The Arrival of Angels & Demons Ch VI: The Band Meeting, a final fantasy viii fanfic

DISCLAIMER

The character Rose L. M. the 5th and Malshano is mine. Ebony belongs to element hanyou and Inuakki belongs to her friend. And any other characters that I own, I will let you know!

Chapter V: The Band Meeting

Rose's P.O.V.

" So Rose, what's your battle skills?"

" I have several different ways of battling, but I guess I usually use my claws for the fights. It's more natural to me." Me and Seifer have arrived at the Training Center. " But I also use my Holy Life rod alot."

" So the sharp claws have a purpose other than scratch the living daylights out of someone?" Seifer laughed. " Well I guess that's understandable. Alot of monsters in here are Grats, which are weak, but it's the T-Rexaur you have to watch out for. And also the Armadodos and Granaldos. The T-Rexaur is still the strongest in here, but still."

" Alrighty, thanks," I said as I grabbed my weapon from the sheath on my backpack. " Ready to battle?"

" Believe me, I am," he laughed as he pulled out his gunblade and peered around. We have walked pretty far into the Center without realizing it, but it was what we were going to do anyway. I heard something move behind some bushes, though Seifer didn't. The sound of hissing was heard before I saw something like gas coming our way.

" Seifer, move!" I said as I jumped aside, Seifer doing that same. The cloud disappeared as he looked.

" Good move, that was the Sleeping Gas attack from a Grat." The Grat that he just mentioned crawled out of the bushes, its vinus trap-like arms waving around, it clicking its venus trap mouth at us. " This one's mine!" Seifer yelled as he rushed at it and stabbed it through the head, killing it instintly. Another Grat rushed at him from behind, but I got to it before it got to Seifer. I slashed its neck, causing it to stop and scream before it was dead. " Thanks," Seifer said as he looks for another Grat and attacks it.

This continued, Seifer and me fighting all the Grats that decided to try for some live prey. Probably about an hour or so is when we suddenly heared a roar.

" Oh-o, that's a T-Rexaur! It'll be a better challange!" Seifer said as he peers around for it. And then it showed up. As big as a Tyrannosaurus rex, this fella had the works. The teeth, the small arms, the powerful muscles in his legs, tail, and jaws, you can tell that this is a creature to take down with caution. This would be a clich'e with Jurrasic Park all over again.

" This is a sort of question many people thought at my planet: Would one rather face one Tyrannosaurus rex, or a pack of Velociraptors, if dinosaurs were still alive?" I said as I kept watch on the T-Rexaur, who roared again in challange. Seifer gave me a weird look before facing the T-Rexaur, who then charged at us. Seifer held out a hand and emitted from it Firaga, hitting the monster in the face directly. He roared in pain from the burns, but still continued running. I gripped my rod as I took off running at the T-Rexaur, using about half of my speed.

" Whoa, what the!" Seifer said when he seen me next to him one second, the next nearly at the feet of the creature. I jumped high and landed on the T-Rexaur's back. He stopped and tries biting me by twisting his head to me. He continues switching sides to try and get me. I was just aggrivating him like a flea to a dog.

" I will squash you flat, puny human!" he roared at me. Of course, it was just roars and growls to Seifer.

" Yeah yeah, just keep trying big guy, you'll eventually get me," I said, provoking him. " Hey Seifer! Any help would be appriciated as long as you don't get stepped on!"

" Help coming up," he said, though I can tell that he was astonished that I was brave enough to sit on the T-Rexaur's back and continue poking fun at it. He shot off a Blizzaraga spell this time, freezing the chest area, so now the arms were stuck for now. The T-Rexaur's attention switched to Seifer. He roared a challange at Seifer, who answered with a Thundaga striking in the head. The T-Rexaur is now pissed. Forgetting all about me, he began charging again. I allowed myself to slide down the tail, but at the last second I grabbed the end of the tail and landed on the ground. Digging my heels into the dirt as best I could, I managed to stop the big guy from running over Seifer in rage. Both of them looked at me, Seifer in shock, the T-Rexaur in confusion. The confusion disappeared from the T-Rexaur as he began swinging his tail in attempt of throwing me off. Especially towards the vines. I just land on my feet against the walls and continued hanging on. One of my feet was caught by a vine loop...

