Chapter Forty-Three- Master of Simulacrum: Gogo

"I'm sorry that I have bee neglecting you, my darling..."

"Yes...I know...it has been far too long..."

"Hee hee..."

"Terra, be quiet!"

"Sorry, Celes."

Terra and Celes were paused outside of the door of The Falcon's engine room, where they had just recently seen Setzer enter, and quickly shut the door behind him. Now, he was talking to someone, and it sounded like it was going to get hot and heavy.

"Why are we spying, anyway?" Terra whispered, and Celes shrugged.

"We've got nothing better to do?"

"But who do you think is in there?" Terra asked anxiously. "I mean, we're the only girls, and we're right here...unless you mean..."

"Relm!" Celes gasped. "That little tramp!"

"No, Setzer, you can't corrupt her!" Terra suddenly cried, and with that, threw open the door. There, was Setzer, standing in front of...

A control tower, with lots of levers and gears.

"Um...Excuse me?" Setzer blinked, and Terra nearly fell over. Celes stepped in calmly, and smiled.

"Let me guess...talking to your airship again?"

"You were SPYING on me!" Setzer protested. "Who the hell did you think I was talking to?"

"...No one." Terra said slowly. "Absolutely no one."

"Ignore her." Celes said. "She's a whack-job."

"But who were you really talking to?" Terra asked innocently.

"My airship." Setzer said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "My one true love."

"See? I told you." Celes snapped haughtily, and turned, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she left the room. Terra chuckled.

"So what's wrong with your baby?"

"I'm not sure." Setzer said, turning serious as he looked around the engine room. "Relm heard something crash in here the other night, and while I think I managed to fix it, I'm not sure if what caused that to happen is still a problem. I mean...I forgot this thing was underground for quite a few years..."

"I'm sure if anything is wrong; you'll figure it out." Terra smiled. "You are the master of the skies, after all."

"I know." Setzer smiled back. "Thanks, Terra. It's so...great to have you back." Terra blushed slightly, and turned, leaving. Everyone had been saying it was great for her to be back...it was a weird feeling. She felt the same way she had felt when she had awoken from her coma in Zozo. Like she had been so cut off from the world, and then suddenly thrust back into it. But the good news was she had friends with open arms waiting for her.

As Terra passed by Celes' room, she glanced in. Celes was still perched on her bed, bent over that shred of a letter. Terra bit down on her lip. She felt bad that there was nothing she could do for her friend. Beside Celes sat Locke's bandana, clenched between her fingers tightly. Terra felt even worse about that. Where had Locke gone? Being that Terra knew him probably the longest out of everyone else except Edgar, she knew that he could be very elusive, and, in most cases, not be found if he didn't want to be. Terra gulped. She had not wanted to be found, that was for sure. Was the same true of Locke? The last Returner on their roster?

But then, Terra got an idea. Edgar! He had been close to Locke, hadn't he? Maybe he would know something. Terra marched down the corridor to Edgar and Sabin's room, knocking politely. She was determined to aid Celes in her search in some way, as repayment for what had happened in Mobliz. Sabin opened the door, and smiled.

"Hi, Terra."

"Is Edgar in there?" Terra blinked. "I need to speak with him."

"I'm always here for you, baby." Edgar grinned, pulling the door back more and making his appearance.

"Good." Terra said, ignoring his comments. "Where can we find Locke?" She was so straightforward that it actually surprised Edgar a little, and he stepped back some.

"Well, Terra, I'm afraid that if we knew, we would have found him by now."

"But you were like his best friend." Terra protested. "Is there something he could be doing now that he was maybe picking up from before the Returners got heavily involved in the rebellion against the Empire?"

"I'm not sure." Edgar replied sadly. "Locke isn't like "my best friend". Granted, we became close during the rebellion, because he was a thief, and I was a king...not likely comrades, which threw off the enemy nicely. And yeah, we did end up sharing a lot of each other's secrets. But Locke naturally kept a lot to himself." He paused. "The only thing that I can imagine might be on Locke's mind after all this time is...Rachel."

"Rachel?" Terra blinked. "His dead fiancée?"

