• JonnyWorld

• Clonewars Menu

• Fiction Main Menu

Chapter 7: Do The Hip and the Fooey Die Young?

By  Mr.X

The ground below seemed so distant to Kim Wild, the AGFF skeptic... for
the very first time, somewhere inside of her she understood a bit
about how it must feel for Kain to soar high into the sky, nearing the
clouds. Though she had never found any specific medical explanation
for his skilled jumping ability beyond his ancestry among Dragoons,
she knew the laws of nature well enough to dismiss magic. After all,
the gravity pulled him down toward the ground again each time he leapt
and skill gave him the safe landings she had seen him expertly execute.

Only now, flying a magical dragon just below the meager clouds and the
bright shining stars and constellations, did she doubt the sensibility
of being reasonable.

It had been several hours already since she had climbed onto the
gigantic spiny back of Slipgate, and already it was getting dark. By
her calculations, it already was about ten o'clock, and in the
mountainous area they were flying through during spring, it often got
dark as early as nine.

Kim looked up at the stars, and was relieved to see the familiar Dragoon
Constellation right above her. At least something had retained a glint of
normalcy and sensibility, where nothing else could. The sight of the
stars, really all just gaseous balls of fire in space, had a successful
effect of calming her senses.

Kim shivered, half from nervous expectations, half from the cold, and
looked toward Kain. Already he was pushing forward, successfully
guessing where her needs lay. Slowly, but surely, she rested her head
contentedly against Kain's shoulder and allowed herself to drift.

Kim Wild was awakened with a start by the weathered draconian voice of
Slipgate.

"All right, folks," shouted Slipgate over the wind, "we are just about
there... hang on tight, this is about to get rough!"

No sooner had he said that than he dived toward the earth, speeding
faster than any roller coaster. Kim Wild felt her stomach being left
behind, but was almost too amazed to notice. Directly below them,
surrounded by the impassable Anguish Cliffs, was an electrically
lighted fortress, shining like a small city out at the night sky.

Something big and dark moved within the space of the humungous
fortress and Slipgate slowed to a stop.

"Listen...!" she heard Slipgate rasp.

So intent on listening for any sound was Kim that she failed to notice
their failure to fall toward the earth, despite gravity, even though
Slipgate had stopped flapping his wings altogether.

The next few moments of complete silence, disturbed only by the croaking
of frogs far below, were an eternity to Kim. Then she heard it. The
telltale flapping of draconian wings. She turned around hastily to look
at Slipgate's wings and was horrified to see they were not moving.

The loud inhuman roar from below only confirmed Kim's suspicions. There
was another dragon, and it was certainly not Slipgate! She looked over
the side again, followed by an eager Kain, staring down at the area she
had heard the roar arrive from.

In the shadows of the high mountains only meters below Slipgate she saw
two red eyes form. She and Kain shared a mutual gasp.

"Dear Lennon..." murmured Kain.

"Look out!" screamed Kain at the top of his lungs as, simultaneously,
a large dark draconian form leaped out of the shadows at them. Slipgate
screamed and pulled away, but not in time to avoid the slashing claws of
the shadow dragon.
 

Everything tangible simply became shapes and the sounds Kim heard were
so chaotic she could not even begin to figure out from whom each sound
came. Kim did not have much of a track record of participating in
magical battles and therefore could not hide her surprise or fear. She
heard a wail from in front of her, and, though she could not tell who
it was, she knew one of her companions had been injured.

The shadow dragon took off mere inches above Slipgate. Her companions
hugged Slipgate's back to avoid being clawed. Before she could move,
however, one dark claw arched toward her. She cowered, knowing at the
same time that it would do no good: she was about to die.

A humanoid form plummeted at her and pushed her out of the way of the
claw. She heard a hoarse cry and could only watch as her dearest of
companions was taken away with the dragon.

"Kain!" she shrieked.

Slipgate turned around and shot off after the shadow dragon like a
cannon. Kim could barely see Kain hanging off of the dark creature's
rear claw.

Beside her, Gann0n readied an arrow in his bow, squinted, and aimed.

"Be careful not to hit Kain!" Kim warned.

"Don'tcha worry, sweetheart," Gann0n murmured in response. "The only
way I'd ever hit him is if I wanted to."

The arrow left the bow and, at a speed faster than even Slipgate could
fly, it passed the group and hit the shadow dragon somewhere around its
rear.

The shadow dragon roared and turned around. At this moment, Kain leaped
safely up onto its back, pulled out his Lance, and stabbed it deeply
into the nape of its neck.

Yet again, the shadow dragon roared, but this time it sounded deeply in
pain. The dragon's head snapped up, taking Kain by surprise-- and Kain
fell off headfirst, holding his lance in hand.

"KAIIIN!" screamed Kim at the top of her lungs as Kain fell headfirst
into the forests below.

"Relax, honey," Gann0n said. "He's a Dragoon. He'll be fine."

Kim did not respond, unable to consider the possibility of Gann0n being
wrong. For not the first time, Kim realized how much she cared for Kain,
and then only in his absence.

Meanwhile, the shadow dragon glided at high speed toward Slipgate. Slipgate
arched his back in response to the challenge, making it downright hard for
all of the defenders and defilers assembled to cling on to it. The shadow
dragon hit Slipgate at full speed and sent them all spiraling different
directions.

All of the defenders and defilers suddenly found themselves in midair
with nothing to cling to but themselves. Over twenty well-known AGFFers
began to freefall, over a thousand feet above the ground.

======

Blood began to drizzle freely from Slipgate's monstrous split cheek,
and, even so, the shadow dragon continued its massive assault. The
tail whipped his face again, and he felt himself beginning to fall,
pursued further by the dragon.

Angered beyond belief, a single thought entered Slipgate's mind: Enough
of this. It is time that I end it.

And so Slipgate did. One gigantic claw flew forth and, faster than the
shadow dragon could see, entered its stomach, exiting out its back.

The shadow dragon wailed in pain and struggled in a mad attempt to free
itself from Slipgate's now bloody arm. Seeing this fail only intensified
its struggle and it began clawing Slipgate's face ferociously.

_Damn this creature_, thought Slipgate. _Instead of just dying, it seems
determined to take me down with it!_

Kim, however, had other things on her mind. For starters, she was
plummeting headfirst toward a forest still over five hundred feet
away. And unlike Kain -- assuming he had enough skill to survive --
she did not have Dragoon training to be able to land safely. The
feeling of all of reality changing disappeared now, to be replaced
with the old familiar feeling of being controlled by nature. Gravity
was about to prove to her yet again that however much "magic" there
may be in the universe, when it comes down to it, it is the science
which rules us all. Kim found this terribly ironic, in a bitter, tragic
sort of way.

Kim yet again was distracted from her thoughts by the sudden force of
two strong arms around her. Within moments, her fall slowed to a stop.

Feeling weak from the fall, Kim attempted to look up at her aerial
rescuer, but her dizziness overcame her. Instead, she only murmured,
"K-Kain...?"

"Sorry, sweetheart, but this is Gann0n. I saved your life. You can
thank me, sweetheart."

"My name... it's not 'sweetheart'."

"Hey, look, sweetcakes. I just saved your life, my little pumpkin pie.
Therefore, sugarplum, I automatically get the right to call you whatever
names I wish without being badgered for it, honey."

Kim groaned and changed the subject.

"H-how are we suspended in the air like--."

"It's called the Float spell, honey."

Kim growled. "There's no such..."

"...thing as magic," Gann0n finished for her, mocking her voice while
doing so. "Now look. You're one of the only magic-deficient people here,
one of the few who does not have the Float spell. That's why I had to
save you."

"But, if you could float all along, why did you even bother getting on
Slipgate's back...?"

"Well, for starters, Floating and Flying are two different things. All
Float does is keep us from falling to our bloody deaths. Secondly, Float
lasts only a minute or so. Speaking of which, my minute is almost up,
which means that if you don't hurry up and thank me for saving your
life..."

"All right! All right! Thank you! Now let's get to the ground!"

On Gann0n's face appeared something slightly resembling a victorious
smile. From behind, she heard a loud bang, and Gann0n's face contorted
in horror.

"G-Gann0n?" Kim murmured and Gann0n coughed blood. Without Gann0n's
concentration, the effects of the Float spell deteriorated and the two
began to fall toward the ground.

Jason and Greg landed on a natural rock platform right in front of Mr.
X's fortress, courtesy of their own Float spells, and looked about. All
around them, people were landing safely on their feet, and there did not
look to be any injuries so far --- at least from landing. In Dana's arms
lay an unconscious Dave, stomach cut open earlier by the shadow dragon.

"Is everyone okay?" Jason inquired.

Before anyone had a chance to respond, over ten different sliding glass
doors at the front of Mr. X's fortress opened in succession, and an
uncountable number of red- and blue-clad soldiers holding guns leapt out.
Immediately, they began to fire at the defenders and defilers standing on
the platform.

"Get down!" screamed Jason, pulling Greg down with him. And just in time.
Bullets riddled the air above them.

The struggle intensified. The shadow dragon was no longer even paying
attention to its attacks. Now it was just clawing chaotically at Slipgate,
too often cutting his draconian face. They whirled about the air, stuck in
Slipgate's death hold, and Slipgate got a chance to see what was happening
below. It wasn't good. Gann0n had saved Kim from the fall, but a bullet had
gotten him in the lung and he was barely keeping them in the air at all.
Even farther below, a gunfight was taking place between the Defenders/Defilers
and Mr. X's forces. _Things can't get worse than this,_ Slipgate thought
bitterly.

Almost as if on cue, another shadow dragon materialized out of Mr. X's
fortress and flew high speed toward Gann0n and Kim.

_I was wrong,_ Slipgate thought. _They just did._

Gann0n was nearly out of energy. He kept fading in and out of consciousness
and had just barely kept Kim and himself from falling to a gruesome death
on the rock platform just in front of Mr. X's fortress. He knew he no longer
had the consciousness to lower them, and felt trapped, lost.

It was by mere luck that Gann0n saw the newest shadow dragon flying at high
speed toward the two.

"I'm sorry," he said simply, before pushing Kim with all of his might off
of him.

Kim screamed in horror as she began to fall yet again. Right above her,
only a mere millisecond after being pushed away from Gann0n, she saw
another shadow dragon take Gann0n in its jaws and bite. Gann0n's upper
and lower halves fell out of both sides of the shadow dragon's mouth while
his waist served as the shadow dragon's snack.

Kim saw the shadow dragon fly off in the distance, swerve around, and fly
back toward her. She was being hunted!

As the shadow dragon neared the falling Kim, a shining metallic blue shape
flew even faster and grabbed her from the air. Surprised, she forgot to
even continue to scream.

