Chapter 14: Return to Timber
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I know there hasn't been many lemon scenes so far, but it's coming soon, not this chapter, but like...the one after the next. So keep being patient, this one is kinda long, but it's important in the development of Zone, Matthew and Shadow, maybe Watts a little for latter.
And I do so much love Zone.
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"So Zone." Seifer folded his arms and leaned back slightly in his chair, the front legs raising off of the ground a few inches. "Tell me you figured out what we're gonna do next? I'm sick of sitting around."
Zone sat at the other end of the kitchen table, cradling Enix in his arms and feeding him. The bird seemed more willing to eat today, not hesitating at all to devour the soft applesauce on the spoon Zone offered him. He even seemed to like it. "Actually yes." Zone nodded. "Watts, explain it to them."
The group sat almost customarily around the table, awaiting their next objective. Cho, though obviously discontent with the early hour he had to get up, was awake and alert, his elbows propped on the table and his head resting in his hands. Nida was beside him, not nearly as bored and boundlessly more attentive. Shadow laid lazily on the ground behind them, half listening, and Matthew sat on the ground beside the door, listening sleepily.
"Were going to Timber." Watt's explained, standing faithfully behind Zone, his eyes watching the white Chocobo with a fascination that he couldn't describe. "We already know Galbadia has a strong hold on it, and Timber is known for it's shipping, if you have timber, you control just about every rail line."
"So you want to go for their supply lines." Nida said, a realization showing lightly on his face and sounding in his voice when he spoke.
"Exactly..., well, not exactly." Watts lifted his eyes from the Chocobo and looked towards Nida. "You see, we also want to know what they're shipping, and where they're shipping it too."
It sounded all well and good, but there was a problem with that. "That kinda stuff isn't in that back up we went through so much crap to get?" Seifer asked.
"I suppose it wouldn't be." Nida shook his head, "That kind of thing would be too recent, we could possibly dig up some old shipment, but that's probably not what they'd be shipping now."
"Also, I heard some interesting information." Watts added. "The factories in Timber were put back into service with an increasing production."
"So how are we suppose to find that out?" Seifer asked.
Watts shifted his hat around nervously atop his head, pausing slightly before he continued. "That's what you guys have to figure out."
No one said it would be easy. "I'm sure we'll figure out something, there has to be log or something around." Nida said, he'd just figure it out when he got there.
Cho glanced across the table towards Zone, and Enix, watching silently for a moment. "Well, he seems to be doing better."
Zone gently ran his fingers through the soft feathers, noting a few still came out between his fingers, a few too many, and the feathers still had a rough, ruffled, damaged appearance to them. They were were matted and stuck together like they were wet, though they weren't. He was worried about that. Zone's expression stiffened a bit when he held up one of the lose feathers and studied it. "What does it mean when his feathers look like this?" He asked.
Cho didn't need to see the feather, he could see what Zone meant from here, but he could always spot this type of thing from a distance. He'd learned the signs from being around Chocobos for most of his life "A few things, malnutrition mostly, since he's not sick. "Cho explained, lifting his hand to his mouth and taking in a deep breath as a yawn forced it's way to the surface, bringing tears to the corner of his sleepy eyes.
Zone ran his fingers over Enix's head softly, looking down at the bird thoughtfully, Enix was the only one who didn't seem to notice the change in Zone's demeanor, he was too busy eating. "So...what am I suppose to do about that?"
"Give him a balanced diet, lots of vitamins, then they should start looking better." Cho told him, he pushed himself off the table and sat up in his seat, soft brown eyes still focused on Enix. "If not sooner, by the time he molts at lest."
"Hn..."
"You know..." Cho's gaze shift up to Zone and the softness faded into something a little more Cho like. "You know, I could sell you something that can help." He said innocently. "My patented green potion, and since I like you so much, I'll even give it to you at a special discount."
Zone looked at him suspiciously, but it wasn't clear if he was taking an interest in it or not. "Like what?"
Cho grinned slightly, managing to hold in the full smile trying to come through. "I'll give you a bottle for a 100 bucks."
"A hundred? You scamming little brat!" Zone shouted angrily.
Cho lifted his hands easingly, "Zone, this is high quality stuff, and plus this is a pretty good deal. Besides, Enix needs it."
The fact that Enix may very well had needed it tempted Zone to give in, a noticeable pause resided between his response. But then he shook his head and grunted. "Deal my ass." Zone tightened his embrace around the white bird in his lap and looked away stubbornly. "Your not gonna cheat me out of my money this time! I'll do it on my own, thank you very much."
Cho found himself smiling widely in amusement, quickly stifling it back down to nothing more then a small smirk. He could get to Zone, he could see that already. "Alright, your loss." He said, standing up from his seat and pushing his chair in as he walked out of the kitchen. "But next time the price wont be so low."
Nida simply shook his head as he watched the boy leave. "Kid never gives up."
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Watts slipped out of the kitchen, walking absentmindedly through the metal corridor of the moving train. The roar of the train's wheels treading loudly over the steel rails was a muffled hum under his feet, and the movement was minimal. Only a small rocking that came with higher speeds, so soft it was barely noticed. He headed towards the Control room where the rest of the crew was working diligently on getting as close to Timber as they could without being detected.
But he couldn't help but inanely pause when he walked by Matthew's room, it was almost habituary for him to stop and peek inside to check on the boy, even if he had just seen him. It didn't matter how frequently he walked past, he always found himself drawn just to take a peek."Matthew?"
He found the boy laying across the side of his bed with his hands resting behind his head, eyes focused on the ceiling, his legs hanging down freely above the blue carpet that they couldn't quite reach yet. At 13 he was still short, a little shorter then Cho. "Huh?"
Watts rested his shoulder on the door's frame and leaned halfway into it "Are you alright?"
Matthew shifted his eyes away from the ceiling and looked towards him with a subtile smile, strange black eyes sparkling with a small contempt. "Yeah." He nodded slightly. "Why? Do I look ok?"
Watts blinked questioningly but still nodded, he rarely saw Matthew look so...well, happy seemingly with out reason. "You look fine." Every time Zone or Watts left the train and him behind he always got a little sad, at times he felt like a clingy child much too deprived of his parents too often, and other times he became somewhat depressed because he wasn't allowed to go with them, he was like someone desperate to get away. But right now he was neither,"Are you sure your alright?"
Matthew laughed lightly at Watt's look of confusion, stretching his arms out over the blue covers underneath him. "Yeah, I'm fine." He said, letting his eyes close with the intention of going back to sleep.
"Your not gonna try to come?" Watts was so use to it that he almost felt like something was wrong when Matthew didn't try. In the 4 years he'd lived with the boy he'd learned all of his habits and tendencies.
