A/N: Part one of the Palumpolum story. Lightning and Hope are arriving at Palumpolum. Lightning goes on her mission to handle the situation. Hope goes to pack up his things to take to Lightning's house. However, things go bad when an old enemy interferes with their plan.
Sazh's airship is flying in the skies. Lightning had to convince General Amodar to use Sazh's airship to go to Palumpolum to load up Hope's stuff. In fact, she would also had to convince Amodar for her to bring Hope. He wonders why she wants to bring him. After telling him why, he wasn't too pleased, but he allowed it since Hope is moving in and his stuff is at his old house. If anyone brought it with his stuff still in it, even personal stuff, the kid's in big trouble.
Hope is sitting on the chair, looking out the window. They're almost arriving at Palumpolum. He seems lost in his thought. Hope's really nervous about returning home, he's not sure if he can really do this. His parents are gone, and he's returning to their house just to move out.
Lightning walks up and sits down on the chair in front of Hope. "Hey." Hope looks at Lightning. "You doing okay?"
Hope looks back out the window. "Yeah. I'm a little nervous."
"Is it about returning home?" Lightning says.
"Yeah." Hope says.
"Don't worry about it. It's going to be okay." Lightning says.
"I know, Lightning. It's just..." Hope faces Lightning. "Remember what I said about your parents room being the source of them? Which is why you forbid anyone from entering it?" Lightning slowly nods. "Well...my house...it's the same with my parents. I just feel like...the moment I set foot, I'll just break down in despair."
Lightning reaches for Hope and put a hand on his lap. "Don't worry. You're going to do fine. It's just for the day."
Hope nods. Sazh's announcement goes on. "We'll be landing in five minutes. Better put your seatbelts on."
Lightning and Hope does what Sazh demands. The airship arrives at Palumpolum. The airship flies towards Felix Heights, and lands right outside of the Estheim Residence. The door opens, Lightning and Hope walks out.
As they walk off, Lightning looks at Hope's house. "So this is your house?" Lightning asks.
"Yeah." Hope says.
"Seems...all right, I guess." Lightning says. "Well, Sazh is gonna keep the airship here, so you can load your stuff into it." Lightning says.
"Got it." Hope says.
"Good. I'm gonna had over the station, I'll come by during my lunch break." Lightning walks off.
"Take care, Lightning." Hope says.
Lightning waves a hand back at Hope.
Hope is now alone, he now faces his house. He's really nervous to return home. Hope takes a deep breath, then walks inside. On top of the building next door, a masked man stands on top of the building, watching the whole thing. The man is dressed in a black shirt with a large skull on it, a blue vest, dark green pants. He also has a Katana setted on his back, two axes on his waist, metal bracers around his wrists with blades in them and two guns hooked in his boots.
"So, Farron has returned, has she?" The masked man says. "Looks like I've got some unfinished business to attend to."
The masked man turns around and runs off, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Hope is now at his house. He closes the door behind him, and just takes the moment. He's now back at his house, but...it's empty. Nora's and Bartholomew's cars are here, but his parents are not.
Hope just wishes that he can get this over with.
Lightning rents a hover car to use to make her way to the Cavalry station in the northern Palumpolum. Palumpolum is now under the Cavalry's jurisdiction, since the Guardian Corps of Palumpolum can't handle much stuff down here.
Lightning arrives at the station. She parks the hover car and then enters the building. Lightning walks down the hallway, passing the soldiers. The soldiers are surprised to see Lightning here. Some recognize her, they talk about why she's here, nearly whispering. Lightning hears some of the conversions, but ignores them.
Lightning approaches to the office of the Cavalry Admiral, Cid Raines. Raines is sitting on his desk, doing some paperwork. He looks up when Lightning enters the room.
"You must be Lieutenant Lightning from Bodhum." Raines says. "I'm Raines, Sanctum Admiral."
Lightning salutes. "Sir. You called me for a mission?"
"Yes." Raines stands up and leaves his office. "Come with me."
Lightning and Raines walks down the hallway, they join up in the meeting room with the other officers.
"As you may know, Farron, there has been a ton of criminals roaming around town. The situation is getting out of control." Raines explained.
"So you want me to lead an elite group to find and take out these criminals." Lightning says.
"Correct." Raines turns his attention to the officer. "Officer Jude, what's the stats of the criminals?"
"Well, Admiral Raines, the criminals have already robbed the jewelry store on twenty-first street at the Western Promenade. Reports say they're heading southeast, to the Eastern Promenade." Jude says.
Lightning looks down at the map, rubbing her chin. "Interesting..."
Everyone turns their attention to Lightning. "What is it, Lieutenant?" Raines asks.
