Standard Issue Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII is the property of Squaresoft. Naruto is the property of Shouen Jump. All characters, locations, and concepts except for original creations belong to them.
Chapter 7: Comms Tower Assault
It took fifteen minutes to finally reach the bridge leading from the outskirts of the city up into the mountains, and once again we encountered no resistance. Aside from the distant sounds of gunfire, Dollet's streets had been ominously empty once more.
"Is this a ghost town?" Zell whispered as we approached the bridge. All of us were alert and ready as the bridge came into sight. The bridge itself connected the city proper with the mountains across a deep but narrow ravine. We all knew that the bridge was an easily defensible and observable location, so it was almost assured that the Galbadians had set up some kind of sentry or defensive position there. We were not disappointed (or rather, Seifer was not), as a group of over a dozen Galbadians stood around the bridge, a few at either end and some scattered soldiers along its hundred or so foot length.
"So do we have some sort of plan or are we just gonna charge?" I asked. This didn't happen in the game so I was more than a little cautious.
"We charge," Seifer replied in all seriousness. "I'll lead with Squall. You and Zell, you're right behind us, cover us with magic." The orders were simple enough, and before anyone could raise a question, Seifer began running down the bridge at full speed, gunblade drawn. Squall nodded and was right behind him.
"Crazy idiots," I muttered before looking around for any soldiers acting as makeshift snipers. It seemed that the Galbadians weren't expecting this sudden suicidal charge so they were a little disorientated. By the time they had gotten over their surprise, Squall and Seifer had reached the first squad and were hacking away.
A few soldiers aimed their weapons at the gunblade wielding duo but before they had a chance to fire I focused three fire spells and released them. Since this was my first time casting magic I wasn't expecting the feeling of warmth that spread throughout my body. One second later the feeling vanished and the soldiers were thrown into the air as my fireballs hit their targets.
Now that the soldiers in that sniper nest had been dispatched, I looked at Zell to see him finishing up with his targets. We then both nodded at each other before running over to where Squall and Seifer were. They were roughly two thirds through and weren't slowing down. Squall was so busy overcoming one soldier that he didn't notice one coming at him from behind. I drew Oathkeeper and shot him just in time. Squall heard the gun shot and turned around to see the soldier collapse onto the ground just two meters away from him. He looked at me and nodded before slicing the last soldier across the chest.
Zell and I came to a halt next to Squall and Seifer. I looked over to the grey trench coat wearing swordsman and asked, "Are you alright?"
Seifer spun to face me. "Of course I'm alright. Did you think one of those soldiers could have touched me, let alone injure me?"
I sighed. "I was just checking that's all. No need to bite my head off."
We continued on past the bridge and started up the paved path that would take us to the Comms Tower. As we past a section of the path that had bushes on both sides, those bushes rustled. We dropped into defensive stances and waited. However it was just an injured Dollet soldier.
'Wait a minute. I remember what happens here. I have to fight against a huge snake. Great. I hate snakes, Leviathan being the exception,' were my gloomy thoughts.
"Who . . . are you?" the soldier asked, clutching a wound in his leg. Like the other soldiers, the Dollet trooper wore an olive uniform that blended in well with the mountainous terrain, along with a helmet featuring a steel visor and a ninja mask covering his face.
"Don't worry," Squall said to the wounded soldier. "We're SeeD cadets, dispatched by Garden to support you."
"What's going on up there?" Seifer asked, looking up the mountain trail. From his vantage point, he could see more Dollet troops dead or unconscious along the trail. "What are they after?"
"The Galbadians . . ." the soldier began. "They've entered the Communications Tower. I don't know why, it's been abandoned for years. On top of that, this place has always been a nesting ground for monsters. If you guys are going up, you'd better be caref-"
The soldier didn't get finished with his warning when a terrible hissing growl erupted from the bushes behind him. Something grabbed the man's leg and began pulling him back.
"Help!" he cried as he was yanked into the shrubbery with a violent jerk. Squall and Zell dove forward, Squall drawing his Revolver while Zell hooked his arms around the man's torso and pulled, testing his considerable strength against that of this new foe.
