Earth's Rage: a Final Fantasy VIII fan fiction

Prologue:

2 years after the defeat of Ultimecia, after the salvation of the world. Squall Leonhart, Rinoa Heartilly, Selphie Tilmitt, Quistis Trepe, Irvine Kinneas and Zell dincht were all back at Garden, with Nida at it's controls. The Ragnarok was extracted from where it lay in Lunatic Pandora, and was now once again property of Esthar and resided in the Esthar Air station. Laguna Loire was still president, and it never seemed likely that that would change after what he had done for the people of Esthar. The old entourage of the six heroes were on a small journey. They had just left the Balamb area once again, and were heading via flying Garden to Centra. They of course had a reason for this. They were helping to rebuild a civilization there, and protecting the new villages and towns from monsters. Recent work had been done (reclaiming land from the sea, flattening the land) so that the most could be made out of the continent. The Esthar people, ancestral residents of Centra, were spearheading the project. Just to test their building skills, they Rebuilt Edea's house, so that it looked brand new, and there was also now a small village in the area. Headmaster Cid and Edea re-opened the orphanage, and life was seemingly back to how it used to be, before all of the chaos with Ultimecia.

CHAPTER 1:

The work was going decently well. Laguna looked on as the people worked. He smiled, knowing that this continent could provide safe shelter once again. But he was also worried that something bad could happen, like the Lunar cry so many years ago, and the recent lunar cry, which strangely wasn't as damaging as the one over Centra.

Laguna heard a cry from behind him "Laguna! Laguna!"

Laguna recognized that voice! he thought "No way, it's him!" that little Moomba, I haven't seen him in years!

"Hello, little guy! Where have you been all this time?" He inquired. The Moomba looked expectant…

"So, uh…. just wandering?" Laguna asked, receiving a nod from the Moomba.

I wonder how he got to Centra…ah what does it matter? He's here anyway…

The Moomba still looked expectant, and Laguna felt strange, as if he had forgotten something… and then he heard another voice from his left. "What are you doing all the way up here?" It was Squall, and Laguna was happy to see his son.

"Oh…Just looking at the work that's being done… nothing more…" he replied

"So what's the Moomba doing here? Hang on…. he looks a little familiar…" asked Squall

"Oh…this little guy…um…he's um…."

"That Moomba you met all those years ago in Esthar." Interrupted Squall

"Whoa! How did you know that? I never told many people!"

"I blame Ellone." Said Squall "remember?"

"OH YEAH! AHAHAHA! I forgot… well…uh…. Do you know why the little guy looks so…. like that?" pointing to the Moomba.

"You forgot?" Inquired Squall, putting his hand to his forehead. What a dimwit, ah… better remind him…

Squall glanced at Laguna, who was nodding enthusiastically, and the Moomba was starting to look bored. " You promised him some food and a nap, after you escaped from the Lunatic Pandora Laboratory, all that time ago." muttered Squall

"'Kay… Hey little guy, you remembered that?! You'd better have eaten since that time, you'd be wasting away if ya hadn't!"

Laguna's hopeless…

"Well, You'd better come with me, little guy!" and scooped up the Moomba and carried him down the hill he was sitting on top off. His trousers were covered in moss, but he didn't care. He just went off to get some food. In fact he was a little hungry too. "See ya Squall!" He shouted back as he walked off.

"…Goodbye." Said Squall, and walked off in the other direction, back to Garden. His break was over, he needed to go and retrieve his Gunblade, Lionheart from his room, and exterminate of the monsters infesting the Centra area.

CHAPTER 2:

Squall shouted loudly as he furiously slashed randomly at an enemy, cutting it into ribbons of flesh and blood. Rinoa took out a nearby group of enemies with Meteor, and Selphie cast Rapture upon another monster, obliterating it instantly. The three stood beside each other upon the now empty field of battle. Squall suddenly asked, "Where's Quistis?" looking slightly alarmed. He needn't worry about Irvine; he was sleeping back at garden after a night of partying. Squall then heard a sudden explosion, and dashed to the area in a flurry of motion to the area. Fortunately it was just Quistis, wielding her Whip and casting blue magic, the skills she had learned from the group's various enemies over time. Squall and company joined in the fight, and left behind destruction in their wake.

