Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 8. I only own the rights to my substantial Original Character Cast. If you are looking for a story involving a lot of The Original Game characters, look elsewhere. I hate being constrained by the original characters.
To everyone else, enjoy.
Rated: M for Language, adult themes and violence for later chapters, for now it is for safety.
Special thanks goes out to Xianghua4Kilik, for being my beta-reader, and my real-life friends from my high school days who inspired an FF8 character, the list is too long to mention.
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The trio easily made their way towards the Fire Cavern, a single pair of Balamb guards guarded the entrance to the cave.
"I see someone decided to tag-along in accordance to Garden Code Section 41, Article 22." One of the guards said disapprovingly, the second one looked at the group.
"Your objective is to obtain your personal GF within the time-limit, please select a time limit that is both challenging yet reasonable."
Jay turned his head towards the petite gunslinger beside him as if to ask her a question.
"Cherea, what do you think? I'm leaning towards twenty minutes."
"Sounds good to me" She said with a big smile on her face.
Turning to face the Garden Guards, Jay performed the SeeD salute before giving his response.
"We will need twenty minutes."
"Irvine Kinneas, Instructor 45. I will be observing and offering support." The middle-aged cowboy said as he hefted the deadly Exeter shotgun.
"Very good." One of the guards said before they both stepped out of the way.
"Good luck."
Jay and Cherea casually walked into the fiery, lava-filled cavern, with Irvine close behind them.
"Damn is it hot in here or is it just me?" Cherea remarked as she started fanning her face with her right hand.
"I thought that it was me." Irvine piped in from behind the prankster duo, a solitary bead of sweat rolled down Jay's brow.
"Yea right dad." Cherea remarked dismissingly as they walked further into the cavern.
"Burned by your own daughter, that's got to suck." Jay commented as he chased after his 'slightly' crazy roommate, Irvine hung his head and sighed.
"Be careful of the Bombs, ya'll." Irvine yelled to the two wayward teenagers.
"I hope that I never acted like they do." He spoke to himself, with a heavy heart.
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"Be careful of the Bombs, ya'll." The middle-aged cowboy voice rang in the dark cave.
Cherea turned to Jay with an intrigued look on her face "I didn't see any explosive devices rigged to the cave."
Suddenly, a fireball flew past them, causing both to jump out of surprise.
"Holy shit!" Jay called out as he drew the katana on his hip, as if to cause the two teenagers even more confusion, the fireball stopped in mid-air and turned around revealing a wide grinning face and two stubby arms.
"What the hell is that fireball thingy?" Cherea asked her dark-haired companion as she pulled one of her handguns from its holster.
"How the hell should I know?" Jay replied angrily, before placing his free hand over his mouth and said, "Scan."
A ridiculous amount of information poured into Jay's mind as the spell worked its magic on the brown haired boy.
"It's a Bomb, hit it with Ice magic!" Jay exclaimed as the effects of the spell wore off.
"That's no bomb…" Cherea said as she reached into her 'little sack of goodies' and pulled out a hand grenade with a strip of blue tape wrapped around it. She held it up to Jay, so that he could see it "Now this is a bomb!"
She brought the grenade to her mouth and pulled the pin with her teeth, she pulled her arm back and with practiced grace, threw the grenade towards the hovering fireball.
The Fiery Bomb monster decided at the moment to let loose a mighty roar, the grenade flew casually into the Bomb monster's mouth and exploded. The fiery Bomb monster quickly turned a shade of blue and fell to the ground with a loud crack, like the sound of ice cracking.
Jay just stood there dumbfounded.
"Yes test of prototype Freeze Grenade Mark 6 is a SUCCESS!" The petite pistol ace said triumphantly before she pointed her drawn handgun at the flash-frozen Bomb and pulled the trigger.
The ten-millimeter round struck true and shattered the crystallized Bomb into a thousand irregular shards.
"Nice shot, daughter." Irvine called as he casually rejoined the group.
"Jay my boy, you're slacking." He said coldly to the brunette boy, causing the boy to hang his head in shame.
