Disclaimer : I'm not bothering. Nothing's changed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ragnarok)
Once we made it to the meeting room, Tommy began his speech, reminding us of our mission. His first main point was that when we defeated Adel, she'd need to pass on her powers to another sorceress. This, he looked right at Kapri for. "Would you be willing to accept them?"
She nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah."
"Next, we wait for Sorceress Ultimecia to possess Kapri." He looked at her again. "This will be hard on you. Are you sure you're ready?"
Biting her lip, she reluctantly nodded again. "...Yes."
"That's the spirit! Then Kelly sends Kapri and Ultimecia to the past, bringing only Kapri back to the present. Then you guys head to the future together, through Compressed Time." He sighed a little and shook his head. "Ultimecia lives in a time where none of us can technically exist. There's only one way to make yourself exist there. As friends, don't forget one another! As friends, believe in each other! Believe in your friends' existence and they'll believe in yours! To be friends, to like one another and to love one another... No one can do these things alone. You all need somebody. Right, guys?"
Dustin gave a discreet glance to Marah and blushed when he was caught. Marah blushed for being caght looking at him, and quickly looked to the ground. Hunter looked towards the ruins of Lunatic Pandora thoughtfully. Tori followed his gaze with one of longing and pain.
Without even looking, I reached out and took Kapri's hand, holding it firmly as I watched Tommy with a look I knew was determined.
He nodded with a smile and continued. "What place reminds you of your friends?"
The orphanage...Balamb Garden... I thought absently, immediately.
"Imagine being in that place with all of your friends."
But Kapri... She wasn't raised in the orphanage or in Balamb. Will that make a difference?
"Once Time Compression begins, think of that place and try to get there. That's all."
It doesn't matter. She's become important to all of us. No one would forget her. We'd all will her into existence.
"That place will welcome you. You'll be able to get there, no matter what time period you're in."
She's important to all of us... To me. I'll never forget her. I won't lose her... And...she's been to the orphanage and Balamb Garden, so that should help.
"You need love and friendship for this mission."
I bit back a grin at the thought. No matter how corny it sounded, it was just a good thing this mission hadn't come earlier. Love...and friendship. Two things I never used to believe in.
"And the courage to believe it."
I didn't have that, either.
"It's all about love, friendship and courage! I'm counting on you guys!"
We all saluted him, but for Kapri who smiled and nodded. Then the others left to their stations, leaving me behind to talk to him.
"Love and frienship and all that sounds corny, but everyone seems to be up for it." Plus, though I wouldn't admit, it did make a scary kind of sense.
"You think it'll succeed?" he asked carefully.
I shrugged. We won't know until we try. "We'll try."
Heading out of the room, I heard a hiss and turned to find Tommy limping on one leg while holding the other. It looked like his leg cramped up again, and I smirked as I walked off.
Same old Tommy.
(Cockpit)
As the Ragnarok approached the massive ruin of Lunatic Pandora, I frowned at it. It radiated clearly evil energies and I knew that Blake was in there, somewhere.
"Are the main guns and the cannon ready?" Tori asked seriously as she checked a console.
Marah nodded happily from the piloting seat. "Rrrready! Let's just blast our way in! BOOM!"
Tori began hitting some buttons and the guns popped down as well as the main cannon. All the guns began to fire rapidly, and I watched as a shield seemed to be made visible, but the bullets were making ripples in it. The guns kept firing and some of the bullets managed to getthrough, making small holes in the green rock of Pandora.
Then, the ship hit and we all staggered as we ran head first into the shield.
"WHOO-HOO!" Marah cried excitedly as she stabalized the nose of the Ragnarok and pushed through the barriers.
As soon as it was through, the guns resumed firing and the bullets made many small holes in the ruin. Then, the cannon charged before firing a single beam into Lunatic Pandora, causing a massive explosion and a massive hole in the side.
Dustin operated a few controls and two grappling arms came up from under the ship, hooking on to the edge of Pandora and settling the ship down easily.
"We sure made a huge mess." Hunter stated with a grin.
Tori nodded. "Alright. Let's go, Shane."
Heading off the Ragnarok, our group waded through a mess of green stone and metal . It seemed the green stone rocks were only so thick before leading into passageways made of metal. So far, we were in a large room with paths going in many directions.
"Big sound, this way." came an all too familiar voice as multiple footsteps race in our direction. "It's probably them, ya know?"
"THEM? NO, IMPOSSIBLE!" came the shouted, female response.
Narrowing my eyes suspiciously, I grabbed my gunblade and took up a defensive stand barely noting as the others followed me. That voice... I knew who it was and was torn between feeling respect, knowing they were still helping Blake, at his side... Or being irritated that this likely meant another battle, and one that wasn't as important.
