The Gunblade Saga Chapter 2
Rivalry
By Peptuck3
"SEIFER, DRINK?" a woman
asked as Squall entered the cafeteria. Those words, and the way they were
spoken, were all Squall needed to know that Seifer Almasy and the Disiplinary
Committee were
about.
To his left, Squall spotted
the trio, clustered around a vending machine. In the center, of course, stood
Seifer, who was looking over the selection of drinks in the
machine.
"Oh, yeah, can I get something?"
the second member of the group asked. He was huge, even taller than Seifer,
with dark, tanned skin, dark hair, and with muscles on top of muscles. He
wore an open vest that showed off his massive chest, and a thick necklace
of brown balls around his neck. On his shoulder he wore a metal plate with
a symbol of some sort Squall didn't
know.
"I'd like some water, ya
know?" Raijin continued. Seifer, on the other hand, continued to mull over
the drink he wanted. He looked up then, noticing Squall. The other two members
of the Committee also saw him as well. Seifer smirked and nodded at Squall,
the only real greeting he would give to his rival, aside from a
challenge.
"IGNORE," the third member
said. She was short and petite, with pale skin, dyed silver hair that was
cut short, and a blue coat that somehow reminded Squall of a pirate. The
"pirate" image was further enhanced by the presence of an eyepatch over her
keft eye, although Squall didn't know why she wore it. It was hard to imagine
that this woman, Fujin, was Raijin's sister, considering how different the
two
were.
Apparently, Raijin had missed
his sister's order to ignore
Squall.
"Yo, its Squall!" He glanced
over at Fujin and the vending machine. "Oh, yeah, Fujin's gonna treat us.
Want
something?"
"RAGE!" Fujin growled, and
even as Raijin glanced her way confusedly, the petite woman kicked her brother
in the shin at his stupidity. Raijin yelped and began hopping around on his
uninjured leg, whining at his smarting
shin.
"Ahh . . . Ouuu . . . Ahhh
. . ."
Seifer chuckled at his friends'
usual antics, then looked Squall's
way.
"Squall, can't you see the
Disciplinary Committee's busy? Don't bother us." Squall shrugged off Seifer's
remark and walked past the hopping Raijin. The big, muscle-bound teddy bear
finally stopped hopping as the brown-haired cadet walked
past.
"Squall, psst," Raijin said,
trying to sound discreet. "Fujin's kinda harsh at times, so you better watch
it, ya
know?"
'As if I couldn't tell,'
Squall thought. Apparently, Raijin hadn't been discreet enough, or maybe
he'd just forgotten his sister was still right behind
him.
"WHAT?" Fujin growled, causing
Raijin to spin around, and hop back a bit to get out of kicking
range.
"O-Oh! I-It's nothin'!" Raijin
stammered.
Not for the first time, Squall
wondered if Raijin would ever pass the written test for SeeD, considering
he was about as intelligent as the vending machine behind the
trio.
The attention of the quartet
was suddenly stolen as a cadet blazed past as if he had a T-Rexaur on his
tail. The cadet came to a dead stop in front of the cafeteria lady at the
counter.
"D-do you have any . . .
hot dogs left?" he asked, heaving and panting. Squall recognized the cadet,
but then, most people who had met Zell Dincht did. The small, muscle-bound
cadet stood out with his unique haircut, consisting of a tall plume of hair
sticking straight up just over his forehead. Zell also featured a frightening
black lightning-like tattoo over the left side of his
face.
"Nope," came the expected
response by the cafeteria lady. "You're a bit late, I'm afraid. We're all
sold
out."
"Damn! Not again . . ." Zell
muttered, dissappointed. "Its hopeless if you don't get here early. All right,
I'll try again next time . .
."
"I'll try to order more,
but there's no guarantee!" the worker called after Zell as he walked away
dejectedly. As Zell passed the quartet by the drink machine, Squall thought
he saw an evil smirk on Seifer's
face.
" . . . Speeding," the head
of the Disciplinary Committee said suddenly. "Let's go arrest that student
for violation of academy
regulations."
"AFFIRMATIVE!" Fujin replied
as Seifer took off down the hallway after
Zell.
"Roger, ya know!" Raijin
agreed as he followed Fujin
out.
