CoWR: Introduction
Chapter 6: FFVIII - Time stops for no man
DISCLAIMER: You know the drill. Don't own nothin'.
Hearing the commotion, River pivots swiftly to look behind herself at Seifer. "Damnit, you don't learn to stay put, do you?" She points the Xenosaber at him again. "How many times do I have to put you down before you suffer permanent nerve damage?"
Seifer walks towards the girl, and readies his Gunblade. "I fought too many weaklings like you. You came to the right place if you wanted to die." With that, Seifer runs towards the woman and swings his blade diagonally upwards.
River back flips and grunts. She calls a Thundara down on Seifer and leaps upward, diving at him with a spinning slash.
Rei was enraged. As Jean back flipped, Rei quickly went in between them to parry Seifer's slash with his saber, entering into a blade lock. "Damn it! My first order as a SeeD Instructor cost lives! Seifer! Are you out of your mind! Those were your juniors!"
Rei released the blade lock and used Petal Edge to him materializing white rose petals, channeling his drawn energy into the petals to harden and sharpen it and cast Aero to fling the petals to him in conjunction with Jean's Thundara.
"Sorry Commander Squall, but I'll dispose your rival, right here. Right now!" Rei ran towards Seifer preparing for another strike as Jean ran past him.
Seifer moves backwards to dodge the flower petals and raises his weapon to block the girls attack. As it connects, he pulls the trigger on his Gunblade and uses the recoil to push back the girl's blade and spin into an attack himself. He then casts a Fira at the man. "This isn't some training exercise. You wanna fight without any casualties, stay home."
River pivots through the air and lands in a crouch on her feet. From there, she calls up shards of ice that shoot up from under Seifer and fires a rapid pulse burst from the Xenosaber.
Seifer gets knocked back by the Ice shards, but is able to move out of the path of the bullets. He casts a Fire at the girl, and jumps towards her. His spins once, slashing with his blade and pulls the trigger, to keep his momentum, allowing him to spin once more and attack again. "Give up now. You can't hope to stop me."
River simply ducks into a leg sweep to trip Seifer while he's in momentum. "Would you give the talk a rest? I swear you're like a broken record."
Rei equally cast Blizzara to counter the Fira, as the two spells meet, a fog enveloped Rei. From within the fog, five sharp bamboo shafts shoot out and tracked Seifer. "Then what is your purpose of doing this manslaughter Seifer!"
Seifer trips over the sweep and lands on his hip. Seifer simply scowls at her comment as he uses a Fire to push her back and rolls up to his feet.
River rolls into a crouch as the residual flames flicker a moment and dashes in with a spin strike to Seifer's blind side while the fog is in effect.
The bamboo shaft Rei launched earlier narrowly missed Seifer. Rei's aim was off as the fog, which was already slowly dissipating, obstructed his vision. Seeing how Seifer already repeated his attack variations, Rei finally relinquished his cautious stance. Alright! Time to move in!
Rei burst out of the fog and rushed back to Seifer as Jean attacked him on his blind side. Rei slashed Seifer with his saber on a clockwise backspin to act up as a diversion so that Jean can land a clean hit to him.
Seifer quickly saw both attacks coming from both directions, so he used Demon Slice, spinning rapidly and deflecting the attacks with his own. He then heads straight towards the man, hoping to finally get him out of the way.
River is slashed upward and sent sailing back to the ground. "Nrgh!" She rebalances herself while in the air and begins charging a shot from the Xenosaber.
Rei saw Seifer using Demon Slice again. After Seifer parried his strike, Rei quickly strafed backward several times to gain distance and saw Jean being hurled thrown back. "Sgt. River!" He flashed a look to Seifer. "If you think that'll work the second time, you're dead wrong!"
Rei slammed the ground as he skidded around, summoning bamboo shafts on the ground that entangled Seifer. Seifer was able to cut through the shafts but his revolution was severely slowed giving Rei an opening. He rushed in and swung his twin edge saber upward with both hands sending Seifer to the air then followed it up with quick stabs.
"Stay down!" Rei front flipped up past Seifer and slammed his heel to the erring Cadet's shoulder sending him to the ground. Rei finished it up with a quick cross slash as he landed.
Seifer's attack was stopped, and he was knocked into the air by the man. As the man came towards him to stomp him with his heel, he blocks it with his sword, and pushes the man off. He then swings his blade downwards, pulling the trigger and using the momentum to raise his blade and quickly attack horizontally.