"I have a theory. There's a bank in the Eastern Promenade. If I'm correct, that's where they're heading. When they do, we can ambush them." Lightning reaches for the map. "We can cut off their escape if we place our soldiers here, here, here, here and here." Lightning points at all the escape routes from the bank on fifth avenue.
"That might work." Raines says. "Let's get moving."
Raines, Lightning and the officers are heading out. The army got into their trucks and head out. Lightning and Raines rides together on a Velocycle and follows the army. They all drive at high speed through the streets of Palumpolum.
On fifth Avenue, the criminals are already robbing the bank. The alarm is going off and the criminals are loading up the trucks. The criminals turns out to be Lightning's former trainees: Wing, Wade, Barret, Piros and Rio.
They're already loading up the truck. By the time they're finished, the soldiers arrived. Just like Lightning planned, they cut off all the escape routes. When the trucks have stopped, the Cavalry soldiers rush out of the trucks. They stand on feet and knee, aiming their guns at the criminals. Lightning and Raines arrived. They got of, Lightning takes out her Gunblade and Raines takes out a pistol gun.
"All right! Hands up-" Lightning suddenly realizes who they're dealing with. "You?"
The criminals are surprised to see Lightning. "You!?" They all say in unison.
"What the hell are you babies doing here?" Lightning asks.
Raines looks at Lightning. "You know these guys?"
Lightning turns to Raines. "Sadly, yes. They're my trainees...well, they use to be back when I was sergeant. Then they just quit on me." Lightning turns her attention back to her former trainees. "I always knew they were stupid, but I didn't think they would be stupid enough to turn into criminals." Lightning raises her weapon, pointing it at them. "I'm taking you boys in."
"You'll have to catch us first, Farron!" Wing, Piros and Rio throws smoke bombs all over. The Cavalry soldiers stands back, begins coughing.
"Stand your ground!" Raines orders.
The soldiers gets back in the truck and drives off. They did run through one route, knocking the soldiers out of their way. When the smoke clears, they all see that they've escaped!
"After them!" Lightning orders.
The soldiers from the other routes gets back in the truck. Lightning and Raines gets on the Velocycle, Raines driving, then they all chase after the criminals.
Meanwhile, Hope is still packing up his things from his house. So far, he's cleared up his room, even the bed. Of course it was hard for him to take it apart. Hope did find some boxes in the basement for him to use to pack up. All of his packages are already loaded up on the airship.
Hope does some work with the living room. There are some stuff hanging around, like pictures and vases and movies and such he likes. Hope just leaves the TV screen that's hanging from the wall. He wants to bring it, but he figured he might need Lightning's permission to take it, even if it does belong to his family.
Soon enough, lunchtime comes. Hope goes into the kitchen and makes himself a sandwich. He sits on the table and eats, while he's waiting for Lightning. She said that she would drop by during her lunch break. With each passing minute, he worries. Not much, just a little. If anything, she probably just forgot, or something caught up. Either way, it's nothing to worry about.
After lunch, Hope finishes packing up the living room. When that's done, he goes into his parents room, wondering if there's anything he wants to bring. Only as soon as he sets foot in the room, he regrets it.
Hope slowly walks in, looking all around with a sadden, shocked expression. Taking in the scent that once belonged to his mother. Even though Hope isn't fond with the smell of perfume or hairspray, he suddenly misses it.
As soon as he's in the middle of the room, he stops. Hope looks at the nightstand by the bed that once belonged to his parents. He walks up to it and picks up a picture frame. It's him and Nora and Bartholomew together, in Nautilus, the City of Dreams. Nautilus is kind of like an amusement park, only it's a whole city.
Hope remembers that night, it was two years ago. Ever since he was a little kid, he wanted to go to Nautilus to have some fun. His parents couldn't find the time since they're always busy. Finally, on his 12th birthday, they went out to the city of dreams.
Hope's hands starts to tremble, the picture is shaking gently. Hope holds the picture close to his chest as he slowly collapses on his knees. Hope faces down as he begins to cry.
How he wishes that his parents never died, he wish that Nora was still alive. He desperately needed her to appear right beside him, to hug him and tell him that everything's going to be okay. But she can't. Not anymore. She's gone, and the very thought of it just makes his heart ache.
Hope suddenly hears footsteps. He figured it could be Lightning. Hope slightly faces up and sniffles. "I-I...I miss her, Lightning..." Hope looks down at the picture in his hands. "I just wish she would come back...I need her. I miss her...Please tell me, Lightning...is everything going to be all right?"
'Lightning' doesn't answer. Just stands behind Hope. After a long moment of silence, Hope starts to turn around. "Lightning-" An arm is wrapped around Hope, wither forcefully with great strength, and the other hand is holding a wet cloth in Hope's mouth and nose.
