Chapter 1
 

     Rocket Town. It was the home of the SEA (Space Exploration Administration). It was the launch site of Shinra No. 26, the first ship to successfully send a man into space. It was the home of Cid Highwind, who had won the Nobel Prize for Scientific Discovery. It was currently hanging up on his wall. But Cid wasn't there to admire it. He was 2,000 feet above it in his newly repaired Tiny Bronco.
     "You sure you know what you're doing?" asked the man in the front seat of the plane. Cid sat in the back, piloting the plane.
     "Sure I do," he said, with an evil grin on his face.  "Hang on tight. This next trick will be a doozie!"
     Cid aimed his plane upward, and pushed the plane faster. It went higher, and higher, and higher.
     "What are you doing?!?!" shouted the man.
     "Having a little fun," he said.
     The plane had climbed so high now that the ground was obscured by the big, puffy clouds. Cid flipped his sunglasses on. "Okay, little buddy. Last trick, then we can go home."
     "I don't think we should be doing this!" the man said.
     "I'm just giving you your money's worth," Cid said.
     "But I only paid 70 gil!" he shouted.
     "Helluva gas mileage, huh?" Cid said, laughing.
     Cid then pointed the plane downward, and shut off the engine. The plane fell faster, and faster. Cid took his hands off the steering controls and reclined in his chair, putting them back behind his head. He started whistling a tune. It was unclear what he was whistling even to himself, however, because the man in the front seat was screaming like a twelve-year-old girl.
     "WHAT ON GODS GREEN EARTH ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!?!?" he shouted.
     "I'm flying without a motor," he said. The man would have been, if possible, more scared, because if Cid had not been wearing his glasses, the man would have seen that Cid had his eyes closed. "It's even better when I have men that scream like girls in the front seat!"
     The ground was getting closer and closer. The plane was falling faster and faster. Finally, Cid sat up and turned the ignition key.
     It didn't turn on.
     He tried again.
     Nothing.
     "Uh oh," Cid said to himself.
     "WHAT IS UH OH?!?!" the man shouted.
     "You did wear your parachute like I warned you to, right?"
     "Yeah. Why?"
     "Good," Cid said. He pressed the "Eject" button and both men shot out of the top of the plane. Cid looked down just in time to see his plane crash a few hundred feet outside the city. The two men floated to the ground with their parachutes. The man was paralyzed with fear.
     "Boy, that was fun, wasn't it?" Cid laughed.

     "What are you going to do about your plane?" asked Shera as she made Cid dinner. Cid sat at the kitchen table drinking his tea. "Are you going to buy a new one?"
     "You kidding?" Cid laughed. "I'm goin' to rebuild it."
     "But its got to be in about 5000 pieces!"
     "Baby, if I went and just threw everything out once it broke, I wouldn't have you."
     Cid laughed at his own joke, but Shera wasn't amused.
     "By the way, you got a letter in the mail. It's from some guy named Dio. Do you know him?" She handed him the envelope.
     "Yeah. I know the guy," he said. He opened the note and read it:

Dear Cid Highwind,

     Greetings, old friend! How are you? I hope you're in shape, because the Gold Saucer is holding a Fighting Tournament of the world's best
fighters. Guess what? You're invited! The tram leaves from North Corel on February 20th at 6:00 PM. Spectators and Fighters only. If you miss the tram, you will forfeit the invitation and the tournament. The tram will
not return to the dock until the end of the tournament, so pack up! Prize
money is sat at 5,000,000 gil.  See you there!

Dio

     "Hmm, a fighting tournament, huh?" Cid asked, scratching his chin. "5,000,000 gil..."
     "Are you going to enter?" Shera asked.
     "You bet your ass," Cid said. "Call Bitterman and tell him to get the Highwind manned and ready. I'll be writing a response note."

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To Drama
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