Chapter 35
Sifan Leonhart ran his hand through the dark brown tresses of his hair and stared out through the balcony door, while sitting on his bed. The artificial 'sun' of Aquadia actually gave the entire place a sweltering feeling. Sifan thought of calling Aquadia weather control and complaining but decided against it. He looked beside his bed and on the coffee table, was a small magazine. Sifan took the magazine and lazily ran his eyes down the contents page. One of the articles managed to trigger his curiosity, it read, "The legend of Orion..."
Sifan flipped to the corresponding page and began to read the article.
Long long ago...after the second war of the magi...when guardian forces were known as Espers, there was an emperor by the name of Gestahl. He was the kind of person that did as he pleased and none dared to stand in his way though his will and purpose were always evil. One of his wicked wishes was to turn all Espers into a more usable form known as magicite. To accomplish this, Gestahl set out an all out search for the gateway connecting the human world to the world of the Espers i.e. guardian forces. Soon, he found it. Along with his General, Keftka, he planned to invade the esper world using his army. But in the course of time, Keftka's evil and hunger for power outstretched Gestahl's and eventually, Keftka saw Gestahl to his death at the gates of the Esper world.
On entering the Esper world, Keftka, with his powerful magic, turned every esper he came across, even the peaceful ones, into magicite. Overwhelmed by Keftka's power and evil, most of the Espers gave in to his will and became magicite. Keftka didn't spare even a single Esper and he killed any esper that didn't bend to his magic. Among the rare Espers who stood against Keftka's powerful magic, was the king of the Esper world, Maduin. Keftka, seeing that Maduin was much more powerful than him, threatened to kill his wife and child if Maduin didn't turn himself into magicite. Maduin had no choice; he surrendered himself to Keftka as magicite in return for his wife and child's safety. Keftka however, tortured Maduin's wife and had his demented way of fun with her...before he killed her. And he did it all in front of Maduin's son, Orion. He saw that Orion was too weak to be a useful magicite and left him in the Esper world along with a few other weak Espers. Keftka left the esper world, happy with the hundreds of magicite he had received.
Orion, under the trauma of having watched his mother tortured to death, became determined to re-construct the battered, ruined world left behind by Keftka. He grew powerful...more powerful than any other Esper to travel the tides of the universe.... and eventually.... he became the king of the Espers or Guardian forces. While Orion ruled over the world of Espers...the magicite Keftka had captured were released after Keftka was killed by a group of legendary warriors (Final Fantasy III)...however...a few of the released Espers died and only the remaining few made it back to their own world which was under the rule of king Orion. These Espers had served good-hearted humans while they were in the human world, and continued to do so even when they had settled down in Orion's world. However, when it came to Orion's attention that a few Espers were serving humans, he became furious. The only human Orion had experienced was Keftka and he was under the impression that all humans were like him. He was so angered that he said he'd banish or even KILL any Esper or guardian force that serves a human. So to this day ...guardian forces serve humans without Orion knowing it...
Orion is rumored to be an entity powerful beyond anything that is imaginable. No one knows yet how he looks like. But the following are the conclusions of scholars who specialize in the study of Guardian forces. Though they haven't yet figured out Orion's physical structure, they say they have discovered the following through extensive research and information from the scrolls of the magi;
Orion is supposedly guarded by his army of Guardian forces. A few of them are Shiva, Ifrit, Bahamut, Ramuh, Ixion, and the list goes on. Not even 10% of the names of his guardian forces are known as of now.
After the army of guardian forces that protect Orion, inside Orion's castle, are seated the knights of the round. Rumors state that Cloud Strife possessed the power to summon the knights of the round but scholars have passed that to be a silly rumor.
And then his second last line of defense consists of two guardian forces, perhaps, the ones next to Orion as far as strength is concerned. The Dark Esper Anima and the mysterious guardian force of Eden are supposedly his second line of defense.
His final line of defense are two sword warriors...on his left, stands the warrior, Gilgamesh... while on his right, is the Undead Swordsman, Odin himself.
