There's something about the way a wolf moves, when it runs at full speed. Even without any conscious thought, its movements are more graceful and beautiful than anything man can reproduce. Even when the wolf in question is as tall as a man at the shoulder, the effect is still startling; a vision and a memory to be cherished, if you should so be fortunate to see one running so. Nevertheless, this particular wolf is searching for a presence, a beacon whose source would be the salvation of the world. The wolf pounds on, unerringly, toward its destination, half suffering from the pain of a transformation not fully known to itself, but at the same time, determined to carry out its friend's bidding. His friend's words fill his ears; a mantra, of sorts to help ward against the pain. "Seek out my Heartstone, then. Those who carry it are our best chance of salvation." ----------------------------------------- Final Fantasy Legacy: Knights of the Round Begun by the illustrious Brian Stricklin (Gwok!) Humbly continued here by Kai Gomi Chapter 54: Tonberries and Dogfights --------------------------------------- Davin lifted the knocker and rapped it three times against the wood of the door. Kyle shrugged and said "Guess it's not so bad after all." Of course, because all things in life are subject to Murphy's Law, the door slowly swung open on great, engraved hinges to reveal a giant Tonberry within. Everyone briefly looked at each other in shock, dread, or just sheer terror. Even Stine, looked just a little bit like he was going to run before he could get his "confectionary posterior" beaten. Davin had the presence of mind to quickly extinguish his Light Globe. He silently beckoned the others to follow him in. The first thing that everyone noticed was the sheer number of collapsed walls. Apparently, this room was originally much smaller, before someone or something destroyed all the original walls, perhaps to accommodate its current inhabitant. Davin motioned to the rest to follow him behind a half destroyed wall. Trying to be as silent as possible, everyone picked his or her way across the rubble-strewn floor to where he was. The group gave a collective sigh of relief, and then was abruptly cut off in the hopes that the Tonberry had not heard. Zalera fumed. "Okay, the little Tonberries are bad enough, but a *big* one that looks like it can shish kebab any one of us if we annoy it? This is just beginning to get too weird." She hugged Alexandros to herself, not exactly eager for a fight with such a beast. "Verily, Stine doth agree. This Tonberry doth be at least twice as large as the Habarm Bull. Stine wouldst prefer a whole herd of them to yon Tonberry." Stine shuddered at the thought of having to take it on like he did with the Bull. Pearl frowned and wrinkled her brow in puzzlement. "What on earth *is* a giant Tonberry doing here anyways?" "Who knows? In any case, I wish Shizuka was here." Kyle remarked. Davin peeked his head up above the wall to take a survey the room. "There's one thing we can do now, at least. There's what looks like a door over behind it." Marcine looked rather apprehensively at the floor. "I wish I had some kind of spell that could mute out footsteps. Now *I* wish Shizuka was here." Pearl nudged her in the ribs wish an elbow. "That's where Beast Lores come in. Stay close together, though. This lore doesn't stretch very far, though." Pearl quickly rummaged through her satchel for a pinch of cotton and muttered a quick chant. "Voices muted, sound dampened, none can hear anything! Silence!" By way of demonstration, she swiped Alexandros from Zalera. The resulting outburst, effectively silenced by the Beastlore was extremely comical. Soon everyone was clutching their sides, save Pearl, who was running away from Zalera, while pulling down her lower eyelid and sticking her tongue out at her, and Zalera, who was chasing Pearl, yelling silent curses at her. --------------------------------------- Midday found Fenris running through a forest, taking a quick but dangerous shortcut. For a normal wolf, that is. He leapt over a deep ravine, landing running on the other side. Though his stomach growled for sustenance, and the rest of his body screamed its fatigue, the occasional lancing pain through his head was more than enough to drive him on. Run. "....Seek...." Run. "....Heartstone..." Run. "...Salvation...." PAIN! Fenris twisted his neck as the pain of the transformations began yet again and veered off, crashing *through* a tree with no visible slowing in pace. Indeed, he showed not even any notice to the fact that he had just turned a centuries old oak tree into kindling. It was, however, enough to stagger him badly, and he crashed through several more trees