Sephira: Fixed chapter 10! Yay! I'm so much more pleased with my part.
*huggles it* Sugary sweet! ^o^
Viteros: Blllaaahhh... -_-
Sephira: *too happy to notice* ^o^
Disclaimer: We don't own anything having to do with Final Fantasy. Beloved Squaresoft does. ^^
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------
~Chapter 10~
Sephira, her consciousness returning to her, even before she opened her eyes, knew something was wrong. Her arms felt tensed, stretched, and her feet connected with nothing. She felt disoriented. Opening her eyes, she moaned at the pounding in her head and tried to place a hand on her forehead, to find that she couldn't; her hands were chained at the wrists. She was suspended a foot off the ground, hanging.
"Hello?" she called, listening as her voice echoed throughout the large, metallic room. Studying her surroundings, she noted the phials of some kind of green substance, test tubes, microscopes, and all other kinds of scientific materials.
Glancing up as the door opened, her eyes narrowed. Angel-Black stepped into the room, a line of light coming from behind him, from the lit hallway. Smiling a bit, he shut the door behind him, crossing the room towards her.
"Evening," he said simply, smiling at her. Sephira didn't reply to him, simply glared balefully. Angel laughed shortly and stood in front of her, grinning. As she continued to glower at him, he pinched her cheek, saying, "You're so cute when you're angry!"
Snarling, she instinctively kicked out and booted him in the nose. Angel cried out and stumbled back a pace, his hands flying to his face. Sephira laughed bitterly. "Do not touch me when I do not ask it."
"You did not have to kick me," Angel mumbled, his voice muffled by his hands. Checking his nose to confirm it wasn't broken, he sniffled a little, muttering a quiet little noise of pain. Sephira laughed again.
"What a child."
Angel, an innocent, reproachful expression on his face, mumbled something incoherant. Looking up at her, sighed a little. "You are so cruel..."
Sephira arched an eyebrow. "Oh... I am cruel? What about you? You hurt my friends!" Glaring once again, she tried to kick out at him again, but he kept his distance. "You hurt Kuja! You hurt Viteros! How could you do something like that?!"
He was silent for a moment, as though he were thinking of what to say, and how to say it. Glancing up at her, he said, "Well...I had to..."
"No you did not!" Sephira protested, kicking out again, even though Angel was just out of her range. "Come closer so I can kick you again!" she shouted angrily.
"Hn... No thank you..." Angel muttered, touching his nose with his hand again, and sniffling. Looking around the room, he brushed some hair from his eyes, striding over to a table and picking up a phial, turning it over in his palms. "Do you know what this is?" he asked.
"How should I know?" Sephira snapped, glaring at him.
He turned to face her, his face unreadable. "It is called Mako. It was used, many years ago, to create beings of higher intelligence, higher strength, speed, mobility. It made better soldiers. One of them... he lost his mind, killed so many, almost destroyed the Planet. Maybe you knew him?" He studied her for a moment. When she didn't answer, her only expression confusion, he shook his head. "Maybe not. This man though, he was pushed over the brink of sanity by some kind of discovery. So, he turned on the Planet. He was eventually stopped. Killed."
"Why do I care about this?" Sephira asked, glowering at him.
Angel placed the phial back on the table and came closer to her again. "I do not know why. Maybe...maybe it has something to do with the Angel Project?" Angel arched an eyebrow, as though expecting her to continue.
"What are you talking about?! I have absolutely no idea of what you are speaking!" Sephira shook her head at him. "You are so confused. Why have you brought me here?"
"For the Angel Project. My Master needs you. He needs you for some reason. You are an Angel, correct?" Angel moved a little closer, reaching out his hands and placing them on her ankles, so that she couldn't kick him again.
She struggled, muttering, "Let me go... I do not know what you are talking about..." Pulling a foot away from him, she kicked out at his face, but he blocked her with his free hand.
"Please...don't kick me again..." he asked kindly. "I do not really want a broken nose..."
"Let me go! You have no right to keep me here! Release me at once!" she shouted, trying to get free. Angel shook his head, pursing his lips, remaining silent.
"I'm sorry, but, I really cannot. My Master wishes to talk to you, angel." Angel smiled. "Don't worry. He is not cruel."
"I do not wish to speak with him!" Sephira cried angrily. "Release me and return me to my companions!"
