Author's note: Okay, okay, okay, you talked me into continuing it. -laughs- The sudden influx of reviews has been rather surprising though. Is it because of KH2?
Anyway, sorry it's been so long. What, one and a half year? Err… well, all I can say is "uhm… sorry?"
Chapter 36, You'll never catch me alive
Being the tyrant of the world is a good job, if you are a power-hungry son of a bitch. But even if you are such a person – which I hope you are not, gentle reader – you get tired. And sleep is a great reenergizer, used to make sure that tomorrow you will be able to get up and terrorize your lower subjects once again.
Gestahl had been planning to head to bed and get a good night's rest, when one of the voices he least enjoyed listening to caused the windows in his chamber to jingle.
"Attention, everyone! There's an escaped prisoner on the run in here! He's all mine, so don't get in my way!"
"What the hell?"
Gestahl threw all other plans into oblivion and dashed out of his chambers, casting a spell of speed over himself as he moved. Soldiers and magicians alike desperately flung themselves out of the way for their emperor. To him, they became only lumps of blurred colors as he rushed forwards, long beard and mustache flapping at the air behind him.
"Kefka!" he roared, just like Kefka projecting his words with magic to make sure that the madman heard him, wherever he was.
"I'll take care of it, emperor!"
The irritated tone could not be mistaken, and to top it off the words had been projected all over Vector. Gestahl bared his teeth. Kefka was threading a thin line, defying the emperor in front of the whole capital.
"Only until I get there!"
The reply was delayed for a few seconds. The people in the flying city held their breath – at least, those who were not diving for cover did. But finally:
"As you wish, emperor."
The frustration was still heavily obvious, but it had been chained down. While still seething with anger, Gestahl had to admit that it was more than he could have hoped for. To everyone listening, it was an ultimate proof of control that Kefka took a step back from his superior.
Perfect, actually.
But the feeling of satisfaction had no place in the emperor's current state of mind.
"Good. Now where is he headed?" he demanded.
Kefka only remained silent for a moment this time. Still, it was enough to prove that he was still reluctant. But just when Gestahl was about to repeat his order in an even sharper tone, the answer arrived.
"In the southern main corridor, heading east- no, now he took to the right- no, left. Stop changing directions, you chicken lip!"
Gestahl fought down the urge to slap his own forehead. The information given to him also reached the hunted one, of course.
"Just shut up, I'm on my way!" he snarled.
"Yes emp- hey! Whoever kills that one will get it!"
In the southern corridor, the magicians who had begun to charge a spell at the fleeing mimic staggered backwards in fear of lord Kefka. Gogo rushed on, ignoring the neutralized threat. Pain racked his chest for every heavy breath, and though the goal almost could be seen by now it still seemed too far away. The knowledge that Gestahl was on his way helped fuel his aching legs, however.
'He's asking if you're giving up already,' Siren whispered to his mind.
'How thoughtful!' the mimic snarled.
He dived into a side corridor to the right. Cold air flowed into his face, cooling the sweat seeped up by the veil and robes. Almost there, almost there…
'It's your own fault, he also says,' the esper added.
Her tone of voice hinted at that she might not be completely opposed to that opinion.
'Thanks for the support, both of you,' the mimic replied, growling under his breath.
'You're welcome. Duck to the right!'
Gogo obeyed without thinking, and narrowly avoided getting his arm singed by another lightning bolt.
"Stop hopping around!" his brother shouted, adding a mad cackle to the order.
'I knew he'd like this far too much!' the mimic grumbled to himself.
The end of the corridor came closer and closer. Three guards standing by the iron gate in the far off wall stared at the approaching man hunt with growing panic, trying to figure out what they should do about it.
Gogo solved the problem for them.
"Guardians of roaring flames, heed my words!"
Without slowing down for a second, he threw up both hands as he spluttered the spell. A large fireball shot forwards from his palms and exploded upon hitting the large gate a second later. The guards crashed into the floor and walls on the sides.
'He says "not too bad, considering all",' Siren said.
'Much better.'
Wind roared from the newly created opening in the gate, helping to cool the red hot edges around the hole. Despite this, the heat was almost inhuman as Gogo dashed forwards and through it. He came out gasping for air, sweat making the rapidly soaking veil cling uncomfortably to his face.
The hangar spread out before him, half filled with newly returned spitfires and sky armors, with more of them coming in from the distant air gate. All soldiers of the Imperial Air Force in sight stared in surprise at the newly created hole in the wall and the strange figure emerging from it. A few of the closest ones began reaching for their weapons, but froze as their lord Kefka flew through the very same hole in the gate.
