Sorry it took so long to update. I've been really busy
DARK KNIGHT
The wind blew through the crowd, ruffling their shirts and messing up the women's hair; but they paid no heed, their attention was transfixed on the two figures before them, fighting for their lives. The two figures were engaged in a battle that seemed as though it was choreographed, neither one gaining the upper hand. The tall figure swung its blade at the shorter figure, who ducked and brought its blade up. The tall figure blocked and kicked the shorter figure into the light.
"Crap.." Jeremey said as he landed and looked to see his gunblade sliding out of his reach and into darkness. He looked back to see Sephiroth step out of the shadows smiling. Jeremey knew why he was smiling: he had won, Jeremey had no weapon and he was sure nobody in the crowd would help him. Sephiroth brought his blade up and swung down with all his might for a killing blow.
The gigantic sword came down slowly, so slowly Jeremey could have easily escaped. But he couldn't; he couldn't move, and it perplexed him. He was not tied down, nobody was holding him down. Yet, he could not move, he was caught in the spot he was in. Jeremey suddenly lost his patience.
"Dammit!!" He screamed and the world around him cracked like glass and shattered, forcing Jeremey to fall into abyss. He fell for what seemed like hours before landing on ground with purple grass.
"The hell?" Jeremey said taking in his surroundings. The sky was a dark red, the clouds a dark yellow. There was no sun and as Jeremey looked around he saw buildings to his left. He turned to walk to them when they suddenly melted like butter in a microwave. Jeremey stepped back and bumped into something. He turned, looked up and yelped as blood dripped onto his face. He wiped it off, looked up again, only to find Kaylie impaled through the chest on a pole as thick as his arm.
"Kaylie..." He uttered in disbelief, "No.." He stepped back only to bump into something else. He turned and looked up to see Chas impaled in the same manner as Kaylie. Feeling nauseous, he turned to run away, only to be greeted by all of his friends impaled like Kaylie and Chas, their cold dead eyes staring at him. Suddenly, their mouths started to move, the words inaudible at first then rising until the ground seemed to shake under their voices.
"Estuans interius ira vehementi.." They sung as Jeremey covered his ears, "Estuans interius ira vehementi.." Jeremey suddenly shuddered, a cold shiver going down his spine. He could hear laughter, Sephiroth's laughter, the world echoed with it. His friends' bodies screamed suddenly, still singing, "SEPHIROTH! SEPHIROTH!" Jeremey suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back and the blade of the Masamune exploded from his chest as his friends' bodies continued singing "Sors immanis, et inanis.." Sephiroth had impaled him; Jeremey looked behind him to see Sephiroth laughing. He pulled the sword out slowly, brought it up, and swung down with all his might.
"NO!" Jeremey screamed as he woke up in a cold sweat. His pillow was soaked from the sweat. Jeremey brushed his fingers through his hair, his body shaking, "Hell of a dream.." He looked at the alarm clock, he had five minutes before it was supposed to wake him. He sat in his bed leaning on one elbow for a few moments before deciding to get ready early.
"Ugh.." Jeremey uttered while swinging over the edge of the bed and climbing down the ladder of his bunk bed, "I see B.J. didn't come home last night.." He said to himself looking at his brother's empty bed. He shuffled sleepily to the alarm clock, cut it off, then to the bathroom and yawned as he started the shower up. As he got into the shower he winced and looked down at his stomach, seeing the bruise there even darker and more sensitive than it was the night before.
The warm shower water was inviting and refreshing, Jeremey stayed in the shower longer than usual to savor it. He got out of the shower, dried off quickly, and walked back to his room to get dressed. The first shirt he picked out was a navy blue Spider-Man shirt, he then grabbed up his lucky boxers and his favorite pants. After that he looked at his light jacket with the stab hole in it, threw it to the side and picked up his Clemson hoodie. He quickly pulled on his socks, tied his shoes, and grabbed the sunglasses his brother gave him off his small television. Looking at the clock he realized he still had at least twenty minutes before Cid came to pick him up.
"Geez.." Jeremey said sitting on his brother's bed, "What can I do for twenty minutes...? Oh yeah, I gotta pack." He walked over to his small white dresser, which had his brother's CD player on top of it, opened his drawer, and started pulling out his favorite shirts and pants. He then pulled out a few boxers and stuffed all of them into his old book bag, neatly folding them so the book bag wouldn't bulge.
"I am way too neat.." Jeremey said shaking his head, "Um.. Still got about fifteen minutes... Whatever.." He walked over to the corner of his room, picked up his guitar, sat down on B.J.'s bed again, and played for the rest of the time, getting angry when he hit the wrong fret. He sighed and laughed.
"Damn perfectionism.." Jeremey looked down at his guitar and thought about taking it with him, but then thought better of it. He heard a truck pull into the yard. He got up slowly, walked over to the front door, looked in the direction of his parents' room, smiled despondently, and finally walked out the door quietly, waving at Cid.
"Damn alarm clock.." Kaylie said annoyed and slammed her fist down onto the snooze button on the alarm clock. She rolled out of bed and began to get dressed, she had taken a shower the night before. As she pulled her pants on she thought about Jeremey and sighed. She loved him, but she didn't know if he loved her back. He said he did, but sometimes it just seemed like he was ashamed of her.
