"Urgh!" was all the soldier could manage before he fell at Celes' feet,
an arrow piercing his jugular.  A grim smile flickered across Rosa's face as
she nocked another arrow.  One down, twenty-two to go.  No problem.
    Two more soldiers crumpled to the ground before the rest had a chance to
turn around.  Their eyes widened as they did so and they merely stood there,
gaping stupidly, seemingly rooted to the ground.
    Rosa had to laugh aloud as she bore down upon them with breakneck speed.
Apparently these youngsters, with all their new-fangled Magitek technology,
had never seen a hovercraft before!  She glimpsed a dark figure standing
amidst the crowd...  Edge!  So he was alright after all--or alive, anyway!
She could almost swear he was grinning beneath that mask of his.
    He, at least, retained enough presence of mind to move.  The ninja
leaped nimbly off to the side, out of the way, just as the hovercraft
smashed into the others....  Imperial soldiers flew every which way, looking
for all the world like twenty identical bowling pins.  Some hit nearby stone
walls and fell down cold, others crashed through what remained of the
blazing buildings that surrounded them.  A few leaped up and ran frantically
about, yelping and beating desperately at their clothing, but most lay very
still.
    Rosa cheered triumphantly and swung the hovercraft around.  Her victorious
grin quickly faded as a hand suddenly clamped down on her shoulder.  A hand and 
the dirty-brown sleeve of an Imperial uniform...
    Instinctively, she whipped out a dirk she had found somewhere and slashed
an upward arc behind her.  There was a loud rip as she felt the blade tear through
cloth, but no flesh.  Damn, she really needed to learn how to use this thing more
effectively...
    "Damn it!" a muffled curse came from behind her.  "What are you trying
to do, kill me?"
    Stupid question.  "Yes," she answered simply, and swung her free fist
up, hard.  This time she connected, and the soldier fell back, dazed.  He
stumbled backward and slipped over the edge of the hovercraft, but clawing
out blindly, somehow managed to grab a handhold and hang on.  He howled in
pain as the craft swerved against some rough wooden fencing, grinding his
body against it before Rosa regained control of the vehicle and veered it
back on course.
    Rosa was on her feet now.  Her hair, previously tied back, had worked
itself free, and it now whipped about her face as she looked down upon the
soldier with a grim expression.  "You *are* a trooper," she remarked wryly.
"However, we can't have stowaways here, so..."  She brought a foot up,
preparing to smash the heel down upon the soldier's fingers.
    "Rosa!" the soldier shrieked.  "It's ME!"
    Rosa paused, taken utterly aback.  "Celes?!"  She moved to quickly drag
her battered friend back aboard.  "What on earth are you doing dressed in--"
    "Never mind!" Celes sputtered irritably.  Her vision was swimming now,
she was riddled with splinters, and she was bleeding quite profusely.  "Let's
just get Edge and..."
    Her voice trailed off as the air darkened visibly around them.  Looking
up, the two women saw a vast, dark figure gliding above.  Its leathery wings
extended outward, outward--to a seemingly impossible expanse, until they
seemed to blot out the sun entirely.
    "What the hell...?" Celes began.  The creature coasted on the air
currents above them for a few seconds longer, then swooped down straight
towards them; and Rosa and Celes gazed into burning, golden, unhuman
eyes....