Kain flew groundward, still holding on to Kim, and, as softly as he could,
threw Kim to the ground beside Jason. Almost in the same motion, he leaped
back up toward the skies. The shadow dragon had a new target. Forgetting
all about Kim, it flew high into the skies, following the strange glittering
blue shape.

Dana cursed. _We certainly could have used Dave's help in this, a gun
battle. Oh, well. I'll just have to do the dirty work myself._

After a moment's hesitation, Dana began to chant. He stood up as his chant
intensified and he pointed his hands at the approaching army of Mr. X's
soldiers.

Dana finished the chant and began to disappear, as did Dave and the other
AGFFers.

Jason fired another shot at an approaching soldier, and was horrified to
find his bullet fading from existence. "Hey, what the---!?" he began,
before noticing that he himself was also disappearing.

A moment passed. The soldiers looked around in confusion. One of them
fell for apparently no reason, as if hit by an invisible bullet. A
gigantic beam of greenish-white moon energy hit a large group of them,
and at least half of them fell, never to stand again.

Dana and the other AGFFers reappeared on the platform, where they had
been standing before. _That was good,_ thought Dana. _I've never summoned
the Bahamut ZERO materia before..._

The attackers no longer seemed as organized and many were easily mowed
down by the magic, swordsmanship, and skill with other related weapons
of the AGFFers. But after the shock of the first attack passed, they
began their offensive attack yet again.

The shadow dragon let out one last angry roar before dying completely,
and its claw swiped out one last time, getting Slipgate in the cheek.
Annoyed, Slipgate lowered his long, scaly arm, and allowed the dead
dragon to slide off of it, where it fell a long fall to the forest
below.

Slipgate shook his head and looked around. Below, to his amazement, most
of the attackers looked to be dead, and those who weren't were sure to
soon be.

Then Slipgate looked past the platform. In the distance he saw the dark
shadow dragon flying through the air, chasing something that was only a
mere speck in the distance. It looked to be a blue speck.

With a roar, Slipgate flew toward the shadow dragon. The blue speck was
Kain.

Kain landed in the lake with a big splash and immediately dived down to
the bottom. Seconds later, the shadow dragon sped toward the lake and
entered it, also with a big splash.

Kain held his breath and did his best to ignore the chilly water, swimming
as fast as he possibly could. He heard the splash and knew now that he was
being pursued.

Kain continued swimming a few seconds, turned around, and threw the tip of
his lance into the shadow dragon's eye. Though the lance did not move as
fast as it would out of water, neither did the dragon and the stab did the
trick. The shadow dragon attempted to bellow, letting out much of its
breath, and clawed frantically around its eye..

Kain swam toward the eye and kicked the spear in further. The shadow
dragon let out more air and clawed at him, just barely missing his left
leg. Kain chose this moment to swim up to the surface.

At the surface, gasping for air, he quickly swam to the surrounding beach
and collapsed once he was a good distance away from the lake. Moments
later, figuring that the dragon probably still lived, he slowly stood up.

Right above him Slipgate flew, still in draconian form. Apparently Slipgate
saw him, for he flew downward to the beach beside Kain and turned to face
him.

"I saw that. Did you do it in?" Slipgate asked.

"I... don't know. This is the first time I... ... Why don't you
check?"

"Check?"

"Oh, c'mon, we both know you're an empath. I saw what you did early on.
I mean, check to see if the dragon's alive or not."

"Kain, I think..."

They could see a large dark form swimming toward the beach.

"...you can figure that out for yourself..."

At that moment, the shadow dragon emerged and let out one loud roar. The
tip of Kain's lance still stayed in place in its eye. The shadow dragon
looked angry.

"Oh, damn,..." Kain began.

Before the shadow dragon had time to attack, Slipgate charged at it and
stabbed his long, sharp claws into its stomach. Like the last dragon,
the hole in its stomach was immense. Unlike the last dragon, this one
had wisdom enough to realize its breaking point and simply toppled over
onto its side.

Slipgate casually wiped blood off of his face. Kain, however, stood by
the body of the dragon, face covered with awe.

"You realize what we just did?"

"We killed a dragon. What do you mean, what we just did?"

"EXACTLY! Kim has been doubting magic all these years... how can she
doubt a magical dragon?"

"She has decided it is simply a powerful flying amphibian, and can be all
scientifically explained. She believes my transformation earlier was my
breaking free of my starting state, like larva."

"WHAT!? Give me a break! She'll..."

"Yes, she will. Give her time. She's learned the scientific way all of
her life, and learned to forsake magic. It just takes time for her to
change."

"One request, dragon."

"All right... I'll try not to listen in to your thoughts."

"..."

Dana finished yet another powerful chant. Every living soldier on the
platform turned into a frog. This generally stopped the battle, for the
soldiers, instead of fighting, now seemed to just want to get the heck
out of there.

Holding a sword in hand, Jason approached the fallen Eyeglazer and helped
him up. "You okay?"

"Uurgh,... yeah. The bastard hit like a girl."

"Hey!" shouted Mary, apparently offended. She walked over to Eyeglazer
and punched him in the face. He fell over, and did not get up.

"I think you did more damage to him than the entire foe combined,"
Jason observed.

Mary looked down at Eyeglazer and sighed apologetically.

A good distance away, Kain landed next to Kim, followed by Slipgate,
still in his dragon form.

"Kim..." Kain murmured, helping her up off of the ground.

"Kain... I thought you were dead."

"Dead? I'm a Dragoon. A single fall couldn't do me in. There was never
anything to worry about."

"Still... you worried me."

At that moment, conversation ceased. Each stared into the other's eyes.
Slipgate smiled knowingly.

"All right, people," Bob said. "As I'm sure you all already know, it's
not incredibly likely that we can still attempt a surprise attack on Mr.
X's fortress. So here's Plan B. We charge in from different directions
and attack everything that moves. Eventually, either we will all be dead,
or we will reach Mr. X and get to kill him too. We rescue Relm, and we
save the day. How's that?"

This was met by cheers.

"But, wait...!" Kim shouted, looking away from Kain. "Your friend and
companion Gann0n is _dead_! Look over at him!" she pointed over at his
decapitated body. "You guys don't even seem to acknowledge it! What's
the matter with you? Gann0n will never be here again. He will never
laugh; he will never cry. He..."

"Uh, Kim..." interjected Bob.

"WAIT A SECOND! Let me finish. He died, saving me. Doesn't that count
for anything?" Kim screeched.

"Kim... he's not dead," Bob said simply.

"WHAT!?!"

"What I just said. He's not dead. The true Gann0n, if such an entity
even exists, has not been seen on AGFF for a long time. The Gann0n which
died is a clone of Gann0n. You've... heard of Cait Sith, correct?"

"Cait Sith doesn't..."

Bob raised a hand to silence her. "Fine, fine. Cait Sith doesn't exist.
But, you remember, in Final Fantasy 7, who he really was?"

"He was... a Shinra spy," Kim replied, sounding confused.

"Yes... his first toy form died in the Temple of the Ancients, so he came
back with another toy form. All the time this happened, the true Cait Sith
never was in any actual danger. Right?"

"Yeeees..." Kim replied, not quite sure where the heck Bob was going with
this.

"Well, that's exactly what's happened here. Gann0n did a performance a
long time ago in front of an AGFF audience, where he mentioned a difference
between himself and his clones, said they were 'replacing' him, and
disappeared in a puff of smoke. The difference between himself and his
clones was obvious. Where his clones were fully functional, the original
Gann0n had one of his arms amputated to avoid death by an unknown disease.
Most of what he did involved both arms and without them his life was pretty
much over anyway. So he disappeared for a while before his performance to
make these clones, and, that dealt with, took over the form of each of his
clones when he wanted to socialize. To Gann0n, his 'death' is merely an
inconvenience. After the third time he 'died', we got the hint and stopped
holding funerals."

"But... If he designs clones, how is he any better than Mr. X?" Kim
murmured.

"Simple," Slipgate growled. "The cloning Gann0n does is acceptable
only because he allows only one of himself, controlled by himself, to
run about at a time and he does not kidnap others to get their clones
to work for him. Also, Gann0n is not working in a plot to biologically
enslave the world."

"You see," Slipgate decided to come clean, "By joining in this mission
to save Relm, you have all gotten in over your heads. Just as I have.
There is more to Mr. X than meets the eye. As he told Craxton, he is
indeed part of a top secret organization. I don't know much about it,
but what I do know tells me..." Slipgate paused. "Look," he continued
finally. "Mr. X is only the leader of a specific subdivision in this
secret organization. Even if we were to defeat him, we'd have the rest
of this organization to deal with, not to mention his son. We already
have signed our death papers... at least if we don't stop Mr. X and the
secret organization before it is too late. The problem is, no one knows
how to reach this organization and agents of it would rather die or be
castrated than say anything about it. It's not like going to Mr. X's
fortress... we can't just attack the organization, kill its leaders, and
have that be that. It's spread universally. The individuals who enslaved
the moon may be part of it, and most certainly Mr. X is."

Slipgate stopped for breath.

"H-How do you know?" Kain asked.

"I read his mind," Slipgate said. "And I was lucky to get even that
much. He has blocked literally everything off."

"Guys, I hate to interject, but they are already aware of our presence.
We should get moving," Bob said. "Let's hurry up and move Gann0n and all
of the unconscious and overly injured members of our party out into the
forest. And one among us should take care of them while the rest of us
charge the fortress."

"I'll do it," said Dana. "I'm a healer. We might as well deal with Gann0n's
clone first... for that shall be the most morbid thing we'll have to deal
with."

"Agreed," Jason murmured.

And so, Gann0n's "remains" were moved deep into the forest. Eyeglazer was
carried by Mary (after all, she was the reason he was injured) and Dana to
around the same area. Next was Dave and Michael. Dave had been hurt in the
battle with the first shadow dragon and Michael had been shot in the battle
with the soldiers.

This left in the attack parties Jason, Bob, Mary, Slipgate, Kim, Kain,
Atma, Linda, Josh, Greg, Small Girl, Cherubae, Rachel, and Umato.

After a bit of discussion, Jason, Mary, Kim, Greg, and Cherubae were
decided to climb up the fortress walls, crawl through a window, and on
from there. Bob, Linda, Atma, Slipgate, and Umato were decided to go in
the front way, attacking everything in sight. Finally, Josh, Small Girl,
Rachel, and Kain were decided to go in via the fire exit.

Jason's group headed toward the side of the fortress where Slipgate had
discovered the window. There, they discovered it... about twenty or
thirty feet above them.

"So," Greg commented slowly, "shall we float?"

"How else would we get up there? Of course we float," Jason said,
already beginning to mutter his chant.

"Y-Y-You're gonna cast a spell?" inquired Kim nervously.

Cherubae sighed. "You're beginning to catch on."

"Wh- why don't we use a ladder or...?" Kim began. At that point, Jason
finished his chant and floated high into the air, right up to the window.
He stepped in.