before, stumbling and falling heavily to the ground, panting. Drifting in and out of lucidness, visions drifting in his pain addled mind... ...He was.... somewhere...... again. A dark, black void here..... things..... lived. And he was one of those things. Another... hovered before him. "Do you know the consequences of what you plan to do, Fenrir?" it asked, sinuously twisting amongst its own coils Fenrir nodded his great shaggy head. the thought floated through his brain "Why do you still choose to stay with him, Fenrir? He is now merely a mortal. As a Sleeper, you shall truly outlive him, will you not?" asked he. "He has been my friend and companion for many years. I no longer wish to be summoned away from his side when I am with him. I cannot explain it." "And yet you will stay with him, and give up your power?" "Aye. I will. It is loyalty, perhaps. Something that we Sleepers will never know, as we know no fealty to each other." "You would, then enslave yourself to him?" "Not enslave. It is different. The humans have a word for it. It is 'friendship'." The snake/dragon twisted amongst its coils a bit more, contemplating Fenrir's answer. Tritoch's first reaction was disapproval. Then next, was sheer incredulity at the wolf's answer. The last, was... an emptiness within Tritoch's...heart? "Very well, Fenrir. I will give you leave to become mortal. But I cannot leave you a mere mortal. You will be a king amongst wolves, and wield True Magik where you may. You may go with Odin, now named Siegvin. You may no longer hold the name of Fenrir. But I warn you, when the time comes, When the Legacy is found, you will become a Sleeper once more. Choose now, your name." Fenrir cocked his head briefly. "I can think of no elaborate name. I merely change the last letter if my name. I will be called Fenris." Tritoch uncoiled himself and slowly would his curls in many circles around Fernis. He chanted as energy began to mantle his fur... -------------------------------------------- Stine gritted his teeth as he struggled to move the great stone slab that blocked the path to the inner sanctum of the Alchemist's Observatory. Muscle Belt or no Muscle Belt, it was still *heavy*. With a yell silenced by another one of Pearl's Silence Lores, the stone slid to the side and slammed down onto the floor without a sound. Despite that, the force was enough to shake the various piles of rubble into collapsing, and cause everyone to wince inwardly. Davin sidled up to the door, all the while glancing back to the Tonberry. The doors were very much like the double doors to the entrance of the room, embossed with a golden sun, and a rune beneath that. In the place of a knocker, however, was a Heartstone shaped hole. He gestured to Marcine. Briefly gesturing to her once more, she understood, pulled out her own Heartstone, and pressed it to the hole. With a brief pulsating glow, the stone fell silent, only to be answered by the doors slowly swinging inward, revealing a blinding light that caused everyone to cover their eyes. Once the initial dazzle had been cleared from the group's eyes, they beheld what was inside. Within was a pedestal, upon which sat a throne, bathed in light. Depictions of a knight and the sun were engraved into it, with tiny Sunstones set in the wood that gave the throne an aura that shifted from pearly white to luminescent black from one instant to the next. To the right stood an armor rack, holding a suit of armor of pure starsilver. Despite this, the room was completely empty. Slowly, the group filed in, closing the door after them. Marcine moved towards the throne and put a hand on it, then pulled it back. Her hand was covered in dust. "I don't think the Knight has been here for a very long time." she mused, audible to everyone else once again. "That would also be the last of our Silence Lores. I'm out of cotton." remarked Pearl. Kyle grunted and looked up. "Doesn't matter. I can just Boost us straight out that hole in the ceiling, if I have to." He looked back down at the suit of armor. "But Marcie's right. This armor is still in good condition, only by the fact that it's made of starsilver. But it hasn't been cleaned it, what, years?" Kyle touched a leather strap holding the armor together, and it disintegrated, dropping the breastplate onto the ground with a loud clang. Davin up from where he was kneeling on the ground. His arm had taken on the texture of the stone floor and was slowly coming back to its normal appearance. "The spirits aren't telling me much, either. All they're telling me is that that that Tonberry has been outside for a very long time. Marcine, can you cast that spell that you cast way back in that mansion?" She nodded, and then wiped the dust off her