Chapter 1-Part 1

The thirteen days after we awoke were the beginning of the end.

-Vanille

"Are we seriously doing this?" Thunder Falcon asked, her head down.

Thunder, Lightning Farron, and Sazh Katzroy were on a train with twenty other Purge victims, their bodies covered by the brownish gray cloaks and heads concealed by the blue decorated hoods.

"Be quiet." Lightning said as the guard soldier came in, pointing his gun at everyone.

"Hmph. Best of luck." Sazh said, rolling his eyes.

The train shot through the nearly impenetrable force field, nearing the Underlands of Cocoon. Thunder launched herself from her seat, kicking the soldier in the head and taking its gun. Lightning ran up to it, destroying the key that kept them all immobilized. The other passengers all breathed sighs of relief, standing up.

"They did it." Sazh said, standing up just as two other PSICOM soldiers came in and started shooting.

Thunder and Lightning leaped out of the Purge robes, disarming and destroying both soldiers in a matter of seconds. Outside the door, they shot down the rest of the soldiers using the stolen guns.

"Well, that was easy." Thunder said, brushing a piece of black hair out of her face and straightening her coat.

"A little too easy." Lightning said, tapping her gun against her shoulder.

"You all right?" Sazh said to a little white haired boy. "I'm not a l'Cie."

The little boy looked up, seeing the chocobo chick in Sazh's afro and laughing.

Lightning took something out of a bag, a blue force field surrounding her and allowing her to destroy another PSICOM soldier before he could do anything. Thunder did the same, the two girls taking out the soldiers as fast as they could. Sazh tossed the rest of the passenger's guns, and then led them out of that section train.

"They all want to fight." Sazh said, coming up to the girls.

"Good for them." Thunder said.

The train entered the Underlands, the green and black lights casting shadows on the walls. The ground was so far below it was impossible to see, if there was any ground at all.

As the train continued, 40 fighter planes shot out of the walls, beginning to shoot at them. Although the armor of the train took most of the blows, the front and the control station were hit as well.

"Give me that." Lightning said, taking Sazh's giant rifle.

She braced it over her shoulder, preparing to shoot. Thunder took her gun out, preparing as well. They shot twin giant missiles towards the planes, hitting many of them. Then, the Flyer came, shooting electricity and destroying half of the train. Still on the decimated, but still moving train, the Purge victims, Lightning, Sazh, and Thunder continued shooting at the planes as the PSICOM soldiers shot at them. A giant white robot plane came down, whacking at the train.

"RUN!" Sazh yelled as the train began stopping. Lightning and Thunder nodded to each other, jumping through a hole in the roof. "I meant away!"

Sazh sighed, climbing out after them. The robot flew down as they drew their Gunblades and Sazh fell over backwards.

"Hey, let's be rational now!" He said, inching backwards and getting up.

The robot hit him in the face with its white tail, knocking Sazh down again, Lightning executing a somersault in midair, and Thunder rolling backwards into a fighting stance.

"Now what do we do?" Sazh said, standing drunkenly.

"Ya watch and learn!" Thunder said, running at the robot.

She and Lightning immediately took out its razor arms, while Sazh shot it in the head. After about another minute, the robot's head was almost severed. In its rage, the robot started destroying the already fragile bridge.

"Come on!" Lightning yelled, running.

"Not so tough now, huh?" Sazh yelled.

Thunder face-palmed as the robot's blasters came to life, shooting it forward. It destroyed the bridge, cutting it in half. The trio jumped to safety as the scorpion-looking robot jumped down after them.

They continued shooting and slashing, until finally the robot was knocked over the edge and into the blackness.

"That was fun!" Thunder said, jumping and stretching her arms up.

"Oh goodness." Sazh said, falling backwards, his chocobo chick cheeping. "Whew! We did it." Three PSICOM ships flew by, narrowly missing them. "Hey, aren't you supposed to protect civilians, Soldiers? You are with the Sanctum, right?"

"Yup, pretty much!" Thunder said, smiling.

"What're you doing to stop the Purge? Why don't you tell me that?"

"I was a soldier." Lightning said.

"And I still am! So let's GO!" Thunder said, running over towards the edge and jumping off. Lightning followed suit.

"Wait, where're you two going?" Sazh said, looking over the edge, his chick flying into his hand. "Chocobo, we can't seem to catch a break, can we?"

Grumbling about how he was too old for this, Sazh followed the bouncing Thunder and the serious Lightning.