Blades of Destiny Chapter 6
Intentions Revealed
By Brenton Braswell
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.
I would like to give a special thanks to Selphie Leonhart for letting me use an idea from one of her stories. Also if you didn’t beat FF7/ FF8, you might not want to read this story until you beat both of them. There are major spoilers in this story for those games.
I would like to give a very special thanks to Flaire, for being my beta reader. You should also check out her story, “Different Beat”.
Also, I would really like to give thanks to everyone who reviewed my story so far.
I would really like to thank Ginger Ninja for supplying me with places I could put Diaz’s castle. You should check out her fics as well.
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 took Avalanche and the SeeD members, whose powers were unlocked, to a remote place to train. They seemed to quickly learn when Lensey told them the powers that they use are familiar to them. For most of the day, Lensey instructed them in focusing their power. Elsewhere, Diaz and his warriors were having a strategy meeting. Sephiroth came up with a plan that pleased Diaz. When our heroes was returning, they got an call from Headmaster Cid saying that Timber and Galbaldia Garden was under attack by Diaz’s forces. They hurried quickly to Balamb Garden and picked up a contingent of cadets and SeeDs. They were quickly on they’re way to Timber when they got another call saying that Trabia Garden was under attack too. They made the necessary changes to the groups and the Timber team was dropped off. With Lensey, Cloud, Squall, Tifa, Rinoa, some cadets and SeeD members, things started to turn around for Timber. Also, Seifer, Raijin, and Fujin made an appearance fighting against Diaz’s army. It was a scene of horror. Death and Destruction filled the streets. When Cloud faced Sephiroth once more, he was caught off guard and got the stuffing knocked out of him. Sephiroth was about to finish him when Seifer interfered and saved Cloud. With Krelnar, Darius, and Sephiroth receiving a message through their minds by Diaz, they pulled back. This was truly confusing to the people left in Timber, but they couldn’t think for too long, because they had to help any civilians they could find. Trabia and Galbaldia Gardens are still under attack and it’s up to Selphie’s team in Trabia and Irvine’s team in Galbaldia to put a stop to the chaos that has struck without warning. They will encounter a surprise. What will it be?
(Authors Note: If you’re still wondering where I got that line that Cloud said in the last chapter, I got it from Gundam Wing.)
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Speeding toward Galbaldia Garden, the Ragnarok made it there in just four minutes after dropping off the Timber group. When they were close enough, Selphie landed the Ragnarok.
Vincent sensed the immense power coming from Galbaldia Garden. With the unlocking of their powers and Lensey’s training, Vincent abilities really got stronger. Also learning that sensing technique from Lensey seemed to come in handy. Whoever was in there had a really strong power, probably stronger than all of the attack team going into Galbaldian Garden combined. This could very well destroy them.
As Irvine and the others were exiting off the ramp, Vincent stopped Barret. “Let’s change groups,” Vincent said to Barret.
“Change groups? Barret asked. “Why the hell do you want to do that?”
“I sense a immense power inside of Galbaldia Garden,” Vincent answered. “It’s real huge, and I think it is greater than all of our powers combined. It’s so strong, it may kill all of those who go.”
“So, I’ll fight harder than I’ve ever fought before,” said Barret.
“No, you go to Trabia,” Vincent said. “I’ll go in your place, because if anything happens to you, I don’t know how I would explain it to Marlene.” Vincent said that while thinking of the sweet little girl. He knew that she would be devastated if Barret died today. If he, himself died, not that many people would grieve for him and he won’t traumatize anyone with his death seeing as he has no family or one that he could love.
Barret became fully aware of what Vincent was saying and wanted to protest but didn’t. “Alright, you can take my place, but don’t go acting like a hero and get yourself killed,” said Barret.
“I won’t, take care, my friend,” Vincent said to Barret before running down the ramp to catch up with the others.
Barret operated the controls and raised the ramp back up. “Is everyone off?” Selphie asked through the intercom.
“Yeah, that’s everyone. You can take off now,” Barret replied into the intercom system.
“Well, hold on, because I’m going to have to drive the Ragnarok to its limits so we could get to Trabia Garden real fast,” Replied Selphie. The intercom shut off, and the Ragnarok propelled into the sky and took off faster than it ever has before.
Vincent stopped and took one look back at the Ragnarok. (I’m sorry Barret. I had to go instead of you. I would hate to orphan a child from the only father that she knows.) Vincent really knew that if it came down to hand-to-hand combat, he would have a better chance of coming out of the battle alive. He was a Turk at one time in his life. He really has changed. After meeting with Cloud and the rest of Avalanche, the quest to save the world, and the kindness and acceptance that he received, he really has changed. He turned around and saw that Irvine and the others were waiting for him. (They’re probably waiting for me. I better not keep them waiting.) He ran swiftly over to them.
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After dropping off the groups going to Timber and Galbaldia Garden, Selphie sped toward Trabia Garden in the Ragnarok. She really pushed the Ragnarok to its limits and in just ten minutes they were on the northern continent full of snow. (After all of this, the Ragnarok will need to get a tune up at the airstation in Esthar. I hope we’re not too late for Trabia Garden. They better not have hurt Kaylie, my best friend at Trabia.)
When Selphie saw the familiar mountains that surrounded Trabia Garden she slowed down just a little bit when she saw smoke. When she got a better view, Trabia Garden looked like it was in ruins once again. It looked even worst then when missiles struck it. (All that work on Trabia has amounted to nothing. If they hurt my friend or anyone else, I’ll make them pay.) Selphie thought.
She immediately landed a short distance away from entrance and went down to the cargo bay to the exit ramp. When she got down there, the cadets and SeeDs instantly saluted her. She returned the salute. She saw that there were ten cadets and seven SeeD members left after having to split up the groups. She also saw that Xu, Zell, Yuffie, Barret, and Red XIII were left.