hands. "Get ready for a show, everyone." She lifted her hands before her and closed her eyes in concentration. "Forces of time, witnesses to the ages, I bid you to tell me the stories that matter most to this place, drawn from history... Theatre!" A globe appeared before Marcine, around which everyone crowded. Within was the same room that the group -------------------------------------------- Within the globe was the Alchemist's Observatory, with all the hustle and bustle of a small city as alchemists, astrologers, and various other inventors and engineers ran about, examining this, or testing that. Even Manakyr were present, working alongside the others, and experimenting with their own spells. In the midst of all this research, in the very same room that the group currently stood in, was a tall, handsome blond man with flashing icy blue eyes. The one thing that distinguished him from the rest that he wore a Heartstone on a chain around his neck. "Thou hast no right to be here, King Tonberry." he addressed a large, green, burlap cowled figured. "Verily, 'twas I that found this place un-occupied, and 'twas I who cleared it out, giving rise to the Alchemist's Observatory as ye see it. <"He speaks like you, Stine." noted Pearl. "Aye. Yon knight doth be a native of Habarm. Verily, Stine doth believe..." Pearl silenced the Beastmaster by slapping her hand over his mouth. > "Doink. Doink doink doink doink doink. Doink doink." "And as I hath told ye before, there wert no Tonberries here 'fore mine arrival. I wilt not give thee the Alchemist's Laboratory." The large Tonberry practically exploded with anger. "DOINK! DOINK DOINK DOINK DOINK DOINK!" "Nay. I wilt not. Should thou wish to contest mine decision, I shalt fight thee in combat." With that, Johannes strode to the wall and pulled down a pair of ornate daggers. <"NO, YOU MORON!" everyone practically yelled. "Stop before you get yourself killed!"> With that, the Knight rushed in, prepared to strike a killing blow on the first strike. The Tonberry swung his lantern with lightning speed, bashing the first dagger to the side. Then, time slowed to a crawl. A red aura boiled out of the Tonberry's form and coalesced around the blade of the kitchen knife. As the Knight's eyes widened, the Tonberry uttered but one word. "Doink." With a speed that belied the Tonberry's awkward body, the knife thrust forward, exploding with energy and hurling the Knight backwards like a sack of grain. With that one strike, the aura from the Tonberry and the knife had transferred itself to the Knight. As everyone looked on in absolute horror, the light coming down from the ceiling dimmed, and the aura burned to an opaque red, obscuring any sight of the Knight for many minutes. When it did finally burn away, and the light coming down returned to normal, in the Knight's place was a gigantic unconscious Tonberry. By this time, Johannes, or at least, what *was* Johannes was climbing up, clawing at the wall to pull itself up. The King Tonberry waddled over to the dazed Knight, and stripped him of his Heartstone. With an inhuman scream, the Johannes lashed out, with its own aura. Fueled by the trauma of being stripped of his Heartstone, the same red aura that had once been used by the King flared out, destroying the room utterly, knocking down every wall to the room. The amazed researchers stared in horror as the energy encircled them, burning away in an opaque fire, reducing them to the more mundane version of the Tonberry. It didn't stop there. Red tendrils of energy swept throughout the whole fortress, encircling every living thing, and turning them into Tonberries. The second Johannes ended his first scream, a second one boiled from his lips. This one caused the very ground to shake. With the images in the globe turning to the outside, one could see chunks of earth being ripped from the ground and floating upward. With one violent heave, the entire fortress lifted up, and floated into the sky. The images cut back to Johannes once again, as tendrils of energy wrapped a horrified King Tonberry, who was squeaking out 'doink' in absolute terror, who, in its irrationality, was trying to cut away the strands with its knife. This particular transformation was different from the others, though. Instead of burning red, these flames burned white, spilling out flames that covered everything in the room as flesh was burnt away to bone. Johannes was untouched, as he stared on, dazedly. Energy spent, Johannes stumbled past the still burning Tonberry king, and into the next room, leaving behind a mass of bones and twisted flesh. -------------------------------------------- "By the Three Gods. So much power." breathed Kyle. He shook his head in amazement. "I'm never