Even as Zell was pulling hard, we all saw our foe, a huge green-brown monstrosity, like a giant snake, its jaws clamped around the soldier's foot.
Wasting no time I whipped out Oblivion and shot it in the head. The creature immediately let go of the Dollet soldier and faced me, towering over us as Zell dragged the wounded and poisoned soldier to the side. I quickly replaced the gun with my sword and, using Ki energy to speed up my feet and strengthen my sword, I gave Ragnarok an incredible, two-handed slash; the sword slicing through the neck and creating a bright blue glowing afterimage. The head of the snake flew up and soared through the air a good several meters before plummeting back to earth. If one were to look at this scene, they would have thought I was the son of the GF Odin.
I sighed. "Thank god that's over," I said. I then turned to my team mates and saw them gobsmacked. Zell jaw was scraping the ground and his eyed were bulging. Squall was considerably less surprised as I had shown some of this earlier this afternoon. That didn't stop him from looking at me with awe. But Seifer was truly hilarious. He didn't look like Zell or Squall, but his mouth was hanging open. The reason this was so funny was because I would never imagine this expression on him ever.
I turned around and did my sword spin before placing it back in its place on my back and said, "C'mon guys, let's get a move on," before taking out an Antidote potion vial and flicking it towards Zell. He caught it and quickly administered the potion to the Dollet soldier before we all continued on.
"The generator is up and running!" one of the Galbadian techs reported to his commander, who stood in front of the mechanical doors leading into the Communications Tower.
"No problem with the power boosters!" the other tech said optimistically.
His optimism would not have been so great if he had known that they were being observed. On a cliff a good forty feet away from the doors and about fifteen feet up above the soldiers, Squall, Seifer, Zell and I crouched, watching the soldiers go about their business.
"What the hell they doing?" Seifer wondered out loud.
"Cable disconnection confirmed!" yet another tech shouted. "Beginning exchange process!"
"Roger," the first tech replied. With that, the group of soldiers turned and moved inside the building.
"Sounds to me like they're trying to get this place up and running," I replied to Seifer's question, however I kept my eyes fixed ahead. After the soldiers had moved inside and out of sight I stood and stretched, Zell doing the same.
"Who cares," Seifer responded, standing up himself and dusting himself off. He turned towards Squall. "This must be your first real battle," he remarked suddenly, shifting the subject. "You scared?"
" . . . I don't know," Squall replied. 'He probably thinks that if you're afraid then you wouldn't be able to respond. And that would get you killed,' I thought to myself.
"Well it does make sense. The body freezes up when you feel a large amount of fear. It's just the way human body and minds are made," said Ifrit.
"I try not to think about it," Squall added. "I have objectives to complete, and I will complete them. If someone stands in my way, I'll shove them aside. If they come at me to harm me, my comrades, or any innocents, then I'll cut them down without remorse." Squall left it at that, his voice telling Seifer he was not afraid to kill to protect his life or another's. I smiled. 'At least he looks at us and thinks we're comrades,' I thought.
"Hm," Seifer said, smiling. "Good. No fear, no regrets. Kill or be killed."
"What about you?" Squall asked. "You scared?"
"Ha!" Seifer responded, barking a laugh. "I love battles. I fear nothing!" He smiled and his voice lowered, as if he were imparting a secret. "The way I look at it, as long as you make it out of a battle alive, you're one step closer to fulfilling your dream."
"What? Your dream?" Squall asked aloud in surprise. 'Sounds like he wasn't expecting something like that coming from Seifer.'
"You have one too, don't you?" Seifer replied. Squall looked like he was about to say something but shook his head. "Sorry," he said. "I'm gonna pass on that subject."
'Hmmm... I wonder what he was just about to say,' I thought curiously. In the game you weren't able to see the emotions on the character's faces because it was just a bunch of pixels. The graphics at that time weren't sophisticated enough to show facial emotion. Not like the next gen graphics of Final Fantasy XIII. But in real life... or somewhat real, emotions were as clear as day. That added a layer of depth I had never experienced in FF8.
Zell, who had been watching the doors the whole time for any signs of activity, turned to the two gunbladers, interested in their "buddy-buddy" conversation.
