Blades of Destiny Chapter 5
The Opening Move
By Brenton Braswell
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the series of the Final Fantasy series. They all belong to Squaresoft and are being used without permission. All original characters are copyrighted by the author and are not to be used by anybody without my permission. If somebody has a problem with that, all I could say is, tough luck.
Also if you want to use any of my characters, please ask me first. My email address is bbraswell54@hotmail.com
Character’s direct thoughts are in parentheses ( )
In the last chapter, Lensey revealed Diaz and herself used to belong to an organization that destroyed evil on different worlds. She also told them of how Diaz engineered the destruction of it and revealed that Naomi, one of Diaz’s elite six, was her sister. After hearing her story, Headmaster Cid decided to give Lensey and all of Avalanche temporary clearance into garden. Elsewhere, Diaz took Sephiroth and Ultimecia along with his elite six to his castle somewhere on the Centra Islands. There, they got to see Diaz castle and got settled in. Also, something happened between Sephiroth and Ultimecia that neither of them can explain. It seems that all is in place for Diaz to begin his plans for world domination. His first goal is to eliminate all resistance that will get in the way of his plans. There are three main groups that will give him trouble, SeeD, the Galbaldian military, and the Esthar military.
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Not being as heavy of a sleeper that most people were, Cloud Strife woke up as soon as the first rays of sunlight came in the room and hit his being. Cloud got up groggily and wiped the sleep out of his eyes. Seeing as that didn’t work, he went into the bathroom in his dorm and splashed his face with cold water. Now that really woke him up.
He strolled back to the bed and sat down thinking about the previous day. Even in his wildest dreams he would have never thought about anything like this happening. From what Lensey told everyone on the bridge, all of Avalanche was six thousand years in the future. That was pretty shocking news at first, but after a little while, it didn’t seem as overwhelming.
He looked at the clock to see that it was 5:39am, and he was really surprised that he woke up that early. Wondering when they served breakfast around garden, Cloud decided to take a ten-minute shower and get dressed. After he was fully dressed in his SOLDIER uniform, and strapped the Ultima weapon to his back and decided to go to the quad to enjoy a little fresh air before going to the cafeteria.
While walking through the halls of the dorm section and main ring going around garden, Cloud noticed that there was hardly anybody around. (I guess they probably start their days around six’ o clock or seven.)
When he got to the quad, he found out he wasn’t the only one that got up so early. He saw Squall sitting by a tree polishing his weapon and noticed that he had an extra rag and sword polish out. Cloud walked over and sat down beside Squall and said, “Good Morning.”
“Morning, I guess I wasn’t the only one who got up early,” commented Squall.
“Yeah, umm… You don’t mind if I use this extra rag and polish you have out, do you?” Asked Cloud.
“Nah, go ahead and use it,” Squall answered.
Without anymore talk, the two silently polished their weapons. It wasn’t until Squall looked at Cloud’s sword; He noticed that he saw a similar sword somewhere else. When he remembered he spoke, “That’s an interesting weapon that you have there, it looks like the one that Ultimate Weapon used in the deep sea research center.”
“Did you say Ultimate Weapon?” Said Cloud with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, why?” Asked Squall.
“That the name is real close to the name the weapon created by the planet that I got this blade from,” explained Cloud. “I’ll tell you about when I got it.” He then stopped to think about what he was going to say without going too much in detail. “This was an gift from the planet. To get it, the others and I had to defeat Ultima Weapon. Originally, the planet created four weapons to destroy anything that threatened its life. On our quest to stop meteor, they were purposely released and set off around the world. Sephiroth, the one I fought outside garden yesterday, summoned a meteor to hit the planet and merge with it when the planet would use the lifestream to heal the wound. He sealed himself up in the northern crater with a shield of energy that surrounded the entrance. The four Weapons that were released seemed to be out of control and wreaked havoc all over the world. When we fought Ultima Weapon for the final time, I heard its voice in my mind and it told me that I would receive a gift from the planet if I could beat it. Just before we killed it, it released this sword from its body.”
“That’s an interesting story, even though most of what you said is unfamiliar to me, I understand it,” Squall added.
“May I ask you what is that weapon?” Asked Squall.
“Yeah, It’s a gunblade. As you can see it’s a cross between a gun and a sword. Even though it doesn’t shoot any kind of ammo, by pulling the trigger you can inflict extra damage. This right here is the Lionheart. It’s one of the most powerful gunblades that you can upgrade to,” Squall answered while showing Cloud the blue gunblade. “Right now, I’m the only gunblade specialist in Balamb Garden’s SeeD. Most don’t choose the gunblade for their weapon of mastery because it is real hard to master.” Now Cloud really seemed interested in know more about the gunblade and about SeeD.
“You said upgrade, what do you mean by that?” Asked Cloud.
“You can upgrade your weapon by going to junkshops and having the necessary items and gil, and have your weapon upgraded,” answered Squall.
Without any more questions between the two, they finished polishing their weapons until they shined like they were brand new. Cloud asked one more question before getting up. “Anybody else up besides us?”
“Yeah, I saw a brief glimpse of Lensey going toward the entrance of garden earlier,” answered Squall. “Everyone else should be waking up soon, and if not, then they would get a rude wake up call by Selphie.” Getting up walking toward the entrance, Squall said, “You should put your sword in your room because there aren’t any weapons allowed in the cafeteria.”
With that said Squall and Cloud went to their dorm rooms and stored their weapons. They saw that more and more people started to exit their dorms and head to the cafeteria. They decided to head to the cafeteria as not having to wait too long in line. On their way there they ran into Selphie and she looked worried.
“Have one of you two seen Lensey this morning?” Asked Selphie. “I went to her dorm thinking she was still sleeping, but she wasn’t there.”
“I saw her going toward the entrance earlier, she was probably heading for the beach,” said Squall. “I hope that helps you.”
