Hope frowned as he listened, taking it all in. He was still very confused but if she couldn’t explain it any better than he would just have to figure it out on his own. When she asked her own questions he had to admit that he was slightly surprised that she had asked anything. He was just about to answer her questions when Balthier called back to Fran saying the questions would have to wait. To his surprise they were at the castle doors and Light was up with Balthier. He glanced to Fran and smiled at her.

“Don’t worry Fran, I’ll remember your questions and answer them when I can okay? Promise.” He stopped slightly behind Balthier and Light since he had no idea how they were going to get up these chains. The answer could simply be climb – which was going to suck.

Lightning looked over and raised a brow as Balthier went on about how people made mistakes about their relationship. So she had guessed right had she?

“I said I didn’t care and that I could be wrong, I never said that I was inept at it. Judging people’s romantic feelings to each other isn’t my forte but you two just don’t move as a couple would. Maybe casual lovers but not a couple – hence why I could have been wrong.”

When they got to the chains she studied them and let Balthier climb one ahead of her. It wasn’t her problem if he became trap bait – it would actually be quite helpful for him to experiment for her. Then she set off after him carefully and treated it as an overly large ladder. Then she looked over her shoulder to Fran and Hope.

“Hope, you go in front of Fran. We don’t want you at the back and falling off.” She wouldn’t have cared if she had gone first and Balthier second so she really didn’t care if Hope was after her. Her pace was steady but she stayed just far enough away from Balthier that if anything happened to him she could avoid it.

Hope groaned at the sight of the chains and that they had to climb them. Still he went up to the chain everyone was climbing and started going up. His shorter legs made it a bit harder on him and he slipped a few times but never fell. It was incredibly tiring though and not at all like climbing rocks or debris – which was what he was used to. The chains themselves didn’t have much grip to them and the spots to safely put your foot were few and far between so you just had to wing it. It was a good thing he always wore leather gloves, they did help his grip a little bit. Unfortunately climbing put the bandana he still wore – it had once covered his le’Cie brand – into focus. He wasn’t really sure why he hadn’t taken it off. Light turned to look back now and then to make sure that he was doing okay and then continued her trek up the chains. How long were these things? She could handle it easily for a while more but she was getting worried about Hope. True he could cover long distances on Grand Pulse but she also knew that he was younger, shorter and less experienced in long treks. Most of his life had been a city life after all and he still didn’t have the stamina they did.

The words "Simulation Complete" rang in Zack's com-set as the world in the Shinra Training Facility deteriorated in front of him. Only, he wasn’t in the Shinra Building any more. He was in a large field, standing like an idiot with his sword extended in his battle stance. "Huh? Where am I?" Zack looked around. Nothing but field stretched in front of him. Trees lied beyond the field, and Mountains poked over the tree tops. "Tseng? Do you read me?" The headset in his ear bleeped and blurred with static. "Zack... 've.....cl....what hap...." Tseng's final words were uncomprehendible and far and few in-between. Zack took the com-set out of his ear and pocketed it.

"I don't need this electronic. I've got my SOLDIER sense." Zack inhaled greatly and felt the rush of the clean air. He wasn’t used to air outside of Midgar, and the air in the slums was always clouded with emission and the exhalations of the others. Besides the com-set, Zack had one other item in his pocket - a letter from the slum's one and only flower girl.
He read over the words one more time.

"Are you doing well? Where are you? It's been 4 years. This will be the 89th letter I've written but I will
not send out any more. I hope that you receive this last letter. Zack! The flowers are selling very well. It makes
everyone smile. It's all thanks to you. Aerith."

Zack sighed. He'd seen his closest friend, Cloud, "eyeballing" her before. "Take good care of Aerith... Cloud, or I'll have to kill ya when I get back." Zack smiled faintly and looked around one more time, catching something he'd not seen before. A large castle stood prominently above the forest scenery. "Time to move." He then had a flash back.

Zack's other friend, Angeal, stood on a beach with him. "Great! It’s a vacation!" Zack said with a grin on his face. "No," reiterated Angeal, "It’s a workout. Do fifty laps in the water and then, when you're heavy with water, do a hundred laps on land." Zack grunted and Angeal laughed and rustled his hair.

