Authors note: Thanks yet again for all the great reviews! Not much to say
really, im glad you liked the last chapter. I was really worried about
that one because it was a hard one to write for some reason.
Himeko: It's not just you, I've noticed the decline in reviews as well. With my last story I reached over 100 reviews by the end, and it only had 17 chapters. This one has 21 now and it is just now reaching 100. Many of the reviewers that were with me in the beginning have stopped reviewing. Dark Salamander (Submitted Zack), and G-Force 1 (Goji) haven't reviewed lately, along with a few others. But that's ok. Maybe they just lost interest in my stories and have found something they like better, or maybe they just don't have the time to review anymore due to having to write their own stories, school, and what-not. They were all great reviewers. And not everyone has stopped reviewing either, I still have all my great reviewers like you! ^_^.
CHAPTER 21
Sin placed his fingers around a small, white marble pawn and pushed if forward once. He nodded to himself slowly, then took his fingers off the chess piece. He leaned back in his chair and sighed, folding his fingers in a deep habit of thought. Just then the door shifted open, startling him out of his concentration.
"Sir." Gabrielle stood in the door way, her arms folded out in front of her, "The scanners indicate that Cloud is on his way, and will be arriving shortly. The Blitz teams hover cargo is following at a distance."
"Good. Now leave. Im trying to concentrate, and I do not need a demon to distract me." Sin ordered, "I will instruct on when the prisoners are to be brought to me, until then, wait in the cockpit. Understand?"
"But sir..." Gabrielle began, about to ask him on why he moved two of the prisoners in the first place.
"Are you disobeying me demi-human?"
"Fine!" The demon spat, turning quickly to leave as the door shifted shut behind her.
Sin looked back down at his chessboard, and frowned. Black and white were at a face off, and once again it appeared that black would win this little game. He looked over it for a bit longer, before moving the white knight to take out the black pawn he had just placed.
**********************************
Cloud shifted nervously as the remains of Lukes old castle came into view. The place that had haunted his sleep and gave him nightmares on more than a few occasions.
The rain and wind had let down a bit, but not much, and the sky was still black with clouds, flashing occasionally with a bright streak of lightning. He looked around for the Chaos-sin, but didn't see anything, which was very nerve racking. It seemed like he was all alone in the desert, stranded in the middle of the storm.
Of course he knew the others were with them, shielded from sight, and that gave him at least a little comfort.
"Cloud Light-Feather." A voice formed on his com-link loudly, and Cloud had a feeling that it was also quite loud outside. The voice belonged to none other than Sin himself, and was actually quite calm, perhaps even inviting. Yet, it still held a coldness behind it that sent chills down the eldest Light-Feathers spine.
"Im here. I want my friends. And I want the kids. Now." Cloud answered, just as the Chaos-sin seemed to appear out of thin air, materializing a distance in front and above him. The massive dragons eyes glowed cruelly among the darkness, and it's loud roar echoed throughout the air.
"All in good time my demi-human friend. I promise they will be set free. But remember, for their freedom, I want a compromise." Sin called back, and the Chaos-sin landed among the ruins of the castle. It's sheer size became very intimidating.
**********************************
Rain sat up like a bolt suddenly when she heard her older brothers voice over the intercom, and Sins cold replies, "Cloud..." She turned to Naomi and Orihime, "I told you he would come." She then stopped suddenly and frowned, looking over at the door, "Someone's here."
Orihime and Naomi looked over at her questioningly, and she pointed quickly to her ears, "Two, maybe three people are behind the door..."
The two human women nodded and Naomi went over to a small stool by the bed and picked it up, quickly dashing over to the side of the door, "Ori, get on that side and when I hit them with the stool, drag the bodies out of the way, ok?"
Orihime nodded, and Rain ducked back far enough to the left side of the door to give Orihime her room, and keep herself hidden.
The door suddenly burst open, which was no surprise, and a man walked through. As soon as he was far enough, Naomi swung the stool that was over her head and brought it crashing down on the mans head. Orihime quickly crouched down around the door and grabbed the second mans feet, knocking him off balance and sending him face first into the floor. The red comet finished the job by bringing what was left of the now broken stool over the second mans head, and sending him to join the first in unconsciousness.