"Yeah." Edgar nodded. "Well, not quite dead, as gross as that sounds. I do know that before he got involved with the Returners, he was always on the hunt for that one thing that could possibly bring her back to the land of the living. But, I can't imagine where such a thing would be, and considering Locke hasn't even checked in with that weird herbalist freak in Kohlingen...that tells me he's been out of touch with people for a while."

"Oh..." Terra shook her head. "It's a good clue, but it's not something I want to tell Celes."

"Why?" Edgar asked, and Sabin looked at him.

"Well, if you were Celes, wouldn't you want to hear good news?"

"It IS good news, in a way." Edgar pouted. "We might know what Locke is up to."

"But I don't think Celes would want to know he is still involved with Rachel." Terra said gently, and Edgar blinked.

"Hey...one of the first things I told her when I met her...was to not fall for him."

"She probably just thought you were being an idiot then." Sabin sighed. "You're right Terra...I guess you're better off not saying anything at all."

Terra sighed, taking that moment to go back to her room and think. She wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to do. Sitting down on her bed, Terra looked over at Atma's hilt on her nightstand, and sighed.

Some leader she was. She couldn't even find a missing friend. How had Celes gathered all of these people together again on her own?

"Terra...you're the one who brought us all together."

Terra remembered Celes' kind words, but mentally dismissed them. The Magicite of her father was also beside Atma, glowing faintly. Terra sighed, and flopped back onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Locke Cole, come out, wherever you are!" She suddenly screamed. However, right at that moment, the airship gave a violent jolt, and everything started shaking. Terra gasped, the first thing coming to her mind when the airship had collapsed after their mission on the floating continent. Gulping, Terra dared herself to get out of bed and shakily make her way to the window, even though the floor was vibrating like an earthquake. Outside, Terra could not see anything unusual, besides the eerily orange full Indian Moon they were experiencing that night. Terra suddenly felt herself sliding backwards, and realized that the airship was now going down at a very direct tilt.

Screaming out for help, Terra stumbled onto her backside and slid down the freshly polished floors until she smacked against her opposite wall. Her bed followed, coming only inches away from actually crashing into Terra herself. In the rooms across from her, she could hear the confused cries of Mog and Umaro, and a long string of curses from Relm. Before anyone could warn her, there was suddenly a violent crashing sound, and Terra felt herself literally bounce a foot in the air. The airship came to a sliding stop, and when she was jerked forward from the whiplash, her door also flew open.

After that, everything was quiet.

"Ugh..." Terra whimpered, finally managing to pull herself to her feet. She slowly walked to her doorway, and saw that a few others had flown open. Gau was in the hallway, looking as confused as ever, and Cyan was with him.

"Are you all right, Miss Terra?"

"I'm ok, except for my butt." Terra replied bluntly. Cyan slightly wrinkled his nose. He did not have an affinity for the word "butt". More doors opened, and everyone else stepped into the corridor, apparently not harmed. However, there was a certain someone missing...

...Setzer.

Terra ran into her room to grab Atma and her radio, taking things into her own hands. She quickly flipped the radio on, and began to speak into it frantically.

"Setzer? Setzer?"

"...Crackle.... Terra...?"

"Setzer, where are you?"

"...Buzzzzz...zzz.... Outside..."

Terra clipped the radio onto her belt, sheathed Atma, and went into the corridor, where she found everyone chattering. As she ran past them to get to the door that would take her out, Celes caught her arm.

"Where are you going?"

"I just radioed Setzer...he says he's outside."

"Let me come with you." Celes said, and Relm suddenly barged between the two girls.

"I'm coming tooooo!"

"No you're not!" Strago cried. "We don't know where we are!"

"That's the point, Grandpa." Relm whined. "Gods, get some adventure, would ya?" With that, she ran outside, before anyone else could protest. Terra and Celes looked at each other.

"Strago, you go with her." Celes finally decided. "I'll stay here."

"Relllllm!" Strago cried, bolting off the ship after her. "Don't get into trouble!"

"Terra." Celes looked at her, and Terra blinked. "Go find Setzer and find out where we are...I'll stay on board and look things over."

"And we'll check out the engine room!" Edgar and Sabin declared at the same time, and with that, turned in the opposite direction.

