A/N: This fic is a crossover fic between the FFs. I've made Zell my main character because the whole fic is based vaguely off of a dream I had, and Zell just happened to be the only character I could remember seeing in the dream. The other major character in this (so far…) is Yuffie. The reason for this is that no one seems to write about Yuffie (and when they do it's not often in a positive light). The plot is serious, the characters are not, so expect this story to feel light-hearted(mostly). Zell is a little OOC because this is written in first person, so some things he says will be very 'narrator-ish,' otherwise I tried to stay true to his and Yuffie's characters. Other FF characters WILL show up in this, and though I've tried to write this story with the idea that the audience has NOT beaten/played the games, some things will be better understood if you have beaten/played the games. If you haven't, and something is totally confusing for you, go to ffcompendium.com, and you can READ the plots of every FF to fill you in. Useful, eh?
And thus we begin, "once upon a time, in Final Fantasy 8 Land…". (kidding!)
As the Moon RisesBy Ucchan
"You JERK!" SLAP! Ow…
"Hey, it was an accident… I was confused!" I protested.
Selphie narrowed her eyes at me, "So you cast FIRAGA ON ME?!" It was true, I HAD cast the powerful fire spell on her in the last encounter we just finished… But I hadn't MEANT to…
"Well…" I began sheepishly.
Quistis, our current group leader, injected, stopping our one-sided argument, "Zell, cut it out. Selphie, leave him alone…" She sighed, "We have mission here, and this place is FAR too dangerous to be having arguments!"
Selphie let off, bowing her head embarrassedly.
"Sorry," I apologized, "Want me to use a Cure spell on ya?"
She smiled, "No, I'm fine, thanks… Sorry for yelling at you…"
Quistis looked appeased, "That's better, now play nice…"
Quistis was always like that, she remained cool-headed, even though it seemed as if she had no end of stress… She had been like that at the orphanage as well. Now, however, we were in the middle of a time-compressed world, at the very center of danger, in the warped castle of one of the strongest sorceresses to ever exist: Ultimecia. The castle was a menagerie of different logical paradoxes: spiraling staircases that led to rooms that looked to be underground, bell towers which rang on their own, and brick walls that opened up into doors… the only thing they all had in common: dim lighting and lots of monsters…
I sighed at the thought, and brushed off my jacket and shorts before following after Quistis, who pressed ahead in the illogical maze. We were currently separated from our other teammates, Squall, Rinoa, and Irvine, because we had to split up to explore this insane place.
Quistis stopped suddenly. Her blonde hair swaying as she turned to face us with her piercing gray-blue eyes. "We should re-junction our equipment here, there seems to be stronger monsters up ahead."
Selphie nodded, "Okay. Who's gonna keep guard?" She had pretty green eyes which sparkled when she smiled. To me, she seemed to be the only other person in our whole group who could ever be happy… But I guess situations like this are hard to see the bright side of.
I couldn't see the bright side either… but I tried not to get depressed anyway… Better to focus on anger and determination…
"I will," Quistis said, "I don't want the two of you in charge of my life…"
"Quistis!" Selphie protested.
"Just kidding," Quistis smirked, it was forced, but I could tell she was trying not be scared, she always sort of teased us when she was uneasy… "Zell! Wake up! Are you going to adjust your junctioning or not?" She snapped me from my reverie.
I grinned, "Oh, sorry…"
Selphie had already begun junctioning. I watched her close her eyes, then place her hands in front of her as if she was holding a ball. She took a deep breath, then suddenly her whole body pulsed white, then the white glow swirled and condensed to a point on her chest, pulled away from her body, and hovered like a ball on her palms.
I knew what she was doing, she was using her junctioning system. If I remembered correctly from my SeeD tests, junctioning was based off of Dr. Odine's research of the sorceress' powers. The doctor found that by extracting certain essences or whatever, he could produce 'artificial magic,' or para-magic, which could be used if powered by a large amount of energy. For a while, only large machines could power the para-magic spells. However, Odine discovered Guardian Forces, which were the essences of huge spirits, similar in structure to magic. When the doctor found these large power sources, it was then realized that the energies could be infused into a human brain, which gave the person access to the para-magic system because the Guardian Forces provided the high amount of power needed to use the para-magic spells. It was an 'amazing discovery' of science and magic. The Guardian Forces were self-powered and allowed a human to summon them in times of need. But with the junctioning of the Guardian Force, science found that the human brain was slightly deteriorated, and memory loss occurred when exposed to prolonged amounts of junctioning. This was the basic knowledge for any warrior to know. Every SeeD who ever existed, every soldier in any army or navy, every rebel faction, ANYONE who wanted to fight nowadays, would have try to get a GF. Many tried, not many managed to achieve this goal, GFs were truly rare – and even harder to achieve the Spirits' trust once found, often resulting in a fight or a quest. Another problem was that it took a long time to learn how to use them, and lots of concentration. That's why SeeDs had to take tests, to determine if they could effectively use the junctioning system. If you could do it well, you were a SeeD. I guess that explains why Selphie, who seems so innocent, could be a 'tough' SeeD, she was very good at using the system, and using para-magic, not to mention she had a way with Guardian Force creatures.