"Yo!" he said, stepping up towards them. "Let me in on it, too!"
"Mind your own business," Seifer remarked dismissively. Zell's eyes widened, and a growl escaped his throat as he turned around and snapped off a couple of punches into the air.
"What's the matter Zell?" Seifer asked, smiling. Zell glanced back over his shoulder. "Swatting flies?" Once again, Seifer's remark had gotten under Zell's skin, judging by the look of fury on Zell's face.
I then stepped in front of Zell, looking at Seifer. "Stop being so immature. If you're going to be a SeeD, then you need to stop acting childish and petty." I then sighed and turned away. "But then again, you probably wouldn't even listen to me." I looked back to see that Seifer's eyes were narrowed at me before he made a dismissing sound.
"Phsh... No need to take it so seriously," he said before he turned and walked down the path to our right, which led down to the entrance to the Communications Tower.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Zell smiling at me. "Thanks man," he said.
I smiled back. "No probs Zell," I replied. "I got ya back!"
"There you are!" called a voice from behind and above us. We spun around to see a girl, another cadet, perched on a slight mound of stone behind them, one we ourselves had scaled earlier to get to this very vantage point.
I recognized the green eyes, small frame, brown curls, and ultra cute appearance of Selphie. She looked out of place for a SeeD cadet. With her oversized nunchaku strapped to her back, she seemed about as dangerous as a plushy toy moogle dressed in a combat uniform with a plastic bazooka, knowing how much she wanted to use one in the future.
She looked tired, and was panting hard. Obviously not from the climb; we hadn't broken a sweat on the climb up here, even at the fast pace Seifer had set. Stepping forward, the girl suddenly slipped, her boots sliding along the stones. Her arms pinwheeled for a second, and then down she tumbled, coming to a stop right in front of us.
"You ok?" I asked. In response, she threw me a wink and a poking tongue. I rolled my eyes in my mind, wondering how many times I had seen that expression on anime girls. Too many to count. It was considered the generic expression for them.
"I'm fine!" she said with a high-pitched giggle that screamed overwhelming cuteness. No wonder Irvine falls for her hard. "Are you guys Squad B?" she asked, sounding hopeful. I grinned. "That we are. We are the courageous, the heroic, the team that's just overflowing with awesomeness, the famous Squad B!" I spoke grandly and dramatically. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Zell grin widely and Squall rolling his eyes, but with the tiniest hints of a smile. Selphie giggled. "Oh, wait a minute," she said suddenly as she noticed Squall, recognition flashing in her eyes. ". . . I know you! You're the guy who showed me around earlier today! Thanks!"
She then turned back to me. "I'm a messenger. Name's Selphie, from Squad A. I'm looking for the squad captain, his name is Seifer, right?" I nodded. "He went over..." I trailed off as I turned to look in the direction Seifer had gone down the trail. The path curved down and around to the left. "Well, he was down there," I said before I, Zell and Squall tuned to the left.
And to no surprise, we spotted our captain down below, running towards the front entrance to the Communication Tower, Hyperion drawn. Seifer turned back to face us, though I got the feeling he was looking at Squall; a smile on his face.
"One of these days," he called towards Squall, "I'm gonna tell you about my romantic dream!" With that proclamation, Seifer spun around and hurled himself through the doors into the tower. I laughed before I turned to everyone.
"Well, we might as well go after him," I said before jumping up and off the cliff. I flipped through the air and landed with my right hand on the ground; my left hovering behind me. My right leg was bend at the knee and my left was outstretched. I knew that I had just landed almost exactly the same as Zack had when jumping off the train at the start of Crisis Core, and the fact that it looked super cool, but I didn't care.
...well maybe a little.
I turned and looked up to see my teammates looking at me in shock. They then looked even more so as Selphie jumped after me. She landed without any problems and waved up at the last two on the cliff.
"Hurry up! Come on, come on!"
After a few moments, Squall jumped off. He chose to slide down the last thirty feet of the steep slope, knocking loose dirt and pebbles before coming to a stop in front of the entrance. Even as he turned around to see if Zell was following, he heard a tremendous shout from above.