going to look at one of those little Tonberries the same way again." "Stine doth agree," added Stine, prying Pearl's hand off of his mouth. Pearl blinked and looked surprised as she saw the indentations that her nails had dug in Stine's face. "Verily, Stine didst know that the Tonberry wert powerful, but to this extent, nay." "Such is the power of the Tonberry's Revenge," said Davin. "I'm starting to have that really bad feeling again." Marcine tapped Davin on the shoulder. "Wait....there's still something left....that spell isn't quite done yet....." By this time, the fires had burned away leaving a bag of skin, with bones holding it up like a grotesque tent. Then, it twitched. The sound of snapping bones and tearing skin assaulted as it all reformed, mutating, unfolding, growing in size until bat wings and bone talons protruded, all connected to a grotesque parody of a large dragon, topped with a chattering human skull where a draconian head should have been. Marcin jumped and grabbed onto Davin, as likewise Pearl did to Stine, as the skull head seemed to turn, light glinting off the Heartstone driven through its forehead, and face the direction of the group directly, unseeing eyes boring through all those it gazed upon. "Doom Gaze.... the Dragon of the Dead....So that's how it came to be....." gasped Davin. With a scream that pierced straight to the soul, it flung itself upwards and smashed through the ceiling, punching a hole large enough for it's ponderous bulk. It took to the skies, screaming death to all who beheld it. -------------------------------------------- More memories drifted through his delirious head. ....I am walking away from someone, across a bloody field......blood has stained my paws......my muzzle...... "You cannot leave me, Fenrir! I will not allow it!" declared a masked man. "I do not know who you speak of. Siegvin." "I am Odin! I am your master! You will obey me!" I turn my head to face the man with baleful yellow eyes. "I did not follow you to this world to help you slaughter all of humanity, Siegvin. Nor did I follow you to your fate because I wished to be your slave. I will follow you no longer." "You *will* come back, Fenrir! You are a dog, and will always be a dog! You will come back to your master! When I regain my power, so will you! You see, our lives are bound by fate!" I cock my head and consider this mad raving figure before me. "Then, perhaps, my suicide will kill you." With that, I walk away from Siegvin forever...... -------------------------------------------- "This isn't good at all. I see no way whatsoever of talking with Johannes at all. For all we know, he could be stark raving mad after what he did," pouted Zalera. "She's right. Kirin was absolutely crazy, after all the time he spent in Pandemonium. There's nothing to say that Johannes won't just turn us all into Tonberries, and we could be stuck here forever! I think we need Lumina here now," added Pearl "Forsooth, Knight Lumina didst say she wouldst say in Tienne, to aid Master Cid with reorganizing its defenders. Stine doth fear that she wilt not be available to our need." "Doesn't hurt to try," said Kyle. Unstrapping the pack that he had been wearing over his armor, Kyle set it down on the ground and began to unfold a wire frame set on a shaft. "It's a prototype portable radio that they gave me to test. Also quite handy to call in help, as it turns out." Kyle began to turn a crank as he turned away from the others to contact the airship. --------------------------------------------- "Master Bolgan! Incoming transmission from Captain Cavanaugh's portable radio!" "Very good. Patch it through. "SKzzzzT......Captain Cavanaugh to Excelsior, come in, Excelsior." "This is Bolgan. What can I do for you, Captain?" "crackle..... See if you can't reach Tienne Defense Command for me; I need to get in touch with the Knight of the Moon." The tech managing the radio board boggled and scratched his head. "Come again, sir? I don't think I heard that right. You want me to get a hold of Tienne?" "shhzzTTT..... That's right. Tienne. Now do it, before you get demerits." The tech explained. "I don't think we can, sir. Effective radio range is approximately two hundred miles. Accounting for the fact that we're twenty off the ground, and who knows how many hundred miles away from Tienne, the rules of the Pyth....." "bzap..... All right, I get it. We're too far away. In that case, move into range, ask if Lumina can ... what? Oh. Sorry." Discussion appeared to be going on in the background. "Ask if she teleport to the Excelsior, and then to over to us. Then, get back to us." "Very well then, Captain. We should be back in about, ten to fifteen minutes, depending on how long it takes to get