"The fal'cie has no hold over me!" yelled Cid as he pummeled Lightning and friends. He possessed strong physical attacks, but were ultimately not a match for Snow's fist. With his recent steroid injection, Snow punched Cid really hard, knocking him down. Cid transformed again, sprouting wings and giving him the ability of temporary flight. However, Hope easily knocked him down with his boomerang. The fight was over. Cid collapsed.
"Sucks to be you," said Lightning.
"Damn it all. I just wanted to succeed at one thing in my life. My mom always said that I was a failure, that I couldn't get a decent job, a decent wife, and a decent house. I always wanted to prove her wrong, but I turned into a l'cie. Sigh… oh well," said Cid. Then he turned into a crystal.
"I guess that was his focus?" asked Sazh.
"Who knows, who cares," said Snow.
"I thought you wanted to be a hero?" asked Vanille.
"Do heroes have to care about losers?" asked Snow as he walked off. Lightning snickered.
A few moments later, Cid's crystal disappeared in a flash of light.
They all continued walking through the Ark. They walked until they reached a dead end.
"Now what?" asked Hope.
"We jump down, of course," said Sazh.
"Be my guest," said Fang.
"Hey Lightning, didn't you have flying powers before?" asked Sazh.
"Flying powers? What flying powers?" asked Lightning.
"You know, the one where you say 'I believe I can fly' and start flying?"
"I have no clue what you are talking about."
Sazh sighed.
"I'm tired of grinding for experience points. I want to get to Gran Pulse," complained Fang.
"WHERE IS THE WAY OUT!" yelled Sazh.
"Maybe there is none," said Snow suddenly. Lightning groaned. She knew what was going to happen. Snow was going to give yet another Hero's Speech.
"One of my life's goal was to marry Serah. I loved her since the day I laid my eyes on her. Since she turned into a crystal, I never stopped thinking about how I'm going to free her, how I'm going to make her proud. No matter how many times she rejects me, no matter how many times she tells me to piss off, no matter how many times she evades me, I will always love her. I feel her watching over me, over us, as we journey on to save Cocoon. Our focus does not matter, what matters is that protect Cocoon and save Serah!" said Snow.
"I'm in," said Vanille.
"I guess so am I," said Hope.
"Count me out," said Fang. Everyone turned to look at her.
"I've hated Cocoon all my life and Cocoon hates me. I will destroy it. Better to fulfill my focus than watch my future wife turn into a C'ieth," said Fang.
"Your future wife?" asked Lightning.
"Fang, what are you saying?" cried Vanille.
Suddenly, she stumbled and an Eidolon came bursting out of her arm. It was Bahamut, the dragon.
"Come to put me out of my misery?" asked Fang to Bahamut.
As Bahamut was about to finish her off, Snow stepped in and saved her.
"What are you doing? Why are you protecting me?"
"Because the hero always saves the day," said Snow.
"Safety in numbers I guess," said Lightning.
Lightning, Vanille, and Fang engaged Bahamut in combat. It was powerful, but with Fang defending from its attack and Lightning and Vanille casting powerful spells on it, Bahamut was put and transformed .
After the fight was over, Vanille pointed at somewhere.
"Look, a new path," said Vanille.
"Now was I right, or was I right?" asked Snow.
"About what?" asked Lightning.
"That we would protect Cocoon, now let's get a move on."
Lightning rolled her eyes, and they all went down the magically crafted road.
Down the magical road they went, they found an airship from Gran Pulse.
"Does this thing still even fly?" asked Sazh.
"I dunno, maybe," said Vanille.
"What's that up there?" asked Hope.
They all looked up to see a green, glowing symbol.
"It looks like a gate to Gran Pulse," said Fang.
"It could also be one of the Primarch's trap," said Lightning.
"Don't be too take pessimistic, Lightning. Now I'm going to fly this thing," said Sazh.
"Really? That's a Gran Pulse ship," said Fang.
"Don't worry, I know how to fly anything," said Sazh as he fist pounded his chest. However, he started to cough uncontrollably. Soon, he found it hard to breathe. Hope rushed in to give some CPR, bringing him back.
"Thanks, Hope. I owe you one. How did you know CPR?" asked Sazh.
"I had to it a lot to my dad. He too has a weak lung due to years of smoking. He started smoking when he was ten," said Hope.
"Speaking of your dad, aren't you worried about him?" asked Lightning.
"Not really. He was abusive as all hell to both my mom and I. Once I heard him making dog noises in a bathroom."
He looked up at the green glowing gate.
"Now that I have the power of the l'cie, no more shall I be abused by him. The world is full of lies and you don't know what's right and what's wrong. I shall make the choices and I will stick to it forever."
"You say that now kid, just wait until you're older," said Lightning.
"Well, let's just on to Pulse."
"Finally," said Sazh.
They all boarded the airship and off they went to Gran Pulse. They flew into what appears to be a dimensional warp, and suddenly they were in the sky of a planet. A giant flying caterpillar monster swooped by and attacked the ship, sending Hope and Vanille flying through the cracked window. Fang and Lightning dived after them. Fang summoned Bahamut to rescue them. Snow and Sazh also dived onto Bahamut. Vanille and Hope soon grabbed on.
"Home, sweet home," said Fang.
Lightning and friends camped out someplace with intention to explore Gran Pulse, looking for other people. Lightning, Sazh and Snow, searched the temple of the seeress while Hope went out to look for food. Vanille and Fang simply rested and did nothing, except Fang wanted to get closer to Vanille.
"You were having a dream," said Fang.
"A weird dream. I dreamt about going into Serah's dream and waking her up," said Vanille.
"Baby, I dreamed about you all time."
"Fang…Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Vanille…I've always wanted to say this to you. I love you. I love you so much. If I had a penis, I would want to jam it in there every day, that's how much I love you. Now kiss me."
Fang moved into closer to kiss Vanille. Just then, Lightning and two friends showed up.
"No luck," said Sazh.
"No drugs, no alcohol, no weeds, nothing. Just bloodthirsty monsters and ruins," said Lightning.
"Well, we better move soon to look at other places. Where's Hope?" asked Snow.
"Getting food with the Chocobo," said Fang.
Suddenly, Chocobo arrived. She screeched, trying to tell the friends what happened to Hope. Vanille was the only one that understood. The others then ran in search of Hope.