FAIR FIGHT
"Whew..." Jeremey said as he stepped onto the airship, "What a trip." Chas, Millie, Kaylie, Justin, and Erik were in the foyer to greet him and Wesley, who was still slightly pale. Jeremey looked around, but failed to find Petey.
"Please don't EVER do that again.." Kaylie said as she hugged Jeremey and laid her head on his shoulder. Jeremey looked around at the group.
"Heh.." He scratched the back of his head, "I had to do what I had to do, babe.." She looked up at him and smiled slightly before nodding. Chas was opening his mouth to say something when sirens began blaring and lights began flashing in the airship. Jeremey frowned and ran to the cockpit.
"What the hell's going on?" Jeremey asked Cid as he strode into the room. Cid looked to Jeremey and turned back around to look out the glass dome.
"Well, it seems something large is coming our way.." Cid began to fly the ship through the concrete canyons of New York, gaining speed, "And in a very hostile way.. Go over there to that screen on the wall and press that blue button.." Jeremey walked over to the place where Cid had pointed.
"Here?"
"Yeah, that's like a rearview mirror.." As Jeremey pressed the button as the last two members of the group strolled into the room. The image that showed up on screen was that of the buildings behind the airship. Jeremey's eyes grew wide as he saw a gargantuan, purple dog-like monster come around a corner and look at the ship. From what he could see on the screen it looked about forty-five feet high at the shoulder. It had a dark-yellow mane like that of a horse's and bull horns protruding from the top of it's head.
"A Behemoth.." Jeremey said in amazement, "Cid, get us the hell outta here!" Cid nodded and the ship sped up.
"Can't pull up yet, not enough speed.." Jeremey frowned.
"I thought this thing was like a helicopter?" Jeremey said frantically, "It could go straight up, backwards, you know, all that bull?" Cid licked his lips and steered the ship as best he could.
"Well, not when we're already moving forward.." Jeremey's shoulders slumped, "If I wanted to move straight up, I have to stop, and I don't think we want that at the moment..." Jeremey nodded and turned to look at the screen again. The Behemoth was running behind the airship, and was gaining on them. He then looked at the speedometer, it read 86 mph. Jeremey frowned.
"Whoa.." Cid said through gritted teeth as he turned a corner and the airship slowly began to gain altitude. "Uh, Jeremey..." Jeremey turned to look at Cid when something in front of the airship caught his attention. It looked like a seventy-foot tall man wearing a suit of dark-gray, dented armor with a fifty-foot sword. On the helmet, which had a single slit big enough so Jeremey could only see one glowing red eye, was a crescent moon on a short stalk. It was at the end of the street in front of the Empire State Building, which they would reach in about twenty seconds.
"An Iron Giant..." Jeremey gasped, "Up, up, up!!" He screamed.
"I'm trying kid!" Cid hollered as he pulled back on a lever beside the seat, which Jeremey guessed made the ship gain altitude. The ship slowly started to tilt upwards. Jeremey looked from the Iron Giant to the screen showing the Behemoth still charging them from behind.
"We're not gonna make it in time!" Jeremey grabbed the lever and pulled it all the way down as the Iron Giant raised the huge sword back, getting ready to attack the ship. The front of the ship suddenly pitched skyward and all Jeremey could see out of the dome was blue sky. Jeremey looked back at the screen to see the Behemoth slam into the Iron Giant, destroying the first ten floors of the building. Shattered glass and chunks of cement rained down onto the street.
"Let go of the thing kid, we're stalling!" Cid cried as a beeping sound began. Jeremey let go and Cid moved the lever back to the middle. The airship leveled back out and the everyone in the room seemed to release the breath none realized they were holding. Jeremey turned back to look at them.
"Now that wasn't all that hard, was it?" He grinned, took Kaylie's hand, and walked out of the cockpit.
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"This has become ridiculous!" Sephiroth roared in anger, "I see now that the old saying is true.." Kuja looked from the light to Sephiroth.
"What old saying?" He asked like a curious child.
"If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.." With that Sephiroth turned and began walking away from the light.
"But, what if that Jeremey kid defeats you again?" Sephiroth stopped in his tracks, turned around, walked over to the light, and placed his hand in it for two seconds. The light became slightly dimmer for a moment before returning to it's usual brightness.
"Not this time." Sephiroth turned around again, "Kuja, you're in charge while I'm gone." He called over his shoulder.
