A/N: Part two of the Palumpolum story. Things are starting to get crazy wouldn't you say? Hope has been kidnapped and Lightning ran into an old friend who's now her enemy. But now, things are starting to get wild when Lightning runs into trouble from her fight.

Things aren't going so well for Lightning and Hope. Hope is all tied up, unable to help himself or Lightning. Lightning is in a worse situation then Hope is. The girl is very weak, her body hurting all over and her vision messed up, either blurring or seeing threes, and sometimes both.

Lightning lays on the ground, breathing heavily, curled up and clenching to her stomach. Hope can't help but stare at Lightning, she's in a trouble. Lightning looks up, her eyes barely open. She tries to clear her vision. She can see Cain, but then the criminals, her former trainees, all gathers around, looking down at her.

Lightning gives them all dirty looks. "You...you damned...traitors!" Lightning tries to get on her feet, but her body pains sharply and she falls on the ground again.

Wing kicks Lightning in the stomach. "Now who's pathetic?"

"Cain, what should we do about the boy?" Rio asks.

Lightning looks up when she hears them mentioning Hope. Cain looks at Hope over by the pillar. "I no longer have any use for the kid. Get rid of him."

Hope shallows hard hearing that. He knows 'get rid of' usually means something ugly. Rio and Barret walks up to the boy. Lightning looks to see Hope's in trouble. Lightning weakly reaches for her weapon, it shifts into a gun.

"Ho-ho...Hope." Lightning tries to speak loud enough. "Hope!" Hope heard his name in a whisper. He looks to see Lightning is aiming her weapon at him. "Go! Now!" Lightning shoots the moment she says 'now'.

Hope looks away, expected the bullet to shoot him, but inside, it hits the ropes, loosening them. Both Hope and the criminals are surprised to see what's happening.

"Run!" Lightning shouts. Wing kicks Lightning, knocking the girl back down.

Just like that, Hope gets on his feet and makes a run for it. Cain sees the kid escaping, he's not pleased. Just then, helicopters comes out of nowhere. Cain sees that it's the Cavalry.

"Criminals spotted admiral." One of the pilots say. "And...they got Lieutenant Farron!"

Cain growls, he takes out a grenade, pulls the trigger and throws it. The grenade explodes, taking out one of the helicopters. The remaining two starts shooting. Cain takes out his guns and shoots at them.

"Get Farron to our hideout!" Cain orders. Cain looks back at Barret and Rio. "You two, get the boy! There can't be any witnesses!" Wing, Piros and Wade takes Lightning and makes a run for it. Barret and Rio runs down the fire escapes, chasing after Hope. Cain stays behind and holds off the Cavalry.

Hope makes a run for it on the fire escape. It's hard to run away since his hands are still tied behind his back. For going down, he has to jump instead of taking ladders. For going up...it's not possible, unless it's stairs.

Rio and Barret searches around the fire escape. They stop and take a look around. Rio spots Hope. "There he is!"

Hope looks back, he heard Rio. He gasps to see he's been spotted, then runs faster. Rio takes out his swords, they shift and merge together into a bow. (I call it Dualarrow) Barret takes out a rifle gun. They both start shooting at Hope. Rio's Arrowblade shoots laser arrows.

Hope runs as the bullets and arrows barely hits him. It's as if the two shooters need to learn how to shoot ahead of the kid in order to hit him.

"Don't let him escape!" Barret says. He and Rio chases after Hope, running and shooting at the kid.

Hope tries to run for his life. However, one of the laser arrows shoots the kid by his feet. Hope loses his balance then falls. Hope screams as he falls, then he crashes into an ally.

Rio and Barret looks down, searching the boy. Hope is no where to be found. "Should we search for him?" Barret asks.

"Negative. He couldn't have survived the fall. Let's just get back to the hideout." Rio says.

Rio and Barret leaves. Once they're long gone, Hope pops out of the dumpster. He struggles to get out, when he does, he falls on the ground. Not a friendly landing. Hope looks up at the fire escapes, the criminals are gone. Hope sighs in relief.

Hope looks around the ally. He finds some broken glass. Hope reaches down for it, tries to cut the ropes with it. It's not easy, but he manages to cut the rope, freeing his hands.

Once he's freed, Hope tries to think. Lightning's in trouble and he has no idea where they could have taken her. Other then that, how can he save her? He's just a kid, and those criminals are pretty good fighters.

Hope takes a deep breath then runs off.

"Wake up, Farron!"