a hold of this Lumina person." "sskrak..... All right. Do it. Oh, and Bolgan? You know that thing that passed us up in the clouds, as we were going up? Well, sooner or later, we're going to have to beat it, then have those Floatmages float it before it falls, and extract the Heartstone from its forehead. Keep track of it, so when we go after it, we know where it is, but do not engage, do you hear?" "Understood. Frankly, I don't think I'd even want to *try* to take that thing on. A monster that can fly at that speed frankly just scares me." "zzzzsstt.....Good. Get to it." -------------------------------------------- "Well, that's it. Now all we can do it wait." No answer reached his ears. Kyle spun around... To behold Johannes, standing in the doorway, looking in at the others. With baleful yellow eyes, he scanned the room, taking in every sight.... except.... There was something quite wrong with the way Johannes was looking around.... Then it hit him. Johannes was blind. With an odd tottering waddle, Johannes half-walked, half-stumbled to the throne, and sat down. Gripping the arms of the throne tightly, he closed his eyes and tilted his head ever so slightly, in concentration. The aura around the throne flared briefly, then died out. Johannes sagged in defeat. Marcine blinked. "Are the Sunstones in the throne completely drained? Is that it?" Johannes briefly fixated on her voice, before looking back down and nodding miserably from his seat. "In which case, I have a Sunstone." Johannes perked up immediaely, and leaned foward in his seat, barely able to restrain himself. Digging through her own satchel, she carefully procured the Sunstone, and handed it to Davin as she replaced a few errant scrolls that had fallen out. Davin stepped to the throne and pressed the Sunstone into Johannes's hand. Only to have Johannes clamp down with both hands, sandwiching Davin'a hand and the Sunstone between his two green mitts. echoed a voice within his head. Startled, Davin pulled his hand away and fell backwards. Everyone excalimed for Davin's safety, each readying their respective weapons to run the knight through. But Davin waved them off. "Wait, everyone, stop. He didn't hurt me." "Then what *did* he do?" asked a tense Kyle. "It's something we had to do for our graduation exams at the Mystic Academy. With the spirits' help, it's possible for one Geomancer to talk to another, using nothing but the spirits to pass the messages on. That's what Johannes is trying to do, right?" Johannes nodded. Davin picked himself back up, and placed his hand upon the Sunstone once more. Closing his eyes and concntrating upon the spirits within the Sunstone, he tried to calm them to make sense of their words. Thier voices were foreign, Davin was surpriesd to realize, much like starsilver. <'Tis not a small matter that thou has come from many miles to seek out mine presence in these forlorn ruins. What is it that behooves thee to come....Davin, is it not??> Johannes gave the mental version of a sigh. Davin felt Johannes blink. With that the Knight broke the connection. Davin blinked as his vision slowly came back. After communicating with the spirits for so long, he was just a little bit dizzy. Stine caught him and sat him down on the a nearby chest before he fell. "Didst thou find what we needst, Davin? Verily, Stine doth feel the urge to layeth the smiteing upon yon Dragon's sugary arse." "Yes, I did. Let me get my head to stop spinning and we can go." "And just in time, too. The Excelsior's back." reported Kyle, looking up from his radio pack. "Unfortunately, they couldn't pick up Lumina, since she's helping with reorganizing defenses. For some strange reason, I'm told, the remaining soldiers and Dragoons have taken a liking to her." "Oh well."said Pearl "In any case, we've got what we need, and we'd better get going. Um, we *are* going, right Davin? This place is giving me the creeps." "Yes. And we're also going to take on Doom Gaze." Davin was immediately knocked over by the force of everyone yelling "WHAT?!" -------------------------------------------- .......Snow....too much snow......freezing me.....cold....wait, no. What is this warmth? "Well, what have we here? A prime specimen of wolf-flesh, no doubt, but you're starving and all wasted away. Don't you know the winters of Yahl Russa will kill you if you're not careful?" Gentle, warm hands lift an eyelid, and a face, as well as a bright light swim into view. My ragged breath catches in my throat as Siegvin looks down on me. No, not swim. And not Siegvin. It is still too blurry. But it is not Siegvin. Words barely manage to clear my throat as I shut the eye. ".....too.....bright....." "You're still alive, I see. Come, I'll take you to somewhere