Disclaimer : I don't own anything.
Note : Despite the 'Final Showdown' in the title, this is not the end of the fic.
Meltdown - This is a non-elemental spell that works like it's name, and cannot be reflected with a reflect spell. It's a very powerful black magic spell, like Flare, and Ultima. It drains the enemy and casts Poison, Silence, and Blind on them.
Now Sorceress Miko, and other major enemies like that are usually impervious to Blinde/Poison/Silence type spells, but the damage can still be done.
Ultima - A fairly difficult spell to describe, so use your imagination, or try finding it online. LOL.
Flare - Non-elemental, but looks like a fire spell. Causes a massive explosion and massive damage.
Cerberus - A GF I will likely rarely to never use in this fic, because he only casts Triple and Double on the characters.
Alexander - A GF that is impossible to describe, and it's attack is impossible to describe. The only thing I can suggest is looking it up on youtube.
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(Galbadia Garden)
We entered the long hallway of Galbadia Garden and I wasn't at all surprised to find the gang waiting for us.
"Kapri!" Marah squealed, running over to hug her tightly.
Kapri looked a little lost, but wrapped her arms around the brunette and hugged her back, letting herself relax.
"You're here!" Dustin cried happily, running over and picking her up, swinging her around before putting her back down.
Tori nodded happily and hugged her lightly. "Are you alright?" she asked softly.
Hunter entered from a side hallway and nodded with a smile to see Kapri safe and sound. Then, with a sigh, he turned to me. "The sorceress should be here, somewhere."
No turning back now. I thought grimly. "Forget about the past." I said emotionlesly, biting back the pain of the thought of fighting Matron. "She's our enemy now. Don't think twice for a second. She won't. There's no way we can fight her like that. I, for one, can't. She chose to fight and became our enemy. We Choose to fight back. We have no choice. At least...I'd like to think so." Frowning, I looked down the hall. It seems like I'm the only one confused. "We've come this far. I guess there's no need for me to say anything."
"We're still listening." Kapri said softly. "Tell us your feelings."
Placing my hand against my forehead, I shook my head slowly. "I'll tell you leter...after we get out of this. Let's go."
Choosing Marah and Tori in my main group, I kept Kapri, Hunter nad Dustin as backup, in case we needed their help. I knew Kapri was an accomplished fighter, and could hold her own, but I felt compelled to protect her.
We looked around the Garden carefully. There were still many students in the Garden, but none posed a threat. In fact, they wanted to help us, giving us card keys needed to get into the restricted parts of the Garden. Some sold items, some offered to play a game of cars to take our minds off of troubles, and they all offered any information that we could possibly use to our advantage.
It seemed that Sorceress Miko had kept some of them there against their will, and they knew they couldn't fight her, so they depended on us. But most of the students and staff had been kicked out of Garden before all this began, and Garden Master Tyzonn had been dismissed from duty.
Heading up to the second floor, I paused and quickly pulled out my gunblade when I saw Taylor and Eric standing there, but they seemed weary and didn't bother to arm themselves back, so I put away my gunblade, walking over to them.
Sighing heavily, Eric slowly put up his fists, looking defeated and confused. "Let's just go..." He said with a resigned voice. "Let's just get this over with, ya know?"
Taylor sighed and shook her head. "...REQUEST."
He nodded. "...We're leavin' Blake up to you, ya know? We don't know what's goin' on anymore, ya know? ...We just want the old Blake back, ya know?"
Blake... I thought with a frown as I nodded to them. He probably thinks he can't go back now.
"...FATIGUED." Taylor closed her eyes and leaned against the wall.
Making our way to the main hall, we went to cross through but paused and armed ourselves when we noticed a large, three-headed dog standing in the center of it. It was a beige color with deep red streaks along it's sides and down the middle of it's foreheads, with glowing red eyes.
"So the people here know about GF?" Dustin asked curiously.
I shrugged. "Ahh, let's just take it." At least then, they wouldn't be able to use it against us.
"...PRETTY CONFIDENT. LET'S SEE HOW YOU DO." the creature roared.