"He's mine, boys!"
'Duck!' Siren warned.
Gogo flung himself down, a lightning bolt searing past above him and hitting a sky armor further away. The machine violently rocked and the pilot leaped out of it in panic, but by the time of impact the magic had lost enough force to only leave a big mark on the iron. Better than making the whole machine explode, at least.
'This time, he better watch out!' Gogo thought to Siren as he rolled back to his feet.
Leaping forwards, he blindly sent a smaller fireball over his shoulder.
"How dare you counter?" his brother screeched, "you little…"
'Not even a scratch,' Siren reported.
Gogo was about to reply, but he never got the time. Another voice ripped through the air, through the roaring of wind and engines.
"Kefka!"
Three shockingly different minds joined in a rare instance of complete agreement.
'Oh shit…'
A reddish blur shot through the hole and skidded to a halt beside the frozen pursuer. The magical glow of the haste spell faded quickly from Gestahl as he raised his hands with an enraged scowl on his face.
"No!"
Snarling, the madman spun around and threw up his arm before the ruler's hands.
"Get out of the way or I'll blast your shoulder off, too!" Gestahl growled.
"Just let me kill him, emperor, that's all I ask!"
The emperor's eyes narrowed further, but behind the defiance in the lunatic's eyes were only a manic desire to have his wish granted.
Meanwhile, Gogo finally reached the first line of machines and leapt onto the nearest one, which happened to be a spitfire. The pilot raised his firearm, but before he had managed to finish the movement he received a fist straight in the face and toppled backwards, out of the seat and onto the floor.
Snarling, Gestahl threw his right arm around. A dark net exploded from the palm and soared straight towards the escapee.
Gogo did not even think. He simply swung out his own arm in an exact copy of Gestahl's motion, and a second net met the first in midair. The difference in power became apparent when the counterattack only managed to throw the first net off course, not stop it completely. But it was enough to keep it from reaching its goal, and as the sticky heap of magical ropes crashed on the floor, Gogo turned the engine key.
"What the hell?" Gestahl croaked, fury and shock mixing in his voice.
But his strongest – if least controllable – pawn rushed forwards, as the hijacked spitfire rose from the ground and turned towards the exit.
"Oh no you don't!"
The still incoming choppers desperately reared aside to avoid the one going in the other direction at top speed, and thanks to that Gogo did not have to worry too much about a collision. His brother was another matter.
A couple of lightning bolts hit their target, nearly sending the machine toppling over itself. Only by violently tearing at the wheel to meet the forced momentum did Gogo manage to maintain balance.
'I'll get him for that!'
'Yes, but it has to look real, you know!' Siren said.
Her voice did not sound too steady, however.
'Tell him to watch out again!' Gogo snarled.
He turned around halfway, one hand on the wheel and the other lashing out at his brother. Screeching in rage, the pursuer dived aside to avoid another fireball. When he got back to his feet, empty air had already replaced the ground beneath the escapee's vehicle.
Gogo turned the wheel, and the spitfire disappeared beneath the border of the open air gate.
"NO!"
Furiously, the madman spun towards the nearest group of arriving fliers. The pilots saluted in pure panic.
"After him!"
The roar was loud enough to be perfectly heard above the humming engines.
"Yes, lord Kefka!" a choir of frightened voices hastened to call.
They all could picture what would happen to anyone wasting a single second when the nutcase spluttered and violently gesticulated like that. Choppers turned around and soared back towards the exit.
"If you don't bring him back I'll grind your bones to powder and feed the remains to the chocobos!"
'And if you do bring him back, you'll wish that you were never born!' he thought to himself, growling.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Poor lads, really.
"Kefka!"
"What?"
He spun around with a snarl on his face, only to draw back and raise an arm to hide the grimace as he found himself glaring murder at Gestahl. The look he received in return was by no extent any kinder.
"Explain yourself!" the emperor snarled.
He pointed at the chaotic heap of nets on the floor.
"And how could he use the same kind of magic as me?" he added, deepening the scowl that already seemed far too well chiseled into his forehead.
"Hell if I know!"
The madman threw his arms up in frustration.
"I was going to kill him, but he sent the spell right back at me!" he said.
Gestahl crossed his arms, glaring at the nets.
"A reflect spell?" he muttered through his teeth.
"There was no time for him to cast it!"
Irritated, the emperor waved at his pawn to shut up. He raised his hands, and the nets obediently floated upwards. They remained tangled until Gestahl swept both arms in a direction each. Following his movements, the snake nest of magical ropes ripped themselves free and with a quite unpleasant, soft sound they crashed on the floor in two heaps.
