A/N:

Yeah yeah. "Mai, you baka, why didn't you update?" Well my answer to that would be, "Quiet you fools! Do you WANT the checkered demons from hell to track me down?!"

~FinalHeavenXIII

~*~*~*~

Lamirra charged through the gates of Midgar, her head whipping back and forth to find the dragon. It didn't take her long to locate the beast. Flying high above was a humongous figure, the color of red earth, its impressive wingspan at least twice its body's length. An equally long, whiplike tail spiraled and lashed at the clouds around it, ripping them usunder.

'But they're just clouds.' Taking one of her daggers and sticking a finger in the loop at the end of its hilt, she spun her weapon. Faster than the eye could follow, she snapped her plam around the hilt and threw the blade with all her strength. Lamirra smiled grimly as she heard the dragon yelp when the dagger ripped through a wing. Her smile soon faded as the dragon turned its serpentine head to her, the forward set eyes glowing with hatred. The earth that the young woman stood on began to rumble.

Behind her, Lamirra heard the heavy footsteps of Nadesiko. Her friend slowed and stopped beside her, quickly assessing the situation.

"let me guess. You hit it already?"

Lamirra grinned sheepishly. "Well, yeah. It seemed like a good idea at the time...of course, that was before I figured out what kind it was..."

"Whoa!" Turning, Nadesiko watched as Reno lost his balanced and landed on his rear end. Reno looked up at her from his postion to be met with a flat stare. "The ground's shaking. Makes it kinda hard to sprint, ya know." Standing up, he whistled in awe when he saw the dragon. "That's one impressive animal."

"It's a Dragon of the Red Earth." Lamirra readied another dagger as the beast gained altituted. In a few seconds, the dragon would dive.

Reno just stared quizzically, completely clueless as to what Lamirra was saying. "Uh, come again?"

Nadesiko growled. "No time to explain now."

With a bone-chilling screech, the dragon dove to the ground. As it gained speed, the ground shook more violently, making it even harder to balance. Nadesiko cast off the wood sheaths on her double-bladed glaive and began to chant a spell. With the same movement preformed earlier, Lamirra threw her last dagger; but this time, the monster was ready. With a movement that should not have snapped any normal creature's neck, the dragon swerved and caught the blade neatly in its teeth. With an ominous hiss that could be heard from the ground, it shattered the dagger into thousands of glistening shards. The fighters below were forced to moved from their postions to avoid getting cut from the falling metal, and the quaking ground made it even harder to get out of the way. Reno swore violently as a piece sliced his right palm.

Nadesiko quickly regained her stance and began to chant her spell again. Lamirra, completely out of throwing weapons stood ready with her broadsword, carefully maintaining her balance. Reno stayed in a crouching position and hastily bandaged his hand with strips from his shirt. Before any of them were ready, the dragon was upon them.

It swooped down low over them, its forced knocking the trio over. Quickly it circled and disappeared into the clouds. Lamirra struggled to regain her breath. She scanned the skies, her eyes flicking from one cloud to another.

"Dammit. It's hiding."

"Shouldn't you be able to see it?" She nodded at the broadsword in Lamirra's hand. The top blade on her own weapon was glowing a bright green, ready to be fired at the dragon when it attacked.

Lamirra shook her head. "It's a Dragon of the Red Earth, remember? You can't track those things with spelled weapons. All we can do now is wait. But the worst possible thing to do is lay down your guard. You'll never know when it'll come next."

"I think you guys should explain what this 'Dragon of the Red Earth' thing's all about. I don't like fighting in the dark, and I'm pretty sure you two don't either." Reno walked up to them, the ground only trembling slightly.

"It's a giant dragon that can control the earth." Lamirra's eyes never left the sky. "It's strength and defense are practically perfect, and you can't sense their presence with spelled weapons. You only see them when they're ready to attack, and by then it's normally too late. Plus they have enormous amounts of stamina. About twenty times that of a normal dragon."

Reno eyes widened slightly. "Geez, how are you supposed to fight this thing then, anyway?"

Nadesiko gave Reno a disgusted look. "Are you really that dense? With magic of course! And they've all got a nice soft spot at the nape of their necks. Duh!" Reno stuck his tongue out.

"Well excuse me, Miss Know-It-All, but not all of us are familiar with dealing with Dragons of the Red Earth." when Lamirra gave him an irritated look, Reno corrected himself. "Okay, okay. Just me."

After another five minutes of waiting, all three of the fighters began to grow impatient.

"Where is the damn thing?" Reno muttered. "Most dragons can't hover for that long."

"Maybe it's not hovering." nadesiko suggested. "It's probably cloud hopping. Lots of dragons use that technique. It takes little energy, gives them the advantage, and after a while their enemies are bored and let down their guard. That's when they attack."

Reno gave a her a horrified look. "Then we have to wait until it runs out of energy?!"

"Yup."

"This is ridiculous! How long does it normally take?"

"Well, let's see. The average dragon takes up about five percent of its energy for hovering ten minutes, and point two percent of its energy to glide from cloud to cloud. That's about-" Nadesiko looked down and counted on her fingers. "Three hours and thirty minutes, give or take." Reno blanched. Nadesiko just giggled as she reminded him, "But this isn't a normal dragon. It excels in strength, defense, and stamina. So multiply 30:30 and you get?"