Angel sighed, release her and stepped back, holding up his hands. "Okay. I know you do not wish to be here; I can understand." Looking around him, he sighed. "It is drab, dull, and you did not want to be snatched from your friends. But, my Master seemed very insistant on bringing you here." Arching an eyebrow, Angel smiled. "I can let you down if you *promise* not to run. Stay with me?"
Sephira shook her head, glaring at him. "Of course not! I am leaving! Let me down!"
Angel sighed and shook his head. "I guess I shall have to leave you up there for now, unfortunately. You really should agree with me. Then, maybe you wouldn't be so unhappy."
Sephira muttered incoherantly for a moment, then looked back at Angel, who was watching her. "...I guess I could stay here. Maybe... Let me down."
Angel smiled and walked forward. "Hnn... I'm sure your simply lying, but, I shall let you down anyway. Please, don't bolt for the door the moment I let you down."
Sephira smirked and lept to the ground as Angel released her wrists, she glanced around her, then began to dash for the door. Angel held out a hand and placed it on her foreheard, keeping her there lightly. Pushing her back a little, she unbalanced and fell down. "Damn you!" she cried, sitting slumped on the ground, fuming.
Angel crouched beside her, smiling. "I told you not to bolt the second I let you go. Let's talk first. I want to talk with you, get to know you. I find you quite interesting."
"I do not particularly care whether you find me 'interesting' or not. I want to leave."
"And I don't; not yet. Stay here? Please?" A hopefully innocent expression arose on his face. Sephira shook her head, sighing.
"I cannot believe that I am going to agree and stay with you. You are too pathetic." Looking around, she pursed her lips. "Talk already, then."
Angel collapsed to his knees beside her, smiling. "Okay. Talk...hmm... Well... Tell me about yourself."
"You tell me about YOURself. I do not want to talk," Sephira muttered, crossing her arms. Staring balefully at him for a a moment, she sighed in anger. "Speak!"
Angel laughed a little and shook his head. "Fine, you are a difficult girl. I shall speak then. What about though?" He raised his eyebrows, as if asking her to give him suggestions. She scoffed, so he continued. "Well, then... I shall tell you about myself. My past, maybe?"
"It sounds interesting. Continue." Sephira sat back, leaning against the wall, pulling her legs to her, wrapping her arms around them.
Angel sighed. "My past..yes... Well, I am not quite sure where I came from; the furthest back that I can remember is when I was maybe...seven? Yeah, I'm sure that's about right." He blinked, his eyes distant. "I do not know what my life was before then. Terisas has been my 'father' ever since I remember. He taught me many things: the use of the sword, reading, writing, everything I know. He's an absolutely brilliant man. I won't say he is a most wonderful 'father', though. He used me for...many experiments of his..."
"Disgusting."
"Maybe. But, it did further his work, helped him through, so I do not really mind."
"What did he do to you?" Sephira asked, intrigued, leaning forward a little. Watching his carefully, she arched an eyebrow when he turned his head to the side, looking away, his eyes narrowing.
"I do not really wish to say..." he said quietly, his eyes flicking around, almost nervously.
Knowing that she had touched on a mental wound, she stopped, moving back again. "Very well. Continue. What else? I want to know about the wings."
"The wings... My wings... I am part of a project, created by Master Terisas, and Lord Garland. The played with cells, genetics, and came up with something called Angel genes, and Devil genes. Using Garland's Genomes, they experimented, injecting the genes into the souless creatures. Most of them...no...all of them, died. They would bleed to death, mutate, some would simply stop functioning, others would go mad and commit suicide. Some were never affected, though only a couple. I never witnessed this; it was before my time. I read it all in Terisas' scientific journals."
"Fascinating."
"Yes... I also read of a female Genome, one with a soul, that was injected with the Angel gene. Was...is that you?" Angel turned his face back to her, staring into her eyes. "Do you know?"
Sephira arched an eyebrow. "Not me! I am a completely normal Genome."
"Are you?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The flight was going smoothly. According to the computer logs, the most likely place Angel-Black would take Sephira was directly back to his base of operations, Outer Heaven SKY, a floating fortress high up in the atmosphere.
Viteros was gone from the bridge after setting in the course and activating autopilot. Kuja dozed, sprawled out in a chair. Zidane went back into the cargo hold.
He found Viteros back there, staring at a screen where a person danced, and arrows flew across the screen. Viteros was standing on a pad with arrows on it and jumping all over it. Zidane had to shout over the sound of music, "What's that noise!"
