"Move! Get those three out!" shouted Gippal, firing his cannon at a group of fiends closing in on Kam.
"Kam! Move!" shouted Stree. He sprinted across the floor to where Kam was quickly being surrounded by the monsters. He ducked underneath a strike from a Fang, then dodged a falling ice block from a flan, and shoved the down the throat of a Condor. He heard a yell behind him, and found Paine run through a Fiend as it exploded into pyreflies, grabbing her sword from the ground as she did so. Rikku was close behind, moving quickly enough to grab something and slip it into her backpack as she slit the throat of a Vulture. Suddenly, a Sand Worm exploded up through the floor, catching three of the Al Bhed men who were busy firing their guns at two Behemoth's that were battering against the walls in order to allow more Fiends in. The walls crumbled under their continuous assault, and suddenly Stree's vision was filled with Fiends flying, crawling and running in.
Stree cut through a line of fiends, and made his way over to Gippal, who was firing his cannon continuously. "What in Yevon's name is going on? They're all working together? They never do that!"
"I don't know! The others out yet?" he yelled as he moved in and decapitated a Lupe.
A snake-like fiend struck at Gippal, but it wasn't quick enough to strike as he dropped the cannon and grabbed the fiend by the throat, and cut it through with a knife he had slipped from his boot, all in one smooth motion. "Everyone but your sister!" he yelled back.
"Damn!" muttered Stree, scanning across the room to see if he could spot her.
"Stree!" Kam's shout came from underneath the biggest group of Fiends. Stree's feeling of frustration came to a head, and he felt his arm start to burn. He lifted his hand up, and found that his hand had become a gigantic ball of fire. On impulse, he threw up his hand, and pushed towards the group of fiend, throwing the fire at them. It caught the one at the outside part of the group, lancing through it like a spear, then kept going straight through, not only cutting through every fiend it found, but also setting them on fire. Because of the flames, every time one of the burning fiend one of its friend, it set them alight as well. Stree acted quickly on this, ducking into the group and making his way over to Kam while the Fiends were trying to stop the fires. A water Flan cast a waterga that engulfed the entire temple trying to put it out, but the flames were burning too fiercely. Stree grabbed Kam and started making his way out, slashing and slicing through any Fiend he found, and made his way to where Gippal was waiting at the entrance to the Cloister of Trials.
"Come on, in here!" shouted Gippal over the noise.
"We'll get trapped in there!" shouted Kam in reply.
"Come on, you think I'd make my home without an escape plan" Gippal laughed. "Come on!" The three of them made their way through the heavy stone doors. They continued on, thanking the Fayths that they didn't have to fight any fiends, right up until they reached the back door.
"Oh, cryd," muttered Gippal at the sight of the enormous Fiend in front of them.
"Wait, I've heard of these things before," said Kam. "It's a Chocobo Eater. It's strong, but if you can knock it over, it's screwed."
"Got it," said Stree, stepping forward.
"Wait!" exclaimed Gippal, grabbing his arm. "I know you're a good fighter, but even you wont be able to beat this thing alone!"
"Then you fight with me."
Gippal turned to Kam, and held out a knife. "Can you fight?"
"No she can't!" snapped Stree, slapping the knife away from his sister.
"I'm a mage. I'll use magic to distract it, while you two get in, knock it down, and finish it off." Gippal nodded, and turned to face the Chocobo Eater, ignoring the glare from Stree.
"Together, okay?" asked Gippal, twirling his daggers in the same fashion as Rikku.
Stree nodded. "On three." The fiend growled as it turned towards them.
"One."
It coughed up a few of the golden chocobo feathers.
"Two."
It cracked it knuckles, and Gippal got into a ready stance.
Time seemed to stand still as Gippal waited. Sparks started to dance around Kam as she prepared her first spell. Stree brought his sword up past his shoulder.
"Three!"
Lightning exploded through the air as Kam ripped a Thundaga through the Fiend's chest, and Gippal ran in at one of the knees. It noticed this though, and recovered enough to sweep one of its gigantic arms in, knocking both Gippal and Stree down. The fiend moved forward and delivered a sledgehammer blow to Gippal, who jumped out of the way just in time. He looked back, and found a gigantic dent in the ground, and he gulped. He looked back and found Stree running in for the Chocobo Eater's knee, but he was caught by one of the monster's gigantic fists, and was thrown back. Gippal looked around at the monster, and saw it's other fist flying at him. He ducked, but wasn't fast enough to dodge it, and was pushed right into the wall of the temple. He looked around and saw the Stree looked around and saw the thing advancing on Kam, and growled. Another fireball formed on his hand, and he launched it at the Fiend's head. It missed, but it distracted the thing enough to give Kam the time to cast an Ultima on the thing. A ball of pure energy exploded from the chest of the beast, and it damaged it severely, taking its left arm off.
"Move in from that side!" shouted Stree, pointing at the left side on the Fiend. Gippal nodded, and together, they moved in, while the Chocobo Eater was howling in pain at the loss of it's arms. They both launched themselves at the beast's knee, and succeeded this time in pushing their way through, shattering the thing's kneecap. The force of the blow knocked it off balance, and it rolled onto its back. Now free of danger, Gippal picked himself up from the ground, and walked over to it, where it was still screaming, not only from it's arm, but now also because of it's mangled knee. Stree walked over to it, and stood over it, his expression unreadable because of the bandage covering the whole of his face except for his one good eye. "No more birdies for you," he said quietly. He raised his sword, and sliced it down, punching through the neck of the beast. Blood sprayed everywhere, but none of the three noticed it as their vision was impaired by the thousands of pyreflies that suddenly exploded into being.
Gippal stood quietly for a minute, then started moving away. "Come on, the Ixion's just around this corner." Stree and Kam followed, and the three of them walked quietly around the corner of the temple. When Stree first saw the streamlined silver airship, he wasn't sure how Gippal could have built something so beautiful. From what he had heard, Gippal was supposedly one of the most chaotic men in Spira. Of coruse, he had built the one political faction that didn't fall apart when he and the other two crimson squad members disappeared, so he can't be that bad. When Kam groaned, however, his mind returned to their current situation.
"Don't like making it easy on us, do they?" asked Stree, upon sight of the twenty or so Fiends that formed a barrier between them and the airship. "Look's like we fight our way through."
"Wait a minute. Why aren't they attacking us?" asked Kam. Gippal burst into laughter.
Stree scowled, though because of the bandages, it didn't have the effect it usually did. "What's so funny?"
Gippal reached into his pocket, and pulled out a little cylinder. "That's my security device. Those Fiends are just holograms." He pushed a button on the cylinder, and the Fiends flickered, then disappeared.
"Nice," laughed Kam.
"Come on, let's go," said Gippal. He walked up the open ramp. Stree looked at Kam, who shrugged her shoulder, then followed Gippal in. Stree looked around at the clearing, to make sure there were no fiends, then walked in himself.