"Be careful." Cyan said.

"Yeah, Kupo!" Mog squealed. "Hurry back!"

"Right!" Terra smiled, and with that, followed Relm and Strago.

Outside, it was pitch black out. As Terra looked up, she realized she couldn't even see a star in the sky thanks to the heavy clouds covering them up. In the distance, she thought she heard a soft roar. Looking around, Terra gasped, not believing her eyes.

The roaring sound was waves crashing onto the shore surrounding her...and it was then that she realized they were on an extremely tiny island. Standing where she was, Terra could easily see the opposite end of the land. Strago and Relm were hunched over a big chunk of the airship that had dismembered itself and was on the ground, and there also was Setzer, hunched over it and mumbling.

"This is going to take a while to repair..."

"You guys!" Terra called, and came over. "Are you ok Setzer?"

"I'm fine, but The Falcon is going to need some work." Setzer replied sadly. "We're not going anywhere for a while."

"Any tools you want me to get you?" Terra asked, and Setzer nodded, peering where the piece of the airship had come off.

"I have a big chest of them in the engine room," Setzer replied. "And while you're in there, tell the others to go around and make sure anything that runs on the airship's power is off. I don't want to risk anything exploding or something..."

"Of course," Terra said, and with that, bolted back to the doorway of The Falcon. When she stepped inside, she ran into Mog, and told him what Setzer had instructed him to say. Mog skittered away to tell the others, and Terra stepped into the engine room, walking around carefully and trying to spot the chest in the darkness of the room. She reached down, unfastened her radio, and clicked it on.

"Setzer, can you maybe be a little more specific about the tools? It's too dark in here to see anything."

"Try going near the back," Setzer replied. Terra could hear Relm and Strago chattering in the background, arguing about what Esper would be the best one to provide light to see. Setzer sighed, and Terra snapped out of her trance, moving back more to seek out the chest.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't help but think this is some sort of premonition," Setzer replied, and Terra blinked, kneeling down as she responded.

"Premonition?"

"I suspect we were on what might have been Triangle Island in the old world," Setzer said, and Terra snapped open the latch on a chest underneath her fingers, pulling open the lid and feeling around to see what was inside.

"Triangle Island? Is that a bad place?"

"It is for me," Setzer sighed again, and the radio crackled a little. "This is where...where the search party found this ship when it wrecked. When...Daryl wrecked." Terra gasped softly, nearly dropping the radio. She slightly remembered Setzer mentioning Daryl, the person Setzer was "mad" about when he was younger. Daryl had died in an airship crash, that much Terra knew. Setzer had never mentioned anything else to her.

"Um...Daryl's grave...it must be here then, right?" Terra turned red. She felt extremely insensitive at that moment.

"No, her tomb is near Kohlingen," Setzer said dully. "No body was ever recovered." Terra let out a slight yelp right then, a heavy metal tool in the chest rolling over her fingertips. She dropped the radio in surprise, yanking her hand out of the box and investigating her throbbing fingertips.

"Darn it..." Terra cursed softly, and the radio began to spout out annoying static. Quickly turning it off, Terra flexed her fingers and sighed. "Poor Setzer...I'd better hurry up so that we can get out of here...I bet he thinks Daryl is calling her ship from the grave." Terra shivered some, scooping up an armload of tools, and running out of the engine room as fast as possible. As she passed by a small window, she could have sworn that she saw a dark shadow loom by. Glancing out a second time, she didn't see anything.

Bursting outside, Terra ran around the side of The Falcon and came to a complete stop, dropping some of her tools. The spot where Setzer, Relm, and Strago had been standing just moments before was empty. Terra narrowed her eyes, walking closer, and smelled something...absolutely wretched. It was a moist cross of bad eggs and rotted meat, and it was coming from...

...Jelly-like slime slicked over the dead grass where Setzer was kneeling.