Ack, I've rambled on WAY too much, I've got junction or else Quistis will smack me!
I began to concentrate, it felt like it took forever, but in real time, only a 5 seconds. I focused on the familiar essences that flowed through my body, regulated by the Guardian Forces within my mind. Slowly, I felt the warmth of the glow surround me then coalesce into the ball of energy that floated in my palms.
Quistis stood guard nearby, watching as we arranged our para-magic. She was one of the most talented experts in junctioning I've ever met, and she made comments as we moved the essences about.
The energy sphere in my palms was not solid, but just a yellow glow, with many multi-colored energies that floated within it. Those colored energies were my para-magic and Guardian Forces. I gazed at my GFs, they were the largest of the essences, just packed with energy. I mentally acknowledged each of them, Ifrit, Quetzacoatl, Carbuncle, Leviathan. I'm pretty sure that if I didn't have them implanted directly in my mind, I wouldn't be able to recognize the various energies, I think they feed the information directly to your thoughts. What was especially confusing were all the various spell energies that were floating around. Some kinds were easy: fire was fiery red, ice was white-blue, thunder was electric yellow. However, spells like float, shell, blind… Well, let's just say I'm glad that I don't have to remember what they all are on my own.
"You should move those blind spells to a defensive position," Quistis commented, just by watching she had noticed a mistake I made in my own junctioning. Quistis, of course, recognized each and every spell by color; she had memorized them.
I used my free right hand to tap my stock of blind spells and traced my finger down to the bottom left of the energy sphere, where they would protect my eyes from attack. I looked over at Selphie.
"Can I have some Blizzaga spells? I'm a little short, I've only got 24 left…" I asked her.
She nodded, her light brown hair shook in the process, "Sure." She closed her eyes and I watched as her white-blue dot shrunk slightly, and then as my own grew in size.
Like I've always said, Junctioning may be complex, but it sure is useful!
I went about the rest of my junctioning, borrowing and lending spells to Selphie as needed. I was remembering how funny it was the first time we taught Rinoa to use her junctioning system. She had never been trained to use it, since the rebels had no GFs. I'll bet you thought that Squall taught her, but no, it was mostly Quistis, Selphie, and I. The only thing Squall did was say that she probably wouldn't be able to do it right. Rinoa, however, just looked him in the face (which was amusing with the height difference) and scream an indignant "Yes I can!" at him. It took her about a week to catch on, but she did eventually. Now she's probably better at it than I am… She and Squall are officially a couple now, too, so they don't argue like that anymore… they are cute together… Which only serves to remind me that I don't have a girlfriend…
I sighed, finishing my junctioning up, letting my body absorb the energy.
"Okay, Quistis, all ready!" Selphie beamed.
"GET DOWN!" Quistis suddenly shouted, diving to the floor.
"Wha?" I managed to sputter before Selphie tackled me to the stone floor of the warped castle room. A twin beam of energy careened overhead and incinerated a wall behind us.
"Oh how fun…" I murmured.
But before I could utter anything more, I had to roll (with a yelp of surprise) quickly aside, to avoid being squashed by a well-aimed – and rather large – paw, doing my best to drag Selphie with me.
Hastily I tried to scramble to my feet, as the thing swung it's large, wedge-shaped head towards us with a feral snarl. Selphie snapped up, a quick, indefinite motion bringing her nunchuku before her in the familiar stance of spell-casting –
"Protect!" she cried. I almost sighed in relief as the pale glow of shield-magic spread outward before us. The creature seemed to know exactly what was going on, though – damn these smart critters – and its dual-horned face lowered almost to the ground, slitted, yellow eyes narrowing in concentration.
Gods, a spell, just what we –
"Holy!!" Rang the sharp, clear tones of Quistis' voice. I shielded my eyes with an arm as a bright, blinding white light consumed the beast, then faded – injured, but not deterred, its feline lips curled in a grimace of…satisfaction?
Crap! I darted forward, checked my stride, tensed my right arm – the good arm – pulled back, and
"Quake," A horrible, sentient purr caused me to waver, and I stared at the thing, felt the ground groan and rumble in protest beneath me. Not quick enough, I tried to resume my attack, even as it surged forward like a mountain of muscle, shoulder slamming me to the churning ground, a paw uplifted to smash me in…or through…. And that was when the ground opened up and swallowed me. God, now I know how the hot dogs feel.
A/N: No, don't leave! Keep reading, I promise it gets better! I'll give you cookies if you stay! Oh, come on! Please! Isn't ANYONE a Zell fan?
More seriously, I hope you liked it; but it really hasn't even started yet, so at least read a bit more; the chapters are short! ^_~