Fantasy Thunder Chapter Fourteen: Xi
By Blue Dragon
Eta, Theta, and Mu. Traitors! Xi and Nu, honorable, strong, and missing a sister.
Nu and Xi, both twin brothers like Delta and Epsilon and sort of a replacement flew down through the atmosphere. Unlike Delta and Epsilon, they both wore red, the only ones in Pyros' league to wear such.
The sunglasses they had on were rimmed in silver.
They sizzled through the atmosphere, launched through the blue skies, and soon sighted their target. The bridge of Esthar Garden. They were only there to get back a lost sister. Xu. Xu was the link between Nu and Xi. Without her they felt incomplete. Although she wasn't from Pyros' league, she was still a valuable asset.
***
Steiner let himself in to Zidane's room and stood at attention next to the door.
"Rusty?" he asked.
"Sire. I needed to speak to you"
"Yeah?" he asked, this time standing up.
"As strange as this may sound coming from me, please try to be happier"
This certainly caught Zidane off guard.
"Everyone, including me, looks to you as our source of light. No matter how bleak the situation, you're always happy enough to make the rest of us feel hope. If you're sad, that's a sight so rare that we tend to think that the situation must be so bleak and so horrible, that not even YOU can keep your happiness. And that is precisely why we would like you to remain happy."
"Geez. Since when did everyone start looking up to me so much?"
"Since we almost lost you on Terra."
Zidane blinked and dusted the ground with his tail.
"I didn't know you had it in ya. Thanks Rusty, I'll try to be as fruity as possible"
"The queen would like to see you in her dorm"
"Her dorm? Isn't that off limits?"
"I'm sure you'll get clearance. Now if you don't mind . . . I'm going to see Beatrix" Steiner said as he left with his armor clanking in the background, the sound slowly fading away.
***
Squall was back on the bridge pacing around. He thought to himself about the encounter with Laguna. . . he refused to believe it. That he was in any way related to that clown, Laguna. He tried to shake it out of his head, and then looked at Quistis who was at her seat working on something.
"Quistis? With Oren gone, what do you think we should do next?"
She shook her head blankly without taking her face from the monitor.
"I'm sure that Jessica will try to find him again. But I don't know--"
Oren walked in through the room, a new fire in his eyes.
"I've figured it out! More rigorous training! In the Balamb area!"
Everyone on the bridge stared.
"Are you kidding? Oren where did you come from? Where were you?"
"Never mind that, I've figured something! If I can train you all in all attributes and this time get the help of Seymour, Ultimecia, and Sephiroth, then we can't lose! We'll win for sure!"
"You seem pretty renewed" Quistis said dryly.
"It's simple; we just set a course for Balamb and--" Oren cut himself off.
"What?" Squall asked.
"I didn't know they still existed. We have aviatars coming our way"
"Aviatars?"
"Flying beasts that devour metal.Jessica and I are the only ones that can maintain flight long enough, and they will overwhelm us with numbers"
"What do aviatars look like?"
"They look like dinosaurs. Pterodactyls maybe. Except purple, and they consume metal. I bet Pyros sent them to devour this ship and leave us even more defenseless. We're doomed if we can't combat them"
***
Pyros laughed and laughed.
"I bet that he never expected aviatars to come! Hah! Now what will that fool do? That garden will be gone!!"
Farfy nodded.
"Yes sir, sending Nu and Xi with aviatars was an excellent plan. Hahahahaha"
"Shut up, Farfy."
". . . Yes sir"
***
"The planes!" Nida yelled.
"What?" Squall asked redundantly.
"We have planes, right? Maybe we can shoot them all!"
"That'd work, but we have few qualified pilots and no one can understand the AWACS computer radar system"
"What exactly is AWACS? I may be qualified in such aircraft" Oren asked.
"AWACS stands for Air Warning and Control System" Nida casually explained.
"Oh. I should be able to interpret that radar. Just leave it to me!"
"If you say so. . . "
Nida left the glowing consoles and the AWACS screen popped up. Hundreds of tiny things on radar were flying to the big white circle, about five miles away.
"Bandits. . . " Oren muttered.
"Bandits?" asked Nida.
"Bandits are in reference to enemy aircraft, but in this case the aviatars. Make an announcement for all qualified pilots to get some planes. Also tell the qualified fighters to operate the SAMs and the flak guns."
"Sure" Squall picked up his speaker, and made an announcement.
"All qualified pilots, get to the aircraft deployment area. We have a few hundred bandits closing in. Oren will serve as you're AWACS commander"
Oren took the speaker.
"I'll clear you for takeoff and engagement. I'll also issue codenames."
Nida immediately left the bridge for the hangar, trying to recall as much as he could about what the FH engineers had told him about flying aircraft as well as the garden.
The four Cids and Nida were disappointed to find that they were the only qualified pilots when they got to the bridge.
"We can't beat hundreds of aviatars like this!" Nida yelled, throwing up his hands in defeat.
"Calm down" said the Headmaster.
"Our skills should prove more than a match. Just pick a plane"
The hangar was large, steel, and had many planes neatly lined up. Fortunately, there were plenty of students to operate the stationary and portable SAMs and enough to operate the flak guns as well.
"I'll take an F-15A" Cid Highwind said, hopping into the cockpit from the metal stairs that led up to it. The top of the cockpit closed neatly over him as he stared at all the familiar controls.
"How about that one?" The Headmaster asked, pointing to the F-15E. He clumsily went in. It had been a while since his piloting days, but he had no choice.
"I've never seen these . . . " the Regent muttered as he climbed into the SU-37.
"Oh! I can easily work these controls!" he said when he saw them.
Cid the Al Bhed didn't think he'd have any trouble when he climbed into the F-16C.
"I guess I'll take this" Nida said when he climbed into an F/A-18C.
Highwind was in an ACTIVE Eagle, the Headmaster in a Striker Eagle, Regent in a Super Flanker, the Al Bhed in a Falcon, and Nida in a Hornet.
"Are you guy's in yet?" Oren asked over the radio, his voice crackling over the system.
"Yeah" Highwind said into the radio.
"Then you are all clear for takeoff!"