"What do you plan on doing?" Kuja called out to Sephiroth.
"I noticed when I came to this world that there was a fair in a city about fifty miles away from where he lived. It would be an excellent place to catch his attention." Ultimecia smiled and rested her arm on Kuja's shoulder.
"It's about time he did something around here.." Kuja smiled faintly and slightly nodded, barely listening to her. Sephiroth had left him in charge, it was like a dream come true.
Meanwhile Kefka sat on a rock at the edge of a small pond in the back of the cave, staring at his sword.
"These children are proving to be a thorn in Sephiroth's side.." The clown smiled, "This is getting fun.. I wonder when it will be my turn to fight the little brats?" He asked himself before standing and walking back to the light to join the rest of the group.
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"I'm glad you're alright.." Kaylie said before kissing Jeremey again. She wrapped her arms around him as he placed a hand on each side of her waist. When they broke the kiss Jeremey smiled slightly.
"Aw, c'mon now.." He said lightheartedly, "You knew I'd come back to you." Kaylie smiled and nodded slowly before laying her head on his shoulder. They were in their room, with the door closed, so Jeremey wasn't worried about anyone seeing them. He had a slight problem with public affection.
"So, what's next?" Kaylie asked him, to which he responded by sitting down on the bed. Kaylie looked down and sat down beside him.
"Well.." Jeremey said thoughtfully, "Hopefully I'll be able to take a break from all this fighting.. I really want to spend some time with you without being interrupted by some world endangering threat.." He looked over at Kaylie and smiled before leaning over to kiss her. The moment their lips touched the door opened and Justin practically fell in.
"Jeremey, come here quick!" Jeremey gave Justin a look full of hate.
"Alright, be right there." Justin turned and ran down the hall toward the stairs. Jeremey looked at Kaylie and scratched the back of his head. "I should really learn how to keep my mouth shut.." He smiled.
"Yeah, you should." Kaylie smiled and kissed him before standing, "C'mon, let's go." Jeremey stood and followed her to the cockpit. As they walked by the recreation room Jeremey looked in, but nobody was there. This worried Jeremey slightly. He began to walk a little faster to the cockpit.
"What's the problem?" He asked the group when the cockpit door opened. Everyone turned to look at him before pointing to the TV he had watched the news reports on about an hour earlier. On the screen, looking at the camera, was Sephiroth, who appeared to be at a fair of some sort. Jeremey's heart sank.
"Hello boy, I know you're watching this." Sephiroth said before chunking his sword like a spear into someone who was running away, "Aw, that's a pity, I seem to have killed another innocent person.. If you want another chance at stopping me, come home. I'm at the South Carolina State Fair." He said as the Masamune appeared in his hand and he struck the camera, causing the screen to fill with static. Jeremey felt fear rising in him. He had stabbed Sephiroth, killed him, how had he come back?
"Do it.." Jeremey said to Cid coldly. He then turned to the rest of the group, "Ok guys, I want all of you to stay out of this... This is my fight, I don't want any of you getting hurt.." Kaylie put a hand on his shoulder.
"We're here to help Jeremey.." She said softly, "Regardless if you want us to or not, we're going down there to help you. We can't just stand by and watch you get hurt." Jeremey looked at her and smiled weakly.
"Yeah." Chas added, "Besides, what are friends for?" Jeremey nodded at his best friend and looked the group over. All of them were nodding, even Petey.
"Well.." Jeremey smiled, "I should've seen this coming.. I'd rather not have you guys out there, but I see that your minds are already made up, so what's the point of arguing?" He looked at Kaylie, who smiled.
"Hey kid, how fast do you want to get there?" Jeremey turned and smiled.
"As fast as you can."
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"Hm, what's taking him so long?" Sephiroth asked himself as he looked around him. Corpses littered the ground, already he could smell the stench of death. He frowned and started toward the other side of the fair, where more people might be located.
"I hope he got my message.." He said as he turned a corner and started toward the largest roller coaster in the park. He passed by a building that had Ellison Building on a small sign on the wall. He continued onward and passed by the gates to a large stage, aptly named Grandstand. When he reached the roller coaster he was at an intersection. He looked left, to the roller coaster, and right, to a ride called The Fireball. It consisted of a group of seats set in a circle on the end of a large, lighted rod. He gathered from the design that it would go back and forth, as a pendulum would, and the seats would spin around while the rod was swinging.
