Disclaimer: Nope, nothing is owned apart from me, Bruce and Neil.

Thanks for the response from the last chapter and the constructive criticism from a certain author. Here's the next one! The gang has been reunited and has now been blasted on a gargant all the way to Pinnacle Rocks! What dangers await them now?

Chapter 13: Atmos Attack!

"Why does this always happen to me?" I whined as I plucked myself out of a bush

"Where are we?" Bruce asked, nursing his arm.

"Pinnacle Rocks." Neil answered, looking around the surrounding trees. I looked over the edge of the branch we were sat on.

"Hmm, I wonder where the others are?" I thought out loud

"Well they're not here." Bruce said as Neil healed his arm.

"We'll have to meet them in Lindblum." I said, brushing myself off. "There's no way we can just sit here waiting for them.

~~~

With that we all stood up and started trekking our way through the dense vines. What must have been less than 30 minutes felt like several millennia. I yawned as we cleared the suffocating atmosphere of the trees.

"Right, there's Lindblum, won't take us too long to get there." I announced to the others.

"Finally! A civilisation which isn't trying to kill us!" Bruce shouted as he started running.

"Chris, you should know what happens next." Neil said worryingly

"Relax. As long as we keep our wits about us and don't drop our guard, we'll be ok." I reassured him. I started running after Bruce, the cool wind in my face. Closer and closer the silhouette of Lindblum got to us. As it did so, my fears seemed to heighten , getting worse and worse. I shook my head, almost as if I was trying to convince myself that this was a good idea. I just hoped I wasn't wrong…

~~~

We walked in through the front gate, looking around. It looked like the madness hadn't started yet.

"We better get ready." I said slowly as I checked how many arrows I had left. Twenty-six left, enough to kill twenty-six soldiers if I was lucky. Suddenly, an explosion rocked everything. I looked up to see the Red Rose soaring overhead, cannonballs were crashing into buildings everywhere. Then the black mages teleported down and I knew then that if we didn't get to the castle, we were screwed. I launched a thunder arrow at the nearest target as Bruce dived into combat , his claymore glinting in the moonlight. Neil was contending with an Alexandrian soldier, who was attacking him furiously after putting a new air hole in her cheek. I felt a heavy object collide with the back of my head and I turned to see a black mage raising it's staff to strike again as I punched a fire arrow into it's face, point blank. A platoon of Lindblum soldiers charged into the invading Alexandrians and complete chaos ensued. Blasts of magic were flying everywhere, streaks of fire lighting up the darkness, a few of them from my own hand. Another blast shook the land as I shoved my dagger into the face of a soldier, hearing the crack as it went straight through her skull. I saw a group of innocent civilians blown high into the air from another blast.

"Guys! We're gonna have to get to the castle!" I shouted over the sound of battle. Bruce was already in the aircab station and I shot the mage that was bothering Neil. Inside the station was pretty calm, as we ran onto the aircab just as a troop of black mages teleported in.

"Does anyone know how to drive one of these?!" Neil exclaimed.

"Neil, hit that lever there. I'll cover us." I said with as much calm as I could muster. War was one of the worst situations you could possibly start to panic in. I leant out of the window and shot a mage charging up a fire spell.

"Got it! Hold on tight!" Neil shouted as the aircab jerked into movement. I used my vantage point to snipe as many mages as I could, otherwise we'd be blown to pieces. Fire blazed past us as the mages below tried to blow us out of the sky, but I desperately fired off into crowds of them, hoping I'd hit at least one of them. The Alexandrian army was wreaking havoc upon the citizens of Lindblum, completely overwhelming the defence. The aircab stopped suddenly at the station just outside the castle. If the fighting in the Business District was heated, then I hadn't seen anything. The path was seething with mages, soldiers (on both sides), medics, the dead and the dying as we weaved our way through the conflict. We charged in through the castle doors to see a few dead guards. We made our way to the lift and I tapped the button to go to the top floor. The lift reached to top to reveal some dead mages that we stepped over. Suddenly, all the windows shattered and Neil's eyes widened. I looked out the windows and saw a huge mouth.

"Hold on to something!" I shouted as I was sucked towards the window. I slid myself sideways into the wall, Neil grabbed a statue and Bruce hid under the window. The mage corpses got sucked out the window as we sat there for the duration. I heard terrified screams as anyone outside got sucked into the abyss that was Atmos. Suddenly the wall crumbled, and we started to slide towards the edge. I jumped and grabbed Neil and Bruce, sending us into the spirit realm. Everything went silent, except for us three panting.

"Looks like Lindblum is in trouble." said Vincent.

"Oh, hi." I said.

"Who is he?" Neil and Bruce asked simultaneously.

"Remember I told you about my ancestors?"

"Yeah."

"He's Vincent."

"Oh…" With a flash, Atmos disappeared and We slipped back into the material realm. I walked down the corridor and stopped in front of the two doors. The two elite guards placed their lances in the way.

"Hi, I was with the princess Garnet when she last visited."

"I don't remember seeing you." He eyed me suspiciously.

"Well that's because I wasn't entirely visible." With that I disappeared into the spirit realm. "Now to get through the door…" I stood for a few seconds and then placed my hands on the door. To my surprise, I shifted straight through it and was then standing on a platform with the regent on a chair in front of me. I reappeared only to have four lances pointed at my neck. The regent turned around and recognised me.

"Stand down men. He's one of us." He said, gwokking annoyingly. The lances immediately retreated and I bowed deeply.

"Regent Cid, I'm here to warn you that Princess Garnet is on her way."

"I'm glad she's safe but I'm afraid we're going to have to give in to Brahne's demands." I nodded and looked at the sheer mayhem that had been caused. Soldiers dead everywhere. I would take a long time for Lindblum to recover from the attack. I walked to the door, and opened it, signalling to Bruce and Neil to walk this way. I turned around again and sighed as the Red Rose made a victory pass over the defeated city.

~~~

I must have fallen asleep but when I awoke, an Alexandrian soldier kicked me out of the room. I walked down the hallway and back into Cid's chamber. Zidane, Dagger, Vivi, Bruce and Neil were already waiting for me.

"Sorry, overslept." I said, scratching the back of my head in embarrassment. Bruce rolled his eyes as I joined the group.

"Brahne is probably going overseas, we're going to follow her by going through an old excavation site." Zidane briefed me and I waved my hand dismissing it, seeming I already knew all of it.

"We'd better get moving then, if we want to get there before that lard ass." I said plainly. With that we set off…

Please review! Constructive criticism preferred please and flames will be used to torch my coursework.