CLANG!!!
"Uncle Zell?" Zell looked up from the belt and gunblade for a second to see the tip of the blade dragging the ground next to Sorsha. "I think I'm shorter than him."
Zell sighed, "By a good few inches, your dad had it custom made for his height...Yo! Selphie! Gimme a hand in here?!"
Once in a blue moon was Selphie more than three seconds away from exploding with energy, she came in calm, not expecting much of anything. One look at Sorsha however, "OH! HOW NEAT!!"
Clad in her student uniform, Sorsha stood in the middle of the small dorm study area, her father's gunblade idle and low at her side. The belts for the sheath were put up as high as possible to not only increase maneuverability, but also lift the sword off the ground. Zell stepped back and stretched, weary and running out of ideas. "She's too..."
"Her back!" Selphie suddenly yelled stepping up and reaching for the belts.
"Oh!" Zell caught on, "We could sl..."
"Sling this over here!" Selphie cut Zell off quickly, " and hook this like..." she continued despite both Sorsha and Zell's attempts to slow her down. Almost as fast as she had whirled in she whirled back into Sorsha's room to change with a laugh leaving the others stunned.
"Guess some peeps don't slow down over time." Zell breathed finally, "But, she did a good job." He added.
Sorsha turned to the mirror on her roommate's door. The sword felt a little awkward strapped to her back. She drew the blade slowly testing it's fit. It slid from its hard leather and metal sheath with ease. She felt the magic of her Guardian Force Siren giving her the strength to lift the heavy weapon with ease. She stood for a moment and resheathed it having no room to swing such a weapon in her dorm. She turned to Zell and smiled a little, though she wasn't related to him by blood, her bond with him and her father's other friends was as close as family.
"Keep your head down out there," Zell reassured her, "and you'll do jus' fine kid."
Sorsha nodded. and turned back to see her bedroom door fling open, "TADA!" Selphie yelled softly, "Been a while since I helped on a SeeD Exam, or worn my SeeD Uniform, but here we go!"
Sorsha took her seat in the Ragnorok's briefing room with the other SeeD
candidate leaders, the gunblade in her armory locker. Even though she had
only worn it a short while, she felt sort of uncomfortable without it. Her
own gunblade was a Galbadian model brought back by some SeeDs with wounded
from battle. Its owner was badly wounded and she had been Dr. Kadowaki's
aid that week for medical training. She was only twelve then. Despite her
magic knowledge and the Doctor's experience, he didn't have a chance. For
her kindness the soldier gave her his possessions for he had no family. She
accepted them as a dying man's wish. Some money which she gave Matron for
the orphanage, his gunblade which was awkward compared to her father's but
sufficed as a training weapon, a dog tag chain which, by law, the tags had
to be removed, and a ring with an unusual red cross along the top which she
strung onto the chain and wore it for remembrance of a nameless soldier.
She looked down at it, the silver freshly polished, and tucked in into her
shirt so as not to lose it.
The commander took his stand at the front of the room and began announce the plan as the Ragnorok flew through the clouds and above, "You all have been briefed on your duties and objectives, now it is your turn to lead. Each of you will lead your squad into the facility. As you all know, this facility was once a garden, After the battle between it and Balamb Garden, its maneuvering capabilities were hindered and it crashed into the oceans and has been floating in the southern current for over eighteen years. Since that time it has been used as a research station, a military outpost for Galbadia, and two years ago it sank for no apparent reason. The facility's crew evacuated safely but the whereabouts of the building have remained unknown despite our searches. Six weeks ago, it surfaced. From what we can tell the surface of the vessel has been altered and has become a fully functional submergible base. Two weeks ago a SeeD team when in to investigate. They came out wounded and one missing. The missing SeeD from Trabia garden is still onboard despite attempts to find him. The rules are simple: go in, clear the area, keep an eye out for the SeeD, and stay frosty until orders arrive." The commander paused to let his words sink in, "Ten-Hut!" The students rose to attention, "Dismissed." They saluted and began to walk to the door, "Trainee Sorsha, please stay behind for a moment."