"It's called music, Zidane! Ever hear it!"
"I've heard music! This stuff is crazy!"
"Yeah! Gotta love it!"
The 'music' pulsed, "Hey, Mr. Wonderful, hey, you're so incredible, hey, Mr. Wonderful, wonderful to me, hey, Mr. Wonderful, oh, you're irresistible."
While Viteros 'danced', Zidane swore he could have heard him reply to the music, "Yeah, I know."
Zidane watched him for a few minutes. Then he said the only words that came to his mind. "You know, Vit?"
"What?"
Zidane grinned. "You're one crazy guy."
-----------------------
A few hours later, they were still in the cargo hold, arguing about who had made them lose in the two-player mode.
"You're just too slow! You're reflexes are nothing!"
"Me? You're the one who was like 'Huh? We had two arrows this time? Aw, dang!'"
"Grr.I think that was you."
"You."
"You!"
"You infinity."
"Dang.uh.that doesn't count!"
"Yes it does!"
"Does not!"
"Does too!"
"Nuh uh!"
"Yeah huh!"
"As.ah.'interesting' as this is," said Kuja, as he walked in, "we really need to get a move on. We have arrived at our destination, the airship Destiny."
Viteros looked confused. "Destiny? I thought we were headed for OH-SKY. Strange. I didn't know there was an airship near here.whose ship is it?"
"Take a wild, wild guess. The owner's name starts with a T."
Devil Nine snapped his fingers. "Terry!"
"No," groaned Kuja, "you know, it is really hard to believe you possess advanced intellect.its Terisas. His airship was waiting for us, and it's going to be a few seconds before he notices our presence. And by the way, that wasn't funny at all."
"But-"
"No."
"I-"
"No!"
"But-"
"Shut UP! *hiss*."
"Oh, crap, he's hissing," said Viteros. "Zidane, its time to move."
"Then, we hurry to the bridge!" put in Zidane. "Let's go!"
------------------------
At the bridge, they could see clearly in the distance, partially masked by clouds, the massive, metal-plated airship Destiny. Viteros cursed. "A little ways past where that ship is is where we can find Outer Heaven SKY. There's no way past. If we try to go around, he'll see us; the clouds further away would obscure our view so bad we wouldn't be able to navigate. If we duck below then we'll have to go way way way down to dodge all the cloud cover and come up near SKY.and we can't go any higher or the air pressure won't hold us up anymore. He's got us in check."
"As bad as check is, it is a long way from checkmate," said Kuja, scanning their view.
"Uh...actually, its pretty close..." put in Zidane.
There was a pause and the other two looked at him for a while. Then: "Huh?"
"Since when are we talking about chess, dummkopf?" laughed Viteros.
"Wait, but you just said-"
"Whatever," said Viteros, still laughing. "But you've got a point right there. When you play chess, you gotta take some risks, and make some sacrifices...suicide...and I've got your suicide, right here! Let's rock, baby!"
Kuja put his head in his hands. "You had my interest...and respect...until that last sentence. And also, that last little bit of dialogue really made no sense at all."
Taking no notice, Viteros gripped the controls tightly and took a quick look at Zidane. "Flip that big fat red switch with the sign next to it that says THE RED SWITCH, will ya?"
"Right."
Music turned on, (the reader will hafta think this up...think of your own dramatic suicidal determined musiken, you guys) and Viteros grinned. "Let's go!"
The airship lunged forward, flying straight at the Destiny.
-------------------
"Sir, there appears to be a small airship flying toward us with a maniac at the controls."
"Dammit. Not again!"
"I'm afraid so, sir."
"Activate the tracking guns!"
-------------------
Luckily for the two idiots and Kuja, Viteros was an expert pilot, easily weaving in and out between the flying bullets and missiles. Then he spun the ship and flew straight down at the enemy airship.
"What are you doing!?" shouted Kuja, desperately hanging onto the walls of the rocking airship, "Do you seriously believe you can destroy that thing!?"
"Not a chance!" Viteros yelled back, "No, if we try, we die! Hey, that rhymed.but besides that, you know we can't avoid this thing! So we distract it and then we escape! Don't worry; I've got a plan!"
Zidane groaned. "You've always got a plan."
"Whatever!"
Viteros' small aircraft once again flew in dangerously close to the Destiny, nearly being torn apart by the hail of ammunition. Viteros grinned and reached up above, pulling a small lever labeled "R".