"No, he has to love me." Kaylie said, pulling on a shirt stating 'Hottie', "If he says he loves me, he does. He just hasn't had a girlfriend in a while, he doesn't know how to act.." She walked over to her dresser and stared at her Lord of the Rings pewter collection distantly.
"Well Kaylie," She said to herself, "You got your adventure, make the best of it." She snatched up her diary and wrote in it for about two minutes when she heard Cid's truck pull into her yard. She got up, walked to her front door patting her dog on the head and stroking her cat one last time before stepping outside and smiling as Jeremey opened the door to the truck for her.
Chas's dad opened the door and tapped him on the shoulder. Chas opened his eyes drowsily and shook his head.
"Hey, you told me to wake you up at 7:00. Better get up." His dad commanded. Chas merely nodded his head and lazily rolled out of bed. He sat on the edge of the bed looking around his room, he wasn't much of a morning person. He shuffled sleepily to the bathroom, and started the shower. While he was waiting for the water warm up he turned and relieved himself in the toilet.
"Damn," He said yawning, "I need to stop staying up so late." He stepped into the shower and closed his eyes, savoring the warm water. Someone knocked on the wall beside him and he nearly fell out of the shower.
"Chas!" His dad called from the bedroom, "Don't forget to brush your teeth before you leave!" Chas smiled angrily and nodded.
"Okay dad!" He shouted back. He washed quickly and stepped out of the shower. Drying quickly he walked to his room and quickly dressed himself. He looked over to the clock on his wall and sighed as he realized he still probably had about ten minutes before Cid arrived. Walking over to his CD player he inserted Metallica's Black Album and laid on his bed with his hands behind his head. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he woke his dad was standing over him.
"Wake up," He said, "Your ride's here." Chas blinked and rose slowly yawning.
"I fell asleep?" He asked his dad groggily. His dad nodded and walked out of the room. Chas tripped going down the steps and nearly fell. He walked out the front door and was greeted by Jeremey hanging out the door of Cid's truck.
"Damn man, what's the hold up?" Jeremey said smiling, "We've been out here forever." Chas closed his right eye and smiled.
"Had to get my beauty sleep man." Chas replied to which Jeremey laughed.
"It's not working." Jeremey laughed, "Let's go man." Chas nodded and ran to the truck.
Millie awoke to the sound of a horn honking in the yard. She looked at the clock, which read 8:00.
"CRAP!" She exclaimed jumping out of bed and pulling on the clothes she had laid out the night before. She didn't set her alarm because she thought someone would wake her up before Cid came. She was wrong.
"You can't count on anybody.." She said angrily and gloomily. Millie was afraid of commitment. She didn't even like going out with Chas, but she was too afraid that she'd hurt him to tell him. Jogging, she snatched up her back pack and bolted out of the door. Once outside she looked up to see Chas waiting for her at the truck and forced a smile.
Three hours later Jeremey, Kaylie, Chas, and Millie sat in the back seat, deep in conversation while Wesley sat in front talking to Cid. Jeremey looked over to Chas.
"You hear this man?" He smiled, "Kaylie says she wants first crack at the next monster or whatever we fight." He looked back at Kaylie mischievously. Kaylie stuck her tongue out at him. He smiled even wider.
"I do too." Millie chimed in. Kaylie nodded her head and pointed at Millie with a 'I told you so' face. Millie smiled and looked down. Chas had tried to hold her hand three times and each time she turned away or made up an excuse not to. Chas was looking downcast, Jeremey noticed it, but didn't ask him. Millie had noticed the way Jeremey avoided situations where he or another could end up hurt. He was afraid of hurting people, as was everyone, but Jeremey was terrified of it. She also noted that when someone said something about the previous night his face would shift from happy to depressed, then back again quickly.
"Alright," He was saying suddenly, "The next bad guy we meet, you two will have first crack at it. Fair?" He looked at each of them.
"Fair." Millie and Kaylie said simultaneously. The truck came to a stop slowly. Jeremey looked out the window to see the ocean about fifty yards away and a dock about thirty. Tied to the dock was a fairly big boat that was white with red lightning bolts running the entire length. Jeremey raised an eyebrow.
"You like red lightning don't you?" He smiled. Cid laughed and opened the door, hopping onto the ground.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that." The back door opened up and Jeremey leapt out. Erik, Justin, and Petey leapt off the back of the truck and Erik stretched.
"Geez," He looked around, "All the way to a beach on the back of a truck.." He looked to the dock. "So, is that how we're going to get to the aircraft, or have you stealthily hid it here somewhere?" Erik grinned and looked at Cid, who chuckled.
"No," Cid replied scratching the back of his head, "It's about a thirty minute ride out there on an old oil rig." He pointed toward the horizon. Wesley's face went pale and his eyes widened.
"Y-you mean, an oil rig?" He stammered, "L-like the big tall things that are in the middle of the ocean?" Cid nodded. Jeremey turned to looked at Wesley and remembered something.
"Oh yeah!" He said slapping himself on the forehead, "Wesley's afraid of heights. But it should be alright, I mean, when we go up we'll be safe right?" He finished with a tone of optimism in his voice.
"Yeah," Cid replied, "We'll be safer than on any airplane." Wesley nodded but still had a shook up air about him.
"Shall we?" Jeremey motioned with his hands toward the pier. They all started toward the pier. Stepping onto it Jeremey noticed it was fairly old. The boards creaked when he stepped on them. "The airship might be safe, but dunno about this pier..." He said to himself smiling. As they hopped into the boat out started out to sea they didn't even notice the sky darkening and the plants wilting as a tall figure stepped out of the forest eighty yards away, it's yellow eyes glowing brightly.