Taylor and Eric ran through one of the paths and approached us with their weapons out.
"Ahhhh!" Eric grinned and turned to Taylor with a smug look. "Is is Shane, ya know!"
She made a face and shrugged. "SHOCK!" Turning to Kapri, she began to grin a little, though her eyes, like Eric's, were weary. "GOOD. CONVENIENT."
"That's right. Hand over Kapri, ya know!" Eric demanded seriously as he held out his double bladed staff.
I shook my head and glared at them as I moved a step closer to Kapri. "No! I'll never hand over Kapri! We're taking Kelly back, too!" Staring at them, I grinned a little. "And we won't let you ressurect Adel, either!"
Eric rolled his eyes and sighed. "You're greedy, ya know!?" he whined loudly. "No fair, ya know?!"
Rolling her eyes, Taylor smacked his arm and held her daggers ready. "PERSUASION USELESS. SEIZE."
Quickly raising my blade, I barely managed to block an attack from Eric, blinking in surprise at how fast he'd moved. Pushing him off, I counter attacked with a spin and a slice before jumping back to dodge an atack from Taylor. There was the sound of something snapping, and I watched as a long, slender object caught her in the arm, making her cry out and drop her daggers as she pulled it out, dodging an attack by Dustin before managing to kick him back.
I turned my head briefly and caught that Kapri had attacked her, knocking her back and distracting her, and grinned a little as I ran towards Eric, casting a Slow spell to make him move slower before casting Triple on myself and slicing him. Backing off, I ducked behind Hunter as he shot at them and prepared three Haste spells to speed part of our group up.
Marah closed her eyes and concentrated, casting a Wall spell on all of us, protecting us from status magics and casting Protect, Shell and Regen on us.
Tori used her Blue Magic to cast Electrocute on them.
I'd just finished casting Haste on the last three members of our group when Eric managed to cure himself of the Slow status and raced forward, slicing Kapri across the stomach and sending her flying.
"Kapri!!"
Spinning to them, I felt my eyes narrow dangerously and felt a rage build up as I turned my full attention on Eric. Taylor rushed at me but I barely noticed as I raised my hand and blasted her with a Thundaga spell. He's gonna pay...! Racing forward, I slashed him as I allowed my momentum to carry me by, before spinning and running back, slashing him again and repeating the process five times in a rough pentagram shape.
Once I was done, I raised my blade to the side and lifted my other hand to the sky, calling on a Phoemix to help me.
The ground below Eric, and since she was so close, Taylor, began to glow and a wall of fire raised up around them. Explosions were seen and heard withing the firey ring, and a loud, piercing cry of a Phoenix was heard.
Suddenly, the ground seemed to erupt and a glowing entity poured out, engulfing them in flames. The giant fire Phoenix screamed again as it held it's orange and red wings out before flapping them and taking off, a shower of golden sparkles flying from it's tail as it disappeared.
Both Taylor and Eric collapsed with severe wounds and I found myself swaying dizzily as the sudden rage and burst of energy faded. What the...? I'd thought I'd mastered all my attacks, but apparently not. Blinking blankly, I looked at my gunblade, noting the faint image of a phoenix on the blade, right by the hilt. I knew that attack, and it was a rare and powerful one.
Fire Phoenix.
The name wasn't anything great, but the attack, though draining, was one of the most powerful out there, and I knew that it was Kapri who helped me find it.
"Shane...?"
Turning to Kapri, I smiled weakly and cast a Cura on myself before shaking my head. Frowning at Taylor and Eric, I sighed and walked over, casting Cures on them both to keep them alive before I walked off with the others.
Though we weren't exactly on the same side, I didn't really blame them for any of this. They were following Blake, who was possessed. Chances were they didn't know that, and would smarten up soon enough.
As we walked the empty corridors, I couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. Last time I'd been here was in Tommy's body, and the place was crawling with moderately difficult monsters and tons of Esthar soldiers.
Now there seemed about three times the monsters and Galbadian soldiers.
Running into a Behemoth, I frowned at the giant monster. It looked like a cross-breed between a rabid wolf and a lion. Huge curved horns adorned it's deep purple head, with a fiery orange mane running down it's back. It stalked up to our group on all four massive, deadly looking paws with huge claws, and snarled at us with teeth dripping yellowish saliva.
Kapri pursed her lips a moment before taking a single step forward.
I knew something was up and remained silent, but took a step forward myself as I grasped my gunblade, not wanting to let her get too far ahead of me.
Closing her eyes, she lifted a hand to her chest and let her head sink down. Faintly, she began to glow a light pink, which grew steadily stronger as she concentrated.
The Behemoth roared and swung at her with one of it's massive claws, but I jumped in the way and blocked the attack with my blade. "Anytime now, Kapri." I muttered quietly, keeping my eyes focused on the monster.