Squall shook his head at
the Committee's typical actions. Seifer had a thing against Zell, and he
used his power as head of the Committee to make life difficult for the cadet.
Of course, Seifer didn't just use his power to bother Zell, he used (and
abused) it whenever he felt like it. Seifer had been made the head of the
Committee to help keep his generally violent and aggressive tendencies under
control through responsibility, and in that regard, it had somewhat worked.
But Seifer liked taking advantage of his power, though in reality, the Committee
was actually not all that powerful. Anyone above a cadet, an instructor or
even a SeeD, could override Seifer's decisions, meaning that Seifer had to
limit his abuses to minor actions only, and had to generally keep the populace
of Garden under control as he was supposed to. If Seifer got too heavy or
frequent with his abuse of power, he could expect the committee to be disbanded
and given to someone else. So he had to be responsible. It was actually quite
a brilliant idea, and followed the same principles that kept democratic
politicians in office; if they abused their power or neglected their duties,
they lost their offices, and the same held true for Seifer and his position
as head of the Committee. And Seifer liked being head of the
Committee.
After the Committee had left
to ruin Zell's day further, Squall went up to the counter. He knew the cafeteria
ladies would yammer on for hours if one allowed them, so he made his order
quickly, and left with a heavily laden tray of breakfast foods; today was
going to be a long
day.
* * * *
*
Squall returned to his room
in the dorms a short time later. He'd found an empty table, but it had
unfortunately been between one occupied by a group of the Trepies and another
claimed by a group of cadets who enjoyed insulting themselves and each other.
So, Squall had had to endure simultanious complaints and remarks about Quistis.
He'd eaten fast and cleared out before he lost his temper at either group's
stupidity.
Squall stepped through the
doorway leading into his dorm. Actually, it was a double dorm, consisting
of a pair of bedrooms and a small study area outside. Squall spotted some
bags in the room next to his. He'd spent a long time alone in the double
dorm, since no one had wanted to share a double room with him, but it seemed
someone had finally moved in, most likely from
Trabia.
'Who knows, I might be rooming
with that girl I ran into in the hall . . .' Squall thought. Whatever, it
didn't matter, Squall knew that if he passed the SeeD exam, which he was
certian he would, he would have a single room to himself. 'But you won't
be passing anything without fighting Ifrit,' he reminded
himself.
Squall stepped into his room
and opened the weapon case for his gunblade. The case was large, and featured
the same lion's head design that Squall's necklace and the chain on the end
of his gunblade featured. Flipping the latches, he drew out the
Revolver.
He quickly polished the steel
of his gunblade, then popped open the
chamber.
The gunblade's internal
mechanisms were complex, belieing the simple appearance of sword married
to gun. The weapon was loaded with concussive- force shells, or just "bullets"
as Squall called them. Each shell contained powerful explosive force, that,
whenever the trigger was pulled, would be sent down the length of the blade,
with the strength to turn flesh to jelly and armored plating to shattered
slag. Each "bullet," however, did not release all it's force in each shot,
but rather contained multiple charges for multiple blasts. Each time the
trigger was pulled, another "bullet" slid into place via the revolver system,
in case something had gone wrong with this particular "bullet" and it couldn't
fire anymore, and also to just keep the mechanisms inside the complex weapon
as simple as possible. The revolver chambers would keep turning with each
pull of the trigger, until all the shells had lost their explosive power,
at which point they'd be removed and replaced. Each "bullet" in Squall's
gunblade had four charges, more than enough for the coming battle with
Ifrit.
Of course, the weapon had
a tremendous recoil, or it would, if it weren't for compensators built into
the handle to absorb the shock of the blast and to keep the gunblade in line.
The compensators ultimately reduced the recoil to almost nothing, allowing
the weilder to strike with amazing precision, yet hit his foes with devastating
strikes.
But, the gunblade was a difficult
weapon to master. Only the most skilled and dedicated swordsmen could properly
weild the exotic weapon, much less utilize it to its fullest
potential.
Squall took the six shells
from inside his weapon case and loaded them into the gunblade. Neither he
nor Seifer had loaded their weapons that morning; even if Seifer was willing
to use magic when he wasn't supposed to, he wasn't so stupid as to load his
gunblade in a supposedly nonlethal
match.