"People are strange..." He said to himself as he looked back at the roller coaster. He suddenly heard something that sounded like a jet approaching fast. He smiled as he saw the airship, which was larger than he expected, stop over the Ellison Building, which was now about a hundred fifty feet away. "This will be interesting..." With that he turned and started to The Fireball.
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There were two things Jeremey noticed as he and the rest of the group leapt from the airship to the roof of the Ellison Building. One, that there was nobody alive within one hundred-fifty yards. Two, a few rides were on about one hundred feet away, as was the Ferris Wheel, which was about a hundred yards in front of him. He didn't see Sephiroth anywhere.
"Where is he?" Justin said behind him. Jeremey looked back and shrugged. He saw Chas looking around as well.
"I have a question, why did we jump onto the roof?" Chas looked at Jeremey as the airship flew off towards William Brice Stadium, which was only across the street, to land the airship.
"Because.." Jeremey started toward a door on the other end of the building, "He couldn't get us close enough to the ground." Jeremey tried the door knob, and finding it locked, slashed the door while pulling the trigger. White light emitted from the cut before it blew the door open. Jeremey simply kicked the larger chunks out of the way.
"You okay dude?" Erik asked Jeremey, who simply looked back with a frown.
"All those people.." He shook his head and started down the steps. Once the group reached the bottom of the steps, they realized they were in a control room. On the surveillance screens was what seemed to be a large sand statue that had been destroyed. Jeremey frowned and continued into the main building. He continued forward cautiously, watching his environments closely. The group reached the front doors without incident.
"Well, that was exciting.." Justin said sarcastically, but everyone heard the fear in his voice. Jeremey smiled slightly, Justin was terrified.
"Wait till you get outside, the excitement will be overwhelming." Jeremey said looking back at Justin. Jeremey walked out the large glass door and halfway across the walkway. There he stopped and looked around. He looked left, then right. When he looked left again Sephiroth was standing about thirty feet away. Jeremey's heart skipped a beat and he readied his gunblade. The rest of the group readied their weapons as well. Jeremey strode to the front of the group, making sure everybody was behind him. As Jeremey was looking the group over, he didn't see Chas.
"Hello boy." Sephiroth hollered. Jeremey turned his attention back to Sephiroth quickly.
"Hey.." He frowned, "I thought I got you last time.." Sephiroth chuckled.
"Oh no, you merely wounded me.." With those words the Masamune appeared in his hand. Jeremey could feel himself shaking slightly. He was afraid.
"Well, guess I'll have to finish the job this time, won't I?" Sephiroth smiled broadly.
"You're welcome to try boy, you and all your friends.." He readied his weapon. Jeremey was about to charge Sephiroth when Justin pushed him out the way and ran at Sephiroth as fast as he could.
"I got him!" Justin hollered when he was about ten feet away from Sephiroth.
"Justin, no!" Jeremey cried as Justin leapt into the air and brought the Brotherhood down with all his might. Sephiroth easily blocked the attack and smiled as Justin struggled against his strength. Jeremey began running toward the two when he saw Chas coming up behind Sephiroth swinging his huge sword like a baseball bat, intending to cleave Sephiroth in half.
"You're friends are good boy.." Sephiroth said ducking as the blade barely missed him. He then horse kicked Chas in the stomach, sending him flying over twenty feet, the only thing that stopped him from going farther was a ticket booth. "But they're not good enough!" Sephiroth finished as he grabbed Justin by the collar and flung him back thirty feet. When he landed he bounced and rolled, ending up between Wesley and Erik.
"Justin, you okay?" Wesley bent down as Justin sat up groggily.
"I've had worse.." He groaned.
"Yeah right, and I'm Abraham Lincoln." Erik laughed before running to join the fray. Justin looked back at Sephiroth to see him deflect one of Jeremey's attacks, grab Erik by his shirt, and fling him into Jeremey. The teens tumbled about ten feet. Jeremey was the first to stand.
"Not this time dammit!" Jeremey growled as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards his nemesis. Sephiroth pushed Wesley away and turned in time to see Jeremey leaping into the air and bringing the blade down. Sephiroth smiled and brought his weapon up to block the attack easily. Jeremey landed and pushed against Sephiroth's blade with all his might, but the weapon did not budge.
"Should I fight you with my eyes closed?" Sephiroth said smiling while leaning into Jeremey's face, "I'm sure that would even up the odds.." Jeremey snarled, hopped up, kicked off Sephiroth's bent knee, and dropped kicked him in the face with both feet. The man stumbled back a few feet holding his nose.
