Chapter 9

Sabin reached into a small cupboard and pulled out three breathing masks with a pair of large goggles each. They also had small tanks of air attached to them that could be worn on a person's back. He'd had them made for the trip using the old breathing helmet he, Gau and Cyan had used on their own underwater adventure over two years ago.

He pulled his on, just as Gau and Umaro arrived in the room. He had Gau shut the door tightly and then opened the hatch in the floor. Some sea water lapped around their ankles, but the air pressure kept the room from being flooded. Once Gau and Umaro had their breathing equipment on, the three fighters jumped into the water.

They could see the cephaler with it's tentacles locked around their ship. The small quivers of it's limbs gave away it's intentions. It wanted to crush the Sub-Mariner.

"Okay, first we need to get it off the ship, and then we destroy it." Said Sabin. "So it's important that you two keep control of yourselves. No rages." Gau and Umaro both nodded. They knew that they had a tendency to lose themselves in a fight. Mog and Sabin had been trying to help them overcome this since the battle with Kefka. They'd be okay as long as they didn't lose their focus.

Swimming up towards the monster's face, Sabin called out to Gau,

"We'll try to loosen it's grip. You go for it's eyes."

"Uuooo!" Gau's lithe body cut through the water like a knife as he sped towards his target. Pulling up in front of one of the cephaler's bulbous eyes, he cupped his hands together above his head and focused his ki (life-force; not magic) in-between his palms, just like Sabin had taught him to.

"Aura Bolt!" He brought his hands down and a white beam of energy shot from between his palms. It hit the cephaler's eye dead on and exploded! When the bubbles cleared, the monster's eye was closed and horribly marked but Gau was surprised to see that it hadn't loosened it's grip on the Sub-Mariner at all. What surprised him even more was the fact that when the aura bolt had hit, the creature hadn't even cried out!

Sabin and Umaro were both trying to pry one of the cephaler's tentacles off of the ship's hull. Together, they were able to lift it so that a small gap was visible underneath.

"Umaro, I need to get under it. Do you think you can hold this?" Sabin's voice was strained from the effort of heaving on the giant limb. Umaro gave an affirmative grunt and wrapped his well-built arms around the tentacle, allowing Sabin to duck down under it. The white yeti let out a roar and summoned forth all of his phenominal strength, as he was the only thing that was keeping the cephaler from crushing his human friend.

Sabin was slightly less that comfortable, having to bend double to fit into the small space Umaro had made for him. But he forced himself to forget his discomfort and focus on his energy. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, hands straight like blades. Letting his ki flow into his hands and forearms, he swept them out to either side of him and cried out,

"Air Blade!"

True to the Blitz's name, blades of air shot out of Sabin's arms. They sliced clean through the monster's tentacle, allowing Umaro to heave the severed limb up and away from the Sub-Mariner.

Seeing one of it's appendages floating away from it seemed to finally alert the cephaler to the Returners' presence. Focusing it's remaining eye on Gau, the monster tossed the Sub-Mariner aside.

"Yaaargh!" Sabin and Umaro clung on tightly, as the Sub-Mariner spun through the water and hit the wall of the tunnel. The cephaler spread it's tentacles wide, opened it's beaked mouth and a stream of bubbles shot out at Gau. Fortunately, the former wild child's reflexes saved him. He shifted his centre of gravity and let himself drop down to the tunnel floor. The bubbles jetted over his head and crashed into the far wall, leaving a sizeable hole in the rock.

(Scene change)

The Returners in the sleeping quarters were painfully removing themselves from whatever position the Sub-Mariner's, less than graceful, descent had left them in.

"Oh, I give up! Just make a space for me to die in!"

"Locke, will you stop moaning and get off me!" Celes said from under his limp form.

"Kupo! And will you both get off of me!"

Terra was sitting by the wall, rubbing her head, when something caught her attention.

"Do you guys hear something?"

Everyone else listened. There was indeed a strange sound.

"I don't wish to alarm anyone." Said Gogo. "But it sounds to me that our ship may have sprung a leak."

"If you didn't want to alarm anyone, then you shouldn't have said that!" Answered Relm.

Locke, once again forgetting his nausea in the face of a crisis, jumped to his feet and rushed out the door. Following his ears, he arrived at the Sub-Mariner's engine room. He pulled the door open and saw, to his horror, that it was steadily filling with water. Some pipes had sprung leaks and the engines were making small screeching sounds. Everyone else appeared behind him and saw the damage.

"What do we do now?" Said Celes.

"Relm, you go get Edgar and Setzer. The rest of us will try to block up these holes." Locke jumped down into the engine room, the water already coming up to his knees. He pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around one of the leaking pipes, securing it with his bandanna. The others all set to work as well, while Relm headed up towards the control centre.

