The Legend Within
by shike77

Chapter II

"But you can't stop the plan 'cause supply met demand"

- "The Last Scene of Struggling"
Finger Eleven

… Okies. Because of that new FFNet rule about Author-Note type stuff, I'm sticking that on the first chapter. *nods* Some of you's didn't get the chance to read it, so… that would be smart. ^_^;;

Also note that I already used that song last chapter. -_-;; I hate meself sometimes. Meh—you'll live. I'm keeping it because it FITS, damn you. *runs off to check her other CD's regardless*

Christmas spoils?

^_______^ *sing-song* I'm going to Nickelback, I'm going to Nickelback! ^______^ I love my parents. They were selling the tickets to the show with hockey stuff—yet another ruse to make money for the Flames, methinks. Hey, it worked.

*dances* I got FFX-2. ^_^ I don't care if Square was profit-mongering or not, I like it.

A new stereo! ^___^ With REPEAT! And a RECORD FUNCTION! You don't realize how crappy my old one was.

… Alright. ST update coming… next? ^_^ I swear, I'm working on this one way too much, now that I've re-started it. *nods*

Su. In this chapter, we meet the Air Faction, wolf-dude, and also one of our main bad guys. Who still doesn't have a name. I hate this immensely.

Saer: Just call him Bob and get over with it.

^_^ That's a plan.

And a side-note? Humour fic failed miserably. *nods* Sorry 'bout that.


In the passenger cabin of the same ship that Onica and Leon stole away in, the trip was turning out to be rather uneventful—none of the former political leaders really regretted the lives lost. They had their own planet to worry about.

"Remind me again," the man grunted in what seemed now an unfamiliar language to them all, their native tongue or not, "why we destroyed an entire planet after we nearly controlled all of the single most powerful country in its borders? Those weapons could have been useful to us, you know."

His companion sent the man a glance, sipping the smooth coffee that was the last of his meager stock he'd brought in his carry-on—the rich drink only thing worth complimenting that ugly rock for—and gently placed it in the cup-holder, closing his eyes to fight off an impending headache. Damned space travel. He didn't care for it much—even shields that supposedly protected the passengers from becoming completely insane only worked about seventy percent of the time, and therefore were highly unreliable.

"Because," he replied, using the same lie they'd all been fed, "There are resources under the planet's surface that require the technology we have to mine and process, and those primitive animals would most likely get in the way. You've seen how they treat their naturalists. If I had my way, I'd get rid of Seles once and for all. That wood could do us some good."

The other man snorted. "You can only recycle oxygen so many times before it starts to become hazardous to a person's health. We need a source of the stuff so we can get rid of Carbon Dioxide while we're at it, too."

"I know." He took a tentative sip of the dark liquid, glaring out the window at the small planet and its moon—Pluto and Charon? He could never remember. Not that it mattered. Not anymore.

"Three days to go," he sighed, settling down, glaring at the movie that was to be playing during the flight. Some comedy or other that wasn't really funny, he thought sadly.

"Channel selection," he grumbled, placing the black glasses in front of his face. Soft green text scrolled in front of his eyes, giving him the option of music from every planet containing sentient beings discovered as of yet. He noted with a tinge of regret that there were a few new additions to the list—including that damnable planet on which he'd spent what seemed like a eternity dealing with idiots. He wasn't surprised to see that there were several different classifications to the music from that one planet… the infernal noise came in all colours available. He chose one from a planet called Lindehr, which had a soft style with a gentle beat that calmed him. Not to mention helped him to ignore his headaches. He closed his eyes and smiled, leaning back in his seat and attempted to fall asleep.

Suddenly, his companion spoke up again, "I think it has something to do with all those kids they took. I noticed a couple sneaking into the Cargo Bay, but the ones they brought in the actual ship were all pretty young."

Coffee-man rolled his eyes. "I don't care what they do, as long as we profit from it and the Press doesn't hear about it."

"… Not in my backyard, is it?"

He frowned, turning to face the man beside him. "What?"

"Not in my backyard. It's what the people in Earth called people who wanted to get rid of problems, like crime or garbage, but not live near a prison or a dump."

He snorted, turning away. "I never thought an entire planet of idiots was possible."

"… Idiots, yes, but I think I'll miss the place."