Water was splashed all over Lightning. Lightning wakes up, coughing and gagging the water out of her mouth. Lightning looks up, her vision is still messed up. Lightning tries to get up, but her body still aches from the poison, and her arms are chained to her back.

Wade and Piros gathers with Wing. "Well, well. Guess who looks pathetic now, Farron."

Lightning growls at Piros hearing that. "So, is the poison going to finish her off?" Wade asks.

"Most people would have expired by now, but it's only weakened her. She might be small, but she's tough as iron." Wing says.

"You...you are all...fools." Lightning says. Her voice is hoarse as well.

Piros takes out his lance. "Why you little-"

Piros was about to stab Lightning, finishing her off, but instead, Wing grabs the lance, stopping him. Piros looks at Wing with disappointment. "Cain desires her to be alive. He wants to pleasure of finishing her off." Wing explains.

Piros grunts in frustration. He puts his lance away and walks off. Wing and Wade guards Lightning, making sure she doesn't escape or anything. Lightning breaths heavily, the poison is hurting her very badly. Lightning tries to sit up, but she only ends up hurting herself even more.

Lightning groans in pain and falls back on the ground, as her body trembles from the pain. Wing growls in annoyance. He turns to Lightning and kicks her. "Shut up, you!"

Just then, the sound of the garage door opens. Wing and Wade turns to see it's Rio and Barret. The two of them approaches Wade and Wing.

"Is the kid taken care of?" Wade asks.

Lightning looks worried, she's hoping that the answer is 'no'. "Sort of." Barret asks. "The kid fell off of the fire escape fifty feet high."

Lightning gasps silently hearing that. "N...no!"

Wing looks back at Lightning, chuckling. "Well, sounds like your friend didn't make it." Lightning looks down in shame. "Aww, don't feel bad. You'll be joining him soon enough."

Wing walks away. Lightning looks up at Wing, angrily. She glares at him even through she's seeing triple. "You...you sick little-"

Lightning tries to get up, but she falls back down on the ground, overwhelmed in pain.

Barret and Rio looks down at Lightning. Barret spits in her face. "Pathetic! I begin to wonder how you even made the Guardian Corps."

"I guess they're desperate for soldiers when they hired her." Wade says.

Everyone else laughs at Wades little joke. Lightning however shoots them all dirty looks. The soldier girl struggles to stay conscious, but she just groans in pain and her world went black.

Cain makes a run for it down the streets as a helicopter chases after him. He constantly turns back and shoots at the helicopter. Cain tries to shake the army off of him so he can head out to the hideout and get his revenge.

Hope wonders down the streets, trying to think where they're keeping Lightning. He knows they would take her to some place where it's either hidden or abandoned. Where people wouldn't think to look. He just hopes that he can save her.

Hope snaps out of his thought as soon as he hears the faint sound of helicopter blades, of course what startled him most was the sound of gunfire. Hope takes cover, hiding out of sight. Cain rushes into the ally, moving straight. The man hides inside a dumpster. As soon as he does, the Helicopter comes in view.

The pilot looks in the ally to see it's empty. "I've lost him, Admiral Raines!"

"Damn it!" Raines said on radio. "All units, return to base. I repeat: Return to base."

The helicopter makes its leave. As soon as it does, Cain sticks his head out of the dumpster, to see if the coast is clear. When it was, he jumps out of the dumpster. Hope sticks his head out from behind the trash can, luckily Cain is facing his back at Hope, so he wouldn't be able to see him. Unless he has eyes in the back of his head.

"Finally. Now to finish the job." Cain walks off. Hope gets the idea to follow Cain, knowing that he'll lead him to Lightning.

As soon as Cain was out of the ally, Hope follows him, quietly but quickly so he doesn't get spotted or lose him. Hope follows Cain for about fourteen blocks. Cain arrives at some old car garage that has been abandoned for years.

Cain pushes the button on the wall, the garage door opens and he walks in.

When the door closes, Hope makes his way to the side of the building. He climbs up on the stacks of boxes, making his way to the transom window. He looks in to see if it was safe, of both to land on and to stay out of sight.

Hope crawls right in, lands on the catwalk. Hope moves around until he gets a viewing of what's happening below. There, he sees Lightning is laying on the ground, her arms chained behind her, and her ex-trainees are playing poker beside her.

So far, it's now just Wing, Barret and Wade on the game.

"Okay, I bet five-thousand Gil." Wing says.

"I'll match five-thousand." Wade says, placing his Gil on the pile.

"Agreed." Barret says.

Wade shows his cards first. "Pair of fives."

Barret laughs. "Very cute." Barret shows his deck. "Straight in clubs."