The two women the attempted to drag the men over to the side of the bed, but were having more trouble then expected. The men were heavy, both of them, and were difficult to drag across the carpeted floor.
Orihime pulled hard, and almost fell back when the weight lessened very suddenly. Looking up she saw Rain had grabbed hold of the mans arm, and was helping to drag him quite easily.
Once both men were out of the way, Orihime spoke, "What now?"
"Lets try and find the kids, or something... we can get them out and help Cloud." Naomi answered.
Rain nodded in agreement, "We have to be careful though." She walked over to the two unconscious bodies and crouched next to them, finding two hand guns and a stun rod, "They must have planed to use that against me." She stated, tossing the two guns over to the others, "Lets get going."
The three women ran through the door and down the hall, stopping at the corner. Naomi pressed herself flat against the wall, and peered around the corner. Seeing the coast was clear, she quickly took off running with Rain and Orihime right on her heels. Just as she was about to pass another hallway, someone came quickly around the corner, smacking strait into her...
*****************************
"Hurry up you guy's!" Shiro yelled back to the three teenagers that were now running behind him. He was carrying Koh, who was actually lighter than he had originally expected. His face was still a bit bloody, but there was nothing he could do about it but ignore the splitting headache and occasional dizzy spell.
He paused at a corner, breathing harshly, and peeked around, finding the coast clear. He waited a few more seconds to catch his breath, and took off running. Kristen ran up besides him, "Shiro, if we can get out... then Cloud won't have... to give himself up..."
"I know." Shiro replied sharply, turning the corner. Then, the one thing he had least expected happened.
He hit someone.
"Shit!" He heard the other person yell, as the force of the blow knocked the air out of him. Looking up he saw someone he didn't expect.
"Mom!" Will yelled, running over to Orihime, and throwing his arms around her.
"Will!?" She hugged him back tightly, "I was so worried. We went looking for you after we escaped... How?!" She was interrupted suddenly by a sharp gasp from Rain when the demi-human noticed the person that Shiro had in his arms.
"Oh my God... Koh!?" Rain dashed as quickly as possible, fluttering her thin wings as she knelt at Shiro's side, and began stroking her sons hair.
"Uh... Rain?" Shiro asked uneasily, being shocked to see her as a demi- human. She looked up at him and nodded, her eyes scanning his face.
"What happened?" She asked.
"Gabrielle happened." Kristen answered for him, stepping up to his side.
Hikari nodded and said, "When we escaped, Will and Kristen had on the guards uniforms and helmets. We ran into Gabrielle, and Shiro stood up to her. Then she scratched him and left."
"She thought that me and Kristen were real guards." Will added.
Rain nodded, "I see. What about Koh? Where did you find him?"
"He was in one of the rooms." Shiro answered, he decided it was best not to mention anything besides that... and apparently the others agreed.
The group stayed silent for a few more moments and finally Orihime spoke up, "Now lets get out of here... Cloud needs us."
"Yeah..." Kristen nodded, "And we left Sin a nice little gift in the cells as well."
The adults looked over at her questioningly, and Shiro answered, "Don't ask. Lets just go now." He stood up, still carrying Koh, and the group took off running. The found an elevator and pilled in, Orihime quickly pressed the base level button.
The doors shifted open and the group burst out, taking out the few guards that were around them. They then quickly dashed down another hallway, praying to any God that might exist they were headed the right way...
***********************************
"I want the Ryuu." Sin said, his voice booming over the sound of the raging storm, "When I have him, you have my word that the hostages will be released."
"I want to see them set free first." Cloud replied, the silver blade ligar at his command roaring fiercely. Unknown to Sin, the three stealth zoids had made their way closer to the Chaos-sin. Goji was out in front, his sword ready for attack.
There was a sudden explosion as a small section near the belly of the chaos- sin broke away, and flames emerged, soon followed by 8 small figures in the dark. Sins angry voice could be heard screaming, "What the hell's going on!?"
"Sir! The hostages have escaped!" One of his men was heard over the intercom, "All of them somehow... They managed to break through some of our men and found some explosives."
"Stop them!" Sin yelled, "Deploy the Zebats! I will have the demi- humans... you understand me!?"