' This is probably going to hurt,' I thought as I held on tight to the tail, which yanked my ankle nearly out of place when he swung again. The vine came with me, though it was forcefully yanked off, nearly like my ankle. I almost yelled outloud, but I forced myself to watch the mouth, because he suddenly decided that he can bite me off his tail. ' Not happening!' I thought as I let go as soon as the tail swung upward, launching me into the air, vines trailing me. The T-Rexaur had a lunch alright. A tail sandwich. I landed on his back again as he began roaring very LOUDLY. The roar was hurting my ears!

" Rose!" I heard Seifer somewhere in the roar of pain.

" I'm fine!" I yelled as I grabbed the vines from my foot as I hung on to the back. My ankle is throbbing a little bit, but I think it was otherwise okay. The T-Rexaur continued roaring as he began thrashing his tail and feet everywhere. The tail scored a direct hit against Seifer's chest, sending him flying backwards and into vines. At that, something seemed to snap, because I was then trying to lasso the vine through all the teeth of the big T-Rexaur. It went behind all of the teeth as he snapped his mouth closed, about to roar again. I'm going to take it that his tail was a definite thing to NOT bite with full force. He swung his head the other way, throwing the end I just thrown my way again. I grabbed it after a few tries and pulled both ends back with all my strength! His head was snapped back has he struggled against the vine. Luck for me, the vine was 1: Not between teeth, and 2: VERY thick and strong. It was now like handling a wild horse. A very LARGE horse. I kept pulling, which causes him to go backwards towards that fallen log. My intention is to trip him, which worked quite splendily. He fell onto his side after he slammed a foot into the log and trapping it there. I was thrown into the spiky thorns and branches of the fallen tree.

" Whoa... what a RIDE!" I said as I sat up, shaking my head. I was pratically laughing from the rush and fear I felt earlier when being swung around on the tail.

" Rose! Rose, you okay?" Seifer said as he came over, rubbing his chest. " Rose, why the hell are you laughing?"

" Ahhh, you wish to know? Then you should go on that roller coaster," I said, meaning the ride of a life time on a T-Rexaur. He just gave me a look of dumbfoundness, which causes me to laugh even more. " I'm fine, I'm fine, I swear I am," I said as I stood up.

" You're not, you're bleeding a little bit on your arm."

" Huh? Oh, it must be from the thorns and sticks," I said as I looked at my right arm. It has some scratches and scrapes. I heard the T-Rexaur groan, meaning the tail was now throbbing with more pain. I began walking over to it, but Seifer grabbed my other arm.

" Wait a minute, you were crazy enough to jump on its back, and now you're going to walk up to it, where it might eat you? Are you mental?"

" He's not going to do anything. His leg is caught, see?" I said as I pulled my arm away and pointed.

" You are insane, that's all that I can describe you..." Seifer said in awe.

" Perhaps I am," I laughed again as I went up to the giant T-rex like creature. He growled at me, but didn't do anything.

" I cannot believe that I was defeated by a human girl..." he growled to himself. He doesn't know that I can understand him.

" Yeah, you were defeated by me, but I'm not human," I said to him as I stared him directly in one eye, showing that I was not afraid and that I am the boss, like you do to a dog. " Smell my blood? That's proof that I'm not human." I put my bleeding arm near his nose. He widens the eye that I'm staring into.

" It's not possible... you came? The Guardian came here? HERE?"