"Geronimoooooo!" Zell cried as he leaped clear off the edge, not even bothering to slide down. He landed on his feet, immediately transferring the momentum of his fall into a springing flip forward and coming to a stop, standing unharmed.
"Nice you three!" I said before I turned and began to turn towards the closed doors of the Communication Tower.
Doors which suddenly swung open, and out of which scrambled a group of unarmed Galbadian techs, screaming for their lives and running as fast as they could past the cadets and up the trail to the right. Behind them, chasing the men out with swipes of a bloody gunblade, was Seifer.
"Cowards!" he shouted after them, before spinning around and returning to the tower.
"Hey!" Selphie shouted at his disappearing form, but either Seifer ignored her or didn't hear the messenger. "The captain's getting away!" Selphie moaned, running after Seifer.
"C'mon guys. Let's go," I said as the three of us followed Selphie and our wayward captain.
The inside of the tower was dark and sparse, with a few faint, blinking lights scattered on metal panels on the walls. A large column stood in the center, which appeared to be part of an elevator shaft that lead to the upper floors. But all that was taken in peripherally, for our attention was taken away by what else the room contained.
A dozen or more corpses of Galbadian soldiers littered the floor or slumped against walls, slashed, stabbed, cut, or burned by magic. Blood was splattered along the walls or in pools underneath the dead soldiers. Many men still held weapons clutched in a tight death grip, and bullet holes and destroyed electronics were scattered around the room. Several corpses were decapitated or burned beyond recognition.
"Damn! Talk about overkill," I muttered to myself but everyone heard what I said.
"Did . . . did the captain do all this?" Selphie asked in disbelief.
"I'd say so," I replied, walking over to the recall button for the elevator. It began to descend slowly.
Then, overhead, they heard a shout. There was a distant clang of metal, and then another shout, followed by a long scream that quickly increased in volume. We looked up in time to see a figure, a Galbadian soldier, fall the rest of the way down to the bottom floor. The man slammed into the metal and rolled a few feet away, dead or unconscious. I looked back up above, to the sounds of distant combat.
"Ow..." Zell said in response to the fall.
A moment later, the elevator finished its stately descent and stopped. They piled on board, and Squall checked the panel.
"Let Seifer have his fun. We'll meet him at the top," I said. Squall nodded; hit the button for the top floor, and the elevator began its stately rise up towards the pinnacle of the building.
"Wow," Selphie said, looking down at the view below them. "This lift is pretty cool!" She leaned over the edge and looked down to the floor far below.
"Be careful," Zell warned. "Don't get too excited or you'll fall!"
"Like I'm really gonna," Selphie responded, sounding a bit indignant and sticking her tongue out at the martial artist. The lift then jerked slightly, making the girl wobble before tipping over. I grabbed her arm and tugged her back onto the platform before giving Selphie the 'Shoud'a listened' look. She grinned sheepishly.
We reached the top and looked around for signs of Seifer, but he was nowhere to be seen. However a soldier who wore a red uniform with armor that resembled that of any other soldier, excepting heavier armor and extra equipment in the arms, which lended his arms added strength. Mounted underneath his wrists were a pair of machine pistols, giving the major extra firepower.
'Biggs,' I said to myself. 'Wedge must be close by.'
Biggs seemed to be totally engrossed in his repair work that he didn't notice us. "This goes here . . . There! It's complete!" Biggs shouted triumphantly.
Beneath our feet, we heard a deep thrumming, and tower began vibrating slightly but rapidly. Nearby, I spotted a wrench sliding out of Biggs's bag of tools and fall through a hole in the floor panels, dropping hundreds of feet into the sea below.
I spun as a cylinder, at least fifty feet tall, shot up behind me. It reached the apex of the tower and stopped. Everything was still for a moment, and then the cylinder began turning, like a massive cannon. It rotated to the west, and then, the top half of the cylinder split into three sections around a central antenna. The three sections spread outward, forming a disk around the antenna, then curved inward, becoming a convex satellite dish. The antenna seemed to open up then, with many smaller antennae branching out and pointing in the same direction as the central device. Moments later, a faint white beam of light began to extend outward from the dish, a beam that quickly solidified into a strong white line shooting off into the sky.