She went to the ramp and lowered it. Instantly cold wind and air shot into the Ragnarok and she shivered a little bit. After spending so much time in the sunny weather of Balamb, she had forgotten that it would be this cold in Trabia. “Okay everyone, let’s go,” Selphie said. Everyone exited the Ragnarok with Selphie being the last one to go while closing up the ramp.
Once they were off the Ragnarok, they all ran a short distance until they got to the gates. Some soldiers were there and looked like they were waiting for them. Selphie charged forward and swung the Strange Vision and cracked one of the Diaz soldiers up side the head, knocking him out. She ducked the sword swing from the other one and plunged the sharp end of the spiked nunchaku into his gut. She let him fall into the snow and flicked the blood off of her weapon. This surprised some of the cadets with the ruthlessness that she showed. This was a war they were going to be fighting and she knew that they would have to get emotionally prepared for what they were about to do.
“What’s the plan Selphie?” Asked Zell.
“Once were through the gates, we’ll probably be met with a lot of soldiers,” Selphie answered. “We fight everyone outside first and when we get inside, we’ll split into groups, that way we’ll cover more ground.” Selphie knew she wasn’t that much of a tactical genius that Squall was, but she had to at least try seeing as she was made leader of this group. “We’ll probably have to play it by ear once we’re inside.”
“Okay, that’s a good plan Selphie,” Xu said.
“Somebody help me get these gates open,” Zell said while going to the gate. A male SeeD that was a little older and looked more muscle-bound in his SeeD uniform went up to help him.
“Everybody get on the sides of the gates, there may be some soldiers waiting on the other side with guns. We don’t want to be in their immediate sight when we open the gate,” Xu said.
“Good thinking Xu, Whoever has any firearms will be on sides of the doors,” Selphie said. “When we open the doors, you’re going to point around the gate and take out any of Diaz’s soldiers by the gate.” In saying this, the entire group went to the left and right sides of the gate. Barret and a cadet with a shotgun weapon was the closest to Zell and the SeeD that was about to open the gates.
They looked to Selphie who nodded for them to go. Zell and the SeeD strained a little bit but they slowly slid open the gate. “What the hell?” said a voice from the other side of the gates. “Let’s go check it out,” said another voice. There were two pairs of footsteps walking toward the gate. When Barret felt they were close enough, he nodded to the cadet and counted from the count of three with his fingers. After it was finished, they popped around from their hiding place and fired at least three shots each. The two soldiers went down.
“Those shots probably gave away our position, we’ll have to move fast,” Selphie informed everyone. She ran through the gate first being followed closely by Barret and the cadet. The others weren’t that far behind. When they got to the fountain, they were all shocked by the destruction and death that surrounded them. It really did look worst than the missile attack. There were dead bodies of a few SeeDs and cadets of Trabia close by. At another look, Selphie saw that one of them were still alive and was breathing really shallow. It was a young woman with long dark hair. At a closer look, she was shocked and saw that it was her friend, Kaylie. She really looked in bad shape. Selphie instantly rushed over to her side, ignoring the warning calls of Barret and the cadet that there were soldiers coming their way fast.
Yuffie saw this and knew Barret and the cadet couldn’t get a good shot from where they were without risk of hitting Selphie. She ran close to their position and hurled the Conformer in the directions of the soldiers. Holding her hands out she concentrated her power and made it go around Selphie and right at the soldiers. They were shocked and it hit some of the soldiers and killed them, some ducked and it flew over their heads. They saw Yuffie smirk and were confused. Without warning the Conformer came back and killed the ones that ducked it earlier. Yuffie guided the weapon a little bit higher as not having to dodge around Selphie again. When it was close enough, she jumped up and grabbed it out of the air and landed in a crouch. Now this impressed the SeeDs and cadets that didn’t see Yuffie do this technique earlier in the day.
Yuffie immediately marched up to Selphie and said, “Next time, pay more attention to your surroundings!” Selphie looked at her with apologetic eyes, she then returned to her friend.
“Kaylie, it’s me, Selphie, it’s going to be alright,” Selphie said while trying to keep her friend awake. She instantly cast full-cure on Kaylie, and most of the wounds were healed up, the more serious injuries stopped bleeding and clotted up. She cast it once again and the injuries were almost nonexistent, but Kaylie still looked weak. Since the unlocking of her powers, Selphie found her slot limit break was more accessible now without having to be really injured or use of an aura spell.
She helped Kaylie into a sitting position. “You have to hurry and go help everyone inside,” Kaylie said.
“What happened?” Asked Yuffie.
“They just appeared out of nowhere and attacked us,” Kaylie said. “One of them said to eliminate all SeeDs in Trabia Garden.”
Selphie really looked sad and looked down to the ground with a look of sadness. In a moment, she looked back up with a look of anger. “You, You, and You,” Selphie said while pointing at two male and one female cadet. “You’re to stay out here and stay with Kaylie and look for any survivors and help them. If you see any of the enemy, don’t hesitate to eliminate them! What are your names? If you can do this, I’ll guarantee a spot in SeeD.”
The girl stepped forward and said, “Downings, Sire, and Brown!” Said the female cadet while saluting.
Selphie nodded and motioned for everyone else to follow her to the front entrance. When they got there they could see a fierce battle going on between Trabian SeeDs and enemy soldiers. When they got close enough they engaged the enemy to make the battle a little bit more even in the Trabian SeeDs favor.
In a minute, the entire enemy force at the front gate was finished off.
The group rushed inside and saw that the inside looked more messed up then the outside. Without warning, Maximus, Oriana, and Kenoshi stepped out of a hallway and saw the group of Balamb cadets, SeeDs, and a small part of Avalanche.