Through the generations, Guardian forces have lost their ability to judge good from evil as they have been deceived, manipulated and tricked too many times. They've become entities that simply serve anyone who summon them. Orion however...is still in the dark as far as serving humans is concerned ...
The only reason, perhaps, is that even his right hand, Odin...serves humans...and is afraid to tell the truth to Orion.
But if Orion were to know...he has the power to destroy every guardian force he wants...but like his father...Orion is said to be good at heart and a good king...his only down side however...is his judgment of humans...
Lately, yet another rumor has popped up that, in the heart of the omega caves, beyond the slaughtered bodies laid to the ground by Omega weapon, rests the materia that can summon Orion himself. However, scholars say that if any human were to summon Orion, Orion would most probably...annihilate our world...
After that, the print in the magazine turned into a scribbled handwriting.
Well, folks...that's it for this month's page on Legends. Catch you next month. We'll most probably feature: The Sword of Honor...
Have a nice day...
Sifan sighed heavily. He thought for a while about what he had read. He smiled to himself, folded the magazine and stuffed it into his pocket.
***********************
The ramp in Relafen's airship was getting ready to lift when a couple of Shin-Ra soldiers walked up the ramp carrying a cylindrical container into the airship.
They ignored Phillona and proceeded across her though they felt it very alluring to look at her. They placed the steel container behind Phillona when Relafen walked out from a door.
"Hey!" he said looking at the soldiers, "The hell do ya think yer doing?"
The soldiers saluted Relafen and one of them spoke, "Sorry sir! General Rupert's orders. You are to deliver the container to the abandoned church in Nibelheim immediately after the airship race. You are to exercise extreme caution sir!"
"You kidding?" Relafen snapped, "This is a race for God's sake! This ship's gonna be doing all sorts of turns and twists..."
Phillona gulped at the thought of the airship doing 'turns' and 'twists' while the soldiers stared at each other and replied, "we're just following orders from General Rupert Sir!"
Relafen nodded at the container, "What the heck is in there anyway?"
"Confidential A-Class, Sir!" the soldier replied, "We don't know either...Sir!"
"Ok ok get outta here..." Relafen said and the two soldiers disappeared. Relafen pressed a button on the wall and the ramp lifted from the ground and shut against the airship after giving a rusty churning sound.
"These morons I have for a crew..." Relafen said turning to Phillona, "They scraped the ramp against a mountain, it has been wobbly ever since..."
Relafen walked over to the cylindrical container that the soldiers had brought in. He scratched his head and read the metal plate on it, "Property of Shin-RA Bio labs. If found, please return to Shin-Ra HQ, Midgar or Contact Prof. Lorenz 9842198441..."
"Shoulda known better..." Relafen sighed, "They want me to ship their lab rats..."
"Hey..." Phillona said gazing out of the window, "I think we better get to the bridge...the race is gonna start..."
Relafen nodded in agreement and led Phillona to the bridge.
As soon as Phillona and Relafen entered the bridge, one of the crewmembers came running to Relafen, "Gosh, sir! The start signal is in 30 seconds!"
"30 seconds!?" Relafen cried, "The hell you're doing stand ing here? Get the goddamn engines running..."
"Gosh, at once, sir!" he mumbled and ran to the back of the airship.
Relafen walked over to Phillona, "I am gonna be a little busy now, sweetheart...you know, ordering this crew of mine to fly this thing..."
"Sure thing." Phillona said, "Best of luck."
"You can sit over there...." Relafen said pointing to a cushioned seat with seatbelts, "remember to buckle up..."
Phillona did as she was told and made her way to the seat while Relafen stood behind his crew. He barked random orders and they ran up and down the bridge pulling levers and operating control panels.
"OK..." Relafen eyed the signal light on the runway, "10...9..."
He ran his hand through his blonde hair and waited anxiously as the death baron airship on the runway next to him roared into life. On the other runway to his left, in a light shade of silvery white, stood the gorgeous airship 'Pegasus' with its smooth engine noise.
"5...4..." Relafen muttered under his breath watching the red digitized signal, "3...2..."