Hope realizes he's being attack. He struggles to break free. "Don't fight it, kid." The man says.
As he struggles, Hope starts to inhale the subduing sent of chloroform. Soon enough, his struggling dies down, then he loses conscious. The man lets go of Hope and he just falls onto the floor, dropping the picture beside him. The glass shatters from the fall.
The masked man stands up, looking down at Hope. "You are gonna make a great use to me."
The masked man lifts Hope, carries the boy over his shoulder, and walks off.
A high speed chase happens over the streets of Palumpolum. The citizens around the high chase becomes startled. Lightning and Raines are on the criminals tail, getting closer. Wing looks at the side view mirror to see Lightning and Raines are getting closer.
Soon enough, the Velocycle and the truck are side to side. Lightning hops off and lands on the roof of the truck. Wing drives the truck to bump into Raines. the Velocycle crashes on the road, losing control.
Lightning looks back to see Raines in the situation. "Raines!"
Raine stands out of the crashed Velocycle, he watches the truck getting away. "Damn it!"
Now it's up to Lightning. Lightning looks ahead to see Piros is climbing up on the roof. "You've got guts coming after us, Farron." Piros takes out a lance, spins it then holds it beside him. "Too bad I'm gonna have to rip them out of yea."
Lightning takes out her Gunblade. "Over my dead body!" Lightning charges at Piros and strikes. Piros blocks Lightning's attack. Lightning strikes repeatly at Piros, only to have each of them blocked. Piros makes his strike, but Lightning parries. Lightning backs up as Piros walks up to her with each strike.
On the last strike, Lightning falls down, her head over the edge of the truck. On that note, she looks down to see the situation she's in. Lightning returns her attention to Piros, who's about to stab his lance through her head. Mid-strike, Lightning grabs the lance, pushing it back with all of her strength.
The fight freezes at that moment for minutes. But then the truck makes a sharp right turn. Piros and Lightning were blown off from their positions. They all overboard. Piros grabs the metal beam on the side of the truck. Lightning falls onto the street, rolling and sliding on her body.
When she stops, she looks up to see the criminals are getting away. Frustrated, Lightning slams her fist on the hard road. "Damn it!"
After taking the moment to recover from the crash, Lightning makes her way back to the Cavalry base. As soon as she arrives, she's being summoned to the meeting room. Raines and the other officers are there, waiting for her.
When Lightning arrives, the meeting begins. "These criminals are tougher then we thought." Raines says.
"That's surprising, cause when I was training them, it's like training a bunch of children." Lightning faces down with her arms folded. "Where was all that energy during the training room?"
Officer Jude taks a look at the map. "They're heading South, to the Rivera Towers."
Lightning shots her head up, eyes widen with worry. "Rivera Towers? That's near Felix Heights." Lightning says.
"Is something wrong, Lieutenant?" Raines asks.
"Sir, my friend, Hope Estheim, he lives in Felix Heights...or he use to." Lightning says. "It's kind of a long story, but I brought him with me to Palumpolum to pack up his stuff, cause he's living with me now."
"I see." Raines says. "Rivera Towers must be where their hideout is. We'll prepare an elite troop to storm the area and ambush them."
Lightning stands up. "You can do that, but I'm going to Felix Heights." Lightning makes her leave. "I have to make sure Hope's safe."
Lightning leaves the station without saying another word. She gets on the rented hover car and drives off, making her way to Felix Heights. As she drives, Lightning worries. Her expression is her usual look, but on the inside, she's a little worried. Rivera Towers isn't real close to Hope's place, but she has to make sure they didn't find him, since there's a large airship on his street.
Lightning can only hope he's safe.
Finally, Lightning arrives at Hope's place. She walks inside to find the place mostly empty. That doesn't worry her cause she knows that it's only cause of Hope's packing. If the criminals struck, they probably would have stolen everything.
"Hello? Hope? ...Are you here?" No answer. Lightning starts to worry. She searches all over the house for Hope. The basement, the empty room she assumes that was Hope's room, the backyard. He's no where to be found.
All that is left is Nora and Bartholomew's bedroom. Lightning looks around. The place seems untouched, as she looks around, she starts to think Hope couldn't have come in here. Not paying attention, Lightning steps on some glass. The sound of shattered glass snaps her out of her thoughts.
Lightning looks down to see she stepped on some broken glass, and next to it is a picture frame. Lightning bends down and picks up the picture. She can see that it is Hope with his parents.
Lightning puts the pieces together, the broken picture, Hope missing. "He was...he must have been taken...why would he drop this picture?" Lightning looks past the picture and finds a note. "What the..."
Lightning sets the picture down and picks up the note. She unfolds it and reads it:
Hello, Claire Farron.
Lighting's pretty surprised to see someone used her first name. But she kept on reading.