"Eww..." Terra gasped, dropping the rest of the tools and covering her mouth and nose. "This is..." She looked around, trying to make sense of the situation, but came up with nothing. Everything was the same, except now covered in flem-colored slime. Reaching around with her free hand, she tried to grab her radio, but realized with a gasp she had abandoned it in the engine room. Just as she turned to get it, she heard a low gurgling noise, and felt the ground tremor slightly. Withdrawing Atma, Terra bit down on her lip and slowly turned back around. Looming before her was a tall, quivering mass of a creature, which was shaped like some freaky obese worm covered in dirt and pulsating slimy, hairy skin. It was at the very least ten feet wide, with rolls of fat and dripping slime making up its frame, the only possibly thing to give it a distinguishing head the dark hole at its tip, bubbling over with more slime. Terra realized with horror that the smell had become twenty times stronger now, each hot wave of breath the worm released polluting her to her pores as it blew over her.

"Gurrrrrrgul..." The worm-thing garbled, huge bubbles of slime forming on its head and exploding with a loud "pop!" Some of the popped juices flew onto Terra, warm and sticky on her pale skin.

"Ahhh!" Terra cried, quickly brushing them off, not having any idea what they had the potential to do to her. "Where are the others?!" She swung Atma, and to her horror, watched as the worm lowered its head and began to make a queer sucking sound...almost like a vacuum. Atma flew out of her hands as if they were butter, and with a squish, flew into the worm's mouth and disappeared from sight.

"Oh my gods!" Terra screamed, backing off immediately. She knew that this was going to end badly. As she turned to run away, she felt the hair in her ponytail begin to whip back in a violent wind. She heard the vacuum noise grow louder and louder, and it became harder to command her muscles to run. Her legs began to feel tired and heavy, and in seconds, her feet were lifted from the ground, and she was flying backward!

"HELLLLP!" Terra screamed, outstretching a hand and closing her eyes tightly. She felt something warm, wet, and squishy suddenly absorb her feet, and the slimy feeling crept up her calves, her thighs, her abdomen...Her thoughts and unexecuted efforts swirled inside her head as waves of nausea and slime drowned her senses.

The stench was overwhelming, and Terra blacked out before she could feel the sickening sensations crawl up her neck and face.

"Hey, her eyes are opening!"

"Terra!"

Terra gasped and suddenly sat straight up, panting out and coughing. She couldn't believe the wild nightmare she had just had. Reaching over to gently adjust her oil lamp for more light, Terra smiled slightly and shook her head. She had probably hit her head worse than she thought before when The Falcon crashed...but Setzer had probably fixed everything by now.

"Terra...uh...what are you doing?"

"Where's my lamp?" Terra asked casually, and felt around the empty air. She suddenly gave another deep cough, spitting up slime into her lap. She gasped out some and looked down, widening her eyes and dropping her hand to her side. Setzer kneeled beside her and waved his hand in front of her face.

"Terra...you ok?" Terra blinked and looked around. It hadn't been a nightmare. She suddenly realized her excursion with the worm had been very real, and very stinky. Groaning, she pulled out a handkerchief and tried to wipe away the slime. After getting the majority of it off, she cast it aside and prayed she would never see it again. However, she was extremely relieved to see her friends were with her and that they were safe.

"I'm...ok now." Terra sighed, and rubbed her forehead. "Where are we?" When she had glanced around, it almost looked like they were in some sort of a cave. Tiny trickles of light came from the ceiling above them, although it was very high. Sitting in front of her were Relm and Strago, each with the same perplexed expression on their faces.

"This is an educated guess," Strago said, stroking his goatee and wrinkling his brow in thought. "But if my knowledge of monsters still serves me well...I'd say we were just dumped here courtesy of a Zone Eater."

"A what?" Setzer asked, exasperated.

"A Zone Eater," Relm lectured in her most bossy voice, "is a monster that was previously thought to be extinct. It was only recently that scholars did research and discovered that there were still a few alive, but they rarely, if ever, surface in their lifetimes, and only tend to do so when something invades its territory. It has extremely sensitive senses, and can pick up sound or the feeling of footprints from over five miles underground. It's called a Zone Eater because of its reputation for eating anything and everything that is in its way...it could level a city in probably just minutes, if it ever decided to crawl out and get one. However, they are actually shy creatures, and live only where they know they can habituate alone."

"Shy creatures?!" Terra burst. "That thing was NOT shy."