Twenty five minutes later they were approaching the oil rig. Wesley's face seemed to get paler by the minute. Justin looked at Petey and frowned.
"Why's he here?" He asked Jeremey with a disgusted tone. Jeremey glared at Justin for a moment.
"Cause he's our friend." He replied, "And he's with us, whether he wants to be or not." Justin wrinkled his nose and looked back at Petey.
"He doesn't have a weapon." He said looking back at Jeremey. "What's the point of having him with us?" Jeremey clenched his fists.
"Because he's my fuggin friend!" He said through gritted teeth, "If you have a problem with it you can get the hell out right now." Justin had a face of someone who's life had just been threatened when he turned and sat back down. Millie had been watching the entire exchange.
"At least he's loyal to his friends.." She said to herself looking at Chas standing on the side of the boat staring out to sea forlornly. She sighed and stared at the floor the rest of the ride.
Finally they were below the oil rig approaching the elevator to the top. Jeremey stared up with an awe-struck expression. The rig was huge; jutting out at least sixty to seventy feet out of the water. He noticed earlier that most the towers like he had seen on pictures of oil rigs were missing from this one.
"Uh, Cid." Jeremey started as they all piled into the elevator, "Where's all the towers and stuff that are usually on oil rigs?" Cid looked him in the face.
"Well, like I said, this is an old oil rig." He replied, "Most of 'em probably got rusty and collapsed and fell into the ocean." Jeremey nodded, looking up, anxious to see the airship. When they reached the top Jeremey was the first one to step out. He rocked his head back at the sight of how large the platform was. It spanned at least 200 yards across on each side. Jeremey then saw what he came to see: the airship.
It was huge, around 150 feet long and over seventy feet high. On the front was a big glass dome where Jeremey could make out a seat and an old fashioned steering wheel like someone would find on a pirate ship in the movies. Near the bottom of the ship there were windows about six to seven feet high and stretching almost the entire length of the airship, the door to the inside directly behind them near the back. The wings on each side were short only about forty feet long, giving the airship an eighty foot wingspan. It was colored gray on the top and bottom, the middle of the ship being white. On the top at the back was a fin that curved forward like a scorpion's tail though not as long.
"Sweet..." Jeremey said looking at the fin, which had a black flame painted on it, "You've outdone yourself Cid.." He looked back and saw that everyone else was gawking at the ship as well, save for Petey, who simply looked at it with his arms crossed.
"Yeah," Cid said walking up to the ship and tapping it, "This is the same kinda material used on spacecrafts so they don't burn up coming back into the atmosphere. She also uses the same kinda thrusters." He pointed to the back of the ship where Jeremey could see three large thrusters on the back.
"What kinda fuel does it use?" Chas asked suddenly. Cid nodded and Jeremey thought he looked like a tour guide answering questions about a statue or something.
"This is what I find interesting.." Cid started, "NASA has developed a kind of fuel that doesn't burn as much and pollutes less. They said a car could go on half-a-gallon of the stuff for over ten years."
"Impossible!" Jeremey said disbelievingly. Cid turned to him and smiled.
"I thought that too, until I saw it for myself. I've had a half-gallon of that stuff in my truck for three years and I've never had to refill." Chas frowned.
"Then why haven't they released it to the public?" Jeremey looked back at him and nodded.
"Because it'll cost too much. Think about it." Cid replied laughing. The group nodded. "And another thing, NASA said-- Who's that?" He pointed behind the group.
Jeremey and the rest turned to see a man in a blue suit of armor and a cape walking toward them from the other side of the platform with a sword. Jeremey looked at Chas and Justin.
"Garland.." Justin said, awe-struck. Jeremey then looked to Kaylie and Mille.
"Have at him. We got your back." He nodded to the rest of the group. Millie and Kaylie nodded and took three steps before summoning their weapons.
"Nervous?" Kaylie asked Millie, who nodded, "Me too." Garland stopped walking about twenty yards away and simply stood staring at them. Kaylie looked at Millie and nodded pointing her fist toward Garland, placing her left hand under he right forearm and pressing the trigger on the side of the pinwheel. The blade fire off with astonishing speed and Millie spun around twice before throwing the ninja star. The weapons flew at Garland, who merely stood, unmoving.
Suddenly, with lightning-fast speed, he grabbed the saw-blade with his left hand and struck the ninja star with the sword sending it sliding back across the platform to Millie, who picked it up and dismissed it, awe-struck. He examined the saw blade for a moment before flinging it back to Kaylie like a frisbee. Kaylie could do nothing but stare at the saw blade coming toward her and suddenly Jeremey's weapon came down, knocking the saw blade to the floor. Kaylie picked it up and locked it back into place on her forearm before dismissing it.
"Happy?" Jeremey asked her, "That was new... Get on the airship. Cid? Start this thing up and get us outta here." Cid was already opening the door to the airship.
"It'll take a little while." He replied. Jeremey looked back at him.
"How much of a little while?"
"About three minutes." Jeremey sighed angrily and nodded.
"I'll give you your three minutes." He said, "Who wants this guy? Okay, Justin. Who else? Nobody? How bout you Chas?" Chas looked up.
"Sure, I'd love to." He replied unenthusiastically. Jeremey cocked his head over.