“Go take the right side and Left side of the Garden and clear out any enemies that you see,” Selphie said while shooting a look of hatred toward three of Diaz’s elite six. “Help any of the injured if you come upon any.” The eight cadets split into a two groups of four, and the Seven SeeDs split into groups of three and four. Of the circular lobby, four cadets and three SeeDs went to the right, while the other four cadets and four SeeDs took the left hallway.
When they took off down the hallways and out of sight, one of the three decided to speak up. “Now that the little dogs have gone, it’s time for the big dogs to play,” said Maximus.
In an instant, Kenoshi, the old man in black and red samurai armor, ran forward and with great agility, jumped over the group of five. He landed some distance away and had a look that people had when they dared you to do something. He then ran out of the entrance. “I got him, take care of the others,” said Xu while rushing out after him.
When Kenoshi was close to the Trabian SeeDs, he just jumped over them. Following his example, Xu jumped over the SeeDs too. When there was a considerable amount of distance between the Trabia SeeDs by the front gate and themselves, they stopped running.
“You’re not getting away that easy,” said Xu while unsheathing her kadochis from her lower back.
“What gave you the idea that I was trying to get away?” Questioned Kenoshi while unsheathing the katana sword from the scabbard on his belt. “I was just giving Maximus and Oriana room so they can have their fun. We’ll let me see if you’re worthy foe like Diaz said you were. I think SeeD’s skills and achievements are overrated.”
They both stood in their battle stances, and they stood there without making a move. It was a standoff, and they were daring each other to make the first move with the looks of hardness on each other’s face. Kenoshi made the first move by charging at Xu and did a diagonal slash. Xu jumped back and came back slashing in a little combo. At the end of it, their weapons were locked, and they circled each other while their weapons were still together. Kenoshi instantly pushed Xu off and started slashing horizontally at Xu. With amazing agility, Xu did some backflips that kept her out of the range of Kenoshi’s katana.
Unfortunately during one of the flips, Xu’s hands slipped on a patch of ice on the concrete, but she still held her weapons. She fell on her stomach and looked up in time to see Kenoshi with the sword over his head. Xu then rolled to the side and avoided the overhead slash. She quickly got up on her feet and got back into her battle ready stance. Xu impressed Kenoshi, seeing as she didn’t use her power yet. That was soon going to change when Kenoshi concentrated some power into his Katana. Xu instantly concentrated her energy into her weapons. Kenoshi’s weapon glowed a bright red while Xu’s glowed a bright blue. Both immediately slashed their weapons toward each other and unleashed a wave of energy at each other.
When both waves connected, there was an explosive of bright blinding light. Xu had to shield her eyes a little bit. When the light was gone, she saw that Kenoshi had disappeared. She then felt his energy coming at her and Xu looked up. (It seems as though he tried to use that explosion to mask his next move.) He was coming down from a jump real fast and slashed an overhead slash at Xu. Xu dodged to the side and slashed him in the arm. She only managed to make a thin cut on his arm because of the armor. Kenoshi jumped back after being slashed.
“So, SeeD isn’t as overrated as I thought they would be,” Kenoshi said with a smile on his face. “If they can train people with your kind of skill, the final battle shall be interesting.”
In an instant, Kenoshi got a message from Diaz in his mind. He smirked a little bit. “I seems as though I have to go now,” Kenoshi said. In a flash of white light, he disappeared.
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After Xu ran off, Maximus and Oriana charged really fast at the remaining four. Barret fired off a shot at Maximus, but the same blue shield that Diaz put up appeared on Maximus and blocked the bullets. This really shocked Barret that he couldn’t shoot them at that close of a range. They had some kind of magic that blocked bullets.
When he was close enough Maximus knocked Barret down with a well placed right while Oriana kicked at Selphie. Selphie ducked the kick and did a low foot sweep. She tripped Oriana, but Oriana bounced right back to her feet while unsheathing her broadsword. Selphie immediately jumped back a few times to dodge a few sword slashes.
Zell immediately stepped forward and start throwing punches and kicks at Maximus to get him to back up off of Barret. The hits were blocked, but Zell got the desired effect, and the two started to go at it again. Yuffie immediately knelt down by Barret and helped him up into a sitting position.
“Damn, my bullets aren’t doing any good in this battle,” cursed Barret.
“Don’t worry about it, use the energy attacks that you learnt from Lensey,” Yuffie told Barret.
“I’m useless when it comes to hand-to-hand fighting,” Barret said with regret while watching Zell and Selphie fight against Maximus and Oriana. “I’m just getting in the way.”
“Stop attacking yourself because you can’t fight like everyone else,” Yuffie scolded him. “If you can’t directly fight them, stand back and use support magic and unleash an energy attack like Red is doing against Oriana.” She said this while watching Selphie get kicked back a few feet and Red shot an energy attack at Oriana. Oriana dodged it, but it gave Selphie enough time to get back up and continue her attack.
“Damn mutt,” muttered Oriana while ducking a swing of Selphie’s nunchaku.
Barret decided to watch Zell and Maximus and give Zell some assistance when he needed it. Zell was punching at Maximus ducked on of the punches and delivered a hard gut punch to Zell. He followed up with a forward high kick that seemed to knock Zell back a few feet and daze him.
Barret saw this as his chance and he concentrated his energy into his gunarm and unleashed a powered-up big shot at Maximus. Maximus was running at Zell and didn’t notice the ball of energy until it was too late. It connected and knocked Maximus off of his feet. When Maximus was recovering and getting back up, Yuffie threw the conformer at him. Maximus saw this and dodged it.
When he dodged it, Oriana and himself jumped back to the middle of the lobby as they got a message from Diaz. “It seems as though you get to live today after all,” said Maximus. “I guess I can’t say the same for your comrades at Galbaldia Garden.” In a flash, they disappeared.
With those words said, they left Selphie and the others confused by that. In a minute, Xu came running back in. “Did the others disappear as well,” Xu asked. “The one I was fighting outside disappeared all of the sudden.” Selphie nodded.