"More than the pay you're getting now?"

He chuckled at that, a smile on his face as he shook his head. "No. I'm going to retire on a nice planet somewhere, now. Away from pollution."

***

In the cockpit of the same ship, the emergency pilot shook her head, toying with a braid that fell over her shoulder, the pale orange colour accented with streaks of white.

"Maybe it's about time we got that kid out of the cargo bay. It's not safe in there, and I was told she's got mental problems already."

"PROCESSING SUGGESTION…"

She sighed at the pilot's bland, blank statement. Robots were not good conversationalists, no matter how much artificial intelligence was pounded into their chips.

"… Ignore that," she grumbled at it, leaning back in the plain, solitary chair that adorned the room.

"… UNABLE TO COMPLY. PASSENGER IN CARGO BAY MUST REMAIN IN CARGO BAY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE."

She sighed at it, rolling her eyes up towards the ceiling. "Robots," she grumbled, "Why don't you just keel over and die?"

"UNABLE TO COMPLY."

This looked to be a long, long trip.

***

"Well, fuck," Jheil Reighn shook his head, tossing a torn apart limb onto the pile that was left of the body brought back from the last mission. "Command'll be on my head about this."

"What, you didn't give 'em any beer last night?"

The tall, slim twenty-year old sent a glare his friend's way, watching as Githen Iurnai grinned up at him past a bowl of hot soup… beef, by the smell of it, with some vegetables floating in it. Only then did he realize how hungry he really was.

"Eat up, you. You haven't had a break since she brought these back yesterday."

The older man sighed, moving to wash his hands in a sink nearby. The cold, clean water numbed his hands as always, especially after working for hours being covered in a warm, sticky mixture of blood and machine oil. He ran them under the dryer to warm them, perhaps letting them linger there longer than the necessary few seconds.

Another glance at the hot soup caused him to move towards Githen, slowly taking it away from him with a small thanks.

"You did a good job with the bike yesterday," he mumbled past a hot spoonful after a few minutes, then continued to chew his beef.

The kid started a bit, then grinned, scratching the back of his head. "Naw, it was nothin'."

Jheil smiled at his raven-haired friend, whose golden eyes had turned towards the doorway. He waved, suddenly, and the man looked up to see their blonde companion walk into the room.

"What do you have?" she asked plainly with a small nod of greeting, glancing from the soup to the over-worked scientist. The dark, haunting blue rimmed with bright red in each iris still made him a little uncomfortable when she tried to maintain eye contact—as she was doing at that precise moment. The colour contrast was impossible to stand for long.

He looked back to the table and shook his head. "Nothing. Sorry, Saer, but I've worked all night, and not a thing to speak for it. Whatever this… thing was before they filled its body with wires, it was definitely smuggled from another planet. It looks like one of our wolves or perhaps a dog, but its lungs aren't filled with enough pollution to be naturally from Endiness. It hasn't even adapted to the amount of foreign materials in the air like everything else has-"

Saer Zeyl watched him a moment, then tried to smile, if only to make him stop talking, and shook her head.

"… Don't worry about it. It's not a problem. You take a break—We've got another mission in a few days."

Githen groaned all too dramatically.

"What?! I was planning on going into Bale and hitting a few bars on my break… I mean, we hit a real big problem that could completely screw over the entire government and reveal that company! We deserve credit for that, man!"

Saer held up a gloved hand—Jheil noticed that her chips had been cut out of them, most likely for software updates. Their friend shut up rather abruptly, but was none too happy about it.

"You know that ship that launched in secret a few days ago? Well, it's going to land before the end of this week." She turned to the tall man, who brushed mouse-brown hair out of his eyes to examine her better. He tried not to look down at her, but his large, beak-like nose always made trouble of that.

She smiled a bit, as if his uncomfort of looking down at her five foot six inches figure from his six foot ten being uncomfortable was amusing, then moved away, picking up the pen-like mechanism on her way over to the blank, black screen sitting in the corner of the room.

"… As far as I know, the ship should land in the base on Kashua plains—near Flanvel Ruins, remember?" she pressed a button below the screen as she spoke, watching the white text appear with only half a mind. She touched the screen a few times, waiting only for the text and images to shift and create new options for her, until a diagram of the chosen base was displayed on the screen. She lifted the pen, circling two of the three landing bays and crossing them out. The marks appeared on the screen as she touched the pen to it, bright red against the white and black.