" Yeah, that's alot of reactions I get from many places I've been at. Why is it that creatures know what I am, I will never understand. But get one thing straight: I'm not a human, and even if I am, I could defeat you anyway. Now, would you like to live peacefully, or try attacking Seifer, me, or anyone else and get killed?" I growled as me and him continued the stare-down. After a long time, he finally looked away in submission.

" I am sorry for not realizing that it was you..." he said as he tries to pull his foot out of the log. Didn't work. " Now my punishment is being stuck."

" Then I'll help you out of that situation," I said as I walked over to the log. He was surprised.

" You're helping me? After I hurt you and your friend?"

" Why not? You're not going to attack us now." I pounded at the wood to see how strong it was. It was strong, alright. He was caught between the ground and the log, so maybe I could somehow lift the damn thing up. " Hey Seifer! Give me a hand with this thing, will ya?"

" WHAT! How the HELL do you expect ME to go near THAT and RELEASE it so that it's FREE again? You're crazy enough to do that, but nuh-uh!No way! Not me!" he yelled at me.

" Fine, then I'll do this job myself," I said as I rolled my eyes. I didn't really expect him to help me in the first place anyway. I pulled the other vine that was with me underneath the log under and over. Tossing that over the strongest branch in the other tree, I pulled as the T-Rexaur began pulling out his leg. As soon as I raised it more, he got free and was nursing it and his tail. I dropped the vine, the log crashing into the ground.

" Thank you..." he said as he licked the blood from his tail, trying to get it to heal.

" You got chompers, I'm just glad that your tail wasn't me," I remarked as I came over. " But yowch, that must really hurt." I lightly touched the tail above the bite marks.

" What are you doing?"

" Heal it, what else?" I said as I allowed my horn to appear. His eyes widens again as I lightly touch the tail, healing it with the weird silver stuff that always come out of my horn when healing. Sure, it may take energy from me, but I can't stand seeing someone or something in pain. As soon as the marks were gone, the silver substance went back into my horn, hitting me with less energy than I had from earlier. I made the horn disappear again as Seifer walked over SLOWLY to me, keeping his eye on the T-Rexaur.

" Are you okay? You just slumped forward just a few seconds ago."

" Heh, nothing to worry about," I said as I smiled a bit at him. The adreilline from earlier was definitly gone, leaving me to be myself again. The T-Rexaur poked his muzzle at us. Seifer jumped and nearly swung his gunblade at him, but I grabbed his arm. " He's not going to attack us."

" And how the hell are you to know all this stuff? He's a monster, you know."

" So?" was my simple remark.

" I think you should get going. There's others like me here, and they attack anything they see, like I did."

" Thanks for the advice," I said as I patted his muzzle. He gave a toothy grin as he suddenly kneeled down. " What are you doing?"

" Giving you and him a ride back to the entrance. I happen to know that there's a group of Gnats and other T-Rexaurs in one direction, the direction you and him came from."

" Eh, I guess we had enough fights." I climbed onto his back, on the shoulderblades where it was flat to sit on. " Coming Seifer? He's giving us a ride to the entrance."

" This is crazy! How the heck can one fight a giant monster, win, then make the creature obey?" he said in shock.

" This isn't obediance, this is called a favor. He said that there's a large group of Gnats and T-Rexaurs that are in the direction we're going back through."

That was enough to get him on the T-Rexaur's back. He sat on the other shoulderblade, next to me. The T-Rexaur stood up with grace that you don't expect from a large, bulky creature like him and began walking. It was pretty much a smooth ride.

" So, how come you can understand those roars?" Seifer suddenly asked.

" Like I told you yesterday and this morning, I'm not human. I have the ability to talk to animals and other creatures," I said boredly.

" So you can talk to animals, yet you don't want to talk to other people?" he said as he smirked.

" So what if I'm not a people-person? It's not a sin."

" Yeah yeah, you continue saying that to yerself," he said as he pulled out a roll of wrapping bandage and gently grabbed my injured arm.

" Hey, who said that you can fix my arm?"