Sorsha hesitated then walked back to the commander, "Sir?"
Flight Commander Nida smiled, "Does your father know you have his blade?"
Sorsha grinned and shook her head.
Nida laughed, "I always knew Zell was trouble, especially when he formed the first Ragnorok T-Board squad. Give 'em hell Sorsha!" Sorsha Saluted and Nida returned it.
Sorsha lowered her goggles into position and checked her bindings. Once again she checked her necklace and looked back at her squad of four. They were randomly assigned but two seemed to be best friends, Radly and Luke, she had been told but their last names she couldn't recall. The other two where Jacob Shafe, a martial artist, and Raceal Aharn who used a Wrist blade, but her strengths were with magic use. Sorsha's well rounded strengths made her a jack-of-all-trades and a good leader, but she still felt out of place leading this troop. The aft hatched open and Sorsha activated her board and jumped through, ending her thoughts.
The clouds whisped by as Sorsha and her team assembled in the white mist. Twisting and tumbling, she got used to the weight of the blade across her back and equalized herself. In the dense whiteness of the cloud, she could just barely make out the rest of her team and she focused her thoughts once again on the mission. (I know Nida is a great pilot) she thought(but its so thick in these clouds I can't help but worry about...) The cloud gave way and the sea stretched out below them and Sorsha spotted the structure directly below(Damn he's good!).
The group fell, Sorsha checked her wrist altimeter and signaled the rest of the team. With a twist of the ankle, the T-Board's Aero Boosters came to life and began to use their magic to slow the team's decent. They hadn't been in the air for a full minute and thing already went wrong. Sorsha caught the distortion shimmer out of the corner of her eye and Jacob's aft booster malfunctioned sending him into a spin. He immediately freed himself from the board and opened his emergency chute. His decent would be slower, leaving the rest of the team a man short. Sorsha decided against signaling the rest of the team to do the same. (The rest of the teams will be coming down faster than him, we need to clear the way quickly, that is our duty). As the Structure came closer Sorsha turned her booster to full power. The force pushed up on her greatly and she felt almost dizzy from the deceleration. She could see her target area now but she had misjudged it's height a small amount, it was going to be a rougher landing than usual.
(huh?) Sorsha could see four shadows moving in the landing area, she looked at the other three with her and noted that they had seen them too. She made a fist with her right hand and slammed it on top of her palm. The others gave thumbs up and made their own adjustments in position. Sorsha aimed for the one on the north side and steadied her self.
(three...)
She saw the guard gesture something to the others...
(two..)
The group of guards paused...
(one.)
They looked up too see...
WHOOOOM!!!
The blast of the thrusters sent Sorsha's Guard flying into a wall.
(Lights out!)
The others were similar in fate, one went overboard, another hit the railing, and the third landed next to Sorsha, knocked out. Only a few minutes had gone by from the time of the drop, and already four soldiers down. They were all dressed on old galbadian uniforms and armed with simple gunblades and arm guns. "Clear!" Sorsha shouted and the four hopped of their T-Boards and stood them against the wall, they each shed their emergency chutes and drew weapons. Sorsha, the revolver gunblade, Raceal's wrist blade, Radly brought out a highly modified machine gun, and Luke drew his own gunblade, A new Galbadian model. It was light but Sorsha knew he like to use explosives more He had a pouch full of Esthar frag grenades and some C-4 in his pack. Sorsha signaled him to throw the landing smoke flare. It landed on the metal floor with a thud...and sat there.
Sorsha blinked, "...uh Luke...they start arriving in thirty."
Luke sprang to the flare, "I knew I shouldn't have gone with the new imported model!"
"Luke come on!" Raceal yelled, "We don't have time, they need to know where to land!"
"Not h-helping" Luke stuttered, "Galbadian components, Balamb triggers, all made in Timber. How do I do this again?"