"Don't worry about it, buddy." Cherea said to the depressed brunette boy, "There is plenty of time for you to show off your skills" She said finishing with a wink, which brought a smile to the brunette boy.
"Now I'm psyched, thanks Cherea." Jay said as he slid his katana back into his scabbard.
The sound of wings flapping quickly filled the cave as a swarm of Red Bats flew towards the invaders of their home.
"Jay, these are Red Bats, they are small and agile, don't bother using ya swords, ya won't be able to hit them." Irvine ordered as he reached into his coat pocket for some eight-gauge 'scatter shot' shells, he had a feeling that the teens were going to need all the help that they could get.
"Thunder." Jay whispered as static electricity formed around his hand, growing before instantly striking and frying a Red Bat.
Cherea and Irvine aimed their respective firearms towards the approaching swarm.
Gunfire and mass castings of Thunder tore into the massive swarm, rapidly thinning the ranks of the annoying bats.
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"That was fun…" Jay remarked, breathing heavily.
"…fun…" Cherea said sitting down to reload her handguns.
"Well we're almost there." Irvine said as he tossed Jay a Potion.
"Ya need to be at your best, to win your fight."
Jay just stared at the glowing liquid in the small transparent plastic bottle, contemplating on whether or not to drink the glowing liquid, he quickly pulled out the cork stopper and downed the entire contents.
"Aggh…"Jay said as his face puckered up after drinking the foul liquid, "That tasted like ass."
"Who's ass have you been tasting?" Cherea questioned, causing Jay's face to blush.
"It was a figure of speech, Cherea." Jay replied, obviously embarrassed.
"Leave the poor kid alone, daughter." Irvine piped up, before turning to the brunette swordsman and said, "Although, I never would have pegged ya for a kiss-ass."
Cherea broke out into laughter, as Jay once again hung his head in despair.
"Poor Jay, we keep on picking on him." Cherea skipped over to Jay and gave him a hug causing Jay to blush.
"Okay, lovebirds, let's go." Irvine called out to the two teens, as he slung his silver shotgun over his shoulder, Cherea blushed at her father's statement, however Jay's face was already red from the previous conversation.
The two blushing teenagers, and the cowboy made their way to the center of the cavern, there they saw a beautiful middle-aged raven-haired woman dressed in blue.
"Mom? Why are you here at the pre-test?" Jay exclaimed, his eyes wide.
"Where is Ifrit? I thought that we had to defeat him for the pre-test?"
"Hello Jay." The raven-haired woman said warmly, "You see, since the Time Compression incident, we have learned so much more about Guardian forces. The main thing that we have learned in the last couple of years is that everyone is born with a Guardian Force tied to their soul. This pre-test is where we unlock your soul-linked GF." Rinoa said as she activated her Sorceress Power, a pair of magical white angel wings appeared from her back. "Now which one of you wants to challenge your Guardian Force, first?"
Jay stepped forward confidently.
"I will go first, mom."
"Okay, good luck." Rinoa said as she cast the spell to summon the spirit-linked GF.
Suddenly, an armored warrior riding a white six-legged horse wielding a spear appeared in the center of the platform.
"I am reborn, I am Odin." The warrior said as he looked at the group.
"To him who doth vanquish me, I grant my august powers." The warrior continued as he noticed Jay. "Excellent, this is the day that I have long waited for, this will be a glorious battle, prepare thyself." With that the armored GF leapt off his horse, Sleipnir.
Jay drew both swords and linked them together, twirling his weapon before adopting his battle stance.
"For honor…Let us fight." The GF spoke as he brought up his spear in preparation to throw.
"Come at me, with all of your might." The mighty warrior GF ordered as he stood steadfast.
Jay charged forward swinging the exotic double sword in a wide arc, before flicking his wrist causing the weapon to spin around his fingers before swinging the weapon in the opposite direction.
"Hit me with your best attack" Odin demanded, "Show me that you are the one who I was destined to follow."