" And who said that you can go rescue a giant creature that could've have you for a snack?" he said as he pushed my sleeve up and began wrapping my arm. I was all for pulling my arm away and telling him to leave it alone, but I'm not keen on meeting the ground face-first from this height. So I had to settle with sticking my tongue out at him, which just makes him laugh. He was about to take my glove off to check my hand, but I stopped him before he could see what was on my wrist.

" My hand's fine, it was protected the whole time. Thanks for fixing my arm though," I said as I pulled my sleeve down after he tucked the end to secure it from falling off.

" Eh, least I could do since you stopped this guy from running me over."

" We're here," the T-Rexaur said as he lowered himself down to the ground. We climbed off.

" Thanks Rex," I said, just giving him a short name. He growled in response as he stood up and walked off.

" We will meet again, hopefully soon," he had said.

" Well, it's late. What time is it...?" Seifer checked his watch.

" 9:26."

" Hm. I guess I'll go to the library and study with Inuakki and Ebony until we're chased out of the library... See ya tomorrow?"

" Yup. You just take care of that arm, and don't forget about the band meeting at noon, in the Community Center."

" Okay, don't sound like you're my m-mother," I said, covering the stuttering with a yawn. Mentioning my mother or father, or anybody else I knew causes me to nearly go cry somewhere. " So, see you tomorrow then," I said as I waved and walked off to the library.

Met Inuakki and Ebony at the last table. There were several piles of books on the table as they read.

" ' - and as Balamb Garden was being established, the other two Gardens were beginning to be discussed. Students came from all over the two countinets, the land that Balamb stood upon and one land near Balamb, began to come to the Balamb Garden once it was up and running. Balamb Garden and the other two Gardens, Trabia and Galbadia, were made on the what we now know is shelters that people in the past go to for protection. It was perfect for housing the students and facualties of the Gardens. So that-"

" Jeez Ebony, you have to read outloud?" I said as I grabbed a book from the many piles. Ebony looked up at me in surprise.

" It's about time that you joined us! We really need to study to pass that-"

" I know, that's why I am here now," I said as I sat down and opened the book. " Let's get studying."

Rose, you were fighting in the Training Center with Seifer. What did you fight to cause injury to your arm?" Inuakki said without looking up.

" Believe it or not, a T-Rexaur," I said as I began reading.

" Oh, that weird creature that looks like a T-rex in our worlds," Ebony said. " I've seen pictures of the monsters here in this world, including that monster."

" Well, Rex is now not going to attack people. I defeated him and he's an ally."

" No heart to kill him?"

" Nope. Now I better start reading or else I won't pass the written exam."

" 'Kay, got it." After that, it was all reading from there until 11:00, when the librarian chased out. We went to our rooms after saying night to each other. Throughout the whole night, I layed on the bed awake and waiting for morning...

After a long night of waiting, noon was beginning to approach. Rose goes to the Community Center, Seifer waiting for her at the entrance. They entered and meet...

" You FINALLY arrived! I thought you ran away or something!" Selphie said as we walked down the steps. There was about 5 people there, including Selphie. Boy, can't you tell that the band is sooo popular? Seifer and me sat down in the remaining chairs. " OKAY! Now that everyone's here, let's begin by deciding on the music we'll perform. Any suggestions?"

No one raised their hands.

" How about the same music from last year?" one person mumbled loudly, though we don't know who it was. " It's good enough."

" Oh, but we need something new for this SeeD Welcome party! Rose, what sort of songs do you know?"

" Lot's, that's all you got to know there," I said. " I can't possibly name them all off from the top of my head. There are catogories and types of music. Metal rock, rock n rool, hard metal rock, classical, jazz, rap, so on and so forth."

" How about you perform a 'metal rock' one?"

" ... alright, though I don't-"

" STOP THOSE ANIMALS!" someone shouted from the hallway as we heard running.