"Yes sir!"
Clouds screen zoomed in on the figures, and he yelled, "Someone get to them!"
The Chaos-sins mouth screeched open and out flew a large number of pitch black Zebats. They circled the sky once and began opening fire on Clouds Blade Ligar.
*********************************
"Lets go!" Zack yelled, closing the Bahamut's cockpit.
Nadia cursed and dashed over to her Konig wolf, just as Jessie's Lightning Saix had begun to move.
All the zoids in the Blitz teams hover cargo were now coming to life, each pilot eager to go help their friends and families. Ayane and Rion were the first ones out, followed soon by Zack, Jemie and Bit.
Jessie was next, and was followed shortly by Nadia. Chris was the last one to depart, calling Zeke to him. The organoid fused quickly with the blue blade ligars core, and they departed.
They ran quickly through the storm, pushing their zoids as fast as they would go to reach the battle that had just started.
***********************************
Rain stiffened suddenly and yelled, "You guy's run! Goji's nearby I can hear him... he'll help you."
"What?!" Naomi asked as the rest of the group turned to face her.
"Shiro, get Koh away from here now. All of you need to get away!" Rain commanded, just as a dark shadow slammed right into her. The shadow pushed her right up against the wall, and was soon reveled to be none other than the demonic demi-human, Gabrielle.
"Trying to get away are we?" Gabrielle taunted, as she flashed a cruel smile toward her niece.
"Rain!" Orihime yelled, about to dash forward to her friends aid. She was stopped suddenly when the Temjin X removed it's stealth shield, and Goji pushed his hand in her way.
"Leave her... you know you can't do anything to help her against Gabrielle. Now all of you climb on!" He waited for them to climb onto the temjin's arms, and he clasped it's hands around them, once again raising the stealth shield. The Temjin X, and the hostages disappeared without a trace.
Gabrielle backed away from Rain and smiled, just as a streak of lightning struck the horizon. She seemed to pull Rains sword out of thin air, tossing it to the Tenshi, and then removing her own blade, "Common Tenshi... Lets see what you can do."
Rain cursed as she caught the blade. She knew she didn't have much of her strength, and Gabrielle seemed to know this as well.
"What's the matter dear niece?" Gabrielle brought her flame colored sword up, the rain bounded off of it's sharp blade, and the glare from the Lightning that filled the air reflected the bright colors. She spread her red, bladed wings and charged full speed at Rain bringing the sword above her head.
Rain gasped as she pulled her sword up to block the blow, its bone crushing impact causing her arms to suddenly go numb.
Gabrielle laughed as Rain collapsed, "Ah, I see. Lets get you back inside... shall we?" The demon wrapped her arms around Rains neck and slammed the back of her hand against her temple, causing the Tenshi to black out immediately. She then dragged Rain back into the Chaos-sin, and watched the rest of the fight from there....
***************************
"Rain!" Cloud yelled, crying out suddenly as another barrage of missiles hit his zoid, he cursed. Tyra and Rei were trying hard to defend him, but there were just to many Zebats.
"Cloud watch out!" Rei's voice was heard. Cloud gasped suddenly as the Chaos-sin disappeared, then reappeared quickly, bringing it's claws down on top of his blade ligar. Electricity flowed into his zoid, sending him into unconsciousness quickly, and completely freezing his zoids systems.
LightStrike roared out in pain as he became unfused with the core, sprawling onto the desert sands.
Seemingly out of nowhere, large cables and chains emerged from the Chaos- sin, wrapping around the Ligar. Thunder roared in the background, and the rain continued to beat down hard.
"Cloud!" Jemie yelled, being the first to arrive on the battlefield. He shot down a few Zebats that were chasing Tyra, who's' stealth shield had appeared to fail.
"No!" Nadia yelled, dashing as quickly as her Konig wolf could run, "Uncle Cloud!"
The Chaos-sins loud roar was heard, followed by Sins cruel laughter as both the large dragon and the Ligar, disappeared into nothingness...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End of Chapter 21~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Authors note: Hmmm... I have a history test tomorrow... damn.
So, you like chapter? Go review please!
Aren't you proud of me? I updated quickly!
