Here goes, my only chance to air my thoughts before whatever happens in the next episode shoots them down. This entire story will be posted by 7:00 on Thursday. Enjoy.

Could this be out of line? (Could this be out of line?)
To say you're the only one breaking me down like this
You're the only one I would take a shot on
Keep me hanging on so contagiously
-- "So Contagious," Acceptance

The girl looked up at the tall cliffs that bordered her homeland, watching the sun sink below the peaks and the long fingers of blood red light stretch themselves across the sky, gripping it tightly in its maroon fist until it crumbled away to the cool, open black of night. She breathed deeply and the air rattled her thin frame. Breathing. Breathing hurt. But it was all she had to concentrate on now that the deep blue painted machine she was straddling had fallen silent.

She was waiting.

Waiting for the first few stars to stab their way through the solid quilt of sky.

Waiting for those stars to burn silver and then red and then finally gold.

Waiting for the moment when the earth would buckle and fold and rip open in front of her for the few minutes it would take for her to bolt through the currently solid rock blocking her path.

Waiting for her chance to go, for the first time, to the place where her mother had grown up and lived before coming to this hell-hole she called home for the last six years of her life.

Waiting waiting waiting.

She breathed again, raising her eyes to the visible curve of the atmosphere over Moraia. She needed to stay undetected. Not only was she awol from the compound and not planning on going back- ever- but she was riding her Overkant's rikk, and if she got caught she was going to be spending the rest of her teenage years in solitary confinement.

The sky flashed red once and the stars exploded in a flash of almost colorless brilliance. She smiled against the spots marring her sight.

She was going home.

"There she is!"

"Good. Bring her in. And don't scratch my ride." She felt the barely tangible vibrations of commander-grade rikks edge though the ground under her feet but she didn't move, didn't dare take her eyes away from the stars that were now pinpricks of Credoch blood dotting the pure night sky. It was so close, so close to time.

"Toreh, Toriah…" She heard Err singing as they got closer and she shuddered from both the crack forming in her composure and the gasp of air said crack forced her to inhale.

The sky exploded once more and the cliffs erupted with a rainbow of light. She grabbed the handlebars of her stolen rikk and revved the engine once, just to let this new world know that she was coming. And they had better the hell watch out.

"Holy shit, man!" Err shrieked. His voice was too close for comfort now, but the gate wasn't quite open. Just a few more seconds. Just a few more. Just…

The sides of the rock wall ripped open and she released the throttle, rocketing forward into the blinding, colorless light that poured forth from the rip. The light burned her face and ripped the skin off her knuckles, or that might have just been because she was riding at speeds normally reserved for fleet ships with specially designed ara crystal arrays. She didn't breathe. She didn't have to. The forward motion forced air into her lungs and her mind sparked to life with the supply of much-needed oxygen.

Clarity.

Gods, she loved clarity.

And clarity said that she was doing the right thing, that there was something more going on and she was a part of it now, even if she hadn't been before. Even if no one else was planning it. Whatever 'it' was, she was going to run it down. Find it. Pin it. And leave it knowing what she knew:

The world was bigger than Moaria. And there was a whole other side to this equation.

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Err was the first to bring his rikk up short in front of the gaping tunnel of light. "What the hell is this thing?!"

"I don't believe it. She found the gate. I thought there was only one way through, but- apparently I was wrong."

Err turned and glared at the awestruck Cheren parked behind him. "What the fuck are you babbling about Shaw?"

The blue-skinned man smiled, his eyes glued to the rapidly shrinking hole in the cliffs. "She found it. Legend says that the only way through is the Endless Caverns, but she knew- she knew this had to be here! It's how her mother got here in the first place! The Equalibrium was reached tonight, and she took that chance and ran with it."

"You mean, she went- aw hell no!" He grabbed the radio off his belt. "CR-37, come in! The bitch went through a hole in the wall! It just opened up and she drove right through!"

"So go after her!"

"We can't! This- thing- is closing up fast. And these mountains must be at least a mile thick, if they end at all. She won't make it to the other side."

There was a pause, filled with irritated static. "Fine. Pull your men back to the compound before the Vetra spot you."

"Yes ma'am- sir! Yes sir!"

"It's a pity. I liked that ride."

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She felt the blessed air in her lungs suddenly turn solid and the light wavered. "No. NonononoNO! Come ON!" Cranking back any hold she had left on the rikk's engine, the heavy mass of metal screamed forward and she almost choked on the wall of pure sun she hit. She really did choke on the ground she hit next. She killed the engine, not even attempting the brakes first, and the ride tried to pitch her off the seat and onto the still-moving ground. That's what it felt like, she decided with her as of then still clear thoughts, like she was trying to stay still but the dirt beneath her was refusing to stop racing past her, over her, under her. She skidded another hundred yards, the rikk alternately on top of and below her, before crashing wheels-first into a boulder. The rock mover another few feet and she finally stopped moving.

The sun stared down at her curiously. 'Hello there, didn't I just see you on the other side?'

'Why yes, you did, but I decided to come over here for a visit.'

'How odd.'

'I hope you don't mind.'

'Not at all. Most people don't care enough to find out about my day job.'

She snickered at the pun in her imaginary conversation, then giggled, and then burst out in full-out laughter. "Oh gods, that was a terrible joke!" She gasped painfully, unable to stop now that relief had taken over. She dragged her left leg out from under the mangled rikk and stumbled to her feet, doubled over with pain and uncontrollable spasms of mirth. "I made it. I MADE IT!" Glancing out away from the high cliffs behind her, she saw small dots of land rising out of the distance. Her mother had called them Terras. "I made it." She threw her arms wide; ignoring the damage she had taken in the crash, and yelled out at the cloud-covered expanse. "Look out Atmos, Moraia just sent me in with you wake up call!"

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"Master Cyclonis."

The hooded figure's fingers stopped moving on the delicate keyboard they rested on. "Dark Ace."

"You wanted to see me?"

"Yes. I need you to go pick something up for me. It just landed on the borderlands next to the Barrier Cliffs. We'll be needing it for the Exodus."

"Yes Master." He said, bowing and turning to go, slightly irritated that she was sending him on an errand that any half-rate recruit could have done at a time when he should be helping her personally prepare for the operation.

"And Dark Ace? Make sure you get it here alive. If that means using force by all means, do, but I need it still breathing."

Curious, he stopped and turned back to his master. "May I ask what it is I am retrieving?"

"Not what; who. And you'll know it when you see it."

I know, I know, I should be working on other stuff, but hey, when inspiration starts calling I have no choice but to answer.

Yours, Dotskip.

ss
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