“Yeah, thanks!” Said Selphie while waving and taking off toward the entrance of garden.
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Selphie ran toward the entrance and stopped by the gatekeeper. “Did a young woman in a red short-sleeved karate gi top with white pants and red shoes with a katana sheathed on her back come through here?” Selphie asked the older man.
“Yeah, she must have been one of the guests that the headmaster told me about,” said the man in the booth. “That’s the earliest that I’ve seen someone go out. She said if anybody would be looking for her, to tell them that she went down to the beach.”
“Okay, thanks!” Selphie said while signing the pad of paper labeled out. It took a few minutes to walk to the beach without too many encounters with bite bugs. So Selphie began her short sojourn to the beach.
From the distance, she could make out Lensey doing various sword slashes, thrust, and parries like she was fighting an invisible opponent. When she was about thirty feet away, she decided to observe Lensey doing her kata with her katana. It looked very impressive, and it didn’t look like she was tiring anytime soon.
Before she knew it, she saw some fins sticking out of the sand about ten feet from Lensey’s back. She was going to yell a warning but saw that Lensey turn around with her katana in a ready position. She decided to watch this also. The two fastitocalans immediately burst out of the sand and was charging fast at Lensey. When the first one made it to her, she just sidestepped the attack and delivered a horizontal slash that left it in half. She sidestepped the second fished-shaped monster as it charged for her. When it turned around and charged again, Lensey did a forward twisting somersault to land behind it and did a diagonal slash that cut it in two.
Lensey immediately flicked the monsters’ blood off her blade and sheathed it. “Did you enjoy the show Selphie?” She asked while still turned around.
“How did you know it was me?” Asked Selphie with a confused look.
Lensey turned around and said, “I knew it was you because of your unique power signature that radiates from you.” From this answer, she received a blank look from Selphie. “Every being has an unique power signature that they give off. People who are strong give off a more unique power signature. With your hidden power unlocked, I could sense your power more and tell you from other people without having to look at you because of a sensing technique that I was taught.”
“Oh,” said Selphie with a little more understanding.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll explain more to you when I start training all of you in the basics of using your unlocked powers,” Lensey said.
“Okay,” exclaimed Selphie. “Well, I just wanted to get you for breakfast and was worried when I saw you wasn’t in your room, the quad, or the library.” Selphie said this while smiling.
“Thanks,” Lensey said. “Oh yeah, thanks for delivering dinner too me.”
“No problem,” Selphie explained. “Well, if you’re finished here, let’s get cleaned up and go eat breakfast.” Lensey smiled and the two started their short walk back to garden.
The both of them talked about a few things and they both seemed relaxed. Lensey was really beginning to really like the happy go lucky SeeD. She wondered did Selphie have this kind of effect on most people, because she really seemed out of place in a military organization. In just a few minutes, they were back in Garden and they went to their dorm rooms to take showers and get ready for breakfast.
Once they both were finished they went to the cafeteria and got some breakfast from the counter and looked for the group. They weren’t hard to find because of the way they stuck out in the cafeteria. Selphie and Lensey sat down at a table with Dan and Lisa.
“How could somebody eat hot dogs for breakfast?” Asked Cid Highwind.
“I really don’t know, but you would be lucky if you got one,” said Irvine while discussing about Zell’s unusual breakfast.
“Hey!” Protested Zell. “You don’t know how hard it is to get some of these babies, because they’re so good.” Zell said while taking another bite of one of his hotdogs.
“Well, if they really wanted to try some I could tell the cooks to set some aside for them,” said Squall.
“What!?” Said Zell loudly while having a surprised look on his face. “You can do that and you didn’t tell me about it.” Squall nodded with a little smirk on his face. Of all the things Squall didn’t tell Zell about, it was this little privilege that came with being the commander. It seemed like Squall developed a little sense of humor over those six months.
“Excuse me Quistis,” said Tifa. “Yesterday, when we was fighting, you summoned Shiva, and she looked different from the way I’m used to seeing her. Do you have some kind of special materia?”
“No, I was junctioned to her through my mind,” said Quistis. In saying this, she got blank looks from all of Avalanche. “I’ll explain. You junction Guardian Forces to one’s being. They are what we use to cast magic, and we borrow the power to fight. In exchange for that power, we give up some of our past memories, because the Guardian Forces reside in your mind in the place where you hold your memories.”
“I don’t know if I could give up some of my memories,” said Tifa. “You have Shiva right, what other Guardian Forces do you have? I want know what summon materia I can’t use.”
“Well, the Guardian Forces that we have between the six of us are, Shiva, Ifrit, Diablos, Siren, the Brothers, Carbuncle, Quezacotl, Leviathan, Pandemona, Cerberus, Alexander, Doom train, Buhamut, and Eden. Now that’s a mouthful. I would say Gilgamesh, but he is a bit of a wild card. Just like Odin, before he was killed.” This answered Tifa’s question, but she wanted to know why she couldn’t summon Shiva, but that could probably wait for another day.
“Hey Lensey, can you tell us about Diaz’s army and what we should expect,” asked Squall.
“Yeah sure, but I would like to wait until everybody has finished eating and probably tell the Headmaster about it too,” Lensey said. “I really don’t want to see anybody choke on their food, or spit it out.”
With that said, everybody went on with finishing their breakfast. Once they were all finished, they went to the third floor and to the Headmaster’s office.
“Okay Lensey, you can explain about Diaz’s army now,” Squall said.
“Well, about Diaz’s army, it’s real big,” explained Lensey. “Right now, he doesn’t have that big of an force on this world now but he can get troops and some heavy artillery from some of the worlds that he conquered.”
“Wait a minute, you’re saying he can probably just get whatever he needs in a snap?” Asked Xu. Lensey nodded.
