Chapter 2: 'Little Women'
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    "Gotcha!"  Celes clutched Terra tightly to her on the return descent.
She winked at her old friend.  "Thank the goddesses for dragoon boots, eh?"
    They landed lightly on the back of the hovercraft, where Celes set Terra
down as carefully as she could without losing her balance on the speeding
vehicle.  Rosa flashed them both a smile of relief.  "Nice catch, Celes!"
    Celes returned the smile briefly.  "Likewise."  She spied the gargoyle
circling overhead, gathering itself for another nose-dive assault.
Shuddering slightly, she added, "I wouldn't have wanted to try outrunning
that thing on the ground..."
    With an eye turned skyward, Terra already had her scimitar at the ready.
She patted the hovercraft lightly.  "I doubt we stand much of a chance
outrunning it even with this little contraption..."
    "So we don't run," Rosa concluded grimly.  Without removing her eyes
from the road, she unslung her longbow.  "Let's have at it."
    Laughter echoed in her ears, soft and menacing.  Rosa frowned slightly,
throwing her companions a perplexed glance.  "Did you hear somethi--"
    More laughter, this time long, loud, mocking, and unmistakable.  "So," a
voice remarked from seemingly nowhere, "the three little women rebels really
do want a fight, do they?  Well, I was never one to deny the request of a
lady!"
    Celes gritted her teeth at this.  "Where the hell is he--it--whatever?"
    "Right here, Benedict Arnold Chere!"  A massive ebony tail swept out of
thin air and hit Celes square in the jaw, sending her flying a good twenty
feet into space.  She landed, hard, in a pile of rubble a short distance
away.  The creature--Lore, it had called itself--now towered in plain view,
its face twisted into an expression of smug complacency.
    "Celes!"  Rosa leaped to her feet and fired.  The arrow struck the
creature's obsidian hide and bounced off harmlessly, ricocheting into the
blasted remains of a tree nearby.  Muttering an oath, she quickly fitted
another arrow and fired again.  This one sank deeply, and it burst into
flame as soon as it struck.  With a shriek of outrage, Lore batted at the
protruding shaft, breaking it off at its base but leaving its head embedded
deep within his armored hide.  He turned furious golden eyes upon Rosa, his
pride clearly more hurt than his body.  The tail lashed out again, but the
speed of the hovercraft enabled Rosa to just manage to dodge it.  /Where are
Rydia and Edge?  Reinforcements would be helpful right about now.../
    Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed Celes stumbling to her feet.
Her Imperial disguise was thoroughly shredded by now and she appeared
slightly dazed, but she was still quite alive and in the game.  Taking
advantage of the monster's distraction, Celes launched herself into the air,
courtesy of her trusty dragoon boots.  She came screaming down upon the
gargoyle's back, plunging her sword squarely between the shoulder blades.
    Lore's head snapped upward and he let forth an ear-splitting scream of
pain.  The gargoyle began to writhe and twist like a wild animal, determined
to unseat this impudent, unwelcome passenger.  Normally, Celes would
probably have been able to stick, but the lengthy battle with the Imperial
troopers had taken its toll on her, and she once again found herself sailing
through the air.  She managed to land on her feet this time, but sank to her
knees, weakened.
    At that moment, another figure landed on the gargoyle's back.  Almost
before the sight had registered, the stranger had plunged a pair of weapons
at Lore's flesh.  One, a dirk of some kind, glanced off of the armored skin
and bounced away.  The other, however--a claw--tore into the obsidian flesh,
opening an ugly gash in Lore's side.  The agonized roar that ripped the air
was truly terrible this time.
    For a moment, Rosa thought Edge had rejoined them, but closer inspection
revealed a man she'd never seen before in her life.  His assistance was
welcome, in any case.  She seized the opportunity to help Celes out.
Steering toward her, she fingered the fragment of orb at her throat and
concentrated.  "Cure 2..." she murmured.
    Sparkling green motes of light surrounded Celes, and she rose to her
feet with a little assistance from her sword.  She smiled, apparently
feeling better.  "Thanks, Rosa..."  She waved one hand, declining an offer
of assistance in boarding the hovercraft.  "No, thanks.  I've changed my
mind.  I think I'll be more mobile on foot, for this battle..."
    They were interrupted by another roar from Lore and a flood of crimson
light.
    "What in the name of--"  Terra was cut off as the light slammed into all
three of them, sending them hurtling into a wall.