"You got ten seconds!" Sorsha shouted.
"Crud...uh..um..." Luke fiddled with it.
"Dammit Luke" Radly grabbed Luke by the collar, hurled him back, took aim, and shot the flare.
BOOOM! A Green cloud fogged the area. Shouts could be heard coming from around the corner. "Hide!" Sorsha shouted to the others while making her way to the railing and away from the smoke.
"Where do we hide?!" Luke shouted.
"What the hell happened here." said the sergeant observing the bodies of his men coming to. Sorsha's hands were beginning to slip with the weight of the gunblade across her back. The others hanging from the ledge weren't doing much better(just a little longer) she thought.
"Wha...INCOMMING!" The men on the deck began to fire into the air and Sorsha sprang over the railing and cut down the first soldier in front of her and rushed the second, Luke and Raceal behind her. One soldier began to turn to Luke who yelled, "Think Fast!" tossing a grenade at the guard who fumbled, dropped his sword caught the grenade and regretted it. BANG!, handless and lifeless his body flew into the wall. Raceal cast a blizzard spell on the closest soldier to her freezing the man for a moment and nearly killing him, he fell to the floor. The last was hit by Radly's burst of bullets tore through the air knocking him to the ground. More students joined the battle as another group of soldiers emerged from inside the structure.
"Squads! Stick Together!" Luke came up beside Sorsha as she shouted, his tall thin body seemed more frail than it was, and his skill with a blade was much less than Sorsha's but he made up for with his explosives. Radly was behind them firing away with great accuracy for a machine gun, he would have probably made a good sharpshooter. And as the soldiers kept coming, Raceal in the back unleashed spell after spell. A soldier rushed at Sorsha striking with his blade. She brought her own blade up with all her strength sending his sword into the air. The soldier didn't hesitate and instead swing at her with a bear fist which was caught by Jacob. Sorsha ducked down as he sent the man flying over and behind her with a kick. Radly dodged the flying soldier and kept firing. Raceal however was prepared and caught him, her wrist blade cutting into him. Together, with three other squads helping, they fought their way to the main hatch. More squads began landing in different areas of the structure. In total there were eight squads, four of which where here at the main hatch.
"Machine gunners!" One of the other squad leaders barked, "Clear the hatch corridor!"
"Radly go!" Sorsha yelled over the roar of the battle, "Luke!"
"Mam?"
"We need to be SURE that corridor is clear of hostiles."
"Roger that!"
The gunners gathered in a tight pack in front of the hatch and Luke took to the side rummaging through his pack. The hatch opened out once again revealing a squad of grey and blue soldiers. They didn't last long for the order was given to fire. Bullets screamed and tore into the oncoming men. as soon as the corridor seemed clear Luke had finished and chunked his contraption through the door way and slammed the hatch shut.
"HIT THE DECK!"
BOOOOOM!!!
The hatch blew from its hinges with a belch of flame. As soon as the flames died, they were back on their feet. Squads formed once again and rushed inside. Sorsha's squad was the last to go, covering the first floor...
***
"Luke, your up..." Sorsha whispered. Luke stepped up to the door quietly. As if they were one, Radly instinctively took a position to Luke's right. A low metallic moan came from somewhere down the corridors. Sorsha looked back for the others covering their back, Jacob was hidden like a true ninja but Raceal could still be faintly seen in the darkness. She looked back as Luke had finished unscrambling the lock and pulled the door open slowly to peak through. Radly's arm stretched out at the sight of something through the door that Luke couldn't see. He grabbed Luke and pulled him back as something sliced through the door where Luke's head was. Luke out of the way and the door now open, Sorsha charged into the darkness ahead. The door closed and a wall sealed it shut. No way out, Sorsha looked around the dimly lit room. The same metallic groan echoed outside the room as did muffled shouts from her team. She kept scanning the room with her eyes until she could make out the outline of a figure in a long coat. She silently cast protect on herself and took a step forward. The figure raised a gunblade to point up to her. She charged ahead...
