Disclaimer : I don't own anything.
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(The Cell)
What now...? Dustin sighed as he leaned against the wall.
Tori sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest. "We can't just sit here. We have to think of a way to escape." she said in a quiet tone.
Easier said than done... Dustin shrugged and remained where he was. "Anyone got a plan?"
Marah looked around until her eyes landed on the Moomba next to her. "Well, we could always skin this little guy and wear him as a disguise." she suggested.
The Moomba squeeked in terror and scooted to the opposite corner of the room, staring at her warily.
"I'm kidding! I'm kidding!" she insisted with a weak laugh.
Didn't sound like you were. Dustin thought with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, we can't rely on magic here, so we have to go with weapons. So we have to somehow get them back." Tori suggested with a nod.
Weapons... Dustin thought, looking at his hands. Eyes widening, he flexed the metal-lined gloves and grinned. My weapons are these fists of mine! Jumping up, his grin grew. I could do some serious damage without weapons! It's up to me, baby! Turning to the girls, he laughed. "Let me go. I'll get the weapons back!"
"Oh yeah!" Marah nodded with sudden understanding. "You worked here as Jason, so you know the place."
Not really... All he did was mop the floors. "Just leave it to me! You two lie down there, on the floor." he instructed with a determined nod, moving quietly to the door.
Exchanging confused looks, they shrugged and did what they were told, lying down and faking that they were unconscious.
"Dustin..." Tori called warily.
Marah frowned a little before relaxing her face. "Sure hope this works."
Taking a deep breath, Dustin schooled his face to look worried. "Guard! Guard! We need some help! Open the door!" he called in as frantic a voice as he could muster.
The door opened up and a single guard walked in, frowning at Dustin before carefully looking around. "What's the problem?" he demanded coldly.
"The women are unconscious! I think a snake bit 'em!" Please, PLEASE buy this!
Walking over to the girls with him, the guard frowned deeper and his eyes narrowed in confusion. "...What?"
Before he could react, Dustin punched him in the face, followed by a swift kick to the gut, and knocked him out. Watching as the girls sat up and looked relieved to see that it worked, he nodded to them with a grin. "Well, I'm off!" Seeing the Moomba run over and squeek next to his legs, he looked down at it. "Huh? You wanna go too?"
The Moomba squeeked again and nodded it's head vigorously.
"Ah, I guess... Just don't get in the way." he stated firmly, though deep inside he was secretly glad not to be going alone.
The two of them headed out into the hall and paused for a brief moment. The outter hall was a large circle with at least three cells on the floor. Then there was a larger opening in the center that spanned at least 20 floors. From his memories as Jason, Dustin knew that opening was used for a crane to lift single cells from floor to floor.
Turning to his left, he noted a set of stairs leading up and a second set that led down.
"So which way do I go?" he asked the Moomba cluelessly.
In response, the little red lion ran to the staircase that led up and waited at the bottom with a squeek.
Shrugging, Dustin ran over to them and they ran to the stairs, finding two guards looking over a pile of weapons. A Gunblade, Nun Chucks, and a Whip all lay on the floor, while a guard picked up the blade.
"Look at this...SeeD weapons." one guard mused out loud.
Swinging the blade experimentally, the guard nodded. "Is this what they call a gunblade?" Looking to the other weapons he whistled quietly. "Check these out. A whip, nun chucks..."
"AHEM!!"
Spinning around to the sound of Dustin clearing his throat, they gaped a moment before dropping the confiscated weapons and producing their own. "You an escapee?!" one guard demanded.
Without even bothering to answer, he raced forward and slammed his fist into one guard's gut, winding him temporarily as he ran at the other. Seeing that the second was aiming his gun, he quickly kicked it out of his hands before jumping up and doing a spin kick to the guy's head. Backflipping away, he landed in a crouch and sprung forward, levelling a volley of punches at the first guard's head and knocking him out. Spinning to the other, he punched him in the gut and kicked him in the head, effectively knocking him out as well.
"Piece of cake, baby!" he cheered, picking up the weapons and taking a moment to laugh. Running back to the cell, he grinned triumphantly at the girls. "Yo, sorry to keep ya waitin'!"
"Dustin, the weapons?" Tori asked in a bored tone.
"Voila!" Producing the weapons, he attached the gunblade to his belt and handed out the other weapons to their rightful owner.
"Yes!" Tori cried happily, jumping up and accepting her whip. Snapping it experimentally against the ground, she nodded in satisfaction and hung it on her hip.