"No, I think the odds are just fine." Jeremey said smiling. Sephiroth removed his hand and saw a small pool of red on the black gloves.
"You just made the biggest mistake of your life boy!" He snarled and ran at Jeremey bringing the blade up at an angle. Jeremey barely brought his weapon up to block in time, and when the blades collided, Jeremey was sent flying about a hundred yards. Jeremey saw the ground rushing toward him quickly and curled into a ball before he hit the ground. When he landed, he bounced almost three feet in the air and after he stopped rolling he looked up to see that he was at the base of the Ferris Wheel. His vision was blurred slightly, but he could still feel the gunblade in his hand.
"That really hurt.." Jeremey groaned. His arms ached, his side burned, his forehead above his right eye burned, and his legs felt heavy. His right eye suddenly began stinging. He reached up, touched his eye lid, and pulled his hand back to reveal blood. Immediately he realized that he had a gash on his forehead, and the blood was dripping into his eye. "Great.." He mumbled as he looked in the blade of the gunblade.
The gash wasn't deep, just long, and the bleeding wasn't that bad. Jeremey grabbed his shirttail and wiped the blood from his forehead and eye. Just as he finished doing that he saw a black figure shoot up from where he was previously. Sephiroth was coming for him, he knew it. Jeremey attempted to stand, but his legs felt like lead weights. Just as Sephiroth reached as high as it seemed he could go, something that looked a lot like a four-ended tire iron shot up and seemed to hit him in his left arm.
"Hell yeah!" Jeremey hollered happily. Millie had gotten Sephiroth. Jeremey saw the figure turn and remove Millie's weapon and fling it back down. Jeremey somehow found the strength to stand and was in an all out run back to the Ellison Building; back to his friends. While trying to run between some rides he tripped over electrical wires and hit the ground hard, landing on his chin. It didn't even slow his down, he leapt from the ground and began running again, even though he could taste blood in his mouth.
When Jeremey finally reached the Ellison Building he didn't see Sephiroth or the group in his direct vision. He heard the distinctive sound of bladed weapons colliding to his right and turned to see Sephiroth battling Chas in front of a roller coaster, which was running. Jeremey ran straight for them as Sephiroth easily ducked one of Chas's attacks.
"Jeremey!" He heard Kaylie call to his right as he was running. He stopped dead in his tracks and ran toward her voice. He found Kaylie, Millie, and Erik behind a game booth helping Justin up. It was then that Jeremey noticed a hole in the back of the booth.
"What happened?" Jeremey asked them. Justin looked up at him smiling slightly.
"Glad to see you're okay.." He said as Kaylie leapt onto Jeremey and kissed him.
"You're hurt." Kaylie said worriedly. Jeremey smiled and nodded to Justin.
"I've had worse.." Justin smiled and stood groggily. Jeremey looked around again, "Where's Wesley?"
"He went after you." Millie pointed toward the Ferris Wheel. Jeremey then noticed that there was a long cut on her shirt. Jeremey nodded and looked at his friends.
"Listen, I'm gonna try something, when I do, I want all of you to grab Chas and get the hell out of dodge." Kaylie looked at him with pure fear on her face. "Trust me, okay? Whenever you see me hit Sephiroth, grab Chas and run, got me?" They all nodded. Jeremey looked at Kaylie and smiled weakly. "Everything will be alright, I promise." He reached out and touched her face with the back of his hand gently. She closed her eyes and gathered herself before nodding.
"Let's do this.." Justin cracked his neck and got ready to run for Chas. Jeremey smiled and ran toward one of his favorite rides, The Fireball.
"Remember, not until I hit him!" He called over his shoulder. As he reached the ride, he saw that it was on, but not moving very fast. "This is gonna be fun." Jeremey walked over to the controls, dismissed his gunblade, and turned the speed all the way up. He quickly ran over to the place where people sit, leapt up and clambered up on top of the seats. The ride was designed so that when the ride started, people could sit down, but their feet would never touch the floor of the ride.
Jeremey grabbed onto a thick wire and clung to it for dear life as the ride picked up speed. He felt his feet moving and remembered that the seats were designed to spin as the pendulum part of the ride went back and forth.