"Tha... I... How..."

"It's magic, girl. Get a grip. What the hell are you doing in AGFF if you
don't believe in magic!? Sheesh!" Mary said. Then, more softly, "Listen,
Kim, I know your beliefs and I know you've been taught not to believe in
magic. And that's fine. Call it 'science' if it makes you feel better. But
at least don't keep sounding so goddamn astonished everytime anything at
all above the norm happens. ...Okay?"

"I-I'll try..." Kim muttered.

Greg finished his chant and flew up toward the window, which he also
entered.

"But what about-- what about me? I can't float. I don't even know the
spell!" Kim complained.

"That's easy enough, girl," Cherubae muttered. She grabbed Kim by the
shoulders, chanted, and floated herself and Kim up toward the window.

At the window, Kim could not let go of Cherubae or jump. "This is
scientifically impossible... I'll fall!"

Cherubae sighed, opened her mouth to say something, then apparently
decided against it, closed her mouth, threw Kim through the window, and
leaped in after her.

Mary followed suit.

They found themselves in a small, dark room filled with unopened cardboard
boxes. And the lighting was out, making it hard to see anything at all.

"Ouch," Kim muttered, rubbing her head and getting to her feet. "What'd
you do that for?"

"Quiet," Cherubae whispered scoldingly. "We can still take the initiative
and somewhat surprise them..."

Ignoring both, Jason walked to the door and tried the knob. He was not
the least bit surprised to find the door locked.

"So, what now?" Mary murmured.

Jason pulled out his blade. "This," he whispered solemnly before slicing
down at the knob with all his might. The knob clattered to the floor
noisily.

"Jason....!" Cherubae began, her voice already clouding with exasperation.

Jason kicked the door open with a loud exclamation. A well-lit chamber
greeted them. Several surprised soldiers turned about at the noise, their
guns at the ready.

"@(#@*#*!" Cherubae pulled out a boomerang and threw it at the guards. It
went directly as aimed, knocking the guns out of the hands of several
guards, hitting one of them in the head, and knocking the wind out of
another. The boomerang flew like a faithful pet back into Cherubae's
hand.

Holding his sword above his head, Jason charged, screaming unintelligably.
Mary rolled her eyes, but she, Kim, Greg, and Cherubae followed after.

Jason sliced down at the nearest guard, cutting right through its head
- effectively killing it - and, for extra measure, down into its stomach.
For a moment, it just sat in his blade. Then, it collapsed to the floor.

Another guard fired at Jason, hitting him in the face with a stunblast.
He fell backwards, dropping his sword to the floor as he did so.

Mary fired at the second guard, hitting it directly in the stomach. It
fell to the floor and began to crawl to its feet.

Another guard fired at Mary, hitting her in the stomach with a stunblast.
She collapsed onto her hands and knees, the wind knocked out of her.

Kim hastily gave Mary a potion.

The third guard looked annoyed and fired at Kim. She too fell onto her
hands and knees.

"GFS Bolt!" Greg shouted, his voice sounding of power and magic. A pink
lightning bolt descended from the heavens and hit the fourth guard. The
said guard fell to the floor, chuckling about Jason's 'sword'.

Meanwhile, Cherubae let loose with her boomerang yet again and hit all
five remaining guards. The second one fell, broken, to the floor. The
others, though fallen, got back onto their feet with difficulty.

Jason continued to scream as he beheaded the GFS-stricken fourth guard.

Mary hit the third guard with her... tonfa?

Kim karate kicked the sixth guard, doing very little to it.

Greg let loose on the sixth guard with another spell.... "Comet!"
..totally decapitating it.

Cherubae attacked yet again with her boomerang. One of the remaining two
guards fell, never to get up again. The other one looked over at its
destroyed companions miserably, got up, and ran for its 'life'.

Jason charged at the fleeing guard, screaming his war-cry. His companions,
watching, could not tell which scared the guard more: the sword in Jason's
hand, or his war-cry.

Within seconds, however, Jason had dispatched this final guard. Satisfied,
he started back toward his companions.

======

Meanwhile, Bob, Linda, Slipgate, and Umato watched wonderingly as Atma
tore through the first line of guards angrily, screaming unintelligably
the whole way.

"Holy shit," Bob said simply.

"Your boyfriend has a lot of gusto," Umato observed, looking Linda's
direction. Linda did not respond.

"He will need help," Slipgate said matter-of-factly, already flapping
his wings and starting to fly. "Rage can only take you so far."

"Agreed," Linda said, pulling out her flame sabre.

Already Atma was tiring. He had charged, as was his style, at over three
hundred different guards at once. Some might describe it as foolhardy,
while others would call it brave, and still others would call it somewhat
unfriendly.

Regardless of what it was he was doing, the result was still the same.
His sword arm was tiring, and he was still working on the first hundred.
Something hit him on the back of his head and he tasted blood. He was hit
again, knocking him forward into the blade of another guard. The blade,
luckily for Atma, failed to slice through his armor, but it hurt.

That same something that hit him on the back of his head twice before did
so again, finally driving Atma to the edge. "#)($*#($ redneck!" he screamed,
slamming the guard as hard as he could with his iron-clad fist. The guard
broke.

The blade sliced through Atma's armor into his stomach. He gulped and found
himself rapidly losing strength.

"Damn.. you.. fuckhead..." he glared into the 'eyes' of the guard whose
sword was currently embedded in his stomach. With one quick slash, he had
the guard beheaded.

Slipgate flew at the guards from above, breathing down fire at them. True,
the fire also hit Atma. But Atma was fairly immune to the power of flame, as
Slipgate knew well.

Unfortunately, so were most of the guards. While several collapsed to the
floor, done in by the power of flame, most still stood, unaffected.

Slipgate cursed under his breath.

======

Hardly had Josh, Small Girl, Rachel, and Kain made it through the fire
exit when they met their first foe.

Tseng raised his eyebrows at the stunned heroes. "You're... the intruders?"

Josh stepped forward bravely. "We're here to rescue Relm, even if we have
to defeat you to do so."

"Indeed." Calmly, Tseng turned around. Moments later, he turned around and
smacked Josh on the side of the head. Josh, surprised, crashed against the
wall. Before Josh could counter-attack him, Tseng pulled out a gun and
pointed it at Josh, effectively ending the fight.

"What are you doing here, anyway, Tseng?" Rachel inquired. "You're supposed
to be dead."

"Funny..." Tseng murmured. "Mary said the exact same thing." He coughed. "On
to business. You can surrender now, and Relm will not be harmed. If you
choose to continue this, I can almost guarantee that Relm will soon be dead."

"Yeah, right," Josh laughed. "You'll kill the original and give us a clone.
I know how you operate, Tseng. You might as well give up. In case you didn't
notice, there are four of us and one of you."

Tseng sighed and looked at his watch. He winced. "You're absolutely right.
I don't have time to fight the four of you. Still, just leaving you here
in the corridor like this would probably make Mr. X kind of mad, and I
think you can guess what that would do to my paycheck."

There was a short pause. Only Tseng knew what he was getting at.

"So, I'll just leave you with Relm. Sound fair?"

"You'd... you'd do that?" Kain sputtered.

"Don't trust him," Josh growled. "He's..."

Tseng hit Josh on the side of the head yet again, effectively silencing him.

"Relm!" Tseng called. "You're needed."

The sound of stomping from behind further doors a good distance ahead of
the whole group took everyone's attention. The doors flew open and a
gigantic, muscular, masculine Relm holding an axe in hand walked forward.

"Meet Relm, the Lumberjack," Tseng announced. "Now, if you'll excuse me...."

Josh jumped at Tseng. Tseng promptly shot him in the stomach. Josh flew
backwards and Tseng rushed by the astonished Small Girl, Rachel, and Kain,
out the door. The wall behind Josh was stained with blood.

"Joshy-san!" screamed Small Girl, rushing up to Josh. With a quick, swift
slice, Relm the Lumberjack sent Small Girl flying.

Relm the Lumberjack bellowed horrifically and opened her... his... its
mouth to speak.

"I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay," sang Relm suddenly. "I sleep all night and
I work all day."

Kain and Rachel chimed in simultaneously, "He's a lumberjack, and he's
okay. He sleeps all night and he works all day."

"I cut down trees. I eat my lunch," continued Relm. "I go to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays I go shoppin' - and have buttered scones for tea."

Kain and Rachel chimed in simultaneously, "He cuts down trees. He eats his
lunch. He goes to the lavatory. On Wednesdays he goes shoppin' - and has
buttered scones for tea. He's a lumberjack, and he's okay. He sleeps all
night and he works all day."

"I cut down trees. I skip and jump," continued Relm. "I like to press wild
flowers. I put on women's clothing - And hang around in bars."

Kain, Rachel, and Small Girl chimed in simultaneously, "He cuts down trees.
He skips and jumps. He likes to press wild flowers. He puts on women's
clothing - And hangs around in bars!?"

"He's a lumberjack, and he's okay. He sleeps all night and he works all
day."

"I cut down trees. I wear high heels," continued Relm. "Suspendies, and a
bra. I wish I'd been a girlie, Just like my dear Papa."

Kain, Rachel, and Small Girl chimed in simultaneously, "He cuts down trees.
He wears high heels, Suspendies, and a bra!?"

"What's this? Wants to be a girlie?! Oh, my!" cried Kain.

Rachel pointed accusingly at Relm. "And I thought you were so rugged!"

"Poofter!" cried Josh.

Kain, Rachel, Josh, and Small Girl chimed in simultaneously, "He's a
lumberjack, and he's okay. He sleeps all night and he works all day. He's
a lumberjack, and he's okaaaaay. He sleeps all night and he works all day."

For a moment, all was silent. Kain blinked.

"RAAAA!" roared Relm the lumberjack, charging at Kain, Rachel, and Small
Girl. Kain pushed Rachel and Small Girl out of the way and stabbed forward
with his White Lance.

"AAAAR!" roared Relm the lumberjack, falling painfully backwards. Taking
the initiative, Kain charged forward, impaling his lance deeper into Relm
the lumberjack's ribcage.

Relm the lumberjack punched Kain in the face. Kain fell backwards, leaving
his lance embedded in Relm's ribcage. Relm leaped forward - stepping on
Josh in the meantime - and leapt onto Kain.

Screaming, Kain rolled out of the way and attempted to jump at Relm the
lumberjack. Unfortunately, he forgot that they were in a relatively
normal-sized room, slammed his head against the ceiling, and fell, cursing,
to the floor.

Rachel leaped at Relm the lumberjack and kicked it in the groin. No
reaction.

"Damn," she muttered, right before Relm the lumberjack pummeled her.

Small Girl was up next. She rushed up to Relm the lumberjack and slapped it
in the face. Relm the lumberjack flew backwards as if hit by a locomotive
and went straight through the door.