It was shaky at first, but the ports at the side of the hangar closed as the ones at the end opened. The five planes sped up and took off. There was a roar as the engines started up for the first time, blasting the aircraft away from garden and into the skies lined with puffy white clouds at high speeds. The wheels of the landing gear tucked back into the belly of the machines and the rides stabilized.
"Uh.this is AWACS. Here in the 'military' we use call signs. Usually for security, but not in this case since the enemy isn't sentient. Pyros could still be listening in. I trust you all know call signs and military talk?" Oren's voice crackled over the radio as the five were flying in formation, airborne. The blue skies calmed them, the garden getting further away. It was very quiet up there.
"Yes" everyone answered.
"Good. Okay, my call sign will be 'Blue 42'. Nida, you're 'Sonic 5'."
"I thought 'S' was Sierra?" Nida's voice crackled back over the radio.
"We're changing things around. Regent Cid, you're Romeo 3. Al Bhed Cid, you're Echo 4. Headmaster, you'll be Hero 2. Highwind, you're Apocalypse 1. Alright?"
Affirmative responses crackled back to Oren over the radio.
"Good. Three hundred and eight bandits spotted five miles north and closing at seventy-two mph at vector three-two-zero. Right in front of you. Keep flying to intercept them. You're cleared to engage."
Nida had forgotten how fast planes were, and didn't think his F/A-18C would go five miles very fast. That was until he looked at the speedometer and noticed he was moving at an impressive rate of 600 mph and approaching the speed of sound.
"Its been a while since I've flown. Maybe these things will get me warmed up" he said over the radio."
"Hey" Oren said over the radio.
"I've got a U2 and an SR-71 here. I'm thinking of the SR. What do you think"
"Those don't seem like good AWACS planes" Apocalypse 1 said back.
"I know, but I'll be around and will need to relay information about the fight back and forth to garden. The communications there are down and I need a fast plane."
"Fine. The Blackbird sounds good then" was the response.
Nida thought it would take some time for Oren to catch up, but zooming in the skies at an amazing speed past them was the Blackbird.
"What the. . . ?" Sonic 5 asked.
"Blue 42 here. Sonic 5, keep in mind that this is reconnaissance aircraft. Of course it goes fast"
"Oh"
In a matter of minutes purple figures filled the skies.
"Blue 42 again. Make sure that your helmets are on tight, and all your gear is on right. Lets show these things what we're made of"
The six aircraft made their way into the sea of aviatars.
****
Reno had been with Rude and Elena watching the aircraft leave the small hangar at the side of the Esthar Garden, but Reno had soon grown bored and tried to start a conversation more than once but failed. He succeeded finally when he asked a genuine question.
"What are those things anyway?" he asked, pointing to the surface to air weapons stationed by small open ports to defend against any aerial attacks.
"Surface to air weapons" the two were surprised when Rude spoke up.
"AA guns. They stand for 'anti aircraft' and shoot bullets at high speeds into any aerial invaders. SAM. It stands for 'surface to air missile'. They are capable of locking on to aerial targets and firing missiles from the ground or any other stationing position. Flak guns. They launch explosive shells at high trajectories in attempts to hinder the flight of any airborne enemy."
"How'd you know that?" Reno asked suspiciously.
Rude uncrossed one arm and pointed to the tour card at the entrance that gave detailed information of everything in the hangar.
"I was reading from that card" he said nothing more.
"Huh" Reno gave Rude a question turned acknowledgement.
Vincent seemed to float past them, and Reno didn't care until he remembered the job that he had been requesting earlier before they had been dragged across the galaxy.
"Hey!" he ran after him, thought about putting his hand on his shoulder, and then decided against it.
He paused his walking, stared ahead, and then turned to face Reno.
"Yes?"
"You came to our office saying you needed a job done. I'm curious to find out just what that job may be."
For a few seconds Vincent made Reno extremely uncomfortable with his gaze, took a deep breath, and started speaking.
"Suspicious figures were coming into the abandoned Shinra mansion. Each day they would come, scout out the place, and then leave. They did this for three days before the foul play came. Inside near the area where I once rested--"
"What, your coffin?" Reno asked. It had been meant as a joke.
"Actually, yes"
His face became pale.
"Well, inside that room they dragged someone who appeared to be a young female. She seemed to be going there against her will. Then I heard sounds as if someone was being tortured. After that people came out, but it was only the two men. The girl did not. I was deeply disturbed by this and wanted to take them into custody but didn't have to manpower. So I hired you to investigate."
"The last time I checked, you were a member of AVALANCHE, so what makes you think I'll be willing to help you?"
Vincent pulled out 1000 gill in bills.
"Uh. . ." Reno snatched the bills and put them into his coat pocket.
"That was half. The other half when you and your partners investigate. Is that agreed?"
"Yeah, yeah, but we have a problem. We can't get back to out planet without Oren."
"Then I suppose we'll have to find him" Elena said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm not going to let that blow another 1000 gil. We need those funds."
"We will probably find him in the bridge. . . " Vincent trailed off and seemed to glide across the hangar and to the exit near the elevator.
***
Sephiroth rushed to find Jessica, wherever she may be. He was at the time checking the second floor hallways for her. For a while he refused to believe she was real. . .
The younger version of Sephiroth sat at a computer console in the Shinra H. Q. stationed in Midgar. It was going to be the next day that he would be sent off the compound with Cloud, Zack, and a few other soldiers eliminate the problem in the reactor on Mt. Nibel.
He wanted to look up information on the terrain so that he wouldn't get lost, even though a guide would be issued for the trip. He read the console blankly. It was a pretty old computer and it lacked a graphical user interface, so he had to manually put in commands.
His hands hovered over the keyboard, unsure of what to do, when letters typed themselves on the screen.
Of course, this had happened before when the machine was typing commands into itself, but these letters were red. And they illustrated the communications of a sentient being.
/: We're still light years away, but I might be able to dig up information from this computer. Sending my consciousness to a machine? Talk about strange.
He almost lost all decorum and jumped out of his seat. Maybe there was life out there!
/: This is Sephiroth, currently logged on to this computer. State your business.
He had felt strange, talking to a computer.