Wade is disappointed. Barret reaches for the pile and pulls them towards him, but Wing stops him. "I don't think so." Wing shows his deck. "Full house."

Barret widens his eyes open, shocked. "What!" Wing pulls the pile towards him. Barret grunts in frustration. "I can't believe I lost!"

"Neither can we." Piros says. "This is the fifth game in a row he's won."

"Hey, maybe Lady Luck's on my side today." Wing says cheerfully.

"Enough!" Cain barks.

As soon as he yelled, everyone quickly stands up and straightens their positions. Cain approaches to them, then he stares at Barret and Rio. "Where's the kid?"

"We've lost him." Rio says.

Cain seems upset, but Barret corrected. "What he means is the kid fall off the fire escape fifty feet high. We assume he didn't survive the fall."

Cain yells in anger. "You fools!" Everyone seems scared seeing Cain. "Grr. No matter! We'll deal with the boy later." Cain stands in front of Lightning. Lightning breathes heavily as she looks up at Cain. "Claire Faron. So, you have come to this. A wretched soldier girl waiting to be put out of her misery."

Hope looks around, trying to think of a plan. He notices some power box hanging on the wall down below. "My name...is Lightning. You dirty little. Gah!"

Cain kicks Lightning in the stomach, making her pain even worse. When Hope's on the ground, he sees what's going on. Now, Cain grabs Lightning by the collar of her vest and sweater top, lift her off the group.

"Pathetic!" Cain pulls a hand back, as the blades from that hand comes out. "I will put you out of your misery."

Hope becomes really nervous, he needs to act now. Hope finds a tool box beside him. He quickly grabs it then throws it. The tool box hits Cain in the back of his head. The other criminals are surprised to see that happen.

Hope quickly ducks, hiding behind the hover car out of sight. Cain drops Lightning and leans forward from the hit, then stands back up to face his men. "Who dares?!"

Everyone just looks at each other then around. Hope quickly makes his way to the power box. When he does, he opens it then flips the switch. All the lights go off, darkening the room. Only little light is in the room coming from the window. Cain and the others look around in confusion.

"What happened to the lights?" Wing asks.

"Find the switch!" Cain orders.

The group walks around the darkness searching for the power box. Some of them either bump into each other or into the stuff inside the garage. After a minute of search, they found the switch and turn it on.

When the lights are back on, they noticed Lightning is gone. "Where is Farron?" Cain yells.

Wing looks at the cat walk by the transom window. "Over there!"

Hope is about to get out with Lightning, he looks back when he heard 'over there'. Hope gasps in worry, he's been discovered. Hope quickly jumps out the window with Lightning.

"After them!" Cain orders.

Hope runs as fast as he could with Lightning. Lightning could hardly move her legs due to the poison's overwhelming her. Hope was able to find an ally for them to hide in. He lays Lightning down. Hope searches around the ally for something to unlock the chains, like a hairpin or something.

He finds a hairpin. He moves behind Lightning and tries to unlock the chains. Lightning turns her head over her shoulder, barely looking at Hope. "You...yo-you were foolish...to come for me." Lightning says, gasping.

"I would never leave you behind, Lightning." Hope says. After a minute, he finally picks the lock, and removes the chains. Lightning lays her arms flat on the ground, she breaths heavily as she sweats and twitches a little. Hope takes notice, and starts to worry. "Are you okay?" Hope puts a hand on Lightning's forehead. "You don't look so good."

Lightning looks at Hope as she struggles to breath. "I...They...poisoned me."

"Oh no. We've got to get you home." Hope says.

Lightning protests. "I'm fine." Lightning tries to stand up. "I just...need to. Ugh!" Lightning falls forward, Hope was able to catch her. Hope helps Lightning lay back against the wall.

"You're not fine. We're getting you home." Hope says. "I've already packed my stuff, we've just got to get to the airship."

Lightning weakly reaches into her pocket. She takes out the communicator and talks to Sazh. "Sazh...start the airship." Lightning groans in pain. "We're leaving."

Sazh shots from the other line. Lightning even had to retreat it from her ear. "WHAT! But we're not leaving until morning!" Sazh shouts.

"Well, now we're leaving-gah!" Lightning shouts in pain.

"Okay, okay. Geez." Sazh hangs up. Lightning does the same. She looks down, breathing heavily.

"Lightning, look at me." Hope puts his hands on Lightning's head, helping her face him. Lightning look at Hope, but she's seeing three of them and blurring.

"Ho-Hope." Lightning looks very dizzy, she falls forward, Hope catches her.

