SPAZ: Part 63

*Note

Hello again. It seem I like to hang out here, before the chapter begins, so I can spew excuses and explanations at you guys. : )

This chapter may seem rushed to you at some points, and that's understandable. I wanted to go by a certain schedule this week, one chapter a day and the Final Chapter on Thursday, so I had to cut out some big scenes that were just back story or events happening with out the SPAZ being there. It doesn't affect the main story line, but a lot of the action is lost and can make the pacing seem a bit quick. Sorry about that.

*

SPAZ: Part 63
- Eventful -
In which stuff goes one.

     The room was silent as everyone stared at the hole in the wall.
     Sora raised an eyebrow, confused by their sudden lack of moving. "Get on!" she yelled at them.
     "Don't let them escape!" the High Priest demanded.
     The Doctor lifted Katana and then Tejina on to the dragon, as Yumi and Kin-Ti kept back the oncoming soldiers. The medical professional motioned for Yumi to go, but before she could move, a bomb of some type was thrown towards the dragon. It flew forward so the bomb hit the wall of the tower instead, and then got back into place.
     "Hurry!" Sora said, "We're too exposed here."
     The Doctor hoisted Yumi on the dragons' back and took her place next to Kin-Ti.
     "You go," Kin-Ti said as she flipped a solider out the hole in the wall. "I have to stay here and make sure they don't follow you guys out with their floatey pads."
     "Don't be stupid." The Doctor said, punching one unconscious. "You'll get yourself killed."
     "There's no other choice."
     "Actually, there is," he grabbed Kin-Ti's arm and pulled her into a quick hug then threw her onto the dragon and turned to Sora. "Go!" he instructed.
     Sora hesitated but another bomb was logged towards them and she was forced to tug on the reigns and make the dragon fly up high into the air.
     "No!" Kin-Ti screamed, "Go back, go back! We can't leave him there."
     "I'm sorry Tsuchi." Sora yelled behind her as the wind whipped around them, "It's too dangerous."
      Kin-Ti turned away and clutched the dragon's back tighter. She bit the bottom of her lip and gave one last look towards the Tower, hoping he would be okay, before looking at the scene around them.
     They were flying above a vast beautiful city that gleamed in all the parts that weren't on fire. Around them, Kin-Ti saw eight other dragons that were dropping things on the buildings. Far below that on the ground, she could see a mass of people gathered in one place, fighting.
      "What's going on?" Yumi called out.
     "What?" Sora yelled. "I can't really hear you."
     "What's going on?" Yumi shouted louder.
     "You want a thong?" Sora asked, "Maybe later. We're busy right now!"
     Yumi shook her head, "That's not what I said." she screamed.
     "What!? I'll talk to you when we land!" Sora said.
     The dragon suddenly started flying downwards and Kin-Ti had to hold onto the saddle tightly so she wouldn't fall forward. They reached solid ground and she slipped off first to help Katana down while Yumi helped Tejina.
     Sora jumped next to them and made a face like she might faint. "Oooh." she said looking at Katana's arm, or lack of one, "that's a lot of blood." she shook her head clear and tapped her communicator, "We need a medical team here." she said.
    "We need to go back for the Doctor." Kin-Ti said. "He'll be killed."
     Sora gave her friend a sad look, like she didn't know how to say what she wanted to. "Kin-Ti...I care about him too but...it's too dangerous for us to go back."
     "We can't just leave him there." she pleaded.
     "Hold on I'll see what I can do." Sora tapped her communicator "Dragon team, does anyone have a clear shot to the Tower?" she paused and looked down cast, "All right. If an opportunity opens up, we have a person stuck there. Only go if you can extract him safely." another pause, "He has red hair, it's pretty long."
     She shrugged to Kin-Ti, "They'll try their best but I can't promise anything..." she hugged her friend and for once the other girl didn't fight it.
     "Tejina!" Yumi suddenly cried out in shock as the girl collapsed.
     Sora ran over to her and helped lay the girl on the ground "What's wrong?"
     Yumi's face was lined with worry but then suddenly something came over her and she smiled. "It's okay." she said looking up and sighing. "She's feeling relieved and relaxed."
     "I'm confused." Sora stated.
     "While in the Tower, Tejina had to block the Beast's mind from ours." Yumi explained. "It's taken a lot of energy out of her, but we're far enough away now that she doesn't have to."
     Kin-Ti breathed a sigh of relief. That was one friend that was safe for the moment.
    