The two Genomes could feel the floor shifting under them, but had they been outside, they would have seen the dramatic changes taking place. Where they were, they knew little of what was truly happening.
The normally aerodynamic airship's front split in two, opening up as a long, pyramidical metal pole extended, tapering to a sharp point. Two slots opened underneath, and revolving gatling guns dropped out. Openings appeared on the sides, and armored plating slowly slid out of them and covered the sides, turning the once speedy airship now into a powerful, well-defended, lumbering behemoth.
Relatively.
However, compared to the Destiny, the small airship was not much more dangerous than before.
On the inside, the screen Viteros looked out of suddenly filled with bright digital data, showing on the sides their altitude, ammunition levels, proximity of projectiles, proximity to target.
"Now this is when we fight," he said. "We're gonna knock them back down to earth!"
"Earth?" asked Kuja and Zidane simultaneously.
"Uh.never mind. Viteros grabbed a joystick that stuck out of the wall parallel to the ground. Squeezing the stick's trigger, he fired the right gatling gun, somehow aiming and flying at the same time. Shouting over the increased din, he said, "Zidane! You and Kuja get back to the cargo hold! I'm gonna open the door!"
"What are you doing!? Do you want us falling out!?"
"No! When you're back there look for a crate labeled "B HH17! Go, hurry!"
Stumbling and hitting the walls as the wildly flying airship cruised through the air, Zidane and Kuja hurried back to the crates. They hunted rapidly through them until Kuja shouted, "Here! Help me pull it out!"
It was behind a group of other ones, and while they tightly gripped its sides and began to drag, the cargo doors opened, letting in a whipping, cold wind. Squinting, with their tears streaming into the air, the two pulled it near the opening.
Viteros' voice suddenly blared from a speaker, "You guys, you got the crate!? Open it up!"
After a few frenzied seconds of straining, Kuja burned the edges and Zidane snapped off the top with his knife. "Okay! We've done it!" declared Zidane.
"You see the little balls inside? DO NOT TOUCH THEM! I'm gonna fly over the ship, and you just hurl 'em over onto the enemy! You got it right!?"
"Easy," said Zidane. "Let's do it!"
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Thanks for putting up with us and reviewing us. We love you all. ^^
Viteros: Blllaaahhh... -_-
Sephira: *too happy to notice* ^o^
Disclaimer: We don't own anything having to do with Final Fantasy. Beloved Squaresoft does. ^^
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------
~Chapter 10~
Sephira, her consciousness returning to her, even before she opened her eyes, knew something was wrong. Her arms felt tensed, stretched, and her feet connected with nothing. She felt disoriented. Opening her eyes, she moaned at the pounding in her head and tried to place a hand on her forehead, to find that she couldn't; her hands were chained at the wrists. She was suspended a foot off the ground, hanging.
"Hello?" she called, listening as her voice echoed throughout the large, metallic room. Studying her surroundings, she noted the phials of some kind of green substance, test tubes, microscopes, and all other kinds of scientific materials.
Glancing up as the door opened, her eyes narrowed. Angel-Black stepped into the room, a line of light coming from behind him, from the lit hallway. Smiling a bit, he shut the door behind him, crossing the room towards her.
"Evening," he said simply, smiling at her. Sephira didn't reply to him, simply glared balefully. Angel laughed shortly and stood in front of her, grinning. As she continued to glower at him, he pinched her cheek, saying, "You're so cute when you're angry!"
Snarling, she instinctively kicked out and booted him in the nose. Angel cried out and stumbled back a pace, his hands flying to his face. Sephira laughed bitterly. "Do not touch me when I do not ask it."
"You did not have to kick me," Angel mumbled, his voice muffled by his hands. Checking his nose to confirm it wasn't broken, he sniffled a little, muttering a quiet little noise of pain. Sephira laughed again.
"What a child."
Angel, an innocent, reproachful expression on his face, mumbled something incoherant. Looking up at her, sighed a little. "You are so cruel..."
Sephira arched an eyebrow. "Oh... I am cruel? What about you? You hurt my friends!" Glaring once again, she tried to kick out at him again, but he kept his distance. "You hurt Kuja! You hurt Viteros! How could you do something like that?!"
He was silent for a moment, as though he were thinking of what to say, and how to say it. Glancing up at her, he said, "Well...I had to..."