warm and feed you." Strong hands lift me up bodily and carry me. I am warm, at last, and I can drift off to sleep.... ......Right back to the present. Fenris lifted his head. A blade touched his throat. Not coincidentally, it was also being held by someone. Siegvin. Fenris snarled. "You." "Yes, me. It was not difficult task to hunt you down, once I got this treasure." He briefly touched a hand to his gemstone eye, which glittered in the moonlight. "You bastard. You're trying to become a Sleeper again, aren't you?" Siegvin/Odin's laughter filled the clearing that Fenris had inadvertently made. It was a hollow laughter, just starting to regain that otherworldly quality it had when they were still Sleepers. His blade bit into the soft folds of flesh around the great wolf's neck. "No, no, no. You misunderstand, old friend. I don't plan to become a Sleeper again." "Then what? Become a traveling fool...." Fenris was cut off as Siegvin forced his head down to the ground. "No, friend. I plan to rule them all." Siegvin/Odin lifted his sword and brought it down with inhuman speed. But Fenris was already in motion, rolling to the side, he grimaced as the sword bit into this shoulder. Fenris kept on rolling until he got to the side of the clearing and stood up, eying Siegvin warily. Then, he disappeared. "Somehow, I seriously doubt you'll ever hit me again." came Fenris's voice from behind him. Siegvin/Odin whirled, slashing three lines of force that sped toward the voice, only to bring yet another tree crashing down. "Wrong way, Siegvin. That's the problem with the Mystic's Eye. You can see anything and anywhere, but you can't see where I'm about to go." came Fenris's voie to the side. Siegvin turned and glared at the wolf that was licking its wound before him. "You always said our lives were bound by fate, Siegvin. With *your* return to power, so have *I* regained a bit more of mine. I felt Tritoch's death. I knew you had become more powerful, but I wanted nothing to do with you anymore." Fenris got up and began to circle Siegvin, knocking down trees to make the clearing larger. "No doubt you picked up the Mystic's eye to counter my abilities, Siegvin. No, there is no doubt. You *did* pick it up to counter my abilities." "Is there anything wrong with that, then, whelp?" Siegvin insinuated. "Compared to me, you *are* just a whelp, and don't stand a chance against me." Fenris snarled, knocking over another tree, intended to turn Siegvin into fertilizer. With a few quick slashes, Siegvin reduced it to kindling. "That's right, wolf. You know you can't beat me without your little tricks. You never could beat anyone, at all without them. Elsewise, you're just a helpless puppy, unable to fend for yourself. You fool." Fenris bristled even more. But, this time, it wasn't because of Siegvin's taunting. The transformations had begun once more, and Fenris was feeling it. "Oh, no, Siegvin. *You* were a fool and let me wake. The night is my element, Siegvin. It was then that I was strongest as a Sleeper, and I still am strongest now. *I* am the master of trickery." Fenris began to walk again, a bit unsteadily. Siegvin snorted his disgust. "A master of trickery indeed. More like a tottering fool, now." Fenris didn't hear. The transformations were undeniable. With a shudder, Fenris sank to his haunches as his outline began to waver. Siegvin's eye widened. "I see. So the transformations have begun. Back to becoming a Sleeper again, isn't it?" Fenris just shuddered and fell to the ground as his outline began to waver even more. Siegvin walked up to the trembling form of the great wolf, and squatted. Mockingly, he began to coo to Fenris. "Is the little puppy afraid? Is he absolutely helpless?" Siegvin lazily stroked an ear, and bent to whisper directly into it. "Is he about to die?" he sneered. With that, he twisted the ear painfully. Externally, Fenris showed no recognition of Siegvin's words. Internally, he grabbed hold of the pain as a life preserver in a turbulent storm of chaos within his mind. Mentally gritting his teeth, he prepared an incantation, not of True Magik, but of his own devising. Siegvin stood, and pressed a sword tip to Fenris's jugular, which did not elicit a response. "Pitiful." He sneered once again. Fenris gritted his teeth, just as Siegvin raised the sword for the killing stroke. "ZANTETSUKEN!" "SHADOW ARMOR!" Just as the blade struck home, Fenris's form broke up completely and disappeared. Siegvin looked up, seeing a black and grey blur disappear off into the woods, trailing a bit of red... "Feh. That should kill him." Then he looked down. To behold a clean Ashura blade. He never connected. ------------------------------------------- Fenris chuckled as the sounds