TOKYO
Chapter 11
Getting There is Half the Fun
"A vision," said Zio, narrowing his eyes.
"Well, it was a dream, but it felt like a vision of the future," said Neifirst.
Zio considered this. "Describe it to me," he said.
Neifirst lowered her gaze, concentrating on bringing up the memory precisely. "I was in the antechamber where we planned that I fight them," she said. "Nei ran up to attack me ... and there might have been some fighting, but the result was that I ran her all the way through with my claws."
"Much like you had before," said Zio.
"Yes," said Neifirst, "but this time ... it was different. She tried to ... to punch me, or perhaps cast a Technique on me at point-blank range ... but then her body dissolved, and I saw myself rise up triumphantly."
Zio grinned. "Well, looks like that part of the battle is under control," he said. "And think of all the power you'll have freed up."
Neifirst grinned widely. "I hadn't thought of that," she said wickedly. "I'm going to enjoy this."
Zio smirked. "Go to your chamber," he said. "They're going to arrive soon, and you don't want to keep them waiting."
She bowed, and left the room. Zio waited ten seconds, and then said, "What do you think?"
Visions of the future are always unstable. But I believe that, superficially at least, events will transpire as she has seen it.
Zio nodded. "Expected," he said. "Doesn't mean she can let her guard down, though."
Certainly. But be on your guard -- most likely, you yourself will still be required to fight.
There was some debate over whether or not to use the Aero Prism, given that it had come at such a convenient time, until Zero pointed out that they still didn't know how to use it, and so it was decided that they'd go by Rufus's method; Zelgadis would stay behind to recover, and Vash would stay behind to protect him.
Rufus gave them an airship to use: it was large, grey, and metallic, with a multitude of propellers. It also, for some reason, vaguely reminded Ranma of a space ship called the Enterprise, but Rufus told him that it was called the Highwind II; when asked what had happened to the first one, he simply said, "I left it behind."
The Air Palace had many diverse passages and catacombs, and there was rarely only one way to and from any given room. Neifirst was approaching the antechamber where she was going to meet the League from a different passage when she heard Zio's telepathic contact.
They're coming, he said. Be on your guard -- just because you've seen your victory doesn't mean it will be easy.
She nodded. "Right," she said. "I'm ready for anything."
"This your captain speaking! The Tokyo Airship Highwind II is now on our approach to what looks like nothing whatsoever!"
"Never let Seifer near an intercom on a flying vehicle again," muttered Ranma, reclining in his chair in the meeting room.
"Agreed," said Soma, grinning.
"Let's see, how'm I gonna explain this to Priss and the news without giving us all away," mused Zero, leaning, as usual, against the wall near the door. "Hmm ... I'm leading, uh, a small group of the ... hmm ... best fighters I know to deal with the ongoing threat of Zio ..."
"If we're the best fighters you know," said Dita, who was sitting on a horizontal pipe running along the corner between the wall and the floor, "then why haven't you asked more of us to join the Maverick Hunters?"
"Well, first of all, cuz then you'd be subject to their rules and orders," said Zero. "We'd never get anything done."
"Good point," said Dita, and glanced around. "Where's Nei gotten to?"
"I think she's on deck," said Soma. "Last I knew, she had one of those looks on her face like Vash does when he's acting 'mysterious' instead of 'lacking in brains'."
"Thank you, Mr. Almasy, you can turn off the intercom now," said Rufus drily.
"Aww ..." He promptly switched it off. "You're no fun."
"The head of the executive branch of the city's government isn't required to be 'fun'," said Rufus dryly, putting a hand over his mouth to hide a grin. "In fact, there's a very real possibility that every single one of us is going to die quite soon. NeiSecond, what are you sensing?"
Nei was staring out the front viewport at the cloudbank, an unreadable expression on her face. "They're expecting us," she whispered. "They know we're here ..."
Rufus frowned. "That's a lower tone of voice you're using," he murmured.
"You mean she sounds like Neifirst when she talks like that?" said Seifer, giving her a hard look.
"I do?" said Nei, in a deeper voice. It sounded like Neifirst. "Yeah, I guess I do ..." She shrugged. "Well ... we are, um, practically identical twins," she said in her normal voice.
"Ah, yes, Zero mentioned something about that," said Rufus. "Still, and I'm sure this is going to be a foolish question, but how do you know --" He stopped when a visible shudder ran through Nei's body.
"She's laughing at us," she whispered.
And then, on cue, there was a ripple of air ahead of them, and the Air Palace appeared.
The airship shook. "Sir! An invisible force is grabbing the ship!" said the pilot, looking nervous.
"Don't fight it," said Rufus. "At least, unless they start to do anything dangerous ..."
The airship moved closer to the black spires, which seemed to point upwards at the sky in triumph -- a triumph over life, and hope.
The rest of the League ran into the bridge, looking down at the castle beneath them. "Yikes," said Ranma.
"It's bigger than I thought," murmured Soma. "I can definitely sense Zio and Neifirst in there ..."
The Highwind moved towards a flat area, wide enough to safely land on. "Begin the landing cycle," said Rufus, as they began to move closer to the ground.