     The medical team showed up a bit later and treated and bandaged Katana's arm and put ointment on Kin-Ti's face.
     "Sorry for your loss." one of the medics said. "You're going to have to rest for a while. You've lost a lot of blood and over exerting yourself could prove fatal."
     Katana decided she didn't like this medic. He wasn't very gentle, and he spoke curtly and treated her as just another patient and not a person, like the Doctor would.
     Tejina and Katana were then loaded onto a gurney and taken to the nearest medical tent.
     On the way, Sora explained what was going on.
     "After Nasha woke up, she thought of a quick plan to distract the people from the Tower, and we surprised attacked the city. I was able to convince Izzy to use the Tainted only as a last resort, and so far it's been going well enough that we don't need them. We rushed in from the outer sides of the city as quickly and quietly as we could. We got pretty far before they knew what was going on. Once the real fight started, Nasha instructed me and 8 other people to an area that had dragons! They've been helping us drop transport bombs on people. The fires started only a little bit ago, the Laghians seem to like throwing grenades."
     "I think we're doing well! We've already taken the outer two circles of the city, but it's the inner circle that will be the hardest. It's the most armed and fortified part. Izzy is having the time of her life though."
     Kin-Ti mulled over the information, "What's next on the agenda now?" she asked.
     Sora pointed towards the city. "Once we take the inner circle the war is mostly over, but we can't do that until we kill the Beast."
     This was news, "Why? What's it doing?" Yumi questioned.
     "Nothing directly, but the magic users get their powers from him. Their barriers are impenetrable and their attacks are powerful and deadly. We've lost good people to them."
     Katana spoke from her gurney, "So it's up to Nasha then?"
     Kin-Ti smacked a hand against her face, "This will not end well." She looked up and then turned to Sora, "Have you heard from the other dragon people yet?"
     Sora shook her head, "It's only been a few minutes."
     "Can you check? Maybe something changed."
     Sora pursed her lips but complied. After talking through the communicator for a few minutes the girl looked back up at her. "I'm sorry, there's nothing."
     Kin-Ti couldn't hide the dismay that grew on her face. She coughed and tried to cover it up. "Well, it's not like I care that much. But we need a doctor of his skill to fix the moose." she looked at Katana, "How dumb do you have to be to get your arm cut off?" she said to her, "I mean really."
    Katana stuck out her tongue. "Look who's talking, scar face."
    Kin-Ti reached a hand up and felt the cut cheek. She realized for the first time how much of a mess she was. "I need a bath." She grumbled, looking down at her clothes which had been covered in dirt, Beast guts, and Laghian blood.
      "We all do." Yumi replied, feeling almost disgusted at herself.
      "There's a small stream near by." One of the medics informed them. "You can wash up there, but you can't stay there long as it's not protected. And you shouldn't go." He added to Katana. "You're not supposed to be walking around yet."
     "Screw that!" the moose shot, "I rode here on a freaking dragon, I can do what I want."
     Yumi smiled but laid a hand gently on her leg. "He's right, you shouldn't be moving. I'll stay here with you."
     Katana sighed and shook her head. "Nah, you can go. Tejina will keep me company, wont you Tejina?" Tejina remained unconscious. "See?" Katana said, "We'll have so much fun together."
     Yumi rolled her eyes, "You can be worse then Kin-Ti sometimes, you know that?"
      "Hey." The moose said insulted, "Don't say such mean things to a cripple."
     Kin-Ti glared "Keep it up and you'll loose your other arm."
     And the girls laughed and it was all fun and they went to go clean off in the stream.