Oh yeah, next chapter will include more info on the PHOENIX project....
Himeko: It's not just you, I've noticed the decline in reviews as well. With my last story I reached over 100 reviews by the end, and it only had 17 chapters. This one has 21 now and it is just now reaching 100. Many of the reviewers that were with me in the beginning have stopped reviewing. Dark Salamander (Submitted Zack), and G-Force 1 (Goji) haven't reviewed lately, along with a few others. But that's ok. Maybe they just lost interest in my stories and have found something they like better, or maybe they just don't have the time to review anymore due to having to write their own stories, school, and what-not. They were all great reviewers. And not everyone has stopped reviewing either, I still have all my great reviewers like you! ^_^.
CHAPTER 21
Sin placed his fingers around a small, white marble pawn and pushed if forward once. He nodded to himself slowly, then took his fingers off the chess piece. He leaned back in his chair and sighed, folding his fingers in a deep habit of thought. Just then the door shifted open, startling him out of his concentration.
"Sir." Gabrielle stood in the door way, her arms folded out in front of her, "The scanners indicate that Cloud is on his way, and will be arriving shortly. The Blitz teams hover cargo is following at a distance."
"Good. Now leave. Im trying to concentrate, and I do not need a demon to distract me." Sin ordered, "I will instruct on when the prisoners are to be brought to me, until then, wait in the cockpit. Understand?"
"But sir..." Gabrielle began, about to ask him on why he moved two of the prisoners in the first place.
"Are you disobeying me demi-human?"
"Fine!" The demon spat, turning quickly to leave as the door shifted shut behind her.
Sin looked back down at his chessboard, and frowned. Black and white were at a face off, and once again it appeared that black would win this little game. He looked over it for a bit longer, before moving the white knight to take out the black pawn he had just placed.
**********************************
Cloud shifted nervously as the remains of Lukes old castle came into view. The place that had haunted his sleep and gave him nightmares on more than a few occasions.
The rain and wind had let down a bit, but not much, and the sky was still black with clouds, flashing occasionally with a bright streak of lightning. He looked around for the Chaos-sin, but didn't see anything, which was very nerve racking. It seemed like he was all alone in the desert, stranded in the middle of the storm.
Of course he knew the others were with them, shielded from sight, and that gave him at least a little comfort.
"Cloud Light-Feather." A voice formed on his com-link loudly, and Cloud had a feeling that it was also quite loud outside. The voice belonged to none other than Sin himself, and was actually quite calm, perhaps even inviting. Yet, it still held a coldness behind it that sent chills down the eldest Light-Feathers spine.
"Im here. I want my friends. And I want the kids. Now." Cloud answered, just as the Chaos-sin seemed to appear out of thin air, materializing a distance in front and above him. The massive dragons eyes glowed cruelly among the darkness, and it's loud roar echoed throughout the air.
"All in good time my demi-human friend. I promise they will be set free. But remember, for their freedom, I want a compromise." Sin called back, and the Chaos-sin landed among the ruins of the castle. It's sheer size became very intimidating.
**********************************
Rain sat up like a bolt suddenly when she heard her older brothers voice over the intercom, and Sins cold replies, "Cloud..." She turned to Naomi and Orihime, "I told you he would come." She then stopped suddenly and frowned, looking over at the door, "Someone's here."
Orihime and Naomi looked over at her questioningly, and she pointed quickly to her ears, "Two, maybe three people are behind the door..."
The two human women nodded and Naomi went over to a small stool by the bed and picked it up, quickly dashing over to the side of the door, "Ori, get on that side and when I hit them with the stool, drag the bodies out of the way, ok?"
Orihime nodded, and Rain ducked back far enough to the left side of the door to give Orihime her room, and keep herself hidden.
The door suddenly burst open, which was no surprise, and a man walked through. As soon as he was far enough, Naomi swung the stool that was over her head and brought it crashing down on the mans head. Orihime quickly crouched down around the door and grabbed the second mans feet, knocking him off balance and sending him face first into the floor. The red comet finished the job by bringing what was left of the now broken stool over the second mans head, and sending him to join the first in unconsciousness.
