CHAPTER THREE-
Run!


There's always a point when you think things couldn't possibly get any worse, and then they do. You don't even have to jinx the situation, they just get worse. Sora's life works like that, things just get worse, heck, he spent an entire year sleeping because he lost his memory, fortunately through the years he was able to regain all that lost time, including what happened at Castle Oblivion. And here he was, with Lightning, about to be killed by who knows what, fun times.

Sora scanned the room, hoping to find an alternative, but there wasn't one. Just one exit, and no weapons. Lightning's weapon was taken to the armory, which was in the next room, but to go there they'd be right in clear view of the stairs. He didn't know how many there were, but Sora knew he could fight, and he certainly knew Lightning could handle herself.

"How do you want to do this?" Lightning asked.

"Let's take 'em head on," Sora stated grimly. "If I'm gonna die, I'll die fighting."

The soldiers rounded the corner, that was probably not the enemy Sora was anticipating, these were foot soldiers to the Judges. One of them was a heavy gunner, three others carrying swords. Surprising them from above, Sora had decided to hang from one of the pipes that protruded from the ceiling. He swung down, kicking the gunner to the floor. Lightning revealed herself from one of the cells, jumping over one of the soldier's, grabbing his neck with her feet, and snapped it. Landing safely on the ground she tossed the man into the other two soldiers, grabbed the sword he was wielding, and shoved it into one of the men's chest.

Sora, acting swiftly, had grabbed the heavy gun and blasted the last soldier back into the wall, blowing a large hole through him just the same. Leaving no time for talk, Sora turned on his heel and escaped into the hall, with Lightning close behind. The two had finally come upon the armory, which unfortunately was locked. Snatching the sword from Lightning's grasp, Sora stabbed it into the lock, breaking the hold it had on the door, it slowly opened, and Sora motioned for her to go in as he tossed away the sword.

"Get your weapon."

Lightning nodded and hurried through, she discovered her sword placed atop a desk and inside a case, taking it back she folded it into its gun position and hooked it to her belt. She left the room to find Sora already on his way, it didn't take long for her to catch up though. They were now on their way up the stairs, and more explosions could be heard. Turning another corner, Sora was nearly struck by a blast from one of the soldiers, luckily he dodged out of the way and found himself inside some room. It was a memorial of sorts. In the center was a broken glass case with a sword with a strange emblem on its hilt.

He crept toward the sword as Lightning entered the room, firing off her gun.

"You really think this is the time for sight seeing?" She questioned annoyingly.

As she finished another group of soldiers entered the room from the windows, blasting it with guns. Lightning went on the offensive, transforming her gun into a sword, striking a blow to one of the heavy gunner soldiers.

Another soldier was preparing to stab Sora in the back, the young man didn't seem to have any clue. That was why the next action was so sudden; Sora had grabbed the sword by its hilt, swung his arm around, he produced a clean cut at the soldier's neck, who's head slid off soon after. Grey then proceeded to pounce into the air, jerking his sword in one swift strike, killing another of the men. Lightning wasn't far behind, now using her gun transformation, firing shots at the remaining soldiers.

Sora and Lightning now stood back-to-back. They were fairly close to the door, and they were low on exit opportunities.

"I love that little toy of yours," Sora told her with a smirk.

"I'll have to show you some of my other toys later," Lightning replied mischievously.

That was when another explosion shook the building, and this was directly outside the memorial walls.

"That was a missile," Sora stated.

"And?" Lightning asked.

"We're under attack by a ship!" Sora yelled as he ran from the room.

Lightning sprinted after Sora, who was jumping up the stairs he was running so fast, from the windows it was clear they were under heavy attack, fires were breaching the walls as an orange glow filled the afternoon air.

"I thought we needed to leave!" Lightning shouted.

Sora stopped abruptly just as another explosion hit.

"I'm curious," Sora told her. "and since I'm not a cat I'm safe."

"So you want to go directly to the firing ship!" Lightning rose her voice. "Yeah, that's smart!"

Sora had taken off once again, running on the near countless flights of stairs, but he wasn't tired. He was excited, leaving in this moment, in the heat of battle. He had no idea how much he missed it 'til now. Grabbing the rail connected to the stairs, Sora swung himself over it and then started down the hall, Lightning still close behind. Finally he slid to a stop, beyond him an open door, he stretched out his arm to stop Lightning, pressing against her chest.