"NRGH!" Instead of firing a concussive blast as she had planned, she switches over to blade mode, unleashing a wide sweeping slash of energy upward at Seifer. River's Xenosaber fizzles out momentarily, needing time to recharge.
Rei was tossed in the air as Seifer pulled the trigger of Hyperion. As Seifer was about to slash him, Jean's wide sweeping slash with her Xenosaber staggered him, thus Rei back flipped midair and cross slashed Seifer to finish Heel 'N Slash.
Seifer slams into the ground, and rolls onto his side in pain. He gets back up slowly, and begins to look around. He couldn't win here. He was outnumbered.
Xenosaber needs time to charge, but it couldn't hurt to bluff. She points the Xenosaber in pistol mode at Seifer. "I'm sorry, who's in the way? If you're not going to come with us, then get out of here."River nods towards Seifer's path of escape. If anything, I still have my magic...
Seifer looks at his enemy, then to the sky. Had the sorceress abandoned him? He was not going to give up, but he knew he couldn't win. "What makes you think I'll run away?"
"Because. You keep on like this, and I..." She glances at Rei. "We can't guarantee your safety. If you're not going to run off to fight another day, at least come quietly." Damnit, this dweeb's stalled me enough with his showboating. I wish he'd just get out of our hair already!
"I have other things in mind." Rei kicked Hyperion aside as he approached the fallen Seifer. "This oughta hold you better." Rei swung his hand, a white rose appear then it turned into a thorn whip minus the thorns. He used it to tie Seifer tight.
"It's a bit callous but seeing that you have inflicted more injury to Estharian Soldiers, I'll turn you in to Esthar instead. Sgt. River, would you kindly call for a mobile prison to temporarily hold Seifer?"
Rei picked up Seifer to let him stand once again and tossed Hyperion to Jean as they walked back to Esthar's walls. The horde of monsters were already thinning, showing signs of victory for Esthar and Garden.
River catches Hyperion in her offhand. "Noted." She gets on the comlink to call up a prison transport.
Alas, Seifer was imprisoned on the mobile cell that came. Rei nodded to Jean. "Sgt. River, thank you for the assist. As a token of my appreciation, kindly accept these." Rei drew three pieces of paper white daffodils and slid it to her ear.
"Hey, loosen up a little and smile. I know you have a reputation to uphold being a Paladin Elite but it doesn't hurt to see those pearly white teeth of yours on a grin. See yah!" Rei made a casual salute and ran off to check his fallen Garden Cadets.
"And the offer is still up once you're finished babysitting the president!" Rei echoed as he ran.
Ultimecia, however, had already retrieved what she needed by sneaking and lots of killing, what she got, I will not tell-okay, I will tell. Just some crap on the merged worlds, and maybe some other stuff too. She was returning to the battlefield when she noticed that Seifer was tied up...and stuff. Her answer to that? An Apocalypse to his captors.
A runic circle appears under Rei's feet and River gasps. "Watch out!" She rushes up and tackles Rei out of the way, only to get caught in the pillar of energy, which instantly sends a surge through her body, incapacitating her.
Rei was flung a few meters away as Jean tossed him aside. "What the hell?" And saw the runic circle engulfed Jean on a pillar of light. "Damn it! Sgt. River!" He quickly picked himself up and ran towards Jean. The same runic circle also appeared beneath Seifer's cell destroying its doors and letting Seifer to escape.
Rei skidded through his knees as he closed in to Jean. She was unconscious and Rei wanted to lift her up to nudge her back to reality. But he opted not to for Jean might have broken a bone and something. Instead, he drew out sakura petals he conjured inside his jacket and tossed it around Jean as a whitish red aura enveloped her to seal in her wounds.
He picked his saber, stood up and finally saw the witch of time. Rei's face went blank at that instant. The one who orphaned him, the murderer of his parents along with most of his childhood friends at Trabia Garden was now standing in front of him. He gritted his teeth so tight that a speck of blood gushed out from his gums. His hands trembling as he gripped his saber firmly. "No...Mercy..."
As if adrenaline had rushed out from him, he quickly and ferociously hurled himself towards the witch of time and thrust his saber, loosing every bit of logic that he has on combat, raging like a mad dog.
River lay unconscious for a while, but with her injuries lessened she manages a groan and slowly sits up, looking through hazy vision at the Sorceress, Ultimecia. "Her..." She simply looked in awe at the One From Beyond Time while she descended to the battlefield. Gathering herself together quickly, River leaps to her feet and draws the Xenosaber.
A smirk plays at Ultimecia's lips. She waves her hand and purple energy surrounds it, and arrows shoot at Rei.