When Zack came to, he was running in the direction of the castle.

Balthier was a man of many talents, or so he liked to tell himself. As it happened, his general agility and comparative fleetness were serving him well in one sense and not so well in another. His own climbing speed was quick, and only the fact that he was occasionally compelled to examine the area with his Libra technik, just to make sure there were no traps anywhere, hindered his progress up the massive chain.

Unfortunately, the same lean form that made climbing easy also made the gusts of wind that ripped about them with increasing fervor as they ascended troublesome, and the cold was beginning to make his grip numb. Nevertheless, it wasn't quite as frigid here as Paramina Rift, and though his lightly-bronzed hands began to take on a red cast, he paid it as little heed as possible.

The air was thin, all the way up here, but it probably wouldn't have been all that bad if the four of them weren't in the middle of some rather grueling exercise. He checked below him frequently; the others were keeping good pace with varying degrees of difficulty, but nobody seemed on the verge of collapse, so he pressed onwards.

Fran, for her part, was keeping herself consciously a few steps behind the Hume child. While certainly holding out quite well, all things considered, he was the least-adept climber amongst them, and should he fall, she wished to be in a position to do something about it. Even now, the float spell was on the tip of her tongue; it would do none of them any good as a climbing aid, since it didn't work too far vertically, but should he begin to slip, it would slow his descent enough for her to catch him somehow.

The viera herself was not suited to excessively cold temperatures; her species had evolved for a near-tropical forest, and her ears let heat escape a good deal faster than a Hume's would. Adding to her discomfort, the plates of metal that protected various parts of her person were growing chilly, and the wind was slicing against the bare skin that remained, which, if one were to be realistic (as Fran was wont to do) was quite a lot to begin with. None of this made it to her carefully-neutral expression, however, and it would have been difficult to tell she was uncomfortable at all.

****

What must have been a mile of chain later, Balthier pulled himself up onto a solid surface at last. He had a feeling that Light was not the type to appreciate a hand up, but he squatted at the edge of the precipice anyway, there in case anyone should seem to need one. "Well," he offered to the general audience, "we appear to have reached our destination."

Once everyone was up, with or without the sky pirate's assistance, he turned to the massive castle gates and straightened his shirtsleeves whilst giving the place a surreptitious once-over, scanning for likely points of escape. Such things were long ingrained in his nature; even as an Imperial Judge Magister he'd been told that knowing the terrain was one of the best advantages a person could have. In the case of thievery, it wasn't so much knowing the terrain as knowing the way to escape it, but the principle was the same.

Glancing at the others, he cocked an eyebrow. "I don't suppose any of you have an objection to simply knocking?" There were a number of visible ways to infiltrate the place more clandestinely, but it seemed more prudent to know exactly what they were dealing with first.

Zack ran forth and into the woods - toward the castle. His determination to find information on his location led him to the assessment that the castle was the most likely answer to his questions. He darted in between bushes, sidestepped around trees and generally shot toward his target. He was a good runner but a better fighter. He avoided tunneling his vision. Who knew what was in these foreign woods or even what purpose a native creature would possess toward injuring an alien invader? Zack occasionally cocked his head from side to side, assessing the forest in which he ran. He'd though he saw a blue shade a few times, but decided to ultimately shun the notion that something, animal or not, could keep up with him silently at this speed. He was wrong.

Upon cocking his head a third time, Zack noticed a blue figure swiftly dodging a few yards parallel to him. It gave a cocky wave and a smile and said some unintelligible words in a possibly native language then lunged a Zack, swinging the giant sword on its back. "Hey!" Zack yelled in shock as he halted movement in general. "What are you trying to do, kill me?" The creature halted movement as well. Taking a pose similar to Zack’s, the mimic smiled and nodded. Zack did not draw his sword instead he remembered what Angeal had taught him. "Lose your weapon, and you'll lose your chance at victory." This statement wasn't entirely wrong in others' cases but not for Zack's.