"You don't have to if you don't want to dude." Chas's expression changed quickly, he now looked determined.
"No, I'm going." Jeremey nodded smiling.
"Alright," Jeremey said sternly, "Everybody else on the airship." Everybody responded quickly, walking through the door to the inside.
"Remember, kid!" Cid called before going inside, "Three minutes!" Jeremey nodded and looked to Justin and Chas as the door closed.
"Geez man," He started, "I'm nervous as hell. Last time I fought a guy with a sword like that I almost got killed." He looked to Garland, who was still standing, waiting for them to attack. The airship started to hum loudly, the engine starting to warm up, "Alright guys, three minutes.. That's it. After that we get the hell out. Got me?" Chas and Justin nodded, their faces pale.
They started slowly toward Garland and stopped about twenty feet away. Justin and Chas summoned their weapons. Garland looked them over slowly.
"I suppose you are the ones who are going to fight me?" He asked them. Jeremey shuddered as he realized that Garland had a dual voice.
"Creepy.." He said to himself, "Yeah, that's us! You guys ready?" He looked at Justin and Chas.
"T-that's a nice sword." Justin said to Garland, trying to stay calm. Garland looked at it. It was a Scottish claymore looking sword with a golden blade and a red hilt. There were two small blades protruding from the hilt guard. The blade seemed to be glowing black.
"Yes, this is the sword of Ragnarok." Garland said lowering the weapon and looking at them, "It has destroyed entire cities." Jeremey looked over to Justin, who heart seemed to sink at hearing this.
"Yeah, whatever." Jeremey said raising his weapon, "Let's go!" With that they charged simultaneously at Garland and attacked him. It seemed like a ballet, Chas swung the Buster Sword horizontally to the right, Justin swung the Brotherhood horizontally to the left, Jeremey ducked as the two blades swung past him and brought the gunblade up in a uppercut slash. Garland easily blocked all three attacks.
Still they continued attacking, Garland blocking all of their attacks. Finally, Garland swung his weapon like a baseball batter and hit Justin as he brought his sword up to block and as the blades collided the air seemed to warp in a bubble shape and Justin was knocked back thirty feet, then he did the same to Chas. He finally brought the blade up and then down on Jeremey, who leapt to the right, out of the way. As the blade hit the platform a large crack formed, emitting black light.
"Whoa." Jeremey said looking at it before charging Garland again. They fought for what seemed like an hour to Jeremey. "Geez, isn't three minutes up?!" He asked countering a lunge. The battle led to near the edge of the platform and Garland's eyes glowed brighter with every collision of blades. Finally Jeremey swung at Garland and their blades seemed to be stuck together, each person bearing down on the other.
"You're good boy." Garland said, "I like your perseverance, but it WILL be your downfall." Jeremey grinned and looked behind Garland to see Chas approaching.
"Probably, but not today." Jeremey said chancing another glance at Chas, who was already swinging his weapon. Garland knew what was happening and ducked, leaving Jeremey open for the attack. Jeremey quickly brought the gunblade up to block and stumbled back a few steps from the force of the blow. Garland stood and turned to look at a surprised Chas.
"Shite.." Chas said as Garland attacked him, swinging the blade horizontally. Chas brought the blade up and was knocked aside and Garland was about to pursue him when Justin attacked to his left. Garland blocked the attack easily and hit Justin with the back of his hand, knocking him away. He stood staring at Justin for a moment and was about to continue when he heard footsteps running toward him. He turned just in time to see Jeremey jumping in the air.
"Asshole!" He bellowed and drop kicked Garland in the chest, sending him stumbling over the edge of the platform. He landed on his side and got up quickly. Chas and Justin approached him from the sides.
"What now?" Justin asked. Jeremey looked over the edge of the platform.
"Crap.." He said looking at Garland holding on to one of the braces with his left hand looking up at them, his eyes flashing angrily. "Um, you guys should get on the airship, Garland's still down there." He nodded to the edge. Justin and Chas turned and started back to the ship without question. Jeremey was turning back to look at Garland again when a blue and purple blur shot upward in front of him. He looked up to see Garland turning his blade downward in the same manner that Sephiroth had used the night before to try and kill Jeremey.
"Not good.." Jeremey said staring at Garland coming down, "Not good at all.." He tried to run but his body would not move. He could only stare at Garland coming down on him. Suddenly the ship started up and Jeremey snapped out of his trance to leapt out of the way just in time as Garland slammed into the platform. As the blade punctured the floor of the platform at black light exploded from it. Jeremey turned and ran to the airship.
"Go!" He screamed, "GO!" The airship lifted off of the platform and slowly started to move as Garland stood and began running toward Jeremey, who looked back and yelped in fear. Running faster than he ever had in his life he looked up to see Kaylie in the doorway of the airship telling him to hurry. The airship was about seven to eight feet away from the end of the platform, ready to leave.
"I only got one shot at this..." Jeremey said dismissing his gunblade and pushed forward faster hearing Garland gaining on him. He reached the end of the platform and dove into the door of the ship, barely making it.
"Go!!!" He screamed as he landed on the floor and the door closed. Garland skidded to a stop barely a foot from the edge and watched as the airship took off quickly.
"Damn..." He said watching it fly away, his ragged purple cape blowing in the strong wind left behind by the airship.
NOTE: The song the dead bodies were singing in the dream is Sephiroth's One-Winged Angel theme, just in case you didn't know. A very superb song if you've never heard it.