He was faster. She was harder. He had the finesse. She had the stamina. Neither
knew how long they had be fighting. She swung at him again and again. Each
blow was expertly blocked and fought off, every move countered each other
until it seemed to be a draw. Tired and sore, Sorsha pulled back. Her uniform
was tattered and torn into ribbons from close calls as was the man's dark
coat. A swing made her jump back and she prepared for a quick strike. As
she charged she saw flame appear as her opponent created a magic burst of
fire. She braced herself too late and was sent back into the wall, her gunblade
gone from her hands. The figure closed in gunblade high in his hand and let
it fall. The blade slammed against her protection spell. (I can do magic
too) she focused as her own fingers lit up with magic until her flare was
cut short by the groan once ore, but now it was much louder and much closer.
Both combatants stopped. He seemed as concerned as she was about the noise.
Large foot steps accompanied to groans and grew closer to the room.
...thoooom...Thooommm... THOOM....
KABLOOOOOOOOM!!!
An explosion rocked the room as the door and protecting wall flew across the room followed by a very frantic Luke, "LET'S GO! EVERYONE!" Sorsha looked but could not find the gunblade in the darkness, with a trick she learned from her mother she summoned the gunblade back to her hand from the shadows and headed for the door. In the better light coming from the corridor she could see her opponent more clearly. He followed the group without hesitation but he had a look of confusement across his face.
"Garden Students?!" he yelled, "What the hell are you doing here?!"
Sorsha didn't answer, right now even she didn't quite know. The noise grew louder and began to move ahead. Before she could shout a warning an Iron Giant the burst threw a wall cutting her off from the rest of the team. She could see them begin to come back, but this foe was beyond any of them. The entire team could not stand up to it and live.
"GET TO THE EVAC AREA!"
Luke skidded to a halt, "MAM?!" The others also seemed reluctant. The Giant stared at her and the other man. In the corner of her eyes she could see the man's red eyes staring back at the giant, his black coat settled around him. She could not make out the symbol on the sleeve, but more pressing matters were at hand.
"That's an order..." she called over the giant. Radly patted Luke on the shoulder and took off running, the others followed. The giant took a slow step forward, the floor groaned under the shift of weight. "I know how to get out of here cadet," The man said, "Your going to have to trust me."
"Do I have a choice?"
The Golem-like giant started forward, intent on destruction, "No..." He grabbed Sorsha and pulled her into a room as the giant's massive cleaver-like sword crashed down on the metal flooring. The man led the way, his coat flying up behind him. There was no need to slam the doors behind them, it didn't use doors. Sickening, high pitched squeals of twisting metal pierced trough Sorsha's mind and the it charged through the steel walls of the building. Though dimly lit rooms and twisting halls Sorsha ran after the stranger that had been her enemy but a few moments before. Doors, rooms, and halls flashed by as she ran full out in the attempt to flee. Right, Left, Right, down a long causeway they ran as death himself seemed only a pace behind them. At the end of the causeway, Sorsha could make out the outline of a large hangar door opening. The man was now far ahead they neared the door. He ran through the threshold and slammed his fist against the control panel's emergency close button. Sorsha ran threw just as the door began to descend. She glanced back for a moment to see the Iron Giant still in pursuit. The thick door would hold up against the giant...for a while at least. The man reached into his coat searching for something as he walked into the darkness of the hangar.
"Flip that switch over there," he muttered pointing at the wall.
Sorsha walked to the wall and found the switch he was referring to and flipped it up. The hangar's lights came on slowly revealing the tracks of some type of launching system. She scanned the room with her eyes as the room began to fill with the noise of the giant attempting to cut through the dense layers of metal in the door. The man was walking toward a wall where several cycles were standing along with fuel barrels. He took a moment to choose one and began pushing it to one of the launch rails, a radio dangled from his hand buzzing with static.
"Find the controls for the outer hatch and get it open."
