Chapter 8

Escape

Thoughts of escape rattled on Armando's mind constantly. Patrolling guards walking back and forth in front of his cell, waking him up in the middle of the night for a cheap laugh. The blank walls surrounded him, not even a window to look out of. His cell was a cylindrical structure with a large steel door with a tiny opening for him to receive food and drink. The floor was cold metal plates in triangular fashion placed in a circle which sometimes opened up revealing a chamber with a horrible monster inside waiting for it to drop. The guards constantly teased that he would soon be fed to the Behemoth. Behemoth must have been the monster in the chamber. It was huge. Purple fur, long arms, tall legs, a tail. It rarely stood on its four limbs, mostly on two hoping to get a bite of Armando when the center of the floor opened up.

"Dammit." Armando could only curse to himself to keep his wits about him. The young man thought of suicide a couple of times, but the damn guards had taken his rifle. Not to mention he'd be letting down his other two teammates.

"Cheap-ass sons of bitches!" He heard Misty's voice and she sounded pissed.

"Misty! Are you all right?" Armando yelled to the door.

"Other than being in this frickin' cage absolutely fine," she said with an acidic tone. She sounded ready to spit poison at the guards and eat their eyes with a toothpick. Misty knew how to aggravate the guards with annoying screams and insults and threats of mutilation as soon as she got her hands free for a few seconds. And she wasn't kidding. One guard had let down his guard while escorting her to a lavatory facility when she had began attacking. Armando hadn't seen any of the fight because he knew he was the only captive with a steel door and no way of seeing outside of his prison.

But there was a good side to his captivity. As cynical as it was, he tried some soul searching. Armando discovered some things about himself that he and others weren't aware of. His sensitivity for one. He realized that he could be very kind and considerate at times. He had been in the prison for almost a week now and discovered something about a few of the guards. A weakness, an Achilles Heel even. Maybe if he were to exploit these weaknesses, he could have a chance at escape. That was thought that crossed his mind constantly, but he questioned it because he felt he wasn't sure if it would work.

If it was the only means of escape, he would have to do it.

"Man, I don't know if I can go through with this, but here goes nothin'," he said quietly. He knew that his food was going to be delivered to him soon and then his plan would be put into effect.

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That temper of hers had to go down. Misty had almost been executed twice, but Taran had been able to talk the guards out of it.

"Remember how Sikaru doesn't want us to be touched?" Taran asked quietly. The guards then left Misty in her suspended bird cage of a prison. She had a plan in her head on how to escape it, and the three captives were told of the plan while the guards left their posts to get the others who would take their place. And this plan of her own escape seemed to be fun. All she had to do was try and swing it into the balcony to her left. All Misty had to do was rock it back and forth to gain momentum. Of course she had practiced it, swinging just ever-so-slightly left and right. At least it can swing, she thought to herself. Gotta wait for the right time, then make a move was the thought that was jammed into Misty and Armando's minds. But one guard kept looking at her, refusing to leave. His relief would always come to get him, and vice-versa. Probably my temper, she scolded herself in the solitude of her mind. If she could distract him, then maybe she could put her part of the plan into action. She sighed inwardly and flipped her air around her shoulders. All Misty could do to keep sanity within her was practice her martial arts. She began her "dance of doom". That was what she called her practice session. The fight was much more intense.

A high kick to left. A quick spin resulting in a roundhouse. Left punch, right jab, uppercut. Flip-kick. Drop kick. Torpedo roll. All of these moves were like a family. She knew them perfectly and continued to perfect them if possible. She jumped into the air (or as high as her prison would let her) and flipped over landing with her leg outstretched. Then that was followed by a back-walkover that would be performed as an upwards kick in the chin. And something else she had been working on. She then began to run around the cage. Then she began running along the bars of her prison in circles. A little bit more. Misty was now completely horizontal. Dammit, can't stop now, she thought with a bit of worry.

"KUPO!"

Misty screamed in surprise and flew into the other side of the cage. When her head stopped spinning she saw a white furry fairy-like thing with purplish-red bat wings.