======

As he exited the building, Tseng checked his watch yet again. This time,
however, he had a different thought in mind than his dentist appointment.

"Oh, yeah..." he murmured to himself. "Mr. X wanted..."

Tseng quickly pressed a button on his watch and walked off toward his
helicopter.

======

Small Girl looked up in alarm as alarms started blaring.

"What's that?" inquired Kain weakly. Small Girl had no answer.

======

In the front area, consumed by the heat of battle, the assorted
AGFFers and Mr. X's soldiers barely heard the sound.

======

A deep mechanical voice accompanied the sound of alarms, "Alert.. Alert.."

Jason, Mary, Kim, Greg, and Cherubae turned around all directions in alarm.
From behind doorways in all directions, the sound of metallic boots slamming
against the floor could be heard.

"...Intruders..." the voice continued.

"Oh, damn..." Greg began, as the first line of soldiers, five of them in
all, charged out of a nearby doorway.

Jason pulled out his Titan Materia and threw it to the floor. "Quick," he
growled, pushing his companions toward a nearby door where the sound of
boots could not be heard. A dark, scantily-clad, muscular individual appeared
from out of seemingly nowhere and grabbed a good portion of flooring a few
feet from Jason and Co. "This'll only stop the first line of 'em. We've got
to get out of here...."

Jason threw open the door and the others ran into the room as the muscular
individual pulled with all his might and grabbed a section of the floor. The
soldiers standing on that floor, alarmed, fell over. Jason slammed the door
shut while the muscular individual threw the flooring over the soldiers,
covering them in dirt, clay, and metal.

Inside the room, Jason, Mary, Kim, Greg, and Cherubae began to relax in
unison. Again in unison, their muscles tensed, for, right in front of them,
stood the Turk Elena. A little further in front of them was another door.

"I don't know why Mr. X is going to all the trouble of getting all those
AGFFers over here, just for the sake of capturing one. He could've simply
asked us - that's what we do. Kidnapping, that is."

Elena turned to the assorted AGFFers and her eyes widened. She ran out of the room via the other door, leaving it wide open.

Kim leaped in front of her companions, her eyes twice as wide as Elena's had
been. "Th-Th-Th-Th-That was a TURK!?"

Jason sighed. "Yes, Kim. That was a Turk."

"Bu-Bu-But... They don't exist!"

Already the others were beginning to ignore her. "...For the sake of
capturing one...?" Mary murmured, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"She must have meant Dave..." Jason said, thoughtfully rubbing his chin.

"Mr. X lured us here...?" Greg muttered. "Oh, no..."

Behind them, the voices of guards were audible.

"Let's go on, while we still can," growled Jason darkly.

======

"You can go on. You must go on," Rachel urged Josh, pulling him to his
feet.

"No... If I go on, I'll surely die. Let me tend to myself here. I'll be
fine. Going with you I would be only an inconvenience. Look at me. I'm
bleeding. Let me heal myself. Go."

"But Josh..."

"GO!!"

Rachel turned from Josh and looked at Small Girl and Kain, shrugging her
shoulders helplessly.

"Let him," Kain said. "He's right. As he is now, he'd only be a danger, not
a help."

"I agree, Kain-sama," Small Girl said. "Let's go on."

Rachel shrugged her shoulders once again. "Whatever."

"Thanks... guys," Josh said, his voice so low it was almost a whisper. "I'll
follow you when I can. Maybe I'll still be of assistance..."

Kain beckoned the rest on. "May the gods give you strength, Josh. Good luck."

"Thanks," Josh gasped. "You too, Kain."

And so, the remaining three of group three walked on, walking through the
shattered door and past the dead lumberjack Relm clone.

In front of them was a large, dark chamber. The ceiling was one hundred and
forty to one hundred and fifty feet up and the walls were the length of a
football field in each direction. The gothic style of the chamber resembled
a cathedral. On each side of the room was a large, oak doorway. The way Kain,
Small Girl, and Rachel came there was the broken door and the broken lumber-
jack. Candles hung burning from the walls on all sides and a strange magical
light permeated the chamber, giving off an eerie glow.

In the middle of the room, facing a large, lighted machine stood Mr. X. He
paid no attention to the newcomers, instead entering some manner of data into
the machine.

A moment passed. Kain stepped forward, bravely. "Mr. X!" he yelled. "Where
have you taken Relm?"

Mr. X turned to look at Kain and he laughed maniacally. "Why, my dear friend
Kain. Please, sit down, have some tea."

Mr. X looked over his machine and began to chant something under his breath.

"Mr. X!" cried Kain again. "If you don't give us Relm right now, you most
certainly will regret it!"

Mr. X finished his chant and pointed at the machine. In a flash of light, the
machine disappeared. "Now, then," said Mr. X, turning to face Kain, Small
Girl, and Rachel. "Don't you recognize me, Kain?"

Kain stiffened. "Wh-What do you mean? I've never met you before."

"Oh... really. You really, truly believe that, don't you, Kain. C'mon. Look
into my eyes."

Kain slowly looked up and looked into the eyes of Mr. X. In them, he saw....
TuMaHaB.

When Kain looked away, Mr. X no longer was even in human form. He had stripped
away his mortal shell; his appearance was that of a midnight black dragon
familiar only to Kain.

"You!" cried Kain, looking up again, his eyes filled with hatred. "You killed
several of my friends... you nearly killed me... you ruined my life... Now...
Now... Now you DARE to come back and taunt me after ruining more lives!?! YOU
BASTARD!!"

With that, Kain charged at the calm dragon. TuMaHaB quickly turned around and
whipped his tail about, hitting Kain in the face. Kain's helmet flew to the
ground, followed by Kain himself.

"Kain!" cried Rachel. She and Small Girl ran up to Kain and started to help
him to his feet.

"Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!" TuMaHaB laughed loudly, inhaled, and exhaled a long
fountain of flame onto Rachel, Small Girl, and Kain.

When the flame dissipated, both Rachel and Small Girl lay unconscious on the
hot stone floor. Kain held his shield in front of him. His group was gone;
now it was only him.

"So..." Kain growled, fetching up his helmet and putting it back on his
head. "After all of this time, we meet again, we fight again..."

TuMaHaB smiled. "Indeed. I've waited for this moment for a long time, Kain,
just as I wait for the day I kill that bastard Gunslinger. You think you're
the only one who's suffered as a result of that? I lost the most gullible
mortal shell I ever had, Kain! You took it from me! You destroyed my fortress,
my dream, my success! And now... I owe it to you... to incorporate you into
my plan!"

"Think again, Dragon," growled Kain. Holding his lance in front of him, Kain
charged.

TuMaHaB's tail flicked out again and Kain somersaulted under it, grabbing
onto it at the last moment, and started to climb up it while TuMaHaB,
confused, looked for him in front of him.

Kain stabbed his lance into TuMaHaB's back. TuMaHaB shrieked and turned
his neck around to face Kain. His neck cricked from tension and TuMaHaB
did all he could to ignore it. "Clever, Kain," growled TuMaHaB. "But I
think you've forgotten something."

TuMaHaB dug his claws into the floor and closed his eyes determinedly.
Seconds later, his body blazed with electricity. Kain cried out as the
electricity pulsed through his body, but found himself unable to move.
This torture continued for about thirty seconds and when TuMaHaB finally
tore his claws from the floor, it had been far too long for Kain already.
He toppled near-limply from TuMaHaB's back and fell to the floor.

"So quick to forget, aren't you, Kain," TuMaHaB purred as Kain somehow
mustered the energy to get himself up off of the floor, using his
lance as support. "Did you forget so quick the attack that killed your
dear nephew John?"

"You... bastard..." Kain growled hatefully. Seconds later, he was in
the air again. He flew down with a markman's aim at TuMaHaB's eye.
TuMaHaB simply closed his eye and swiped out with his claw, barely
missing the jumping Kain. Kain bounced almost comically off of
TuMaHaB's eyelid and landed on the ground before him. In almost the
same motion, Kain launched himself forward and stabbed into TuMaHaB's
exposed underbelly. TuMaHaB screeched in pain yet again and sliced
forward with his claws. Kain just barely grabbed his lance from
TuMaHaB's stomach in time to get knocked harmlessly across the room.
By the time TuMaHaB turned his head to look, Kain already was on his
feet again.

======

With Jason leading the way, Mary, Kim, Greg, and Cherubae eased
through the long, seemingly endless hallway. After what seemed an
eternity, a light shone a good distance in front of them to their
left.

"Now, be careful," Jason hissed. "Now that we know the Turks are in on
this one, we'll have to expect anything."

Nevertheless, what they saw surprised them.

"Greetings," Edwyn said in a voice that was not his own. "Oh, please,
you don't have to sneak about like that. We all know you're there."

"E-E-Edwyn?" Mary rasped.

"Ah, Mary," Edwyn said, sounding almost mockingly cheerful. "You know,
you still owe me a suit... after you ruined my last one by pouring
all of that glue on me."

In front of Jason, Mary, Kim, Greg, and Cherubae, standing in the
doorway just beyond the hallway, stood, first and foremost, Edwyn.
Standing behind him were Reno and Elena. All three of them were
dressed in the trademark business suit of the Turks.

"That was your own fault!" Mary protested. "You're the one who said it
was a ton of half bricks!"

"Quiet, Mary," Jason growled. "This is not Edwyn."

"Why, what are you talking about, Jason?" Edwyn said in an
all-too-innocent voice.

"For starters, Craxton described a Newbieverb Relm working for Mr.
X... I know that Edwyn would never work for somebody who sided with a
Newbieverb."

"Let me explain," Reno said, stepping up in front of Edwyn, silencing
his reply. "Edwyn underwent a little... altercation when he was in
Mr. X's labs. This is the original Edwyn, I assure you. Not one of the
clones."

"Let me introduce you to us," Reno continued. "I am Reno of the Turks.
These are," he pointed to each individual mentioned as he said their
names, "my friends Elena and Edwyn of the Turks."

"Edwyn is a TURK!?" Mary sputtered out.

"Not the Edwyn we knew," Jason growled.

"Whatever," Reno said. "Point is..."

Soldiers appeared in the room from behind Jason, Mary, Kim, Greg, and
Cherubae in the hallway, pointing guns at each. Very quickly the room
filled with soldiers and the five found themselves surrounded.

"...You're coming with us," Reno finished with a sinister smile. "You
think Mr. X did not expect you to come? On the contrary, that was the
reason why he did not just get us to steal Relm in the darkness of the
night to never be seen again. He was public for the pure purpose of
getting you to fall into his trap."