Reno moaned. "Ten hours, twenty minutes." he slumped to the ground and muttered, "Give or take."

"Well I don't intend on letting that thing tire us out after ten frigging hours of waiting. I think we should track it down." Lamirra's eyes were determined.

Nadesiko raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? How do you intend on pulling that off?" Lamirra smirked. "With your magic of course."

"What?"

"If you could use magic to get rid of the clouds, eventually we should spot it. And you know how they like sparkler stuff right?"

Nadesiko grimaced. "How could I forget? You go to a concert and light sparklers, and the band doesn't show up just 'cause some dragon comes and screws everything up."

"If Reno would get his nightstick to spark, I bet we could get it down here. Then I could get on its back and stab its weak point."

"Easier said than done. You know how much magic it could take before I find the thing? Enormous amounts! I'd be risking my life just to hit at least half of the clouds out their!"

Lamirra grinned. "Who said we have to hit the clouds? We blow 'em away!"

"What?!" Nadesiko finally took her eyes off the sky to glare at Lamirra. "Mirra, it takes even more energy to call up a wind spell!" The girl just smiled, her jaw set. "It's a sacrifice we should both be willing to make. It's that or Midgar."

A long silence followed. Both Reno and Nadesiko were stunned at Lamirra's words, but they both knew they held truth. Then, slowly, they both nodded.

"Good. Now get the spell ready." In anger and frustration, Nadesiko through her glowing green spell out into the sky and plopped down, cross-legged as she summoned up the winds. Reno tinkered with his electric nightstick. "I guess I should make this thing nice an' bright, eh?" Bothe hard at work, Lamirra stared up at the sky.

'Whatever guardian force that might be up there, I hope your watching us. We can't afford to screw this up...'

~*~*~*~

After ten long minutes of hard work, Nadesiko's spell was finally ready. She was sweating profusely after her labor, but she was very pleased with the result. Her blade had taken on a light silver-blue glow, and already the winds were twining around it. The spell itself was one of the hardest she had ever made; it was maintaining it that was the problem.

Gasping a bit, Nadesiko looked up at Lamirra. "It's...the spell's ready, Mirra." the girl just nodded and looked to Reno. The every cocky red-head looked up from his reclining position and smirked. "Been ready for the last ten minutes."

Lamirra took a deep breath that she felt was shared with the others. They had to pull this off, or both Midgar and their lives would be lost.Shaking off her fear of failure, she immediatly straightened and regained her commanding tone. "Right. Reno, get in a good spot that you think could be seen easily for the dragon and start sparking your nightstick a bit. When we see the thing, make sure it's on full power. Nadesiko, call up the winds."

After a moment's hesitation, Nadesiko raised her glaive to the sky. Wind immediatly swirled around the blade questioningly, as if asking why they were summoned. With a quick motion of her wrist, Nadesiko's blade seemingly cut across the sky as she pointed it east. The winds, gentle at first, began to gain power, and ripped at the clouds. Nadesiko held her postion, already gasping for breath as the spell sapped her energy.

As Reno adjusted the setting for the spark on his nightstick, he looked at Nadesiko. "Hey. Is Siko gonna be alright? That magic seems like it's taking her life with it."

Lamirra's voice was cold and emotionless, but her eyes were full of sorrow. "Yeah. I guess you could say that."

Finally, the winds had blown almost all but the highest cirrus clouds. The dragon was a vibrant contrast to the night sky. Furious, it roared and began to make its way towards them.

"Reno!"

"Right!" Reno set is nightstick to its maximum level. It sparked and crackled until the tip of his weapon was engulfed in electricity. He shaded his eyes to avoid the glaring light. The Dragon of the Red Earth was taking notice of the light, and began to fly lower. Lamirra balked at its speed as her mind raced.

'How am I supposed to jump onto that? This entire thing was my stupid idea and I didn't even think it throught completely. C'mon, Lamirra, think! This isn't the time to panic, dammit!'

In the split second she looked up, the dragon was right in front of her. Without any of her senses connecting, she jumped on. She grabbed on to a horn as tightly as she could; and was nearly blown off by the force of the wind. The dragon was covering so much ground in a matter of seconds, Lamirra couldn't believe it was possible.

'Now that I realize it, this isn't a time to think either.'

Cautiously, she tightly wrapped her legs around the dragon's neck and readied her sword.

But the dragon had taken notice of the new weight. Screeching, it bucked and swerved in the air, lashing its tail and trying in vain to bite the girl on its neck. Lamirra held on for dear life as she used one arm to get the sword's blade right above the beast's nape. With a grunt of effort, she plunged the weapon deep into the dragon.

~*~*~*~

Reno watched in awe as the crimson reptile shrieked and writhed. It clawed helplessly at the sword in its throat, losing altitude with each thrashing of its body. Eventually, it gave a choked cry of agony, and dropped from the sky. Reno could have sworn he felt the tremor as its great mass hit the ground.

He saw the faint figure that was Lamirra, as she held the bloody sword aloft and shouted her battlecry.

"LELIEL!"

She slowly stumbled back to Reno and Nadesiko, exhausted, but proud. When she finally reached the two, she smiled warmly; but soon her smile turned to horror as her best friend collapsed.

"Nadesiko!"

~*~*~*~





~A/N: I dont think Im even gonna bother with a note for you. ~Hoshitaiyou Hikaru AKA Too Human Lately