~/*VII*\~/*VI*\~/*VII*\~/*VI*\~

Zack hardly blinked as a stream of ice magic shot past his chocobo, coming from the Magitek armor behind him. They were being pursued.

"I think we can outrun'em!" shouted Locke over the din of machinery being pushed to its limits behind them. "Chocobos are way faster!"

"Only if you wanna get fried!" Sabin shouted back at him. "I don't think their aim is terrible enough to miss us THAT much."

But Zack had only one thing to say. Turning to Edgar, he yelled, "What was THAT?"

The king laughed, obviously amused despite the situation. "Figaro's greatest secret!" They were interrupted by a fire blast that blew a hole in the sand in front of them. "I'll tell you more later, if you really want."

"Hey, sorry to interrupt your little chat," called Locke, "But we DO have a situation here." He pointed a thumb back in the direction of the three armors dispatched to kill them. Another beam of ice grazed the foot of Sabin's chocobo, which squawked loudly and slowed to a halt. Locke noticed that they had not yet shot at Terra.

"I think it's time to stand and fight!" yelled Sabin, pulling a pair of clawed gloves over his hands.

"Are you sure about this?" Terra spoke for the first time since leaving her room.

"Psh. I've fought countless robots," Zack said. "This should be simple." With that, he leaped off his mount in one motion, drawing the Buster sword.

Locke dismounted in the same fashion, landing heavily while he drew only a long dagger.

Edgar circled around with his chocobo, pulling a long sword from its sheath. He dismounted more carefully then his companions.

Zack smiled. It seemed that he wasn't the only one who thought to arm himself. He then glanced at Terra. The Magitek armor would be on them in moments, but she was the only one who had no weapon.

Locke seemed to notice this as well. "Terra! You should keep moving! Get out of here! We'll meet you at the edge of the desert- just keep going south!"

After a moment's hesitation, Terra made her way back to the chocobo. But it was already too late for flight.

As the Magitek approached, Edgar pulled out a strange metal device, aiming it at the opponant. Five thin metal shafts poked out, and Zack watched as arrowheads formed on them, unflattening themselves from the shafts. It's a crossbow, Zack realized as the strange metal arrows were released. "Aim for the pilots!" Edgar shouted. "They control the machines!"

Three of Edgar's arrows struck the pilot in the first armor, but surprisingly, the persistent man was only partially debilitated. Because of this, though, Edgar was kept very busy dodging blasts.

At that point, the five of them were surrounded. If the armors did not require time for charging blasts, Zack was sure they would have been fried. Taking the initiative then, Zack charged the nearest armor, shocking everyone by leaping all the way to the top of the machine- swinging up using a turret. He swiftly knocked the pilot unconscious with the flat of his blade.

The limp body then slumped onto the controls, causing the machine to lurch violently, flinging Zack back onto the ground. Sabin took the time to give him a high-five.

When Zack began to rush the next armor, the martial artist held him back with a wink. "Watch this- I'm gonna hit 'im with a Blitz!"

However, he never got the chance. A strange green smoke came from the first machine that Edgar had attacked, wrapping around all of them. They felt as if their bodies were being weighed down...Poison! They all realized the cause then, and struggled against the affects. Zack looked around wildly. "Does...does anyone have an Antidote?"

Because of the commotion, nobody noticed Terra at first. Her small hands balled into fists and she staggered onto her feet again, almost looking as if she were whispering something to herself. It was then that a bright glow like flame surrounded her hands, matching the fury and desperation in her eyes. "FIRE!" she screamed, extending her hands in front of her.

That drew the attention of the others. They all watched as flame enveloped the last two machines, eliminating the opponents for good.

Edgar, who had just applied the first Antidote to Locke, just stood there in shock- forgetting for a moment the predicament of the two still poisoned, and, for that matter, the rest of the world.

For Locke, though, it hadn't quite sunken in. "What?" he said, trying to grab for the other antidotes when Edgar went still. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"

Edgar took a step forward, openly staring at Terra. "Did...d-do you see that?" The usually collected king was considerably ruffled.

Locke stepped up next to him. "Yeah, that girl's loaded for bear..."

Edgar spun around and gripped him by the shoulders. "Locke!" he practically shouted. "That was MAGIC! M-A-G-I-C! Open your eyes!"

Locke visibly jerked when it dawned on him. "M-m-m-m-m-m-magic?!" he stammered, gaping now at the scene before him. "But I thought it was...she used MAGIC?"

Zack and Sabin took the matter of curing themselves into their own hands as Edgar cautiously stepped forward. "Terra...where on earth did you learn that?"

Terra just stared down at her own hands in shock, horrified and as shocked and startled as everyone else. "I'm...sorry. Sorry."

Locke seemed to snap to attention at this and hurried to her side. "No, Terra- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make such a big deal of this."

Sabin strode to her side as well. "I'm sure Edgar didn't either." he said gruffly, giving Edgar a look, who nodded. "It's just...we've never actually SEEN magic before. Not real magic."

"So you don't have anything like my world's materia?" Zack spoke up, crossing his arms. "That would explain your reaction. Without materia, though...well, I can think of someone...!"

"But in both worlds," Edgar cut in, "normal people can't use magic without aid?"

Terra stopped moving, and stared at the king in horror.

"Edgar!" Locke yelled.

"Hey, it's not bad if you can!" Zack shouted back. "My-"

"Enough!" bellowed Locke. "She can use magic, we can't! That's the only difference!"

Everyone shut up after that, and shuffled around in silence for a bit. Terra shot Locke a grateful look.

Edgar sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Terra, look. I'm sorry. We're all just trying to figure this out." He reached out to her, but she flinched. He dropped his hand.

"Yeah," said Locke. "The fact is, we could really use your help!" His cheery attitude was returning. He turned towards the king. "I think we should take her to Banon." Edgar nodded.

"Who's that?" asked Zack, cocking his head to the side.

"The leader of the Returners."

WOOOHOO! Chapter 10! I feel pretty accomplished...haha. Ok ok...I guess it's not that much. O_o

But yeah. This is a pretty important scene. I also found a way to keep that first reaction-to-Terra's-magic dialogue between Edgar and Locke, as that was pretty funny in the original game! :) But now...to the Returners hideout! ...And closer to Cloud...! ;) Don't worry, I WILL try to get him back as soon as possible..

Well, this was a crazy week. The power went out due to a hurricane so I couldn't get on until I reviewed Irish Brigid and findthetiger129's stories...so I kind of decided to keep that as my thank-you to you guys! ^_^ You do get magical virtual cookies and brownies though- as does my new reviewer, xaonrider92! Thanks to you all! :D