/: . . . I'm sorry. I thought this computer was unoccupied.
/: I don't care about that. Where are you? How are you using this computer?
/: Can I trust you to keep a secret?
/: No, but I may change my mind.
/: Good enough. I am a Zatach named Jessica, currently quite a distance from your planet. I'm trying to dig information from it by using a device on this ship that lets me send and receive electrical signals.
/: Light years? I don't believe you. What sort of trick is this?
/: Trick or not, I just need to gather information, not chat.
/: I'm not going to tell anyone about you, but only because I think your crazy and they'll think I'm crazy, too.
/: You seem angry. Is something wrong?
Sephiroth ran down the hall faster and shook of the thoughts of those conversations. It had been like some kind of intergalactic Internet, something he had wanted to forget. But the thought of seeing the real Jessica in person excited him.
***
Cloud leaned with Aeris on the windowsill facing north, trying to see the aerial battle unfolding five miles in the distance.
Aeris seemed to be staring out, but not at the battle. Into space.
"Are you okay?" Cloud asked her.
"This planet. It has a different voice. And personality, too"
"What?"
"Our planet was like a child, a sick child. It always sounded so. . . I can't explain it. Humble. But this one is like a full-grown man, cynical, sarcastic. Its funny! When it speaks, it always has a joke. It even makes fun of the warring species that live on it!"
"Is that so? It tells jokes? What kind?"
"I can't explain them, they're more like feelings than words. Something you can't exactly here, but it still makes you want to laugh!"
". . . Right"
"I wish you could hear it. All my life I was listening to my home crying, but it feels so great to listen to this one joke. It always has a witty comment. It's even talking about the fight in the distance. Hearing it speak almost makes life completely worth living."
Cloud smiled.
"It must sound great"
She looked at him and smiled back.
"It really does"
Sephiroth kicked up an amazing wind as he hustled past, not even seeming to notice the two.
"He doesn't bother you, does he?" he asked her.
She shook her head.
"Not really. He doesn't seem to care. You haven't noticed how soft he's been getting?"
"What're you talking about?"
"He used to always have that mean look, like he wanted to kill the next thing that moved. Now he looks like a boy waiting for his mother to come back home."
Cloud raised an eyebrow.
"Eh?"
"You probably haven't been around him as much as I have."
"!?"
They were interrupted when another group brushed passed them at high speeds. It was Vincent and the Turks. Vincent blinked. Reno blinked. Elena blinked. You couldn't tell if Rude did or not.
"Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing? I thought you were dead!" Reno exclaimed.
***
Oren circled the battle scene in the SR-71. The aviatars were a half of the way gone, and the battle had shifted from around fifteen feet to thirty- five thousand feet, and although the Oren's Blackbird was just fine, but Nida's Hornet and the Headmaster's Striker Eagle were starting to have engine trouble.
"Can I get a report, AWACS?" the Al Bhed asked.
"On what?"
"How many of these things are still alive?"
"You've gotten one hundred and eighty-eight"
"That's still over a hundred to go! And there's blood all over the front of my plane!" Nida whined over the radio.
***
"You're telling me you possessed someone from the past with Dr. Odine's machine? You're good. You're really good"
"Well, it wasn't really that hard. I could easily use it if I attached the machine into my cerebral cortex."
"Instead of your jugular? How'd you get the needle in there?"
Ward felt that he was about to throw up as he listened to Kiros and Ultimecia chat on and on as if they were old friends.
Zell burst into the conference room with a look of plain surprise on his face.
". . . What the hell? Mr. Seagill, don't you know who that is? That's Sorceress Ultimecia, the most evil, disgusting, gruesome, malicious, power- hungry sorceress ever to walk this side of the universe that almost killed us!"
"Well the way I've seen it, she's the funniest, sweetest, most intelligent, interesting, kind-hearted. . . "
He touched her hand.
". . . And beautiful woman I've ever been with"
She blushed at the statement.
Zell looked as if he were going to spew, covered his mouth, and ran to the bathroom to throw up.
Ward looked at his friend wide eyed.
Kiros, man, you've really lost it! I'm outta here!
He ran off to throw up as well.
"That was very generous of you, Kiros. Thank you."
"No problem. What were you saying about Dr. Odine's machine?"
After night had fallen the day before, Kiros had left to find a room, but Ultimecia had stayed for fear of being in the center of the SeeDs. Kiros had returned in the morning, and the two had stayed there talking. Kiros hadn't even heard anything about how un/successful Laguna was with Squall. Heck, he didn't even know if he had spilled the beans yet.
***
Reno, Rude, and Elena made their way to the hangar. Vincent had stayed with Aeris, but had left them to find Oren. They had gotten to the bridge, and found that Oren had taken a plane off north. They went back to the hangar; thankful that time in Turk training included mild piloting skills. The downside was, that was for commercial aircraft, not fighters.
"Should we go back?" Elena asked, looking at the fighter planes, not thinking she could fly a single one of them.
"No way. I need my money now." Reno hopped into a MIG-29 Fulcrum from the stairs.
"MIG. Russian plane invented by brought into circulation by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich" He told his fellow Turks.
"We're glad you've been doing your homework, but what do we fly?"
"Who said you had to? You and Rude probably don't have my skills, and we only need one of us to find Oren. Don't worry, two people can ride, if you want"
"You've done it Reno! We fly solo! Come on!" she dragged the quiet Rude to two other planes.
Elena hustled up the stairs and into the cockpit of an F-14A Tomcat.
"Hurry up, Rude!" she yelled.
Rude eyed a Harrier.
"Not an AV-8B! That's VTOL aircraft!"
"So?" Rude gave one of his rare words.
"Never mind. Just hurry, Reno's already taking off"
Reno's Fulcrum sped out into the open air, and he felt pretty good about himself.
"Man I'm good!" he said through his gear, accidentally pulling a lever.
"AHHH!" he screamed as the plane did a complete somersault through the skies at 800 mph, and then headed upside-down right back for Esthar Garden.
"Woah!" He struggled to lift the nose and decelerate to a maximum, just as the belly of the aircraft made sparks along the side of Esthar Garden.
"Holy. . . I have to be more careful" he said over the radio.