"Kenzozuken…" Jay said coldly as he dashed towards the warrior GF, slashing the GF twice as he executed an infinity loop strike, followed by spinning it over his back as he ducked down to attack from an unpredictable angle, and finishing with a rising roundhouse kick to the GF's stomach to stun him momentarily, this vicious attack was immediately followed Jay separating his two swords and scissor-striking the stunned GF.
"Impressive, but not enough, Gungnir" Odin said as he pulled his spear back and threw it with all of his might at the boy.
"Jay!" Rinoa and Cherea screamed as the spear struck true and drew blood from the brown-haired boy, who remained standing, his double sword slipped from his fingers and fell to the earthen cavern floor, blood ran down Jay's shirt staining it
"Interesting, you are the first to survive a hit from Gungnir." Odin said with a smile.
"It appears that you have a few more tricks up your sleeves, Return Gungnir" the warrior GF said causing the deadly spear to fly back to his armored hand. "So my attack succeeded, but can you take another?" Odin said noticing the tip of the spear had some of his future summoner's blood on it.
Jay winced from the pain in his stomach, where the spear's head had penetrated him, dyeing his sky blue dress shirt red.
"You know what Odin, I really don't give a shit about destiny and stuff like that" Jay said coldly as he silently cast a Cure spell. His anger rose, causing electricity to flow irregularly from his body, surrounding him like an aura spell.
"Right now, I don't give a shit about giving you a glorious battle, I just want you to disappear!" He yelled as he channeled every ounce of lightning magic into a single magical attack, the whole area went white, as the lightning magic went off.
Rinoa, Cherea, and Irvine turned their heads to avoid being blinded by the light.
"My defeat was foreseen…thou art truly strong" The Armored Warrior GF said as fell to his knees, the large hole in his chest slowly closing as he was healing. "I grant thee my power, to use as you see fit." the mighty GF said as he returned to the dimension from which he was summoned from.
"…Whatever." Jay said coldly, causing Irvine and Rinoa to burst out laughing.
"You definitely take after your father" Rinoa said in between her laughter, "When I first met him, he was so cold, I could probably chill a drink by sticking it in his pocket."
A thousand questions ran through Cherea's mind, most of them involving candy, but one involved the identity her friend's father, his relationship to hers and why they were laughing about a cold, dismissive statement.
"By the way Jay, it took ya ten minutes to defeat Odin, and believe me that is an impressive feat." Irvine said as he typed into a data pad.
Jay reached down to pick up his dropped weapon only to pass out and collapse next to his double sword.
"Jay!" Rinoa cried out as she ran over to her passed out son and cast a sorceress empowered Curaga on the boy, the bleeding stopped, but he didn't awaken. "Wake up Jay…" She said to her passed out son.
"Rin, I think that he is fine, just exhausted, after all he did defeat Odin of all GFs. You remember when we fought him, right, at least then we had Squall and his Lionheart gunblade." Irvine said attempting to calm down the panicking Sorceress.
'That is the last thing we need a panicking Sorceress, the cowboy thought, since her powers are tied to her emotions' realizing that this situation could only get worse, he turned to Rinoa.
"Hey Rin, I'll watch over your boy, just calm down, ya need to focus on the task at hand, only you can pull people's spirit-linked guardian forces from their subconscious."
Upon hearing this Rinoa began using a relaxation technique to try and calm her nerves.
After a few minutes of deep breathing, Rinoa stood back up and walked over to Cherea and asked "Are you ready to face your inner GF?"
Cherea nodded before walking over to her passed out roommate, and pulled a small capsule out of her item pouch. As she knelt down beside her passed out roommate, she snapped capsule and waved it under the boy's nose, his eyes immediately opened, as tears rolled down his face.
"What the hell was that god-awful smell?" He said angrily.
"Sulfur" Cherea answered with a smile as she stood up and drew one of her pistols, from its holster under her left arm. "Jay, Watch me kick my guardian force's butt." She said as she stepped towards Rinoa "I'm ready to kick GF butt."
"Okay" Rinoa said still trying to calm down, "Here it comes."