We engaged it in battle, and had to pull out all our stops. We all drew Triple, and Full-Life spells from it before we began our attack. It was able to do crippling blows with one hit, so we kept Hunter, Marah and Kapri on backup, seeing as how Marah could easily cast three spells at once, and Kapri could use Angelo to make us temporarily invincible to it's attacks.
The GF, Cerberus, cast powerful magics, as well, making the battle even harder. More than once, our entire main group had been knocked out, but luckily, Marah had Full-Life as one of her ultimate magics and could revive us all at once, bringing us back to full strength.
Tori used her Blue Magic to cast Mighty Guard every time we were revived, and it helped.
The key to beating him was to put him to Sleep, cast Silence and Poison, and beat it senseless with strong magics. Elemental spells worked well, but non-elemental spells like Flare worked even better. I was just glad for the draw points we'd found, stocking up on Flare, Ultima, and Holy.
Soon enough, the GF swayed from side to side before collapsing to the ground, and staring at us wearily. "NOT BAD...MORTALS." he admitted hesitantly before dissipating into a light mist and flowing into my body, small jolts of electricity running to the others.
After spending a little time, and a lot of items, healing up, e headed to the stairs and went to the second floor, opening up an elevator and taking it to the top floor.
I wasn't surprised to find the sorceress lounging on a hammock made of whisps of magic, in a pale yellow color. Nor was I surprised to find Blake standing right in front of her, grinning madly at us. Drawing my blade, I kept a wary eye on both of them, not wanting to be caught off guard.
"Oh, you guys shouldn't have..." Blake said with a grin. "I was gonna come visit you back in my old home."
"Shut up." I said evenly, not wanting to deal with his attitude and mind games.
Shaking his head, Blake raised his gunblade so it pointed to the sky. "Have you guys come to fight Matron? After all she's done for us? Marah, right?" He looked at the brunette with an appraising smirk. "I wish we'd had more time to get to know each other.
She shuddered and made a face, stepping closer to Dustin as she glared at the former member of Balamb Garden. "Nahh. You're not my type."
He turned to Tori with a raised eyebrow, a tiny hint of pain washing over his face before it quickly faded. "To-Instructor Hanson, I'm still one of your favorite students, aren't I?" His tone had the barest hint of pleading in it, like he was desperate for someone to listen to him.
She shook her head and glared coolly at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "Not anymore."
Looking to Hunter, he frowned. "Hey! You're a Galbadian student! Get over here!" he ordered angrily.
Smirking, Hunter shook his head, hoisting his gun onto his shoulder. "I'm happy right here, thanks."
"Hey, chicken-wuss." Blake smirked again at Dustin, seemingly forgetting Hunter right away. "Lot's happened between us, huh?" There was a trace of sadness in his voice, but it refused to show in his eyes.
Dustin smacked one hand into the other before adjusting his gloves with a glare. "Yeah! And I'm dyin' to get even!"
"Kapri..." His head turned to her and he frowned as his eyes narrowed, focusing on her throat, and then her crossbow, which was aimed at him. "What are you doing here?" He seemed genuinely confused before shrugging and grinning. "You're gonna fight me, too? C'mon! Remember a year ago...?"
"Stop it!" she yelled, shaking a little.
I frowned at the implications in his sentence, but then remembered that this Kapri hadn't been here a year ago. Whatever he was talking about was with someone else, despite the fact that he didn't know it.
With a roll of my eyes, I shook my head. "It's too late, Blake. You can't mess with our minds. To us, you're just another enemy, like one of those monsters."
His eyes widened before they narrowed dangerously at my words and he took a step forward, lowering his blade so it pointed at my chest. Behind him, Sorceress Miko watched the whole thing with a bored expression, but Blake didn't seem to care.
Glaring angrily at us, he growled a little. "You're comparing me to one of them?!" he asked incredulously before he shook his head and began to laugh. "I ain't no monster. I'm the sorceress' knight! And look at you, attacking like a swarm. You're the ones who are the monsters!"