"1...GO!" he barked and the airship lifted up from the ground while slowly moving forward at the same time.
The jet boosters on the Death Baron's tail threw out red blazes of flaring brightness and the airship shot out like a rocket while the Pegasus followed behind it, almost immediately. The other airships had starting troubles as Relafen's airship rose into the air, still a few feet behind the Pegasus that was on the tail of the baron.
Relafen anxiously surveyed the ground that went farther and farther away as the three airships gained altitude. He kept his eyes peeled on the bright red sunlight-reflectors making a trail around the continent, leading to the finish line.
"Keep yer eyes on the reflectors..." Relafen shouted at his crew, "AND before you..."
As they raced over the ocean, Relafen's airship gained speed but so did Pegasus and the Baron. The Baron strayed a little off course while Pegasus stayed on track. Strangely, instead of rushing forward as soon as the baron had gone a little off course, Pegasus maintained the same acceleration along the course.
Relafen didn't quite understand, "Shit...what the hell is Pegasus waitin' for...?"
Then suddenly, from behind, a black airship whooshed past Relafen's and almost collided with Pegasus. It jerked to the side and overtook Pegasus. Since the baron was going a little to the right ever since it had strayed off course, the black airship rushed forward to overtake the baron. And then, Relafen understood the baron's plan perfectly. The black airship almost whizzed past the baron when the baron suddenly swung back into the track, smashing the black airship's tail hard. The black airship spun chaotically and went swirling off course. Then, its engines went dead and it took a nosedive and splashed into the ocean.
"Shit..." Relafen muttered, "The baron's an evil bastard and the Pegasus is a clever one...and me...I just get to watch..."
Relafen glared back and saw that the other two airships had managed to lift off and were competing with each other behind Relafen. The 5 airships, with the baron in the lead, whizzed over land again and zoomed through a valley, causing the leaves and dust on the ground to fly everywhere.
Suddenly, Pegasus lowered altitude, almost scraping a hillside hut. It immediately increased speed and shot straight to the space under the baron. Relafen thought of having his crew fly his airship behind Pegasus. However, he hesitated a bit when he noticed that instead of zipping away, the Pegasus stayed under the baron.
Much to Pegasus's contentment, the baron took the bait. He tried to drop down and smash Pegasus. Pegasus swiftly moved to the side as the baron missed its target and went down much more than it had intended to. Pegasus soared upward and bolted across into the lead. The baron was taking its time to recover and Relafen seized the opportunity at once.
"GO! GO! GO!" He cried and the crew gave the airship everything they had and Relafen's boosters burst into life and the airship darted across the sky, above the baron. Of the two airships trailing Relafen, one tried to imitate Relafen only to be rammed hard from below by the baron. It lost control and crashed into a forest below. The other airship followed behind the baron, with Relafen and Pegasus in the second and first positions respectively.
The crew's head pilot wanted to race Pegasus but Relafen shook his head, "No..."
"But sir..." the pilot persisted, "We're just seconds away from the finish line..."
"I don't care..." Relafen said but stopped suddenly when he saw Phillona walk up beside him.
"Hey..." she said, "Its boring jus sitting there..."
"You'll get hurt dammit..." Relafen hissed as the four airships flew across the plains where a Midgar Zolom slithered under the sand.
Phillona smiled, "Don't worry about me, just concentrate on the race..."
Relafen reluctantly turned to the pilot again, "Just stay close to Pegasus' tail...we don't-"
The force with which the Baron rammed Relafen's airship almost threw everyone off their feet. Phillona grabbed Relafen's arm and managed to maintain her balance as Relafen balanced himself by clutching the bridge's railing.
"Damn @$#%^&...." Relafen muttered, "Who does he think he is..."
The airship veered out of control and headed off course, wobbling awkwardly.
BANG! Another smash from the baron almost sent Relafen's airship straight into a mountain. A crewmember cried almost immediately, "Sir! The baron's barraging has broken open the ramp!"