Marah grabbed her nun chucks and swung them skillfully around her before hanging them off her waist and grinning happily. "Whoo-hoo!" she cried, jumping up and laughing.
There was a sound of footsteps outside the door and everyone spun to it, hiding their weapons and watching in shock at who entered.
"Is this the cell with the uncooperative prisoners?" a familiar feminine voice demanded harshly.
A second voice that they recognized as their jailor's, answered almost meekly. "Yes, this is it. Please give 'em something to really complain about."
"Should we be picking on prisoners so soon after transfer?" a third familiar voice inquired.
"Just be quiet and let me handle this!" the woman demanded.
The guard entered the room and glared angrily at the three prisoners, failing to notice the badly hidden weapons. "T-These are the prisoners, Lieutenant Toxica, Private Jindrax!"
Toxica? Jindrax?? Dustin mentally wondered, remembering the names from Dollet.
Once the group faced off against each other, they could only stare in shock at whom they were facing, except for Tori and the Guard who had no idea what was going on. Glaring fiercely at them, Toxica pointed. "S-So, we meet again! Now we'll teach you the lesson we should've taught you earlier!" Then she seemed to consider. "I know it might seem cowardly to fight unarmed prisoners..."
Shaking their heads, Dustin, Marah and Tori drew their weapons, cracking and snapping them loudly to show that they weren't as 'unarmed' at Toxica seemed to think.
And of course, she didn't even seem to notice. "..But I hope you can appreciate our position. Hey, it's a dog eat do world..."
"Uh, ma'am?" Jindrax interrupted quietly and nervously. "They're fully armed, ma'am."
"WHAT?!" Now she seemed to notice their weapons and took a single step back. "H-Ho-How...? Ahh, hell with it! Let's go, Jindrax!"
Stepping back, Dustin smirked and raced forward. Seeing that Toxica was aiming to stab him with her staff, he jumped to the side and ran along the wall before jumping off and spin kicking her in the shoulder, knocking her a foot away. Landing on the ground, he quickly pressed his attack and raced forward, reaching out to push her staff to the side before he did a backflip, kicking her in the head.
Tori snapped her whip at Jindrax, catching him in the shoulder and causing him to drop one of his daggers. He reached for it, but before he could grab it, Marah snapped her nun chucks out and smacked him in the hand, causing him to let out a howl of pain before he pulled his hand back and glared at her. Snapping her whip at the same time as Marah cracked her nun chucks, they hit him together, in the stomach and sent him flying into a wall, where he hit with a dull thud and slid down, lying unmoving on the ground.
Dustin raised both his ams, crossed over each other, and blocked Toxica's staff as it made a mad descent to his head. Pushing upward, he lashed out and punched her twice in the chest and once in the stomach.
Staggering back, she collapsed to the ground and laid unmoving.
And during the whole thing, the jailor had run off.
Running out of the room, they failed to notice that Toxica was still conscious, and as soon as they were out of sight, she groaned and pulled herself to a wall, sliding a keycard into a slot and hitting a large red button. "D-Don't think you can just walk out..." she groaned before finally passing out.
Out in the hallway, everyone was looking around, trying to find some clue as to where to find Shane. Turning to the Moomba, Dustin asked it if it had any idea where Shane was, but it shook it's head and squeeked quietly.
"I guess not. We'll find Shane, and then we get outta here, got it?"
Suddenly, an alarm began to blare and red lights began flashing through the hallway. Running to the center lift hole, they looked up and down, realizing it was on every floor.
"What the...?!?!" Dustin demanded, tightening his gloves and keeping an eye out for danger.
"Warning! Escapee alert! Monsters will be set lose on each floor. If escapees refuse to surrender, you have permission to kill. The anti-magic field will be lifted." an automated voice called out calmly.
"Tch! The security alarm!" Dustin growled, staring angrily around.
The Moomba's ears suddenly perked up and it squeeked loudly and happily before beginning to purr. Waving it's paws at the others, it ran to a staircase heading up and ran up it, not bothering to wait for them.
"I guess we head up then." Tori said with a little grin, leading the way up the stairs.
Heading up every flight of stairs they found, the SeeD trio battled guards, large vulture-like birds with blue bodies and grey heads, large, yellow, metal machines that's weapons were it's fists, and purple and black machines of the same size with metal wings that shot rockets at them.
After one battle with those, the party had to take a brief breather to heal up. Those missiles did a lot of damage and knocked Marah out with one hit. Kneeling down beside her, Dustin lifted her head into his lap and used a phoenix down to revive her and then gave her a hi-potion to cure her wounds.