" You know that we can uuuuunnnnddddeeerrrrsssstttttaaaaannnnnd #understand# you!" I heard the most familiar voice. I groaned in annoyment as my head went backwards, hitting the back of the chair, staring up at the ceiling.

" They found me..."

" Who found ya?" Seifer said in confusion, looking at me with a weird look. We then heard the clicking of nails and flapping of wings.

" You're about to find out..."

" ROSE!" six different said in chorus as they pounced on me, sending me and the chair backwards to the floor.

" Nice to see you too, if you call this a greeting..." I said as my companion animals greeted me with licks and rubbings from their faces. " Can you let me sit UPRIGHT now?"

" What the hell? Talking animals?" I heard from everyone.

" Melody, Trila, everyone, get off. C'mon, I'm serious, let me up now. I can't breathe with all of you on my lungs," I said as I pushed them off and got up.

" See! I told you they would attack someone!" one of the faculty members of the Garden said as three people came to a stop, breathing hard.

" They didn't attack anyone, they were greeting me," I said as I turned the chair back onto its legs.

" But, but-"

" She told you. They're her animals," Seifer said.

" Oh, but... very well, but YOU, girl, better keep them out of trouble..." another one of the faculity members said as they looked crossed while walking away.

" Looks like ' The World Crossers' are back together," Melody the grey cat said. " Your vortex somehow took us the another countinet. We had to sneak aboard this weird train that goes underwater to get here."

( Here's what I'm going to do. You just look at that picture, the first link, on my profile page, and you'll know who and what the animals are.)

" ' The World Crossers'? What is that, a group name?" Selphie said, looking delighted from this.

" They say that because sometimes to earn money in the last world, we performed music. And Melody automatically dubbed us ' The World Crossers'," I said as I shook my head.

" Ah, so that's how you know how to play the instruments," Seifer said.

" I've known how to play those instruments because my d... dad's friend teached me when I was little. I just passed the teachings to these guys," I said as I rolled my eyes.

" Well, then perform for us that 'metal rock' song!" Selphie said as she clapped her hands together.

" Alright Selphie... guys, come on," I said as we went for the instruments. Trila at the drums, Allen with the bass guitar, Melody with the electric keyboard, Dranzer with the double bass, Phoenix and Kate working with the additinal, and me with the electric guitar. " So, what shall the song be Dranzer? You choose."

" ' All Over Me'?"

" Sounds good to me."

Kate, Phoenix, and Melody began the song, then followed by me, Dranzer, Allen, and Trila. Dranzer sang the song, me and Allen was the background chorus.

" Something I just might regret,

Something you will not forget.

Maybe I should throw away,

Everything I've learned today.

All over me

All over me!

Pushing forward from the truth.

Maybe it's me and maybe it's you.

Sometimes I don't know myself.

Twenty-eight years straight to Hell!

All over me

All over me!

There's something changing in me

There's something growing in me

There's something changing in me

There's something growing inside of me

#faint at first#

Growing... changing...

Go away

Don't want this

Go away

Don't want this

Go away

Don't want this

Go away

Don't want this!

Go away!

Don't want this!

Go away!

Don't want this!

Go away!

Don't want this!

All over me

All over me!

There's something changing in me

There's something growing in me

There's something changing in me

There's something growing inside NOW!

All over me

All over me..."

#by ' Drowning Pool'#

Selphie was clapping hard at the end, the others also clapping after her, smiling big.

" That was a cool song!" she said.

" Much better than some of the usual music!"

" Excellent! We have GOT to let you all perform!"

" Who would've expect ANIMALS being able to play instruments! That would be a great opening!"

" Hell, it looks like you'll be not just a SeeD Rose, but also a highly recommended band," Seifer said as he was clapping like everyone else. As the animals allowed themselves to be petted and praised, I just stood off at the side, fighting off this need to smile from everyone's approval...

And the blush from Seifer's praise.