"Shit!" Relafen mumbled and ran to the back of the airship followed by Phillona. The airship followed swiftly behind Pegasus as they continued to fly over Gondola village.
Like they expected, the ramp had dropped open and the air was screaming into the airship wildly. They saw clouds zipping past them through the opening the ramp was supposed to close. Relafen ran to a corner and slammed on the emergency shutter and it slid down immediately and closed the airship's entrance at once.
Phillona heaved a sigh of relief before gasping suddenly, "Relafen! T-The container!"
Relafen's eyes searched his surroundings but there was no sign of the container that was supposed to be delivered to Nibelheim.
He slapped his forehead, "Shit! It must've rolled off balance and fallen outside..."
Phillona sighed but she couldn't argue with Relafen. She recalled that she DID hear a heavy, rolling noise while they were coming from the bridge.
"Rupert's gonna have a go at my ass for this!" Relafen muttered as he and Phillona headed back to the airship's bridge.
Phillona was about to reply when the head pilot interrupted, "Sir! We're about a Kilometer away from the finish line!"
The silvery white Airship, Pegasus was still in the lead, followed closely by Relafen's airship. The baron was on Relafen's tail while the other airship seemed to have given up hope and trudged along behind the Baron.
The baron made up his mind to do anything to win the race. He fired up his boosters and headed straight at Relafen's airship. Relafen cursed the baron with a variety of words. He knew that if he were to get rammed by the Baron with a booster-powered velocity, both his airship and the baron's would go flying out of control.
Relafen ran to the pilot's position and kicked the altitude lever so hard that it almost broke into two. Relafen's airship dropped like a bird hit by a bullet. The baron, powered by its boosters, headed straight towards a stony peak, missing Relafen's airship by miles. The baron's boosters went off but it was too late. The baron smashed into the peak and exploded into flames as Relafen swerved his airship back into course. However, Pegasus was nowhere in sight as Relafen's airship re-took control. The airship that had been following quietly had taken advantage of the baron-Relafen situation and had taken a small lead over Relafen's airship. Relafen gasped when his eyes fell on it heading towards the finish line.
"Get the goddamn boosters ON FULL THROTTLE!" Relafen screamed to the crew, "FAST DAMMIT!"
The boosters blasted into life and Relafen's airship zoomed past the other airship and headed straight to the finish line in Junon's airfield. It made a rough landing on the runway and screeched to a halt as the other airship settled down on another runway. Relafen's airship's engine died out slowly as it touched the finish line, bagging the second place. The first place of course, clearly went to the superior silver-white beauty, Pegasus.
Phillona threw her hands around Relafen's neck, "WE CAME IN SECOND!"
Relafen smirked and flicked a strand of Phillona's shiny brown hair to her side, "Who cares? You enjoyed the race...that's as good as a first place for me..."
Phillona smiled back at him as he led her out of the airship into the cheering crowd of spectators.
*************************
Far away, near the outskirts of the Gondola village, a father and his child inspected a badly damaged cylindrical container lying near a cluster of bushes. They watched a small flickering screen at the bottom of the container near a keypad.
While the father searched for any signs of where the container might have come from, the child toyed with the keypad. Suddenly, to his amazement, the steel exterior of the container slid open and revealed through shattered glass, a body floating in liquid nitrogen. The father walked over to the body and his eyes widened with amazement.
The child let out a scared cry and clung to his father's hand. The man turned to his frightened son and ordered him to go back to the Gondola village. The boy did as he was told.
The man took his axe and smashed the half-shattered glass encasing the container to bits. He scooped down and dragged the body out from the liquid nitrogen that filled the container. The man with the axe was muscular and he flung the body over his shoulder with absolute ease and made his way back to the village, hoping the village doctor would not be busy.
As he walked back to the village in the late afternoon sun, little did he know that on his shoulder, he was carrying the one the world once feared as 'Sephiroth....."
*************************
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Note from the author: hiya guys...I made this chapter long jus for the heck of it...well, I hope you liked the Orion part and the airship race... Anyway...
the next chapter should be up in no time...so till then, keep reviewing..
Sephiroth_Eternal...signing off...