The first 2 weeks after the boy began staying with them, Zone and Matthew couldn't gather the will to leave him alone. He was so afraid, constantly paranoid that Galbadia was gonna find him that he didn't leave his room...well at the time it was still only Riona's former room. After a while, Zone and Watts had to leave the train for things they couldn't put off and left Matthew with the rest o the crew. But Matthew was desperate to go with them, Zone and Watts saved him, they were the only ones who talked to him, who constantly promised they wouldn't allow Galbadia to get at him, who showed something to him he hadn't had in a long time.
Concern, sympathy, protection... love.
And with the need to hold on to that Matthew cling to Zone and Watts as much as he clung to his room. But slowly Matthew had started to become less fearful, and they managed to get rid of most of his paranoia , Matthew was still paranoia about Galbadia to this day. Watts could only marble how Matthew had grown from a shy and fearful 9 year old, to a bold, persistent 13 year old that wouldn't be able to be contained much longer, even if it was for his own protection.
Which was why they had let him take that trip to the Garden, and attempted to get to Dollet. And it's result is why they wouldn't let him go on another endeavor like that, but that wouldn't stop him for long.
Matthew smiled, taking small breaths as he drifted closer and closer to sleep, and dreams of a future. "I don't mind waiting for you guys...I wonder what it's gonna be like at Balamb..."
Watts watched with even more confusion, Balamb?...And as he stared at the blue clad room in front of him, and the boy dressed transversely in his favorite color, in in a blue tank top and jeans, a single thought entered his mind, 'Zone.'
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"This is as close as we can get." Watts stood in front of the side door, leaning against the entrance to the train's head car while he looked over the group departing. And two of them in particular made him worry, Zone was going with them of corse, either out of sheer vindictiveness or the thought that he could be useful, he'd started to go onto missions with the SeeDs. And Enix with him, in part because he couldn't keep the bird away, Enix seemed to know when he was going into danger and worried about him. And because he was useful . "We'll be waiting here, so move as quick as possible. If something happens and we need to move with out you then-"
"Don't worry, if it happens, we'll manage." Nida reassured him, unlocking the door and pushing it open to the fields outside of the city of timber. "Ready?"
He got a affirmative answer from both Seifer and Cho, and with that Nida climbed out towards their destination, his teammates following.
"Zone...are you sure about going?" Watts asked, as he nervously took off his hat and reveiled the blue bandana tied around his head under it, shifting it around uneasily in his hands with his eyes steady over Zone's shoulder on the door. "It's really dangerous."
"I know." The man said simply,riffled through his inventory, checking over everything that Watts had organized for him previously. He carried mostly explosives as before, some distracting, some destructive, some that could be used from a distance. He was like Nida in the boy's choice of weapons, like Nida they were his primary weapons, since neither of them couldn't rely on their physical strength. "I didn't want to take Enix but he won't let go of me, his claws really hurt when he's trying to hold on."
"It's just that...your not the fighting type, you've never been as long as I've known you." Watts sighed, he shifted the hat around more, he didn't want to sound to worried, but still... "This really is dangerous, you should leave this to those guys. Something could happen to you."
"Relax, I'll be fine." Zone reassured him, before fixing his ear piece and steeping out of train.
Watt's took a deep breath and shut the door behind him. "I hope your right." Well, Watts knew he for sure that he wasn't a fighting type. So he would do his job and assist in any way he could, himself in the rest of the crew.
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The familiar sounds of trains echoed through out the city, heard clearly when the 4 arrived. Though it was much more then Zone was use to.
"Hyne, it's loud as hell in this town." Seifer steeped on to the stone tiled ground of Timber, surrounded by 2 story houses and even larger apartment buildings mixed in small stores and other local business. It was a residential area, it outlined the center of the city where most of the industrial sections resided, not to mention most of the trains.
"I never thought this place would be so big." Cho looked around at the unfamiliar area, he wasn't sure what he was expecting but this was much larger. "We're like a few miles from the train station right? So why is it so loud?"
"Tunnels." Zone explained, "Under this city is a lot of tunnels and railroad tracks, there must be a lot of them running today."
"Is it always like this?" Nida asked. he had faint memories of this city when he was a small child, but just blurry images and the knowledge that he was here before he came to the Garden. Most of his life was like that, like a dream before he woke up.
"No. This is Galbadia." Zone sighed. "And we have to make it Timber again. Alright you guys, let's split up. We're looking for any information on where this trains are going, and what's in them."
"Then what?" Cho asked.
"We take them out. If we do a good job here we can cripple them a little. " Zone turned around to face the SeeDs, looking over them scrutinizingly. "So, who's going with who?"
The three looked at each other, "I'm going with Nida." Cho announced, not really a surprise. Nida would have made him come along with him anyway, he felt better knowing Cho was in eye range and he could make sure the boy didn't do anything rash.
Nida scratched his head, looking down at the ground where the muffled roar of trains came from below. "Well, I guess that leaves you and Seifer, you should take the east side and we can take the tunnels and look over the west. They're base is the hotel downtown right? That would be a good place to look first, if it's anywhere then it'll there first. Cho and I are going to search any places where there are a number of solders gathered, and the trains. Preferably anyones in the tunnels, those carry the least look of being spotted. And try to avoid encountering any solders if you can, they'll call for back up." Nida said... then he looked up at Zone, and remembered the man was standing there. "Is that alright with you?"
Zone lifted his hands."Oh, that's fine, perfect actually."
"Then let's get going."
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"Hey, are you guys listening?"
Zone pressed his back against the wall of an alley between two stores, looking for a quick second at Seifer pressed against the opposite wall before he turned his eyes back on to the hotel across the street. He could see two guards posted in front of the polished gold metal of the front doors, and from the glass he could see slightly into the lobby. There were no solders there, there wasn't much of anyone there.
Zone lifted his hand to his earpiece, "What?"
"We gotta move, if we don't those Supply trains will catch us for sure."
Zone took another look over at Seifer who shrugged unsurely, he couldn't do anything about it. "Damn...Alright, just try and get back as soon as you can."
"Alright." With one final word a sharp cutting sound came at the end of the transmission and Watts was gone.
"So what are we gonna do when we're done?" Seifer asked, his hand tensely around the handle of his Hyperon.
"We'll just hide out, we'll sneak out of here if we have too." Zone said, sounding clearly distracted, his eyes still fixed on the hotel. "There are more guys around the side and back, It looks like this is the only way in. We're gonna have to fight our way through."
"Fine by me." Seifer smirked slightly, and with out waiting for another word he pushed himself of the wall and dashed out of the alley way.