of an angry would-be god tearing through the forest to vent reached his sensitive ears. He lay on the grass, and sighed, not too far away from the forest on a grassy hill. All of it had been bluff, though. Fenris knew that he stood no chance of defeating Siegvin by himself. He looked down at what was left of the stag he caught as he snuck away. He snapped up one last piece of meat and loped off going east. -------------------------------------------- As for the rest of the group, they were about to run into some serious problems of their own very soon. A massive bulk of wings, claws, and bone zoomed right past the Excelsior. "What on earth was that?!" exclaimed Bolgan. A technician began reading off data that was pouring into his displays. "Same thing that we passed earlier. Some kind of creature, not anything we've ever seen before, though." Bolgan cursed quite vehemently "Why did both of those Beastmasters have to go down?" There was no time for further complaining as Jil pulled the yoke to the right hard, barely dodging another kamikaze rush. "Evasive!" yelled Bolgan, a bit belatedly. "If'n ye're gonna give a cap'n commands, ye'd got ta do it *before* its too late! Radio traffic began to come in just as Jil finished. "sttzzt....Captain Cavanaugh to Excelsior, come in.... we need pickup ASAP." "Patch it through!" yelled Bolgan as he grabbed the command chair as the ship lurched once more. "Captain, this is Bolgan! That thing that we passed earlier is trying to attack us!" "zzzzttt..Good! Now attack back! Try to hit it hard enough to stun it, then make a pass and collect us!" "What!? With that thing tailing us!? Are you out of your mind!?! "Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. Actually, if you want to survive that thing, you're going to want the rest of us aboard." Bolgan grunted as the ship lurched once more. Somehow, inexplicably, Bolgan's mind turned back to a lesson in inertia and acceleration from a complete standstill. Bolgan turned to one tech against the wall and yelled. "Load up the cannons! All hands, battle stations! Get four more Dragoons down there, now! -------------------------------------------- Down in the Weapons area of the Excelsior, shortly after Bolgan gave the order, machinery began to move. With a great groan, starsilver gears turned, lifting panels, and extending guns, and Weapons Chief Garmon was raring for a fight. The second the orders came down, he turned and yelled into the intercom system of the gun decks. "All right boys, the shutters are lifting! We've been through this before, aim and FLAME 'em! Cannons one through ten, lock and load!" Gunners were running around frantically as they struggled to load their guns. "Cannons one through ten, ready to go!" came back the reply through the intercom "Cannons eleven through twenty, lock and load! "Cannons eleven through twenty, lock and loaded, aye!" yelled back the division commander. "Cannons..." "Way ahead of ya, boss. When we gonna get crackin'?" Garmon chuckled at this. "Soon, Bugs, soon. Cannons thirty-one through forty!" Soon, all sixty of the Excelsiors main guns were loaded and ready to go. -------------------------------------------- "Master Bolgan, all cannons loaded and ready to fire. Unknown, unidentified organic aerial target has been designated Omega 1. Awaiting your command, sir." Bolgan briefly checked the console installed into the armrest of the command chair, and nodded. "Prepare to fire all guns at Omega 1 at once. We're going to try to stun it." A murmur came from the rest of the techs. "Sir? All at once? That's going to kill it outright!" asked the weapons tech. Bolgan snapped. "Just do it! Wait for my mark! Captain Fallensand! Bring the ship around to that far end of the island, and listen closely. Do you know the movement that a rocking horse makes?" "Aye, that I do. What about it?" Bolgan grinned. Somehow, inexplicably, he was starting to enjoy this job. "That's the kind of maneuver we're going to pull off." -------------------------------------------- "WHAT!?!?? BOLGAN! ARE YOU OUT OF YOU MIND!?!?!?" yelled Kyle into his suit radio. "rackle....As a matter of fact, I am." The last part of that was slightly strained as the Excelsior dodged a rush from Doom Gaze. The Ship turned sharply and veered towards the island "I'm dropping four Dragoons right now. What we're going to do is this...." --------------------------------------- Fenris stood above a stony cliff, observing the crazed dodging and jinking of the Excelsior, and growled. "And I thought that all this time, Doom Gaze was killed. Damnit. Never trust humans to do a wolf's job." Instantly, he regretted his words. Even now, he still bore a jaundiced view of humans, save for a notable few. Fenris