Sifan Leonhart ran his hand through the dark brown tresses of his hair and stared out through the balcony door, while sitting on his bed. The artificial 'sun' of Aquadia actually gave the entire place a sweltering feeling. Sifan thought of calling Aquadia weather control and complaining but decided against it. He looked beside his bed and on the coffee table, was a small magazine. Sifan took the magazine and lazily ran his eyes down the contents page. One of the articles managed to trigger his curiosity, it read, "The legend of Orion..."
Sifan flipped to the corresponding page and began to read the article.
Long long ago...after the second war of the magi...when guardian forces were known as Espers, there was an emperor by the name of Gestahl. He was the kind of person that did as he pleased and none dared to stand in his way though his will and purpose were always evil. One of his wicked wishes was to turn all Espers into a more usable form known as magicite. To accomplish this, Gestahl set out an all out search for the gateway connecting the human world to the world of the Espers i.e. guardian forces. Soon, he found it. Along with his General, Keftka, he planned to invade the esper world using his army. But in the course of time, Keftka's evil and hunger for power outstretched Gestahl's and eventually, Keftka saw Gestahl to his death at the gates of the Esper world.
On entering the Esper world, Keftka, with his powerful magic, turned every esper he came across, even the peaceful ones, into magicite. Overwhelmed by Keftka's power and evil, most of the Espers gave in to his will and became magicite. Keftka didn't spare even a single Esper and he killed any esper that didn't bend to his magic. Among the rare Espers who stood against Keftka's powerful magic, was the king of the Esper world, Maduin. Keftka, seeing that Maduin was much more powerful than him, threatened to kill his wife and child if Maduin didn't turn himself into magicite. Maduin had no choice; he surrendered himself to Keftka as magicite in return for his wife and child's safety. Keftka however, tortured Maduin's wife and had his demented way of fun with her...before he killed her. And he did it all in front of Maduin's son, Orion. He saw that Orion was too weak to be a useful magicite and left him in the Esper world along with a few other weak Espers. Keftka left the esper world, happy with the hundreds of magicite he had received.
Orion, under the trauma of having watched his mother tortured to death, became determined to re-construct the battered, ruined world left behind by Keftka. He grew powerful...more powerful than any other Esper to travel the tides of the universe.... and eventually.... he became the king of the Espers or Guardian forces. While Orion ruled over the world of Espers...the magicite Keftka had captured were released after Keftka was killed by a group of legendary warriors (Final Fantasy III)...however...a few of the released Espers died and only the remaining few made it back to their own world which was under the rule of king Orion. These Espers had served good-hearted humans while they were in the human world, and continued to do so even when they had settled down in Orion's world. However, when it came to Orion's attention that a few Espers were serving humans, he became furious. The only human Orion had experienced was Keftka and he was under the impression that all humans were like him. He was so angered that he said he'd banish or even KILL any Esper or guardian force that serves a human. So to this day ...guardian forces serve humans without Orion knowing it...
Orion is rumored to be an entity powerful beyond anything that is imaginable. No one knows yet how he looks like. But the following are the conclusions of scholars who specialize in the study of Guardian forces. Though they haven't yet figured out Orion's physical structure, they say they have discovered the following through extensive research and information from the scrolls of the magi;
Orion is supposedly guarded by his army of Guardian forces. A few of them are Shiva, Ifrit, Bahamut, Ramuh, Ixion, and the list goes on. Not even 10% of the names of his guardian forces are known as of now.
After the army of guardian forces that protect Orion, inside Orion's castle, are seated the knights of the round. Rumors state that Cloud Strife possessed the power to summon the knights of the round but scholars have passed that to be a silly rumor.
And then his second last line of defense consists of two guardian forces, perhaps, the ones next to Orion as far as strength is concerned. The Dark Esper Anima and the mysterious guardian force of Eden are supposedly his second line of defense.
His final line of defense are two sword warriors...on his left, stands the warrior, Gilgamesh... while on his right, is the Undead Swordsman, Odin himself.