"It's a pity Zell is still back In Balamb" stated Quistis, "He would have enjoyed this!"

Zell had decided to marry his Girlfriend, and they now had a family of their own. As a precaution in case of disaster, Squall had let Zell keep Ifrit with him after he left Garden for a while. Rinoa wondered if Zell was all right at the moment.

"Man, we've been here for 6 months already! When will this be finished?!" inquired a voice behind the party. Irvine.

"We've already told ya, silly!" replied Selphie, "it's not over until every last monster is killed. Big or small."

"Fine…" He said, letting off one shot into the air, "come and get us, ya beasts! I'm eager to get back home!"

"Irvine! Don't! That's a little too dangerous!" Shouted Squall. We don't want to be overwh- WHAT THE HELL?" The ground shook violently.

"Whoa…an earthquake?" Shouted Selphie over the deafening noise.

"No…" said Rinoa. "Something's not right…this seems like it's caused by magic, or like something ancient has been aggravated."

"Irvine…. what have you done?" Inquired Selphie, with an angry look on her face.

"It wasn't Irvine…I think it was us, killing all those monsters… something's going on Squall!" exclaimed Rinoa.

"Yes… you're right…we'd better get back to Garden, quickly!"

CHAPTER 3:

Back at Garden, Squall rushed past hundreds of bewildered looking SeeDs and Garden students. They must have been wondering what he was doing, but he had no time to explain. He had to get to Headmaster Cid and Edea quickly, to see what they thought of the "earthquake". As he waited impatiently in the slow elevator, he got to thinking… Is it Ultimecia…? She did say, "I cannot disappear…. Not yet…" Squall remembered that, and was sure Edea would too. No, I swear we killed her! But she did pass her powers on to Edea, who passed her powers on to Rinoa… Is there possibly still a remnant of Ultimecia in Rinoa? Is there some kind of temptation to use those devastating power? Could Rinoa become the next sorceress to threaten the world? No… Not Rinoa. Not my Rinoa…

DING-the elevator bell sounded, interrupting Squall's thoughts.

Squall stepped slowly out of the elevator doors, regaining his line of thought, when Headmaster Cid spotted him. "Squall! You look troubled… what could it be?"

"What? Oh, nothing. Did you hear or feel an Earthquake?" asked Squall

"Oh yes… Indeed, I hope it is nothing big" replied the Headmaster

"It could be…" Came a voice from Headmaster Cid's office

Squall glanced around the edge of the door. Edea was sitting in an overly large armchair, wearing the clothes she used to wear as "Matron" and her hair in the same way as well. She stood, and said "Squall, have you heard the legend of the Golems?"

"No…I haven't"

DING- the elevator sounded again, and Selphie, Rinoa, Quistis and Irvine entered the room.

"Seeing as you're all here, I may as well explain…" digressed Edea with some wisdom in her voice. " 106 years ago, to be precise, the rare Phenomenon of the Lunar Cry occurred, as it did two years ago, and seventeen years before that. Anyway, 106 years ago, there was a devastating Lunar Cry upon the sea of Centra, narrowly missing Centra. Many of those monsters thankfully died, but the gigantic Tsunami wiped out Villages and towns across the eastern Centra coast. Embedding monsters along it."

"Why's it always have to be Centra?" asked Irvine, quizzically.

"Shut up and listen!" commanded Selphie.