"Seifer! Wait for me!" Zone quickly followed him, heading out into the street and running strait towards the hotel.
The first thing the solders saw was two men rushing at them with weapons drawn. The two solders in blue uniforms lifted their own gun blades. "Stop right there!" One of the men called out.
"Get out of my way." Seifer drew his sword outward at his side and with quick strides he took a hard slash at the man, who jumped back with a startled flinch.
"Hey!" The second man on the right went for Seifer, but didn't get farther then two steps before Enix came darting at his head beak first with a piercing blow and took a sharp turn upward to the sky evasively. "What the hell!" The man stumbled back a step, clinching his forehead now streaming with blood.
With hard flutters of his wings, Enix landed rather roughly on Zone's shoulder. "I see your wing is getting better." Zone said, noting the bird's speed increased more and more as it's left wing healed and he regained his strength.
"Bastard." The injured guard came at Zone hard, sliding the tip of the gunblade across the stoney ground as he moved, and with all of his strength the blue clad solder swung the sword in an uppercut and slashed it across Zone's chest. Knocking the man to the ground before stepping back to a safe distance.
Seifer attacked the first guard persistently, lifting the sword over his shoulder and slashing it downward into to the man. The blade sliced into the solder's shoulder with a stream of blood and fabric, with a loud out cry the man crashed down to his knees under Seifer's strength. The boy callously sent a hard kick to the guard's chest, knocking him on to his back and removing his body forcefully from the sword. "Tch, weak."
Zone climbed to his feet, one hand steadily over the bloody cut on his chest. "Enix, fire!" At Zone's command, the small Chocobo squawked and leaned forward, his feathers sparkling with the building of a spell. And in a sudden eruption the remaining guard's body went up in raging flames that licked over every inch of his torso with high heat, knocking him against the glass doors of the hotel, burning the man with high heat and causing him to stumble back. But quickly the man's body went out , but before he had time to recover or even realize what was happening, Zone was coming at him already too close to evade.
"Auurrrgga!" With a loud grunt Zone rushed the man, wrapping his arms around the guard's waist and ramming him with his shoulder. Carrying every bit of Zone's momentum, both of them were sent crashing through the glass of the central door and spewing on to the marble floors of the hotel lobby in a spray of glass. The man was knocked unconscious on impact.
Seifer pushed his head through the glass as Enix flew through the opening and reset himself loyally on Zone's shoulder as the man stood up. "Subtle."
"Yeah, like you just running out in the open like that was subtile." Zone snorted, running a hand through the spiky blue hair and shook the glass out. Stepping over the defeated man, Zone walked almost causally across the white marble and red carpet to the finely polished oak front desk where a woman was standing. She was dressed in a white shirt with a blue vest and dress on, apparently the uniform for the hotel. Apparently he saw no threat in her or a her presence.
And she knew no fear in him, but she found it in his presence. "Zone! What are you doing here!" The woman asked, almost startled at his presence, or more so at his entrance.
"The same thing I'm always doing." Zone leaned over the counter without any hesitation, and the woman made no attempt to stop him, watching as the man dug through the drawers under the counter.
"Everybody thought you were dead." The woman said, resting her hand over his chest and breathing a sigh of relief. "Zone what are you doing! Galbadia is all over this place."
"Yeah, that's the general idea." Zone continued to look through the dewars, dumping whatever he wasn't looking for out on the counter or ground with growing aggravation.
"Zone stop this!" The woman whispered harshly, grabbing Zone by the collar of his blue shirt and pushing him back over the counter. She looked at him harshly, speaking in a chastising tone like he was a reckless teenager. "Your gonna get yourself killed this time! If you think you can actually do this with only your small group then your a fool."
Zone lifted his head with a harsh glare, leaning on to the desk and looking the woman strait in the eyes. "Hell, maybe I am!" he shouted, making little attempt to protest her claim, only to show his anger.
"Your thinking too naive! Do you know what Galbadia is! They're an entire country, an entire army." She said, pleading for him to understand. "This is not something you can fight, your not doing anything but setting yourself to die."
"You don't get it do you? None of you get it." Zone's eyes narrowed in resentment, showing just how much he hated this. " Someone has to stand up to these bastards, and I don't care if you guys are too scared to do it, but I'm not." Ignoring her protest, Zone leaned over the counter again and picked up where he left off.
"Zone, I'm begging you to stop this, this is stupid."The woman said, her voice pleading with every sense of reason Zone may have had somewhere inside of him. "You can't do this!" Her voice grew considerably more desperate and her eyes widened slight when she saw Zone pull out a book out of one of the messy piles he'd created one the ground and tucked it messily under his arm. "Is trying this really worth dieing over?"
Zone simply walked off, going past the wide doorway to a smaller area where two elevators and a stair well lead to higher floors. Seifer gave a confused look to the woman behind the desk, then at the storming Zone, even Enix seemed to grow uneasy at the man's anger. Zone didn't pause for a second, simply walking faster then normal. "Yes, it is! I'd rather die then be controlled by some fake democracy."
"Zone, your making this seem worse then it is! Galbadia being here is not that bad!" She called out to his retreating form. "You make it sounds like we're slaves, like we have no freedom at all."
"You are, you just can't see it."
"Or your seeing something that's not there Zone! Zone!" The woman called after him in futility, Zone simply ignored her and pushed his way past the door into the stairs.
Seifer was directly behind him, entering the long pathway who's gray, concrete walls echoed with the sounds of Zone's footsteps acceding the metal stairs. Seifer hurried to catch up with him, trailing directly behind him."Girlfriend?"
Zone snorted, holding the book open and flipping through the pages diligently, it was the guest logs, showing who was staying where. "No."
"Ex?"
"No." Zone repeated firmly, turning the pages even faster as he continued to move along the stairs. "Just someone who lives here." Whatever potential conversation could ensue was discerned when Zone let out an accomplished yelp and slammed the book shut. "Third floor!" By the time Zone found it they had reached the level, Zone paused at the door, stepping to the side out of sight of anyone who may peek through the window.
"Third floor? That's it?" Seifer snorted, "That's way too much work, we have to go through the whole third floor?"
"Nah, just room 327." Zone shut the book and tossed it aside, "It's registered to a low ranking commander, probably the guy in charge over here."
"You memorize these people's name?"
"Of course, you have to know who your fighting against." Zone reached over and grasped the handle of the door, slowly pushing it open and quickly slipping through. Seifer slipped in after him, walking carefully down the red carpeted floors, the elegant designs on the walls, the oak doors inscribed with gold numbers, the paintings, plants and tables holding mundane things that all together created an image of elegance.
