I have nothing else to do but update, even with only three reviews.
Enjoy!
"Here we are!" Mami said as they stepped out into the city. "The city of Era. Home of the magic council, memorials, and really shitty coffee." Simon looked out over the city, not really noticing any that made the city look very important, except for the council HQ on top of that huge mountain. The lack of destroyed buildings, dead people, and screaming also told Simon whatever Apocalypse had been after he'd either already gotten, of hadn't found.
"Be on the look out." He warned. "Who knows where they are."
"He's good at covering up his scent." Drake said, inhaling deeply. "I can't smell him anywhere."
"What do you think he's looking for?" Ultear asked. "What could possibly be in Era the Olympians would want, if not the council dead?"
"Guess we'll find out." Damien said. As the group walked through town, Simon ignored the injured group got. He knew they looked like shit, and he didn't need people he didn't know to tell him that.
"Still nothing Drake?" He asked.
"Nope." Drake replied. "Can't tell if he covered in up or if he hasn't been here."
"His magical signature lead here." Mami said. "He's been here alright." Simon was about to say something when a familiar pair caught his eyes.
"I'm telling you Terra, this place is more boring than the guild hall after a party." Winter said, arms crossed.
"Don't disagree with you there." Terra replied. "Nothing to do here." The girl sighed and turned, spotting Simon and the others, smiling. "Oh, hey guys! What are you doing here?"
"And what the hell happened to you?" Winter asked, staring at their wrapped wounds. "It looks like you went through shit."
"We did." Ultear replied. "What are you guys doing here?"
"My dad dragged me to another council meeting." Terra said. "I dragged Winter here." Damien laughed.
"Well that sucks, doesn't it?" he asked.
"So," Terra said, "Care to explain the wounds?"
"Well shit." Terra said, leaning back. "That's some rough shit right there."
"So you tracked Apocalypse here?" Winter asked. "The place is so calm though."
"We don't exactly know what he was after though." Drake clarified. "It may be something with the council."
"Hm." Terra said. "I think I have an idea." Simon took a sip of his coffee, and almost threw up.
"You're right Mami." He said. " The coffee here does suck." Terra ignored him and stood.
"Come on, let's go." She said. Simon stood with everyone else and followed Terra through Era, wondering where it was they were taking them. As they walked in the direction of the council headquarters, Simon wondered what exactly Terra's idea was. As they reached the headquarters, Simon could see Terra's father Jura standing outside and talking to someone. He turned to see them as they approached.
"Ah, there you are Terra." he took notice o Simon and the others. "And, what happened to you four?"
"It's a long story." Damien said.
"Well, it's good I found you Terra, the meeting was about to start up again." Terra flinched.
"Uh, actually, we won't have time for that Dad." She told him. "They were attacked by Apocalypse." Jura's eyes widened.
"That guy from Phantom Dove?" he asked, Terra nodding. "How did he escape?"
"The Olympians sent him after something." Simon said, crossing his arms. "After he attacked us, Mami tracked his magical signature here to Era, which means he may be after something here. Is there anything he may be after?" Jura rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
"I can't think of anything that would be significant." he replied before his face flickered, Simon saw it quite clearly. "Oh...Oh no, this could be a situation."
"What is it?" Drake asked. "Did you think of something?" Jura looked up, looking conflicted.
"I'm unsure." he said. "I have to check on something. Please, come with me." No one spoke as they followed Jura inside the building, and he strode to the counter.
"What is it, Master Jura-san?" The receptionist asked.
"I'll be looking into the top secret files, they'll be with me." The receptionist nodded, and Jura turned and went into a door to the right, everyone still following him. Simon looked around as the seemingly endless rows of files as Jura walked with a purpose.
"What the hell is in here?" Simon asked.
"Public files." Jura replied aimlessly. "Family trees, historical artifacts, that kind of thing."
"There's a shit ton of it." Damien said, whistling.
Oh, and incident reports." Jura added, making Simon and his guildmates double over. "There's a shit ton on incident reports."
"Can't imagine from what..." Ultear said, trailing off purposefully. Before long they made it too a metal door that was sealed of, saying only those with the right clearance could go in. Jura pressed his hand against a lacrima next t the door, and the stone mad a buzzing sound. He opened the door without a second thought and went inside.
"What's in here?" Drake asked.
"Things eyes such as yours should not even be seeing." Jura replied. "Everything in here is top secret. Absolutely top secret. Dark Guild reports, Balam Alliance information, projects that their code names enough carry enough wait to start a war..." Jura shook his head. "Everything in here is dangerous." He turned to Drake. "Don't listen to anything." Drake flinched and nodded.
"G-Got it." Drake said. Jura walked around a corner and towards a corner of the room, where there wasn't anything. Simon watched Jura press his hand against the wall and it opened up, revealing a bunch of files. Jura mumbled a little bit, before he frowned.
"Damn." he hissed, rubbing his head. "It's not here."
"What's not there?" Damien asked.
"The Silverridge files." Jura replied, his face pale. "This is bad, this is really bad."
"Master Jura, what is it?" Winter asked.
"This is bad." Jura hissed.
"Come on Dad, what the hell is the problem?" Terra demanded. Jura took a deep breath.
"Silverridge." Jura replied. "Is small town not to far in the west of here. Taking the Christina, it my take another few hours..."
"What's so important about Silverridge?" Simon asked, crossing his arms.
"Silverridge is..." Jura took a deep breath. "Silverridge has an underground lab used by the council." He explained. "It's, basically, the council's experimental town."
"Do people live there?" Terra asked.