"No you did not!" Sephira protested, kicking out again, even though Angel was just out of her range. "Come closer so I can kick you again!" she shouted angrily.
"Hn... No thank you..." Angel muttered, touching his nose with his hand again, and sniffling. Looking around the room, he brushed some hair from his eyes, striding over to a table and picking up a phial, turning it over in his palms. "Do you know what this is?" he asked.
"How should I know?" Sephira snapped, glaring at him.
He turned to face her, his face unreadable. "It is called Mako. It was used, many years ago, to create beings of higher intelligence, higher strength, speed, mobility. It made better soldiers. One of them... he lost his mind, killed so many, almost destroyed the Planet. Maybe you knew him?" He studied her for a moment. When she didn't answer, her only expression confusion, he shook his head. "Maybe not. This man though, he was pushed over the brink of sanity by some kind of discovery. So, he turned on the Planet. He was eventually stopped. Killed."
"Why do I care about this?" Sephira asked, glowering at him.
Angel placed the phial back on the table and came closer to her again. "I do not know why. Maybe...maybe it has something to do with the Angel Project?" Angel arched an eyebrow, as though expecting her to continue.
"What are you talking about?! I have absolutely no idea of what you are speaking!" Sephira shook her head at him. "You are so confused. Why have you brought me here?"
"For the Angel Project. My Master needs you. He needs you for some reason. You are an Angel, correct?" Angel moved a little closer, reaching out his hands and placing them on her ankles, so that she couldn't kick him again.
She struggled, muttering, "Let me go... I do not know what you are talking about..." Pulling a foot away from him, she kicked out at his face, but he blocked her with his free hand.
"Please...don't kick me again..." he asked kindly. "I do not really want a broken nose..."
"Let me go! You have no right to keep me here! Release me at once!" she shouted, trying to get free. Angel shook his head, pursing his lips, remaining silent.
"I'm sorry, but, I really cannot. My Master wishes to talk to you, angel." Angel smiled. "Don't worry. He is not cruel."
"I do not wish to speak with him!" Sephira cried angrily. "Release me and return me to my companions!"
Angel sighed, release her and stepped back, holding up his hands. "Okay. I know you do not wish to be here; I can understand." Looking around him, he sighed. "It is drab, dull, and you did not want to be snatched from your friends. But, my Master seemed very insistant on bringing you here." Arching an eyebrow, Angel smiled. "I can let you down if you *promise* not to run. Stay with me?"
Sephira shook her head, glaring at him. "Of course not! I am leaving! Let me down!"
Angel sighed and shook his head. "I guess I shall have to leave you up there for now, unfortunately. You really should agree with me. Then, maybe you wouldn't be so unhappy."
Sephira muttered incoherantly for a moment, then looked back at Angel, who was watching her. "...I guess I could stay here. Maybe... Let me down."
Angel smiled and walked forward. "Hnn... I'm sure your simply lying, but, I shall let you down anyway. Please, don't bolt for the door the moment I let you down."
Sephira smirked and lept to the ground as Angel released her wrists, she glanced around her, then began to dash for the door. Angel held out a hand and placed it on her foreheard, keeping her there lightly. Pushing her back a little, she unbalanced and fell down. "Damn you!" she cried, sitting slumped on the ground, fuming.
Angel crouched beside her, smiling. "I told you not to bolt the second I let you go. Let's talk first. I want to talk with you, get to know you. I find you quite interesting."
"I do not particularly care whether you find me 'interesting' or not. I want to leave."
"And I don't; not yet. Stay here? Please?" A hopefully innocent expression arose on his face. Sephira shook her head, sighing.
"I cannot believe that I am going to agree and stay with you. You are too pathetic." Looking around, she pursed her lips. "Talk already, then."
Angel collapsed to his knees beside her, smiling. "Okay. Talk...hmm... Well... Tell me about yourself."
"You tell me about YOURself. I do not want to talk," Sephira muttered, crossing her arms. Staring balefully at him for a a moment, she sighed in anger. "Speak!"
Angel laughed a little and shook his head. "Fine, you are a difficult girl. I shall speak then. What about though?" He raised his eyebrows, as if asking her to give him suggestions. She scoffed, so he continued. "Well, then... I shall tell you about myself. My past, maybe?"
"It sounds interesting. Continue." Sephira sat back, leaning against the wall, pulling her legs to her, wrapping her arms around them.