"Among these monsters were living rocks from the moon, the Golems. They were extremely powerful, and ancient, even then. It is well known now that Moon rock cannot last long in our atmosphere. To combat such atmsopherical problems by burrowing into the ground, deep beneath it's surface. But apparently there are increasingly violent earthquakes around, like the one that occurred just now. We cannot ignore this, it could be those golems…"

Squall thought "…" oh… we'd better be careful where we go. This can't just be a story. Matron told us stories about Griever, and they turned out to be true. How could this be a lie? Well, at the very least it isn't Ultimecia. That's a relief…

So…uh… how do we stop them?" inquired Irvine. "Can't we just shoot 'em?" mimicking the action of a gun being shot with two fingers. "BANG!" he shouted, causing Selphie to look at him sternly.

"You child." Accused Selphie, but in a nice way, laughing and clapping her hands.

"Nothing's ever as simple as that, Irvine. Not for SeeD." Commented Squall.

"I have no idea… It isn't in any records…" Explained Cid, " but if it's true, these things could be tough adversaries. We should increase the price if it happens!" He laughed.

"This could be really bad", explained squall "… What if—"

BOOM!!! The loud crash knocked the party off of their feet. They got up hurriedly.

"Wha-What's going on?" Exclaimed Selphie questioningly

"Galbadians?" inquired Irvine.

"Golems?" asked Quistis.

"There's no time! Let's go!" Exclaimed Squall and Rinoa Together. Rinoa chuckled softly, her hand on her mouth. She knew he would say that.

They dashed out; Headmaster Cid shouted after them "Remember you six! These monsters are heartless! Literally! They will not show mercy!! Good Luck!"

"Thank you sir…" Replied Squall I already know enough about bloody monsters…

CHAPTER 4:

More crashes. Squall and his entourage ran straight for the exit to garden. Nida was sitting, with a wounded leg.

"Nida! Are you all right?" asked Rinoa.

"Yeah. I'll be fine… see those pieces of rock over there? That was one of those…those things! It ran towards me, so I blasted it with a fire spell… it kept coming! I shot a water spell at it next… and BOOM! It blew up, into little tiny pieces!"

"Oh right!" exclaimed Quistis "these are ancient rocks! Who knows how old they were back on the moon, before they came here? Heat them up and then blast them with water! The sudden temperature change will be too much for them! They will explode!

I'm sure air magic will work as well, seeing as Edea told us they are weak against our atmosphere." Informed Quistis, ever the instructor.

"Well, you lot, you know what to do…" Said Squall

A general reply of yes arose from the party as they began junctioning the right magic to their weapons.

"It's lucky I've got fire ammo left huh?" Said Irvine, "Damn! Zell has Ifrit with him! We could have used that! And then Squall could have summoned Leviathan and then we could be out of this mess!"

The most intelligence Irvine has shown… ever…

"Let's go!" ordered Squall, Whipping his hand from right to left across his body.

They ran as fast as they could onto the battlefield.

Squall commanded, "Remember. The key area to protect is the building sites, let's get there as quickly as we can"

"Agreed!" said the whole party.

They continued to run, past exploding golems and injured SeeDs. They ran almost directly into some golems! They skidded to a halt. Quistis informed again, "Remember; Fire then water. Or air magic if you have any!"

"Whatever" said Squall, as a burst of flame shot from his hand at a swift speed, instantly hitting the golems. "Firaga", he murmured to himself.

Rinoa Cast a water spell, and a sudden small waterfall gushed out of her hand at high speed upon the Golems. Just as Nida had said, the golems exploded into a mound of small stones.

More land to flatten… thought Squall.

"Let's keep going!" He shouted over the battle cries of nearby SeeDs. The party continued until they reached the building site, exterminating any interfering Golems in their path. There, a few SeeDs were all that made up the defence. Squall quickly moved in pushing back the golems with Lionheart, as Irvine shot at them with his fire ammo. Squall quickly summoned leviathan. It rose up into the air forming a massive rock mountain, and formed into the waterfall that rushed down the cliff, shattering the 10 Golems in the area.

"We can take a small break here" Said Squall " but I need to go and get Zell! Come with me Rinoa!" he ordered. They left towards Ragnarok, and the remaining party watched as Ragnarok took off towards the northeast.