"Wait," he whispered, motioning for her to kneel down.

Through the door were a squad of soldiers, all carrying heavily armed guns, two others stood with incredibly large swords. Sora could make out one of them speaking on a comm channel, saying they had lost contact with the group that was heading down to the holding room, they were requesting permission to head down there themselves, and it appeared they were granted it.

Grey tilted his hand forward, signaling for Lightning to take position on the opposite wall while the soldiers weren't looking, she obliged and hurried across. The young woman transformed her weapon into gun mode, wiping the beading sweat from her forehead. It was a large group of soldiers, who had more fire power than any of the others they had gone up against. Sora just knew it would be fun, he of course had no clue what Lightning was thinking. He had no idea that she herself was use to battles like these. Completely outgunned and outmatched, she figured it was a fair fight, as did Sora. They both thought alike in battle.

As Sora nodded for them to proceed with the attack, gunfire escaped into the halls, either one of the men had gone mad or something else was going on. Sora jumped out, finding one of the men increasingly close to him, acting quickly he swiped his sword, decapitating him. Lightning threw herself into the fire, blasting two of the soldier's dead, three others were taken out by their unseen ally, who was moving at incredible speeds.

The young Sora threw up his sword in a defensive position, blocking one of the soldier's critical blows, Sora shoved back, throwing the man off balance, and struck him in the heart. When the dust cleared, the soldiers were dead, and the man who interrupted their battle was revealed.

"Cloud, you took my kill!" Sora said, agitated.

"My bad," Cloud said, locking his sword into place on his specially made backpack.

Sora and Lightning proceeded forward, the two now standing opposite of Cloud, with a fair number of bodies surrounding them. And alot of blood on the walls, and on the ceiling. They had no idea how that got there.

"What's going on?" Sora asked. "These are the Judges foot soldiers."

"I wish I knew," Cloud admitted. "The Dreadnaught came out of nowhere and opened fire, I think it was under the Judges orders."

"Why the hell would they do that?" Lightning asked, clearly frustrated.

"I don't know," Cloud said. "We have to find out, and I think I know who has an idea."

"What are you talking about?" Sora wondered.

"Sora, you need to come with me, I have someone who wants to see you," Cloud revealed.

"And why would I do that?"

"Currently you're wanted, maybe we can change that," Cloud suggested.

"I'm listening," Sora replied dryly.

"Most of our ships have been compromised," Cloud explained. "The Docking Bay is our last shot, we can launch a ship from there."

"What Docking Bay?" Lightning asked.

"Seventy-two," Cloud answered. "We'll need to hurry."

The three sprinted out of the main hall and down a number of corridors. They finally came upon the docking bay, luckily they hadn't come across any further soldiers. None had made it here. The Dreadnaught had personally taken air over the docking bay just to make sure no ships could exit, this would certainly be a close one.

"So how are we getting a ship out of here?" Sora asked as they entered docking bay seventy-two.

"A friend of mine, Balthier, has an air shuttle we can use," Cloud said, now pointing at the air shuttle in question.

"Wow, it looks like crap," Sora said tiredly.

"It may not look it, but this is the fastest ship you'll find," a man said, Sora assumed it was Balthier.

A gun strapped to his back, a goatee carefully trimmed, he was well dressed, with dirty blond hair. This was clearly Balthier, it was proven even more when Cloud introduced him as such, one really can't argue with that. Unfortunately the Dreadnaught must've have scanned for life forms, because the docking bay had come under heavy fire. Balthier waved his arm to the ship, telling the others to get inside at once.

Sora was the last in as the gate closed and the ship prepared for take-off, Balthier had been prepping it since before they got there, so the ship was able to leave immediately. Firing its thrusters the air shuttle escaped into the air, flying passed the silver clad Dreadnaught, Balthier had taken much fire, and barely avoiding a collision with a powerful warhead missile.

"Alright!" Balthier exclaimed. "I've set up the coordinates, we should be there soon Cloud."

Sora took a seat beside Lightning, watching as the stars zoomed by the windows of the air shuttle. It was indeed fast, Sora would argue the point of it being the fastest, but at least they were alive. Cloud had come back and reported that they were on their to the location, but where was that exactly?

"Just who are we going to see?" Sora question, clearly annoyed that he had been left out of the loop.

"An old friend," Cloud revealed. "Yen Sid."

TO BE CONTINUED....