I whistled softly at the sight. Next to me Selphie, Squall and Zell were mesmerized, though Squall quickly broke away and looked at the lone Galbadian officer in front of him.
"What do you think you're doing?" Squall demanded, startling the soldier. He spun around, and jumped again as he saw himself outnumbered.
"Huh?" he said in confusion. Then, Biggs snarled, seeing how his opponents were just kids. "Likewise, MISTER! What do you think you're doing?" He then paused as he took note of our weapons. When he looked at me I grinned and unsheathed Ragnarok. I wouldn't use it on him but the look of fear on his face was amusing to say the least. He looked like he was just about to piss himself.
"H-hey!" Biggs exclaimed, now very nervous. "What happened to all the soldiers down below?" He looked around desperately for any of his men. "Wedge!" he yelled. "Take care of these twerps!"
We looked around, but no-one answered the call. "W . . . Wedge?" Biggs called, and he looked around again. Zell stood impassively, hands on his hips, while Selphie just put her hands behind her back casually. We knew that, for the moment, he really was alone up here.
"I . . . ah . . ." Biggs sounded rather nervous now. "Well . . . ah . . . " Then a plan came to him. "I seem to be done here, so I'll just be on my . . ." Suddenly, he raised one of his arms, pointing the machine pistol at Squall. The other arm crossed over that one, the pistol pointing at Zell. With both cadets frozen in place by the weapons leveled at them, he began moving towards the elevator. "I-I'm leaving! Move it!" Zell quickly got out of his opponent's way, glancing at Squall for what he should do. Squall just shrugged.
"Let him go," Squall told Zell, who nodded. I glanced to the side, hearing the sound of the elevator rising back up. 'He's in for a nasty surprise,' I thought.
"Yeah!" Biggs shouted. "Get out of my way! Move! Move!" The officer had reached the elevator, which had almost reached the top . . .
. . . and was carrying a certain white trenchcoat-wearing squad captain.
Before Biggs knew what had happened, one of his arms was knocked aside by Seifer's gunblade, and then the captain's free left hand shot out and took the officer in the mouth. Biggs was stunned, and before he could recover, Seifer kicked him in the chest, knocking him back.
"Sorry to crash the party. Grab him!" Seifer ordered. Squall and Zell quickly took the officer, hooking their arms under his and holding him fast.
"Ahhhhh!" Biggs screamed. "Are you CRAZY?"
"Just shut up!" Seifer replied. "Lookie what we got here. What are you guys planning to do with this tower, huh?"
"You brats!" Biggs replied, struggling to get free, though the GF- enhanced strength of Squall and Zell (especially Zell) held him fast. "Prepare for the worst!" he threatened unconvincingly.
"Looks who's talking," Seifer replied, walking up to Biggs and flicking him on the nose. "You can't do anything to us!"
A second later, a blast of lightning struck Zell, surprising him. Biggs took advantage of the momentary distraction his Thunder spell had bought and shook his arm free of Zell's grasp. That arm came across in a hook, smacking Seifer in the face and stunning him. Squall tried to hold on, but Biggs brought his freed arm around and fired the gun -practically point blank -into Squall's stomach. The cadet grunted and fell back, releasing Biggs.
"Told you!" Biggs shouted, turning his gun on Zell. He was about to fire when a chain, that of Selphie's nunchaks, wrapped around his legs and yanked them out from under him. Biggs fell prone as Seifer shook his head from the hit. Zell, recovered from the magical blow, immediately moved to grab Biggs, but was distracted as a Galbadian soldier, the less than punctual Wedge, came around the central shaft and attacked Seifer from behind, forcing the captain to spin around and exchange in some quick swordplay.
"Sir!" Wedge shouted, ducking under a high slash and backing away from a low cut. "What is the enemy doing here?"
Biggs rose to his feet and his arm shot across, clubbing Zell and knocking him back. He spun back towards Selphie, who was sending her nunchacku out again. Biggs caught the nunchaku with the metal guard on his arm, blocking the hit.
"Wedge!" he yelled. "Where the hell were you? No pay for you this month!"