"Kupo! Kupo! Kupo! Kupo!" The little thing kept yelling loudly.

She didn't know why, but she heard herself yell: "Come up here!" The little thing heard her and flapped his tiny little wings as hard and fast as he could. It flew and squeezed its way in between the bars of the cage. Misty immediately opened her arms and held the little thing against her chest. It whimpered softly and began to squirm when the guards appeared.

"You! Let it go! We have orders to kill it!" one of the guards yelled at her.

"Yeah frickin' right! You tryin' to tell me this little thing deserves to die?" Misty screamed the question at the guards.

"We have our orders! That thing isn't what it seems! The Mistress ordered it to be killed!"

"Oh yeah, the "righteous" Mistress! The one who you bend any way to comply with! If she's really so righteous, she would take your swords, shove 'em up her ass, and swirl them around!" Misty shot back.

"You will pay for your insolence of the Mistress' authority!" The guards then turned and left. The only ones remaining were the prison guards.

"What are you?" was the first thing she asked it.

"Kamop, a moogle miss. Kamop tried to find keys to save you and your friends, kupo. But I got caught," he ended sadly.

"A moogle? But, I thought you were extinct!"

"Nope, just hiding. Kamop and many others still around, kupo. I go searching and find this place. I look for a way in and found different passages. Then I heard about you three. You captured, then thrown in here. I wants to help you," Kamop explained.

"You want to help us?" Misty asked him.

"That's what I said, kupo! I wants to help you and friends, kupo!"

"Thanks, but if you're going to help, you have to tell the other two," Misty told the little moogle. It nodded its head in reply, making the red ball on its head wobble up and down.

"Tell the man with long hair that he has to abandon any plan to escape, because you will get the keys to our prisons, got it?"

"Yes, kupo! I understand."

"Tell the same thing to the other man as well, good luck! Oh, and I'm Misty!" Misty said to the little moogle.

Kamop flew from Misty's suspended cage down to Aramndo's cylinder prison. It turned out that Kamop was small enough to fit into the space where food was distributed through. "Kupo! Misty has plan of escape," Kamop whispered.

"What?" Armando replied in a whisper.

"I get the keys, and we escape together," Kamop explained.

"Okay, then," he said still insure of whether to trust a moogle. From what he had learned, moogles could be major tricksters.

"No tricks, honest," the moogle told him. He quickly crawled out of Armando's prison and flew towards Taran's. Right when the moogle squeezed his little body between the bars of his traditional jail cell, Taran grabbed it by the red bobble on its head.

"Ouch, you bastard! That hurts! I have news from Misty!"

Taran immediately let go, dropping the moogle onto the ground. After shaking the dust off, he told Taran of Misty's plan. After hearing it, Taran nodded and told Kamop to go back to see Misty. The moogle once again squeezed his little body between the bars and flapped his little wings gaining altitude.

Misty reached out from the cage and grabbed Kamop and pulled him to safety just as the next patrol of guards came by.

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A large volcano loomed above her head. She could hear the sounds of the magma sloshing around inside, waiting for the moment to explode and make it's presence known on Ferma.

Sikaru walked closer to the side of the mountainous figure. She placed one hand on it. Moved closer. Then placed another hand. Took one more step closer until her cheek was against the side. Sikaru closed her eyes and felt a surge of pure fire-like energy. She stayed in that position for many minutes, losing herself in the steady flow of the sound of magma. The heat of the rock was just a dull one. Calming and soothing to the touch. More minutes passed by. Sikaru pulled herself away from the volcano and looked up to see the ancient deity of Phoenix emerging from the volcano's opening. Lava that once clung to the red and gold plumage fell around her leaving burned marks on the ground. Phoenix flapped it's mighty wings and feathers fell, transforming into great balls of fire.

"Not willing to give up easily are you?" Sikaru asked Phoenix. Never Phoenix replied telepathically. The extremely large bird nose-dived towards Sikaru at an extremely high speed.

