TITAL 2: Why did It Take Me So Long To Do This?

Standing up, Athez grins as he unleashes a massive wave of electricity down the chains and into the monster.

In a panic, Aleri used his mindlink to speak to Sora.

>Sora! Get as far away as you can! This facility is set to explode, and, well... I'm a little beyond rescue by now. Don't waste your time, just save yourself, and Rex. Just hurry up and get out of here, and make sure you get rid of that Jack bastard!<

Frustrated, he threw TELOS at the blank screen, shattering it to pieces.

<Must... preserve... drama...! Must... not... use Blizzaga... to freeze the explosives...! Ugh. If I were to just have Aleri shrug everything off, or find a way to stop stuff like this, he'd be boring. I'd rather he were dead than boring, apparently.>

Sora received Aleri's message, and his eyes widened.

>Are you kidding?! I can't just leave you there! Don't worry, I have another ship I can use for this.

With that, he activated the Transform-G again, shifting to what was essentially an upgraded Kingdom model, with all the Protect-G replaced with Dispel-G, as well as Thunder, Thundara, and Thundaga-G all mounted under the wings. On the underside of the ship were two Ultima-G lasers. Holy-G was mounted on the back of the Full-Life-G cockpit for added speed. The wings were a pair of Tornado-G pieces, each with a Float-G attached to the back of it, under which the shield was mounted on one side, as well as the Esuna and Transform on the other.

Sora put full throttle on the newest Highwind model, firing the lasers that found their specific targets in the roof, creating a hole easily large enough for Aleri to see the ship through.

>Jump!

Not wasting a second, Aleri crouched and sprung high into the air, flying out through the hole Sora had widened, somersaulting at the apex of his jump. The keyblader reached out and grabbed the nearest thing he could: the wing of the ship. Scampering for a better grip, he made his way to the deck and slipped inside.

"Sora, I'd hit you for not thinking about how you almost killed me yourself just now, and endangered yourself, but I think, in light of the fact that your gambit just saved my ass, we should just run. ...But seriously, if you hadn't been so lucky, you would've ignited those explosives. It's a miracle that I didn't just get blown up."

<Looks like Al doesn't get to die this time. ...Though, for the record, he would've survived. Disabled for a week, in excruciating pain, and left in a crater in the Overworld that would probably have filled with water (being near Onrac, a waterside city), but alive.>

Sora laughed in reply as he flew the Highwind away. "Relax, alright? I was using the lasers. I get to choose the target for those, you were gonna be fine."

"Well, it was more that it could've ignited the explosives. I mean, even ignoring the idea that the lasers themselves could've hit the explosives, which you couldn't have seen and thus would be unable to aim around, the burned edges of building where the lasers cut through could've fallen and hit 'em, detonating them anyway."

Sora: I guess they could, but they didn't, so...

Aleri: And, because of that... Thankyouthankyouthankyou! *Bows before Sora*
Rexial: *Rolls his eyes* ...And this guy's supposed to be tough...? He may be me, but he's never gonna be half the badass I am.

Sora: So, what happened in there?

Aleri: *Standing up, back to full seriousness* A horde of machines attacked me. I fended them off, and then a monitor turned on. Jack was on the screen, and he had the Fragarach.
Rexial: *Looking at the floor, depressed*
Aleri: He taunted me and said that we aren't the heroes. Then, he said that THEY weren't the heroes, either... Then, Sukiru brought the explosives to my attention, and I realized that I was screwed. Jack cut the connection, and I smashed the monitor in. Then... well, you know the rest.
Rexial: ...
Aleri: *Holding his head in one hand* If we're not the good guys, and they aren't, then who's the hero here?
Rexial: *Looks back up with renewed confidence* ...Tch, easy. Jack was spouting nonsense. Even if he meant what he said as anything other than confusing babble, it's simple logic: Neither of us is really "good". We're just two parties who oppose one another, neither one of us clearly labeled as the "good" side. It doesn't change anything. All it means is that I'll be sure to make it extra painful when I remove his spine.

It had been three hours.

Three hours and he already understood how dire of a situation that the anarchists were in.

They'd been fighting for years now. Ever since the start of the war that Sammy had mentioned so many times. Gaige's father had started the revolution hoping to overthrow the world's corrupt rulers... In their place, they got Sammy who turned out to be much, much worse.

"So, what's your situation now?" Xavier asked.

"We've recently lost a strong member to Sammy's forces. Her name was Red. I think she would've like you. She had this addiction to big guns." Gaige smiled sadly.

"Red? As in Little Red Riding Hood? She attacked our group with a core demon at the city walls. Minato was able to cleanse her though." Xavier said with an analytical demeanor.