Zack bolted forward and grabbed the back of the sword before the mimic could even swing it. "You're too slow for me." He laughed out as he delivered a punishing thrust punch to the copy. It bounced back and readied its sword again. "Come on then, strike me." Zack gestured for the opponent to close the gap in between them and drew his own sword. "I've done this several times in the Shinra building. This will be no different." Zack thought to himself. The clone quickly abided and dashed forward, horizontally swinging its blade. Zack slammed his sword into the ground, creating a barrier, then flipped it into its slot on his back and performed a beautiful punching combo. The copy blocked the headshots but took most of the more punishing comet strikes to the chest. The clone nearly collapsed. "Had enough?" The clone’s response was less than compliant.

It -Zack's mimic- picked up the sword and glowed gold. A blast of energy flew in equal and opposite directions and when Zack got a fair look again; the mimic had a single white wing. "That's a new trick." Zack said, barely getting the word "trick" out before being clobbered by a barrage of sword slashes. Zack's body wasn't about to give up, but neither was the clone's berating onslaught. One final, spiteful strike across the chest and Zack fell to the ground, his sword falling two feet from his reach. His chest was bleeding and burning. He coughed. "That one hurt." He critiqued while standing. "I suggest you try something more on me though. A green sphere glowed in Zack's left arm and green tendrils came out of the Earth and began to coarse through his wounds. Curaga had been cast -a well needed cast, one might add. Zack rushed forward and pummeled the copy with his own barrage of weaker blows. The greater number and frequency of strikes; however, dealt more damage than that of his copy's.

After the final punch Zack jumped high into the air and did a summersault with his sword drawn. He slammed down the blade through the copy, disintegrating it to shimmering dust. "If I encounter multiples of these," concluded Zack. "I might just need help." Nevertheless this obstacle was a failure to forestall his progress.

Rubicante was tired of sitting in this throne, waiting for Golbez to return, but there wasn't much else he could do. He was a loyal servant to Golbez and even to his own cutsoms. He would never attack an unprepared man and would always fight them at their fullests of strength. "Golbez, whatever you are planning must be of grave importance to have left for such a long of time." he said and watched Scarmiglione return.
"I've ssssent out the clonessss." he hissed and Rubicanted frowned at him.
"You've sent replicates to weaken them? Is that so?" Rubicante asked an Scarmiglione chuckled under his unwashed cloak. "How barbaric." he added and looked up at the crystal ceiling.

"I wonder if I can do one of those attacks." Zack thought to himself as he dashed through the woodland. He made the "promise" that he'd try it out the next chance he got. Would his be the same as the crystal copy? It's a shame that he cannot summon anything. The only summon materia he'd brought with him was his favorite - Buhaumut. It had a crack down the center and Zack wasnt even sure it would work. His cure, thunder, fire, ice, and deathblow materia worked still and he'd use them later but right now he needed to get to that castle.

Zack ran and jumped off of trees, pivoting himself to ricochet a few times. He slipped and stumbled, slowing his progress. "Let's not do that again." He laughed. Racing toward the castle, he picked up the pace again and the made himself a challange after another flashback.

"You can run faster, Zack." Angeal had a stern face. "I can't run any faster." "Yes, you can. you wont leave until you run twice as fast." Zack grunted and ran back and forth around the track at the Shinra building. "I can't do it!" "You're running at one point five times your normal speed. You can do it."

"Angeal." Zack said as he bolted through the forest. "Today, I'm going to make that speed." Zack's muscles tensed up and he bent forward more. He rolled to the front of his feet and jumped forward in great strides. He soon found himself jumping fifteen feet forward without touching the tropical floor. He'd make it to the castle sooner than expected at this rate.

Light felt the stinging cold but pushed it out of her mind. She wasn't new to extremes thanks to Pulse, even though she figured it had never been this cold. When they got to the top she took Balthier's hand up without bothering about it. It was offered so she took it and they were all tired from the cold climb. She then turned around, waited on the edge for Hope and helped him up and moved him out of Fran's way where he promptly collapsed onto his knees and lowered his head. Lightning patted his head lightly and then turned to investigate the door Balthier was talking about. After a moment and after Fran was up she answered his quiery.

"I am against just knocking on it. We have no idea what is inside this castle and we are all tired an cold from that climb. We are in no condition for an open fight if the inhabitants are less than welcoming. Might I suggest we find a covert way inside and then find a place to warm up and rest?" Hope looked up when she finished talking.

"I'm okay for whatever we have to do." Light gave him a slight glare and then ignored him to turn back to the others.