Sikaru held one hand high above her head, and was covered in an icy blue light. Phoenix continued to gain speed until it rammed head on into the shield. The light of the shield faltered slightly, but did not disappear completely. The Keeper collected the light into a sphere that hovered only a bit in her hand, casting a blue haze over her. Phoenix then began to concentrate power inside it's wings, until it shot multiple fire beams at her. Sikaru held the ball in front of her. Then it shifted in shape becoming a medium sized shield. Holding the shield in her hand she ducked beneath as the beams fell around her, deflected off into different directions. Good move, but it's not enough!

"We'll see 'bout that!" The shield returned to the shape of the ball, and Sikaru launched it at a speed faster than Mach 3. It hit Phoenix, forcing a guttural moan loud enough to hear from miles away. "Shiva, goddess of ice, I command you to appear and answer to me!" Large spikes of ice fell from the sky, some uprooting from beneath the ground. Appearing amongst the ice, what looked to be a woman appeared walking through the towers of ice. Long locks of blue hair fell around her face. Her skin, a baby-blue, was only semi-covered in what was a mix of toga and modern tank top, and short-shorts. Shiva looked above and saw Phoenix flying overhead. Her face showed no emotion as she leaped into the air to deliver a kick into the side of Phoenix. The giant bird must have been at least 10 times larger than Shiva, yet she produced the desired effect of the attack, a scream. The ice goddess used her powers to propel herself forwards, streams of icy wind trailing behind her. With a swift uppercut into Phoenix's beak, the bird began to lose altitude.

"Diamond Dust!" Shiva's voice rang out like that of which no human woman could possess. It was beautiful but harsh at the same time. Wind began sweeping around Phoenix encircling it and immobilizing it. A large block of ice appeared over it's head that crushed on Phoenix's head. Then with a sweeping motion of her arms, icy winds began blasting Phoenix until a large glacier appeared and exploded.

"Mine. Eir ech no fili sinna too sakchies!" A blank card appeared in front of Sikaru, and Phoenix dried up like sand and fell into the card displaying a picture of it.

"Iima is almost mine," Sikaru thought with a grin on her face. Shiva disappeared leaving a trail of ice.

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"Kamop, the guards are gonna go soon!" Misty whispered quietly, trying to hide her excitement from the guards.

"I see that, kupo!" he whispered back. Once the men's backs were turned, the little moogle flew as fast as he could down one of the winding hallways.

"That thing better save us," a mans voice said.

"Taran, can't you be positive sometimes, cause seriously, I am gonna kick your ass!"

"Misty! Taran! Shut your frickin' mouths. As soon as I've got my gun, I swear I'm gonna blow your frickin' heads off!" Armando yelled. The three fell silent as they heard the little moogle yelling his head off. Dammit, the guards caught him, Misty thought. But her fears were proved wrong as she caught sight of the moogle flapping his little wings madly. Kamop then threw the keys to Misty, who caught them and opened her suspended cage. She jumped dowwn and tackled the nearest sword wielding guard.

"You bastard, that's my sword!" Taran screamed at the guard. Misty pried the sword from the lying mans grip, and tossed it to her companion. The man stood up, only to be faced with a backhand knuckle punch. Misty turned around with a powerful uppercut, and a kick into the stomach. The guard flew into the wall in a crumpled heap. Two guards came from the sides, swords being drawn up their sides. She jumped in the air, stretching her legs so that she could kick them both. It worked and they fell back. Meanwhile, Kamop was dragging Armando's rifle to his prison, while holding keys to Tarans prison as well.

The two that Misty had knocked down got back up. One was ready to bring his sword down on her, but she had realized it early and moved in close to the man. She dodged the sword and kicked it out of his hand, sending it clattering across the floor. Misty kicked back and smoked the other one in the face, knocking out his teeth and shattering his nose. Blood poured from the wounds on his face, but still he pressed on. Misty kicked him on the side of his knee making his leg buckle. She followed with a left jab, quickly followed by a right jab. Then he fell. Three more replaced the fallen ones. Misty quickly kicked one of them in the crotch , then grabbed him by his shoulders and threw him into the two. More had come to replace the fallen, too many in fact.