"You see," he continued, "his plan is to clone everyone with any major
status in AGFF and kill the originals. The clones will do his bidding,
and no one will ask any questions. Behind the scenes, he will rule all
of AGFF. He already rules several major towns. The whole Relm thing to
him is NOTHING compared to his master plan. It was almost a joke. The
armies of Relm clones, for the sake of irony, will be those who destroy
the Relm Defenders and Defilers. The organization he's part of is sort
of an underground government intending to biologically enslave all of
Usenet... many newsgroups have already been taken."

"And why are you telling us?" Jason rasped. "Certainly you know the old
villain-tells-hero-everything-just-before-hero-manages-to-escape thing has
been overdone already."

"Why?" Reno's grin grew bigger, if that was even possible. "Because it
doesn't matter! Even if you do escape, and, hell, even if you saved AGFF
from Mr. X, you don't have any power compared to the organization. To them,
you are like ants. If they chose, they could have all of AGFF destroyed and
they'd think nothing of it. The only reason why they haven't already is
because of Mr. X's appeal to them. As a step further in his career, he has
been chosen to be the underground King of AGFF. And, in the organization,
that means very little. I'm expecting you to escape. I just don't really
care."

"I see." Though Jason managed to keep an air of calm about him, he was
getting very nervous inside. "So..." he said, nodding at Edwyn. "You
say he's the original - yet he doesn't ACT like Edwyn. Why? What did
you do to him?"

"Ah," Reno paused. "No, I'm sorry... you might actually make use of
that information and I'm quite beginning to enjoy his company as a
member of the Turks. Anyway, I'm sure Mr. X is getting quite
impatient, so we should probably get a move on. Let's go."

Despite the fivesome's reluctance, several jabs with the rifles and
other guns and lasers of the soldiers were enough to get even Jason
moving.

======

The first few Cure spells had ended much of Josh's bleeding, but he
was still feeling incredibly weak. Slowly, and steadily, he pushed
himself to his feet, feeling the blood rush to his head.

In his current somewhat woozy state, he did not see the battle going
on in the room right in front of him. Coincidentally - or maybe not -
he also did not hear the door open and shut quietly behind him or see
Rude step up and cover his face with a chloroform tissue.

======

Kain landed on TuMaHaB's back once again and stabbed into the only
really weak spot he could easily get to on the tough dark dragon's
back: the nape of the neck. This time, however, TuMaHaB was ready. One
claw motion was all it took to throw the somewhat disoriented and very
much exhausted Kain from his back, White Lance and all.

Still, it wasn't only Kain who was getting tired. There was not much
TuMaHaB could do besides breath fire and claw, hoping to hit Kain. The
fast-moving dragoon, even disoriented, managed to keep his wits about
him enough that any real attack would be blocked or would simply miss.

Kain leaped into the air yet again, kicked off of the wall and flew
toward the dragon's face. TuMaHaB let out an exclamation of surprise,
but was unable to keep Kain from pummeling his nostrils and face with
one iron-clad fist.

Rude stepped in from one side and casually threw Josh to the floor
beside him. Without interrupting the battle, Rude leaned back against
the doorframe and watched with a meager amount of interest.

Kain sliced into TuMaHaB's lower lip with his lance and smiled somewhat
victoriously as dragon blood dripped freely from both.

One of the side doors opened and several guards walked in, followed by
Jason, Mary, Kim, Greg, and Cherubae, held at gunpoint by even more
guards. Behind them walked Reno, Edwyn, and Elena, chatting casually.

"Kain!" cried Kim as soon as she saw him hanging from TuMaHaB's snout,
blood dripping from the lance and the dragon's lip.

Kain turned to look at her, and at that moment TuMaHaB opened his
mouth and exhaled a long blast of fire.

Kim's eyes watered as Kain disappeared in the flame, the mere shadow
of his armor all to be seen in the surrounding fire. Then, very
suddenly, the flames stopped.

Kim's eyes followed Kain's lance as it fell to the floor, clanging loudly
as it did so. Time moved slowly and it took a moment to register.

"Nooooooooo!" screamed Kim. Hurriedly, she rushed forward, pushing
past several guards to the lance. There was no sign of Kain - the fire
of the dragon's breath had burnt him to nothingness, leaving only the
hot metal of his lance.

Emotions stacked overwhelmingly in Kim's mind and she found her sorrow
disappearing to be replaced with hate. TuMaHaB...

Quickly, she grabbed Kain's lance, ignoring the heat of it, and sliced at
TuMaHaB's leg, barely scratching it.

"Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho!!" laughed TuMaHaB ecstatically. "I'm afraid you do
not frighten me. You have no power."

"I do have power," Kim growled, her voice low and hateful. "I HAVE THE
POWER OF RAGE!"

She stabbed into TuMaHaB's leg again and this time the lance sliced
easily through the muscle and into the bone itself.

Still, TuMaHaB barely seemed to notice. With one quick claw movement,
he had swiped her away as he might a fly. She flew helplessly to the
side. "That was exactly what Kain fought with. And we all know where
that got him."

Kim was beyond reason now. She leaped to her feet again, though not as
quick as Kain had naturally and charged again. She leaped several feet
into the air and stabbed higher into TuMaHaB's leg. This time, however,
whether or not she even scratched it was in question.

Reno and Edwyn paced over to Rude by the doorway. "Hey, Rude!" cried
Reno, waving his hand at his fellow Turk. "What say we go out for
some donuts and some coffee - my treat - and perhaps learn a bit more
about Edwyn?"

"I'm game," Rude admitted.

TuMaHaB laughed again in Kim's face. "You can't even reach above my
leg and you don't believe in magic. Puh-leeze! You have no power over
me! I end this now."

Faster than Kim could even see, TuMaHaB's claw whipped out and he
slammed her against the floor. Trapped under his claw, she found
herself unable to move.

"Give Kain my regards," TuMaHaB said simply and inhaled, preparing
another blast of flame to burn her into nothingness like Kain before
her.

"Noooo! Kim!" cried Jason. One of the guards nudged him in the back
with the gun. He elbowed the guard in the face and leapt forward.
Immediately, the guards were all over him and he could only watch
helplessly as TuMaHaB inhaled all of his breath for one final wave of
fire.

In the next moment, one of the opposing walls exploded in a wave of
flame and action. Slipgate, still in his draconian form, flew
backwards through the room, landing on his back to the right of
TuMaHaB. TuMaHaB turned his head to look whilst Slipgate crawled to
his feet.

In the room Slipgate exited rather quickly over two hundred guards
were in the midst of battling it out with Linda and Atma. Several
guards charged into the room via the exploded wall, followed by Bob
and Umato.

Bob chanted quickly and a gigantic icicle covered the guards chasing
Slipgate. They stopped in midstride, stuck in the ice.

Slipgate looked over the scene, saw what was about to happen to Kim,
and leapt at TuMaHaB angrily.

Immediately, Kim was free. TuMaHaB and Slipgate wrestled on the floor
a good distance away and Kim realized this to be the best moment to
act. Quickly, she stood up and surveyed the situation.

Jason, Mary, Greg, and Cherubae all were currently battling it out
hand-to-hand with about two dozen guards and Elena. To the side, Reno,
Rude, and Edwyn were talking casually as if oblivious to the whole
drama taking part around them. Atma, Linda, and the two hundred
soldiers were beginning to move from the other room into the bigger
chamber by means of simple unintentional step and group hoarding. And,
on the floor, TuMaHaB and Slipgate were fighting each other, cutting
each other quite badly with claws and doing quite a job of suntanning
each other with fire breath.

Where did Kim fit in all of this? She walked, feeling numb, over to the
cooling lance that had been Kain's and picked it up again. She looked
the area over again, looking to see where she could do the most good,
then decided. Those Turks had no right to ignore the tragedy that had
just transpired, even if one of them used to be her friend. They had
to be taught a lesson about emotions. And she'd be the one to teach
them.

With a primal roar that went beyond all words and manners, she rushed
toward the Turks with a vengeance.

"Uh oh," Reno said as she approached. "This might take some time."

"Don't worry about it," said Edwyn. "Go to the Donut Shop... I'll meet
up with you later..."

"You sure, man? I mean, it's an awful lot to ask..."

"I'm sure, I'm sure... Don't worry about me. You two go! I'll see you
later!"

"See you," Reno said. "Come on, Rude."

Rude nodded and the two headed off out the doors.

"Hi, Kim!" Edwyn said with a smile as he pulled out a sword. "How've
you been doing these days?"

Kim slashed forward with Kain's lance, only growling in response.

Edwyn ducked and sliced at Kim's leg, just knicking her knee.

Kim stabbed at Edwyn's backside. He groaned in pain and grabbed the
lance around the tip.

Kim stepped forward and kicked him in the face. Edwyn cried out and
fell over.

Reno and Rude exited the building.

Kim roared and leapt past Edwyn.

Edwyn grabbed her ankle as she did so, sending her to the floor with a
sprained ankle. She cried out and stabbed the lance into Edwyn's
shoulder. He still clung on.

"Goddammit!" Kim cried, kicking Edwyn in the face with her uninjured
leg. Edwyn dropped her leg this time, allowing her time to get to her
feet, turn toward Edwyn, and begin to strangle him.

"Edwyn!" Kim heard the voice of Elena behind her. "Get away from him!"

Next thing Kim knew, Elena had leaped onto her back and was beginning
to strangle her.

Meanwhile, Jason, Mary, Greg, and Cherubae were having the fight of
their life (or the equivalent, thereof) battling against the many
surrounding guards attempting to hold them down.

Jason grabbed his sword from the guard who had taken it earlier and
beheaded the guard with it. He turned in a full circle, slicing
anything in his way - with the exception of his companions. He
actually got fairly close to beheading Mary, but raised the blade
above her head with only milliseconds to spare, due to momentum...

Mary grabbed her... tonfa from a nearby guard and ah... attacked it
with it.

Greg punched the guard holding his GFS Blade (sword...heh..heh) and
"stabbed" it with the "sword".

The guard holding Cherubae's boomerang saw her attack coming and threw
the boomerang at her. It flew easily into her hands, she grinned, and
she threw it back at the guard, cutting it in half, as well as beheading,
injuring, annoying, and causing general chaos with several other guards.
Within seconds, the boomerang flew back into her hand and she threw it at
the guards yet again.

Mary Tonfa'd a nearby guard and knocked it to the floor.

Jason did the equivalent of an Omnislash on a nearby guard, chopping it
to pieces.

Greg took off the "head" of another guard with his "sword."

After decapitating three-fourths of the remaining guards, Cherubae's
boomerang returned to her hands.

The remaining guards fled. As they ran, Cherubae casually threw her
boomerang at them and it flew, as if completely by aim at each,
cutting each in half with the tremendous force of it. However, as it
returned Cherubae's direction, there seemed to be a tremendous
miscalculation on her part, for, instead of returning to Cherubae's
hands, the boomerang flew into Mary's jaw.

"Oh! Mary!" cried Cherubae, alarmed, as she ran toward her fallen
companion. "Are you alright? Are you alive? Can I help?"