"OK" Shouted Selphie "LET'S DO THIS!!!!" Waving her Nunchaku wildly about her, she rushed towards the nearest golems, Irvine and Quistis following closely.

Chapter 5

Meanwhile The Ragnarok had almost reached its destination, and Rinoa began to speak. "Isn't this Romantic? You, me, all alone in this big, big spaceship…" she implied

"Whatever." Squall Replied.

Rinoa undid her seatbelt and sat on squall's lap, she was about to speak, but squall interrupted her "look, Balamb, we're there." He said, to the dissapointment of Rinoa. "aww… can't we make a little detour?" She asked, with a flirtacious look in her eyes.

"No, there are people in danger." Replied Squall without thought

"hmph…fine…" Said the rather disappointed Rinoa.

Ragnarok docked at Balamb, and the pair rushed towards the Dinchts' house. AS they knocked, they could hear stifled giggles from indoors. Zell opened the door wearing nothing but a pink silk dressing gown, whilst his wife's head popped out from behind the doorframe. She must have been wearing nothing. Squall looked at Zell with a disturbed look while Rinoa tried to stifle a laugh with her hands.

"SQUALL?" Said Zell "No way! Come in…actually on second thoughts don't come in, just let me get ready, and I'll be out there in a moment!" he explained looking embarrassed. He knew he would probably have to go somewhere, so he got ready and kissed his wife goodbye. "I'll be back soon!"

"What is it Squall" he asked as he left his house. "What's going on?"

"There's trouble, and it's big… And it's not Ultimecia…" Explained Squall.

"Phew, I'm glad it isn't…so what can I do for ya?"

"No time to explain. Come with us!" said Squall and Rinoa at the same time, again. Rinoa giggled in her soft way.

"We'll explain along the way" Explained squall, looking sideways at Rinoa with an irritated look.

CHAPTER 6:

Selphie, Quistis and Irvine were surrounded.

"Is this the end?" said Quistis, rhetorically, with a glint in her eye.

"What can you see?"

"THE RAGNAROK!!!" Shouted all three of them as they spotted it.

"Wahoo! This won't be such a bummer after all!" exclaimed Selphie happily, as she batted off golems with her Nunchaku. Their Magic had been all but exhausted.

"Ahem…. we need to get out of this situation first."

"OH YEAH!!! OK!" Shouted Selphie, and focused her energy to make use of her limit break, Slots. Luckily she got "The End " right away, and instantly killed all of the foolish Golems surrounding the three. Quistis found a megaphone on the ground, and shouted " EVERYONE RETREAT!! BACK TO GARDEN!!!" The retreating SeeDs ran straight past the Golems all of which were looking up at Ragnarok in the sky at Zell, who was putting all of his efforts into summoning Ifrit. The great Fire Demon Rose from hungry flames and threw many gigantic fireballs at the Golems down below. Hellfire. Luckily all of the SeeDs were back in garden and safely out of the way. The golems were glowing white hot, and causing a huge brightness from the ground on which they stood. Squall, standing next to Zell, summoned the waterpower of leviathan. The resulting Tsunami caused the hundreds of Golems to instantaneously explode throwing pieces of rock everywhere. The rocks showered down upon the ruined Centra terrain and everyone knew that the Golems were gone…

"Well done everyone…." Commented Squall "well done indeed…" And Rinoa jumped on him, catching him by surprise and forcing him to the ground and kissing him romantically, whether or not Squall objected. Zell walked out slowly, trying not to glance back at the couple, and entered the cockpit of the Ragnarok, where he decided to fly them all back to Balamb. The Great spaceship flew over the Horizon, and was gone. But of course it would be back, because it was property of Esthar now! Laguna wouldn't be happy at all if it disappeared! Speaking of which, did that Moomba ever get what Laguna promised it? Or did he forget again? Do I really need to continue asking questions?