With that done, they made their way to the top floor, finding it to glow orange from a single, large light on the ceiling, and other than a set of stairs leading up and the cell lift, there was one door.
One door with about 7 Moombas standing outside of it.
"What the hell?" Dustin asked quietly, walking through the Moombas, towards the door.
"Tommy!" one squeeked, jumping excitedly and purring.
Another one jumped in response. "Tommy!"
Then two more. "Tommy!"
The Moomba by the door waved at them before waving it's paw over the door and the trio watched as it slid open. Running to the side, the Moomba bounced around before running inside.
"O...k." Dustin said with wide eyes, wondering how these things were connected to Tommy.
Walking into the room, they found who they'd been searching for. Shane was sitting against the wall, only barely conscious.
(Shane's POV)
It was so dark and I was so tired. Drawing my leg just a little bit higher to me, I became aware that I wasn't restrained anymore.
"Hey!"
I frowned. That voice seemed so familiar. I wanted to open my eyes to see who it was, but I was having trouble. My eyelids felt so heavy and my body felt like stone. Who...?
"Shane!!!"
That sounded like...Dustin, but it couldn't be. They were captured. How could they be here.
They're SeeDs.
Of course, if anyone could escape a prison, it would be them. But I didn't understand why they'd come looking for me and didn't just leave.
"Wake up!!!"
Marah?
I felt someone shaking me, and a strange, furry sensation on my face. Something soft brushing against it. I could only frown deeper as I struggled even more to open my eyes or at least say something.
"Come on, Shane!!"
Tori.
Somehow, I wasn't surprised. Letting out an exhausted groan, I felt a soothing, warm sensation run through me and finally managed to open my eyes. Standing in front of me was Dustin, Marah, Tori and a Moomba.
I guessed that the Moomba was the furry sensation on my face.
I'm...fine... I thought, nodding a little as I shakily got to my feet, leaning heavily against the wall behind me. Blinking a couple of times, I shook my head and managed to focus. Watching silently, I noticed Dustin checking out the Moomba curiously and Tori cast a Cura on me, restoring my strength.
I nodded thanks to her.
'You ok?!" Dustin demanded in worry.
Remembering everything I'd been through, I shuddered involuntarily and sighed, closing my eyes. "...It was hell..." I said honestly.
He nodded and dug at my gunblade that was hanging on his waist. "Let's just get the hell outta here!" he stated firmly, unclipping it and looking at me. "Catch!"
It was like instinct. He tossed me my blade and I caught it easily, despite the aching of my joints. Swinging it experimentally, I nodded and fastened it to my belt, standing away from the wall.
Looking at the Moomba, I nodded and bent down to it.
"Tommy! Tommy!" It cried, jumping a bit.
I frowned at this. "Tommy?" Shaking my head, I patted it gently on the head before standing up and leading the others out of the room. Standing out in the hall, I paused and did a double take, noting the numerous Moombas standing there with furry litte lion-grins on their faces.
One ran up to me. "Tommy! MMMake ssshortcut! FFFloor...wwwhere?" it asked awkwardly.
Most floors had shield between the stairscases, making it difficult to get to each floor because you had to run around the entire hall to get to the other staircase. It gave the soldiers and monsters a better chance to get to you.
"Floor 9." I said quietly, just shrugging and choosing a random floor. It squeeked happily and leaned into my leg, purring, before it ran off and down the stairs.
"Tommy!" Another one suqeeked, handing me a couple of hi-potions it held. Then it too, leaned agains me and purred before running off.
What the hell??
"Didn't you come here as Tommy, in the Dream World?" Dustin asked curiously.
I shook my head. No, I ended up in a village called Winhill with Zack, and some woman named Kat. "...No." Shaking my head, I sighed, then I frowned. But that little girl...she looked so familiar.
"So Shane doesn't know how to get out of here, either." Tori mused out loud.
"Well...either way, we kept goin' up and up. I think we better head back down." Dustin suggested thoughtfully.
Tori shook her head. "It'd be a pain to go every floor." she stated. "The alarm alerted monsters and security guards everywhere."
"By the way, how the hell did they carry you up here, Shane?" Dustin demanded as he scrunched up his forehead.
Remaining silent, I pointed to the claw that still held the cell I had been in. Notcing the large red stain inside, I bit back a wince.
"Whoa!! What's this?!?" he cried in shock.
Sighing, I rolled my eyes. "It's like a crane that can carry a detachable cell from downstairs." I explained in a bored tone.