Through the generations, Guardian forces have lost their ability to judge good from evil as they have been deceived, manipulated and tricked too many times. They've become entities that simply serve anyone who summon them. Orion however...is still in the dark as far as serving humans is concerned ...
The only reason, perhaps, is that even his right hand, Odin...serves humans...and is afraid to tell the truth to Orion.
But if Orion were to know...he has the power to destroy every guardian force he wants...but like his father...Orion is said to be good at heart and a good king...his only down side however...is his judgment of humans...
Lately, yet another rumor has popped up that, in the heart of the omega caves, beyond the slaughtered bodies laid to the ground by Omega weapon, rests the materia that can summon Orion himself. However, scholars say that if any human were to summon Orion, Orion would most probably...annihilate our world...
After that, the print in the magazine turned into a scribbled handwriting.
Well, folks...that's it for this month's page on Legends. Catch you next month. We'll most probably feature: The Sword of Honor...
Have a nice day...
Sifan sighed heavily. He thought for a while about what he had read. He smiled to himself, folded the magazine and stuffed it into his pocket.
***********************
The ramp in Relafen's airship was getting ready to lift when a couple of Shin-Ra soldiers walked up the ramp carrying a cylindrical container into the airship.
They ignored Phillona and proceeded across her though they felt it very alluring to look at her. They placed the steel container behind Phillona when Relafen walked out from a door.
"Hey!" he said looking at the soldiers, "The hell do ya think yer doing?"
The soldiers saluted Relafen and one of them spoke, "Sorry sir! General Rupert's orders. You are to deliver the container to the abandoned church in Nibelheim immediately after the airship race. You are to exercise extreme caution sir!"
"You kidding?" Relafen snapped, "This is a race for God's sake! This ship's gonna be doing all sorts of turns and twists..."
Phillona gulped at the thought of the airship doing 'turns' and 'twists' while the soldiers stared at each other and replied, "we're just following orders from General Rupert Sir!"
Relafen nodded at the container, "What the heck is in there anyway?"
"Confidential A-Class, Sir!" the soldier replied, "We don't know either...Sir!"
"Ok ok get outta here..." Relafen said and the two soldiers disappeared. Relafen pressed a button on the wall and the ramp lifted from the ground and shut against the airship after giving a rusty churning sound.
"These morons I have for a crew..." Relafen said turning to Phillona, "They scraped the ramp against a mountain, it has been wobbly ever since..."
Relafen walked over to the cylindrical container that the soldiers had brought in. He scratched his head and read the metal plate on it, "Property of Shin-RA Bio labs. If found, please return to Shin-Ra HQ, Midgar or Contact Prof. Lorenz 9842198441..."
"Shoulda known better..." Relafen sighed, "They want me to ship their lab rats..."
"Hey..." Phillona said gazing out of the window, "I think we better get to the bridge...the race is gonna start..."
Relafen nodded in agreement and led Phillona to the bridge.
As soon as Phillona and Relafen entered the bridge, one of the crewmembers came running to Relafen, "Gosh, sir! The start signal is in 30 seconds!"
"30 seconds!?" Relafen cried, "The hell you're doing stand ing here? Get the goddamn engines running..."
"Gosh, at once, sir!" he mumbled and ran to the back of the airship.
Relafen walked over to Phillona, "I am gonna be a little busy now, sweetheart...you know, ordering this crew of mine to fly this thing..."
"Sure thing." Phillona said, "Best of luck."
"You can sit over there...." Relafen said pointing to a cushioned seat with seatbelts, "remember to buckle up..."
Phillona did as she was told and made her way to the seat while Relafen stood behind his crew. He barked random orders and they ran up and down the bridge pulling levers and operating control panels.
"OK..." Relafen eyed the signal light on the runway, "10...9..."
He ran his hand through his blonde hair and waited anxiously as the death baron airship on the runway next to him roared into life. On the other runway to his left, in a light shade of silvery white, stood the gorgeous airship 'Pegasus' with its smooth engine noise.
"5...4..." Relafen muttered under his breath watching the red digitized signal, "3...2..."