You thought you could hide from me forever, did you? Well guess what, your little game of hide and seek is over. I have Hope Estheim. If you value his life, you'll come and face me like a man. We will finish what we started all those years ago.
Come to the Rivera Towers. If you fail to show up, the kid gets it.
Lighting can't believe this is happening. From what she read, her first name being used, the hand writing, she knows exactly who it is, and she suddenly turned into rage and stormed off.
Hope is still unconscious, he is how tied to a pillar on the Rivera Towers. The chloroform slowly starts to wear off. Hope begins to wake up, moaning tiresome. His head dangles around as he tries to return to his senses.
"Oh...ow. Man..." Hope returns to his senses. When he does, he notices he's at the Rivera Towers. The sudden scene change confuses him. Hope tries to get up, but then he suddenly feels something holding him down. "What the..." Hope notices there's a rope tied around him to the pillar, and his hands are tied behind his back. "Wha...what's going on?"
Hope tries to struggle himself free. "Struggling is pointless." Hope stops struggling, he looks up to see a masked man in front of him. "There's no way for you to escape."
"Who...who are you? What do you want from me?" Hope asks.
"It's not you that I want. I have a much bigger fish to fry." The masked man turns and walks away from Hope.
After about an hour, Lightning fails to show up. The masked man starts to lose his patience. He turns to Hope, standing in front of him. "Farron! Where is she?"
Hope looks up at the masked man. "I-I don't know."
The masked man growls. "I grow tired of waiting." The masked man takes out one of his axes. "Your life ends now."
Hope is suddenly scared. The masked man raises his axe. By the time he's about to strike. BAM! A gun fire knocks the axe right out of his hands. The axe lays down in between Hope and the masked man. The masked man turns around, to see it's Lightning, with her Gunblade aimed at him. Lightning doesn't look too happy.
"Let. Him. Go." Lightning says in a hostile tone.
"Gladly...it is YOU I want." The masked man says.
"Well, Cain. After all these years, you are still alive." Lightning says.
Hope is surprised to hear the man's name. "Wait...Cain? You're Cain O'Neil?"
Cain looks over his shoulder, nearly looking at Hope. "That is right." Cain returns to his attention to Lightning. He gets a good look at her. "You ended up looking gorgeous...You would have made me a lot of money if you accepted being a slave."
"Shut up, you." Lightning says with a growl.
"It wouldn't matter. Cause you will pay, for what you did to me!" Cain removes his mask at the part he said 'did to me', revealing his face. His face is burnt and scarred, his right eye is burnt shut and most of his hair is gone. Cain puts the mask back on. "I have been forced to hide my face in a mask ever since your little escape from the warehouse. For seven years, I have been training and waiting, and now I will have my vengeance!"
Cain takes out the guns from his boots and starts shooting at Lightning. His guns are shooting lasers, one of ice and one of fire. Lightning dodges the lasers as she shoots at him back. Lightning and Cain fights with guns for a while. Lightning tries hard to stay at a friendly fire, to not shoot Hope.
Soon enough, Lightning manages to shoot the guns out of his hands. Cain growls and takes out his Katana. "I prefer to slash you into tiny little pieces."
Cain charges, Lightning does the same while shifting her weapon into a sword. When they're face to face, they strike and their weapons clash. They fight face to face, Lightning strikes twice and Cain dodges them. Cain strikes, Lightning parries two and docks, avoiding Cains sweep kick that was aiming for her head.
At the end of that strike, Lightning punches Cain repeatly in the stomach then knocks him back. Cain lands on his feet, he growls as puts away his sword. "You will pay for that, Farron!" Metal blades pops out of his wristbands, and he leaps towards Lightning.
Cain jumps on Lightning. Lightning blocks Cain's attack then kicks him off of her. Lightning gets back on her feet and strikes at Cain. "You got him, Lightning! You can do it!" Hope says.
Cain strikes Lightning, Lightnign docks and dodges his metal blades. At the moment when it's clear, Lightning starts punching Cain repeatly. Cain backs up as he receives the blows, and Lightning marches up to him every time he moves. Lightning gives him a sweep kick in the face.
Cain backs up until he's at the very edge of the tower. Cain looks down to see he's in trouble, he looks at ahead to see a Gunblade pointed at his face.
"You will regret for everything you've done." Lightning says.
Cain looks to the side. "Now!"
Lightning seems confused seeing that. Just then, something bit her in the neck. Nothing bad, but a small sting. Lightning moves her free hand to that spot and removes something. She looks to see it's some tranquilizer dart.
The moment she looks at it, Lightning suddenly feels very dizzy. Her legs wobble as she backs up, dropping her weapon, then collapses on her arms and knees.
"Lightning!" Hope shouts in worry.