Marah walked to the edge of the hole and looked down it thoughtfully. "Oh, so this big hole goes all the way down to the bottom? So, if we jump all the way down, we're outta here!" she cried excitedly.
Tori's eyes widened and she shook her head, taking a step back. "Go ahead, if you want to be squished like a pancake."
"Oh yeah!!! I remember now!!" Dustin cried. "We can move this arm by using the panel above and the control room."
I looked above the cell and noticed a small box on the crane. It was like a control room of sorts and had enough room to fit four or five people.
"I remember Jason doing this. But we need to operate them at the same time. Someone needs to stay upstairs, and the control panel..."
Marah and Tori both grinned before moving to either side of Dustin. Giggling a little, they patted him on the shoulder simultaneously and nodded at his surprised look.
"...Me?" he asked nervously.
They nodded again and he sighed, his nervous look changing to one of determination. "F-Fine. I'll give you instructions from upstairs. Everyone get inside."
With that, we split up. I helped Tori and Marah into the panel and then climbed in myself, standing in front of a console and waiting for Dustin. It only took a couple of minutes, but in here, every minute felt like an eternity. I was almost beginning to worry that Dusti hadn't made it when his voice came crackling over the intercom.
"Yo, can you guys here me?"
"Hiya Dustin, loud and clear!? Marah called back with a grin.
"So what do we do?" I asked casually, looking at the panel. He instructed me to press a large red button in the center of it, and I did so, quickly grabbing the hilt of my gunblade when the lift shook a moment. Then I calmed down as I realized it was just beginning it's descent.
It didn't take long before we ended up at the bottom floor, and we jumpd out of the room, frowning when all that met us was a long dark hallway with a single door at the end.
"Heey, so what are we going to do now?" Marah asked with a pout.
"Well, there's a door there..." I pointed out.
Tori looked at me. "...And?"
Smacking my forehead I wondered if they were being this irritating on purpose. Isn't it obvious? "...Let's check it out."
Stalking forward, I put a hand on the handle and paused. Something about this door didn't seem right. Looking at it closely, I noticed it almost seemed slightly indented, like something really heavy leaned against the other side.
Still, it was the only way out that we knew of.
Turning the handle, I felt the door swing in, and jumped a couple of feet back as a pile of sand slid in, almost burying me alive.
"...Sand?!" Tori cried in shock. "Buried? You mean we're underground?" With a sigh, she shook her head and turned to me. "Well, in any case, we can't get out from here..."
Suddenly, the sound og gunfire from above us caught our attention.
"Gunfire?" Tori questioned in confusion, probably trying to think of why they'd opened fire above us.
I nodded as a thought hit me. "Sounds pretty bad..."
Then Tori and Marah's eyes widened. "DUSTIN!!!" they yelled in unison.
"Let's go back, quick!" Tori urged as they ran to the lift.
Quickly following them, we took the lift up to the floor the gunfire was coming from, only to find Dustin being held at gunpoint by some big guy. Frowning deeply, I grabbed my gunblade and shot out of the lift, slicing the guard across the back and killing him before he could shoot Dustin.
As I stood back up, I turned to look at the fallen guard with a raised eyebrow. "Didn't think he'd go down so easily."
"Shane!!!" Running forward, Dustin fell on his knees and hugged me tightly. What the hell?! "H-Hey! What?! Let go." I said calmly, trying to pry his arms off me. When that didn't work, I hit him on the head a few times with the hilt of my gunblade. "I said, let go!" I stated firmly.
Reluctantly, he let go and nodded, standing up straight.
"Shane! Dustin!" Tori called as she and Marah ran up. Sighing in relief, she nodded to Dustin. "I'm glad you're all right."
Marah turned to me with a sly grin and cocked her head to the side. "Shane, why did you go on your own? Is Dustin really that important to you?"
I smacked my forehead with my palm and sighed loudly, shaking my head.
Suddenly, there was more gunfire and we all ducked down, moving to the railing of the hole to shield ourselves from being shot. We looked around for some sort of exit, but we were pinned. If we made a run for either flights of stairs, we would be shot.
"There's no way outta here!" Dustin shouted angrily.
That's when some shots rang out louder than the others, and pained cries were heard from the guards as the gunfire lessened and gradually came to a stop.
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Don't know what to say. I'm tired and sore. LOL. Pretty much I'm breaindead. LOL. Then again, doing a face plant at the gym didn't exactly help. LOL!
Hope you like it.
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"Power Rangers had it good."
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R+R please.
Thank you.
Tenshi