERA” in ninth. For their first try, the boys really cleaned house.

           “Holy crap,” awes Bragi.

           Vor puts in, “That’s amazing!”

           Xehanort swells with pride, always ready to take a compliment. Even Eraqus is smiling at his hard work.

            “Yeah, it’s kinda scary how good she was, like a professional sniper,” Hermod chuckles sheepishly. “I was so busy watching her, I didn’t even get into level four.”

           What?

           Silver eyes bolt to the board again. Nothing’s changed; he and Eraqus are still at the bottom of the board. And then his gaze travels up where he finds the disturbance that freezes his blood. At the top of the board—with a score more than double either of theirs—are the initials “URD.”

           Eraqus and Xehanort whirl on the girl wearing the smuggest triumphant grin. The others rarely intrude on their games, not really wanting to get mixed up in all the madness, but there she stands, gloating over the boys with a sneering simper.

           Looks of disbelief are exchanged before, without another word, the pair race back around to the entrance to take on the game again.

IT’S THE MARLY ZINE!!!

It was truly a blast being part of this zine and the book looks amazing!