Mary's only response was a groan. She no longer was in any shape to
defeat any more enemies with her... tonfa?

"Go!" cried Elena at Edwyn. "You've got an important meeting with the
rest of the Turks! Don't make my brave, Turkish sacrifice go to vain!"

Rubbing his jaw, Edwyn pulled himself to his feet. "Thank you, Elena,"
he murmured before limping out the fire exit the direction the rest of
the Turks had gone.

"No prob...Shriek!" she shrieked as Kim, with a tremendous burst of
strength, knocked her off of her back.

Elena stood up once more and assumed a Karate Kid-type position facing
Kim.

"Now..." she said in an ancient voice. "We see who is the true
master."

It was at this point that Jason and Greg rushed over to Kim and Elena
(Cherubae was still attending to Mary), weapons drawn.

Kim raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Shit..." muttered Elena, before chanting a Warp spell and disappearing in
a flash of light.

Kim's cynic side attempted to reason that what she just saw could not
have been and that she was hallucinating. Her young, open-minded side
reasoned that anything was possible. Outwardly, almost nothing read on
her face.

While all of this happened, Bob, Linda, Atma, and Umato were in the
heat of battle, fighting over two hundred different soldiers via
swordplay and the firing of different sorts of guns. This in itself
was amazing - that is, the four of them keeping up a battle lengthily
with over two hundred different soldiers - but what was even more
amazing was the simple fact that they were winning.

Slipgate couldn't much say the same thing. He had finally met his match
in battle with TuMaHaB. Neither were gaining much ground, but the two were
both scratched all over the face and the body, burnt by the searing heat of
the other's fire breath, and getting really, really, exhausted.

"Damn you!" TuMaHaB growled. "Why..." he blocked one claw swipe from
Slipgate. "Won't..." he swiped at Slipgate's stomach, entirely
missing. "You..." Slipgate smashed him in the face with both clawed
hands. "Die!?" TuMaHaB smashed Slipgate in the face with both clawed
hands.

"Funny..." murmured Slipgate inbetween swipes. "I was really thinking
of asking you the same thing."

Slipgate's gigantic tail smacked TuMaHaB in the face. In return,
TuMaHaB knocked Slipgate across the room with one hard push.

Both slowly stood up into battle positions once more. "I am REALLY
tiring of this," growled TuMaHaB.

"Me too," Slipgate admitted. "I want to go home, see my son, maybe we
can plan a vacation to the Caribbean or something..."

TuMaHaB hit Slipgate in the face. Slipgate recoiled violently by
exhaling another long, burning breath of fire into TuMaHaB's face.

"Really? You have a son?" TuMaHaB muttered casually. "Me too. My son's
off killing so-called Dragon Slayers in the West and attempting to find
a specific artifact which would render all of AGFF's powers useless
against our tremendous strength."

TuMaHaB's tail whipped out and hit Slipgate in the butt. Slipgate winced
and threw his weight into knocking TuMaHaB over onto the floor. Slipgate
held up his claws as if to attack, then shrugged.

"You think that's something?" Slipgate said with a hoarse laugh. "MY
son's off on the moon trying to get past the Invaders so that he can
talk to FuSoYa. His plan is to return the leader of the Relm Defenders
to his place of power so that he can come back and save Relm, returning
glory to the name of Relm."

TuMaHaB (who now realized who Craxton was) kicked Slipgate in the stomach
and grinned maliciously as Slipgate fell painfully backwards ten to twelve
meters away. TuMaHaB flew forward, inhaling another long breath of fire,
then exhaled it slowly and replied.

"You know, it's odd. When we're around our sons, we often treat them
like dirt. We show none of this fatherly pride in their presence.
Instead, we send them off to do menial chores for us. The only times
we show very much love often are at familial reunions, y'know what I
mean?"

Slipgate leaped up and charged at TuMaHaB, intent on clawing into his
neck. TuMaHaB flew backwards, hitting Slipgate in the face with his tail
as he sumersaulted, then flew forward, knocking Slipgate off of his feet
yet again.

"I know what you mean," Slipgate admitted. "I do _the_ _very_ _same_
thing! I think we should learn to show them more respect _in_ their
presence, rather than the alternative. I mean, it's fine and great
that we brag right here and now, but when they're around... I hate to
say this, but... We're often overbearing. So, yeah, I do know what
you're saying! I think we should learn something from this and, when
we see our sons again, we should give 'em a big hug and say 'I DO
understand you, son. And I really care about you. You've made a lot
out of your life - and I wanted to tell you how thankful I am for your
presence in my life' --- instead of keeping our feelings locked
inside. I mean, what kind of familial relationship is that!? My Bob,
now that I think about it, I realize how wrong I've been... I need to
seek a path of familial redemption, since I'm not gonna be around
forever and I need to be at peace with my son before I die, just as he
needs the same thing. Bob, I feel like dirt. I mean, geez!"

TuMaHaB paused, looking upwards sadly. "I sometimes dream of being a
great-grandfather one day with many, many children, grandchildren, and
great-grandchildren in my name. I feel that would make my life more
meaningful than any amount of conquering, killing, and slaughter. When
faced with the love of family, none of that really means that much ---
that's my dream. Tell me, Slipgate, and tell me true: what do you dream
about?"

"Well, I've had a recurring dream in the past little while where I'm
this little fish in a pond, trying to swim back toward the main school
of fish, but somehow lost. And all around me are these blue turtles,
singing Sting Classics, and staring me down. And then, I see my school
of fish again... They are just in front of me, within reach. I call
for them, and they turn around, inviting me back into their presence.
And just as I'm about to return to my main school of fish, just as I'm
about to find what I've always strived for but couldn't name, JUST
THEN, one of the blue turtles stops in the middle of one of the Sting
Classics, making a terrible screeching noise, and eats me. I don't know
what that symbolizes, but it can't be good."

Slipgate almost casually swiped at TuMaHaB. He missed by a mile.

"Hmmmm... You're right, it sounds a bit depressing. Have you consulted a
psychiatrist or a shaman about this? Maybe they could enlighten you
further to your dream.. I've never had dreams like that. Most of my
insight comes when I'm awake and need it most," TuMaHaB muttered
helpfully.

"I'll try that. Thanks," Slipgate said.

"No problem."

"Nice talking to you."

"Nice talking to you too."

The two glared hatefully at each other for a moment. Then both
roared and charged at each other. With the last of his energy
reserves, Slipgate slammed TuMaHaB in the side of the head with
his clawed arms. He was aware of the same thing happening to him
at the same time. He and TuMaHaB flew backwards in opposing
directions at the same time and he found himself reverting to
his weaker human form unconsciously. His last sensation, before
blacking out completely, was a form of victory: TuMaHaB was
reverting back to Mr. X.

Mr. X stood up, brushed himself off, and cussed. "Ow..." he muttered.
"That fight has left me sore all over." In front of him, Slipgate, in
his robed humanoid form, lay unconscious and unmoving. In his own way,
Mr. X had won... but he now was so weak that he barely had enough energy
to move.

A door behind him opened, and Mr. X turned around to face Unright.
Unright's eyes were glazed over like a zombie's; in truth, Unright was
a bit of a zombie. The same technology Mr. X had used to turn Edwyn
into a Turk had been used to turn Unright into a mind-slave.

"What is it?" Mr. X growled impatiently.

"I've finished the tests, sir... Relm's DNA has been taken."

"Good! Good!" Mr. X laughed. "Then I guess we no longer need her, now
do we?

"Shall I exterminate her, sir?"

"No... Leave that to me."

Mr. X was somewhat limping as he headed toward the door.

"Kill anyone who attempts to follow me...understand?" Mr. X growled at
Unright.

"Yes, sir!" Unright nodded. "You can leave it to me, sir."

"Good." Without another word, Mr. X pushed Unright aside and slammed
the door behind him.

"We have to stop him!" cried Jason, rushing toward Cherubae. "I heard
a bit of that... he means to kill Relm!"

Kim and Greg stepped up to Jason and Cherubae. "Jason's right," Greg
said hastily. "We have no time!"

"Assuming Relm exists..." Kim muttered, "she's too young to die. I
agree."

Cherubae looked down at the injured Mary. "And what do I do with Mary...?"

"Leave her," Jason said. "There's nothing more you can do for her now,
and I doubt she's in any danger. Most of the enemy forces have been
taken out and the surviving soldiers have more on their mind than
killing Mary."

Cherubae seemed reluctant, but she nodded. She slowly eased Mary to the
floor. "I'll be back for you, Mary," she said simply. "I promise."

Cherubae stood up. "Okay, I'm ready now. Let's go."

Jason nodded and the four rushed toward the door being guarded by
Unright.

"Unright! You've got to let us through!" Jason cried.

"Sorry, I can't. If you try, I will kill you."

"Oh, for Bob's sake..." Jason slapped his hand against his forehead. A
lightbulb appeared above his head. "Oh, wait a moment."

Jason began to chant softly under his breath. Then:

"SLEEP!" Jason cried, his voice sounding of an incredible power. He
pointed toward Unright. Unright fell over, drowsily.

"Good..." Jason muttered. "I didn't want to kill him, since he's obviously
not himself... Just like Edwyn. Let's go..."

Jason pushed Unright out of the way and threw open the door. He rushed
through, followed by Kim, Greg, and Cherubae.

======

Mr. X ran up to Chris Johnson. "Bologna Cow!" he cried. "If anyone comes
through this area, you must kill them!"

They were in the lab where many Relm clones had been created - there were
some here now, in stasis. Though no activity was currently going on in the
lab, Unright had spent hours taking DNA samples from the real Relm and giving
them to Chris Johnson and Mr. X. Now that the final DNA samples had been
taken, Relm was no longer needed. Relm herself - the original, that is -
stood chained to the wall. She appeared to be unconscious.

"Why... ..." murmured Chris Johnson as Mr. X unlocked the chains locking
Relm to the wall. "Are you _expecting_ anyone to come?"

Relm opened her eyes as soon as she was unchained and punched Mr. X in
the face. Mr. X fell backwards. His lip now bled.

"Bitch!" Mr. X cried, slapping Relm across the face. "You are coming
with me."

To accentuate this point, Mr. X pulled his sword out of its sheath and
held it to Relm's throat.

"Remember," Mr. X growled at Chris Johnson as he kicked the fire exit
door to the roof open. "If ANYONE AT ALL comes through here, you are
to kill them. That's an order."

"Yes, sir," Chris Johnson said almost to himself as the door slammed
behind Mr. X and Relm.

======

Jason, Kim, Greg, and Cherubae ran through the dark hallway, up an
incredibly long staircase, and to the nearest (and only) door. Jason
threw it open and rushed in, followed by the others. What he saw made
him gape.