“I don’t know why they did that, but Maximus said something about the Galbaldia Garden team before disappearing,” Selphie said worriedly. (Oh Irvy, I hope you and the others are okay.)
As she thought that, some the cadets came back and reported that the soldiers that they were fighting disappeared all of the sudden. Now this was really disturbing news. Figuring out where they went would have to wait for later. “Okay everybody, split into groups and find any survivors if they are any,” Selphie said sadly. Everyone split up into small groups and searched for any survivors. Through all of the chaos and destruction, they found a large amount of SeeDs, cadets, junior classmen, and the Headmaster boarded up in the cafeteria. (It was a good thing they closed off and defended this area.) Selphie thought. She was only relieved for a few moments when her thoughts went back to worrying about Irvine and the others. She really hoped they were okay.
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Once the Ragnarok took off, Vincent went over to Irvine and the group. The group entering Galbaldia Garden consisted of Irvine, Vincent, Dan, Lisa, Cid, Quistis, ten cadets, and five SeeDs. Irvine devised a plan where they split up into four groups. Two groups would explore the first floor and take out the enemy when they come upon them. The other two groups would take the second floor and eliminate and aid any of the cadets and SeeDs.
“We should proceed with caution because I feel and huge energy in there,” Vincent informed Irvine.
“Right, then let’s move out,” said Irvine.
As they got closer they saw the bodies of a few dead SeeDs, but they continued on. When they got closer they noticed that it was really quiet in there and sounds of battle were not heard in the Garden. “Something is really wrong and I don’t like it,” said Irvine while looking in the entrance but not proceeding.
“There should be sounds of fighting unless,” Dan pondered.
Upon hearing this from Dan, Irvine eyes widened and he got up from his crouch and started to run. Cid saw this and tackled Irvine before he just ran in there half-cocked. “What the hell are you doing?” Said Cid. “You could have run right into a trap, and we probably couldn’t have bailed you out.” Irvine looked down at the ground after Cid let him go.
“But, what if we got here too late and everybody is dead?” Irvine said with worry in his voice.
“I don’t think Galbaldia Garden would have went down so easy,” said Quistis. “They were probably caught off guard.”
“Right,” replied Irvine. “Well then, lets take it slow as not to land into any traps.”
After Irvine said this he motioned for half of the group to follow him to the left side of the entrance, while the rest went to the right side of the entrance. They all moved very cautiously by going slow and walking in a crouch. Once everybody was near the swing open gates, Irvine held up a hand to tell them to stop. He peeked over the gate and looked left, right and forward. When he was done with his sweep of the area, he put his head down real quick.
“I don’t see anybody,” whispered Irvine. “I think this is a trap, thanks for stopping me Cid.”
“No problem,” answered Cid.
Both Irvine and Vincent pulled back their cloak and trench coat, and took out the Exeter and the Death Penalty. Irvine immediately got up and jumped over the gate. Once he was over, gunfire from the second floor balcony rained down upon him. Irvine jumped back over as soon as the first shots were fired.
“Man, this is just what we don’t need today,” said Lisa. “Hey, anyone with firearms, go to the gate with Irvine and Vincent.” Said the blonde-haired SeeD. Only one cadet and SeeD came to the front with Lisa by their side.
When they were up there, they saw Vincent stick his head up for a second and brought it back down. He pointed in the directions that he saw the snipers on the second floor. Irvine and the others nodded. He was about to return fire, he stuck his head up, but when they saw the hat, the gunmen fired at the gate once again.
“Damn, they got us pinned down,” cursed Cid.
“Not for long,” said Irvine. “Good thing I brought these.” Irvine opened his coat to reveal some flash grenades hooked on his belt. He took two off and handed one to Vincent. “Okay, on the count of three. One, two, three.”
After three, both pressed the buttons and threw the flash grenades over the gate without looking how far they threw them. Everybody behind the gate instantly closed his or her eyes. In a few seconds, the grenades exploded filling the lobby with a blinding flash of white light.
“My eyes, I can’t see,” yelled a voice from the other side. There were similar yells to this one from the snipers on the second floor balcony. Irvine, Vincent, the cadet, and the SeeD instantly stood up and started shooting. They all knew the affects of a flash grenade would temporarily blind somebody for a few seconds, but that was all the time they need. In a few seconds, they took care of all of the snipers that they could see from their vantage point.
“Let’s go, but be careful, the balcony goes all the way around the lobby,” informed Irvine. “There could be some more snipers above us.”
Irvine and Vincent jumped over the gates and slowly inched their way out into the middle of the lobby. Both kept their guns pointed up and in different directions to catch any gunmen above them. When they made a full sweep with their weapons they signaled the all-clear sign. The rest of the group jumped over the gates and walked toward Irvine and Vincent. Once they were in, they took notice that they didn’t see any dead bodies of cadets or SeeD alike. It was eerily quiet and that disturbed most people.
“Okay, let’s split up,” said Irvine. “Vincent, you and Cid take three cadets, and two SeeDs and take the left side of the first floor. Lisa and Dan, you take three cadets, one SeeD, and take the right side of the first floor. The rest of us will take the second floor. Once were up there, Quistis, you’ll take two cadets and a SeeD, while I take the other two cadets and SeeD. We’ll split up and cover more ground that way. Everyone ready?” He got nods or yes sirs from the group. “Well, Move out!”
“Not so fast!” Commanded a voice from up above on the second floor. The groups running in different directions instantly stopped and looked up and around the second floor balcony. All eyes went to the second floor balcony in the middle as a figure followed by many more figures. When they came close enough, they saw that it was Diaz, followed by Ultimecia, Naomi, and a group of five ninjas in black. “So this is how skilled Balamb Garden SeeDs are?” Diaz questioned. “Too bad that I’ll have destroy all of you.”