“Okay, I say this would be a big problem if he decides to have an war of attrition,” said Headmaster Cid. “Do you have any idea where his fortress might be Lensey?”
“Not really,” answered Lensey. “I usually can sense his power and can point out the general direction it’s coming from, but I can’t this time. He must have cast some sort of magic that protects his castle and hides it from my senses, because I could usually tell where he is.”
“I wonder how strong is his army?” Asked Quistis.
“They’re very strong, his foot soldiers are very well trained, but I think a force like SeeD should be able to handle them,” explained Lensey. “Have you contacted the other gardens Headmaster Cid?”
“I’ve only contacted Trabia garden and I’m going to contact Galbaldia garden today,” Said the Headmaster.
“Good, because if there is to be any chance of defeating Diaz and his army, we would have to have a very strong and unified army of our own,” said Lensey with determination in her voice. “Is there any other military forces that could join us in this fight?”
“Yeah, there the Galbadia military and the Esthar military,” said Rinoa. “Esthar would probably join us immediately when they listen to the situation, it’s Galbadia that I’m worried about.”
“Yeah, now that Vinzer Deling is gone, they put in a parliament system like Dollet.” Said Irvine. “The power is equally divided, but there is probably countless disagreements among those politicians.”
Lensey took this into account while thinking about the current situation. “I think they might try to target the Gardens’ first, because they’re the biggest threat to him right now.”
“Right, I’ll contact Galbaldia garden right away,” said the Headmaster. “Did you figure out a suitable place to start your training Squall?”
“Yeah, it took me some time to think about it, but I think that island by Cactaur island is probably the perfect place,” explained Squall. “First, there’s a big dessert there, secondly nobody lives there, and third, no one would mind if that landscape changed that much.”
“That’s perfect, well I wish you all Godspeed in you trip there,” said Cid Kramer while saluting them. Everyone including Avalanche and Lensey saluted back and left the office.
When everybody was downstairs, they all headed to the parking lot. Upon arrival, Selphie went to a panel on the wall and typed in a password. After she typed it in, sirens began to go off and the floor in the middle of the garage opened up and something slowly came out of it. In no time, everyone saw the awe-inspiring red draconic ship, the Ragnarok.
All of Avalanche and Lensey looked at it with awe. “What’s this?” Asked Cid with a hint of interest.
“It’s the Ragnarok, our main transportation in getting around the world,” said Selphie in an informative voice. Selphie went up to back of the ship and punched a code into a number panel and the entrance ramp came down. “This is now officially Balamb garden’s ship. Esthar gave it to us as a gift for stopping time compression, and getting rid of all of the monsters that came down during the lunar cry.”
Everyone boarded it and only Cloud, Tifa, Selphie, Irvine, Cid, Rinoa, and Squall went to the bridge of the ship while the others went to the passenger deck below the bridge. When Selphie started it up and pressed a few buttons on the control panel, an opening above the garage opened up and the platform the Ragnarok was on was raising. When it finally stopped. Selphie pulled the control stick back and the Ragnarok ascended into the air. When they were high enough, Selphie eased the throttle stick forward and the Ragnarok propelled forward. Cid Highwind was in the co-pilot’s seat observing all that Selphie did and wondered if she wouldn’t mind if he had a go at flying the Ragnarok anytime soon.
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Sephiroth woke up feeling very refreshed and a little sore from the battle that took place the previous day. He stretched and yawned for a few seconds. He put on some baggy black pants that were laid out for him.
He heard a knock on his door and asked who was it. It was a female voice that answered him. “Sir, I’m here with your breakfast.”
“Very well, come in,” Sephiroth said. A young woman in a green dress with and apron on walked in carrying a tray of delicious smelling food. She set it on the table in his room and gave Sephiroth a little bow while blushing. “I’ll start you a nice warm bath while you eat your breakfast. I’ll be back to inform you when it is ready and escort you to it.” She said this while curtsying and bowing her head. “By your permission, I’ll take my leave.”
“Go ahead,” Sephiroth said. She took her leave and went to prepare his bath. Being a general in Diaz’s army really looked like it had its perks. Sephiroth ate his breakfast in silence and when he was finished, the maid came back and informed him that his bath was ready. Sephiroth gathered up his black battle uniform, boots and masamune blade and gave them to the maid to carry while she escorted him to a very elegant looking bathroom. The maid laid his gear in a chair and walked toward the door.
“I’ll be just outside if you need anything sir,” the maid said while giving a little smile and leaving out the door. When she was outside the door, she closed it. Sephiroth immediately got in the warm bath and just relaxed. (I guess being under Diaz’s command isn’t too bad. It would be too bad when I take over this world and challenge Diaz and defeat him. All this would be mine.) These thoughts really comforted Sephiroth as he washed himself. When he was finished, he got out and dried off and dressed. When he was satisfied by the way he looked, he left the bathroom and saw that the maid was still outside.
“I hope you had an enjoyable bath, is there anything else I could get you?” The maid asked.
“No, that is all, you may attend to any duties that you have,” Sephiroth said while turning and walking back toward his room.
When he got his room, he decided to go out in the training courtyard and practice his sword skills and test some of the troops. When he was halfway there, a soldier from the throne room stopped in front of him while saluting. “Good morning sir, Emperor Diaz requests that I take you to him sir.”
“Okay, lead the way,” Sephiroth said. He followed the soldier to a conference room with a huge round table in it. He saw Diaz, Ultimecia, and everyone from yesterday’s battle there. Sephiroth sat in an empty chair in-between Ultimecia and Darius.
“It is nice of you to join us Sephiroth,” Diaz said. “How did your breakfast and bath go?”
“They were fine,” said Sephiroth.
“Good, I’ll have my recon soldier brief you on the military situation of this world,” said Diaz. He then nodded at a soldier and the soldier came forward. He gave Diaz and everybody a quick salute and gave his report.