"I'll say." Setzer muttered.

"But if you'll notice, it didn't kill us," Strago pointed out. "These creatures have the amazing ability to choose what they want to digest for nutrients and what they don't. It spared all of us and deposited us here."

"But where is "here"?" Terra asked softly. "And how do we get out?"

"The only way to go is forward." Relm said, pointing ahead. "So I suggest that's where we go."

"Right." Terra said, standing up and stretching slowly. "We need to hurry up and get back to the others...they are going to flip out if we're not there...and if they go outside..."

"The Zone Eater will get them!" Strago cried.

"Ok, so we've all agreed to go forward," Setzer said a little nervously. "So..."

"So let's go!" Terra cried impatiently, starting to run ahead. "This place is too quiet...we need to escape!" As she dashed ahead, she spotted something glowing a little ways forward. She suddenly gasped out and stopped as she reached a sharp cliff, her boots kicking over some rocks that rolled over the edge and fell without a sound of them hitting any ground below. The glowing thing was closer now, but Terra realized that it was on a raised piece of rock that was in the middle of the impossibly dark cliff she had nearly just fallen over. The others caught up to her, and Relm panted out softly.

"This is it!? A bloody cliff?!"

"No...I see something moving!" Strago cried, narrowing his eyes. "Look over there!" The others turned, and a few feet away, Terra could start to make out long stretches of bridges that went to different raised platforms and ultimately crossed across the chasm to the other side of the cave, where the glowing item rested. However, crossing some of the bridges were short figures, at an extremely rapid pace.

"Are those...other people?" Terra gasped.

"But why are they just running in the same place?" Setzer blinked. "I guess there's only one way to really find out...ask them."

With Terra leading, the Returners crossed the first bridge safely, and came to a land platform. In order for the team to cross, they needed to leap to another platform and continue on the bridge from there. Running up and down the bridge to their left was one of the short figures, and it was dressed entirely in green with an odd cap with a wide brim that nearly covered its face. It looked very much like a person, but something about it was...off.

"Hey!" Terra called, "What are you doing here?" The figure, however, didn't heed her, and continued sporadically running from place to place on the bridge. It would pause for a few moments, turn around, and immediately start to run again. Terra and the others looked at each other nervously.

"Why do I have the feeling it wouldn't stop for us?" She asked.

"These guards could be absolutely ancient." Strago breathed a little in awe. "They must be protecting something valuable."

"Whatever." Relm muttered, and took a jump to the other platform, marching right up to the green guard. "Listen, we need you to get out of our way...AHHHHHH!" She let out a howl as the guard simply flew by her, pushing her out of the way and sending her tumbling over the edge! Terra gasped out, falling to her knees and pointing her hands towards the falling body.

"FLOAT!!!!"

A burst of gold glittering light and soft white feathers suddenly exploded over Relm, glittering wings appearing on her back and flapping gently as they lifted her to safety on the other side of the second bridge. Relm cried out happily as her feet touched ground and began to howl.

"DIRTY SONS OF BITCHES!!!"

"Hold on Relm!" Strago called. "We'll be there in a moment!" He turned to Terra. "Can you cast that on all of us?"

"Of course." Terra replied. "But first..." She folded her hands together, and in seconds, began to glow and make her transformation. When she became a full-fledged Esper, she cast a group Float spell, and slowly guided the others to where Relm was waiting. After crossing that bridge, they encountered one more guard. Learning from her first time, Relm obediently waited for Terra to guide them across through the air to the other side of the cave. Once she had landed, Terra approached the glowing item. Standing there, stuck in the ground, was Atma.

"Thank goodness!" Terra exclaimed, and pulled it out of the ground easily, sheathing it back in her belt. "I thought I had lost you for good!"

"Now where to?" Setzer asked, and Strago pointed ahead.

"I see an opening in the wall there," Strago said. "Shall we try it?"

"We really have no choice." Terra sighed. "Let's...do this."

This time, with Setzer leading, the group crossed through the opening and came into an area that was strangely flat, stretched out...and completely normal. There were raised rock walls in front and beside the team, and Terra figured that they would have to go around in a semi-circle before they could see where they could go next.