"You found Red. Haha, no ****ing way! I knew she wouldn't die on us that easy." Mordecai laughed as the young sheep girl walked back from her room, unlike earlier she was dressed for combat like Gaige and Mordecai with the Vladof Sickle emblem on pinned to her shirt. The girl who Xavier had been introduced to as Bo was a wild spirit if he ever saw one and full of energy.

"So, when are we going?" She tapped the bell she wore around her neck and it became two greek chain blades.

Xavier laughed under his breath, "Heh, lamb of war..." He said to himself with a smile before returning to battle plans.

----------------

Lavarock chuckled as the electricity passes through him and directly into the ground, "Naive, you're attacks can do nothing against me!" He laughed as he tossed Athez into the air and slammed him into the ground once more.

Chuckling into the ground, Athez looks up and says, "The charge wasn't for you, big man." As he stands up fully, dozens of razor sharp spikes pop out of the ground, angled to skewer Lavarock.

The spikes shatter against Lavarock's hardened chest and back as he chuckles, "You're not much of a fight. More like a warm up."

"You don't know how right you are, asshole!" A shout came from the roof.

A lone figure stood on the roof top, his blood red peacoat glinting dangerously in the moonlight. His ax rested on one shoulder as he jumped down landing beside Athez.

Shinjiro smirked, "Mind if I lend a hand?"

"Be my guest. Anything I can use that would actually hurt this guy are a bit... unfocused."

"Hmph, alright then."

"I don't think you understand your place, flea!" Lavarock roared as he swung his ax at the pair.

Shinjiro didn't miss a beat as he pulled his own ax off his shoulder and stopped the giant's ax while holding his in one hand, "The thing is..." He hooked his ax onto Lavarock's so that he couldn't swing it as he leapt on top of it's head.

"I know my place just fine." He let his ax go as he jumped into the air stomping on the giant's hand holding the ax and crushing the fingers.

As the giant cried out, Shinjiro ripped the ax from his other hand and hoisted it onto his shoulder, "I'm Shinjiro Aragaki, master of the BEAST and defender of the house that never was."

"And I have one rule, mother****er." He swung the ax lodging it deep it the giant's chest and opening a hole straight through his rocky armor.

"Don't mess with my family. Everyone at the house is a part of it." He smirked as he ripped the ax free and put it back on his shoulder.

As Lavarock began to bleed a thick black liquid, Shinjiro turned away from him and smirked, "Adios, asshole."

He walked to Athez and patted him on the shoulder, "I think you can handle him from here."

And with that, the titan of SEES was gone without a trace.

"Definitely." Pulling some of the metal from the spikes to himself, Athez reshapes it into a pair of blades adorning both hands. "Time for a little fun."

Lavarock stood unsteadily, "I-I will not falter against you insolent fools." He reached into his own chest and pulled out a rocky dagger.

Slapping aside his arm, Athez shoves one of the blades into the gaping wound in his chest.

Lavarock slumped over falling apart onto the ground. Junior looked at Athez with an impressed look, "You and Shinjiro... You beat Lavarock. You beat him!" He went to go get Mimi who was still hiding in her parachute.

Looking at Junior with confusion, he asked him, "Did you stand there the entire time and do nothing? Even after telling me that you wanted to fight rather than get Mimi out of harm's way? That thing I asked you to do so I wouldn't have to worry about hitting either of you?"

Junior shook his head, "Sorry, I realized that my attacks wouldn't be able to hurt him so I went back to make sure she was alright."

The demon girl peeked her head out from underneath the canvas of the parachute looking at the two young men. A single tear dripped down her face, whether it was for her one time friend, Lavarock, or a joyous tear at the victory of her protectors was another matter entirely.

Twisting slightly to crack his back, Athez grins and says, "Now that that's dealt with, who wants to grab a snack? We have chips, soda, sandwiches, and I'm pretty sure I saw some muffins in the kitchen earlier."

In a flash, Mimi was gone.

"You have no idea what you've done." Junior said flatly.

From inside the house, Minato's voice was heard, "Holy ****! If you wanted a muffin, you could've just asked! Don't bite my goddamned hand off! Who are you even?" Then, the loud clatter of dishes.

"How good is her sense of hearing? Would she be able to hear me from here?"

"Impossible. She's muffin crazed. All of her senses are looked onto devouring every muffin she can identify. There was a food shortage at Grim Castle because Mom was going through a 'muffin phase' and I accidently let that slip to Mimi." Junior said plainly as he headed towards the house.

"Begone demon girl!" Minato shouted from in the house.

"This umbrella's great for murdering!"

"Dammit! Not now, Kirby!" Minato shouted as more dishes broke.