“There are three major military organizations on this world. SeeD, the Galbaldia military, and the Esthar military,” report the soldier. “Of all of them, SeeD seems to be the strongest. Galbaldia is the second strongest and Esthar is the last strongest. There are three bases on this world that the SeeDs reside in, Balamb Garden, Galbaldia Garden, and Trabia Garden. Of all three of them, Balamb Garden is the strongest and will probably be the most troublesome. Trabia is the weakest thanks to it being in repair.” He then moved an empty chair placed a map of the world on the table. He showed the locations of the three gardens.
“What is the main transportation on this world?” asked Sephiroth.
“It is by train sir,” answered the recon soldier. “They travel by boat also, and barely travel by plane. Deling city is the main point of travel between the Galbaldian continent and Balamb,” he said while pointing it out on the map.
“Very well, this is my plan,” said Sephiroth. He explained his plan to them and when he was finished Diaz looked rather pleased.
“That’s a nice plan. Knowing Lensey Kusanagi, she would probably take Avalanche and the SeeD members to some place remote to train them in using their unlocked powers if she did unlock them,” said Diaz. “You should have considerable amount of time to carry out this plan before they show up. You can take as many soldiers that you want and assign who will go where. Don’t worry about the soldiers’; they know to fight his or her best. I can easily replace them if need be. I’ll be joining in the fun also, I haven’t had a good workout in a long time,” Said Diaz. With that said, everyone exited the room and got ready to carry out Sephiroth’s plan.
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“Well, we’re about a few minutes away from the island,” Selphie informed all of the passengers.
“Hey Selphie, you don’t mind if I fly for a little while do you?” Asked Cid. Selphie looked toward Squall for his approval. Squall just shrugged his shoulders. At this, Cloud raised an eyebrow.
“Okay!” Said Selphie. “As long as you don’t crash it.” In saying this, Cid smiled while Cloud got a little surprised. Cid may be one of the best pilots who lived, but he had a real habit of being a daredevil and showoff.
“Selphie, let me use the intercom right quick,” Cloud said frowning. She handed Cloud the microphone and pressed a button. “Hey everybody, this is Cloud, if you’re not sitting in a seat, I would greatly suggest you sit in one and strap on your seatbelt quickly. The reason for this is because Cid convinced Selphie to let him fly for a few minutes.” Upon hearing this news, all the Avalanche members quickly got into his or her seats and strapped in, Red had to be helped.
“What’s the big problem, Cid can’t be too bad a pilot,” Zell exclaimed.
“It’s not that he’s bad is what we’re worried about,” Barret explained. “He’s real good, but he really likes to do a lot of crazy stunts. In a ship like this, I would hate to see what he could do, but we’re about to find out.”
“Awww man, and I just got over motion sickness not too long ago,” whined Yuffie.
In a minute, Cid gave an announcement. “I hope everyone is ready, because I’m going to see what this bad boy can really do!” Cid took control of the ship and it was wobbly for just a few seconds. When it straightened out, Cid thought about what would be the first thing he could do. He turned the control stick to the left a little so it seemed that he was turning. In an instant, he jerked it to the right hard and the Ragnarok went into a triple barrel roll. When Cid straightened it out once more, he went into a loop-de-loop and into a spinning nosedive toward the water. He pulled up just at the last second and sent water spraying behind the Ragnarok and went back to the original altitude that Selphie had them at.
“Woohoo!” Yelled an excited Selphie. “You’re going to have to teach me how to do that someday Mr. Highwind!”
Down in the lower deck some people were excited while others were relieved that they survived. Vincent looked over at Yuffie and saw that she turned pale and covered mouth. “Do you have any bathrooms in this ship?” Vincent asked.
“Yeah, out the door and turn left, straight into the cargo bay and it’s the second door on the right,” answered Quistis. Yuffie immediately unstrapped herself and took off dashing toward the bathroom. In a few seconds, the people that went to the door and looked at Yuffie run out heard hurling noises a few seconds later.
Back on the bridge, Cloud and Tifa had relieved looks on their faces while Irvine and Selphie were excited. (I’m sure glad Cid stopped when he did. Poor Yuffie, she’s probably getting rid of the breakfast she had this morning.) Cloud pondered while letting go of Tifa’s hand.
In a few minutes time, they finally landed on the island just outside the desert. Squall equipped encounter none with Diablos and group exited the Ragnarok and went quite a distance into the desert. They were just a half of a mile from the Ragnarok when Lensey said they were probably far enough.
“Okay, this should be far enough,” said Lensey. “Well, I might as well get started in my explanation of your unlocked powers. Think about the power and skills your limit breaks let you accomplish. When you use your limit breaks, you’re tapping into just a small portion of that power. What I’m about to teach you will let you use a greater portion of that power if not all of it. This first technique I’m about to teach you will be essential if you’re going to fight against Diaz and his warriors.”
Lensey closed her eyes for a few seconds and concentrated. When she opened them a yellow aura of energy surrounded her body like a fire, strong winds shot out of it and immediately disappeared. In a few seconds, the yellow flare of energy disappeared and Lensey looked back to normal, but with a change. “I call that powering up or flaring up. This technique will increase you strength and agility when you really need the extra boost. If I were you, I’d start out with this technique at the beginning of the battle. When doing it, you really don’t have to close your eyes; I just do that to concentrate better. Sometimes yelling helps you focus, or just to get the attention of everyone around you. Now you try it. I’ll instruct you as you try.”
She saw that everybody was confused, but she was just about to explain what to do. “Concentrate on the power that flows within your body,” Lensey said. A few people closed their eyes while concentrating while others didn’t. “Now focus on it, let your power fill your whole body.” She really felt that some people were getting there while others weren’t. “Now let the power explode outside your body and feel it fill your being.” Immediately, she saw blue white, and yellow flames surround most of the group while Irvine, Barret, Xu, and Vincent had a little trouble getting the hang of it. “Keep trying, this time think about pain that you’ve endured or the need to protect something. Now focus on that, and let it manifest into a physical manifestation of that.” Now she really got the results from saying that. “You can go further in this technique by using your rage or anger, but I would save that for a really tough battle.”