The landing pads extended from the bottom of the airship, and there was a loud thunk as they touched down.
"Status report," said Rufus impassively.
"Um ... all systems fully functional," said one of the other HOLD troopers.
Rufus nodded. "Get us ready for takeoff at a moment's notice. In fact," he added, as he turned towards the exit, "get ready to take off without us."
The group stepped out of the Highwind and approached the large, forbidding double doors in front of them. To Soma, it felt strange having Rufus Shinra leading the group instead of Zelgadis; he knew that Rufus had to be a good leader, in that he'd successfully figured out the League more or less on his own, but wasn't that part of the problem right there?
He sighed. "How do we get in?"
"This is where beamsabers come in handy," said Zero.
"Uh, no, allow me," said Ranma, stepping forward. He adopted a martial arts stance, palms held together, and then leaped into the air with a cry of "Mokou Kaimon Ha!" He flung his arms outward, and several blades of air flew out from his hands, slamming against the doors.
There was a pause, and then the doors ponderously fell apart.
Rufus gave Ranma a sidelong look. "Interesting technique," he said.
"Hey, it worked," said Ranma. "Not that I generally like to use it for that -- my pops actually developed Yamasenken as techniques for a robber bursting in through the front door."
"I see," said Rufus, his expression carefully blank. "And I suppose Umisenken, therefore, must have been the techniques of a burglar sneaking in?"
"That'd certainly explain some of the things he did when he was practicing it," muttered Seifer. "Stealing that circle outta the newspaper, removing the building's foundation..."
Nei giggled. "He did that?" she said.
"Don't laugh," said Dita. "He damn near blew the whole place up when all that magical stuff fell half a meter."
"Gentlemen, we are approaching a hostile situation," said Rufus, and entered the palace.
"He's worse than Zel," muttered Zero as they followed.
Inside, there was darkness, except for regularly spaced torches. And it was, indeed, a twisty maze of passages, all alike. Nei led, since, she said, she could practically feel where they had to go next, and frankly none of them had any other idea how to go about travelling throuh the area.
"Tell us again what your relationship is with Neifirst, exactly," said Rufus.
Nei sighed. "There was ... a genetic experiment," she said. "I'm still not sure who made it, but ..." She shrugged. "NeiFirst was the result. She went berserk ... killed her creators ... you know what that's like."
The others nodded. They knew what that was like. In fact, Zero was an example of this.
"And ... I'm ... I was a part of her mind," said Nei. "I ... I watched all the killing, the destruction ... and I was scared ... I ... I didn't want any of that, so ..." She shuddered. "I separated from her."
"How, exactly?" asked Rufus, as they approached a set of double doors at the end of a long hallway. The doors opened as they approached. "It's important to know exactly how the process works so that we can find out how it happened before we encounter Neifirst."
"Too late," said Neifirst, landing in the middle of the room from above, grinning at them.
The doors slammed shut behind them.
"Such convenient timing," said Rufus. "Now, may I ask what you may have to say on this subject?"
Neifirst smirked. She held her hands out to her sides, and extended her claws. "Just what I had to say the last time, minus what you already know," she says. "Short version: I know I'm probably overmatched, especially at seven to one odds, but if you do kill me ..." She grinned wickedly. "... you get to see your little friend Nei die."
"What?" said Rufus. The word had no trace of incredulity, or any sign that he hadn't understood; he just wanted to know more.
"Hmm," said Neifirst, tilting her head as if considering this. "Nah, I think I'll kill you all instead." She grinned, and began to glow an eerie blue color, almost like a hologram, before a ghostly image of herself appeared, hovering over her. "I've seen it," said both of them. It sounded eerie, demonic. "A vision of the future: all of you fall, and then I run Nei through with my claws!"
Nei moved.
One minute, she'd been all but cowering behind Ranma; the next, she launched herself forward like a wild animal. Grinning ferally, Neifirst leaped forward to meet her.
There was a loud klash as their claws met, and they began viciously slashing at each other, each parrying the other's blows. And Nei was getting the worst of it -- the gigantic ghostly image of Neifirst could reach farther and hit harder.
"Should we do anything?" said Rufus conversationally.
"Outta my way," said Zero, shoving him aside. He and Dita each pulled out a small blaster, took aim, and fired. The image's claws flashed, and the shots were deflected.
"I've got a shot at this," said Ranma. He stood as if he was about to to use the Fierce Tiger Gate Open Blast attack ...
... and then in one swift motion, Neifirst flung Nei aside and raised her hands towards Ranma. "GiGra!" she snarled.
The air seemed to ripple for an instant, and then Ranma felt himself falling backwards, as if from a great height, and crashed into where the ripple was, before they were suddenly thrown apart, collapsing in a heap.
Neifirst grinned widely. "Yes," she growled. "Just as I saw in my vision!"
Nei looked at them, and then turned to face Neifirst. There was sadness in her eyes as she stood there, and retracted her claws, standing with her hands held slightly away from her body.
Neifirst lunged forwards, and then the tips of her claws stuck out of Nei's back in a trickle of redness against her purple outfit.