"Come on." Hope helps Lightning stand up. He lets her lean against his shoulder, wrap her arm over his shoulders as she wraps his arm around her waist. "Let's get you out of here."

Hope moves out of the ally, but he backs in as soon as he sees Cain and the criminals. Hope stays close but out of sight to hear what they're up to.

"Search everywhere! Every inch, every ally, every dumpster! We cannot let them leave this city!" Cain orders.

Everyone nods and they all went their separate ways. Hope realizes that this isn't going to be an easy getaway. He tries to make his way back to his house while trying to avoid getting spotted by Cain and his gang.

"What about over there?" Wade asks.

Cain speaks very annoyed, as if that's a really stupid question. "Is 'there' apart of 'everywhere'?"

"Uh...I guess." Wade answers, feeling uncomfortable.

"Then search there!" Cain yells.

Whenever the way is clear, Hope tries to move quickly to get back into hiding before they come back and spot them. Most of the times, Hope usually gets stuck in one spot cause one of the criminals are standing in place or in the way and not moving. He tries to distract them by picking up a rock or a piece of trash and throws it somewhere, like a garbage can or the dumpster, to create a distraction. Whenever it works, he makes his move.

Hope makes it to the airship and he and Lightning climbs aboard. "Sazh! Go!"

Sazh starts up the airship. When the door's closing, that's when the gang arrives. "They're getting away!" Piros says.

They all run towards the airship. But they're too late however, the airship floats up in the air and takes off. They ain't too happy about it. Hope looks out the window, he sees the bad guys back there. They get a distance between them and the criminals. Hope sits back on a chair and sighs in relief.

"Man. That was close." Hope says. Hope looks at Lightning, who's in a critical condition. He was about to go help her, but the sound of metal banging from the roof startles him. Hope looks up, then next thing he sees is a sword pierced through the metal.

"We've got company!" Sazh announces.

Hope looks upset. "That's it. I've had it!" Hope reaches into Lightning's pockets. Lightning barely notices Hope and wonders what he doing, but she doesn't have the energy or the health to argue. Hope takes out the knife Serah got for Lightning then he heads out. "This ends now."

Lightning knows what the kid's doing, and she's not pleased. Lightning raises her hand towards Hope, trying to reach him. "Ho-Hope...no."

On the roof of the airship, Cain is on one knee and one foot, trying to cut through the metal roof. Cain suddenly stops his work when he sees Hope approaching, just struggling to stand his ground as the powerful wind force blows at him.

"You!" Even though Hope can't see through Cain's mask, he can tell that Cain is giving him a dirty look. "You're that brat that took Claire!"

"Her name is Lightning, and leave her alone!" Hope yells.

"Not a chance! She will pay for what she did to me! But first." Cain takes out his axes, he spins spin in his hands then grabs hold of the hilts. "I will cut you down."

Cain charges at Hope. Hope holds out Lightning's knife, ready to strike, defend himself or die. Mostly die cause he knows that he doesn't stand a chance against Cain.

Cain strikes at Hope, the kid dodges his first two attacks, then Cain kicks Hope, knocking him back. Hope falls on his knees. Cain rushes up to the boy. Hope takes out the dagger, he stands and makes his strike, only to have it dodged. Cain strikes at Hope's hand, disarming him. Hope backs up, he takes out his boomerang and throws it.

Cain dodges the boomerang and sweeps Hope's legs, knocking him down. Hope falls on the edge of the airship. Cain stands in front of him, looking down at the boy. What he doesn't know is that the Boomerang is flying back and it hits him in the back of the head. That sure did put a hurt on him, and Cain's not happy about it.

Cain growls at Hope. "You are going to wish you haven't done that." Cain raises his right arm, the blades come out of the metal wristbands. Cain yells as he's about to make a strike. Hope cowers, looks away.

"Get off of him!" Lightning jumps on Cain's back, even through the poison is causing greater pain to her. But she tries her hardest to ignore it.

Cain can tell that's from Lightning. It wasn't hard to shake her off of him. Lightning falls hard on the ground, she just lays there, moaning in pain. Cain walks up to Lightning. He takes out his sword. Cain rolls Lightning onto her back, and sets his foot on her to hold her down. Cain holds the sword right above her heart, raises it.

"It ends here!" Cain yells as he dives his sword.

"No!" Hope slams against Cain pretty hard, apparently hard enough to interrupt his attack. Cain was knocked over the edge, and he falls down from the sky.

Hope looks down and watches Cain until the clouds below engulfs him. Hope sighs in relief, it's all over now.