“This next technique is similar to the power-up, but can be more useful if used correctly. Watch me for the first time, and then try to make up your own version of this attack.” Lensey went into a side stance, facing toward the middle of the desert. She then brought her hands to her side like she was holding a ball and started concentrating. “When you do this, concentrate your energy into your arms and hands and try to make a ball of energy, or let the energy flow into your hands.” As she was saying this her hands glowed blue and energy seemed to be gathering from around her. “When you’re ready, release it toward the target that you’re aiming for.” She then brought her hands forward and threw a ball of energy forward. When it was a considerable amount of distance away from her and it exploded. “This is a good technique to use, but you’ll have to use it more sparingly because doing it too much will take its toll on you.” In a few minutes time, everyone had done his or her own style of the move. “You can use this technique with your weapons too. You can either charge up you weapon and release it or attack with a powered-up weapon. For most of the other techniques that I show you, you can get very creative with them, and they could be very useful in battle.”
The training went on into the early afternoon with everyone learning a considerable amount of things and making up their own attacks. When they were on their way back to Balamb Garden, they got an unexpected call. “This is Balamb Garden, Ragnarok, do you read me, over.” It was Cid’s voice.
“We read you loud and clear, over,” said Selphie.
“Is Squall on the bridge?” The headmaster asked.
“Yeah, I’m right here, what’s wrong?”
“I just got a distress call from Timber, they said they were under attack by some unknown military force,” the Headmaster said.
“What!?” Squall yelled.
“That’s not the half of it, it seems that Galbaldian garden is under attack too by the same people,” Cid Kramer explained.
“Damn, that’s bad!” Cid Highwind Yelled.
“Have a couple of squads of SeeDs waiting outside of garden for us. We’re going to kick the Ragnarok into overdrive and we should be there in less than thirty minutes,” Squall said.
“How about we make this a SeeD exam, that way we would have more people out there,” Cid said.
“I hope you know what you’re doing Headmaster, this is won’t be like any other exam,” Squall explained. “This is an enemy that we don’t have as much information on, and really don’t know how powerful they are. Have the leaders of the squads and SeeDs outfitted with headset communication devices and tell them to bring a few extra.”
“Right, over and out,” the headmaster said.
Squall then pressed the intercom button. “There’s been a change of plans, Diaz’s army is attacking Timber and Galbadia Garden now. We’ll swing by Balamb Garden and pick up a few Squads of SeeDs and Cadets. Cid decided to make this a SeeD exam. I really don’t know what he was thinking, but he said that we’ll probably need the extra manpower,” Squall said into the intercom. “We should be back by garden in less than a half hour, we’ll work out who’s going where when we pick up everybody.” Now this was the kind of news that didn’t sit well in everyone’s mind.
In less than twenty minutes, they made it to Balamb Garden and picked up a group of thirty cadets and seventeen SeeDs. This was probably the biggest group that went on a SeeD Exam. When everyone was aboard, the Ragnarok shot up into the sky and took off like a bat out of hell. Rinoa and Irvine immediately made it clear where they were going and nobody had any protest. In an instant, headsets were given out and who would be going where was figured out.
The first stop would be Timber, and then straight to Galbaldia Garden. It wasn’t until they were a few minutes away from Timber when they got another unexpected call from garden. “We just got another distress call,” the headmaster’s voice came out of the radio. “It seems as though Trabia is under attack by Diaz’s army too.”
“Damn, I’d never expected Diaz to do a three pronged-attack and try to take out Trabia and Galbaldia Garden. Now, we’ll have to make the groups smaller,” said Lensey angrily. Also, at this recent announcement, Selphie had a shocked look on her face and looked ready to turn around and go toward Trabia first.
Squall saw this and said, “Don’t turn around the ship Selphie.” Selphie looked really worried. He looked at Selphie with eyes of sympathy, and he had an idea of what she was going through. The place that she spent a greater part of her life in was being attacked and she was going in the opposite direction. “Don’t worry Selphie, once we make the necessary changes to the groups, you’re drop off the groups going to Timber and Galbaldia Garden, and the you can head straight for Trabia Garden. You’ll be the leader of the group that goes to Trabia.”
In about three minutes, Squall made the necessary changes to the groups. In the Timber group would be ten cadets, five SeeD members along with Squall, Rinoa, Cloud, Tifa, and Lensey. Squall was the leader of this group. In the Galbaldia Garden group would be ten cadets, five SeeD members with Irvine, Dan, Lisa, Quistis, Cid, and Barret. The leader of this group was Irvine. In the Trabia Garden group would be ten cadets, seven SeeD members along with Selphie, Xu, Zell, Yuffie, Red XIII, and Vincent. The leader of this group was Selphie. Squall made the Trabia garden attack force bigger because he probably thought that Trabia garden probably still hasn’t recovered fully from the missile attack over six months ago.
Squall came up with a plan to drop at least four squads of cadets and the five SeeDs in four different parts of Timber. He instructed Selphie where to stop so the groups can jump out. Immediately Lensey told all of the cadets and other SeeD members in the Ragnarok of Diaz and his elite six along with Sephiroth and Ultimecia. She very quickly gave them brief descriptions of their appearances. Lensey ordered, “you are to back off and not engage them in battle unless you are forced to. You are to immediately give their position and wait there for somebody from the leading group to handle the situation.”