River swiftly takes up her Xenosaber and begins charging a shot from it while the Sorceress deals with Rei.
Rei was able to swipe clean the initial wave of arrows with his saber as he advances but the continued stream of purple arrows finally caught the defenseless Rei sending him back to the ground. "Gah!"
Arrows pierced his torso and a deep gaping wound was seen on his abdomen. Still Rei struggled to stand gripping his saber to attack again. His vision already turned red as blood dripped from his forehead down to his eyes. He slowly walked towards Ultimecia, dragging his left leg as it was already crippled by a few arrows, brandishing his saber. "Kill..."
River looks at the SeeD mercenary, and curses. She powers down her Xenosaber, letting the charge fade, and casts a Cura. A green aura sphere surrounds Rei, pulling the arrow shard out of his body and mending his wounds. "You'll get yourself killed if you just try to attack her! Be more careful, damnit!"
Jean's plea did not creep into Rei's mind. What he did understand was the fact that he can move a tad quicker now that his wounds were sealed. Thus he ran straight to Ultimecia again. But this time, an explosion engulfed the witch of time, the succeeding shockwave tossed Rei back. Before hitting the ground, Rei was caught by Laguna. "Hey! You should not let a girl worry about you kid. That's not cool you know?"
"Tell that to Raine's grave Laguna." Kiros smirked. Laguna just sighed. "Would you give me some moment to be cool in front of these kids?" Finally, the glow on Rei's eyes came back signaling his snapping out from his reverie. "President Laguna! S-sir!" He tried to salute but now felt the extent of his injuries. "Aw!"
Laguna just smiled. "You've done well young SeeD, leave this to the big guys." He then looked to Jean. "Sgt. River, settle down. We'll take care of this."
As the smoke clears from the explosion caused by Laguna's hand grenade, Ultimecia was seen unscathed, with Laguna daring to stand in front of her.
"Alright! Five seconds for you to fall back or be freeze just like Adel!" He boldly stated to the witch of time. "We don't know what you're scheming about in attacking the major cities on the newly merged world. But this will not pass!"
River runs up to Laguna's side. "Laguna, Sir! With all do respect, it's my duty to protect the president! But..." She relaxes her combat stance a moment.
"It's no use keeping you away from the front lines. It's how you became president after all. You don't just fight for the people; you fight with them... sir." River then goes back to combat stance with a slight grin. "Don't hog all the glory."
Laguna just smirked. "Youth these days, Restless, aggressive, hard headed..."
"Just like you Mr. "President". So Sgt. River, got the big picture? You being assigned to guard Laguna is like a suicide mission, you'll surely be demoted quickly due to his recklessness." Kiros shook his head.
"Would you just cut it out?" Laguna stared to Ultimecia. "Looks like time's up." All Estharian technology on Laguna's backdrop now loomed and was aimed to Ultimecia and Seifer.
Rei tried to stand but Ward held him to the stretcher and shook his head telling him not to move anymore. "I can still fight... Please... I have to avenge my parents and friends..." Rei said as he coughed.
Ultimecia glides down from the air. "Yes, the "Hero" of Esthar, now ruling over this reklusive nation... perhaps it's time for a new election?"
"Don't count your votes just yet, witch!" River points her Xenosaber at the Sorceress.
Ultimecia simply grins and the threat. "Young child, do you klad yourself in such armor to be fearsome? Or do you simply fear? Let's see how much protektion that armor lends you."
Ultimecia points her arm out towards River. Suddenly, the fabric of time distorts, causing swords to rapidly shoot from her hand at the young soldier.
"Wha?" A blade nicks river's arm and she rolls out of the way, returning fire with pulse bursts. Ultimecia simply bends and twists time to make herself appear behind the girl.
With a vicious backhand, River is sent flying and tumbles to the edge of a cliff, where she hangs on for dear life.
Ultimecia nods at Seifer. "Finish the girl off."
Seifer nods and leaps over Laguna and Kiros, lands gracefully, and rushes over to greet River at the edge with a grin. "I still owe ya for that nasty stun shot you gave me earlier. Now, before I pay it back with interest let me think of a proper send off."
"How about 'see you in hell'?"
Seifer continues to look down at River, retorting in a mocking tone. "Why? I ain't got any reason to be there... My place is at Ultimecia's side, as her eternal Knight. Your place though, is at the bottom of this ledge. Here! Let me help you find it!"
Seifer pushes his boot against one of her hands which grips firmly into the ledge of the cliff. River cries out as pain rushes through the very fingers that keep her alive.