"I don't see any nasty little green men here." Relm snorted.

"Nor do I..." Strago sighed in relief. "What luck for us!" Terra perked her ear and bit down on her lip, hearing a strange, soft rumbling noise.

"What...what is that?" She asked, and as if to answer her, there was a sudden, deafening crash, and dust flew up and clouded everyone's vision. The ground trembled, and Relm lost her footing and fell on her backside. As Terra hacked and rubbed her eyes, she could see that what had been an open space before them just moments before was now rock wall. And, to further her astonishment, that wall began to lift up, slowly, until it was hanging high in the air above them, and the room was flat and clear once more. Moments later, there was another crash, and as the dust settled, the mysterious wall could be seen once again, before being lifted back into the air.

"A collapsing ceiling?!" Strago gasped. "Incredible! Not only guards, but booby traps as well? We must be getting closer to something...this place is loaded down with defense magic..."

"How are we supposed to get through?" Relm asked. "There is no way we can run across in time before the ceiling falls back down." As if to punctuate, the ceiling made another crash landing, shaking the ground violently.

"There has to be some sort of trick." Setzer said, rubbing his chin. "Sure, it's gotta be hard to get through, but it can't be impossible...right?"

"I have an idea." Terra said as the ceiling lifted. "But I have to wait until it collapses again." No one spoke another word as they waited, and when the ceiling crashed back down, Terra lifted off from the ground and quickly flew over the top of the rock wall, looking around. Just as it started to lift back up, Terra sailed back over to the others, a big smile on her face.

"What?!" Strago asked.

"It would appear that it is not impossible to cross." Terra said, folding her arms under her chest. "You see, in the ceiling, there are holes big enough for about two people. If someone stood exactly where the hole was, and ran to the next hole as the ceiling lifted back up, they could cross safely."

"Brilliant!" Relm grinned. "Terra, you can fly by the holes, and show us where to step!"

"Er...yes, I suppose I could." Terra said nervously. "But to be safe, I think only one of you should go at a time. Who wants to do this first?"

"I will." Setzer said, and cracked his knuckles. "Terra, you get out there first, and find the closest and first hole. I'll run just as the ceiling starts to lift, and position myself under you."

"All right, that sounds...interesting." Terra gulped nervously, and flew out as the ceiling crashed back down to the ground. Flying over the closest hole, Terra could not help but cringe and close her eyes as the ceiling lifted...leaving her untouched. As soon as he could, Setzer dashed out to Terra, and she flew above him so that they could both fit. A few moments later, the ceiling crashed down, and Terra felt as if she were about to wet herself as the rock walls slid past her and exploded against the ground. Shaking her head and trying to snap out of it, she quickly flew out of the little pit and found the next closest one, quickly flying over and landing in it as the rock began to lift again. Setzer followed successfully, and the twosome slowly, but surely, crossed all the way through the cave. At the end, Terra quickly calculated that the area around the exit of the cave would not be affected by the ceiling, and sent Setzer out on his own. He crossed through the exit easily enough, and Terra had to fly all the way back and start over.

It was tedious, but eventually, Terra managed to safely cross all of the Returners, and got to pass through the exit herself. She was expecting to see something even more horrifying than the collapsing ceiling, but to her surprise, the room was nothing but a few bridges and treasure chests. The chests were positioned between where bridges had collapsed, and they all led to a single, wooden doorway. Terra took this time to undo her transformation, and looked to the others.

"All we have to do is cross the bridges, right...?"

"And dodge the treasure chests," Relm moaned. "Oi."

"This is nothing compared to that last room." Strago panted. "I'm getting too old for this!"

"Oh, shut it, oldie!" Relm said. "If you didn't want to come, you shouldn't have came!"

"I came to protect your skinny ass!" Strago barked, and Terra felt herself break into a sweat.

"You guys..." She smiled. "...Are too funny!"

"It's not going to be funny when we're trapped in here forever!" Setzer cried.

"All right, all right." Terra shook her head. "You're right. Let's just hurry up and see what they're going to throw at us next."

After carefully crossing the bridges, the Returners reached the door. Taking a slight breath, Terra gently pushed it open, and stepped inside.