After saying that, Naomi and the five ninjas flipped down to the first floor. Irvine and everybody else started to back up toward the entrance and stopped just a few feet away from the gate. Everybody instantly unsheathed or unhooked their weapons. They noticed that Naomi, the blonde woman in the red body suit and black boots, and the ninjas didn’t attempt to take out their weapons. It looked like they were waiting for something. They looked up toward Diaz and Ultimecia to see that Diaz was casting magic.
“Okay everyone, brace yourself!” Yelled Cid.
When Diaz was finished, Ultimecia and himself disappeared in a green blaze and reappeared in front of Naomi and the ninjas.
“What have you done with all of the people here!?!?!” Yelled Irvine.
“No worry, I just confined them,” answered Diaz. “They weren’t expecting us to come in unannounced. When we got here, we had to take care of the ones by the front gate and made sure they didn’t sound an alarm. Once we were in, the people in this lobby also met with a similar fate. After that, it was easy, since the cadets and SeeDs were in classes, their dorms, or the cafeteria. There was a little resistance, but once we took care of that, the rest surrendered without that much of a fight.” As he told them, he saw Irvine getting angry and smirked. “They’re now confined in the cafeteria, their dorms, the classrooms, and the auditorium. I have to say, this was an ingenious plan by Sephiroth. I just split up your forces, thus making your attack forces weaker, and taking Galbaldia Garden for my prize and transportation in this world. Even though I didn’t need this Garden, I took it anyway to reduce this planet’s forces and cut down your number of allies that will aid you in the upcoming battles.”
“You damn @#$%*@#$*@$#!” Cursed Cid Highwind. “Just wait till I get to you, you’ll be screaming for your mommy when I’m through with you!” Yelled an outraged Cid.
“I would like to see you try, but first, Ultimecia, would you do the honors,” said Diaz. Ultimecia stepped two steps forward and started casting her magic.
“Be on guard everyone, there’s no telling what she’ll do this time; I don’t think she’ll use meteor again,” said Quistis.
“Hell’s Judgment!” Yelled Ultimecia.
Irvine and Quistis just took notice of what she was casting. “Scramble everyone!” Yelled Irvine.
In an instant, the room went dark and a symbol was starting to form under Irvine and everyone else behind him. Irvine, Dan, Lisa, Quistis, Cid, and Vincent was fast to move, but as the symbol was forming, some magical shackles snaked out of the symbol and latched around the cadets and SeeDs ankles.
(That didn’t happen last time she cast that spell.) Irvine thought while jumping away from the shackles rushing fast toward his leg. The cadets and SeeDs tripped and were held inside of the symbol on the ground below them. When it finished forming, an orange pillar of light engulfed cadet and SeeD alike.
The cadets and SeeDs screamed in pain as the magic worked its effect. When it was finished, all of the light came back and Quistis took notice that all of them were on the ground with their eyes closed. (I hope they’re not dead.) She instantly cast triple on herself and was about to cast full-life spells when Ultimecia spoke.
“Don’t worry, they’re not dead yet, just unconscious and drained of their strength,” Ultimecia said.
“Good, Naomi, it’s your turn,” said Diaz. “I want to see an entertaining show, don’t disappoint me Avalanche and SeeDs.”
Once Diaz said that Ultimecia stepped back and let Naomi and the five ninja forward. When they were a short distance away from the six, Naomi unsheathed her Sais while ninja unsheathed their katana swords. The five ninja faced Irvine, Vincent, Dan, Cid and Quistis, while Naomi went toward Lisa.
When they got close enough everybody went into action. Irvine immediately fired the Exeter two times but missed the ninja that ran toward him. The ninja expertly jumped over the bullets and came down with his sword over his head. Irvine held up the Exeter in a horizontal position and blocked the overhead swing from the ninja. Irvine knew the Exeter was made of some very strong material and it wouldn’t break that easily, but the silver shotgun wasn’t met to block sword strikes. The ninja held his sword there for a few seconds trying to push down Irvine with his strength, but was caught off guard by Irvine’s kick to his stomach. He grunted and the pressure he was putting in pushing down the Exeter with his Katana let up considerably. Irvine immediately pushed the sword off the Exeter and threw the ninja off guard. He then caught the ninja with the butt of the Exeter in an upward swing of the silver shotgun. This really hit him hard and knocked him on the ground. Not wasting his advantage, Irvine stepped over the ninja and fired three shots into the ninja’s chest. The ninja slumped to the ground dead.
Just beside Irvine, Cid and a ninja were really fighting with much skill. Cid blocked all of the fast sword slashes with the Venus Gospel. This looked like it was really ticking the ninja off. Cid let loose a few thrust and slashes off his own. These were blocked and dodged. In a desperate move, the ninja tried a to slice off Cid’s head with a slash. Cid ducked and impaled the foolish ninja in his gut and kicked him off of the spear. The ninja was visibly hurt, but he still fought on. He was slower and tried to cut off Cid’s head again. Cid ducked again and tripped the ninja up with the dull end of the spear. He jumped back and cast a flare spell on the ninja. The ninja screamed in pain as the flare spell went to work. After the explosion and smoke of the flare spell cleared, the ninja was burned and dead on the ground.
Two ninjas decided to gang up on Dan and forget about Quistis. Dan blocked swings from both ninjas and he couldn’t keep up this forever. (Sooner or later, one of those swords will get through my guard.) This thought really didn’t sit well in Dan’s mind.
Ignoring Quistis was the wrong thing to do and she would make the ninjas pay for doing so. She watched Dan block and wondered what could she do without hitting Dan. In a second, she instantly came up with an idea and cast her blue magic, micro missiles. (Dan should see those coming from where he is and jump out of the way at the last second.)