It was empty , a rare moment for this hour of the day.
Zone silently counted off the numbers in his head as he passed by the doors, moving through them as quickly as he could, his mind rushing with anticipation knowing that he could be caught at any second. His pulse was pounding loudly in his ears, his blood forced it's way though his veins, heating his skin. He'd forgotten how tense and dangerous situation like this felt.
Zone came to a quick stop in front of Seifer so fast the younger man almost ran into him, then with a hastily movement he pressed his back against the wall beside a door with the numbers 326 nailed to it. "This is it." He whispered.
Seifer slipped to the other side of the door, his eyes focused on the opposite end of the hallway where 7 more doors resided beyond this one, no doubt holding more solders or Galbadian officials. It took more then one person to keep this city in line. "So what? What are we looking for?"
"Anything that has to do with what they're sending out of here." Zone reached over and softly turned the door knob, twisting it a few times before letting go. "Dammit, it's locked."
"The guy probably isn't there, well we can't stand out here!" Seifer whispered back.
"I know..." Zone's eyes shifted around nervously, alright, what was he gonna do? He never really had to improvise under these conditions before. Pick the lock!... No, neither of them knew how.
"They're gonna catch us anyway, just break open the goddamn door!" Seifer growled impatiently. He pushed himself off the wall and slipped in front of the door, sword ready.
"Hey wait! Don't do that!"
"Time's running out, you got any other ideas?"
"No but-" Zone's words were cut off by the sound of the tip of Seifer's Gun blade being thrust into the door, slicing through the metal lock and letting the scrap metal fall uninhibited to the ground with a soft clatter as the door slid open. "Damnit Seifer!"
With the soft sounds of inquiring voices awakening around them, Seifer quickly grabbed Zone's arm and pulled him into the room, so unexpectedly Enix almost fell off his shoulder. Then he mounted himself in front of the door, his sword raised expectantly. "Well it's already done, go look for whatever it is your looking for, I'll hold them off!"
With no other choice, Zone complied and began to study the room with quick looks. It was clearly an expensive hotel room, sunken living area, a large bed room, from what he could see from where he was standing the bathroom was pretty good too. He didn't have time to admire it, he had work to do. "Matthew would love this place." Zone said, speaking almost low enough to be considered only to himself. With quick steps began searching, first going to the closet near the door.
He heard the voices of solders rushing towards this room, followed by the sounds of fighting ensuing. Zone ignored it for the moment, taking note of Enix jumping off of his shoulder and going to his own devices as he began pushing past the clothing that hung there. He wasn't worried about Enix, he was just curious, and he would come back, like a baby duckling. He saw a few boxes stacked in the corner, nothing more. 'No that couldn't be it, it would be too old to be in a box.' With a half panicked frustration, he stood up and shut the door behind him.
Seifer's voice echoed in to the room, amidst the sounds of men's outcries, bullets, and clashing steel. "Hurry the hell up in there!"
"I wouldn't have to hurry if you wouldn't have broken down the door!" Zone slammed the closet door shut and ran into the bed room where Enix was huddled half under the bed, doing what, Zone didn't know exactly. He didn't have time to wonder, he began searching through drawers, pulling them out of the dresser and dumping the contents on the floor before throwing it aside. It was just clothes!
"Kewk! Kewk!"
Zone glanced over his shoulder in half attention, still searching as fast as he knew how to destroy. "What? What is it?"
"Kewk! Kewk!"
With his curiosity at it's peak, Zone curiously left it behind and walked over to the other side of the bed where Enix's tail fathers were peaking out from under the covers. "What do you see?" Zone fell to his knees and lifted the edge of the cover, peaking under the bed. "Hey! Good job little guy!" Zone resisted the urge to pet the white Chocobo on the head when he found a brown leather brief case a few inches from Enix's beak. The sounds of fighting not to far out, ringing loudly in his ears, Zone pried it open and began searching throwing the stray papers and folders inside. 'No...No...' Zone recklessly tossed aside anything in his way, barely looking over it. 'No...' "Hey wait..." Zone stopped, his eyes quickly darting over the paper in his hand, then he reached back and picked up the last paper he tossed aside.
And that's when he realized something...
Zone lifted his hand to his ear piece. "Watts, you still there?"
With the crackle of a radio transmission starting, Watts voice came floating through their communication in response. "Yes."
"I'm not finding anything on shipping, but I am finding inventory sheets for factory outputs here in Timber. No wonder this is Galbadia's shipping base." Zone flipped through more and more sheets of papers, looking over them with sense of enlightened horror "They're making weapons here."
Again Seifer's voice called into the room. "Zone! Hurry up!"
"Come on Enix." At the sound of Zone's voice, the small bird loyally jumped on to his shoulder, he wished he had more time, but he could guess what they were shipping. With his feet carrying him quickly towards the door, he dug through his inventory, and he quickly found what he was looking for. "Seifer!" Now at the forefront of the room, Zone reached out of the open door and pulled Seifer back by his collar. Before he had time to object, Zone flipped the pin off of blue capped Grenade and tossed it to hall, slamming the door behind him.
"What the hell was-" Seifer flinched when he heard a loud burst, followed by a small rush of gray smoke sliding underneath the door.
"Tear gas." Zone flipped the pin out of another Grenade, this one with a black cap on top. "Enix."Zone held out his arms and Enix knowingly leapt into the man's arms, Zone hugged him tightly, protectively... "I hope you can hold your breath..." Zone slipped open the door and tossed the live munition into the hall before slamming it shut behind him. "Watch it!" Zone bolted away from the wall, cradeling the bird tightly, and before Seifer could say a word other wise, the entire wall of the room exploded, ripping through the drywall in a loud blast of flames and debris as simple as a breeze of wind through grass.
"Whoa..." Seifer lifted his arm over his face and followed the sound of Zone's voice and foot steps through the smoke and hazy heat,. both being eaten away more and more every second by the active sprinkles drowned the bodies of dazed and defeated solders. Before anyone was aware, Zone emerged from the wet smoke, Enix cradled tightly in his arms as he bolted toward the stairs. Seifer followed.
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The sounds of footsteps were everywhere, surrounding in almost in a confusing mix of approaching men that made it unclear if more would find them or passed them by, and when. Nida stood 20 feet bellow city streets between two trains that had to connect at lest 20 cars longs, both heated and smoking from anticipating departure, or re-arrival. Beside him Shadow stood, heels raised and eyes narrowed on the 6 solders that surrounded them. It was a very intimidating amount, for Nida at lest, Shadow could care less if he was going up against the world.