“This is not a regular SeeD mission,” said Squall in a serious tone toward the Timber group. “This will be a mission where you are to seek and eliminate or drive the enemy away from Timber. The opposing army’s numbers may be more numerous, but don’t give up. Fight with all that you’ve got. Also, if you see any civilians being attacked or trying to escape from the enemy, aid them in any way that you can possibly think of.” Squall then looked over toward Cloud, Tifa, and Lensey. “This is Cloud, Tifa, and Lensey. If they give you an order, you are to follow it with no questions asked. Also, try to keep radio contact to a minimum, and call only if you need assistance or you see any of the people that Lensey described. Is that all understood?”
“Yes Sir!” Echoed the cadets and SeeD members while saluting. Everyone dropping in the first group immediately put of belts around their waist with a rope attached to it.
“Alpha team get ready, your drop point is coming up,” ordered Squall. The entrance ramp to the Ragnarok was opened and Selphie got as low as she could get in the Ragnarok. “Okay, Go!” With this said, Lensey, one group of cadets, and two SeeD members rappelled out of the Ragnarok on the ropes. When everybody was down and disengaged their harnesses, Squall told Selphie to go to another part of the city and the Bravo team went through the same procedure.
When Selphie went to the third part of the city it was Charlie teams turned to go. In this group were Cloud, Tifa, one group of three cadets, and one SeeD member. “Good luck out there,” Squall said to Cloud and Tifa before they rappelled down to the streets of Timber.
The last group was Delta team, which consisted of Squall, Rinoa, the remaining four cadets, and the last SeeD member that made up the Timber attack force. They rappelled down into the ensuing chaos and fire filled streets of Timber.
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When Team Charlie touched down, Cloud instructed the cadets to go in one direction while Tifa, a male SeeD, and himself where to go another way. The thing that Cloud and Tifa wasn’t expecting was the visions of a burning Nibelheim come back to them in a flash. How similar this scene looked stunned both Cloud and Tifa. They were stunned by the death and destruction that was around them. The SeeD member that accompanied them brought them out of it.
“Sorry about that, well, let’s go,” Cloud said. Without warning, they got a radio call from Lensey telling them both to try to use their powers as little as possible. She said the reason for this is because they would cause a lot of damage in such a closed in area. They were not to use their full power unless it was necessary.
The three of them only ran a few feet when they encountered a group of eight soldiers. Cloud immediately separated them and stopped them from ganging up on the three with a few skillful slashes.
When they were dispersed, Tifa immediately knocked two soldiers out with a well-placed spinning roundhouse. Cloud took out three of them with some impressive swordplay while the SeeD member took out the other three with his staff.
The three continued down the street until they came to an intersection. “Okay, which way do we go now?” Asked Tifa. Cloud was about to answer when he heard fighting to his immediate left. He turned to see three people fight off big group of soldiers. There was a blonde young man in a white trench coat with a vest, black pants and boots fighting with what looked like a gunblade. One of the other two were a young woman with gray hair with an eyepatch with a blue shirt, with black boots and pants, fighting with a round looking weapon with blades on it. The other was a tall muscle-bound dark-skinned young man in a dark blue vest with baggy pants and black boots also fighting with a staff-like weapon. They looked like they were holding their own until some more soldiers jumped off the buildings heading toward the three skilled youths.
Cloud’s group immediately went into action and charged at the group of soldiers that jumped off building. Cloud caught a few off guards from behind, but jumped backwards as some lightening spells were released his way. He avoided them and Tifa charged forward and dodged all of the sword slashes sent toward her and delivered some well placed punches and kicks that broke the neck of a few soldiers and knocked others unconscious.
After Seifer was done fighting the soldiers in front of him, he turned around to face the soldiers that jumped off the buildings. He was a shocked to see all of them on the ground, and see a woman in a white tank top and black skirt with a type of fighting gloves that he never saw before knockout the last of the soldiers. He then took notice of the blonde hair man with a spiked hairdo in a blue uniform and huge looking white and black sword, and of the SeeD member. “It’s about time SeeD got here, I thought we were going to have to handle the situation alone!” Seifer yelled in an arrogant voice. “Who are you two?” He asked toward Cloud and Tifa.
“Who we are can wait for later, we have to clear this part of the city first!” Answered Cloud. As he looked at Seifer more closely, he saw a scar on his forehead that looked like Squall, but it ran in the other direction.
Seifer, along with Fujin and Raijin walked up to them. “Thanks for watching our backs there, ya know,” said Raijin.
“No problem,” answered Tifa.
In an instant, all of them saw a woman with a little girl and boy by her side running out of a building and being chased by about seven soldiers. They were pinned by a building and the soldiers walked over to them slowly as if expecting an easy kill. Now this really pushed Cloud toward the boiling point. He didn’t know if he could take anymore of this heart-wrenching situation. He put his sword in a familiar vertical position and concentrated his energy into his sword until it glowed a bright blue.
He immediately charged at the soldiers while yelling, “I WON’T LET THERE BE ANOTHER CLOUD STRIFE!” This surprised the soldiers at how fast he moved and the distance he traveled in a short amount of time. He unleashed a powered-up omnislash against the group of seven soldiers. When he was finished, Seifer, Fujin and Raijin were really shocked at the limit break he unleashed. All the soldiers’ were dead at Cloud’s feet, each with numerous slashes. He immediately sheathed his sword and helped the woman back to her feet.
“Thank you for saving me and my children,” the woman said. The little boy looked in awe of Cloud while the little girl looked terrified. “Thank the nice man for saving you.”
“Thanks mister, that was so cool,” said the little boy that looked about the age of six.
The little girl was crying and immediately jumped into Cloud’s arms as he kneeled down. “Those bad people hurt my daddy,” the four-year-old girl said while crying. “Will you make them go away?” She asked Cloud while looking up into his eyes.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it honey,” said Cloud in a calm soothing voice. “I’ll make them go away,” Cloud said while hugging the little girl again. The girl smiled and walked back over to her mother. About this time, Tifa, Seifer, Raijin, Fujin and the SeeD member arrived by Cloud’s side.