"Landing bay C and A are still broken, thanks to Space Squad's failed mission last month, leaving only B left for them to land successfully." She then looked to the four entrances.

"Gate One, coincidentally, is on the only road to the base, and at the approximate time of the landing, a shipment will be arriving there. This gate contains the most sensors of the three functioning, and is therefore further out of the question.

"However, Gate Four-" and she circled the smallest gate, closest to the ruins, "-is down for maintenance. If we time it right, I might be able to slip through during the evening break period."

"They have their guys working around the clock?" Jheil asked suspiciously, thick eyebrows moving down in a frown.

Saer nodded. "Looks like it."

Githen shook his head. "Why land there if they know we've tried to foil their plans there before?"

The blonde looked to him with a sigh. "Because they captured Space's mercenary in the mission, remember?"

He winced, visibly. "… Oh. I remember that… But he came back two weeks ago!"

She made a face, tugging on a few strands of red that intermingled with the blonde. "You didn't see how bad off he was."

There came a sigh from Jheil, who shook his head sadly. "With good reason, too. He took a pill that messed up his vocal chords beyond prepare so he couldn't say a thing, and now he's only got one leg. He's still hospitalized for it, too, and in a coma."

Githen turned to Saer, then, frowning. "And you're taking this on?! Sa, I knew you're suicidal and all, but isn't that a bit-?"

She silenced him with a glare, then turned back to the screen.

"… Once we manage to get inside the building, I'll throw a couple of sleep gas canisters to knock out anyone. The building is small, with only a few people working there at a time, so this won't be a problem. I'll pump some sleeping gas into the ship as well, and send out a pulse that should disable any of the machinery before the robots become a problem." She turned to look at them. "Any questions?"

"One," came a gruff voice, and to any untrained ear it would have sounded like a growl.

All three turned to view the mass of fur and muscle stalk into the room, human-like hands with small claws instead of fingernails twitching at the mention of battle.

"How am I getting in?"

Saer immediately shook her head. "You're not, that's how."

Eyes that were all-too human narrowed, and he pulled back the lips on his long, lupine snout, showing that sharp, white teeth beneath.

"I am," he growled again, moving towards the blonde at the screen.

After a few moments of an intense staring contest, Saer spoke to her partners, unmoving.

"We need to talk. Boys, out."

They knew that tone. Jheil was quick to move—almost too fast for his taloned feet. He swore as he slipped on the metal surface, nearly falling out the door. It slid shut with a hiss of hydraulics, and Saer immediately moved back towards the screen, surveying it again.

"You're not going alone," he managed gruffly, his voice heavily distorted past wolf features. "Not after two months ago."

"Cehkan," she sighed, pacing the length of the screen, "You have to let it go. It's not your fault he screwed up."

"I sent a rookie on a mission."

"None of us knew there was something else going on."

He snarled, getting on all fours and moving to her side, muscles rippling beneath the thick fur. He suddenly started pacing, and Saer noticed he'd changed his hands to paws again. Anyone else would have reprimanded him for messing with his body structure again—he wasn't supposed to be able to shape-shift at all—but she understood. It was more natural that way, he'd told her. He didn't have to focus on standing up.

"That's not the point. I sent a Soa-damned rookie on a mission. A wanna-be. And look where that got him."

Saer strode over to him with an uncanny sense of balance about her that he'd often told her he envied, shaking her head. "Kan, he wanted to help. He paid the price. We all do."

He snarled again, the wolf-sound ringing in the small room. Saer stood her ground, her infamous cold composure steady as ever. Growling low in his throat, Cehkan Largyh sat on the floor, his head bowed, ears flat against his skull.

Saer watched him a moment, watching the pearl-like sphere on a heavy silver chain around his thick neck hum softly in response to her presence, then sighed and shook her head.

"… Alright. You can come. But no heroics this time."

He looked up at her, the best smirk he could manage plastered on his face. "We have three days to figure out how I'm getting in there."

She felt like telling him he was wagging his tail again, but decided better of it.

"Getting to the place, you mean. I'm not going to risk breaking my bike carrying you again."

He nodded, stalking towards the machine on the table with what seemed an extra bounce in his step. "If you can carry these, you can carry me."