"Cho, don't make me regret this." he whispered, his voice drifting into the ear piece that held a direct link with Cho, as well as the rest of his team. Nida knelt down and reached into his inventory, digging out more of the shells holding a single blue stripe, indicating it's type. As expected, one of the blue infantry solders came after him with gunblade raised, as well as two of the men behind him.
Shadow growled offensively, with quick movements he stepped in front of the kneeling Nida protectively and 5 thin, black spikes stretched from his side. Like bullets they shot through the man's stomach and chest, then with drew back into the darkness of the wolf's body, leaving the half dead man to fall to the ground in a stream of blood and an outcry. "Thanks!" With seven rounds loaded into the weapon, Nida abruptly rolled froward across the wooden boards of the tracks and evaded a swipe from a gunblade thrust down on him by one of the 2 men coming at him. The first he dodged, the second man, a little closer, slashed the blade down hard across his back, making the boy fall out of the roll and flat on to his stomach "Uff!"
Shadow growled harshly and lunged forward, he aimed for the second man who hit Nida, but he landed on the first who missed him. Just as well, Shadow went to work, attacking him, slashing at him with his claws, completely mauling him. "!" Nida rolled over the steel rail on the side of the track and on his back, with a quick pull of the slide, Nida cocked the weapon and pulled the trigger of the shot gun, released two scattered rounds into the stomach of the man's armor. That armor protected him for the most part, the solder stumbled back and fell, taking his share of damage.
"Nida? How are you guys doing? Are you alright?" Cho's voice call out into the earpiece.
Nida stumbled to his feet, ignoring the gash on his back that stung with he open air. His eyes immediately looked Shadow's way, who had done a rather brutal job on that particular solder. "Shadow's doing fine." '!' Before Nida realized it he was blind sighted by an ice spell from one of the 4 remaining soldiers, he was suddenly hammered by a bolder of ice that surrounded him with a cold that chilled his flesh and dropped him to the ground from the hard impact. "Uhhaa... I'm getting my ass kicked." Nida was not the fighting type.
Cho was not to far off, two tracks over and divided by two more long trains filled with cargo. He was underneath a third, halfway into one of the many tunnels under timber. Skillfully the boy crawled under the cars, holding onto the axles and staying completely out of sight from the sounds of men all around. "I'm going as fast as I can, are you gonna be alright?" he whispered.
"I'm fine, just move quick."
Cho stopped when he heard the sounds of those passing by lessen on his left side. He didn't hesitate to let go and fell on to the tracks below with a soft thud, quickly rolling out from underneath it. The coast was clear, 'Great...' Cho reached up and grabbed on to the door of the train's car and slid it open rather loudly, that only motivated him to climb in faster and shut it almost completely behind him... "What the hell!" He wasn't expecting of what he saw.
"What? What is it?" Nida asked.
"It's just like Zone said, this thing is full of weapons and stuff, big stuff... " Through the crack of sunlight shining through the partially opened door Cho looked around in amazement at the bundle of long missiles sitting in a rack in front of him. As well as a chain of bullets on their own cart, large enough to only be for an airship...Cho leaned in closer to the rack holding the missiles, and just barely he could see a label... "He wait...I can see something, it says this is going to a..." Cho sequent slightly. "Sector 9, Dollet station... I think all of this stuff is. It has to be." At lest in that car. "Think that's where the other supply trains that almost caught the base went?"
"We'll find out soon enough." Nida told him. He was sure this would lead them to a base Dollet Zone wanted to destroy. "That's good enough, just get out of there, it's too dangerous to keep checking around." Nida told him.
With an unseen nod, Cho slipped out of the bare crack left in the open door and jumped out of the train. "I'm on my way."
! - ! - !
Nida took in a deep, tense breath and lifted the shotgun from where it hung lazily in his grip at his side, and as quick as his strained body would allow, he thrust the barrel of his gun into the soilder's stomach with a hard jabbing blow and fired his last two loaded rounds at the attacking solder, the last of the 6. The shot knocked the blue clad solder off his feet and sent him painfully on his back, before he could think of getting up, Shadow pounced on him and went directly to the neck. The man didn't even get to scream.
"Shadow you sure are..." Nida shifted his eyes away at the sight, resting the shotgun on his shoulders, which felt heavier on his scraped and slashed arms. "...Good at that..."
Shadow shook the blood from his fur, leaving it surely the same midnight black as before. "Feeible humans, nothing at all."
With heavy breaths and a hard stop on the railroad tracks, Cho came rushing back to Nida and Shadow. Though from his rough appearance, the blood streaming from the side of his mouth, the rips in the usual attire of his yellow hooded sweatshirt, and the marks on the metal rod that stood as long as his body's height made it apparent he had encountered a solder, and being unjunctioned he was lucky it was just one. "Nida, Shadow, can we get out of here now?"
Nida lifted his hand to the earpiece, his eyes looking around nervously. Sure that Cho and Shadow, well just Cho since Shadow rejunctioned, would follow, Nida began walking way at a hastened pace. "Zone, Seifer, Where are you?"
Zone's voice came from over the transmitter, "We're getting out of the hotel, drop whatever your doing and meet us at the head of the tunnel near the city's initial station, we're gonna set the bombs and get the hell out of here." He said. Nida slipped in between two connected cars to a particularly long train and climbed over to the other side, Cho following. The next few steps were slow and quiet, to avoid detection as two more Galbadian solders searched through their former path. "Hey Watts, can you get here?"
"We are kinda stuck up here." Watts called back. "All those trains coming from Timber, If my projections are right, the nearest time we can start moving is 3 minutes, and it's gonna be 2 minutes before we get there. That's assuming you take care of those other trains." The man told them. "Then I'm sure we got about a minute afterwords to get away before they catch up with us, since they're gonna be too busy saving their weapons shipments. You got 6 minutes."
Nida crouched down slightly as he came to the stairs leading back to city streets and out of the tunnels, slowly peaking his head up over the railing. There were solders everywhere... Nida looked back at Cho who followed faithfully behind, following his lead to a tee. "We're gonna have to run for it."
"Are you crazy!" Cho whispered harshly, he wasn't blind. "Look at all those guys!"
"We'll be trapped if we don't go now, there is more of then down in the trains and on the tracks then on the streets." Nida opened the barrel of his shotgun and began sliding the handful of rounds he now held hastily into the gun in pairs. Quickly he closed the barrel and cocked the gun, getting ready to move. But first he lifted his hand to his ear piece again, trying to utilize what little time they had without detection. "Zone, Seifer, Where are you?"
Nida gave a slight motion back to Cho and quickly bolted up the stairs and on to the streets at lest 20 feet above the rail road tracks. They slipped into the small stream of solders running in either direction, most heading towards the hotel where Zone had just been.