"Damnit! Odine! Deploy the cryo-containment device now!" Laguna said on his comlink as he fired his machine gun to Ultimecia. Kiros stayed by Laguna's side to protect him.
Ward quickly let go of Rei to rush in Jean's aid. However, as Rei heard of Jean's terrifying scream, memories of the aftermath of Trabia Garden's missile attack flashed on Rei's mind. He gritted his teeth; he swore that never again will he see death without giving his everything to prevent it. So with all of strength that he can muster, Rei stood from the stretcher and quickly ran past Ward to help Jean. "Seifer! You damn bastard!"
"When did you learn to curse like that, Rei?" A man with a blond hair and a tribal tattoo on his face asked Rei as he landed a sweeping kick to Seifer's face knocking him to the ground. "Zell!" Rei yelled as he closed in. "Don't forget the sergeant!"
As Seifer's foot was removed on Jean's hand, the small protrusion collapsed making Jean fall to the cliff. Zell quickly ducked and extended his hand to grab Jean's but he was too late. "Damn!"
But another figured jump on past him and dived to Jean to the surprise of Zell. "R-Rei!"
He caught Jean by her torso as they fall. He conjured a whip which he flung to Zell. "Zell! Catch!"
Zell caught the whip that wrap around his arm but the sudden pull almost drawn him to the edge of the cliff as well until another whip was flung and wrapped around to Zell's arm helping him to pull back. "Tsk! Playing hero as always, only to be saved in the end. Pathetic!" A woman with a long blond hair wearing an eyeglass uttered as she winced.
Zell looked back. "Quistis!"
"Cut the talk. Let's bring Rei and that girl to safety first." The two pulled them up.
Rei made a big sigh as they were being pulled up by Zell and Quistis. "Hey... I didn't get to know your real name Sgt. River... or is it classified information for the Paladin Corps? Mine's Rei Narcissus of Trabia." He then grinned.
She breathes a sigh of relief as she's hoisted up with the help of two newfound allies.
"I might tell you later, but for now? Just call me River if you're going to be so casual... And it's the Paladin Brigade. Though, Corps. does have a ring to it... I'll have to see once I report to the commander."
Ultimecia chuckles, and warps out of Laguna's line of fire, then retaliates with a Shockwave Pulsar.
Seifer gets back up and grabs his Hyperion after rubbing the bruise above his eyebrow.
"Stupid move, chicken wuss!"
In retaliation, he shoots a fireball at Zell and follows up by twirling his Gunblade and launching a wind razor from it.
"I'm okay with that. River, huh? It matches your silky blue hair and stunning sapphire eyes." Rei unwittingly said as he looked up to Zell who was pulling them to safety.
"Wall!" Thus, a wall was summoned to block Seifer's fire ball and wind razor as Rei and Jean were pulled back up to safety by Quistis and Zell.
"So Rei already found a girlfriend just on his very first mission after coming back?" A girl with gleaming brown hair with a cheery voice uttered. "Instructor Trepe will be really pissed."
"Selphie! Wha?" Rei was stunned by the comment and immediately let go of Jean.
Quistis just stomped his foot and cracked her whip hard to the ground. "Alright Seifer you've put this sorceress knight act too far!" Quistis glowed and launched Micro Missiles to Seifer.
On the other side of the battlefield Ultimecia's Shockwave Pulsar was dissipated by a huge pillar of light coming from Blasting Zone. "Mr. President, step aside. We came here to assist." Commander Squall Leonhart plainly said.
Laguna just smirked to Squall. "So, looks like the meeting can finally start after this."
Suddenly, several blue cybernetic orbs fly out from the walls of Esthar that quickly surrounded Ultimecia on a hexagonal pattern. "All these worlds merging and other unexplained phenomenon? What made you think that we are not ready about something as far-fetch as your return, Ultimecia!"
Kiros butted in. "Actually... Dr. Odine thought of that."
Opting not to reply to Kiros' most recent comment, Laguna just activated the cryo-containment device via remote. The orbs flashed a cerulean blue then surrounded the witch of time with high density substance creating a quick permafrost effect.
River's gaze meets Rei's a moment and she swiftly looks away, hiding a face which turned red. "Erhrm."
Up on the terrace, Seifer grimaces, seeing as Ultimecia was caught in the cryogenic trap, and that all of his old 'acquaintances' now stand before him. "Nrgh. My dream won't end here... so long kiddies."
Seifer throws up a black crystal which shatters, opening a portal for him to step through.
It closes as soon as he does.