DARK KNIGHT
The wind blew through the crowd, ruffling their shirts and messing up the women's hair; but they paid no heed, their attention was transfixed on the two figures before them, fighting for their lives. The two figures were engaged in a battle that seemed as though it was choreographed, neither one gaining the upper hand. The tall figure swung its blade at the shorter figure, who ducked and brought its blade up. The tall figure blocked and kicked the shorter figure into the light.
"Crap.." Jeremey said as he landed and looked to see his gunblade sliding out of his reach and into darkness. He looked back to see Sephiroth step out of the shadows smiling. Jeremey knew why he was smiling: he had won, Jeremey had no weapon and he was sure nobody in the crowd would help him. Sephiroth brought his blade up and swung down with all his might for a killing blow.
The gigantic sword came down slowly, so slowly Jeremey could have easily escaped. But he couldn't; he couldn't move, and it perplexed him. He was not tied down, nobody was holding him down. Yet, he could not move, he was caught in the spot he was in. Jeremey suddenly lost his patience.
"Dammit!!" He screamed and the world around him cracked like glass and shattered, forcing Jeremey to fall into abyss. He fell for what seemed like hours before landing on ground with purple grass.
"The hell?" Jeremey said taking in his surroundings. The sky was a dark red, the clouds a dark yellow. There was no sun and as Jeremey looked around he saw buildings to his left. He turned to walk to them when they suddenly melted like butter in a microwave. Jeremey stepped back and bumped into something. He turned, looked up and yelped as blood dripped onto his face. He wiped it off, looked up again, only to find Kaylie impaled through the chest on a pole as thick as his arm.
"Kaylie..." He uttered in disbelief, "No.." He stepped back only to bump into something else. He turned and looked up to see Chas impaled in the same manner as Kaylie. Feeling nauseous, he turned to run away, only to be greeted by all of his friends impaled like Kaylie and Chas, their cold dead eyes staring at him. Suddenly, their mouths started to move, the words inaudible at first then rising until the ground seemed to shake under their voices.
"Estuans interius ira vehementi.." They sung as Jeremey covered his ears, "Estuans interius ira vehementi.." Jeremey suddenly shuddered, a cold shiver going down his spine. He could hear laughter, Sephiroth's laughter, the world echoed with it. His friends' bodies screamed suddenly, still singing, "SEPHIROTH! SEPHIROTH!" Jeremey suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back and the blade of the Masamune exploded from his chest as his friends' bodies continued singing "Sors immanis, et inanis.." Sephiroth had impaled him; Jeremey looked behind him to see Sephiroth laughing. He pulled the sword out slowly, brought it up, and swung down with all his might.
"NO!" Jeremey screamed as he woke up in a cold sweat. His pillow was soaked from the sweat. Jeremey brushed his fingers through his hair, his body shaking, "Hell of a dream.." He looked at the alarm clock, he had five minutes before it was supposed to wake him. He sat in his bed leaning on one elbow for a few moments before deciding to get ready early.
"Ugh.." Jeremey uttered while swinging over the edge of the bed and climbing down the ladder of his bunk bed, "I see B.J. didn't come home last night.." He said to himself looking at his brother's empty bed. He shuffled sleepily to the alarm clock, cut it off, then to the bathroom and yawned as he started the shower up. As he got into the shower he winced and looked down at his stomach, seeing the bruise there even darker and more sensitive than it was the night before.
The warm shower water was inviting and refreshing, Jeremey stayed in the shower longer than usual to savor it. He got out of the shower, dried off quickly, and walked back to his room to get dressed. The first shirt he picked out was a navy blue Spider-Man shirt, he then grabbed up his lucky boxers and his favorite pants. After that he looked at his light jacket with the stab hole in it, threw it to the side and picked up his Clemson hoodie. He quickly pulled on his socks, tied his shoes, and grabbed the sunglasses his brother gave him off his small television. Looking at the clock he realized he still had at least twenty minutes before Cid came to pick him up.
"Geez.." Jeremey said sitting on his brother's bed, "What can I do for twenty minutes...? Oh yeah, I gotta pack." He walked over to his small white dresser, which had his brother's CD player on top of it, opened his drawer, and started pulling out his favorite shirts and pants. He then pulled out a few boxers and stuffed all of them into his old book bag, neatly folding them so the book bag wouldn't bulge.
"I am way too neat.." Jeremey said shaking his head, "Um.. Still got about fifteen minutes... Whatever.." He walked over to the corner of his room, picked up his guitar, sat down on B.J.'s bed again, and played for the rest of the time, getting angry when he hit the wrong fret. He sighed and laughed.
"Damn perfectionism.." Jeremey looked down at his guitar and thought about taking it with him, but then thought better of it. He heard a truck pull into the yard. He got up slowly, walked over to the front door, looked in the direction of his parents' room, smiled despondently, and finally walked out the door quietly, waving at Cid.
"Damn alarm clock.." Kaylie said annoyed and slammed her fist down onto the snooze button on the alarm clock. She rolled out of bed and began to get dressed, she had taken a shower the night before. As she pulled her pants on she thought about Jeremey and sighed. She loved him, but she didn't know if he loved her back. He said he did, but sometimes it just seemed like he was ashamed of her.
"No, he has to love me." Kaylie said, pulling on a shirt stating 'Hottie', "If he says he loves me, he does. He just hasn't had a girlfriend in a while, he doesn't know how to act.." She walked over to her dresser and stared at her Lord of the Rings pewter collection distantly.