"Yes, it's a thriving town. However, it was built on the premise as a cover for the council's...ideas."
"Get to the point, Jura." Damien said. Jura sighed.
"There's one kind of weapon beneath Silverridge that's is very dangerous, so dangerous it should've been derailed years ago, but was kept active for the security of the state. and with these missing files, it's been made very clear that is what Apocalypse is after."
"And...?" Drake asked.
"..." Jura didn't say anything for a moment, before he turned and gave them a steely gaze. "Below Silverridge, there's an Etherion cannon."
...
Simon wasn't sure he knew what to say, no words would come to him. An Etherion cannon? No, that wasn't possible, he'd been told the Etherion program had gotten shut down years ago.
"Impossible." Mami said, voicing Simon's thoughts. "That program was shut down after the Tower of Heaven incident."
"That's what you were told." Jura replied. "When I served in the council, the program was secretly started back up under Silverridge, a cannon being one thing they built."
"Mavis..." Damien said, leaning against the wall.
"That's not even the worst of it." Jura said. "From what I remember, the cannon is fired by a systems lacrima, one that can control the density and power of the blast. In doing this, the council hoped controlled Etherion blasts could keep invading armies at bay."
"Who the hell okay'd this to start up again?!" Simon demanded. "Etherion is far to great a lure for evil people, it should have stayed deactivated!"
"Sometimes people don't see that logic until it is too late." Jura said. "Regardless, if Apocalypse is after something in Silverridge, I'm placing my money on that Etherion cannon. There's no other explanation."
"Taro!" Mami roared as they rushed on the board to the Christina. "Set a course for Silverridge!" Taro cowered a little bit.
"Silverridge? Why do we nee..."
"DO IT!" Mami shouted, and Taro flinched.
"Setting course for Silverridge!" He said weakly.
"What did you learn?" Ken asked, trying to not anger Mami anymore than she already was.
"Apocalypse is after the Etherion cannon beneath Silverridge!" Terra replied. Terra and Winter had insisted on coming with them, and Simon saw no problem with that.
"E-Etherion cannon?!" Akio said from the window. "How is that even possible?!"
"Jura said it was reactivated for the safety of the state." Simon replied. "And now the safety of the state is being targeted by Apocalypse and in turn, the Olympians." Simon replied as the Christina began to float upwards and Taro worked like a mad man to set their course.
"How long will it take, Taro?" Mami asked.
"U-Uh, a few hours."
"Gah!" Mami shouted, grabbing at her head. "Apocalypse could start the firing sequence by then!" Simon was about to speak up when Winter sighed and started stretching.
"Batten everything down."She said, heading for the door. "I'll get us moving."
"Winter?" Drake asked, and the girl smirked back at him.
"Buckle up guys, it's going to be a bumpy ride." Winter then walked out onto the flight deck and ran to the back of the Christina, out of Simon's vision. He turned to find everyone else gripping the hand rail on the bridge. Rushing to meet them, Simon gripped it as well as Ken activated the loudspeaker.
"Alright Winter, we're ready." Ken said, then braced. Simon was confused.
"What the hell is she...?!"
"SKY GOD'S BOREAS!" Simon had a fraction of a second to tighten his grip before the Christina shot forward at three times the speed from before, and he felt his hands screaming in protest from the pressure he was putting on them.
"Holy fuck!" Damien shouted somewhere to Simon's right. "What the hell is she doing?!"
"Speeding us up!" Mami shouted, rapidly tapping buttons. Before long, the pressure on the bridge lessened considerably, which sent Simon and the others right over the hand rail.
"You're damn right she is." Taro said. "At this rate we'll get to Silverridge in, maybe, half an hour!"
"Thank Mavis for her then." Simon said,standing and offering Ultear a hand, which she took. "Any ideas where we can start looking for that Etherion cannon?"
"Jura said underground." Drake said. "So I think it'd be best for Terra to look for it."
"Won't do anything." Terra pointed out. "The most we can do is look around, my Dad said that there were anti-magic measures in place to prevent the chambers detection from a mage."
"So Apocalypse knows how to get there but we don't." Ultear said. "Perfect."
"Our best bet is to track down each member of Phantom Dove, then." Simon reasoned. "Who knows where Apocalypse went, but only tracking him down would do no good. All of them half to fall."
Damien listened to Simon giving orders to the others, only half listening.
"Keeping up with the plan, Damien?" Damien sighed as Xisplate walked up next to him on the bridge.
"Nice of you to show up now." Damien muttered, low enough so that no one else could hear him. "What do you want?"
"To wish you luck in the oncoming battle." The demon replied. "It will be no easy one."
"No shit, Apocalypse won't go down without a fight." Damien looked over at the demon, who regarded him coldly. "What the hell do you want?"
"I get a bad feeling about this battle, Damien" Xisplate replied. "I know not what, but something is going to happen before his battle is over and, for better or for worse, it'll change everything." Damien perked up at this and turned to the demon.
"What?" He demanded. Xisplate shrugged.
"I can't see the future, Damien." he replied. "Only bits and snippets." Xisplate looked at Damien again, an actual flicker of concern crossing the demon's face. "Just be careful, my boy. Who knows what'll happen before the day is over." Damien watched the demon disappear, and could only just hear Simon still talking in the corner of his mind.
Why does that dick always give me the bad news?
Xisplate being all cryptic again, huh? I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! And about that guys, let's try and hit our goals, hm? It's ten, not a million. You guys are perfectly capable of getting ten reviews. How about some of you guys who never leave reviews leave me one? There's over a hundred of you guys that don't do that, so let's see some new names leaving reviews!