"Reno, is that you? Holy hell, who told you you could fly!?" Cid Highwind yelled over the radio.
"Reno, this is AWACS. Call me Blue 42. Cid is Apocalypse 1. We need help here"
"Oren! Er, Blue 42, we need you to get us back to our planet temporarily."
"That'll have to wait. Help us out here, these aviatars are getting frisky"
"Avia-whats?"
"Head north about five miles at now thirty-thousand feet. Reno, your call sign is 'Turkey 1'"
"What!?"
"Are those your friends I detect on radar?"
"Yeah, a Tomcat and a Harrier"
"I or II?"
"I can't say"
"Hey Reno, its Elena! I told you we could fly"
"Shaky as hell, ya know"
"You're not a very good pilot either. This is almost nothing like those airships"
"But you know the basics. Elena, Rude, this is AWACS, Blue 42. You two are Turkeys 2 and 3. Head five miles north to engage"
"What?"
"I'm not taking you back to your planet, even if it is temporary, until you help us. Over and out"
With that in mind, MIG-29, F-14A, and AV-8B flew north, shakily at first, and then smoother. The 'Turkeys' were going to join the fight.
***
Hours later, the bodies of the aviatars, hit with bullets, blown in half, flown right through, or burned by engines littered the ocean and the beach near Balamb. The garden came to a stationary position uncomfortably close to the port town.
Raijin and Fujin who were at the dock fishing at the time heard the sound along with the other seventy-eight residents of Balamb.
***
Oren, Nida, and Squall came back to the bridge exhausted from the air battle.
"Are they all taken care of?" Quistis asked Squall.
"Yeah. But Oren says we have a new problem."
Everyone present groaned.
"Kappa and Lambda have made it to Balamb field. And they don't look like they're going to back off. I don't want to risk losing anyone, so I'll try to teleport this garden somewhere else, but it requires more than one person for something so large. So I'll try to--"
"That won't be necessary" Eta said, appearing silently with Theta and Mu from out of the blue.
Anyone that was able prepared for battle, and Nida's hand hovered over the P. A. system speaker.
"Why are you here? We can't fight you right now, give us time to--"
"Hold on" Mu cut Oren off. Mu was a strongly build one, wore the same design as Theta and tied his mass of red hair behind him in a ponytail.
"We didn't come to kill you. Looks like your telling the truth, Oren"
Oren looked like he was about to faint and his hands fell at his side. He opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was:
"Wha. . . ?"
"Everyone, calm down" Mu said, waving around the bridge.
"You see, we found files of the minute Omega's signals disappeared, and your signal was millions of miles away at the time. We know you're innocent. I showed Eta and Theta."
"This is great! Just show everyone else the proof and--"
"But you still killed Iota. The fact that you were desperately preaching truth makes up for that, though."
". . . well, still. Just show Pyros and--"
"Hold on! You're trying to stop him from acquiring this planet and others. Do you think he'll just forgive you?"
"Are you still fighting against us?" Squall asked cautiously.
"Us three, no. The others, we can't help you" Theta responded. He then walked next to Mu.
"You see, the file expired. It self deleted. We have no way of proving to the others that you had nothing to do with Omega's death. As a matter of fact, they think we're traitors"
"Traitors!?"
"They have track of our signals. They see we're here without any sort of aggression. They'll kill us" Eta explained.
"You seem awfully calm about this. Do you have anything planned?"
"Oren, the agony we've forced you into over these five years is unforgivable. We have something that will give you an awesome advantage. But of course, we can't tell you yet." Theta turned and began walking off.
"What do you mean? What are you talking about?"
Eta walked after him to the elevator, and Mu as well. First, he turned around for a little more of a message.
"Let Xu stay here and watch the control room. Oren, tell the rest of them to gather up every other 'charged' fighter and exit Esthar Garden. We think we can help your party greatly"
As suddenly as they had appeared, the three fighters that appeared turned- around left the bridge in silence.
"Oren?" Squall shook his shoulder when he didn't move.
"Oh, you wanted something?"
"Will we follow them? Is it a trap?"
"They're too powerful to need a trap. Tell Nida to call everyone and help order them at the front. Leave Xu here to make sure the bridge stays under control" Oren said as he ran into the elevator.
Squall gave the order, putting the garden into another flurry of activity and leaving Xu alone on the bridge.
***
Eta, Theta, and Mu walked to face Kappa and Lambda. Kappa looked at them and laughed.
"Traitors, huh? What's up with you guys?"
None of them spoke.
"You both realize that Nu and Xi are on their way. We'll have them take care of you; you know Pyros doesn't forgive traitors."
They stayed quiet.
Nu crashed in through the glass top of the bridge, followed by Xi. They both landed behind Xu who quickly spun in her chair and reached for the security system alarm.
Xi cracked a knuckle and suddenly the system wouldn't work.
"St-state your business here! Who are you!" Xu asked more courageously than she felt, standing up from her seat and leveling the gun from under the seat.
"Xu, is that you?" Nu asked coolly, sitting down on the ground.
"Identify yourself!" she said strictly, inching her way towards the door.
"You've gotten much older" Xi said, suddenly behind her blocking off the exit.
She decided to become more formal.
"I don't know any of you. I've never seen you before. But I can have you in trouble for the damage you just caused to the roof"
"Come with us, Xu, you belong" Xi said simply.
She shook the brown hair out of her eyes, doubling for a shake of her head.
"Then we'll have to use force." Nu and Xi said in unison.
________________________________________________________________________
AN: The week of updating for this fic has begun. Hooray for summer! Now I can finish this fic twice as fast! Oh, I took a reviewers advice for the mental conversation in chapter 13, by putting captions. I attempted to make it italicized the first time, but for some reason the italics won't show up when I upload the chapters to fanfiction.net. Go figure. Also, I purposely vaguely covered the aerial battle because I'm going to put in a flight log, which consists of all the radio communications from it. It has no effect on the story whatsoever, and you don't even have to read it if you don't feel like it, just if you want a clearer view of what happened to the aviatars. The flight log won't be as long as chapter 14, so don't worry about a long wait. I'll be putting it in before chapter 14, but I'll probably end up doing them at the same time.