"Well Kaylie," She said to herself, "You got your adventure, make the best of it." She snatched up her diary and wrote in it for about two minutes when she heard Cid's truck pull into her yard. She got up, walked to her front door patting her dog on the head and stroking her cat one last time before stepping outside and smiling as Jeremey opened the door to the truck for her.
Chas's dad opened the door and tapped him on the shoulder. Chas opened his eyes drowsily and shook his head.
"Hey, you told me to wake you up at 7:00. Better get up." His dad commanded. Chas merely nodded his head and lazily rolled out of bed. He sat on the edge of the bed looking around his room, he wasn't much of a morning person. He shuffled sleepily to the bathroom, and started the shower. While he was waiting for the water warm up he turned and relieved himself in the toilet.
"Damn," He said yawning, "I need to stop staying up so late." He stepped into the shower and closed his eyes, savoring the warm water. Someone knocked on the wall beside him and he nearly fell out of the shower.
"Chas!" His dad called from the bedroom, "Don't forget to brush your teeth before you leave!" Chas smiled angrily and nodded.
"Okay dad!" He shouted back. He washed quickly and stepped out of the shower. Drying quickly he walked to his room and quickly dressed himself. He looked over to the clock on his wall and sighed as he realized he still probably had about ten minutes before Cid arrived. Walking over to his CD player he inserted Metallica's Black Album and laid on his bed with his hands behind his head. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he woke his dad was standing over him.
"Wake up," He said, "Your ride's here." Chas blinked and rose slowly yawning.
"I fell asleep?" He asked his dad groggily. His dad nodded and walked out of the room. Chas tripped going down the steps and nearly fell. He walked out the front door and was greeted by Jeremey hanging out the door of Cid's truck.
"Damn man, what's the hold up?" Jeremey said smiling, "We've been out here forever." Chas closed his right eye and smiled.
"Had to get my beauty sleep man." Chas replied to which Jeremey laughed.
"It's not working." Jeremey laughed, "Let's go man." Chas nodded and ran to the truck.
Millie awoke to the sound of a horn honking in the yard. She looked at the clock, which read 8:00.
"CRAP!" She exclaimed jumping out of bed and pulling on the clothes she had laid out the night before. She didn't set her alarm because she thought someone would wake her up before Cid came. She was wrong.
"You can't count on anybody.." She said angrily and gloomily. Millie was afraid of commitment. She didn't even like going out with Chas, but she was too afraid that she'd hurt him to tell him. Jogging, she snatched up her back pack and bolted out of the door. Once outside she looked up to see Chas waiting for her at the truck and forced a smile.
Three hours later Jeremey, Kaylie, Chas, and Millie sat in the back seat, deep in conversation while Wesley sat in front talking to Cid. Jeremey looked over to Chas.
"You hear this man?" He smiled, "Kaylie says she wants first crack at the next monster or whatever we fight." He looked back at Kaylie mischievously. Kaylie stuck her tongue out at him. He smiled even wider.
"I do too." Millie chimed in. Kaylie nodded her head and pointed at Millie with a 'I told you so' face. Millie smiled and looked down. Chas had tried to hold her hand three times and each time she turned away or made up an excuse not to. Chas was looking downcast, Jeremey noticed it, but didn't ask him. Millie had noticed the way Jeremey avoided situations where he or another could end up hurt. He was afraid of hurting people, as was everyone, but Jeremey was terrified of it. She also noted that when someone said something about the previous night his face would shift from happy to depressed, then back again quickly.
"Alright," He was saying suddenly, "The next bad guy we meet, you two will have first crack at it. Fair?" He looked at each of them.
"Fair." Millie and Kaylie said simultaneously. The truck came to a stop slowly. Jeremey looked out the window to see the ocean about fifty yards away and a dock about thirty. Tied to the dock was a fairly big boat that was white with red lightning bolts running the entire length. Jeremey raised an eyebrow.
"You like red lightning don't you?" He smiled. Cid laughed and opened the door, hopping onto the ground.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that." The back door opened up and Jeremey leapt out. Erik, Justin, and Petey leapt off the back of the truck and Erik stretched.
"Geez," He looked around, "All the way to a beach on the back of a truck.." He looked to the dock. "So, is that how we're going to get to the aircraft, or have you stealthily hid it here somewhere?" Erik grinned and looked at Cid, who chuckled.
"No," Cid replied scratching the back of his head, "It's about a thirty minute ride out there on an old oil rig." He pointed toward the horizon. Wesley's face went pale and his eyes widened.
"Y-you mean, an oil rig?" He stammered, "L-like the big tall things that are in the middle of the ocean?" Cid nodded. Jeremey turned to looked at Wesley and remembered something.
"Oh yeah!" He said slapping himself on the forehead, "Wesley's afraid of heights. But it should be alright, I mean, when we go up we'll be safe right?" He finished with a tone of optimism in his voice.
"Yeah," Cid replied, "We'll be safer than on any airplane." Wesley nodded but still had a shook up air about him.
"Shall we?" Jeremey motioned with his hands toward the pier. They all started toward the pier. Stepping onto it Jeremey noticed it was fairly old. The boards creaked when he stepped on them. "The airship might be safe, but dunno about this pier..." He said to himself smiling. As they hopped into the boat out started out to sea they didn't even notice the sky darkening and the plants wilting as a tall figure stepped out of the forest eighty yards away, it's yellow eyes glowing brightly.