"Ignore him. I don't know about you guys, but when we were taken here it was night time in our world. While I'm not as tired as Hope is, I admit that I am in less than desired shape."

((sorry it is so short >.< On crappy library computer and I'm not sure what else to put in it -I don't want to waste people's time with pointless filler))

"Hmm..." Balthier's lips pursed as he scanned the facade of the castle once more. There were a few ways it might work, but even so... he was uncertain whether or not an intrusion would be detectable somehow. he had no knowledge of the technology of this world, after all, nor its magicks. Nevertheless, what Light said made sense; he personally was not against covert methods of operation. On the contrary, they were a favorite of his.

"Very well then. I imagine our best shot will be one of those windows." He indicated the stained-glass affairs that seemed to line the building at a height of about fifteen feet or so. The walls beneath were relatively smooth and would be hard to climb on, but there were ways around that, if one was clever enough. Luckily, present company did not seem to be lacking in this quality by any means. "I suggest we toss Hope here at one of them. If he thinks he is able, he could grab the sill and climb up. There has to be a back door somewhere that he could unlock for us..." trailing off in thought, he began to circle the building and after a few minutes found what he was looking for.

"Ah. A servants' entrance. This will do nicely. It need not be Hope that we boost up, of course, but his size would make it a fair bit easier to fit." There was no insult in the comment about the boy's height, merely a practical observation. He turned to face the others and shrugged nonchalantly. If it came right down to it, it could easily be any of them; he himself would be quite suited for picking any locks he might encounter, but he knew not the skill sets of either of his companions, beyond that they were both skilled in a fight.

Fran simply remained impassive. Balthier was easily the leader of their duo, but only because she was content to follow. He was not a fool, and in Ivalice, his knowledge of many useful things exceeded her own. In this, she had no reservations allowing him to do as he saw fit. If they wanted to sneak in, she would assist. If they chose instead to enter through the front door, she would prepare for a possible confrontation. Matters were as simple as that.

Hope stood up, followed Balthier and studied the window and the door that was going to be their entrance. He had picked up many useful skills along the way since his life changed and lock picking happened to be one of them, so if the lock was different from the ones he knew - which opened onthe inside - he could still get them into the castle. Never knew when you would need it after all. Carefully he put his hand against the door and 'felt' for the magic that would be left behind should there be a ward on the other side. After a moment he removed his hand since the only traps on the other side would be normal ones. Good, he didn't like the idea of walking into - in this case jumping into - a magical trap. He also wasn't really sure why he could feel magic if he tried hard enough, perhaps it was a left over L'cie thing. Once done looking at it he nodded.

"I can do it." He was tired yes but he was able. This certainly wouldn't be the hardest thing he had ever done.

Light simply watched and let Hope come to his own decision. As much as she would like to do it for him she knew that he was able to do it even in his current condition. The plan worked for her so she had no reason to raise any objections. She was just gla dthat Baltheir was okay with not storming the front door and possibly dying right away. She would like to get home after all - dying here wasn't what she had in mind. Especialy if it was death from extreme stupidity.

Zack reached the edge of the forest and found himself staring at a mountain side. "Oh boy, one thing after another." Zack rubbed his hands together and clapped once. "Time to climb." He sighed.

Grappling the side of the mountain, he got a grip and lept a few feet up the side. He'd find a spot and repeat this step several times before making the least bit of progress. Another flashback came to him.

"Climbing this wall only requires concentration, Zack. You don't need grappling tools or materia. Watch." Angeal dug his hands into crevaces in the wall and began to scale the side. He easily reached the top in thirty seconds. Touching the top, he jumped down and landed infront of his apprentice. "It's easy if you focus. Now, it's your turn." Zack rubbed his hands together and clapped once. "Time to climb." He said with a confident chuckle. He dug his fingers in the wall, jumped up once, then fell to the floor. "You're not focusing." "I am focusing!" He yelled. "If you were focusing, you'd be at the top right now." Zack sighed and tried several times, but continued to fall.