"1...GO!" he barked and the airship lifted up from the ground while slowly moving forward at the same time.
The jet boosters on the Death Baron's tail threw out red blazes of flaring brightness and the airship shot out like a rocket while the Pegasus followed behind it, almost immediately. The other airships had starting troubles as Relafen's airship rose into the air, still a few feet behind the Pegasus that was on the tail of the baron.
Relafen anxiously surveyed the ground that went farther and farther away as the three airships gained altitude. He kept his eyes peeled on the bright red sunlight-reflectors making a trail around the continent, leading to the finish line.
"Keep yer eyes on the reflectors..." Relafen shouted at his crew, "AND before you..."
As they raced over the ocean, Relafen's airship gained speed but so did Pegasus and the Baron. The Baron strayed a little off course while Pegasus stayed on track. Strangely, instead of rushing forward as soon as the baron had gone a little off course, Pegasus maintained the same acceleration along the course.
Relafen didn't quite understand, "Shit...what the hell is Pegasus waitin' for...?"
Then suddenly, from behind, a black airship whooshed past Relafen's and almost collided with Pegasus. It jerked to the side and overtook Pegasus. Since the baron was going a little to the right ever since it had strayed off course, the black airship rushed forward to overtake the baron. And then, Relafen understood the baron's plan perfectly. The black airship almost whizzed past the baron when the baron suddenly swung back into the track, smashing the black airship's tail hard. The black airship spun chaotically and went swirling off course. Then, its engines went dead and it took a nosedive and splashed into the ocean.
"Shit..." Relafen muttered, "The baron's an evil bastard and the Pegasus is a clever one...and me...I just get to watch..."
Relafen glared back and saw that the other two airships had managed to lift off and were competing with each other behind Relafen. The 5 airships, with the baron in the lead, whizzed over land again and zoomed through a valley, causing the leaves and dust on the ground to fly everywhere.
Suddenly, Pegasus lowered altitude, almost scraping a hillside hut. It immediately increased speed and shot straight to the space under the baron. Relafen thought of having his crew fly his airship behind Pegasus. However, he hesitated a bit when he noticed that instead of zipping away, the Pegasus stayed under the baron.
Much to Pegasus's contentment, the baron took the bait. He tried to drop down and smash Pegasus. Pegasus swiftly moved to the side as the baron missed its target and went down much more than it had intended to. Pegasus soared upward and bolted across into the lead. The baron was taking its time to recover and Relafen seized the opportunity at once.
"GO! GO! GO!" He cried and the crew gave the airship everything they had and Relafen's boosters burst into life and the airship darted across the sky, above the baron. Of the two airships trailing Relafen, one tried to imitate Relafen only to be rammed hard from below by the baron. It lost control and crashed into a forest below. The other airship followed behind the baron, with Relafen and Pegasus in the second and first positions respectively.
The crew's head pilot wanted to race Pegasus but Relafen shook his head, "No..."
"But sir..." the pilot persisted, "We're just seconds away from the finish line..."
"I don't care..." Relafen said but stopped suddenly when he saw Phillona walk up beside him.
"Hey..." she said, "Its boring jus sitting there..."
"You'll get hurt dammit..." Relafen hissed as the four airships flew across the plains where a Midgar Zolom slithered under the sand.
Phillona smiled, "Don't worry about me, just concentrate on the race..."
Relafen reluctantly turned to the pilot again, "Just stay close to Pegasus' tail...we don't-"
The force with which the Baron rammed Relafen's airship almost threw everyone off their feet. Phillona grabbed Relafen's arm and managed to maintain her balance as Relafen balanced himself by clutching the bridge's railing.
"Damn @$#%^&...." Relafen muttered, "Who does he think he is..."
The airship veered out of control and headed off course, wobbling awkwardly.
BANG! Another smash from the baron almost sent Relafen's airship straight into a mountain. A crewmember cried almost immediately, "Sir! The baron's barraging has broken open the ramp!"