Sorsha looked around and saw a small alcove for computer terminals and headed to it. She began searching for the hatch controls when she saw a shimmering out of the corner of her eye. She knew what it was, a distortion, a glitch in time and space from when the world experienced time compression. More often than not, these distortions caused harmless things to happen, objects appear of disappear or even nothing at all. but sometimes it would be much worse. There had been reports of people who have been killed by coming in contact with a distortion. Large portions of victim's bodies would be missing. Others where luckier, some would be distorted by time alone aging or even rejuvenating them. But now as she turned to see what this one had done, she could hear the whimpering of a someone behind her. The shimmering faded and a small boy sat on the cold floor. Draped in a white shirt too large for him, he sat sobbing into his arms.
"What..." she whispered in disbelief.
The boy looked up suddenly and the shimmering began again, "Who are you?" the boy's voice trailed off as he disappeared once more. In his place now sat a small object. The disturbing sounds of metal slashing metal seemed to once more grasp her attention. She picked up the object and looked at it closely. I was some sort of card for a computer. She looked around and found a fitting slot and inserted it into the terminal. The computer gave a flash of red and shut down. She heard a bang from the outer hatch and the locks gave way. The door opened and revealed the sky.
She ran back to the man and paused as she saw him in the lights of both the sky and the hanger lights for the first time. He was turned away speaking into a radio to whom sounded like Commander Nida. He sat upon a bike looking ready to launch from the rail. she looked at his dark coat, which was draped around him and tucked underneath him on the bike to allow her to sit on the back. She couldn't take her eyes off the symbol on his sleeve...
A cross. The same as her ring yet his was a dark blue in color.
He saw her approaching and turned to face her, "Get on." he ordered. she complied as he once again spoke into the radio, "Roger that commander, get ready we're coming in hot."
"Gotcha, we'll be over you in a minute."
He looked back at Sorsha, "Ready?"
The screaming of twisted metal stopped for a moment, "Yes."
CAAASHHHINGK!!! The Iron giant's sword cut through the last layer. The man stood up on the bike and pushed down the starter hard. Lights came on along the rail signaling launch. CAAASHINNGK!!! Another slice made a triangular door in the hatch. He reached into his coat, brought out a small grenade, and pulled the pin. As the giant knocked down the slice of metal he threw it in the direction of the bikes and fuel tanks. The giant stepped through the opening and the man punched the accelerator. The bike's boosters came alive and Sorsha hung on tightly. Halfway up the ramp, the grenade exploded. The heat warmed her back as more explosions took place in the chain reaction of vehicles and fuel. The explosions rocked and warped the rail as they ascended. One jolt nearly send her off the bike completely but she kept her grip around the man's waist. The bike left the rail as they sailed through the air. She could see the Ragnorok hovering almost directly ahead of them as they flew. Almost, the jolt had misdirected them and they were flying too far to the left of the hangar door. Nida adjusted the airship expertly and lined them up. The bike hit the deck and bounced throwing Sorsha off. She hit the deck once again and felt her arm break on the impact, she rolled and bit the pain back. The man hit the far wall and was knock unconscious and for the first time since they had met, she could make out his face clearly before her vision blurred. Feeling the pain coming up into her arm from the now protruding bone, she began to join him in darkness. Her body began to shut down, her senses to dim and wane, and her voice to weaken, yet before she fainted from the pain, she managed two words in her surprise.
"...the soldier..."
Author's note:
I only call this a crossover because it starts with the world of FF8 untouched
by the world(s) of Kingdom Hearts seeing as how KH is a crossover in itself
of several games. I began writing this for myself as a way to try and rationalize
the game Kingdom Hearts. I was trying to find the reason for the worlds to
be so messed up with Squall and Yuffie being friends and Arith once known
as Aries is alive and fighting the heartless. There are many speculations
and not too many fit. I hope this story turns some wheels about how it was
done. So far I have introduced some new characters but I hope to keep it
to a minimum and use mostly the original main characters.
Multiverser