Weapon loaded, Squall checked
the trio of bandoleers around his leg, confirming he had enough gunblade
ammo to last a week's fighting. Squall finished up his preparation by checking
his equpiment belt. He had a good supply of potions of different types: regular
healing potions that worked amazingly fast, antidotes for poisons, eye drops
in case he was blinded and needed healing for his eyes, echo screens to restore
the ability to cast spells if they were somehow lost due to a magical effect,
and a few pheonix downs, powerful potions that restored extremely grievous
injuries.
One last thing Squall did
was to check his back-up weapons: a pair of solid steel ten-inch combat knives.
One he slid into a wrist sheath on his left forearm, the other into a sheath
on the right side of his waist
belt.
His preparations done, the
SeeD left his dorm. He had checked over his supply of magic, and figured
he could use a few more Sleep spells, and he wouldn't really mind heading
to the Training Center to get a few Grats in before he met Instructor Trepe
to head for the Fire
Cavern.
Squall exited the North Block
and headed for the entrance to the East Block. As he walked down the hallway,
Squall spotted a pair of students running his way, panic evident on their
faces. the two turned around and looked back down the hallway, panting
heavily.
"Something wrong?" Squall
asked, startling one of the two frightened
cadets.
"Ahhh! Oh, its just you,
Squall," the cadet said, with obvious
relief.
"So, that's the infamous
monster," the other cadet
remarked.
"Yeah, I thought I was gonna
die," the first student
added.
"T-Rexaur?" Squall asked,
knowing there were few monsters in the Training Center that could illicit
such fear. Both cadets
nodded.
"Never seen one before,"
the second said, shaking his head. "Heard about 'em, but damn! The thing
was
huge!"
"Yeah, I wet my pants!" the
first added, leaning against the
wall.
Squall glanced at his watch
and stepped past the
cadets.
"I'd be careful if I were
you!" the first cadet shouted. Squall waved a hand over his shoulder, indicating
he knew what he was
doing.
The hot, humid air of the
Training Center struck Squall like a flying chair as soon as he passed through
the doorway. The Training Center was essentially a large enclosed jungle,
filled with flora and fauna, and of course, monsters. The vast majority of
the monsters in the Center were Grats, a big, plant-like creature, although
the Center was home to a collection of other, more powerful creatures, kept
as a lesson to all SeeD cadets that they were not
invincible.
The Center had two entrances,
one on either side of the door leading to the hallway. Both entrances led
through the huge electrified fence that seperated the jungle itself from
the rest of Garden. Squall opted to go through the left entrance. He switched
off the electricity around the doorway, stepped through, and flicked it back
on. Then, Squall delved into the Training
Center.
It hadn't taken long before
Squall encountered what he was looking for. He was advancing down a wide,
clear road section of the Center, marked by a number of fallen logs, when
a lone Grat made its appearance. The Grat had a bulbous central body, like
that of a carnivorious plant, with a group of six tiny, skinny legs supporting
it. A quartet of long, leaf-tipped tentacles rose up over its body, designed
to help the thing batter and pull prey into its spine-tipped maw at the top
of its bulb-like body. Grats, Squall knew, were a good source of supportive
magic, especially Sleep spells and the magic-inhibiting Silence
spells.
Taking the initiative, Squall
focused and reached out to the Grat with his mind. He called upon a the power
bestowed by the Guardian Forces, and was able to sense the magical power
within the Grat. Singling out the energies he needed, Squall focused on them
and drew them
out.
Energy flew from the Grat's
body, in glowing purple and blue lines, arcing across the distance between
the two. Squall felt the magical power of Sleep spells as they entered his
own body, and nodded as he confirmed he had succeeded. "Drawing" magic like
this was a basic technique taught to all SeeD
cadets.
The Grat, now fully aware
of its opponent, spun to face the cadet. Squall tore his gunlade from its
holster and readied it as the Grat charged. the creature's tiny legs carried
it surprisingly quickly, and the thing covered the distance in a matter of
seconds. The Grat swung its long tentacles at Squall, attempting to batter
him into
submission.
The Revolver flashed twice
as the tentacles came in, and Squall himself ducked and twisted aside. None
of the tentacles had hit, but Squall's strikes with his gunblade had. Two
of the Grat's appendages were now shortened stumps, their ends lying on the
ground.