There was a chorus of gasps and I spun to find Kapri's hands by her side and her head hanging limply down, like she was unconscious. The light faded slowly as she rose off the ground, only to burst up again from her back, as a set of pure white angel wings formed and fluttered a little before they began to flap back and forth, keeping her afloat.
Suddenly, her eyes opened groggily, shining a brilliant, glowing blue as she looked up. Her gaze met mine blankly before lifting past me and blinking lazily at the monster behind me. A single eyebrow rose elegantly before she lifted a hand and a fireball shot out, hitting the Behemoth and setting it blazing.
The creature screamed in pain as it writhed, but was unable to escape the flaming inferno and soon collapsed to the ground.
Two more fireballs shot from her hand and one flew behind me, catching a Bite Bug that was sneaking up behind the Behemoth, and the other flying behind our group to split into three and take out a group of Caterchipillars.
Once all the monsters had been destroyed, Kapri slowly lowered to the ground and I walked up to her hesitantly, feeling uncomfortable the way her eyes seemed unfocused.
"...Kapri?" I questioned quietly.
Her eyes focused and she smiled before her eyes closed and she fell limp.
Catching her, I held her carefully and checked her pulse, glad when I found it running strong. Picking her up gingerly, I carried her bridal style through the passageways.
Luckily, there weren't too many ultra powerful monsters like that around, so they were easily taken care of, even with Kapri and me out of the battle temporarily. We soon made it to another chamber, although this one was smaller, and I gaped in shock at the technology that covered the walls of the chamber. But, over time, much of it had rusted, or fallen apart. In fact, it looked like a great battle once raged here.
"Why the hell do I have to take orders from some kid?!" a familiar female voice groaned loudly in frustration.
Exchanging glances with the others, I nodded and placed Kapri into Hunter's arms, turning my back so he could help me place her that way, making it easier to be stealthy. Once she was safely settled on my back, and Hunter had to make a remark about how I should kiss Sleeping Beauty to wake her, we crouched down and snuck along a ledge that led to a small flight of stairs that led down into the chamber.
"Well, he is our superior..." another familiar voice grunted.
There was another groan before a smacking sound and the sound of someone whining. Looking over the ledge, I watched as Toxica glared at jindrax, who was rubbing the back of his head gingerly while warily eyeing the staff in her hands.
"Don't you think I know that?!" she shot angrily. Shaking her head, she replaced the staff on her back and began working on a small control panel, hissing in pain when she got shocked. "I chose the wrong career." she groaned angrily. "Being ordered around by some punk..."
I raised an eyebrow at this, knowing they had to be talking about Blake. Feeling a shifting on my back, I turned my head to see Kapri's eyes flutter open, back to their original light blue. She opened her mouth to say something, but I carefully shook my head and held a finger to my lips.
Jindrax laughed a little. "Well, then why don't you quit?"
Toxica stopped what she was doing and looked lost in thought as she heard him. "Hmmm..."
Scratching his chin, Jindrax shrugged and laughed nervously. "I was just kidding."
She suddenly stood up tall and grinned. "You're right!!!" Turning to him, she laughed and nodded, brushing off her long skirt and hands. "You're absolutely right, I QUIT!!!"
"Uhhh..." He paused and regarded her silently a moment.
Laughing a little, Toxica nodded and grabbed his hand before turning to the stairs near us. "Jindrax, let's go and have a drink."
"Oh...what?! M-Me too??" he asked nervously, looking around quickly before looking back to her.
"Of course, now come on!" she ordered with a smirk, laughing when he jumped and ran straight to her side.
As they climbed the stairs, I stood up slowly, allowing Kapri to slide off my back, and stared at them warily as they approached.
"Oh, it's you guys." For once, Toxica wasn't being cold, but rather friendly. "Don't worry. We're done workin' for Galbadia." Waving, she dragged a protesting Jindrax off and disappeared down another path.
"Well..." Tori looked about as baffled as I felt as we all watched the duo run down the halls. Jindraz kep trying to turn around and run back until Toxica smacked him on the head with her staff again. "That was..."
"Freaky?" Dustin supplied with a weirded out face.
Marah nodded. "Yeah. Is it me, or is there like, some kind of romance goin' on there...?" Shuddering, she stuck her tongue out and made a face. "Ewww!"
Raising her eyebrow, Tori laughed a little before shaking her head. "Actually, I was going to say 'unexpected', but freaky works."
Shaking my head, I allowed a grin as I walked across the chamber and we made our way further towards the Crystal Pillar in the heart of Lunatic Pandora.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope you liked it.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"We are. We always will be."
-----------------------------------------------------------
R+R please.
Thank you.
Tenshi