Angel sighed. "My past..yes... Well, I am not quite sure where I came from; the furthest back that I can remember is when I was maybe...seven? Yeah, I'm sure that's about right." He blinked, his eyes distant. "I do not know what my life was before then. Terisas has been my 'father' ever since I remember. He taught me many things: the use of the sword, reading, writing, everything I know. He's an absolutely brilliant man. I won't say he is a most wonderful 'father', though. He used me for...many experiments of his..."
"Disgusting."
"Maybe. But, it did further his work, helped him through, so I do not really mind."
"What did he do to you?" Sephira asked, intrigued, leaning forward a little. Watching his carefully, she arched an eyebrow when he turned his head to the side, looking away, his eyes narrowing.
"I do not really wish to say..." he said quietly, his eyes flicking around, almost nervously.
Knowing that she had touched on a mental wound, she stopped, moving back again. "Very well. Continue. What else? I want to know about the wings."
"The wings... My wings... I am part of a project, created by Master Terisas, and Lord Garland. The played with cells, genetics, and came up with something called Angel genes, and Devil genes. Using Garland's Genomes, they experimented, injecting the genes into the souless creatures. Most of them...no...all of them, died. They would bleed to death, mutate, some would simply stop functioning, others would go mad and commit suicide. Some were never affected, though only a couple. I never witnessed this; it was before my time. I read it all in Terisas' scientific journals."
"Fascinating."
"Yes... I also read of a female Genome, one with a soul, that was injected with the Angel gene. Was...is that you?" Angel turned his face back to her, staring into her eyes. "Do you know?"
Sephira arched an eyebrow. "Not me! I am a completely normal Genome."
"Are you?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The flight was going smoothly. According to the computer logs, the most likely place Angel-Black would take Sephira was directly back to his base of operations, Outer Heaven SKY, a floating fortress high up in the atmosphere.
Viteros was gone from the bridge after setting in the course and activating autopilot. Kuja dozed, sprawled out in a chair. Zidane went back into the cargo hold.
He found Viteros back there, staring at a screen where a person danced, and arrows flew across the screen. Viteros was standing on a pad with arrows on it and jumping all over it. Zidane had to shout over the sound of music, "What's that noise!"
"It's called music, Zidane! Ever hear it!"
"I've heard music! This stuff is crazy!"
"Yeah! Gotta love it!"
The 'music' pulsed, "Hey, Mr. Wonderful, hey, you're so incredible, hey, Mr. Wonderful, wonderful to me, hey, Mr. Wonderful, oh, you're irresistible."
While Viteros 'danced', Zidane swore he could have heard him reply to the music, "Yeah, I know."
Zidane watched him for a few minutes. Then he said the only words that came to his mind. "You know, Vit?"
"What?"
Zidane grinned. "You're one crazy guy."
-----------------------
A few hours later, they were still in the cargo hold, arguing about who had made them lose in the two-player mode.
"You're just too slow! You're reflexes are nothing!"
"Me? You're the one who was like 'Huh? We had two arrows this time? Aw, dang!'"
"Grr.I think that was you."
"You."
"You!"
"You infinity."
"Dang.uh.that doesn't count!"
"Yes it does!"
"Does not!"
"Does too!"
"Nuh uh!"
"Yeah huh!"
"As.ah.'interesting' as this is," said Kuja, as he walked in, "we really need to get a move on. We have arrived at our destination, the airship Destiny."
Viteros looked confused. "Destiny? I thought we were headed for OH-SKY. Strange. I didn't know there was an airship near here.whose ship is it?"
"Take a wild, wild guess. The owner's name starts with a T."
Devil Nine snapped his fingers. "Terry!"
"No," groaned Kuja, "you know, it is really hard to believe you possess advanced intellect.its Terisas. His airship was waiting for us, and it's going to be a few seconds before he notices our presence. And by the way, that wasn't funny at all."
"But-"
"No."
"I-"
"No!"
"But-"
"Shut UP! *hiss*."
"Oh, crap, he's hissing," said Viteros. "Zidane, its time to move."
"Then, we hurry to the bridge!" put in Zidane. "Let's go!"
------------------------
At the bridge, they could see clearly in the distance, partially masked by clouds, the massive, metal-plated airship Destiny. Viteros cursed. "A little ways past where that ship is is where we can find Outer Heaven SKY. There's no way past. If we try to go around, he'll see us; the clouds further away would obscure our view so bad we wouldn't be able to navigate. If we duck below then we'll have to go way way way down to dodge all the cloud cover and come up near SKY.and we can't go any higher or the air pressure won't hold us up anymore. He's got us in check."