The two women the attempted to drag the men over to the side of the bed, but were having more trouble then expected. The men were heavy, both of them, and were difficult to drag across the carpeted floor.
Orihime pulled hard, and almost fell back when the weight lessened very suddenly. Looking up she saw Rain had grabbed hold of the mans arm, and was helping to drag him quite easily.
Once both men were out of the way, Orihime spoke, "What now?"
"Lets try and find the kids, or something... we can get them out and help Cloud." Naomi answered.
Rain nodded in agreement, "We have to be careful though." She walked over to the two unconscious bodies and crouched next to them, finding two hand guns and a stun rod, "They must have planed to use that against me." She stated, tossing the two guns over to the others, "Lets get going."
The three women ran through the door and down the hall, stopping at the corner. Naomi pressed herself flat against the wall, and peered around the corner. Seeing the coast was clear, she quickly took off running with Rain and Orihime right on her heels. Just as she was about to pass another hallway, someone came quickly around the corner, smacking strait into her...
*****************************
"Hurry up you guy's!" Shiro yelled back to the three teenagers that were now running behind him. He was carrying Koh, who was actually lighter than he had originally expected. His face was still a bit bloody, but there was nothing he could do about it but ignore the splitting headache and occasional dizzy spell.
He paused at a corner, breathing harshly, and peeked around, finding the coast clear. He waited a few more seconds to catch his breath, and took off running. Kristen ran up besides him, "Shiro, if we can get out... then Cloud won't have... to give himself up..."
"I know." Shiro replied sharply, turning the corner. Then, the one thing he had least expected happened.
He hit someone.
"Shit!" He heard the other person yell, as the force of the blow knocked the air out of him. Looking up he saw someone he didn't expect.
"Mom!" Will yelled, running over to Orihime, and throwing his arms around her.
"Will!?" She hugged him back tightly, "I was so worried. We went looking for you after we escaped... How?!" She was interrupted suddenly by a sharp gasp from Rain when the demi-human noticed the person that Shiro had in his arms.
"Oh my God... Koh!?" Rain dashed as quickly as possible, fluttering her thin wings as she knelt at Shiro's side, and began stroking her sons hair.
"Uh... Rain?" Shiro asked uneasily, being shocked to see her as a demi- human. She looked up at him and nodded, her eyes scanning his face.
"What happened?" She asked.
"Gabrielle happened." Kristen answered for him, stepping up to his side.
Hikari nodded and said, "When we escaped, Will and Kristen had on the guards uniforms and helmets. We ran into Gabrielle, and Shiro stood up to her. Then she scratched him and left."
"She thought that me and Kristen were real guards." Will added.
Rain nodded, "I see. What about Koh? Where did you find him?"
"He was in one of the rooms." Shiro answered, he decided it was best not to mention anything besides that... and apparently the others agreed.
The group stayed silent for a few more moments and finally Orihime spoke up, "Now lets get out of here... Cloud needs us."
"Yeah..." Kristen nodded, "And we left Sin a nice little gift in the cells as well."
The adults looked over at her questioningly, and Shiro answered, "Don't ask. Lets just go now." He stood up, still carrying Koh, and the group took off running. The found an elevator and pilled in, Orihime quickly pressed the base level button.
The doors shifted open and the group burst out, taking out the few guards that were around them. They then quickly dashed down another hallway, praying to any God that might exist they were headed the right way...
***********************************
"I want the Ryuu." Sin said, his voice booming over the sound of the raging storm, "When I have him, you have my word that the hostages will be released."
"I want to see them set free first." Cloud replied, the silver blade ligar at his command roaring fiercely. Unknown to Sin, the three stealth zoids had made their way closer to the Chaos-sin. Goji was out in front, his sword ready for attack.
There was a sudden explosion as a small section near the belly of the chaos- sin broke away, and flames emerged, soon followed by 8 small figures in the dark. Sins angry voice could be heard screaming, "What the hell's going on!?"
"Sir! The hostages have escaped!" One of his men was heard over the intercom, "All of them somehow... They managed to break through some of our men and found some explosives."
"Stop them!" Sin yelled, "Deploy the Zebats! I will have the demi- humans... you understand me!?"
"Yes sir!"