(Scene Change)

Edgar and Cyan each had an eye in the Eye-Piece, as Edgar called it. They were watching Sabin, Gau and Umaro do battle with the cephaler. The water was filled with Aura Bolts, bubbles, Air Blades and large rocks Umaro was picking up from the tunnel floor and heaving at their enemy.

Setzer was standing behind them, trying in vain to see what was going on.

"Watch out, Sir Sabin! By Shiva, that was close!"

"Gau, above you! Yes, that's the way!"

"If you two aren't going to let me see, at least tell me what's happening!"

"Edgar! Setzer!" The three men turned to see Relm sticking her head up out of the ladder hole. "We've got a problem!" She said.

"What is it?" Asked Edgar.

"Your 'perfectly-built' ship has sprung a leak!" She replied. "The engine room is filling up with water! We need you and Setzer down there a-sap!"

The king and the gambler followed Relm down below. Cyan went to follow, but stopped. He had no expertise with machines and wouldst probably just get in the way. He looked at his Aura blade as it rested in it's sheath beside his chair. He'd much rather be outside, fighting the cephaler with his comrades. But Setzer had told them all that the water pressure at these depths could be dangerous for an ordinary human and Cyan wasn't a young man anymore.

He looked through the Eye-Piece again, and gasped at what he saw. The cephaler had Umaro in it's grasp. The yeti was struggling with all his might against the tentacles that threatened to squeeze the life out of him, but Cyan could see he was slowly loosing the fight. He could also see something else.

Above the cephaler's eyes something glimmered. In fact there was a faint glow every time the creature applied pressure to poor Umaro. Sabin and Gau hadn't noticed it because they were busy trying to free their friend, while avoiding getting grabbed themselves.

Cyan watched as the tide of battle began to shift against the Returners. He then looked again at his Aura blade.

"Oh, as I believe the saying goeth, to Hell with it!"

Grabbing his sword and fastening it around his waist, Cyan began scaling down the ladder to the lower levels. Regardless of personal risk, a knight never let his brothers do battle alone.

(Scene Change)

Edgar waded towards one of the main pipes which was spraying water constantly, despite his friends' efforts to block it up. Setzer took off his coat and followed him.

"We need turn off the main engines and disengage these pipes. It's the only way." Edgar took a spanner from his belt and began loosening the pipes. Setzer set to work as well. He was constantly blinking and shielding his eyes from the gushing water.

"Gods, I can barely see a thing!" He said.

"Well, it's a good thing one of us came prepared." Edgar tweaked the peak of his cap and grinned. "I'll handle the pipes. You shut down the main engine."

Setzer got up and went along the small gangplank that led to the main engine. He opened up the panel on the machine, and jumped back as an anguiform nearly bit his head off! The small monster slithered out of the engine and reared up in front of the gambler, it's teeth bared.

Setzer began to reach for his playing cards, but then remembered that they were in his coat pocket. Seeing the creature coil up, getting ready to strike, Setzer's hand went to his belt where a very small slot machine hung.

'Let's see if you're still smiling on me, Lady Luck.' He thought to himself as he pushed down the tiny lever. Setzer could feel the turn of the slots that he, literally, put his life into.

The anguiform launched itself at Setzer, ready to sink it's teeth into his throat. But, in mid-air, the creature was sliced to ribbons as beams of light shaped as playing cards sprang up from the floor. What was left of the monster fell to the floor and the 'cards' disappeared. Setzer gave small sigh of relief. His lucky 7-flush never let him down.

Heading back to the engine, Setzer surveyed the damage. The anguiform had burrowed it's way in from the outside. Fortunately, a failsafe hatch had closed keeping the engine from being flooded. But that hadn't done anything against the monster's angry thrashing.

"Hey, Setzer!" Edgar's voice called out to him. "I've managed to disengage the pipes. Is the main engine shut off?"

"Oh yeah, it's off." Setzer called back. "The problem will be getting it back on again!" He added, quietly, to himself.

(Scene Change)

Umaro's arms were burning, but he continued to push back against the tentacles that were closing in from all sides. He could hear the sounds of fighting going on, indicating that Sabin and Gau were trying to get the cephaler to let go of him, but the monster had complete control of the fight.

Sabin growled between his teeth. This thing seemed to be getting smarter as the battle progressed. It was now holding Umaro in front of it, ready to place him in front of any attack he or Gau threw at it. Sabin was fast running out of ideas.

"Uuooo!" Gau suddenly swam up to him. "It's Cyan! Cyan's coming!"