By Blue Dragon
Eta, Theta, and Mu. Traitors! Xi and Nu, honorable, strong, and missing a sister.
Nu and Xi, both twin brothers like Delta and Epsilon and sort of a replacement flew down through the atmosphere. Unlike Delta and Epsilon, they both wore red, the only ones in Pyros' league to wear such.
The sunglasses they had on were rimmed in silver.
They sizzled through the atmosphere, launched through the blue skies, and soon sighted their target. The bridge of Esthar Garden. They were only there to get back a lost sister. Xu. Xu was the link between Nu and Xi. Without her they felt incomplete. Although she wasn't from Pyros' league, she was still a valuable asset.
***
Steiner let himself in to Zidane's room and stood at attention next to the door.
"Rusty?" he asked.
"Sire. I needed to speak to you"
"Yeah?" he asked, this time standing up.
"As strange as this may sound coming from me, please try to be happier"
This certainly caught Zidane off guard.
"Everyone, including me, looks to you as our source of light. No matter how bleak the situation, you're always happy enough to make the rest of us feel hope. If you're sad, that's a sight so rare that we tend to think that the situation must be so bleak and so horrible, that not even YOU can keep your happiness. And that is precisely why we would like you to remain happy."
"Geez. Since when did everyone start looking up to me so much?"
"Since we almost lost you on Terra."
Zidane blinked and dusted the ground with his tail.
"I didn't know you had it in ya. Thanks Rusty, I'll try to be as fruity as possible"
"The queen would like to see you in her dorm"
"Her dorm? Isn't that off limits?"
"I'm sure you'll get clearance. Now if you don't mind . . . I'm going to see Beatrix" Steiner said as he left with his armor clanking in the background, the sound slowly fading away.
***
Squall was back on the bridge pacing around. He thought to himself about the encounter with Laguna. . . he refused to believe it. That he was in any way related to that clown, Laguna. He tried to shake it out of his head, and then looked at Quistis who was at her seat working on something.
"Quistis? With Oren gone, what do you think we should do next?"
She shook her head blankly without taking her face from the monitor.
"I'm sure that Jessica will try to find him again. But I don't know--"
Oren walked in through the room, a new fire in his eyes.
"I've figured it out! More rigorous training! In the Balamb area!"
Everyone on the bridge stared.
"Are you kidding? Oren where did you come from? Where were you?"
"Never mind that, I've figured something! If I can train you all in all attributes and this time get the help of Seymour, Ultimecia, and Sephiroth, then we can't lose! We'll win for sure!"
"You seem pretty renewed" Quistis said dryly.
"It's simple; we just set a course for Balamb and--" Oren cut himself off.
"What?" Squall asked.
"I didn't know they still existed. We have aviatars coming our way"
"Aviatars?"
"Flying beasts that devour metal.Jessica and I are the only ones that can maintain flight long enough, and they will overwhelm us with numbers"
"What do aviatars look like?"
"They look like dinosaurs. Pterodactyls maybe. Except purple, and they consume metal. I bet Pyros sent them to devour this ship and leave us even more defenseless. We're doomed if we can't combat them"
***
Pyros laughed and laughed.
"I bet that he never expected aviatars to come! Hah! Now what will that fool do? That garden will be gone!!"
Farfy nodded.
"Yes sir, sending Nu and Xi with aviatars was an excellent plan. Hahahahaha"
"Shut up, Farfy."
". . . Yes sir"
***
"The planes!" Nida yelled.
"What?" Squall asked redundantly.
"We have planes, right? Maybe we can shoot them all!"
"That'd work, but we have few qualified pilots and no one can understand the AWACS computer radar system"
"What exactly is AWACS? I may be qualified in such aircraft" Oren asked.
"AWACS stands for Air Warning and Control System" Nida casually explained.
"Oh. I should be able to interpret that radar. Just leave it to me!"
"If you say so. . . "
Nida left the glowing consoles and the AWACS screen popped up. Hundreds of tiny things on radar were flying to the big white circle, about five miles away.
"Bandits. . . " Oren muttered.
"Bandits?" asked Nida.
"Bandits are in reference to enemy aircraft, but in this case the aviatars. Make an announcement for all qualified pilots to get some planes. Also tell the qualified fighters to operate the SAMs and the flak guns."
"Sure" Squall picked up his speaker, and made an announcement.
"All qualified pilots, get to the aircraft deployment area. We have a few hundred bandits closing in. Oren will serve as you're AWACS commander"
Oren took the speaker.
"I'll clear you for takeoff and engagement. I'll also issue codenames."
Nida immediately left the bridge for the hangar, trying to recall as much as he could about what the FH engineers had told him about flying aircraft as well as the garden.
The four Cids and Nida were disappointed to find that they were the only qualified pilots when they got to the bridge.
"We can't beat hundreds of aviatars like this!" Nida yelled, throwing up his hands in defeat.
"Calm down" said the Headmaster.
"Our skills should prove more than a match. Just pick a plane"
The hangar was large, steel, and had many planes neatly lined up. Fortunately, there were plenty of students to operate the stationary and portable SAMs and enough to operate the flak guns as well.
"I'll take an F-15A" Cid Highwind said, hopping into the cockpit from the metal stairs that led up to it. The top of the cockpit closed neatly over him as he stared at all the familiar controls.
"How about that one?" The Headmaster asked, pointing to the F-15E. He clumsily went in. It had been a while since his piloting days, but he had no choice.
"I've never seen these . . . " the Regent muttered as he climbed into the SU-37.
"Oh! I can easily work these controls!" he said when he saw them.
Cid the Al Bhed didn't think he'd have any trouble when he climbed into the F-16C.
"I guess I'll take this" Nida said when he climbed into an F/A-18C.
Highwind was in an ACTIVE Eagle, the Headmaster in a Striker Eagle, Regent in a Super Flanker, the Al Bhed in a Falcon, and Nida in a Hornet.
"Are you guy's in yet?" Oren asked over the radio, his voice crackling over the system.
"Yeah" Highwind said into the radio.
"Then you are all clear for takeoff!"