“What the $#@& was that?!?” Yelled Seifer. He knew he wanted answers and he wanted them now.
“Watch your mouth, you’re in the presence of children,” Tifa said in a scolding voice. This annoyed Seifer but he chose to keep his mouth shut.
“That was a powered-up version of my limit break, the omnislash,” Cloud answered.
Suddenly, Cloud heard a beeping coming from his headset. He pressed the button and said, “Cloud here.”
“Sir, we just spotted one of the people that miss Kusanagi told us about,” said one of the cadets from the squad Cloud sent the other way. “He’s wearing all black, he has silver hair, and has a long-looking blade.”
(Sephiroth) Cloud immediately thought. “Tell me your position, and we should be there in probably two or three minutes,” Cloud ordered. The cadet told them their position and turned off the communication headset. He turned toward Tifa and said, “The group of cadets just spotted Sephiroth, it’s not far from here.” He then turned toward the SeeD. “Find this woman and her children some place to hide and join us two blocks north from our original drop position.” The SeeD nodded and left with the civilians. Cloud then turned toward Seifer, Fujin, and Raijin. “Are you three coming? There may be more enemies that we could handle and we could use somebody with your fighting skills on our side.”
Seifer, Raijin, and Fujin just nodded and followed closely behind Cloud and Tifa while they turned the corner and ran down the street. Seifer wanted to stop all of this carnage that suddenly erupted without warning in Timber. He’ll even team up with Squall if need be.
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As soon as the team Lensey was leading dropped from the Ragnarok, Darius Wolfe and some of Diaz’s more elite soldiers immediately confronted them. “I was wondering who I would get to fight?” Darius said in an arrogant tone. “I guess today won’t be a total waste, I get to really challenge my skills now. Men handle those pesky little flies that’s with Kusanagi.”
With those orders, the soldier charged toward the SeeDs and attacked. The elite soldiers drove the SeeDs backwards as to give Darius the room he needed to fight. Lensey only watched for a few seconds as the cadets and SeeDs went at it with some of Diaz’s elite soldiers and was impressed by the skill they displayed. She then turned her attention to Darius and watched him as he took his bladed staff off his back. She followed his example and unsheathed the katana from her back. They immediately went into the battle-ready stances and watched each other for a few seconds.
Darius made the first move and slashed high to catch Lensey off guard. She wasn’t having any of it and returned his slash with a horizontal slash. Darius swiftly jumped back and barely avoided it and came back at her with multiple slashes that were to a ploy to dazzle her. She really couldn’t believe he would try this elementary style trick. She blocked and dodged most of the slashes and then brought her katana forward meeting with his nangenta. When the two weapons collided, the force that Lensey put into her swing was enough to knock Darius off balance for a moment. In following her upward slash, she delivered a spinning roundhouse kick to Darius’s midsection that drove him back a couple of feet.
Trying to sustain the advantage that she had gained, Lensey immediately charged forward attempting and overhead slash. Unfortunately for her, Darius regained his senses faster than she thought, and with an outstretched palm, he shot a small ki blast, which connected with her. She was promptly flung to the ground and rolled out the way as Darius attempted to gut her with his bladed staff. When he missed, Lensey did spinning sweep that looked like a break dance move that tripped him and allowed her to get up and jumped back a few feet.
When Darius got to his feet, he had a smile on his face. It looked like he was enjoying this fight. “So you really have improved, but you won’t surprise me like you did Maximus, Oriana, and Krelnar.”
Both of them noticed that the fighting between the cadets and Diaz’s elite soldier’s was over, and saw that the elite soldiers were dead while one of the cadets looked injured. He was immediately cured by one of the other cadets and watched Lensey and Darius. “Good work, now go and spread out get rid of any soldiers in this section of the city and help any civilians that need the help,” said Lensey. The cadets and SeeDs saluted and took off in the opposite direction. “It seems as though your men underestimated the SeeDs.”
“Those men were weak anyway, but you won’t be as lucky as they were,” replied Darius. The two immediately charged each other with their weapons clashing together. They really went at it and the fight looked even. To come out the victor, both knew they would have to fight with all their hearts and try to outwit the other.
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When Squall’s team landed, they were immediately thrust into battle with Krelnar and some soldiers.
“So, I guess you could say this is round two of our fight,” Krelnar said while having a little smirk on his face.
“You could say that, but this fight won’t be as lopsided as you think it will be,” Squall said. Squall immediately flared up and was in his battle-ready stance with Lionheart unsheathed.
“So I guess you learned a few tricks, well they won’t be enough to beat me,” Krelnar said while flaring up too. They both charged at each other faster than before and were really going at it. Squall was able to match Krelnar move for move and block for block. Neither gained the advantage in the fight. It wasn’t until Krelnar charged up his sword and swung at Squall and knocked him off balance when Squall blocked.
Squall was then kicked in the chest and flew backwards a few feet before landing on the ground. Krelnar really took advantage of the situation and charged fast toward Squall. Squall brought his gunblade up to block the blow Krelnar was about to deliver when he jumped back.
Krelnar jumped back to dodge a spinning weapon that glowed yellow a little bit.
Rinoa shot her weapon at Krelnar and was controlling it with her power as it was blocked and deflected by Krelnar. Doing this gave Squall enough time to get back up and start an offensive against the preoccupied man. He slashed fast and skillfully at Krelnar and only caught Krelnar with a grazing blow to his chest that left a thin cut.
“It seems as first blood goes to you once more, enough playing, time to get serious,” announced Krelnar.
He then jumped backwards and let a red aura surround his body and he released two fireballs out of his sword slashing at Squall. This time Squall wasn’t surprised and promptly sent the fireballs back Krelnar’s way. Krelnar dodged them and smiled. He then unleashed a bigger fireball at Squall.