Squall came in right behind
the Grat's attack. The Revolver dove into its body, tearing a long gash across
the creature's hide. The Grat hissed and began backing away, but Squall quickly
focused and put a hand to his head. He gestured towards the Grat and felt
the Sleep spells he had stocked diminish slightly, as he discharged some
of the energy. The Grat was hit precisely by the spell, and it stopped in
place, its tentacles drooping. Squall took his chance and drew a number of
additional Sleep spells from the monster, as well as a few Silence spells.
By the time he was satisfied with the magic he had gained, the Grat was stirring,
so Squall calmly walked over to the wounded monster and finished it with
a single stroke of the
gunblade.
Considering how much magic
he had on hand, Squall decided he was finished drawing energy from the Grats.
However, there was a spot he wanted to hit before he left, a draw point he
had found yesterday with an offensive spell. He moved through the Center
at a quick but cautious pace, keeping an eye out for any more Grats, but
also keeping an ear cocked for the sounds of any larger and far more dangerous
threats.
Squall managed to make it
to the draw point with no trouble. He bent down at the site. Here, glowing
bits of magical energy seemed to rise and flutter about a specific point
on the ground. Squall reached into the energy and felt its power. Using his
mind, he drew the magic out like he had with the Grat earlier. Squall felt
the magical energy within him; Blizzard, an ice spell. Excellent for taking
on fire-based creatures, like
Ifrit.
Squall stood, and turned
around. The area he was in featured a small river between his location and
the nearest exit. Wooden boards were set across the river to a large stone
in the center of the water, and from there, another group of boards led to
the opposite bank. Squall started for the planks when he heard the sound
of rustling in the trees to his
left.
'Grats,' Squall thought,
even as a trio emerged from the foliage. The plant-like monsters advanced,
and Squall leveled his gunblade, knowing that the Grats could cut him off
from the bridge before he could ever get
there.
"Need some help?" called
a voice from behind the Grats. Even as the Grats spun around to take in the
new threat, the center one erupted into flame. It screeched, a strange sound
coming from a plant, and rolled over dead, tentacles drooping. As the creature
died, Squall made out the one who had killed
it.
"They're only Grats," Squall
called to Seifer as the monsters charged, one going for Squall, the other
for his new ally. Tentacles pounded down at Squall, but as with his previous
foe, the sharpened edge of the Revolver put a stop to that strategy. And
as with his previous foe, Squall came in behind the attack, countering with
powerful slashes that cut the Grat open and left it dead. Across from him,
Seifer had dispatched his Grat with a deft stroke and another well-placed
Fire
spell.
"Not bad, Squall," Seifer
said, observing their handiwork. "But it seems I'm a bit quicker. Two to
one."
"I scored another on the
way in," Squall countered, deflating Seifer a bit. Squall didn't say anything
else, instead walking towards the bridge, not wanting to be around his rival
anymore.
"So that's it?" Seifer asked.
"Only two?"
"I only came here for magic,"
Squall replied as he reached the bridge. "No more reason for me to be
here."
"No, that's not why you're
leaving," Seifer said, his tone indicating he knew something. Squall stopped
at the stone halfway across the river, and turned back to his self-declared
rival.
"I beat you this morning,"
said Seifer, grinning and pointing at Squall. "I
won."
"You cheated," Squall shot
back. "We weren't supposed to use
magic."
Seifer's features hardened.
He advanced towards
Squall.
"Let me ask you this," Seifer
began as he reached the edge of the bridge. "You make SeeD. You go up head
to head against some enemy soldier. He uses magic on you, knocking you on
your ass. But instead of giving you a scar, he chops your skull, killing
you. Will you complain about him cheating? No, you won't; you'll just be
dead." With that, Seifer stepped past Squall on the stone and headed to the
opposite
bank.
"Are you trying to say you're
helping me?" Squall asked incredioulously. "You're saying this morning was
for my
benefit?"
"Yeah," Seifer called out
as he stepped off the bridge. He stopped and glanced back at Squall. "People
fight dirty in real life. When it comes down to life and death, will you
care about rules? Or will you care about
survival?"
His point made, Seifer left
Squall on the stone in the river, alone with his
thoughts.
Chapter 3
Peptuck3's Fanfiction