Wedge turned aside a thrust from Seifer, and countered, only to be blocked and counter-countered.
"Should've stayed home . . ." he moaned, ducking back from Seifer's slash, taking a glancing blow on the arm.
I then took action. I sheathed my sword and replaced my hands with my guns. I pointed them at Wedge and fired several shots at him. He managed to dodge most but a few skimmed across his armour and clothes.
Wedge dropped to the ground but lifted his gun and fired off several rounds at me. I fired back and all of Wedge's bullets were either pulverised or were deflected off course. He then had to continue dodging Seifer's attacks but it was obvious that his wounds were slowing him down.
Looking over to where Squall, Zell and Selphie were, I saw that they were handling Biggs just fine. Poor Biggs seemed to not realise that the three were hyped up on GF junctions as his face looked completely confused when he fired a burst of gunfire at Squall, making him stagger, but didn't drop him.
"How?" he protested. "That's impossib-ah!" Biggs was suddenly taken off his feet by a well-placed swipe of Selphie's nunchaku. The major rolled away, coming up with another burst of gunfire at Squall. The cadet rolled to the side, evading the burst, and then smacked his gunblade down on top of Biggs's armored arm. The blade cut into the metal but didn't slice through, so Squall quickly pulled the trigger, the explosive blast tearing apart the armor and almost blowing Biggs's arm off.
"Ahhh!" Biggs screamed, falling back and firing with his other arm.
Another Fire spell from Selphie sent Biggs down on the ground. He lay there, moaning in pain.
"Nice job!" I said to Selphie. She turned and grinned at me, flashing the victory sign.
Wedge, meanwhile, hadn't fared even as well as Biggs had. His left arm was disabled due to a high cut around the shoulder that had left it limp, and his right was bleeding. He was limping, and Seifer still pressed him hard.
Suddenly, both he and Seifer were lifted up by a gust of powerful wind, hurled aside.
"Ahhhh!" Wedge screamed, and slammed into the metal shaft at the center of the tower, swiftly hurled into unconsciousness. Seifer fared better, landing on his feet, only slightly shaken up by the blast. He spun around to face the new opponent. I did so and looked at the monstrosity before us.
It was red and purple, with huge, bat-like wings, a pair of massive, muscled arms, and no legs. Instead of the legs, it featured a massive abdomen, tipped with a stinger longer than Seifer was tall.
The monster screamed, and one of its clawed hands came in at Seifer. He ducked aside and sliced the arm as it passed.
"What the hell is this thing?" he shouted. I immediately took charge and called over to the others. "Squall, Zell! Attack with close range combat! Selphie, you're with me with long range support!" There was slight hesitation as they reconfigured their minds to me giving orders, before they nodded and carried out their assigned positions.
Squall and Zell charged into the fray with Seifer, while I reached out to the monster mentally, using Shiva as a conduct. I felt the magic inside it, as well as something else. Two something else's. I realised that they were GFs.
'But there weren't two inside this thing in the game?' I thought before picking one at random. The Guardian Force responded immediately, and energy erupted from the monster, crossing the distance to me.
"Wow! It's really roomy in here," said the new entity inside my mind. Judging by the feel of it and it's voice, I deducted that it was female, but wasn't Siren.
'Why does every GF think my mind is roomy? It makes me think that there's nothing in there,' I said rather annoyed.
"What? What's going on?" continued the female voice inside my head. On the side note, I noticed that the voice was very gentle and rich. If I had to give a description to it, her voice sounded like an angel's voice. Corny, I know.
'Sorry but I haven't got time to explain now. Shiva, Ifrit. Give her the lowdown of the situation,' I instructed before calling over to Selphie.
"There's a GF inside it. You grab it!" I said. She nodded before concentrating. After a couple of seconds the GF crossed the distance to Selphie's mind. I saw her mouth the word 'Siren'.
Squall and Zell closed in on the monster as Seifer ducked aside from another swing. The monster noticed the energies being stolen and faced us. Its mouth opened, and then a wave of wind swept across the two charging cadets, hurling them back.