Twenty five minutes later they were approaching the oil rig. Wesley's face seemed to get paler by the minute. Justin looked at Petey and frowned.
"Why's he here?" He asked Jeremey with a disgusted tone. Jeremey glared at Justin for a moment.
"Cause he's our friend." He replied, "And he's with us, whether he wants to be or not." Justin wrinkled his nose and looked back at Petey.
"He doesn't have a weapon." He said looking back at Jeremey. "What's the point of having him with us?" Jeremey clenched his fists.
"Because he's my fuggin friend!" He said through gritted teeth, "If you have a problem with it you can get the hell out right now." Justin had a face of someone who's life had just been threatened when he turned and sat back down. Millie had been watching the entire exchange.
"At least he's loyal to his friends.." She said to herself looking at Chas standing on the side of the boat staring out to sea forlornly. She sighed and stared at the floor the rest of the ride.
Finally they were below the oil rig approaching the elevator to the top. Jeremey stared up with an awe-struck expression. The rig was huge; jutting out at least sixty to seventy feet out of the water. He noticed earlier that most the towers like he had seen on pictures of oil rigs were missing from this one.
"Uh, Cid." Jeremey started as they all piled into the elevator, "Where's all the towers and stuff that are usually on oil rigs?" Cid looked him in the face.
"Well, like I said, this is an old oil rig." He replied, "Most of 'em probably got rusty and collapsed and fell into the ocean." Jeremey nodded, looking up, anxious to see the airship. When they reached the top Jeremey was the first one to step out. He rocked his head back at the sight of how large the platform was. It spanned at least 200 yards across on each side. Jeremey then saw what he came to see: the airship.
It was huge, around 150 feet long and over seventy feet high. On the front was a big glass dome where Jeremey could make out a seat and an old fashioned steering wheel like someone would find on a pirate ship in the movies. Near the bottom of the ship there were windows about six to seven feet high and stretching almost the entire length of the airship, the door to the inside directly behind them near the back. The wings on each side were short only about forty feet long, giving the airship an eighty foot wingspan. It was colored gray on the top and bottom, the middle of the ship being white. On the top at the back was a fin that curved forward like a scorpion's tail though not as long.
"Sweet..." Jeremey said looking at the fin, which had a black flame painted on it, "You've outdone yourself Cid.." He looked back and saw that everyone else was gawking at the ship as well, save for Petey, who simply looked at it with his arms crossed.
"Yeah," Cid said walking up to the ship and tapping it, "This is the same kinda material used on spacecrafts so they don't burn up coming back into the atmosphere. She also uses the same kinda thrusters." He pointed to the back of the ship where Jeremey could see three large thrusters on the back.
"What kinda fuel does it use?" Chas asked suddenly. Cid nodded and Jeremey thought he looked like a tour guide answering questions about a statue or something.
"This is what I find interesting.." Cid started, "NASA has developed a kind of fuel that doesn't burn as much and pollutes less. They said a car could go on half-a-gallon of the stuff for over ten years."
"Impossible!" Jeremey said disbelievingly. Cid turned to him and smiled.
"I thought that too, until I saw it for myself. I've had a half-gallon of that stuff in my truck for three years and I've never had to refill." Chas frowned.
"Then why haven't they released it to the public?" Jeremey looked back at him and nodded.
"Because it'll cost too much. Think about it." Cid replied laughing. The group nodded. "And another thing, NASA said-- Who's that?" He pointed behind the group.
Jeremey and the rest turned to see a man in a blue suit of armor and a cape walking toward them from the other side of the platform with a sword. Jeremey looked at Chas and Justin.
"Garland.." Justin said, awe-struck. Jeremey then looked to Kaylie and Mille.
"Have at him. We got your back." He nodded to the rest of the group. Millie and Kaylie nodded and took three steps before summoning their weapons.
"Nervous?" Kaylie asked Millie, who nodded, "Me too." Garland stopped walking about twenty yards away and simply stood staring at them. Kaylie looked at Millie and nodded pointing her fist toward Garland, placing her left hand under he right forearm and pressing the trigger on the side of the pinwheel. The blade fire off with astonishing speed and Millie spun around twice before throwing the ninja star. The weapons flew at Garland, who merely stood, unmoving.
Suddenly, with lightning-fast speed, he grabbed the saw-blade with his left hand and struck the ninja star with the sword sending it sliding back across the platform to Millie, who picked it up and dismissed it, awe-struck. He examined the saw blade for a moment before flinging it back to Kaylie like a frisbee. Kaylie could do nothing but stare at the saw blade coming toward her and suddenly Jeremey's weapon came down, knocking the saw blade to the floor. Kaylie picked it up and locked it back into place on her forearm before dismissing it.
"Happy?" Jeremey asked her, "That was new... Get on the airship. Cid? Start this thing up and get us outta here." Cid was already opening the door to the airship.
"It'll take a little while." He replied. Jeremey looked back at him.
"How much of a little while?"
"About three minutes." Jeremey sighed angrily and nodded.
"I'll give you your three minutes." He said, "Who wants this guy? Okay, Justin. Who else? Nobody? How bout you Chas?" Chas looked up.
"Sure, I'd love to." He replied unenthusiastically. Jeremey cocked his head over.