"Shit.." Jeremey mumbled and began moving from seat to seat as they moved. The end of the pendulum went high into the air and Jeremey could see Sephiroth standing over Chas, talking to him. Jeremey readied himself as the ride moved the other way. As it was moving back towards Sephiroth and Chas Jeremey could hear the wind whistling in his ear. Jeremey timed the movement of the ride so that before it started to rise, he let go and allowed the momentum of the ride fling him toward Sephiroth. Jeremey moved so he'd be kicking Sephiroth when he reached him.
"Hey asshole!" Jeremey screamed a moment before he reached his enemy. Sephiroth looked up only to see Jeremey collide into his side, sending them both into the roller coaster. When Jeremey hit Sephiroth it felt as if his legs had been hit by a truck. Sephiroth and the teen crashed through the track that the roller coaster ran on.
"What.." Sephiroth groaned, "What the hell?" He sat up to see Jeremey standing slowly. Jeremey stumbled over to Sephiroth, summoned the gunblade, raised it, and slammed it into the ground between Sephiroth's legs. As the blade slammed into the ground Jeremey pulled the trigger three times. Luckily, Sephiroth hadn't heard.
"Go, go, go!" Jeremey could hear Kaylie hollering at Millie and the others. Sephiroth looked from the gunblade to Jeremey.
"Will you never learn?" Sephiroth laughed. Jeremey simply smiled, let go of the gunblade, turned, and limped away as fast as he could. Sephiroth cocked his head to the side, the boy had left his weapon in front of his enemy. It didn't make sense. Sephiroth looked down to see the ground cracking around the blade. Sephiroth looked back up just as white light emitted from the cracks and the ground exploded like a bomb. Jeremey was sent flying as a result.
"Jeremey!!" Jeremey heard Kaylie scream a moment before the explosion occurred.
"No!!" He distinguished Millie's screaming voice through the roar of the explosion. Jeremey felt himself slam into something and opened his eyes to find himself at the base of The Fireball. Jeremey groaned and rolled over onto his stomach. He heard a whistling sound coming from above and began to look up before his gunblade stabbed into the ground about ten inches in front of his face.
"Dammit.." Jeremey groaned and forced himself to stand. He grabbed up his gunblade and dismissed it. He looked back toward the roller coaster to see a pale blue light fading away. The roller coaster track itself was in shambles, pieces of the ride and wires were hanging out all over the place. Jeremey took a step in that direction and nearly collapsed. He had never felt as tired as he did at that moment.
Suddenly something in Jeremey's gut told him something was horribly wrong. His eyes widened and he forced himself at least to jog back to the roller coaster. When he reached his destination what he saw made his blood run cold. Kaylie was lying on the ground with an inch-wide metal rod from the roller coaster track in her chest, her breath coming in ragged gasps. Jeremey's mouth moved looking for words, but none came. He ran over to her, fell to his knees, and lifted her head up.
"Kaylie.." Jeremey said weakly. Kaylie opened her eyes and a weak smile spread across her face slowly.
"Jeremey, you're alive.." Her smile faded, "You're hurt..." Jeremey forced a smile. Already he could feel his own blood trickling down his face.
"I'm fine.." Kaylie groaned and held onto his hand. Jeremey squeezed her hand tightly.
"What's wrong?" She asked him.
"Nothing baby.." Jeremey said quietly, placing his free hand on her face, "Everything's alright.." Jeremey's eyes burned, his throat became dry, it was hard for him to breath.
"Do I look alright?" Kaylie asked him, it seemed like she was choking.
"You look as beautiful as ever.." Jeremey bent down and kissed Kaylie on her forehead.
"Jeremey..." She said slowly and Jeremey saw that the sparkle in her eyes was fading, "Don't ever forget..."
"Don't ever forget what?" Jeremey's body was going numb. He was vaguely aware of his friends gathering around him.
"I love you.." Kaylie gasped, "Don't ever forget that I love you.." With that, Kaylie closed her eyes and her breath became faint gasps. After a few moments, her breathing stopped completely.
"Kaylie?" Jeremey could feel tears forming in his eyes, "Kaylie? Please, no.. Please don't leave me.. I won't know what to do... Kaylie? Kaylie...? I love you.." Jeremey lifted the top half of Kaylie's body up, rested his head on her shoulder, and closed his eyes. He could hear Millie crying somewhere to his right, but somehow it didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. "I love you..." Jeremey said quietly. Then, for the first time in years, Jeremey cried.
