(A/N: Got a surprise for you in this chapter. I'm going to bring up something from the movie that none of you probably don't think is all that important. You'll know it when you see it, er, read it. Enjoy.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 10: An Old Friend

Finally, the exit was in sight. Pazu pulled Sheeta along as they made it out of the maze-like insides of Laputa. Unfortunately, they ended up on the bridge-like structure that circled around Laputa. This left them with only one direction to run in until they found a place to climb down.

"What now?" asked Sheeta.

"Only one way to go." Pazu replied.

"Sheeta!"

The two teens turned around to see Avalon storming out of Laputa's inner walls. Her remaining eye widened when she saw Pazu. "You! How did you?" Her fists clenched. "I knew she was hiding something." The blade popped out of her wrist. "Now you'll both pay."

"Come on, Sheeta!"

Sheeta didn't hesitate to start running. Avalon was close behind, her blade slicing through the air as she ran. Pazu and Sheeta were a lot faster since Avalon's metal arm and leg slowed her down. Growling in frustration, she unscrewed her metal hand and took aim.

Her cannon fired, but she wasn't aiming for Pazu and Sheeta, but ahead of them. The teens jumped back from the explosion, trying to avoid the ground as it began cracking beneath their feet.

Avalon came up behind them, smirking as she had them cornered. "Looks like I caught two runaways." She reached forward and grabbed Sheeta by the hair. Pazu attempted to grab Sheeta, but Avalon pointed her blade at him as she twisted Sheeta's arm behind her back. "Careful, boy. You don't want to mess with me right now."

"Let her go!" Pazu snapped, attempting to get closer, regardless of Avalon's threat.

Avalon moved her blade so it was pressing against Sheeta's throat. "Uh, uh, uh, you wouldn't want anything to happen to your little girlfriend, would you?"

Pazu froze, his eyes fixed worriedly on Sheeta. He glared at Avalon, hoping his plan would work. "Let her go," he held up the aetherium crystal, "or I'll throw this into the ocean."

Avalon stiffened as she looked at the stone in Pazu's hand. She growled and pressed the blade closer to Sheeta's throat. "If you do that, then I won't have any use for Sheeta anymore. I'll kill her without hesitation."

Pazu held the crystal tightly. They were at a standby. He was threatening to throw away the crystal if Avalon hurt Sheeta, and she was threatening to kill Sheeta if he threw away the stone.

"Just let her go." Pazu seethed. "You can have the crystal, just let Sheeta go."

"You're not calling the shots, boy! I am! Now give me the crystal."

Sheeta shook her head. "Don't do it, Pazu. She'll kill me as soon as she gets it."

Avalon chuckled. "Really? Then who would I get to use the crystal? I need you, dear, or else the crystal won't be of any use to me, besides fetching a pretty penny on the market."

Pazu shook with fear and anger. He didn't trust Avalon in the least, but what she said made sense. It seemed to be the only way to get Sheeta out of this alive. He would have to hand over the crystal to her, and then he and Sheeta would become her prisoners again.

"You have five seconds." Said Avalon. "Five, four, three-"

"Ok!" Pazu shouted. "Ok, you can have it, just don't hurt her."

Avalon released Sheeta, but kept the blade pressed to her throat, as she held out her hand. Slowly Pazu held out the aetherium crystal, and was about to drop it in her hand.

"Hey, Avalon!"

All three heads turned to the sound of the voice. Several feet below them stood Dola, giving Avalon a look of pure hatred.

"You got out too." Avalon seethed. "What are my brother and men doing?"

Sheeta used the opportunity while Avalon was distracted to use her now free arm to elbow Avalon in the gut. Avalon gasped in pain and Sheeta pulled away. Unfortunately, she stepped on the ground that had been damaged by Avalon's cannon and it gave way. Sheeta fell, falling several stories to the rapidly approaching ground.

"SHEETA!" Pazu cried.

The crystal glowed brightly in his hand as a beam of light shot out of it. It hit Sheeta, engulfing her in red light, stopping her fall, letting her slowly drift down to Dola, who caught the girl.

"Sheeta, you ok?" she asked.

Sheeta nodded. "I'm fine." She looked back up at Pazu. "Pazu, throw away the crystal! Throw it into the sea and get rid of it for good!"