Dan saw when Quistis cast her blue magic and waited for the missiles to get closer. The ninjas looked behind them to see what that noise was. This was a bad move and Dan slashed the closest ninja deep in the chest and jumped away as the missiles were upon the ninjas. The ninja Dan slashed and the ninja beside him was hit in the back and thrown forward. The one Dan slashed was dead while the other one got up slowly. Quistis immediately jumped forward and swung her whip over her head. In a fierce swing, the Save the Queen whip went forward while glowing a slight yellow. The ninja blocked with his katana and the katana’s blade was broken from the middle of the sword on down. The ninja saw this and threw the sword to the side and was caught off guard with a few more swings of Quistis’s whip.
This really hurt the ninja and he was crawling in Diaz’s direction. When he was close enough, he stopped by Diaz’s feet. Diaz looked down in disgust at the defeated ninja. “You weak fool,” said Diaz while unsheathing his broadsword. He instantly plunged it in to the back of the ninja. The ninja tensed up for a few seconds before slumping to the ground dead.
This really shocked Dan and Quistis. Diaz would kill one of his own people without remorse. Diaz looked at Dan and Quistis’s shocked expressions. He smiled and said, “That fool deserved to die because he was weak, and there is far more people with better skill that could take his place.”
Elsewhere, running side by side a few feet away from each other, Vincent and a ninja was exchanging fire. Vincent put up the Death Penalty and took out the Outsider from a holster under his cloak that he wore. Even though the Outsider was weaker, it was smaller and let him be more agile while fighting. Vincent and the ninja ran down one of the halls when the fighting broke out. Vincent shot the outsider while the ninja threw stars at Vincent. Both were very agile, and both dodged the attacks while returning their own attacks. When they got to the end of the hall, the ninja slashed at Vincent with his katana. Vincent blocked with his metal forearm on his left arm and aimed the gun at the ninja’s gut with his right hand. The ninja saw this and moved aside just as Vincent pulled the trigger. The shot was close and just went through the fabric of the ninja’s shirt, but missed the ninja. The ninja jumped back and Vincent aimed the gun at him and shot at him. The ninja was always one second ahead of Vincent’s shots and dodged the bullets. When Vincent’s clip went dry Vincent jumped back and immediately reloaded the clip with the quickness.
He saw the ninja didn’t make any move to stop him and stood there with his sword by his side. He clicked the clip in and pulled the top of the gun back to chamber a round in it to get ready to fire. He pointed it at the ninja and saw that he wasn’t moving or getting in a ready position to dodge.
The ninja sheathed his sword as if challenging the man with the red headband, and cloak with black clothes and boots to finish their fight hand to hand. He got into a fighting stance and waited for Vincent.
Vincent holstered the outsider and got into a similar fight position. He knew that he would have to be ready to draw his gun in an instant. Ninja’s went by a code of honor, but it didn’t apply when fighting, and they fought dirty when they got the chance.
The ninja rushed Vincent to catch him off guard but he was ready. He blocked the punches and kicks and returned the blows with punches and slashes from his claw. Vincent was caught off guard by a foot sweep and saw as the ninja unsheathed his katana and ready to strike the killing blow. Vincent expertly unholstered the Outsider and fired three shots that caught the ninja in the chest while the ninja was in his downward swing. The ninja fell to the floor dead beside where Vincent was lying. Vincent got up and rushed to the main corridor to see if what the situation was. When he got there he saw that Lisa Hawkwind was the only one fighting somebody. She was fighting Naomi and she was having a little trouble.
After dodging a few more thrust and strikes from Naomi, Lisa delivered some slashes of her own that were expertly blocked. She was sweep by Naomi and dodged out the way as Naomi thrust the Sais at her body on the ground.
“Naomi, fall back,” said Diaz. Naomi jumped back and over to Diaz’s side.
Now the six really had to be on guard, there was no telling what Diaz would do this time.
Diaz concentrated and sent a message to Krelnar, Sephiroth, and Darius. (Teleport over to Galbaldia Garden now, your diversion was a success.) In a few seconds, Sephiroth, Krelnar, and Darius appeared behind him while the soldiers from Timber appeared in the balcony above them looking down. He sent a similar message to Kenoshi, Oriana, and Maximus. They also appeared behind him and the soldiers from Trabia appeared along side the soldiers from Timber.
“I think they were planning on doing something like this from the start,” said Lisa.
“Don’t worry, they’re just here to watch,” said Diaz. “You all will be fighting me, and I’ll get rid of you once and for all.”
The soldiers above cheered. Not that many saw Diaz fight in the past and they’ll get to see him fight now. They were expecting the six who faced against Diaz to die.
“Damn, I wish there was some way to get a hold of the others to watch our backs just in case they decide to jump in the fight,” said Cid.
“They won’t jump in unless I tell them too,” said Diaz arrogantly. “I don’t plan on them jumping in, because I want to savor this fight before I destroy you.”
Irvine, Quistis, Dan, Lisa, Cid and Vincent spread out and got into their fighting stances with their weapons drawn. They faced the Diaz, who had dirty blonde-hair color, a weathered and scarred face, with silver armor with a dragon symbol on the breastplate. When he unsheathed his fancy looking broadsword, his armor turned black. The six suddenly powered-up and let the fire surrounding their beings for a few seconds before letting them extinguish. While they did this, the building shook slightly.
Diaz smiled at the progress they made in their training. (Usually, when somebody has their powers unlocked, it would take longer to learn and control them. Avalanche and the SeeDs seemed to get the hang of it quickly. Well let’s put their skills to the test.)
Diaz brought his sword up and charged toward Dan and Lisa. He stopped just five feet away, and Dan noticed what he was doing, Lisa didn’t. He swung his sword along the ground, Dan jumped out of the way while Lisa stood there. A wave of energy came out of the sword and connected with Lisa, which sent her flying to the wall very hard. She was dazed and was getting up slowly.