     It was about 50 minutes after they had escaped from the Tower and there still was no word from the Doctor. Kin-Ti had rung her hands so much that they were beginning to chafe. Even Katana had begun to worry something bad had happened to him.
     The medical tent they were sitting in was located a few miles away from the war zone, but the Tower stood tall and defiant and they could see it quiet clearly from the spot they were in.
      "This is so like him." Kin-Ti growled, pacing back and forth across the tent.
     Katana was sitting up on her cot, what was left of her arm bandaged up in white wrappings. On the bed next to her Yumi was gently wiping Tejina's face with a wet cloth. Sora, who had just come back from instructing the dragon she'd been riding to go help out at the war zone, was sitting on an empty cot with a blanket wrapped around her.
     Kin-Ti continued her rant, "He just goes off and does his own thing and leaves us to worry and fret about his stupid face. He should have called us or something. Or sent a carrier pigeon. How insensitive. I could just-"
     She was interrupted when a large group of medics burst into the tent carrying many stretchers. The tent was suddenly filled with action and frantic movement, screaming patients, and too many bodies in one small space.
     Kin-Ti moved out of the way and sat next to Katana on her cot, Sora joining them. Yumi stood and asked one of the rushing medics what had happened.
     "A land mine," she explained, "It went off right in the middle of the city."
     Yumi offered her assistance and was immediately taken to work on a man who's face had been melted off.
     Amongst the screams and crying was one voice that shouted louder then the others.
      "I'm fine!" came a defiant female yell, "Let me get back out there so I can teach those Laghians how to stab people properly!"
      "Please Captain," said a medic, "You have to lie down or you'll bleed to death."
     Izzy, for that was who the girl was, stood up anyway. "I'm telling you I'm fine." she yelled at him, blood pouring out of a wound on her side.
     Her eyes glazed over for a bit before shaking her head and clearing her vision. When she did, though, her eyes landed on the SPAZ.
     There was sudden tense moment as the girls looked at her and she looked at them. Then Izzy's mouth turned into a simple grimace. "Oh. It's you people."
     "Hi Izzy!" Sora smiled, waving.
     She shot them a dirty look and crossed her arms over her chest. "Hello. And where have you people been exactly?" she growled, "Off playing in a field of flowers?"
     "Izzy, we're sorry." Kin-Ti said. "We didn't know what else to do."
     "So you abandoned me?" she snapped, "I gave you your own horses and everything..."
     "We didn't abandon you," Yumi explained, "We just...left you while we went off to do something else."
     "Oh, that helps everything. So where did you go? Off to play in the flowers?"
     "We did not!" Sora protested. "Oh well, I did. At one point. But that was because they looked so nice and were a pretty blue color. And then there were butterflies and-"
     "Sora."
     "Sorry. I mean, we went to go blow up the Tower."
     Izzy raised a slender eyebrow while the medic started wrapping gauze over her armor, because clearly she wouldn't let them do anything else to stop the blood, which was now soaking into the earth beneath her feet, "I think maybe you missed a bit of it."
     And then the world shook and a loud rumbling erupted outside the tent. Everyone paused for a second, and Izzy ran outside. The SPAZ followed.
     They stood outside the tent and watched as the Tower crumbled in front of them, smoke billowing above it like from a pipe.
     "Oh." Izzy said, "Never mind."

     The moment of triumph didn't last long. "Wait." Kin-TI turned towards Izzy, "What about the Doctor? Have you seen him?"
     Izzy gave a confused face. "The red haired man? No, I haven't seen him."
     Tsuchitora jabbed a finger into her communicator, "Doctor?" she called out, "Are you there?" no response.
     "I'm sure he's fine..." Sora tried.
     "How can you know that? He was up there the last time we talked to him." she looked around panicked, not sure what to do next. "Uh, what about Nasha? She'll know where he is right?" she looked at the others, "Right?" she pleaded.
     "S-sure." Yumi answered uncertainly.
     Kin-Ti tapped the communicator again, "Nasha, are you there?" again there was nothing but silence, "Nasha?"
      "Kin-Ti?" came the voice. It was faint and small.
     "There you are! Do you know where the Doctor is?"
     There was a pause and she heard Nasha cough, and briefly wondered if she was coming down with a cold, "He got out of the Tower okay." she finally replied.
     "Oh thank god." Kin-Ti breathed. "I mean...we could use a doctor around here not that I care about him or anything I just-"
     "Will you tell the others I am sorry?"
     "What, why?" and then the Doctor walked out of the tree line and Kin-Ti's heart did an acrobatic flip. "I'll call you back later." she said, turning off the communicator. She ran forward and almost tackled the man to the ground.
     "Oh hello." he said.
     "Shut up." she grumbled and hugged him tighter.
    "Hey." Yumi interjected, "I'm glad you found your lover, but there's things to deal with. Was that Nasha who blew up the Tower?"
     "I'm sure it was."
     "She didn't say anything about it?"
     Kin-Ti frowned, "No? She just told me the Doctor was okay and then coughed."
     Sora popped into the conversation. "Is she sick?"
     Tsuchitora shrugged and went back to trying to crush the Doctor to death, "I'm sure she's fine."