It was shaky at first, but the ports at the side of the hangar closed as the ones at the end opened. The five planes sped up and took off. There was a roar as the engines started up for the first time, blasting the aircraft away from garden and into the skies lined with puffy white clouds at high speeds. The wheels of the landing gear tucked back into the belly of the machines and the rides stabilized.
"Uh.this is AWACS. Here in the 'military' we use call signs. Usually for security, but not in this case since the enemy isn't sentient. Pyros could still be listening in. I trust you all know call signs and military talk?" Oren's voice crackled over the radio as the five were flying in formation, airborne. The blue skies calmed them, the garden getting further away. It was very quiet up there.
"Yes" everyone answered.
"Good. Okay, my call sign will be 'Blue 42'. Nida, you're 'Sonic 5'."
"I thought 'S' was Sierra?" Nida's voice crackled back over the radio.
"We're changing things around. Regent Cid, you're Romeo 3. Al Bhed Cid, you're Echo 4. Headmaster, you'll be Hero 2. Highwind, you're Apocalypse 1. Alright?"
Affirmative responses crackled back to Oren over the radio.
"Good. Three hundred and eight bandits spotted five miles north and closing at seventy-two mph at vector three-two-zero. Right in front of you. Keep flying to intercept them. You're cleared to engage."
Nida had forgotten how fast planes were, and didn't think his F/A-18C would go five miles very fast. That was until he looked at the speedometer and noticed he was moving at an impressive rate of 600 mph and approaching the speed of sound.
"Its been a while since I've flown. Maybe these things will get me warmed up" he said over the radio."
"Hey" Oren said over the radio.
"I've got a U2 and an SR-71 here. I'm thinking of the SR. What do you think"
"Those don't seem like good AWACS planes" Apocalypse 1 said back.
"I know, but I'll be around and will need to relay information about the fight back and forth to garden. The communications there are down and I need a fast plane."
"Fine. The Blackbird sounds good then" was the response.
Nida thought it would take some time for Oren to catch up, but zooming in the skies at an amazing speed past them was the Blackbird.
"What the. . . ?" Sonic 5 asked.
"Blue 42 here. Sonic 5, keep in mind that this is reconnaissance aircraft. Of course it goes fast"
"Oh"
In a matter of minutes purple figures filled the skies.
"Blue 42 again. Make sure that your helmets are on tight, and all your gear is on right. Lets show these things what we're made of"
The six aircraft made their way into the sea of aviatars.
****
Reno had been with Rude and Elena watching the aircraft leave the small hangar at the side of the Esthar Garden, but Reno had soon grown bored and tried to start a conversation more than once but failed. He succeeded finally when he asked a genuine question.
"What are those things anyway?" he asked, pointing to the surface to air weapons stationed by small open ports to defend against any aerial attacks.
"Surface to air weapons" the two were surprised when Rude spoke up.
"AA guns. They stand for 'anti aircraft' and shoot bullets at high speeds into any aerial invaders. SAM. It stands for 'surface to air missile'. They are capable of locking on to aerial targets and firing missiles from the ground or any other stationing position. Flak guns. They launch explosive shells at high trajectories in attempts to hinder the flight of any airborne enemy."
"How'd you know that?" Reno asked suspiciously.
Rude uncrossed one arm and pointed to the tour card at the entrance that gave detailed information of everything in the hangar.
"I was reading from that card" he said nothing more.
"Huh" Reno gave Rude a question turned acknowledgement.
Vincent seemed to float past them, and Reno didn't care until he remembered the job that he had been requesting earlier before they had been dragged across the galaxy.
"Hey!" he ran after him, thought about putting his hand on his shoulder, and then decided against it.
He paused his walking, stared ahead, and then turned to face Reno.
"Yes?"
"You came to our office saying you needed a job done. I'm curious to find out just what that job may be."
For a few seconds Vincent made Reno extremely uncomfortable with his gaze, took a deep breath, and started speaking.
"Suspicious figures were coming into the abandoned Shinra mansion. Each day they would come, scout out the place, and then leave. They did this for three days before the foul play came. Inside near the area where I once rested--"
"What, your coffin?" Reno asked. It had been meant as a joke.
"Actually, yes"
His face became pale.
"Well, inside that room they dragged someone who appeared to be a young female. She seemed to be going there against her will. Then I heard sounds as if someone was being tortured. After that people came out, but it was only the two men. The girl did not. I was deeply disturbed by this and wanted to take them into custody but didn't have to manpower. So I hired you to investigate."
"The last time I checked, you were a member of AVALANCHE, so what makes you think I'll be willing to help you?"
Vincent pulled out 1000 gill in bills.
"Uh. . ." Reno snatched the bills and put them into his coat pocket.
"That was half. The other half when you and your partners investigate. Is that agreed?"
"Yeah, yeah, but we have a problem. We can't get back to out planet without Oren."
"Then I suppose we'll have to find him" Elena said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm not going to let that blow another 1000 gil. We need those funds."
"We will probably find him in the bridge. . . " Vincent trailed off and seemed to glide across the hangar and to the exit near the elevator.
***
Sephiroth rushed to find Jessica, wherever she may be. He was at the time checking the second floor hallways for her. For a while he refused to believe she was real. . .
The younger version of Sephiroth sat at a computer console in the Shinra H. Q. stationed in Midgar. It was going to be the next day that he would be sent off the compound with Cloud, Zack, and a few other soldiers eliminate the problem in the reactor on Mt. Nibel.
He wanted to look up information on the terrain so that he wouldn't get lost, even though a guide would be issued for the trip. He read the console blankly. It was a pretty old computer and it lacked a graphical user interface, so he had to manually put in commands.
His hands hovered over the keyboard, unsure of what to do, when letters typed themselves on the screen.
Of course, this had happened before when the machine was typing commands into itself, but these letters were red. And they illustrated the communications of a sentient being.
/: We're still light years away, but I might be able to dig up information from this computer. Sending my consciousness to a machine? Talk about strange.
He almost lost all decorum and jumped out of his seat. Maybe there was life out there!
/: This is Sephiroth, currently logged on to this computer. State your business.
He had felt strange, talking to a computer.
/: . . . I'm sorry. I thought this computer was unoccupied.