narrowed his eyes, and looked upwards with his mind, seeing the faint aura being emitted from Ivan's Heartstone. -------------------------------------------- "Bolgan, If I die doing this, I am going to make sure that I come back from the dead and kill you." declared Kyle. "Just relax, Cap. So long as everything goes off properly, we shouldn't have a problem." said a Dragoon. By this time, the four additional adrenaline junkie Dragoons had rigged harnesses to Kyle's and their own suits of Boost Armor, and Stine, Marcine, Pearl, Zalera, and Davin were strapped into these harnesses. Fortunately, Kyle didn't have to have Stine strapped to him. The unnamed Dragoon radioed Excelsior. "Master Bolgan, we're ready to do it." -------------------------------------------- "Master Bolgan, that was Sergeant Evans. They are ready to go." Bolgan took a deep breath and gave the command. "Captain Fallensand, prepare for your final approach. Weapons, Prepare to fire. Cargo bay, lower main door." -------------------------------------------- As the Excelsior took its dive towards where Kyle and the other Dragoons were standing, a group of engineers checked and double checked their hastily performed welds that comprised a pair of walls, making a corridor out of the main cargo loading platform. "Okay, that's not our best, but it'll have to do." Okay, then, here goes, people. Hold onto something!" The engineer grabbed a large lever and hauled on it. With a warning buzzer echoing throughout the hold, the main doors ratcheted open, and the loading platform slid into position. -------------------------------------------- "Okay Bolgan, here goes." muttered Kyle With a scream from its engines, the Excelsior dove towards the island, closely pursued by Doom Gaze. Bolgan's yelled into the radio. "GO!! FIRE!!" -------------------------------------------- "FIRE! FIRE AT WILL!" screamed Garmon, a cry that was echoed by all the sub-chiefs -------------------------------------------- With one synchronized movement, the ship's guns, already trained on Doom Gaze blazed, blasting dozens of cannon balls directly at Doom Gaze, knocking it back, and stunning it sufficiently to knock it from the skies, and deter it from pursuing for a short period of time. At that same time, all five dragoons ignited their Boost Armor to hover a few feet off the ground. Like a giant scoop, The excleisor, Cargo bay door wide open, picked up the floating Dragoons, rocked backwards, as if swallowing, and took off for the skies, away from the floating island. -------------------------------------------- Back in the cargo hold, ten bodies were desperately trying to ge themselves untangled from a net that the crew had strung up to catch them. With a few quick shots from an engineer's gun, the net was cut down. Others quickly cut them loose with their knives. Davin, Marcine, Pearl and Stine retrieved their equipment from the last Dragoon, and made their way towards the main deck. -------------------------------------------- For the first time in over six centuries, *it* felt a strange sensation. In all its years, it had never felt a sensation. It was pain. With a scream, Doom Gaze pulled itself out of its downward spin and shot back through the cloud to find the impudent thing that dared strike it. -------------------------------------------- Author's notes: Well, I think I can safely say that I didn't blow my part like last time. In any case, did you get the pun so gratuitously inserted in the title? Ha ha. "Dogfight". Ahem. The onl problem is, I didn't get to the *real* dogfight. In any case, if you're like me, you will have probably freaked out when you found out that the giant Tonberry *is* the knight Johannes. I know. I freaked out too. Lurk, apparently has a very odd sense of humor. In any case, I tried to close up one of the more outstanding plot arcs, (the Fenris one) as opposed to powering Siegvin/Odin up some more through Old FF references. Heck, the next thing you know, if Siegvin wants to finish powering up, he'll have to snort the Rat's Tail up his nose, and tuck the Calcobrina into his belt when he strides into battle. Sheesh. In any case, if you want to ask me any questions about this chapter, you'll most often find me on irc.sandwich.net in #improfanfic. In the even that you can't, go ahead and fire off an email to otakuniichuan@jusenkyo.com (Yes, that's right, Spring of the Drowned Otaku. So sue me.) -Kai In Kai's WinAmp playlist: Number One, by Nellie Rhythm Emotion Rave Mix, by Two-Mix RE 2 Techno mix, by Met@morph Butterfly (Ai yai yai!) /Pokemon Mix (Yes, I'm sick and twisted, I know :P) by Smiley DK U Got it Bad, by Usher That new Linkin Park song. (Frack. My playlist just got corrupted. Hweming Nullsoft.)