Zack climbed the wall tirelessly. "Angeal, you've tought me everything I know." He thought to himself. He was now making some progress up the wall. He jumped up more and more. Soon the crevaces came more appearant and he was able to scale the wall without leaping. He made quicker progress this way. Upon reaching the top of the cliff, he wasn't ready to take a break. "Speed, Dexterity; now what?" He said aloud. He soon found out.

A massive chain dug into the mountain and curved up to the castle's base. "I guess it's balance now." He sighed. No flash back would come this time. It was too easy, and he already knew what to do. "It's just simple foot targeting." He scoffed.

He targeted three steps ahead and began his sprint. He'd make it up the chain in no time.

"Right then, time to see about getting this done." Balthier turned to his partner and cocked an eyebrow. "Which of these windows would you recommend, my dear?"

Fran regarded him steadily for a moment. He was so flippant sometimes that she simply couldn't understand it. Being of a more serious disposition herself, she understood not what moved him to make light of grave situations. Had it been the sort of thing that ever caused him to be more reckless than was appropriate, she would probably have found another companion in the world of Humes. As it was, she knew that underlying it was a wit sharper than most of his kind could boast, and thus she largely ignored it.

Closing her crimson eyes, the woman felt about for any lingering mists, or sign of habitation. "There is at least one within," she said dully, "but if we enter from the east side, they will be unlikely to know of our approach." As thieves, she and Balthier were well-used to entering hostile spaces, and this sort of stealth advantage was actually rare. Usually, there were guards to contend with. The fact that there were not in this case did not put Fran at ease; rather, it made her a twinge uncomfortable for all its strangeness, a fact that Balthier would be quick to detect.

Rather than comment on this, though, the man simply selected an eastern window and knelt upon one knee, cupping his hands to form a foothold for Hope, the obvious intention being to throw him at the windowsill, where he might catch hold and enter the castle proper. Fran, for her part, turned her back on the whole operation and attuned her senses to the entrance, just in case something should come by with the intent to surprise or ambush them.

Zack could now make out small figures at the castle's massive enterance. They looked like they were planning to break in to the castle. One was small, but made to look normal by the smaller figure -perhaps sitting or crouched? There were two others, one extremely tall and the other about half a foot taller than the shorter, standing figure. Zack ran at an unobtrusivly light-footed pace. The characters' sillouetes were becomming clearer by the second and he could see on had ears atop her head. "A band, maybe?" he thought to himself as he made his way down -or rather up- the chain. Each link was about six feet long and there were a mere twenty standing between him and the castle.

Now a mere fifteen links, and a minute later only five links stood between the five.

"Hey, what are you guys up to?" Zack asked, approaching the small party exhausted.

((OOC: I didn't know what to expect so I left it an open answer. I'll pick up more with someone's reply to this.))

((OOC: I dont know if you guys are on a break or if my entry ruined things for you guys. but I believe it's one of your turns to post.))

Fran's ears picked up the unsubtle sound of footsteps, and red eyes snapped immediately to the source, a young man walking towards the group, apparently without any regard for stealth. She would perhaps have alerted the others, but Balthier would likely not have failed to notice his approach.

Indeed, when the viera turned slightly to address her partner just in case he had gotten distracted by something, she observed that he had already risen to his feet and was coming to stand beside her. The sky pirate crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow. "A friend of yours, Fran?" he asked in a deceptively light tone.

At the roll of her eyes, he flashed her the quickest of wry smiles and turned to the new man, who had just spoken. "What are we up to? Well, now... I do suppose the answer to that question depends primarily on what you are up to. If you are a guard or sentinel of this place, then I suppose we were just leaving. If not, we are entering, yes?" The very fact that he said as much indicated that he had a fairly good idea which was true, and Fran personally wished he would have just said as much. As usual, however, he was being unnecessarily facetious. Really, he was lucky she was the most patient of souls.

"A sentinel? No, I don't even know where here is. One minute I'm in the Shinra Building's VR training room and now I'm in this place." Zack replied in a quieter tone. "If I had known an infiltration was underway, I would've used a more stealthful approach. I'm sorry." He added, scratching the back of his head. The one with the rabbit ears was almost glaring at him, while the man in the fancy dress clothes was giving him a once over with a contemplicative smirk. "Maybe I can be of assistance? Zack Fair, Soldier, First Class." He introduced himself with an extended hand and a happy-go-lucky grin.