Clouds screen zoomed in on the figures, and he yelled, "Someone get to them!"
The Chaos-sins mouth screeched open and out flew a large number of pitch black Zebats. They circled the sky once and began opening fire on Clouds Blade Ligar.
*********************************
"Lets go!" Zack yelled, closing the Bahamut's cockpit.
Nadia cursed and dashed over to her Konig wolf, just as Jessie's Lightning Saix had begun to move.
All the zoids in the Blitz teams hover cargo were now coming to life, each pilot eager to go help their friends and families. Ayane and Rion were the first ones out, followed soon by Zack, Jemie and Bit.
Jessie was next, and was followed shortly by Nadia. Chris was the last one to depart, calling Zeke to him. The organoid fused quickly with the blue blade ligars core, and they departed.
They ran quickly through the storm, pushing their zoids as fast as they would go to reach the battle that had just started.
***********************************
Rain stiffened suddenly and yelled, "You guy's run! Goji's nearby I can hear him... he'll help you."
"What?!" Naomi asked as the rest of the group turned to face her.
"Shiro, get Koh away from here now. All of you need to get away!" Rain commanded, just as a dark shadow slammed right into her. The shadow pushed her right up against the wall, and was soon reveled to be none other than the demonic demi-human, Gabrielle.
"Trying to get away are we?" Gabrielle taunted, as she flashed a cruel smile toward her niece.
"Rain!" Orihime yelled, about to dash forward to her friends aid. She was stopped suddenly when the Temjin X removed it's stealth shield, and Goji pushed his hand in her way.
"Leave her... you know you can't do anything to help her against Gabrielle. Now all of you climb on!" He waited for them to climb onto the temjin's arms, and he clasped it's hands around them, once again raising the stealth shield. The Temjin X, and the hostages disappeared without a trace.
Gabrielle backed away from Rain and smiled, just as a streak of lightning struck the horizon. She seemed to pull Rains sword out of thin air, tossing it to the Tenshi, and then removing her own blade, "Common Tenshi... Lets see what you can do."
Rain cursed as she caught the blade. She knew she didn't have much of her strength, and Gabrielle seemed to know this as well.
"What's the matter dear niece?" Gabrielle brought her flame colored sword up, the rain bounded off of it's sharp blade, and the glare from the Lightning that filled the air reflected the bright colors. She spread her red, bladed wings and charged full speed at Rain bringing the sword above her head.
Rain gasped as she pulled her sword up to block the blow, its bone crushing impact causing her arms to suddenly go numb.
Gabrielle laughed as Rain collapsed, "Ah, I see. Lets get you back inside... shall we?" The demon wrapped her arms around Rains neck and slammed the back of her hand against her temple, causing the Tenshi to black out immediately. She then dragged Rain back into the Chaos-sin, and watched the rest of the fight from there....
***************************
"Rain!" Cloud yelled, crying out suddenly as another barrage of missiles hit his zoid, he cursed. Tyra and Rei were trying hard to defend him, but there were just to many Zebats.
"Cloud watch out!" Rei's voice was heard. Cloud gasped suddenly as the Chaos-sin disappeared, then reappeared quickly, bringing it's claws down on top of his blade ligar. Electricity flowed into his zoid, sending him into unconsciousness quickly, and completely freezing his zoids systems.
LightStrike roared out in pain as he became unfused with the core, sprawling onto the desert sands.
Seemingly out of nowhere, large cables and chains emerged from the Chaos- sin, wrapping around the Ligar. Thunder roared in the background, and the rain continued to beat down hard.
"Cloud!" Jemie yelled, being the first to arrive on the battlefield. He shot down a few Zebats that were chasing Tyra, who's' stealth shield had appeared to fail.
"No!" Nadia yelled, dashing as quickly as her Konig wolf could run, "Uncle Cloud!"
The Chaos-sins loud roar was heard, followed by Sins cruel laughter as both the large dragon and the Ligar, disappeared into nothingness...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End of Chapter 21~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Authors note: Hmmm... I have a history test tomorrow... damn.
So, you like chapter? Go review please!
Aren't you proud of me? I updated quickly!
Oh yeah, next chapter will include more info on the PHOENIX project....