"Shit!" Relafen mumbled and ran to the back of the airship followed by Phillona. The airship followed swiftly behind Pegasus as they continued to fly over Gondola village.
Like they expected, the ramp had dropped open and the air was screaming into the airship wildly. They saw clouds zipping past them through the opening the ramp was supposed to close. Relafen ran to a corner and slammed on the emergency shutter and it slid down immediately and closed the airship's entrance at once.
Phillona heaved a sigh of relief before gasping suddenly, "Relafen! T-The container!"
Relafen's eyes searched his surroundings but there was no sign of the container that was supposed to be delivered to Nibelheim.
He slapped his forehead, "Shit! It must've rolled off balance and fallen outside..."
Phillona sighed but she couldn't argue with Relafen. She recalled that she DID hear a heavy, rolling noise while they were coming from the bridge.
"Rupert's gonna have a go at my ass for this!" Relafen muttered as he and Phillona headed back to the airship's bridge.
Phillona was about to reply when the head pilot interrupted, "Sir! We're about a Kilometer away from the finish line!"
The silvery white Airship, Pegasus was still in the lead, followed closely by Relafen's airship. The baron was on Relafen's tail while the other airship seemed to have given up hope and trudged along behind the Baron.
The baron made up his mind to do anything to win the race. He fired up his boosters and headed straight at Relafen's airship. Relafen cursed the baron with a variety of words. He knew that if he were to get rammed by the Baron with a booster-powered velocity, both his airship and the baron's would go flying out of control.
Relafen ran to the pilot's position and kicked the altitude lever so hard that it almost broke into two. Relafen's airship dropped like a bird hit by a bullet. The baron, powered by its boosters, headed straight towards a stony peak, missing Relafen's airship by miles. The baron's boosters went off but it was too late. The baron smashed into the peak and exploded into flames as Relafen swerved his airship back into course. However, Pegasus was nowhere in sight as Relafen's airship re-took control. The airship that had been following quietly had taken advantage of the baron-Relafen situation and had taken a small lead over Relafen's airship. Relafen gasped when his eyes fell on it heading towards the finish line.
"Get the goddamn boosters ON FULL THROTTLE!" Relafen screamed to the crew, "FAST DAMMIT!"
The boosters blasted into life and Relafen's airship zoomed past the other airship and headed straight to the finish line in Junon's airfield. It made a rough landing on the runway and screeched to a halt as the other airship settled down on another runway. Relafen's airship's engine died out slowly as it touched the finish line, bagging the second place. The first place of course, clearly went to the superior silver-white beauty, Pegasus.
Phillona threw her hands around Relafen's neck, "WE CAME IN SECOND!"
Relafen smirked and flicked a strand of Phillona's shiny brown hair to her side, "Who cares? You enjoyed the race...that's as good as a first place for me..."
Phillona smiled back at him as he led her out of the airship into the cheering crowd of spectators.
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Far away, near the outskirts of the Gondola village, a father and his child inspected a badly damaged cylindrical container lying near a cluster of bushes. They watched a small flickering screen at the bottom of the container near a keypad.
While the father searched for any signs of where the container might have come from, the child toyed with the keypad. Suddenly, to his amazement, the steel exterior of the container slid open and revealed through shattered glass, a body floating in liquid nitrogen. The father walked over to the body and his eyes widened with amazement.
The child let out a scared cry and clung to his father's hand. The man turned to his frightened son and ordered him to go back to the Gondola village. The boy did as he was told.
The man took his axe and smashed the half-shattered glass encasing the container to bits. He scooped down and dragged the body out from the liquid nitrogen that filled the container. The man with the axe was muscular and he flung the body over his shoulder with absolute ease and made his way back to the village, hoping the village doctor would not be busy.
As he walked back to the village in the late afternoon sun, little did he know that on his shoulder, he was carrying the one the world once feared as 'Sephiroth....."
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Note from the author: hiya guys...I made this chapter long jus for the heck of it...well, I hope you liked the Orion part and the airship race... Anyway...
the next chapter should be up in no time...so till then, keep reviewing..
Sephiroth_Eternal...signing off...