/: I don't care about that. Where are you? How are you using this computer?
/: Can I trust you to keep a secret?
/: No, but I may change my mind.
/: Good enough. I am a Zatach named Jessica, currently quite a distance from your planet. I'm trying to dig information from it by using a device on this ship that lets me send and receive electrical signals.
/: Light years? I don't believe you. What sort of trick is this?
/: Trick or not, I just need to gather information, not chat.
/: I'm not going to tell anyone about you, but only because I think your crazy and they'll think I'm crazy, too.
/: You seem angry. Is something wrong?
Sephiroth ran down the hall faster and shook of the thoughts of those conversations. It had been like some kind of intergalactic Internet, something he had wanted to forget. But the thought of seeing the real Jessica in person excited him.
***
Cloud leaned with Aeris on the windowsill facing north, trying to see the aerial battle unfolding five miles in the distance.
Aeris seemed to be staring out, but not at the battle. Into space.
"Are you okay?" Cloud asked her.
"This planet. It has a different voice. And personality, too"
"What?"
"Our planet was like a child, a sick child. It always sounded so. . . I can't explain it. Humble. But this one is like a full-grown man, cynical, sarcastic. Its funny! When it speaks, it always has a joke. It even makes fun of the warring species that live on it!"
"Is that so? It tells jokes? What kind?"
"I can't explain them, they're more like feelings than words. Something you can't exactly here, but it still makes you want to laugh!"
". . . Right"
"I wish you could hear it. All my life I was listening to my home crying, but it feels so great to listen to this one joke. It always has a witty comment. It's even talking about the fight in the distance. Hearing it speak almost makes life completely worth living."
Cloud smiled.
"It must sound great"
She looked at him and smiled back.
"It really does"
Sephiroth kicked up an amazing wind as he hustled past, not even seeming to notice the two.
"He doesn't bother you, does he?" he asked her.
She shook her head.
"Not really. He doesn't seem to care. You haven't noticed how soft he's been getting?"
"What're you talking about?"
"He used to always have that mean look, like he wanted to kill the next thing that moved. Now he looks like a boy waiting for his mother to come back home."
Cloud raised an eyebrow.
"Eh?"
"You probably haven't been around him as much as I have."
"!?"
They were interrupted when another group brushed passed them at high speeds. It was Vincent and the Turks. Vincent blinked. Reno blinked. Elena blinked. You couldn't tell if Rude did or not.
"Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing? I thought you were dead!" Reno exclaimed.
***
Oren circled the battle scene in the SR-71. The aviatars were a half of the way gone, and the battle had shifted from around fifteen feet to thirty- five thousand feet, and although the Oren's Blackbird was just fine, but Nida's Hornet and the Headmaster's Striker Eagle were starting to have engine trouble.
"Can I get a report, AWACS?" the Al Bhed asked.
"On what?"
"How many of these things are still alive?"
"You've gotten one hundred and eighty-eight"
"That's still over a hundred to go! And there's blood all over the front of my plane!" Nida whined over the radio.
***
"You're telling me you possessed someone from the past with Dr. Odine's machine? You're good. You're really good"
"Well, it wasn't really that hard. I could easily use it if I attached the machine into my cerebral cortex."
"Instead of your jugular? How'd you get the needle in there?"
Ward felt that he was about to throw up as he listened to Kiros and Ultimecia chat on and on as if they were old friends.
Zell burst into the conference room with a look of plain surprise on his face.
". . . What the hell? Mr. Seagill, don't you know who that is? That's Sorceress Ultimecia, the most evil, disgusting, gruesome, malicious, power- hungry sorceress ever to walk this side of the universe that almost killed us!"
"Well the way I've seen it, she's the funniest, sweetest, most intelligent, interesting, kind-hearted. . . "
He touched her hand.
". . . And beautiful woman I've ever been with"
She blushed at the statement.
Zell looked as if he were going to spew, covered his mouth, and ran to the bathroom to throw up.
Ward looked at his friend wide eyed.
Kiros, man, you've really lost it! I'm outta here!
He ran off to throw up as well.
"That was very generous of you, Kiros. Thank you."
"No problem. What were you saying about Dr. Odine's machine?"
After night had fallen the day before, Kiros had left to find a room, but Ultimecia had stayed for fear of being in the center of the SeeDs. Kiros had returned in the morning, and the two had stayed there talking. Kiros hadn't even heard anything about how un/successful Laguna was with Squall. Heck, he didn't even know if he had spilled the beans yet.
***
Reno, Rude, and Elena made their way to the hangar. Vincent had stayed with Aeris, but had left them to find Oren. They had gotten to the bridge, and found that Oren had taken a plane off north. They went back to the hangar; thankful that time in Turk training included mild piloting skills. The downside was, that was for commercial aircraft, not fighters.
"Should we go back?" Elena asked, looking at the fighter planes, not thinking she could fly a single one of them.
"No way. I need my money now." Reno hopped into a MIG-29 Fulcrum from the stairs.
"MIG. Russian plane invented by brought into circulation by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich" He told his fellow Turks.
"We're glad you've been doing your homework, but what do we fly?"
"Who said you had to? You and Rude probably don't have my skills, and we only need one of us to find Oren. Don't worry, two people can ride, if you want"
"You've done it Reno! We fly solo! Come on!" she dragged the quiet Rude to two other planes.
Elena hustled up the stairs and into the cockpit of an F-14A Tomcat.
"Hurry up, Rude!" she yelled.
Rude eyed a Harrier.
"Not an AV-8B! That's VTOL aircraft!"
"So?" Rude gave one of his rare words.
"Never mind. Just hurry, Reno's already taking off"
Reno's Fulcrum sped out into the open air, and he felt pretty good about himself.
"Man I'm good!" he said through his gear, accidentally pulling a lever.
"AHHH!" he screamed as the plane did a complete somersault through the skies at 800 mph, and then headed upside-down right back for Esthar Garden.
"Woah!" He struggled to lift the nose and decelerate to a maximum, just as the belly of the aircraft made sparks along the side of Esthar Garden.
"Holy. . . I have to be more careful" he said over the radio.