The cave ahead of them almost looked exactly like the one they had first started in. Ahead was a small bridge, which led to a platform of stone and dirt. A shining ray of light was pouring from the ceiling, and basking in it was a figure enshrouded in robes of countless colors and designs. Its face was also completely covered, save for a pair of pretty violet-blue eyes. A puffy yellow hat with various scarves wrapped around it and pointy brown boots poking out from underneath the robes completed the ensemble. As soon as Terra stepped in, the figure looked up, and watched her suspiciously. Terra swallowed, not quite knowing what to say or do at this point. She didn't know whether to flee for her life or prepare for a battle. However, one thing was clear: This was the end of the line. There were no exits or entrances within this cave, and therefore, no where else to go.

Slowly, in an almost inept gesture, the figure raised its hand and made a "come here" motion. Terra, with the others behind, slowly crossed the bridge, and walked up to the person. The figure looked Terra over, looked the others over, and finally spoke in a voice that was soft, yet firm, and soothing, yet commanding. Terra realized it could belong to either a man OR a woman.

"Hello. I am Gogo, master of simulacrum...My miming skills will astound you." Right as Terra reached up to brush away a hair, Gogo did the same, and followed through with the same tender grace Terra held in all her actions, no matter how minor, and their hands cut through the air at the same exact time. Terra gasped a little, and Gogo did as well, both raising their hands to the hearts. Eventually, Gogo stopped, and started to laugh softly.

"Ahh, yes, I have been idle too long!" It was hard to tell, but a smile may of come over Gogo's features right then, for its cheeks rose just a bit against the scarves. Terra sighed some, and Gogo blinked.

"We're lost." Terra finally admitted. "We were swallowed by a Zone Eater and deposited here...we have to get back to the surface world...there are many things we have to do."

"What?" Gogo blinked again, and adopted Terra's stance, with her arms crossed. "If I deem you worthy, I will mime your actions in battle. But first, tell me what you're doing here." Terra didn't know quite how to reply to the miming offer, but she told Gogo their story anyway, in a nutshell version. When she was finished, Gogo turned, paced in a circle, and finally stopped in front of Terra again, matching her confused expression.

Who is this guy?? She thought to himself. Erm...well, who is this girl...or guy...

Gogo jumped up suddenly, and clapped its hands.

"What an unusual tale...This should be fun! When do we leave?" Terra's jaw dropped, and Setzer cleared his throat.

"Ahem, we can't leave...did you forget that we were sort of brought here against our own will?"

"I just asked when we were leaving." Gogo replied. "I did not imply that we knew of an exit." Relm marched up to Gogo, and suddenly, before anyone could stop her, grabbed its chest. Gogo looked mildly surprised, and Relm felt around suspiciously.

"I...ah...umm.." Relm pulled back a few minutes in a huff, and put her hands on her hips. "Ye Gods, what are you? A man, or a bloody woman?!" Gogo shrugged and gave a wink.

"If you can't tell, then neither can I."

"ARG!" Relm cried. "You frustrating bastard! Or bitch!!"

"Relm!" Strago cried, and Gogo chuckled.

"It is ok. She's a curious one, that's all."

As Terra was wracking her brains trying to figure out what do to do escape; Gogo suddenly took her hand, and gazed into her eyes.

"Terra, is it?"

"Y...Yes..." Terra replied, flustered slightly.

"Being that I am right next to you, I can perform any magic you can." Gogo smiled. "But being that I am not you, I can also see some things you can't."

"Excuse me?" Terra blinked.

"There is a spell that you can use to escape." Gogo winked. "Why don't you try it?"

"What?" Terra gasped, "I know a spell that can help us?"

"You do, but you've probably never found it useful since when you learned it," Gogo replied, twirling a scarf innocently, "It is commonly thought of to be of use for escaping leering monsters, and not so much a dungeon of this caliber." Terra paused for a moment, and then widened her eyes.

"Oh, of course! The Warp spell!"

"What?!" Relm shrieked. "You mean you knew how to escape this whole time, and you never told us?! We totally blew a lot of valuable time here!"

"But if we hadn't continued, we would have never met Gogo here." Strago chuckled. "Destiny at work again!"