“Lisa!” Dan yelled while charging Diaz with his katana. He slashed a diagonal downward slash, which was blocked and Diaz pushed Dan katana away. Dan was really pushed off balance and was slashed across the chest. The cut didn’t look to bad, but was painful enough to knock Dan into unconsciousness. The soldiers above cheered.
“NO! DAN!” Yelled Lisa. She charged up her sword and attacked Diaz. Diaz blocked all of the furious slashes that she threw against him. Diaz then retaliated with some powerful and controlled slashes. Lisa blocked as best she could but the strikes were really powerful. In a downward slash, Diaz forced Lisa’s katana down with his broadsword and held it there with one hand. Diaz took the other hand and balled it into a fist and struck Lisa in the face. She instantly let go of her katana and was knocked to the ground into unconsciousness. The soldiers cheered once again.
Cid, Irvine, Quistis, and Vincent all saw this and they knew they would have to keep their guard up. Cid and Quistis looked at each other and nodded. Quistis charged Diaz while Cid stayed a few feet behind her. She slashed her whip in powerful controlled motions. Diaz dodged the whip, but was hit one time on his right arm. Without warning, Diaz lashed out real fast with a kick that caught Quistis in the midsection and knocked her back. When she was knocked away Cid instantly jumped over her and came down upon Diaz with a downward slash of the Venus Gospel.
Diaz was a little surprised by this tactic but brought his sword up and blocked the spear. Cid then started thrusting and slashing the spear at Diaz while casting magic. When he was finished, Cid stopped his attack and thrust his hand forward and unleashed a lightning3 spell. It hit Diaz in the chest and pushed him back, but he wasn’t that hurt.
“Impressive, but not good enough,” Diaz said while throwing his hand forward and shooting a big ball of energy at Cid and Quistis. It traveled fast and connected with both of them and sent them sprawling on the ground. Irvine cast a curaga spell on both Cid and Quistis as they got up slowly. They were still hurt but they both charged at Diaz at the same time.
He saw this and stuck his sword in the ground. He concentrated and waited until they were close enough. He crossed his arms over his chest in an x position. When he decided they were close enough, he threw his arms to his sides and yelled. Cid and Quistis were about five feet from him when energy dome appeared around Diaz and expanded fast hitting them and knocking them backwards. The soldiers cheered once again and more loudly. Both were on the ground and really hurt.
“CID! QUISTIS!” Yelled Irvine as he saw them hit the ground very hardly.
Diaz then walked over to Cid and Quistis and picked them up by their necks and threw them toward the wall where Lisa was. When they collided with it, they immediately went into unconsciousness. He walked over and picked his sword back up. The soldiers were really going crazy with applaud. Diaz smiled at this.
Diaz then turned toward Irvine and Vincent. “You two should you give up now,” Diaz said. “I already told you, firearms would not work against my magic and powers.”
“We’ll see about that,” said Irvine while ejecting a clip of regular ammo and slapping in a clip of pulse ammo. He then fired a shot at Diaz. The shield blocked the shot but it looked like it had an effect. It seemed to weaken the shield but not destroy it.
“So you have some stronger ammo,” commented Diaz. “It won’t be enough to defeat me.” Diaz charged at Irvine while the Irvine unleashed shot after shot. When he was close enough he started slashing toward Irvine. Irvine had to stop shooting while dodging the sword. In one of Diaz’s swings he left himself wide open and Irvine took a chance and threw a left cross at him.
Diaz was expecting this grabbed his arm with his right arm and hooked it. Diaz then brought his left elbow down on Irvine’s arm hard. Irvine felt a snap. “AAAHHHHHHHHHH!” Screamed Irvine. Irvine’s right arm was broken from that blow. Diaz let go of Irvine’s arm and held out his right arm and fired a ki blast at point blank range into Irvine’s chest.
Irvine was thrown back and was really in bad shape. He too was knocked into unconsciousness. The soldiers cheered once more.
He then looked toward Vincent. “So, Mr. Valentine, you seem like the last one standing,” Diaz said. “You really don’t have to die if you join me.”
After watching his friends go down one by one, a familiar feeling filled Vincent’s being. It was the beast inside of him wanting to come out. He tried to suppress the feeling of anger and fight it back. This time it looked like the only way he was going to get out of here and save the others was to give into the rage, and transform. He really didn’t want to do this because he loses control of his being and he beast takes over.
Vincent couldn’t hold it back anymore, and a red fire engulfed his being as he screamed. His form in the fire instantly disappeared and transformed into the winged-beast, Chaos. The fire died down and Chaos got up, flapped his wings and hovered off the ground. Vincent immediately took notice that he was conscious of the transformation and was in control. After the unlocking of his power by Lensey, the change also took place inside of Chaos.
This was very impressive to Diaz. “Very impressive, I guess I haven’t seen everything yet,” Diaz quipped.
Without a second thought, Chaos flew straight at Diaz at a surprising speed. He swung his claws at Diaz’s chest and dodged when Diaz swung back at him. Neither connected. Chaos flew to the top of the second floor and held its hands out toward Diaz. Yellow energy started to gather at its hands and Chaos fired a rapid barrage of ki blasts down at Diaz. Diaz held up his hands and made a shield that blocked the ki blasts. This assault went on for a few minutes. When the assault of the ki blasts finished, Diaz concentrated his energy into his outstretched hand. He shot a big ki blast, which caught Chaos in the explosion. Chaos plummeted toward the ground and hit it hard. Chaos blacked out and went into unconsciousness. Red fire surrounded Chaos’s being and the form changed back to Vincent’s regular form. Vincent was hurt and went into unconsciousness too. The soldiers really cheered at seeing this. Things were truly looking bad for the Galbaldian Garden attack team from Balamb Garden.
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(Author’s Note: This next part takes place as Diaz started fighting to when he’s finished.)