As soon as she said, a fifty foot long wooden boat with a single large propeller and a few smaller ones on top appeared.
Everyone stared at the wooden boat GF, with mixed feelings, Irvine hit the stop watch to start his clock.
"What the hell!" Cherea yelled in anger and disappointment, "I've got to fight a fricking flying boat?"
"FOOLISH MORTALS!" The 'boat' cried out, "I AM ARK."
"Shut up, Ark…" Cherea said pissed off that the Guardian Force that was pulled out of her mind was a stupid flying wooden boat. She aimed her pistol at the flying boat and calmly squeezed the trigger, the tiny projectile pierced the wooden planks causing practically no damage. She blinked as she looked at the target of her hatred and despair, the flying wooden boat, and then at the handgun in her right hand.
'Oh man, compared to that thing, anything I do to it, would be the equivalence to using a peashooter.'
With a sigh, she holstered her pistol and reached into her item pouch, pulling out a pair of hand grenades with red tape wrapped the center of them. Holding a grenade in each hand, she brought the two grenades close together and pulled the safety pins with her index fingers. Both safety levers flew off as she chucked the two grenades at the flying boat. The grenades sailed onto the deck of the ship, bouncing twice before detonating, covering the airship GF, in a fiery gel.
"Experimental incendiary grenades, Mark Five and Mark Six, successful." Cherea yelled triumphantly at the airship GF.
"AAARRRGGGGHHH!" The 'flying boat' cried out in pain.
"CURSE YOU, GIRL! I NOW HAVE TO REVEAL MY TRUE FORM, IN ORDER TO DEFEAT YOU." the Airship said as it began to transform into a flying robot with wooden angel-like wings, everyone blinked in surprise at the GF's true form. Cherea was the first to break the silence.
"AWESOMENESS." The technology loving teenager yelled, with hearts in her eyes. "You can transform!?!" She asked pulling out an Estharian multi-tool from her belt. "I wonder if you are more machine than Guardian Force?" She said as she walked towards the transforming robot GF, tools in hand. "I hope so, so that I can take you apart and rebuild you" She said with hearts in her eyes as she smiled maniacally.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME, GIRL!" Ark spoke almost panicking at the thought of being taken apart by the crazy girl before him. "I CONCEED, I SHALL JOIN YOU" Robotic GF cried out in horror as Cherea came closer, talking.
"Come on, I just want to see how you tick."
Fleeing from its master, Ark flew up and disappeared into a bright light.
"Aw man…" Cherea said disappointed at the GF's disappearance, "I wanted to see how it was made, I wonder if I can change its form with my mind?" She said, sliding her multi-tool back into her belt.
"Um…ya two definitely had the weirdest ways to defeat ya GFs" Irvine said as he looked at the watch, it read ten minutes, twenty seconds and seventy-two milliseconds remaining. "But ya both pass. Congrats." He said as he helped Jay to his feet.
Jay turned to his dirty blonde roommate "Congratulations on getting your guardian force, Cherea." Calmly he picked up his double sword and after separating his two blades, slid them into their respective sheathes "Let's head back to Garden, I'm exhausted. "
"Yea, I'm a little tired myself" She admitted.
"Want to get something to eat, when we get back?" Jay asked the petite gunslinger, earning him a big smile from the dirty blond tech geek.
That said the two teens headed back to Garden leaving the grown-ups to talk.
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"Ya think that my daughter has a soft spot for your son?" Irvine asked his raven-haired friend, after the two teens disappeared.
Rinoa smiled warmly but remained silent.
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After a few minutes of silently walking through the Balamb Plains, Jay suddenly broke the silence.
"Cherea, what's on your mind?"
"Nuthin'." She replied, her usually cheerful voice seemed, well dead. "I'm just hungry."
Noting that Cherea didn't seem to be in the talking mood, the duo headed back to Garden to plop down on their beds and sleep the rest of their day off.
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Sorry, for the chapter my muse ran out at the last minute. Next Chapter will be more comical.
Next Chapter: Killing Time or is Time Killing Us?