"Destiny, indeed." Gogo stroked an invisible goatee as Strago stroked his own.

"Well, I didn't really know!" Terra protested to Relm, and Gogo giggled.

"Go ahead, give it a shot. She'll just whine if we keep talking."

"WHAT?!" Relm growled. "Say that again, you son-of-a..."

"WARP!" Terra suddenly cried, and the room faded to a brilliant white. As Terra looked around her, she realized she couldn't see anyone but herself, and she felt like she was flying a million miles per hour.

"You guys?!" Terra cried, rubbing her eyes from the painful white light. "You guys...!"

THUMP!

"Ow..." Terra moaned, blinking, and gasped out.

She was back on the deck of The Falcon. Moments later, the others appeared as well, including Gogo, and all fell to the deck in a clutter. The sky was light blue, with not a cloud in sight, and the sun was shining brightly. At the sound of bodies crashing against the deck of The Falcon, Edgar and Sabin ran upstairs, and gasped when they saw their friends, plus one stranger, safe and sound on the ship.

"You guys!" Edgar cried. "You're all ok!"

"Of course we are!" Relm chirped, and glared at Terra. Terra laughed nervously, and stood up.

"I'm afraid we got a little lost."

"A little lost?!" Celes suddenly barked, climbing to the deck herself and looking very cross. "You got lost on an island this size? We spent all night looking for you..."

"It's a very long story, Celes." Terra sighed. "But I'll be sure to tell you later."

"You'd better!" Celes exclaimed, and Sabin blinked.

"Hey, who's the new kid?"

"This is Gogo!" Terra exclaimed, jumping to Gogo's side. "Gogo helped us escape...and offered to join us in our fight!" Gogo nodded, and tipped its hat slightly.

"I see you have mastered all the blitzes, Sir. We should practice together sometime." Sabin widened his eyes.

"You know Blitz?"

"I do now." Gogo replied cheerfully, and looked around. Sabin felt slightly confused. "I thought you said there were more of you Returners, Terra?"

"Oh, a ton more." Terra smiled. "I'll get everyone up here to introduce you! And after that, Setzer can get to fixing the airship, and we can be on our way!" With that, she hurriedly ran down the deck stairs. Edgar and Sabin started grilling Relm and Strago about getting lost.

"Wonderful." Gogo sat on the rail of the ship. "I look forward to it." Gogo leaned backwards; staring upside down at the damage The Falcon incurred. Setzer began to release the ramp so that he could go down and start his repairs. As he walked down, Gogo kept its eyes on him the whole time, and chuckled. Kneeling down, Setzer just happened to look up, and caught Gogo staring at him.

"What?" Setzer asked, a little irritated. The truth was, he was happy to have escaped, and even happy that they had more help for their final fight...but it was all overpowered by the fact that they were still on -that- island...that they couldn't seem to leave it fast enough.

"You don't like it here, do you?" Gogo questioned, and Setzer shook his head, picking up a tool.

"No."

"Any particular reason?"

"Yes."

"Mmm..." Gogo nodded, as if it understood perfectly, which just irritated Setzer more. "I'm lucky you guys came here. I've been bored out of my mind. I haven't had any visitors since..." Gogo trailed off. "...Hmmmm."

"You're so weird." Setzer suddenly blurted out, and Gogo turned to him.

"I'm just happy. I never thought I would fly again."

The way Gogo spoke sounded strangely eerie, and Setzer could not help but glance up at the odd figure, which had turned its back to him.

He watched Gogo carefully, and for a moment, flirted with an obnoxious, impossible dream. His heart began to pound against his chest, and he felt his breath quicken with a strange anxiety. But, as quickly as it came on, it also faded. Setzer caught his breath, looking away from Gogo and back down at the mess that was The Falcon. Reality quickly settled in once more, and Setzer sighed, reaching for a new tool.

"....No." Setzer whispered to himself, and shook his head, smiling a little. "No...She would make it more difficult."

The newest Returner yawned and flipped upside down on the railing again, looking around, and spotting Setzer hard at work. However, something was off. The mime did a double take, and blinked.

For a moment, Gogo was sure Setzer had tears in his eyes.