As one sword was ready to slash Misty's mid-section, Taran's blade stopped it. He parried and sparks flew from the swords. He withdrew the blade, then brought it up diagonally to slash across the mans chest. Blood poured staining the concrete floor a deep crimson. Taran then leaped into the horde of guards slashing. Direct stabs, upward slashes. He spun around in a circle holding his sword, gashes appearing on the guards, and they fell in a heap. Now more guards appeared, far more than even Taran could handle. Misty did what she could to fight them off, but was cornered by more than ten guards. A flash of light blinded her for a moment, and when she reopened her eyes she saw Armando holding his rifle. He had blasted them with an Energy Blast.

Finally the guards stopped coming. "Damn I'm tired," was the only thing Misty said.

"No rest yet, we still gotta get outta here," Armando pointed out.

"Yeah, but I think we took care of most of the guards," Taran said in his incomprehensible monotone. He ran a hand through his hair and stretched with his sword facing the ceiling. Once he felt somewhat refreshed, he sheathed his sword and looked at Misty.

"What?" Misty looked at him trying to decipher the look on his face. What's his problem? God, he's like a frickin' hawk. He's gonna burn a hole through me eventually. Why does he keep doin that?

"You got some sorta problem?" she asked him.

"No." Nice answer asshole!

Armando could only look back and forth between the two helplessly. He tried to stop them from fighting, but that obviously wasn't possible. They were like two peas in a pod, but bickered like an old couple.

"Kamop, you better get outta here before trouble starts up," Armando told the moogle, jerking his head in the direction of Taran and Misty.

"I'll go, but be careful! I hope I'll see you later, kupo!" With that Kamop flew off out of sight. Just when the group planned on moving ahead a large creature walked slowly in front of them.

"Hahahaha! Just try and get past Kottos," a male voice said. He came into view fromout of the shadows. He sported a long red robe and held a staff in his hands with a cruel claw on the top. His hair had flecks of grey, and his face was masked by A red and black tattoo that wavered like a flame across his face.

"Raiko, just let them be. After all we have tormented them enough," an evil female voice spoke.

"Noira! What the hell are you doing here?" Taran demanded.

"Oh, I just wanted to see how you three were doing, but obviously you're doing fine. Raiko, we're off to find Ifrit with Sikaru. Phoenix is hers now." Noira used the armored wings to fly away, while Raiko performed a flying spell on himself.

"Chicken-shit!" Taran yelled at the two. In the mean time they had to find some sort of escape. "C'mon," Taran said while motioning one way with his hand. With sword in hand he ran down the narrow corridors away from the large purple ogre. Kottos. With four arms flailing wildly and thunderous steps echoing throughout the prison, Kottos was like a bull in a china shop. Armando who was last in line fired a few quick shots at the beast who momentarily slowed down. Misty grabbed the gunman by his free hand and pulled him with her as he desperately tried to match her speed. When the three had emerged into an open room, guards had already assembled in wait for the Night Hawks.

"Goddamn!" Misty said exasperated. Just when she thought it was all over for her, Kottos had barreled in. The ogre smashed into walls causing debris to fall from above crushing some guards and blocking others from the three captives. Misty looked up and saw a flock of moogles flying through the air. In a synchronized pattern, they formed a circle and began to fly sideways. Then they rose higher, then lower, and dust fell from them rendering the guards unconscious. Armando looked up as well and saw Kamop leading the moogles in their strange dance.

"Thank you!" Armando yelled to them. His return call was a loud "KUPO!" The moogles then blasted away the walls and the three people were staring out at the ocean. And luckily there was a boat. Most likely the one that had brought them.

Taran assumed control of the vessel and after fiddling with some of the controls the boat began to move.

"You sure you know how to drive this thing?" Armando asked with an increasing look of worry etching across his face.

"Can't be that hard. I mean look at it." He pointed to various controls allover which in turn looked very complicated.

"Whatever you say..." Misty said quietly.

"What?"

Nothin, nothin..."

Finally the boat gained speed and sprayed the water apart as it flew across the ocean.

"Seldovia here we come."