The queen was a very young woman who was quite pretty but had a scar on her forehead which went below her left eye, across her nose. She wore a black robe with a hood, supposedly meant to represent her sorrow for her dead husband, the king. She had black hair with red streaks and dark brown eyes, almost black. She wore dark shade makeup under her eyes with pentagram earrings and a pentagram pendant on her necklace, giving her a gothic look. Her tiara was made up gold and had fushia opals and cardinal rubies embedded into it. She slowly stood up from her throne and walked over to the three, they knelt down hastily and stared at the ground.

'Oh please, get up and come here,' the queen made a 'follow me' gesture and they got up and followed her into an opaque room, which lit up as she stepped into it. She sat down at a small circular table, with the captain, and a few other military leaders of Rontil, as well as a corporal and an ace squadron leader.

'Sit down, so we may begin the briefing,' said the queen, unerringly, and Kira, Karko and Dwyer sat down in large willow chairs.

'I see everyone is here, shall we all begin?' said Queen Fierra.

'As you all know, I am Queen Fierra, just call me Synthia. You must be wondering why I called you all up here? Well? Okay I'll tell you now,' she said.

'I have called you all here because you have amazing talents in espionage and battle, I need you three, Kira, Dwyer and Karko, to go deep into Swinvano Territory and get the legendary Masamune Blade, it is rumored to be under the pendulum of hope-'

'P-p-Pendulum of Hope? I thought it was only a myth,' Dwyer gasped.

'But...Why us?' said Kira.

'Because you are a ninja who is willing to sacrifice yourself to save others, courageous too, Dwyer is a highly skilled red mage who knows Firaga and Curaga, and you, Karko, an assassin who has quite a history and has killed the treasurer of the Swinvanos and it's guards within seconds,' said Synthia.

'Whoa, you did that?' said Kira, Karko nodded and opened his mouth to speak.

'Yes, I have trained at Area 330 Garden and became an A-Class SEED, before graduating and joining the military-elite SOLDIER and making it to First-Class rank, then I quit because there was no action at the front so I became an assassin,' reported Karko.

'Well. I can take you into Swin, but not too deep or they'll track down the plane and shoot it down within seconds. So you'll parachute down into the Swin Jungle, Area 2222,' said the Squadron Leader.

'I'll be your guide, follow me to the weapon room, equip yourself properly,' said the Corporal and the three followed him to a white wall, he touched it and it opened up. The room was painted white and rows and rows, shelves, crates, tables, counters of sniper-rifles, laser-guided fusion rocketlaunchers, samurai swords, ammunition, rockets, bombs and many, many, many other firearms and artillery. Kira chose two sais and ten shurikens and one flashbang, and smoke grenade, as well as Mithril chainmail for armour. Dwyer picked up an assault rifle and he rested the rifle sling on his shoulder and he picked up an oak staff off a counter, he went to a table and took a summon materia, Bahamut. Karko however, had a broadsword and decided to exchange it for for a Ragnarok blade and a dagger. He also equipped flexible leather on his shins and shoulders as armour. Dwyer didn't need armour as he could use protect spells and barriers.

'Now, I need you all to wear this,' the pilot got five headphones with a mics and put one on himself and handed one each to Kira, Dwyer, Karko and the corporal, whose name was Cid. They each took one and put it on.

'It will give you direct communication with each other and to me,' the pilot lectured. Cid quickly grabbed a sniper-rifle, fusion rocketlauncher and an uzi.

The party of five walked onto the roof of the castle, where a Hercules plane was waiting. The roof was heavily guarded by SAM Sites and guards. They boarded a Hercules (military transport plane) which was modified with booster rockets. The pilot sat down in the bridge where he initialized starting sequence. The rest took seats in the fuselage. The pilot now initialzied countdown sequence and the boosters sprang to life and the starlifter flew off into orbit.

'Now, the four of you will parachute down into Area 2222 and regroup. Don't think that no tangos live in the jungle as well as fiends and monsters, I am Echo one, Cid is Alpha three, Dwyer is Delta two, Kira is Foxtrot five and Karko is Bravo four. The air is running low here, prepare for jumping sequence!' Echo one announced through a speaker. The four put on parachutes which were on hooks and the hercules descended two clicks above Area 2222. The rear ramp opened at the end of the fuselage, supposedly where they were supposed to jump.