She shook her head. "They weigh less than you."

"That's not hard."

She glared at him, running a hand through her hair and scratching the back of her head. It was true, she admitted to herself. Even as incredibly slouched as he was whenever standing on two feet, he was at least eight and a half feet tall. Whenever he managed to stand up straight, he was bordering on nine. He was an enormous creature, a mass of muscle, fur and bone, but still managed to be sleek, however ruffled his grey fur usually became or how bizarre he appeared standing on two legs.

He was everyone's constant reminder of exactly what they were up against.

"… Jheil's working on a teleporter. I'm sure it's still in Beta, but we could give it a few tests."

He rolled his eyes. "I've had my fair share of being a Guinea Pig in my life, thanks."

It was a cruel joke.

"I didn't mean with you," she mumbled, somewhat apologetic, moving smoothly over to the screen again. This time, she pressed a button that pulled up a map of Endiness. Their position in Seles Global Park was highlighted by a small red dot. Saer pressed a few more buttons, and the base in Kashua Plains became highlighted in blue.

"… That's a long way," she replied, frowning. "We can't exactly take you on a train."

"I could pass off as a dog?"

She snorted. "Fat chance. Even on all fours you're the biggest damn mutt I've ever seen."

He sent her a withering glare, starting to pace again, tail forced into a quivering still. He's thinking again, she thought darkly, dangerous thoughts.

She stood still, waiting for him to think out whatever he was working through in his head. His pacing slowed, then suddenly sped up. It was almost like his thoughts were running him instead of them running through his head.

Used to this behavior, she merely sat back and waited, not about to interrupt him.

What do you guys think? You've both been awfully quiet.

The image of a Dragon flashed before her eyes, curled up tail-to-nose. The discussion had made her tired - she didn't understand. Even the smallest bit of strategy was enough to make her want to snooze.

… I've never been big on 'technology,' even in my time, but it seems alright.

Saer smiled at that, shaking her head. Not the actual plan. The mission.

The Dragon's image in Saer's mind lifted her head, eye ridges furrowed and her eyes narrowed. Mission? She didn't care if a group of teddy bears were taking over the world, she wanted to fight and she wanted to do it now.

… I know exactly what you think about it, she grumbled mentally, watching her wolf-like friend pause momentarily in his pacing.

Githen's right, the other voice began, slowly, I think that the ship landing in that particular spot is suspicious. Isn't it close to that lab hidden under the ruins?

Saer frowned. She hadn't thought of that. She pressed another button and the underground base was highlighted in green - covering nearly half of Mille Seasau.

… That's not a good thing, she thought, touching the laboratory and having it appear on the screen with the landing pads on top of it. How could I have forgotten?

The Dragon's picture showed again, and the creature was hiding her eyes and ear-holes as best she could. Not more strategy…

Quiet.

"Cekhan…"

"What?" His voice was almost accusing—she'd broken his chain of thought, after all.

"Do you know exactly where that ship's coming from?"

"… The name starts with an 'E,' I think. Our hackers are still working on the code so it's hard to tell."

"Is Githen working on it?"

"… No." He frowned, the expression looking unintentionally comical on the wolf face. "I've still got him working on that code we got back from Earth's mission last month… Any reason you want him on this?"

"Tell him I'll give him all the free time he wants to go to town if he cracks this code by tomorrow." She spun on her heel to face him, the red in her eyes blazing. "That ship has got to be either a trap or a Lab Rat cage."

The Dragon frowned. What was so bad about rats? They tasted good, really. Sure, there was the whole squirming thing if you swallowed them whole, but all in all they made a good snack.

She doesn't mean rodents, the other voice replied before Saer could retort. She means kids.


… ^_^ OOOH! The Attempted suspense. ^_^

Saer: … You really suck at this.

Yup. On to the reviews!

Fifi - @_@;; Somebody's excited. And had too much sugar. Mountain Dew. Or something.

Striker - Pretty much. There's a long, complicated story behind it, but all will be revealed in time. ^_^

Shade - … Sanity? ^_^ Lost it~! Can't find it anywhere! *nods* Not like I miss it or anything. I couldn't have fun with it around.

DemonGod - ^_^;; Yeah, it's a bit off. *nods*