"What!" Sabin turned to see their friend was indeed swimming towards the cephaler. The monster hadn't noticed him because he was coming from it's blind side.

"What does he think he's doing? He can't last long in this kind of pressure!"

"He coming to save Umaro!" Gau then started waving his arms about and howling at the cephaler.

"What are you doing?" Sabin then asked.

"Distracting monster for Cyan. Uuooo!"

The cephaler spread it's tentacles and opened it's beak.

"Oh good, it only looking at us. Mr. Thou better move."

The bubbles once again sprayed out of the cephaler's mouth, narrowly missing the two fighters.

Cyan could feel the water pressure pushing down on him. His limbs were already aching and his breathing echoed in the mask he wore as painful gasps. But he could see what had caught his attention back in the Sub-Mariner. There appeared to be something wrapped around the cephaler's head.

As he neared his target, he drew his Aura blade and prepared to strike, when suddenly the cephaler turned and whacked him with a tentacle! He spun through the water, but managed to right himself. The cephaler was coming right at him, ready to ensnare him just like Umaro.

"Watch out, Cyan!" Gau screamed.

"Get the hell outta there!" Yelled Sabin.

But Cyan held his position. Gripping his Aura blade in both hands, he focused his energy until his body's outline shone with a white glow. The cephaler reached out to grab the knight, but he suddenly vanished! There was a slash and one of the monster's tentacles simply detached from it's body. A second and third swipe followed and the limbs holding Umaro floated away. Cyan reappeared on the cephaler's head and delivered the final blow in his Quadra Slam technique. His sword swung down and sliced clean through the band around the monster's head. As it fell away, the cephaler instantly began shrinking.

Feeling the pressure on him, once again, Cyan dropped down to the tunnel floor. His sword landed not far from him but, due to the exertion of performing the Quadra Slam under such pressure, Cyan couldn't reach for it.

There was a horrible squeal. The cephaler was much smaller now, but it was still the size of a full-grown man. It's eye suddenly seemed a whole lot clearer, and it seemed to have only now become aware of it's injuries. Since Cyan was the closest to it, the cephaler decided to take it's rage out on him.

Cyan looked up to see the monster rear above him, with it's remaining tentacles flailing and it's beak wide open. Unable to move, he shut his eyes and said a silent farewell to his friends. But he was interrupted by a terrifying roar. Opening his eyes again, he saw Umaro standing in front of him, pushing the cephaler back.

The yeti braced himself against the ground, gritting his teeth beneath his mask. The cephaler threw it's full weight upon him, causing his knees to bend. Umaro could feel himself slipping and it angered him. While on the outside, he appeared to be a dumb animal, Umaro held great pride in his strength and the fact that he never gave up in battle. Tightening his grip on the monster, Umaro gave an almighty heave with his powerful leg muscles and pushed them both off the ground. Using his momentum, Umaro began to spin in the water, swinging the cephaler around by it's tentacles. They moved so fast that soon they were both just a blur.

With a final roar, Umaro flung the monster so that it sailed through the water until it crashed against the tunnel wall. It's shell was smashed and it's crumpled remains drifted back down to Earth.

(Scene Change)

With the Sub-Mariner out of danger (for now) everyone gathered around the water hatch to welcome the fighters back on board. Umaro came up first, with Sabin behind him. Sabin was helping Cyan. He laid the knight down on the floor and took his mask off.

"Take it easy, Cyan. Just breathe. There doesn't seem to be any serious damage."

"We saw what you did through the portholes." Said Celes. "That was a really gutsy move."

"Yeah, not bad for an old guy – Ow!"

Relm rubbed her head while Strago tutted.

"Hey, where's Gau?" Said Setzer.

Right on cue, the boy popped his head out of the water and held his hand up.

"Look what Gau got!" He was holding a small brown leather band in his fist.

"What's that?" Asked Edgar.

"It what Cyan cut off of monster. It shrink when monster shrink."

Gau climbed out of the water and held it out for everyone to see. Locke narrowed his eyes.

"Is it just me, or does that look a lot like -?"

"It is." Terra pushed past the others and snatched the band from Gau. Everyone was a bit taken aback by this uncharacteristic behavior. Terra's fists clenched around the object in her grip and her eyes, which were usually gentle and caring, were now narrowed in anger at what she was looking at.

It was a slave crown.

(Hey guys. Thanks again for your reviews and words of encouragement. I'm sorry to say I'm going to be really mean and leave you hanging for a while. I'm going traveling for about two months, which obviously means the next update is going to be a while. But rest assured, I never, ever, leave a story unfinished so I will start work on the next chapter as soon as I return. Bye, and thanks again.)