"We're like..."
Nida quickly looked back when he heard Zone's voice, both he and Cho saw Zone, and Seifer, slip out of an alley way and on to the same street. They only took two steps before some of the passing men recognize them,. "10 seconds from--" And seeing as how the two were just ahead of them, Zone and Seifer couldn't miss them. "Oh, there you guys are."
The 4 of them quickly reconvened, though not before they were surrounded by what looked to be 2 whole squads of enemy solders, yelling at them to drop their weapons and lift their hands into sight. "Uh...anyone got any ideas?" Cho asked hopefully looking around with clear contempt at the men, this wasn't looking too good.
Seifer lifted his sword readily, his eyes daring one of the men to attack, they seemed intent on capturing since the odds were so overwhelming. "I can think of one."
"The hell with that, we're gonna have to escape." Zone said surely, he wasn't to happy with the idea of being potentially captured. "We don't have time for this, we still gotta plant those bombs and if we don't get back to base we don't have a clue when Watts will be able to get back."
"Move, Move! Get out of the way!"
The attention of the four was drawn looked towards the right of the encircled crowd as an angry voice radiated towards them. The source was a man, in a red uniform, clearly a guard that pushed his way through gathered men roughly and walked towards them with angry steps. He didn't carry the gun blades as the others did, two guns were forged around his wrist. "What the hell!"
Cho elbowed Nida in the sided, bringing the older boy's attention on to him. "Who's that guy?" He asked, the long rod held tensely ready in his hands, "And what's with the uniform?"
"He's an officer, a commander infact." Zone answered, he seemed to hold the most knowledge of these things. "Comander J.B Biggs. I thought you quit." He said distastefully.
"I did, They gave me a good reason to come back." Yeah, like his rank back. Biggs's eyes narrowed in a nervous anger when he saw Zone, well, not particularly Zone, he knew from their encounter in Deling that he could take Zone. The one who would be a problem was Seifer, and he'd be stupid to take him on himself, even with back up. "Zone." He scowled, this man seemed to making his job a lot harder lately. "You bastard! You blew up my Hotel room!"
"Not really, just the hallway." Zone folded his arms, looking at the commander with contempt he made no effort to hide. "I'm sure most of the room is still fine."
The next thing Biggs noticed was Enix, the bird that suspiciously went missing when Zone escaped. At first they thought he'd just escaped in the fight, well, it was apparent now that it clearly wasn't the case. "You stole that bird."
At the mention of Enix, Zone grew visibly aggravated. "You Bastard, how the hell could you do that him! He's a goddamn baby for Hyne's sake!"
Biggs became clearly confused at the nature of Zone's outburst, the anger made him curious, curious enough to refrain from trying to beat the living hell out of the man who'd made his life so hard. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"What you guys did to him!" Zone shot back, pointing accusingly. "You starved him and beat him and gave him contaminated food, Hyne knows what else! You're gonna pay for that!" Zone had to stop himself before a string of obscenities followed, an anger like this couldn't end well.
Biggs allowed himself look away from Zone and gaze suspiciously at the white bird sitting on Zone's shoulder...Come to think of it, when he threw Zone in that storage room for containment, that bird did look a little...well at first thought asleep, but really dead was more like it. And even now he could still see some signs the bird had been injured, the bandages around his torso were a dead give away. "Don't blame that on me! I had nothing to do with that thing."
Zone scowled in frustration, but forced himself to relinquish the strong feelings for the moment to look back and the other 3 and focused, this was not the time to let his temper go unchecked. "We don't have time for this." He whispered, but clearly still angry, madness seeping through his voice like poison, causing his words to sound surrealy out of sync with his voice. "The-
"Don't worry about the bombs." Suddenly Watt's voice came crackling over the radio in a silent whisper, carried in heavy breaths that came at a voice that suggested movement. "I got them."
'Huh? Watts?" Zone's face grew slightly confused. "What do you mean."
"I'm taking care of it, just focus on getting out of here."
"Here?" Nida picked up on his choice of words immediately, if he was back on the train, he would have said 'there'. "What do you mean here...Your here?"
"Yeah, you guys are a hell of a distraction." He said, pausing to take in a few panting swallows of air, his voice jumped steadily, he seemed to be running. "Don't worry about me, just get out of there." Watts gave his final statement before the transmission cut off.
Seifer's body tensed slightly in anticipation, ready and anxious to move. "You heard the man, let's leave."
"Your not going anywhere!" Biggs yelled, they were ignoring him! Annoyance aside, Biggs lifted his hand, and almost immediately the solders surrounding began backing off with an unspoken understanding. They moved away from the man road, some returning to their post, others just getting to a safer distance.
"Why are they moving?" Cho looked around, clearly pleased at the new odds. "What? You think your gonna stop all of us?"
Biggs picked up a remote on his waist and began pressing unseen buttons with a fumbling quickness. "I don't have too." He looked up from the device at the group, then over to the railroad tracks beyond the railing blocking off the 20 foot drop.
! - ! - !
Watts grunted slightly as he crawled along the bottom of one of the trains he knew too be departing soon, slipping across the axles. It was simple for him, he'd done things like this many times before, helping the crew with repairs and tweaks. It was no problem for him, he was certainly strong enough to do it, his body held a definition to the clearly un-bulky muscles of his arms, legs and torso from years of physical exsertion in actions such as this. "..." Watts took in a deep breath and reached into his inventory and pulled out a device with one hand, and then setting the steel box firmly underneath the floor with a gummy adhesive spread on to it. A red light on it shifted to green and it beeped once, signaling that it had become armed. "4 down, 4 more to go."
With a small sense of accomplishment, Watts let go of the long pipe like line and fell onto the wooden boards of the tracks. With out any resistance he slipped from under the rain and crawled to his feet, dusting off the debris on his yellow vest. 'You guys make a great distraction...' He thought to himself, looking over the next train across from the one he'd just rigged. '?'
This particular train began to rattle, filling the air with the sound of metal slapping against itself with a distinct clanging sound. "What..." Watts could only watch uneasily as the rattling grew strong and strong. "!" He flinched when something large, a steel leg ripped through the top of the train. "Whoa!" Watts stumbled backwards against the side of the opposing train as another burst outward, and another, and a fourth. Ultimately the back of the train's car was ripped completely apart, and in a rolling motion, something fell out.
It was almost a spider in form, a machine with four long legs and a large body. Steam dispersed from it's form, like a rush of wind the white fog sweeping through the path and over a startled Watts, forcing the man to lift his arms over his face to shield himself from the wet heat. "Oh crap..." Watts began to back away slowly and fearfully from the large machine, luckily it didn't even seem to notice him. It simply climbed on to the train the man's back was pressed against and climbed over it like a normal person would bypass a stair. Then leapt into the air.