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Cloud, Tifa, Seifer, Raijin and Fujin walked to the place where Lensey said she was. “When you was fighting before you did that limit break, what did you mean when you said ‘you won’t let there be another Cloud Strife’?” Questioned Seifer.
Cloud looked down a little and took a deep breath. “I said that because I won’t let anymore children see their parent be killed in front of their eyes, I won’t let anymore people walk the path that I walk on now,” Cloud replied. “When I was sixteen, I was in the Shinra army as a regular troop. I signed on for a mission to go to my hometown, Nibelheim, to check out a faulty mako reactor with my buddy, Zack, and Sephiroth, that white haired psycho that I just fought. Sephiroth learned that he was an experiment and he believed his mother was an alien called Jenova. Jenova came to him at his weakest moment and convinced him that humankind enslaved him and Jenova. She convinced him to take his revenge on Nibelheim and he burned it down and slaughtered everybody there. I remember he knocked me out while I was trying to guard the house that my mother was in. When I came to, I saw that Nibelheim was on fire and I went into the house to find my mother in a pool of her own blood.” Cloud told Seifer while having a pained expression on his face. “The only survivors of that incident were Tifa, myself and Tifa’s fighting mentor, Zangan.”
Seifer just noticed the expression on Cloud’s face and said, “Sorry for bring up any bad memories for you.”
“That’s alright,” said Cloud. “That happened over five years ago, and I’ve gotten over it. I remember somebody once telling me whatever does not kill will only make you stronger.”
“I guess, but I’m still sorry for having you bring up those painful memories,” apologized Seifer. He then saw a beautiful woman with light brown hair in a hairstyle like Tifa’s, in a short-sleeved red Karate gi top, with white pants, red shoes and a katana in a sheath on her back. She looked older than Cloud and Tifa, but not that much older. She looked preoccupied looking in a certain direction. “Is that who we’re looking for Cloud?”
Cloud just noticed Lensey, “Yeah, that’s her. Hey Lensey, I probably found someone else who is probably skilled enough to join our fight.” She turned to look at Cloud, Seifer, and Tifa for a few seconds. She then turned her head back in the direction she was looking before. (That’s strange; I wonder what’s going that so important that Lensey ignores us?)
“Don’t you feel the power?” Lensey asked Cloud. Cloud shook his head. “Use that sensing technique that I taught you earlier today.” She told Cloud and Tifa. The two of them concentrated for a little while and then sensed Dan, Quistis, Cid, Vincent, Lisa, and Irvine’s power increasing. In a few seconds, Lensey sensed a stronger power. (It has to be Diaz, he hasn’t even raised his power that much, but I can still sense that he is stronger than probably all six combined.)
In a minute, all three sensed Dan and Lisa’s power level dropping like they were going into unconsciousness. Now they all sensed Quistis and Cid’s powers flaring.
Without warning, Squall and Rinoa walked around the corner. Once Squall saw Seifer, Raijin, and Fujin he instantly unsheathed the Lionheart. Squall asked, “What’s going on? Why are these three here?”
Cloud took notice of the animosity that Squall had toward the three young warriors. “They’re just some people that we met and who helped us out,” Cloud said. “Seifer even saved me from being killed.”
Now this really surprised Squall. He really didn’t believe any good could come from Seifer. “Are you sure? I still don’t believe any good can come from Seifer,” said Squall. “Over six months ago, he sold out this planet and helped a sorceress nearly destroy time and space.”
Now it was one thing that Seifer hated, it was somebody badmouthing him. “That may have been so, but I was manipulated, plus if I really knew what she was planning, I would have never gone through all of that,” retorted Seifer. He would have added his little nickname he gave Squall but he wanted to redeem himself and getting on their bad side was a terrible start.
“Squall, I believe him,” said Rinoa. “Ultimecia probably showed him all of his dreams and promised that she could fulfill them all if he became her knight.”
Squall looked at Rinoa and briefly thought about what she said. He really wondered how she could be that forgiving after being thrown and junctioned to Adel. He decided to sheath his gunblade and thought that Seifer wasn’t worth it. He then looked back at Lensey, Cloud and Tifa. He saw that they all had shocked expressions on their faces. “Hey, what’s going?”
Lensey looked at Squall and answered, “The Galbaldia team is fighting Diaz right now and everybody but Vincent is knocked out.”
This really surprised Squall and he immediately used his sensing technique. He felt Vincent’s power increase tremendously and he was fighting against a stronger power. After five minutes, he felt Vincent’s power level go down really fast.
“I should have known that the attacks here and at Trabia Garden was just diversions. He was probably targeting Galbaldia Garden for a reason,” said Lensey.
“He probably wants Galbaldia Garden because it can travel just about anywhere in the world,” answered Squall.
(Of all the worst-case scenarios, Diaz would have a vehicle to travel all over the world and attack almost anywhere. Damn him!) Thought Lensey. She would have to do something quick if she wanted to save Irvine and the others. Also she would have to try to save as many of the Galbaldia Garden’s cadets and SeeDs. She would have to move fast because things really didn’t look good for the attack force sent to Galbaldia Garden.
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Author’s Notes: Well that’s the end of chapter six. I really didn’t want to put such a nasty cliffhanger right there, but a fellow author suggested that I do it once and a while. Well it seems as though the attacks on Timber and Trabia Garden was just diversions. Diaz’s main goal was to get Galbaldia Garden and have it as a vehicle to travel nearly anywhere in the world. What did Lensey mean about doing something real quick? Well, you’ll find out in the next chapter. I really hated to write that cliffhanger, and I warn you now, that is not the last cliffhanger. I will spring another one on you and you’ll really be bothering me to finish. I’ll immediately go to work on the next chapter and try to have it out sooner, but I can’t make any promises. Any attempts to motivate me or drive me crazy enough to complete the next chapter sooner are welcome.
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.