The soldiers nervously watched as their lord Kefka alternated between glaring at the emperor's back and throwing glances promising doom towards the air gate. The ground could be seen through the opening now, as the floating continent lowered itself in reply to the harsh winds flowing inside.
Muttering under his breath, Gestahl snapped his fingers on both hands. A dark blue shimmer swept over the fallen nets. He paused for a moment, then repeated the same procedure.
Muttering bewildered curses, the emperor finally turned around and faced the watching madman. The blonde cocked an eyebrow, despite the remaining rage etched into his features.
"What?" he said again, much calmer than last time.
"It seems that the net he created is a perfect copy of mine," Gestahl said, crossing his arms, "it is weaker, but apart from that they are identical. What the hell is this technique?"
"Damned if I know!"
He turned towards the air gate once more, a snarl completely disrupting his face.
But on the inside, he grinned like a maniac.
'-'
In the vast expanse of sky outside the floating palace, the hunt was on. While Gogo had managed to get a good head start, but there was one problem. Spit fires, being the brute force of the air army, was not designed to move as quick as sky armors. And out of the half dozen choppers sent after the escapee, four were of the quicker model.
'They are closing in!' Siren warned, keeping watch while Gogo focused on trying to figure out all of the controls before him.
'Not too surprising,' the mimic absentmindedly replied.
'Where are your priorities?'
'Do you want to crash?'
'No, but the result will be the same if we are shot down!'
'I doubt they dare to try that after all his screaming back there.'
Gogo studied the command board during all of this mental talking. He was somewhat familiar with the controls, after all he had been part of designing the original versions – twenty years ago. Luckily, things seemed to keep the same basics – thank you, Cid! – as the prototypes, and he did not have too much of a problem. But steering the machine and attacking the pursuers at the same time would be tricky.
'If you don't do something soon we will find out whether or not they dare to shoot,' Siren snapped.
Gogo threw a glance over his shoulder, also noting how much the distance had decreased. He placed one hand on the steering wheel, growling under his breath.
"Hmph… upon the power in me I command thee, Ramuh, to strike down my foes!"
He swept his hand out in a wide motion, and from his fingertips exploded thick snakes of lightning bolts. They flared across the sky, and though the soldiers desperately tried to send their choppers out of the way there was no time. Two of them exploded, debris and pilots plummeting towards the ground far, far below. Only one parachute bobbed up against the distant green and blue.
The other choppers, while managing to avoid head-on hits, were left smoking and jerking dangerously. The pursuit was off – the men had enough trouble just trying to stay airborne.
Satisfied, Gogo turned back to the steering. Vector should be far enough off to be out of a spell's range, but he didn't want to take chances. Turning the wheel rather violently, he sent the spit fire plunging downwards.
He only stopped the fall when Siren made a nervous sound.
They sped eastwards, a tiny dot in the sky between the earth and heaven. Still, Vector remained a hulking giant in the background. Gogo glanced over his shoulder several times, hands tight on the steering wheel. There were small dots flitting about the huge shadow.
"We may have to land," he muttered through his teeth after a while.
'Do you think that's safer?' Siren asked, doubtful.
'No,' Gogo thought.
He reached out and tapped a glass bulb on the control panel.
'But we're almost out of power. This thing wasn't refueled before we took it.'
Below the glass, a red arrow tiredly hovered dangerously close to a tiny little zero.
Siren said something very unladylike. That was enough to make Gogo smirk beneath his veil. His eyes scanned the trembling arrow, an eyebrow slowly going up.
It did not take long for his gaze to lock on to a metal square to the left of the power meter. It wasn't much bigger than his hand and was held shut by a clasp, but the tiny hinges on the side signaled that it could easily be opened.
He found it absolutely fascinating.
With a crisp metal snap, he flipped the clasp and lid open. Beneath was an oval metal plate, slightly rounded inwards. Along its side hung spindly, silvery hooks, dangling deceptively loose above the crawling wires beneath.
'Found a power source,' Gogo thought, reaching into a chest pocket.
'What- hey!' Siren protested.
The red flame within her magicite flickered furiously, but Gogo pushed the magic rock into the small plate. The hooks snapped into place to hold the esper's remains still.
Deaf to the protests Gogo closed the lid and watched, with satisfaction, how the red arrow shot back to its highest peak.
'Desperate situations and all that…' he commented, shrugging.
'… you bastard,' Siren said.
'Duly noted.'
The mimic looked up, scanning the world below. A look over his shoulder confirmed that they were getting further away from Vector at a much quicker pace now.
'Now where's that Veldt…'