"Reno, is that you? Holy hell, who told you you could fly!?" Cid Highwind yelled over the radio.
"Reno, this is AWACS. Call me Blue 42. Cid is Apocalypse 1. We need help here"
"Oren! Er, Blue 42, we need you to get us back to our planet temporarily."
"That'll have to wait. Help us out here, these aviatars are getting frisky"
"Avia-whats?"
"Head north about five miles at now thirty-thousand feet. Reno, your call sign is 'Turkey 1'"
"What!?"
"Are those your friends I detect on radar?"
"Yeah, a Tomcat and a Harrier"
"I or II?"
"I can't say"
"Hey Reno, its Elena! I told you we could fly"
"Shaky as hell, ya know"
"You're not a very good pilot either. This is almost nothing like those airships"
"But you know the basics. Elena, Rude, this is AWACS, Blue 42. You two are Turkeys 2 and 3. Head five miles north to engage"
"What?"
"I'm not taking you back to your planet, even if it is temporary, until you help us. Over and out"
With that in mind, MIG-29, F-14A, and AV-8B flew north, shakily at first, and then smoother. The 'Turkeys' were going to join the fight.
***
Hours later, the bodies of the aviatars, hit with bullets, blown in half, flown right through, or burned by engines littered the ocean and the beach near Balamb. The garden came to a stationary position uncomfortably close to the port town.
Raijin and Fujin who were at the dock fishing at the time heard the sound along with the other seventy-eight residents of Balamb.
***
Oren, Nida, and Squall came back to the bridge exhausted from the air battle.
"Are they all taken care of?" Quistis asked Squall.
"Yeah. But Oren says we have a new problem."
Everyone present groaned.
"Kappa and Lambda have made it to Balamb field. And they don't look like they're going to back off. I don't want to risk losing anyone, so I'll try to teleport this garden somewhere else, but it requires more than one person for something so large. So I'll try to--"
"That won't be necessary" Eta said, appearing silently with Theta and Mu from out of the blue.
Anyone that was able prepared for battle, and Nida's hand hovered over the P. A. system speaker.
"Why are you here? We can't fight you right now, give us time to--"
"Hold on" Mu cut Oren off. Mu was a strongly build one, wore the same design as Theta and tied his mass of red hair behind him in a ponytail.
"We didn't come to kill you. Looks like your telling the truth, Oren"
Oren looked like he was about to faint and his hands fell at his side. He opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was:
"Wha. . . ?"
"Everyone, calm down" Mu said, waving around the bridge.
"You see, we found files of the minute Omega's signals disappeared, and your signal was millions of miles away at the time. We know you're innocent. I showed Eta and Theta."
"This is great! Just show everyone else the proof and--"
"But you still killed Iota. The fact that you were desperately preaching truth makes up for that, though."
". . . well, still. Just show Pyros and--"
"Hold on! You're trying to stop him from acquiring this planet and others. Do you think he'll just forgive you?"
"Are you still fighting against us?" Squall asked cautiously.
"Us three, no. The others, we can't help you" Theta responded. He then walked next to Mu.
"You see, the file expired. It self deleted. We have no way of proving to the others that you had nothing to do with Omega's death. As a matter of fact, they think we're traitors"
"Traitors!?"
"They have track of our signals. They see we're here without any sort of aggression. They'll kill us" Eta explained.
"You seem awfully calm about this. Do you have anything planned?"
"Oren, the agony we've forced you into over these five years is unforgivable. We have something that will give you an awesome advantage. But of course, we can't tell you yet." Theta turned and began walking off.
"What do you mean? What are you talking about?"
Eta walked after him to the elevator, and Mu as well. First, he turned around for a little more of a message.
"Let Xu stay here and watch the control room. Oren, tell the rest of them to gather up every other 'charged' fighter and exit Esthar Garden. We think we can help your party greatly"
As suddenly as they had appeared, the three fighters that appeared turned- around left the bridge in silence.
"Oren?" Squall shook his shoulder when he didn't move.
"Oh, you wanted something?"
"Will we follow them? Is it a trap?"
"They're too powerful to need a trap. Tell Nida to call everyone and help order them at the front. Leave Xu here to make sure the bridge stays under control" Oren said as he ran into the elevator.
Squall gave the order, putting the garden into another flurry of activity and leaving Xu alone on the bridge.
***
Eta, Theta, and Mu walked to face Kappa and Lambda. Kappa looked at them and laughed.
"Traitors, huh? What's up with you guys?"
None of them spoke.
"You both realize that Nu and Xi are on their way. We'll have them take care of you; you know Pyros doesn't forgive traitors."
They stayed quiet.
Nu crashed in through the glass top of the bridge, followed by Xi. They both landed behind Xu who quickly spun in her chair and reached for the security system alarm.
Xi cracked a knuckle and suddenly the system wouldn't work.
"St-state your business here! Who are you!" Xu asked more courageously than she felt, standing up from her seat and leveling the gun from under the seat.
"Xu, is that you?" Nu asked coolly, sitting down on the ground.
"Identify yourself!" she said strictly, inching her way towards the door.
"You've gotten much older" Xi said, suddenly behind her blocking off the exit.
She decided to become more formal.
"I don't know any of you. I've never seen you before. But I can have you in trouble for the damage you just caused to the roof"
"Come with us, Xu, you belong" Xi said simply.
She shook the brown hair out of her eyes, doubling for a shake of her head.
"Then we'll have to use force." Nu and Xi said in unison.
________________________________________________________________________
AN: The week of updating for this fic has begun. Hooray for summer! Now I can finish this fic twice as fast! Oh, I took a reviewers advice for the mental conversation in chapter 13, by putting captions. I attempted to make it italicized the first time, but for some reason the italics won't show up when I upload the chapters to fanfiction.net. Go figure. Also, I purposely vaguely covered the aerial battle because I'm going to put in a flight log, which consists of all the radio communications from it. It has no effect on the story whatsoever, and you don't even have to read it if you don't feel like it, just if you want a clearer view of what happened to the aviatars. The flight log won't be as long as chapter 14, so don't worry about a long wait. I'll be putting it in before chapter 14, but I'll probably end up doing them at the same time.