! - ! - !
With a loud and hard crash a machine crashed into the gap between Zone's team and Biggs, leaving imprints in the ground where the legs landed. Upon it's arrival, Biggs quickly departed, leaving the 4 to face the Target Search Torrent X-0543A.
"You can't be serious..." Cho looked up at the machine in a horrified awe, his hands tightening around the megger rod. "How the hell are we gonna fight that thing!"
"Calm down!" Seifer gave Cho a sharp elbow to the boy's shoulder, forcing him to pay attention. "Galbadia uses Machines, thats what they do, and if someone built it, we can tear it down."
From the black visor that served as everything it needed for it's sight, a red dot streaked across it, then a flurry of red lasers shot out like a snowfall, tracking beams that swept over every inch of the four of them. "I've seen this thing in Galbadia's blueprints." Zone said, a distinct memory of flipping through that page came to mind. "No point in running, we have to fight. Seifer." Zone motion for him to follow and quickly ran past the machine's side, him and the boy managed to slip behind it before it finished configuring itself.
Leaving Nida and Cho alone on one side. "Cho, don't try to fight this thing directly. Draw, use spells, use Shadow, just focus on not getting hit." Nida told him. He quickly reached into his inventory and withdrew a hi-potion, drinking it hastily to heal what damage he had. The machine buzzed slightly with the movement of gears as two machine guns slipped out of it's front legs and aimed directly at the two. With little calibration they opened fire, a trail of bullets ran across the ground and up Nida's body, knocking him backwards on the ground, blood streaming out of the wounds. Cho, more agile of the two, leapt to the side, only to find the gun followed his motions to a tee and trailed after him. Cho strifed backwards and lifted his rod defensively, but the last movement managed to keep him from being stuck as the barrage ran out and stopped.
'He said don't attack directly.' Cho thought to himself, returning to Nida's side, 'I can do this.' Cho held his hands outward, clinching the rod tightly with concentration as he drew a Thunder spell, causing small violet orbs followed by tails of streaks of purple light to come streaming out of the enemy and shooting into himself. He gained 7 of them. 'I'm getting better at this...' Cho slammed the end of his rod to the ground and stood in a position that almost seemed like he was using it to support himself and he cast the newly drawn spell. "Thunder!" From thin air it seemed, directly above the Spider like TST a bolt of lighting cut through the air and stuck the machine, making it twitch slightly.
The TST began sprinting forward towards Cho and Nida, intent on a physical attack. Zone, safely behind the creature, pulled the pin from a grenade with a green gap and tossed it forward lightly, watching it slide perfectly underneath the machine. The TST didn't get to take another step before an eruption of force and fire crashed into the bottom of it's body and threw it back, into the air slightly, no more then a full foot either way. But it easily landed on it's feet, and with scorch marks covering it's underside, it turned toward Seifer and Zone frighteningly fast to retaliate.
From the black visor a thick laser shot out, this time it wasn't a tracking beam, it burned horribly as Enix leapt off of the blue haired man's shoulder and the red stream of light swept over Seifer and Zone and covered their body's like rush of water from the shower as it passed by. Zone stumbled back, his body smoldering and senged while Seifer, notably stronger then the man, managed to stand his ground. "Damn machine." Seifer let the tip of his sword rest against the ground and he held out his hand, his body glowing with the energy of a spell in casting. "Flare!"
A rush of energy burned over the steel body, red as blood, and erupted over the TST in a raging light, leaving behind more scorch marks. A red light flickered in the black visor and another humming buzz came from the device, seemingly readying an attack. But it didn't get the chance to follow through, Nida opened fire on the machine's legs, it's weakest point. The TST visibly winced and nearly faltered, quickly wiping around to it's attacker. Balancing on three legs, the TST sent a jabbing punch at Nida, hard enough to throw him backwards. But Nida managed to land on his feet and slide to a stop, gasping for the air forcibly knocked out of his chest. 'Man, I'm still really weak...' He couldn't help but noticed that when he saw how much that last attack hurt, Nida lifted the shotgun and fired another round of the spreading ammunition into the machine gun on it's front left leg, and with a small burst from the round's impact, it dropped lifelessly, half blown off, with a rush of smoke it fell off line.
'Hey Shadow.' Cho looked over at Nida, wishing at the moment he had more cure spells left. Shadow already knew, and he wordlessly began summoning himself, he was quick about it, the four humans faded away and he appeared like a shadow from a passing cloud over the sun.
"..." He growled at the high pitched sound of turning gears and mechanisms coming to life inside and flinched when it sent out a tracking beam to scan him. He wasn't to partial on concentrated light, with a scowl his body melted into nothing more then a patch of darkness on the ground, sinking into the cracks. Then with an unsourced roar a torrent of thin, black spikes shot out of the ground beneath the machine like a heavy rain from the clouds that fell to the earth, ripping into it's legs, though he couldn't breach the heavy steel of it's main body.
The group re entered reality to find the machine damaged, spark spewed outward in numerous places with small buzzes of malfunctions. Flashes of escaping electricity streaked over it's body, but it still fought. With hard stumps the machine burred parts of it's legs into the ground and like pistons they began pulsating, almost as if they were drilling...
Shadow was the first to realize what was happening, he could feel it even from where he was. (Cho, Get away!)
'Wha-' Cho didn't even have time to take his first step before the ground around the TST burst open in a rush of smoke and dirt, like a wave, a tsunami, the ground buckled up and ripped outward, coming at them like a wall shrouded in a cloud of kicked up dust. It slammed into all of them and pummeled them under the hard stone, a very potent earth quake ability.
"Oh man..." Seifer groaned in pain, holding his chest as he stumbled on to his feet on the now broken ground. The stone street was broken into pieces, so badly that it could hardly be walked on without one losing balance, it slowed then down considerably. That hurt, a lot . "Hey...Hey Zone." Seifer coughed as the dust settled, so much had come that he couldn't see beyond it. That's before he come to realize he'd just been blinded by it all.
Zone grimaced, finding himself flat on his back, he was able to see Enix easing down for a not so graceful landing beside him. The bird leapt off of his shoulder as he always did when ever Zone was stuck. "Cure..." Zone said weakly, and obediently the worried bird stretched out his wings and the white feathers sparkled with the casting of a spell. A green light shined over the man, closing the smaller lacerations, stopping the bleeding of the larger ones. "Thanks little guy." Zone gave the bird a small pat on the head and made the strenuous climb to his feet.