(This again?) Squall met the fireball with Lionheart and as soon as it touched the gunblade, the fireball split into two smaller ones that curved upward and came back down and connected solidly with Squall’s chest. The blast threw him back a couple of feet and he meet with the ground very hard.
Squall regained his senses fast and cured himself with a curaga spell. He got up a slashed his sword in a diagonal motion three times and three crescent moon shaped ki blasts were heading toward Krelnar fast and he blocked the first and second ones. The third one connected and sent him sprawling to the ground.
When he got up, he had a look of hatred toward Squall. “You’ll pay for that boy,” Krelnar said with venom in his voice. Both them charged at each other once more and slashed, dodged, and parried at one and other. The battle looked like it was in Squall’s favor for a little while until Krelnar pulled off some moves that caught Squall off guard. Being a person of much skill, Squall retaliated some attacks that caught Krelnar off guard as well. So far the battle looked even, and the two warriors were very cautious not to make too many mistakes.
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Once Cloud got to the place that the cadets told them of, he immediately saw that they were getting outnumbered. Tifa, Seifer, Fujin and Raijin immediately went to assist them. When they got assistance, the battle turned back to their favor.
Cloud then focused on Sephiroth as he stood some distance away from the battle and watched. “It seems as though fate has brought us together once again to do battle,” Sephiroth said. “It is your destiny to die by this blade, Cloud Strife.”
“You’re wrong,” Cloud replied. “I’m not going to be dying by your blade or any other’s today.”
“We’ll see if I’m wrong or not today,” said Sephiroth. The two immediately charged each other and clashed blades. They were matching each other slash for slash. It was even until Cloud blocked and pushed Sephiroth’s masamune blade up, momentarily getting Sephiroth off balance. He then tried a horizontal slash, but Sephiroth did a forward twisting somersault over Cloud’s head. Cloud was going to turn around slashing but was hit by a very hard kick to the side.
That kick really knocked the breath out of Cloud and had him furiously trying to catch his breath. Sephiroth was about to attempt the killing blow when he heard someone running toward him swiftly. He glanced behind him and saw a blonde-haired young man in a white trench coat with a strange sword-like weapon having it in the ready position to swing. When he swung, Sephiroth jumped to the side and jumped back again to avoid the return swing.
“I don’t know who you are, but if you’re so willing to interfere and die, I would be happy to oblige,” Sephiroth said.
“I’d like to see you try!” Seifer yelled.
Suddenly Sephiroth got a message from Diaz in his mind. He narrowed his eyes and couldn’t believe the message he was just told. Krelnar and Darius were given the same message. At this Sephiroth narrowed his eyes and looked mad. He looked and Cloud said, “It seems you got lucky this time, but next time, the fates won’t smile upon you.”
Upon saying this, Sephiroth, Krelnar, and Darius along with any of the soldiers that were still alive disappeared in a flash.
Seifer helped Cloud back to his feet while sheathing his gunblade. “I guess I owe you one,” Cloud said.
“Let’s just call it even,” Seifer said. He then held a hand out toward Cloud. “The name’s Seifer Almasy. The young woman and man that was with me, their names are Fujin and Raijin.”
Cloud took his hand and shook it while saying, “My name is Cloud Strife, and that’s Tifa Lockhart.”
Once they were finished shaking hands, Seifer asked, “Can you tell me what the hell is going on? And who was that man and those soldiers?”
“I’ll be glad to, but you won’t like what you hear,” said Cloud. “Better yet, there’s somebody who can tell you better than what I would tell you.”
“Okay let’s find this person so I can find out what the hell is going on around here,” said Seifer.
Cloud nodded and then talked with Squall and Lensey on the headset about what Diaz was trying to accomplish. After they were finished Cloud, Tifa, Seifer, Raijin and Fujin sought out Lensey while helping any civilian they came across. This day was really turning out to be a crappy day, and they all wondered why in the heck would Diaz’s army pull back. They hoped the answer would not be one they would not like.
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Author’s Notes: Well that’s chapter 5 for you. After having little training with their unlocked powers, Avalanche and SeeD seemed to have evened the playing field. Why Diaz ordered the withdrawal of his forces from Timber is somewhat of a mystery to those left in Timber. What did Diaz hope to accomplish with this attack? What is in store for the groups being sent to Trabia and Galbaldia Gardens? You’ll just have to find out when the next chapter comes out. Also, I wanted to talk about having Seifer, Raijin and Fujin in this chapter. I know Seifer might seem out of character in this chapter, but anybody would be out of character when a town they are staying in is suddenly attacked without warning. Also, I know some people are thinking why I made the fights short. I did that as not to make the fic longer than it should be, and I’m running out of ideas on how the battles should go. I’m not out of ideas yet, and you will see them in future chapters. Well, Chapter six will be about the attacks on Trabia and Galbaldia Gardens. Also, I wonder can anybody guess where I borrowed that one phrase that Cloud yelled, “I WON’T LET THERE BE ANOTHER CLOUD STRIFE!” If you can’t guess it and want to know where I got it from, just tell me in your review or e-mail me and I’ll tell you. Also I’d like to thank everybody who reviewed and stuck with this fic so far. Also, if you’re wondering what the hell I was thinking making that a SeeD Exam; I probably couldn’t be able to give you a good answer. I’ll just say I don’t think there would be enough SeeD members left at Balamb Garden if Diaz suddenly attacked it. Also, you may notice I borrowed a few things from Dragon Ball Z, but I’m not making it a like a DBZ fic. They won’t be flying or moving at the speed of light either if you wanted to know. Well, I’ll try to work faster to get chapter six out.
Well don’t forget to review before you go on to another fic or somewhere else. I’d really like to hear what people think about this. Just email me and tell me what you think since this isn’t fanfiction.net. My email address is bbraswell54@hotmail.com.