River stands up after being pulled to safety. "He talks too much." She turns towards Ultimecia who now sleeps, imprisoned. "That'll hold her for an eternity or two."
River then remembers why she's here. To establish communications between Esthar and Balamb Garden.
As dutiful as ever, she runs up to greet Commander Leonhart with a formal salute. "You are Squall, correct? The legendary SeeD? Ummm... It-It's an honor... sir."
River quickly reaffirms her military composure and gives Squall the details. "Sir, we have it on good authority that the major colonies of the merged world have all fallen under sequential attack. There's a group out there trying to make a statement, it seems. President Laguna of Esthar...Who's standing right over there...formally requests that Balamb Garden and Esthar City form an alliance and pool our resources as well as manpower in order to combat this new threat. From what Intel shows, its scale far exceeds ours. If you need more information, well..." River looks over at Laguna celebrating victory. "The President in question can give you further details."
0-0-0-0-0
Back at the Fortress of Bedlam, Seifer steps out of his rift portal, and Ultimecia warps into existence in front of him. "Quite klever, this city of Esthar. Any less obvious, and they might have kaught their sorceress."
Seifer kneels before her, and stands at attention. "Guess we know how many SeeDs it takes to screw in a lightbulb now, don't we." Seifer follows with a chuckle.
"Indeed. We shall lure them into a false sense of sekurity for the time being..." Ultimecia starts to walk into the fortress.
"A decoy. Wonder how long it'll take for those knuckleheads to figure it out." Seifer loyally walks by the sorceress's side.
0-0-0-0-0
The rest of the SeeDs went to check on Ultimecia's frozen state. "Did we really capture her?" Selphie asked.
"Shouldn't I believe my eyes?" Zell replied.
"She has proven herself capable of so many feats. This could just be a decoy or a ploy for her to lower our guard down." Quistis asserted.
"Oh! Would you please loosen up a little Instructor Trepe?" Zell muttered.
"Yeah!" Selphie seconded.
Quistis eyes twitch and turned to Selphie. "And as for you Selphie, disclosing such trivial things in the midst of the battle is uncharacteristic. I have to think up of a proper punishment for you. Perhaps, barring you from join the Garden Festival will suffice."
"Hey! Hey! Hey! No! Not that! Quis... I mean Instructor Trepe!" Selphie yelped.
Rei went straight to Squall where, incidentally, Jean stood making her report, to salute to his commander.
After Jean's talk to the commander, Rei spoke to Jean. "I guess that makes us partners if President Loire and Commander Leonhart already put into paper the alliance. You're diligent and professional alright. Never losing your focus on what is needed to be done despite so many set backs in between." Rei brushed his hair back and spoke what was on his mind unintentionally. "I like that. Guess that's what it takes to be elite."
"Thank you, Rei. And if I may...You're brash, reckless, abandon any tactical reasoning or self preservation in favor of undisciplined belligerence, disregard valuable tactical advice in the midst of battle, and would do well to keep your tongue in check when the situation deems necessary. Other than that, you're not bad yourself." River nods and goes to speak with Laguna.
Rei was stunned with Jean's comments. The next thing that he was about to say was to apologize for ruining her tactics as he saw it on the corner of his eye on how many times Jean hesitated and winced during the assault in his presence. I should have apologized first... wrong move. I guess it's a wrong choice promoting me as an instructor Commander Squall. He looked at Squall who was discussing with Laguna then glanced back to Jean as she approached the two.
He managed to utter a few words to Jean who obviously could not hear it given the distance now separating them. "I... I was just about to apologize for those "miscues" sergeant..." Then he yelled to her. "You might want to double check your condition first before you ran about doing stuffs."
Rei then just shook his head. Great going Rei...
He looked up to the sky. I guess your right all along, dad... I finally understood what you have been lecturing me all this time. Heh! But don't worry... your son will never give up. He raised his fist and punched the sky.
Recalling the previous assault, Rei finally remembered the three Garden Cadets whom he entrusted Seifer earlier plus the fact that he has some serious injuries himself. Damnit! Jet, Glen and Ross! My status report can wait! Rei went to the infirmary of Esthar to look for the three.
Group of scientist came to retrieve the frozen Ultimecia and brought her to the Lunatic Pandora Laboratory at the outskirts of the city per Dr. Odine instructions. He wished to examine the witch of time further. The rest move to the Presidential Palace to discuss matters.
WhiteLycan: River/Jean, Ultimecia, Seifer,
NinjablazerZero: Seifer,
Reikakou: Rei, Kiros, Ward, Zell, Quistis, Selphie, Squall,
Myself: Ultimecia,