"Ow," Zell muttered, hopping to his feet in time to see Seifer circling around towards them. The captain suddenly charged the monster, ducking under a stabbing stinger and getting in a trio of cuts on the monster. A clubbing backhand hit the captain as he ran out behind the monster, hurling him away and sending him sprawling on the ground, not moving.
"Weapons won't work!" Squall shouted. "We can't get close enough, it's got a range advantage on us. We'll have to rely on magic."
"You guys stand back!" I said before calling on Shiva in my mind. She responded instantly and her icicle spiked out of the platform. She shattered the ice around her before powering up her Diamond Dust attack. She launched the attack and large icicles struck up and encased the monster's stinger and most of its lower body. Shiva turned to me and summoned a large crystal ball, similar to the one Ifrit gave to me, only this one was charged with ice blue energy. She tossed to me and I caught it while smiling. I focused on it and felt the connection with Shiva strengthen considerably, even more so than with Ifrit.
Shiva then disappeared and the ice shattered, taking the stinger and parts of the monster's body with it. The monster was definitely weakened, however it wasn't out. Seifer, now back on his feet, took advantage of this and summoned his own GF. Knowing that, as far as I knew, Seifer didn't have a GF in the game, I watched closely to see what he would summon.
Seifer's gunblade glowed white and he slammed in into the floor. The white energy seeped out of the sword and rose up to form a glowing door. The doorway was filled with dark energy, as if it was the gate to another dimension. Then out of the gate shot a large creature. As it slowed down I could see it properly.
It was a huge wolf. It was the size of a big horse. Its fur was black and silky looking. Powerful limbs supported the wolf. It gazed upon its target with purple eyes before it howled. All of a sudden the monster was surrounded with white energy. The energy propelled the monster up high. Then the wolf howled again, this time creating several swords made out of pulsing black energy. The swords surrounded the creature and then all struck at once. Each sword rammed itself straight through the monster. The sight reminded of a move in Final Fantasy XII. Then the swords dissolved and the wolf disappeared. The monster crashed to the floor but was still alive.
'Who was that Seifer just summoned?' I asked Ifrit as Shiva was talking to the newcomer.
"That was Fenrir, guardian force of darkness. He controls dark energy, like Diablos, only Diablos's attacks maim, not kill," explained Ifrit.
'I see.'
My guns then began to glow and I smirked before I focused and channelled the new energy for my Limit Break for my guns. I then summoned a Haste spell out of nowhere and began to flash all around the field. Each time I sped to a different position I shot the monster. 32 times I did this within several seconds before jumping high and over the monster. I pointed my guns at it and drilled another 32 bullets into its head, yelling out the name for my new limit.
"Divine 64 Bullets!"
I landed and turned to the monster, only to see it very dead. The four of us watched as the body seemed to break apart, pieces of it floating off into the air like dust in the wind. Within seconds, the monster was gone.
"Jeez! All this just to deliver one fucking message?" I asked incredulously. I turned to Selphie. "It better be good," I said.
"Squad B captian?" Selphie asked Seifer, who nodded. "S'cuse me, but I have new orders! All SeeDs and SeeD cadets are to withdraw at 1900 hours. Assemble at the shore."
"Withdraw?" Seifer protested. "There are still enemies around!"
"I doubt it. We kicked some serious ass around here and it's probable that the rest of the force did the same," I said, seeing that Squall nodded, agreeing with my hypothesis.
"Sorry," Selphie replied to Seifer. "But I'm just a messenger."
"The order to withdraw takes priority," Squall reminded Seifer. "I don't want to miss the vessel." Seifer seemed about to complain, but then reluctantly agreed.
"1900 . . . " Seifer muttered, checking his watch. "It's 1830 now. We've only got thirty minutes!" He turned back to his squad. "Better run!" Then, he hit the button for the platform, and hopped on. Before we could stop him, Seifer was out of sight.
"Hey!" Selphie called after him, sounding upset. "Wait for us!"
"Who does he think he is?" Zell complained.
"Why don't you ask him?" Squall replied with a shrug. Still, I could see he was slightly pissed.
"Damn it!" Zell shouted. "We're gonna have to haul ass! Is there another elevator?" A quick check revealed a second elevator platform on the other side of the shaft, and we wasted no time descending.
