(YAY! REVIEWS! Here is the next chapter!)

The tunnel smelled rank. There were no fancy words needed to describe it. R-A-N-K rank. And not like the musty, grandma smelling, rank. The death kind of rank. Paine almost puked as she entered underneath the dead Al Bhed. Gippal kept his eyes on the ground in front of him. They cautiously made there way deeper into the cave, keeping an eye out for more fiends. They came to a bend in the tunnel, and suddenly there was loud screeching and chattering coming from around the corner. Paine backed up against the wall, and pulled Gippal next to her. He hit his head against the wall.

"Hey, I could have done that myself, Paine."

"Shut up," she whispered hurriedly at him.

Slowly, she sidestepped along the wall, getting closer to the corner's edge. When she got to the corner, she peered around the edge. There were three fiends circling the small girl from earlier that day. The fiends were large lizard-looking creatures, they had long teeth, and their tongues flickered in and out of their mouths constantly. They were all just barely taller then Paine at their shoulders, and their heads went up a few more feet then that.

"Oh my god…" she whispered under her breath.

"What is it?" Gippal asked from behind her. He was trying to peer around the corner next to her, but her head was in the way.

The fiends were pushing at each other, and they seemed to be angry about something. The girl looked around hurriedly, not sure what to do. Tears streamed down her face. Suddenly, two of the fiends broke out in a fight. Paine gasped.

"They're fighting over her."

"What do you mean?" Gippal asked. "Like… who's going to eat her!"

"I'm not sure… All I know is is that they all want her, and there are three of them."

"This can't be good," Gippal whispered, leaning back against the wall. "What do we do?"

"I don't know…" Paine felt herself suddenly be thrown into the leadership position. Gippal was a born leader of the Al Bhed, but what was she? Why was he asking her advice? "Uh… let me watch a minute more."

She turned her head back around. The two fiends that had been fighting before stopped, one lay severely injured on the ground. She guessed that it wouldn't live much longer, and she turned her attention to the other two. They were circling each other now, ready for a vicious battle. Paine knew what to do.

"We wait for the other two to fight."

"What other two?" Gippal asked, he not being able to see any of this.

"Just wait here, and when I return, run like hell."

"What!" Gippal asked. "You can't go in there alone!"

But it was too late. The fiends broke out into battle, and Paine was halfway across the cavern. Gippal looked around the corner at the situation, his alchemy gun out just in case they needed it. The girl saw Paine coming, and an odd looked crossed her face. Partly hope, and partly fear. Paine jumped out of the way of the two fighting fiend, who were now rolling over each other across the room. The fiends were in Gippal's view now, and he couldn't see what happened to Paine or the girl. He'd wait another minute before heading in….

"Run!" he heard Paine yell. She was coming from around the fiends, the girl in her arms. The fiends were too busy to notice the scrawny people running for their lives. Paine made it to the tunnel entrance at full sprint, and did not stop. Gippal came right behind her. Halfway to the entrance, he heard the screech of a dieing fiend. Soon, the other would be on their trail. He picked up the pace. They got to the entrance, and Paine heard the steps of a lizard coming after them.

"Shit!" she said, setting the girl down. "We're going to have to fight it!"

"What!" Gippal shouted. "That thing will kill us in the state we're in!"

"Hey!" Paine shouted back at him. "We don't have time to argue, the fiend is tired too! It just killed two other ones; it must be the slightest bit tired!"

The girl looked back and forth, a somewhat distant look in her eyes. Paine turned gently to her, kneeling down.

Her voice softened. "Don't be frightened, just stay behind us. Don't go far from us, alright?"

The girl nodded. The two adults turned around to face the entrance, and drew their weapons. They looked at each other, and nodded. They would win against this fiend. And suddenly, the largest of the three lizard fiends emerged from the entrance. The girl gasped, but she didn't move from behind them. The battle started.

Paine got the first hit as Gippal charged his gun for an attack. The fiend came after Paine, but she dodged it, barely making it away from the claws. Gippal fired, and hit the fiend's weak spot. It cried out in pain, and turned its attention to him. Paine steadied herself for liquid steal, and Gippal got hit on an attack by the fiend. His arm was cut, and he was knocked back a bit, but he stumbled back forward. It was Paine's turn for a hit.

She attacked with liquid steal, and sure enough water was its weakness. Gippal changed his mind, and mixed two grenades together. They were both readying for the next attack, and they felt a shield go up around them. It was conveniently placed right before the fiends next attack, which Paine couldn't dodge or else she'd endanger the girl. The blow glanced right off, and Paine turned to Gippal.

"Thanks," she said quickly.

"It wasn't me!" he replied. "I thought it was you!"

"Then… if it wasn't you," she attacked the fiend, then returned, "who could it have been?"

Then she realized that the girl was there, she turned around to look at her. The girl smiled back, and she raised a short staff to heal Gippal's wound.

"Well… I'll be damned," Gippal muttered. They turned back to the fiend with more confidence. The fight didn't last much longer, but it would have been a close call without the girls help. When they finished the fight, Gippal pulled out a flare, and they waited for someone to come and pick them up. They also retrieved the dead body from the cave. It didn't feel right to leave him there like that, so the decision was made to give him a proper burial. It was a long day, and Paine was grateful when she finally fell asleep in a tent at the Al Bhed base camp. Things felt almost like they used to… minus Baralia and Nooj. Maybe her past could be renewed.

(So…. I know I spelled Baralia wrong, but I don't want him in this story, so it doesn't matter. Anyhoo. R&R.)