"You don't have to if you don't want to dude." Chas's expression changed quickly, he now looked determined.
"No, I'm going." Jeremey nodded smiling.
"Alright," Jeremey said sternly, "Everybody else on the airship." Everybody responded quickly, walking through the door to the inside.
"Remember, kid!" Cid called before going inside, "Three minutes!" Jeremey nodded and looked to Justin and Chas as the door closed.
"Geez man," He started, "I'm nervous as hell. Last time I fought a guy with a sword like that I almost got killed." He looked to Garland, who was still standing, waiting for them to attack. The airship started to hum loudly, the engine starting to warm up, "Alright guys, three minutes.. That's it. After that we get the hell out. Got me?" Chas and Justin nodded, their faces pale.
They started slowly toward Garland and stopped about twenty feet away. Justin and Chas summoned their weapons. Garland looked them over slowly.
"I suppose you are the ones who are going to fight me?" He asked them. Jeremey shuddered as he realized that Garland had a dual voice.
"Creepy.." He said to himself, "Yeah, that's us! You guys ready?" He looked at Justin and Chas.
"T-that's a nice sword." Justin said to Garland, trying to stay calm. Garland looked at it. It was a Scottish claymore looking sword with a golden blade and a red hilt. There were two small blades protruding from the hilt guard. The blade seemed to be glowing black.
"Yes, this is the sword of Ragnarok." Garland said lowering the weapon and looking at them, "It has destroyed entire cities." Jeremey looked over to Justin, who heart seemed to sink at hearing this.
"Yeah, whatever." Jeremey said raising his weapon, "Let's go!" With that they charged simultaneously at Garland and attacked him. It seemed like a ballet, Chas swung the Buster Sword horizontally to the right, Justin swung the Brotherhood horizontally to the left, Jeremey ducked as the two blades swung past him and brought the gunblade up in a uppercut slash. Garland easily blocked all three attacks.
Still they continued attacking, Garland blocking all of their attacks. Finally, Garland swung his weapon like a baseball batter and hit Justin as he brought his sword up to block and as the blades collided the air seemed to warp in a bubble shape and Justin was knocked back thirty feet, then he did the same to Chas. He finally brought the blade up and then down on Jeremey, who leapt to the right, out of the way. As the blade hit the platform a large crack formed, emitting black light.
"Whoa." Jeremey said looking at it before charging Garland again. They fought for what seemed like an hour to Jeremey. "Geez, isn't three minutes up?!" He asked countering a lunge. The battle led to near the edge of the platform and Garland's eyes glowed brighter with every collision of blades. Finally Jeremey swung at Garland and their blades seemed to be stuck together, each person bearing down on the other.
"You're good boy." Garland said, "I like your perseverance, but it WILL be your downfall." Jeremey grinned and looked behind Garland to see Chas approaching.
"Probably, but not today." Jeremey said chancing another glance at Chas, who was already swinging his weapon. Garland knew what was happening and ducked, leaving Jeremey open for the attack. Jeremey quickly brought the gunblade up to block and stumbled back a few steps from the force of the blow. Garland stood and turned to look at a surprised Chas.
"Shite.." Chas said as Garland attacked him, swinging the blade horizontally. Chas brought the blade up and was knocked aside and Garland was about to pursue him when Justin attacked to his left. Garland blocked the attack easily and hit Justin with the back of his hand, knocking him away. He stood staring at Justin for a moment and was about to continue when he heard footsteps running toward him. He turned just in time to see Jeremey jumping in the air.
"Asshole!" He bellowed and drop kicked Garland in the chest, sending him stumbling over the edge of the platform. He landed on his side and got up quickly. Chas and Justin approached him from the sides.
"What now?" Justin asked. Jeremey looked over the edge of the platform.
"Crap.." He said looking at Garland holding on to one of the braces with his left hand looking up at them, his eyes flashing angrily. "Um, you guys should get on the airship, Garland's still down there." He nodded to the edge. Justin and Chas turned and started back to the ship without question. Jeremey was turning back to look at Garland again when a blue and purple blur shot upward in front of him. He looked up to see Garland turning his blade downward in the same manner that Sephiroth had used the night before to try and kill Jeremey.
"Not good.." Jeremey said staring at Garland coming down, "Not good at all.." He tried to run but his body would not move. He could only stare at Garland coming down on him. Suddenly the ship started up and Jeremey snapped out of his trance to leapt out of the way just in time as Garland slammed into the platform. As the blade punctured the floor of the platform at black light exploded from it. Jeremey turned and ran to the airship.
"Go!" He screamed, "GO!" The airship lifted off of the platform and slowly started to move as Garland stood and began running toward Jeremey, who looked back and yelped in fear. Running faster than he ever had in his life he looked up to see Kaylie in the doorway of the airship telling him to hurry. The airship was about seven to eight feet away from the end of the platform, ready to leave.
"I only got one shot at this..." Jeremey said dismissing his gunblade and pushed forward faster hearing Garland gaining on him. He reached the end of the platform and dove into the door of the ship, barely making it.
"Go!!!" He screamed as he landed on the floor and the door closed. Garland skidded to a stop barely a foot from the edge and watched as the airship took off quickly.
"Damn..." He said watching it fly away, his ragged purple cape blowing in the strong wind left behind by the airship.
NOTE: The song the dead bodies were singing in the dream is Sephiroth's One-Winged Angel theme, just in case you didn't know. A very superb song if you've never heard it.