The room in itself was gigantic; not as gigantic as the main chamber
they had all just left, but, still, nevertheless, gigantic. Unlike the
last one, this one was lit from top to bottom with electric white lights,
brightening the room in a modern sort of way. None of this had anything
to do with what made Jason gape. What made Jason gape was, simply:

"Relm clones...." Jason gasped. Tons and tons of them, in fact. In
canisters filled with a waterlike liquid. With syringes in their arms.

"Dear Bob..." Cherubae murmured.

"This is _disgusting_..." Greg growled.

Kim could find no words to match the incredible horror she felt.

"I'll take the ones on the right," Cherubae said to Jason, her boomerang
already in hand. "You can take the ones on the left."

"Sounds good to me," said Jason, pulling his sword out of its sheath.

"At the count of three," Cherubae said. "One... Two..."

"Wait," said a voice from in front of them. "I think you much more...
urgent matters at hand. Mr. X is about to kill Relm, and you have me
standing in your way."

In front of them stood Chris Johnson, dressed in a white lab coat like
Unright had been.

"Oh, please," Jason growled. "We don't have time for this."

"Which is," Chris Johnson reasoned, "the exact reason why Mr. X is
putting all of these barriers in your way. However, I digress..." he
murmured. "You don't need so many barriers."

Chris Johnson pulled a remote out of his shirt pocket and pressed a
button. Every canister broke in a sudden flurry of movement. Jason
winced and slammed his eyes shut as glass flew every possible
direction.

Unright's Armadillo crawled out of the ruins of one of the broken canisters
soaking wet, looked around, squeaked, and went back into hiding in the glass
ruins.

"Happy?" Chris asked mockingly. "I took a task that would have undoubtedly
cost effort on your part and I did it myself. You can thank me now if you
like."

"Chris..." Jason muttered, stepping forward. "I am going to kill you."

"No, no, I'm afraid that's not possible.. You see..." Chris paused a moment
and stared Jason in the eyes. "NONE of you have the power to destroy..."

Chris's body shook and started to slowly transform into a more gigantic
creature. Amazement and fright filled the heroes, as they watched Chris
Johnson morph into a gigantic Cow made entirely of Bologna. "NEO-Bologna
Cow!"

Jason, Kim, Greg, and Cherubae got themselves in fighting positions,
ignoring the glass on the floor they stepped on.

Out of Chris's mouth came four perfectly square ice cubes of milk.

Jason leapt out of the way to avoid an ice cube coming his way.

Kim ducked just barely out of the way of an ice cube aimed at her.

Greg kicked the ice cube heading toward him, knocked it aside, and
sprained his ankle.

An ice cube hit Cherubae head on, knocking her unconscious to the
floor.

Jason charged at Neo-Bologna Cow and slashed him with his blade.

Neo-Bologna Cow kicked Jason aside, ran around in a circular fashion
much like a chicken without a head, and screamed. "Eek! Warp, Warp,
WARP!!!"

Neo-Bologna Cow disappeared in a flash of light. Kim, watching, found
herself no longer surprised by the Warp spell she had seen in effect so
many times this night.

Jason rushed over to Cherubae and checked her pulse. She was still
breathing and her heart was still beating. "She's alive," he admitted.
He looked up at Greg. "Can you walk?"

Greg stepped forward and collapsed. "...No..." he began, "I guess
not."

"Then..." Jason looked desperate. The familiar idea light bulb appeared
above his head. "Hey! Greg, I don't suppose you could watch over Cherubae
while we rescue Relm?"

"I can't do much else," Greg growled. "Sure."

"C'mon, Kim," Jason said, leaping to his feet and charging toward the
door leading outside.

======

Midnight had passed long ago, and the wind that whipped harshly against the
faces of Relm and Mr. X certainly could be described as intense. Relm felt
like she had just entered the realm of death itself, in the lack of any
outside light save the electric white light shining from the edge of the
rooftop and the faraway lights of something approaching.

"Now, look," Mr. X growled at her. "You know why I am taking you with
me?"

"Humor me," Relm replied.

"Because you've behaved well early on. No other reason. I've decided to
take mercy on you - temporarily - to take a few more blood tests. Happy?"

"Darn you," Relm growled hatefully.

"Is that any way to talk to the person who's saved your life?" Mr. X
went on sardonically. "Now come on, a helicopter will be coming for me
momentarily. I just want you to know that, in my own way, I care."

"After what you've done... not only to me, but to Edwyn, Unright,
Chris Johnson, and all the rest... I don't care if you save my life.
You mean nothing to me. Kill me if you will, but you will have gained
nothing."

"SHUT UP!" Mr. X slapped Relm in the face again. "I can make you feel
true pain... Don't make me destroy you."

The sound of helicopter propellors could be heard - first distant, then
nearer. The sound grew louder and Mr. X's helicopter came closer with each
passing moment.

"Ah, here it comes..." Mr. X said with a smile. "Our escort, my dear..."

"Oh, let me hold my breath," Relm replied sarcastically. "Honestly, why
don't you just kill me right now?"

"Mr. X!" yelled a voice from the roof exit door. "This has gone far
enough!"

Mr. X turned around. Facing him stood a stone-faced Jason. Behind him,
Kim Wild stood, looking confused, frightened, and... angry.

"You know, my dear," Mr. X whispered to Relm, "I think you're right."

"Both of you!" roared Mr. X, holding the blade right up against Relm's
neck. "Stop!" When they didn't, he continued, "You want to be the ones
responsible for Relm's death?"

Jason and Kim stopped in midstride. Jason shivered as he stared up at
Mr. X. "Why, Mr. X?" he inquired softly. "Why are you doing this?"

Mr. X laughed in response. "Why?" he chuckled. "Simply this. I had Relm
kidnapped in plain view not so much because I needed any army of Relms to
attack AGFF. I wanted Kim and especially Kain of the AGFFSDIAIA to come
right into my trap. AND IT WORKED. Now, after many years of waiting to kill
Kain Aron Highwind after what HE DID to ME and _MY_ ORG-AN-I-ZAT-ION, I have
finally succeeded. This day , my old foe finally died."

Relm, held unmoving by the sword of Mr. X, looked perfectly innocent and
afraid, Jason noticed. She looked so sweet. She didn't deserve this.
Inwardly, he made a wordless promise to defend Relm from this point on, and
end his defiling ways forever. After seeing Relm's face - the look of
innocent, pure terror, telling him how all the rumors about her, Interceptor,
and FuSoYa could never be true - on this dark night, his conscience would
never allow him to be again among those who terrified and hurt her with the
insults and defiling that he had done for several years already. Perhaps it
was not too late to salvage a friendship with Relm Arrowney.

"Next up, I suppose," continued Mr. X, "is Dave G.... he has permanently
scarred my beautiful face and I cannot have that. Please warn him. It
won't do any good. The plot that will soon kill Dave is already begun...
I'm no longer going to even have to think about it -- Dave will be dead
in about a week. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!"

"Fine, fine..." Jason gasped. "Just let Relm go. Please...!"

"Ha Ha Ha! You want her?" Mr. X growled. "You got her."

Mr. X whirled Relm around in front of him. Relm screamed. Mr. X dropped
his sword to the ground. He pulled another sword, as dark as the night
sky, from its scabbard around his waist and held it evenly in front of
him. Jason and Kim's eyes widened. Mr. X raised the blade. His sword
glimmered evilly like something alive. He stabbed the sword deep into
Relm's back. The blade easily went straight through into Relm's stomach,
covered with blood on the exit.

Time seemed to come to a screeching halt. Relm now faced Kim and Jason,
and they saw on her face a genuine look of surprise and of confusion as
if she didn't even understand death yet. Behind her, Mr. X smirked. Relm
fell to her knees, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Relm!!!" cried Jason, horrified.

Mr. X pulled his sword out of Relm's back. She fell onto her stomach,
blood spilling from both sides of her wound. Her eyes went up in her
head and her eyelids closed.

"Don't push me," Mr. X said, staring Jason in the eyes while cleaning
the blood off of his blade with his shirt. "I SAID I'd kill her if I
had to."

Jason rushed over to Relm without a word and held her body in his arms.
It was too late. He had never seeked redemption for his defiling and now
it was too late. He had detected the innocence of Relm only when there
was no more time to earn her forgiveness. He began to sob openly,
realizing that he could not care less if the world was to end right at
that moment.

"Y-You cold hearted bastard!" Kim screamed, only her years of doubting
Relm's existence keeping her from outright crying. "How could you!? She
was only 12!"

"When you've seen death enough, you can deal it without a moment's
remorse," Mr. X said, a mocking smile forming on his lips. "On anybody.
What's your problem, miss scientist, miss no-such-thing-as-magic, miss
relm-doesn't-exist? Going by your logic, nothing just happened. Are you
hallucinating? Are you on drugs? Or have you changed your mind?"

Kim brandished Kain's lance again - finding herself strangely comforted
as it gleamed a white, magical glow in her hands - and stared Mr. X in
the eye. "None of that matters anymore," she said evenly, coldly. "You
have killed two wonderful people right before my eyes, one of which I
cared for more than I care for life itself. And you've probably killed
many more besides. Your killing spree is over. Fight me now, Mr. X, or
admit to your cowardice."

A grim smile formed on Mr. X's face. "I may be many things, Kim, but I
am no coward. Very well. Let us do battle."

Kim stepped forward. _Oh, Kain,_ she thought nervously. _Let your
energy flood through me. Give me the power to avenge you._

Kim looked to Jason as if to tell him not to interfere, then noticed
that he was in a different world altogether. Holding Relm in his arms,
he stood up and walked away from the main battlefield, sobbing all the
while.

"I'll have to take my sword to the cleaners," sneered Mr. X. "The
blood of you two will take away its magnificent gleam."

"I fight for every person you've ever killed. Their vengeance flows
through my veins and that will be what ultimately kills you."

Mr. X and Kim faced each other, each holding their separate weapons. Mr.
X's sword gleamed with darkness, Kim's lance gleamed with light. Mr. X
stepped forward, looked Kim in the eye, and charged.

Kim leaped into action, holding Kain's lance up in front of her and barely
avoiding the sharp metal of Mr. X's blade in its downward thrust. She
clumsily stabbed forward at Mr. X, managing to cut into his upper sword
arm. She pulled the lance from the wound, and was surprised at how quickly
blood began to spill. Mr. X shook all over momentarily and sliced at Kim.

Something told Kim to duck and, almost unconsciously, she lowered herself
to just below where Mr. X's sword would have beheaded her if she hadn't
done so. Kim stabbed at Mr. X's stomach, drawing even more blood, and Mr. X
began to cough. He fell back, lowering his sword and continuing to cough
madly.

_Would it be right,_ Kim wondered, _if I were to stab him while he coughs
and cannot fight back? Or would that be degenerating to his level?_

"U'umba nuo^va, giela, froon..." muttered Mr. X under his breath. His
coughing had ceased, but he was still constantly shaking as if he were
having a seizure.