"As bad as check is, it is a long way from checkmate," said Kuja, scanning their view.
"Uh...actually, its pretty close..." put in Zidane.
There was a pause and the other two looked at him for a while. Then: "Huh?"
"Since when are we talking about chess, dummkopf?" laughed Viteros.
"Wait, but you just said-"
"Whatever," said Viteros, still laughing. "But you've got a point right there. When you play chess, you gotta take some risks, and make some sacrifices...suicide...and I've got your suicide, right here! Let's rock, baby!"
Kuja put his head in his hands. "You had my interest...and respect...until that last sentence. And also, that last little bit of dialogue really made no sense at all."
Taking no notice, Viteros gripped the controls tightly and took a quick look at Zidane. "Flip that big fat red switch with the sign next to it that says THE RED SWITCH, will ya?"
"Right."
Music turned on, (the reader will hafta think this up...think of your own dramatic suicidal determined musiken, you guys) and Viteros grinned. "Let's go!"
The airship lunged forward, flying straight at the Destiny.
-------------------
"Sir, there appears to be a small airship flying toward us with a maniac at the controls."
"Dammit. Not again!"
"I'm afraid so, sir."
"Activate the tracking guns!"
-------------------
Luckily for the two idiots and Kuja, Viteros was an expert pilot, easily weaving in and out between the flying bullets and missiles. Then he spun the ship and flew straight down at the enemy airship.
"What are you doing!?" shouted Kuja, desperately hanging onto the walls of the rocking airship, "Do you seriously believe you can destroy that thing!?"
"Not a chance!" Viteros yelled back, "No, if we try, we die! Hey, that rhymed.but besides that, you know we can't avoid this thing! So we distract it and then we escape! Don't worry; I've got a plan!"
Zidane groaned. "You've always got a plan."
"Whatever!"
Viteros' small aircraft once again flew in dangerously close to the Destiny, nearly being torn apart by the hail of ammunition. Viteros grinned and reached up above, pulling a small lever labeled "R".
The two Genomes could feel the floor shifting under them, but had they been outside, they would have seen the dramatic changes taking place. Where they were, they knew little of what was truly happening.
The normally aerodynamic airship's front split in two, opening up as a long, pyramidical metal pole extended, tapering to a sharp point. Two slots opened underneath, and revolving gatling guns dropped out. Openings appeared on the sides, and armored plating slowly slid out of them and covered the sides, turning the once speedy airship now into a powerful, well-defended, lumbering behemoth.
Relatively.
However, compared to the Destiny, the small airship was not much more dangerous than before.
On the inside, the screen Viteros looked out of suddenly filled with bright digital data, showing on the sides their altitude, ammunition levels, proximity of projectiles, proximity to target.
"Now this is when we fight," he said. "We're gonna knock them back down to earth!"
"Earth?" asked Kuja and Zidane simultaneously.
"Uh.never mind. Viteros grabbed a joystick that stuck out of the wall parallel to the ground. Squeezing the stick's trigger, he fired the right gatling gun, somehow aiming and flying at the same time. Shouting over the increased din, he said, "Zidane! You and Kuja get back to the cargo hold! I'm gonna open the door!"
"What are you doing!? Do you want us falling out!?"
"No! When you're back there look for a crate labeled "B HH17! Go, hurry!"
Stumbling and hitting the walls as the wildly flying airship cruised through the air, Zidane and Kuja hurried back to the crates. They hunted rapidly through them until Kuja shouted, "Here! Help me pull it out!"
It was behind a group of other ones, and while they tightly gripped its sides and began to drag, the cargo doors opened, letting in a whipping, cold wind. Squinting, with their tears streaming into the air, the two pulled it near the opening.
Viteros' voice suddenly blared from a speaker, "You guys, you got the crate!? Open it up!"
After a few frenzied seconds of straining, Kuja burned the edges and Zidane snapped off the top with his knife. "Okay! We've done it!" declared Zidane.
"You see the little balls inside? DO NOT TOUCH THEM! I'm gonna fly over the ship, and you just hurl 'em over onto the enemy! You got it right!?"
"Easy," said Zidane. "Let's do it!"
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