"Cho!" Nida ignored the machine that was staring directly at them, running without hesitation over to the unmoving Cho laying unconscious on his back. 'He's out...' He quickly dug through his inventory, and since he'd organized it well he easily found a Phenix down and dropped it on the boy's face, and quickly it took effect Cho was forcibly knocked into awareness.
Cho's eyes shot open, and as he stared up at Nida his memory came flooding back. "T-Thanks..." 'Damn! Why won't this thing die.'
(Too impatient.) Shadow snorted. (This device, this tool, this thing, can it not be broken?)
'Yeah it can but-'
(Can it not be done by human hands?)
'It can.' Cho pushed himself up and picked up his fallen rod, staring at the paring machine ominously. ' I just cant.'
(Then I will.) Which inevitably meant possession.
'Hold on, wait a minute...' Cho, however, didn't think it would be needed.
Zone held on to his stomach with one hand, glaring at the machine with an aggravated frustration, they had 3 minutes to get out of here! 'D-Damnit...' A golden energy rose from underneath Zone and surrounded his body as he reached his first limit break. "Enix, go to Seifer." Zone's voice held a somewhat darker tent to it, one that made the bird nervous and willing to comply, even if he didn't much like Seifer. Enix hopped off the man's shoulder and flew the short distance to Seifer who caught him unsurely.
Zone reached down to his waist beneath his shirt and began pulling out 4 square devices, he quickly began tying thin, steel wires to the four black boxes with blinking red lights showing they were armed. "Bastard." With impeccable aim he threw them one by one on to the legs of the machine, which immediately latched on, causing the light to turn green. Then the steel wires, still in his hands, were quickly connected to another black device he pulled out of his pocket. The TST turned towards them when it noticed the device, but by then it was too late, Zone finished off his Perimeter Blast limit break with the simple press of a button.
And just as soon the devices erupted in a rush of flames and spewing debris of steel as the TST's legs were blowed off in a brilliant explosion and it's body fell to the ground, barely alive.
Seifer lifted his sword on to his shoulder and looked over the crippled device. He was sure Zone had indeed finished the job. "That thing is gonna blow."
"Let's go!" Zone knelt down and picked up the returning Enix, cradling him protectively in his arms. His heart jumped when he saw flashes of escaping electricity streaking across the machine's body and sparks fly from it's torn and burned appendages. Seifer trailed just behind him as he slipped in the narrow space between it and an abandon building.
Seifer grabbed Nida by the arm and Cho roughly by the hood and tugged them away along forcibly. "Come on you guys. We gotta move, now."
The ground shuttered as the TST overloaded and exploded in a powerful blast, Flames erupted into the sky with a rush of black smoke and a shockwave swept across the ground, blowing away the scraps and debris only for it to be replaced by a rain of mechanized parts, burning with the fire from the explosion.
The task of dodging the falling pieces of steel and raging flames kept any nearly by solders at bay for the moment, it was a great temporary distraction. With two minutes to go they needed it. Nida lifted his hand to the ear piece, his eyes darting around nervously. "Uh, Watts? Where are you?"
"I'm almost back on the train, why?"
"Did you set those bombs?"
"Yes."
In the most calm, not frantic voice he could conjure up, he simply said."Now would be a really good time to set them off." Before lowering his hand and snatching his arm away from Seifer's prying hold.
Less then a second later the first device exploded someplace behind, apparently someplace within a tunnel underground. Even from here they could hear the flames rushing through the bottle neck of the en casing structure under the city streets and spewing out of an exit. Then the second detonated, and it was a lot closer. The sound was deafening, and if one were able to withstand the blast enough to comprehend it, a complication of smaller explosions that came with it including every piece of ammunition in the train caught in the detonation would be heard. All Cho could hear at the point was a loud ringing from temporary loss of hearing.
Flames shot into the air from beyond the railing separating the road from the 20 foot depression where the tracks resided. They were shrouded in a flickering red light and the air was filled with he smell and taste of smoke. The heat was intense even frome this distance, Cho could mentally feel Shadow wince. 'What? What is it?'
(N-Noise...Too loud...)
'Don't worry, we'll be out of here soon.' Cho didn't realize just how sensitive Shadow's hearing was, it must have hurt. Another blast erupted just ahead, spewing more flames and emitting more of the heat, deafening noise and bright red lights, Cho lifted his arm to his face, he was already starting to sweat. And even worse, Shadow was stirring around in his head, Cho was starting to feel his pain. 'Damn...Just hold on.' Cho clasped his hands over his ears, his body tensing visibly.
The third bomb detonated beyond them and Cho winced this time, forcing one eye open and following behind Zone who now slipped down an alleyway where a descending stairway led to a tunnel. He seemed to know his way around. 'Don't...Don't worry.' Cho shut his eyes again and forced himself to keep running, feeling the pain grow worse and worse inside of his head while the Junction grew deeper and deeper.
(C-cho? What are you doing?) Shadow asked, confused to find his own pain from the sensitive sense of hearing dulling. That noise, that unbearable noise that left his ears ringing louder then his own thoughts It was a splitting ache that felt like his head was being torn apart from the inside, and it was starting to fade away, despite the fact he could clearly hear the noise.
'You c-can't take t-the noise...' Cho thought, though his mind was clearly scattered, not by the noise, his hearing wasn't honed enough to do that much. It was the pain he was taking on, in a similar manner to how a GF took the damage inflicted on their charge right before summoning. A junction went both ways, and by simply paying attention he knew how to use it, it was a simple task. Just not one to keep up, he nearly fell as the full pain onset.
Nida looked back in the dark tunnel, across the abandoned tracks to Cho who had fallen behind and was now staggering. "Cho? What's wrong?" He stopped, waving Zone and Seifer to keep going.
"I...I can't..." Cho feel his knees on the wooden boards, clinching his head painfully.
(Cho...Why...) For some reason this action confused Shadow to the point where it even started to scared him. (Why, I am the GF, I'm suppose to protect you.)
Cho took in a deep breath to keep from crying out.. 'We're...p-partners remember...it's not a one way thing..'
Nida knelt down beside Cho and with out question picked the boy up on to his shoulder. "Don't give up yet, we're almost there." Nida grunted slightly as he stood to his feet, feeling his own wounds stinging at the strain.
Shadow took clear notice of Nida's action, though still focused on Cho. (You would do something like this, take on pain and physical harm? But, your so weak, why?)
'Because...I want to...' Cho focused his mind on the pain to keep back the coming darkness and fading awareness awake, he couldn't black out, he'd already took on this pain, he'd hold on to it as long as he could.
! - ! - !