Gasping for breath, Avalon looked up, clutching her stomach. "Don't… don't you… d-dare…"

Pazu ignored her as he threw the crystal with all his strength. It flew through the air, out over the open ocean, before it began its decent. In seconds, it was nothing more than a red speck over a never-ending sea of blue, before it vanished from sight completely.

"No!" Avalon cried, reaching out. Her hand trembled as she left it hanging in the air, almost as if she were hoping the crystal would come back to her. But it didn't, and it wouldn't. It was gone for good. Her outstretched hand clenched into a fist as she shook with cold fury. She gave Pazu a look of such anger and hatred that it made him take a step back. "I'm going to kill you."

She spoke in a calm yet cold voice. Her tone scared Pazu more than he would ever admit. He immediately turned tail and ran as Avalon slowly got to her feet. She didn't chase after him, but instead began slowly unscrewing her hand.

"You won't get away." She said calmly as she took aim. "It's time for you to die."

Click.

Avalon blinked and fired again.

Click, click, click.

She blinked again. She couldn't believe it; she was out of ammo. Why now of all times? Now the kid had a head start on her. Her cold fury became raging anger as she angrily slammed her metal hand on her wrist, not even bothering to screw it on, and gave chase.

"She's going after him!" Sheeta cried.

"Come on, what're you waitin' for?" Dola cried.

The two began running along the bottom of the bridge-like structure as they attempted to keep up with the two on top of it.

Pazu was now huffing and puffing from running so much. He looked over his shoulder, seeing Avalon gaining on him as she was being fueled by pure anger. She was determine to kill him, and nothing was going to stop her. And after she finished with him, she was going to put an end to the Laputan race by killing Sheeta.

Turning forward again, Pazu skidded to a halt as he came to a major problem. There was a large gap on the structure that was much too far to jump. And to make it worse, there was no way for him to get down. In other words, he was trapped.

Turning around, he prepared to face Avalon head on. But Avalon was already throwing herself at him, tackling him to the ground, both of them nearly going over the edge.

Pazu tried to fight her off, but Avalon's enhanced strength allowed her to pin him down. She held him down as the blade popped out of her wrist. His death was in her eye, and Pazu saw it. She was going to kill him, and he couldn't stop her.

"Pazu, no!" Sheeta shouted from down below.

"Don't you hurt him!" Dola cried.

Avalon, if she even heard them, ignored their cries as she raised her metal arm, ready to pierce Pazu's heart.

"And now, you die." She declared.

Her metal arm shot forward, but stopped suddenly, the blade less than an inch from Pazu's chest. Confusion registered over Avalon's face as she looked over her shoulder. A large metal hand, covered in moss, was holding her back from making the killing blow.

"What are you?" Avalon cried. "Let go!"

The robot ignored her as it lifted her up, holding her by her hand. Avalon began kicking it in the chest with her metal leg, accomplishing nothing. Her strength was nothing against the Laputan robot.

"You freak, let me go!" Avalon shouted. "I'm going to turn you into scrap metal!"

The robot merely cocked its head to the side and made a beeping noise. Almost carelessly, it tossed her aside, off the bridge-like structure. Avalon fell screaming to the ground, landing with a loud thud several feet away from Dola and Sheeta. She didn't get up or even move.

"Is she…" said Sheeta.

"Who cares?" Dola snapped. "Hey, Pazu, you ok?"

He nodded, then, realizing that they couldn't see him nodding, said, "Yeah, I'm fine." He looked up at the large dirty robot. "Thank you, robot."

The robot beeped again, and then casually raised its arms and took flight. Pazu smiled and looked down at Sheeta and Dola. "I'll be down soon. Just stay there, I'll come to you."

"Well hurry up!" Dola shouted. "We don't feel like waitin' here for you forever!"

Pazu nodded and hurried back the way he came, hoping he could find his way through Laputa's city before Dola got too impatient with him.

Sheeta sighed in relief and rested against the stonewall. "Thank goodness. Now we can go home. I've had enough adventure for a while."

Dola chuckled. "Some people just aren't meant ta be pirates." She frowned. "But the adventure isn't over yet. We still need ta get back ta my boys. And this place isn't exactly easy ta get around."

Sheeta nodded in agreement. "Let's just wait for Pazu before getting lost again."

Dola groaned. "Well let's at least take a look around and see if we can figure out where ta go. Hey wait!" She pulled out her walkie-talkie. "Boys, come in, this is your captain."