"What...?" Kim began. _What the hell is he doing?_

A good distance away, - though still on the roof - Jason sorrowfully lowered
Relm onto a skylight and watched the blood from her still-bleeding wounds
drip down onto the glass and cover the whole skylight with a fountain of red.

"I've failed you, Relm," Jason said softly. "I was a defiler at heart for
such a long time... until I saw the look on your face... and realized that
what I had been doing for so long... was... wrong. I wanted to gain
redemption, to become an official defender, but now it's too late... I've
failed you... You're dead........ And all I can think is how much I must
have hurt you time and time again by making those Interceptor jokes, by
claiming you were in a relationship with FuSoYa, by claiming... Relm....
How can I ever redeem myself? You died knowing me as an enemy, not a
friend... ...How can I ever redeem myself?"

Relm opened her eyes and softly said, "I forgive you, Jason... Be strong."

"R-Relm?"

Relm closed her eyes again, never to open them again.

Mr. X no longer seemed to care if Kim heard him. His chanting no longer
was under his breath and he shouted the odd seemingly meaningless words
out as if they were words of power. His shaking had slowed to a minimum,
and he was waving his arms about at Kim.

"Kim!" cried Jason, running toward her from a good distance away. "Watch...
Out...!'

But it was too late. Mr. X's chanting stopped very suddenly and, when
Kim turned back to look at him, he had disappeared altogether.

"Wha...?" she began.

In front of Kim, a circular wheel of rock with a pentagram carved into
it appeared on the rooftop where Mr. X had previously stood. It twisted
and turned momentarily before stopping its movement moments later - at
this point, the pentagram was upside down in relation to Kim. Kim's eyes
widened as, growing out of the rooftop itself, large stone poles appeared
on each point of the pentagram. A small circular table, also apparently
made of stone, appeared on the center of the pentagram as if out of nowhere
and on it an ancient-looking black cauldron rested, smoke coming out of it
in small whiffs as if it contained a soup. Above it, an unlit chandelier also
appeared. Though there was no ceiling for the chandelier to hang from, it did
so as if there were in the area of the top of the stone poles. It swung
chaotically as, from the shadows, a darkly robed entity with the face of a
skull and red, glowing eyes, stepped forward and touched the cauldron with
one skeletal finger.

Kim stepped backwards, frightened, as a ghostly eerie chanting emanated
from within the closely-tied cowl of the entity's cloak. The skeletal
arms - hands now very obviously skinless - moved around over the cauldron,
feeling through the colored smoke.

Then, most suddenly, the smoke flew out of the cauldron in a quick rush of
wind, heading toward Kim. She stood transfixed as the cold smoke washed over
her and she felt skeletal hands pushing her back forcefully...

Kim flew backwards, slamming her eyes shut against the pain that suddenly
gripped her. She felt her entire body begin to ache and it was all she could
do to avoid blacking out.

"You bastard..." growled Jason, charging at the reappearing Mr. X. "That
wasn't fair! She doesn't know magic!"

Holding his sword over his head, Jason jumped at Mr. X and sliced down
at him. Mr. X hastily blocked the slash with his own sword and sliced
at Jason, who also blocked.

"'Magic'?" Mr. X sneered, making fun of Kim's voice. "There's no such
thing as magic!"

Jason stabbed at Mr. X - who leapt backwards, completely out of the
way. A small distance from the main battlefield, Kim slowly crawled to
her feet, despite an intense burning pain covering her body.

Jason leaped at Mr. X again, cutting him in the waist. Though the wound
itself was not large, Mr. X staggered from the blow.

"Enough!" roared Mr. X. "My battle is with Kim, not you."

"You're weakening, Mr. X," Jason said with a smile. "The combined power of
Kain, Slipgate, Kim, and myself is finally taking its toll."

"I am not!" growled Mr. X, though, in his staggering, it was becoming very
apparent that he was. "I'll show you..."

"Please do," Jason said. "Morph back into TuMaHaB. Eliminate us in that
form. After all, if you aren't weakening, that should be no problem for you
whatsoever."

Mr. X paused, and hate grew quickly in his features. It was like a wave of
darkness covered his entire body, making him appear almost nothing more than
a shadow. Jason knew the conversation had ended.

Kim searched through her bag and found only one remaining potion. "I'd
better make this one worth it,.." she muttered before taking it all down
in one swift gulp.

Mr. X jumped at Jason and let loose a wave of pitch-black evil energy
from his body. The darkness flew at Jason, covering him for a moment,
and knocked him off of his feet.

Light and dark electricity covered Mr. X's sword in an impressive display
of hatred turned material. Mr. X leaped into the air at Jason, pointing his
sword downward at him. Jason's eyes widened and he rolled out of the way
with less than a second to spare.

The sword hit the rooftop and a thunderclap could be heard from the sword.
Mr. X pulled it up out of the roof yet again and, as Kim and Jason looked
on in horror, the small bolts of lightning that covered his sword started
covering Mr. X's arms and upper midsection. In the space of less than a
minute, his entire body was covered with lightning of light and dark.

Mr. X roared like some manner of animal and his body shifted its shape. For
a moment, his whole upper body started to morph into the draconian face of
TuMaHaB, then shrinked again. This time, the humanoid form did not appear.
The whole upper body now was like an ever-moving blob.

"My God..." Kim gasped. "What... is... he?"

"All of the hatred he has ever felt, I think..." Jason muttered, "and,
if so, that is quite a lot."

By now, Mr. X had lost all semblance of being a human being. His form had
grown larger - though not nearly as large as TuMaHaB. He had the legs and
arms of Mr. X, albeit quite a bit larger, and the scaly, reptilian back of
TuMaHaB. His maw, filled with pitch-black, sharp, pointy teeth, opened, and
he roared. It was the most terrifying sound Kim had ever heard: it was
half-human, half-animal.

Mr. X's escort helicopter approached the building and stopped moving for a
moment. Then it flew above the entire battlefield and swerved about on the
other side of the building, turning back the way it had came.

Mr. X, even as far away from Kim and Jason as he was, swung his electrified
sword their direction. Kim's eyes widened even further - if that was at all
possible - as two gigantic waves of dark energy, covered by lightning bolts
alike to the ones on the sword itself, flew at both.

Not knowing anything else to do, Kim held her lance in front of her and
hoped for the best. It shined bright white again as she did so.

The wave headed for her stopped as it touched the tip of her lance. Her
lance shined bright white and shot out a wave of bright light. Within
moments, the hate energy dissipated entirely.

Jason, however, was not so lucky. He too held his sword in front of him -
but his sword was not a sword of light. It was simply a well-forged sword.
The wave of darkness went right through the blade and hit him head-on.
Jason fell back, as if hit by a locomotive, and did not get back up.

An odd sensation filled Kim's body and she rushed at the shadow form of
Mr. X fearlessly. Mr. X opened his maw once more and let out yet another
inhuman roar. It was at this point that Kim plunged the shining White
Lance into Mr. X's shadow stomach.

The lance went straight through Mr. X's stomach and light shot from the
lance in all directions. Waves of light filled Mr. X's body and he
screamed in pain. His shadow form surged and shook, attempting to get
away from the White Lance, but it was too late. The lance was embedded
firmly in his stomach. He screamed again and the shadows flew from his
body in one gigantic wave, flying away toward the sky.

And, most suddenly, the magic of the moment disappeared. Mr. X now simply
looked like Mr. X, his mouth wide open and his eyes glazed, staring
accusingly at Kim. Her White Lance no longer gleamed with that bright holy
light. Now it was just another lance. And she had just killed another human
being.

Shivering with the thought, Kim pulled the bloody lance from Mr. X's stomach
and stepped away, wanting the staring, accusing eyes of Mr. X's corpse to
disappear from her mind. Above her, she could hear the propellors of the
helicopter passing by and she was only just barely aware of the helicopter
setting down on the roof a few metres away from her and someone killing the
engine.

Kim looked toward the helicopter only at the sound of a helicopter door
opening and the sound of feet hitting the ground. What she saw was no
major surprise.

Tseng of the Turks quickly walked over to the body of Mr. X, leaned over,
checked for a pulse, and stood back up. "I see you have killed Mr. X," he
said simply. "Unfortunately, this only complicates matters. His son, a
ruthless entrepeneur with dreams of one day controlling all technological
civilization and all magic will be alerted and given command of Mr. X's
branch of the Organization. He'll be given control over the Clone Subdivision
and he'll most certainly continue cloning Relms, and others as well."

Tseng paused.

"I do hope he does not make a Sephiroth clone," Tseng continued. "I'd have
a hard time being on the same side as a Sephiroth."

With that, Tseng walked back the direction of his helicopter. As he
approached it, however, he stopped, and turned to face Kim. "Oh, by the
way," he said. "Kain is alive. I thought you might want to know."

"Wh-Wh-What!?" Kim cried out, for the first time paying any attention to
the thin, dark-haired Turk. Tseng stepped into the helicopter and slammed
the helicopter door shut behind him.

"Hey! Wait!" Kim cried, running toward the helicopter. The propellors
started as she approached and the helicopter set off into the sky.

"Come back here! What do you know about Kain? Where is he? How is he?
Hey, wait!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Come baaaaaaack!"

However, Kim could only watch as the helicopter took off into the
darkness and eventually disappeared from sight all-together.

Kim fell hopelessly onto her hands and knees, sighing. Nothing was the same
anymore. She looked up into the sky and saw the Dragoon Constellation.

"KAIN!" she cried, getting to her feet again and raising her fists to the
sky. "You're still there, Kain! And I'll find you, I promise! You're all I
have left and I won't let you die again!"

Her voice seemed to echo, despite the lack of walls. Tseng had given her
new hope.

======

Elsewhere,..

The old man shuffled slowly across the dirty stone floor of the Lunarian
Prison he had been trapped in for an indeterminable amount of time. The
chains around his legs wore him down, hunger filled his being, and he
barely had the strength to continue to stay awake. But he continued,
slowly and surely, toward the window.

The old man stared out the window at the planet above him, filled suddenly
with an urge to return to AGFF - an urge he had not felt so strongly since
the first few weeks he had been trapped in the cell. All of a sudden, he
felt needed, like he had something to return to.

Relm.... the name echoed in his head. He had a sudden feeling of despair,
in contrast to the feeling of hope he had gained earlier that evening.
Something was horribly wrong.

All of a sudden, he knew he had lost her forever. Sorrow and pain filled
his being, as did a strong feeling of rage. Somewhere inside, he found
himself seeking revenge. One day, he knew he would return to the planet -
and when that day came, he would be ready to kill those who had taken
someone he had held dear in his heart away from him forever.
 

• JonnyWorld

• Clonewars Menu

• Fiction Main Menu