'ANY OF YOU DONE THIS BEFORE!' Dwyer yelled as the wind nearly stole his voice.

'NOT ME, BUT I'M SURE I'LL MAKE IT OUT ALIVE!' yelled Kira

'I HAVE! DU-RING EX-TRAC-TION MIS-SIONS!' shouted Karko at the top of his lungs, although it came out as a faint sound

'I'LL GO FIRST!' roared Cid as the wind rushed even faster

'REMEMBER TO CHECK YOUR ALTIMETER! RELEASE YOUR PARACHUTE AT ONE CLICK!' Cid could barely make a sound, but everyone heard it. He took a step back and took a running jump out of the plane

'GGGEEEEEIIIRRRROOOOONNNNNNNIIIIIIIMMMMMMOOOOOOOOO!' he yelled, but no one heard it as he was gone in seconds. Kira was behind Karko and Dwyer, she pushed them and Karko took it by surprise and fell out of the plane. Dwyer however was now teetering then he fell out

'HHHHOOOLLLLLYYYYY SSSSSHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTT!' Dwyer yelled at the top of his lungs and he was now plunging down to Rontil, checking his altimeter but it was only at 1500 meters. Kira said a quick prayer and shut her eyes and leaped out of the plane, she opened her eyes and could see everything, the sea, Area 327, everything. She did a couple of backflips and continued to freefall.

Cid opened his parachute and landed in the jungle, he checked his surroundings and it looked like nothing was there. He checked his coordinator and saw that everyone was still in the air, Karko was the next to land at 300 feet. Karko plunged down into the green thickness of trees and landed lightly on a sleeping tiger.

'Holy...shit, god...help...me,' he whispered and waved his hands about motionally.

'Hope this works...' he then whispered the words 'sleep' and the tiger - which was sleeping, was now snoring and looked cute, he walked away and unhooked his parachute.

'Alpha three, Alpha three , do you read me, this is Bravo four, where are your coodinates? I repeat where are your coodinates?' he stated.

'This is Alpha three, I am reading my coordinate of A7 I will come to you in approximately two minutes encounting,' replied Cid through the mic.

Dwyer had landed without a sound and look around him. There was no-one, or nothing there. He talked through his mic

'This is Delta two, I am requesting a regroup, I repeat I am requesting a regroup,'

'This is Bravo four along with Alpha three, we have regrouped and are coming yourway in approximately five minutes, stay put till then,' radioed back Karko.

Kira was at a click and reached for her parachute handle, she pulled it and waited anxiously. She looked up and there was no parachute! She pulled it again and looked up but there was nothing!

'This is Foxtrot five I am need of assistance, my parachute is malfunctioning, I need some assistance ASAP,'

'Foxtrot five this is Alpha three, regrouped with Bravo four and Delta two we will be at your landing location in approximately thirty seconds, we'll figure out something,' the radio went out. She was going at an incredible speed and new this was certain death. She kept on pulling the cord handle hoping it would work, it didn't. She was now 300 feet from impact and prayed once more. She hit the first layer of thick branches and green trees and felt sharp pain everywhere.

'Dwyer, move from your spot right now!' yelled Cid, Dwyer was about to move when something hit him and took him down. It was Kira. She was battered and bruised on her arms and legs.

'Owwwww...my head! What the hell was that...ooowww...KIRA?' yelled Dwyer and picked her up and placed her in a standing position. She was rubbing her head and had cuts on her legs. Cid and Karko immediately rushed to her aid.

'Dwyer and the trees had broken her fall, if Dwyer wasn't there Kira wouldn't be alive at the moment. Here take this high-potion, we are starting the search now,' Karko handed her a hi-potion and she drank it almost immediately. Dwyer used curaga spell on her and her cuts, headache and bruises had disappeared.

'Thanks everybody..' she muttered, and everybody heard it.

'Let me see this parachute,' Cid said and he unclipped the parachute bag from her and examined it thoroughly. He looked inside and there was the parachute,and then iterupted in his face.

'Okay...must have been tangled inside...or...something,' he said. Kira starting laughing, and they equipped themselves and started through the jungle.
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