After a moment's pause. "We're hear, Mom. What's up?"

"Call me Captain! Now listen up, we're all safe, but we're a little lost. Take a look around and tell us what you see."

"What we see? Um, ok. There's a big tree, a few stone pillars, a statue of a soldier, a-"

"Be more descriptive!" Dola snapped. "Tell me somethin' I can recognize!"

"Oh, right. Sorry. Ok then, let me see. There's a large sculpture of an eagle crouching down. It's missing its left wing and has its mouth open."

Dola looked around. "No, I don't see anythin' like that. Tell me somethin' else."

"Ok, um… how about- Hey, what are you doing?"

"Mom, you there, it's Charles."

"Give it back!"

"No way, it's my turn now!"

"Will you boys quit arguin' and work with me!"

"Sorry, Mom. Ok, there are these two pillars next to each other. The one on the left broke and is resting against the one on the right. It's also covered with moss on the top-"

"Ok, I think I see it. Are some birds flyin' by it?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Dola nodded. "Ok, now we know where you are. Just sit tight, we'll come ta you."

"Yes, Mom."

"Captain!"

"Right, Captain, sorry."

She reattached the walkie-talkie to her belt. "Ok, Sheeta, they're on the other side of this wall."

Sheeta ran her hand over the old structure. "Do you think we can break through?"

Dola knocked on it. "It's really old. Maybe we can. HIYA!" She kicked the wall. One of the stone blocks shifted. "That's workin'. Help me, Sheeta."

The girl nodded. "Yes, right."

"Just be careful, we don't want the whole thing comin' down on us."

"Uh… right…"

Carefully, they began breaking through the wall. After making a few holes, they saw the Wing Rider on the other side, about 70 feet away. What they didn't see was Avalon's remaining eye flicker open.

Shifting slightly, Avalon slowly began to get up, wincing in pain as she did so. Luckily, she had landed on her metal arm, which had basically saved her life. But based upon the pain in her chest, she had probably broken a few ribs, along with her actual leg. She winced again as she forced herself to her feet, thankful that her metal leg gave her enough support so she could stand.

Putting her hand on her head, she looked around, still determine to finish Pazu off. Then she was going to get that stupid robot, along with Sheeta and Dola.

'Well, speak of the devil.' She thought, spotting the pirate and the princess shifting pieces of a stonewall.

Grinning, she limped over to the, wincing with each step. She pushed against the wall to help give further support as she closed in on her prey. She was going to enjoy this. They would be dead before they even knew what hit them.

----------------------------

There were so many twists and turns in this place that Pazu wasn't sure where to go. A map would really come in use right now.

"Wasn't I already here?" he wondered out loud. He made a turn and came to a winding staircase. "Well, I needed to go down anyway."

Round and round he went, wondering just how many stairs there were. He passed by a window and paused here to look out and see where he was. It was only about an eight-foot drop, so he just jumped, falling down when he landed.

"Ouch! Not the best idea. At least I'm on the same level as Sheeta and Dola."

Getting to his feet, he hurried over to where he thought Dola and Sheeta should be, based on the bridge-like structure he had been running on. If he just followed it, he should get to them.

He didn't have that far to go before he turned a corner. He froze as he saw Sheeta and Dola breaking through a wall, completely oblivious to that fact that Avalon was right behind them, ready to strike.

"NO!"

He broke out into a run. The three women turned at the sound of his voice, Sheeta and Dola just now noticing Avalon.

Pazu dove at Avalon, tackling her. With her broken leg, she couldn't remain standing, and they both fell over. The moment they hit the ground, it gave way, being too old to support the sudden impact of Avalon's metal limbs. Both Pazu and Avalon fell through the hole.

"PAZU!" Sheeta and Dola cried.

Sheeta moved forward, but Dola grabbed her and held her back.

"Let me go!"

"Are you crazy? That ground is unstable!"

Sheeta kept struggling. "I have to help him!"

"There's nothin' you can do!"

Sheeta pulled away, causing both of them to fall over. Sheeta crawled over to the whole and looked down. She saw nothing but the blue ocean.

(A/N: Cliffhanger, ha, ha! Man I love cliffhangers, well, when I leave them. How did you like how a made the robot save Pazu? Were you surprised? Good. But now what's going to happen to Pazu and Avalon? Find out next time.)