He rushed forward and swung at Kapri who didn't expect it. Acting quickly, I lifted my blade and easily blocked his attack, pushing him back as the sorceress' eyes seemed to light up as the battle began.
Kapri shot me a grateful look before turning to Blake and glaring, whistling, she called out Angelo and shot him on her crossbow, knocking Blake back a foot. Tori and Marah immediately attacked together, using their whip and nun chucks to hit him in the chest and send him staggering back further.
Dustin ran forward and punched him in the stomach befor aiming a kic at his head, but Blake ducked under it and hit the martial artist in the back of the head with the butt of his blade. Stunned, Dustin staggered back to us, and Marah cast Triple on herself before quickly casting three more Triples, one on me, one on Hunter and one on Dustin.
Hunter quickly cast Protect on himself, Kapri and Dustin, and Dustin cast Shell on Kapri and me.
Running forward, I swung at Blake and winced at the clash of metal on metal as it resounded through the room, Pushing him back, I mentally recalled all the injured students and frowned deeply as I rushed at him, swinging again and again and again. He kept staggering back with a look of surprise on his face at my attacks, and I backed off just in time for three Thundagas to hit him.
Collapsing to one knee, Blake clutched at his chest and gave a weak smirk to us. "Is that all you got?!"
Kapri cast three Flares, and Tori cast three Holys, and Blake's eyes rolled back before he shook his head and collapsed to his hands and knees.
"This can't be! Why?!" he demanded.
Shaking her head, Sorceress Miko stood up and glared at us as she waved her hands. "Worthless child." she muttered before she pointed to the ground and she began to sink through it.
Frowning, I heard Hunter mutter that the auditorium was right below us and sighed at Blake's weak figure before turning and stalking off, taking the elevator down to the second floor. Running along a long, round hallway, we encountered many monsters and soldiers and beat them all back. Then, standing right outside the door to the auditorium, we healed up before entering.
I could feel the hair on the back of my neck standing up as the electrical energies surged through the room and it filled with a light pruple mist. We stood in the center of the floor, looking at the empty rows of stairs, and the empty podium in front of us.
Something clearly wasn't right.
What's going on...? I mentally questioned, holding my gunblade ready. I knew the sorceress disappeared through the floor, so where was she?
As if answering my thoughts, there was a large surge in the power, and the sorceress came flying down from the roof, shattering a giant scoreboard above us as she landed gracefully at the podium.
"So the time has come." she stated in a bored tone as her yellow tinted eyes stared right into my face. "You're the legendary SeeD meant to face me?" Her tone was scornful.
Frowning, I felt my eyes narrow in confusion. What's she talking about?
"I must say, I am impressed. ...An impressive nuisance, your life ends here." Blake entered through a side door, limping heavily and panting as he moved to stand in front of the sorceress, glaring at us. "Worthless fool." Sorceress miko growled, glaring at his back.
You're not our Matron. I thought angrily.
"I'm the sorceress' knight! You'll never...get past me!" he grinned waekly, staggering.
Shaking my head, I sighed. I ran forward and slashed at him multiple times, surprised at his movements as he blocked a lot of my hits. Even in his injured state, Blake was extremely powerful. He took several hits and just kept standing.
Kapri shot him with her crossbow and Tori hit him with her whip. Hunter and Marah spent their time casting Triples, Protects, and Reflects on us all before they, too, joined in the fight.
Dustin closed his eyes and drew the GF Alexander from Blake before drawing Haste and triplecasting it until everyone was covered.
Drawing Meltdown from Blake, I sighed again, sadly, before triplecasting it on him and watching as he fell to his knees and dropped his sword. "I can't afford to lose... ...Damn, I'm disgraced!"
Sneering, Sorceress Miko ignored him like he wasn't worth her time. "Defeated... Useless fool. Enough play. SeeD must die!"
Dodging another one of her ice blade attacks, we swiftly counterattacked. I triplecasted Holy on her, followed by Dustin triplecasting Meltdown. Marah got hit by an ice blade, along with Hunter, and Kapri used two Full-Life spells to revive them.
Closing my eyes, I summoned Diablos.
Everything turned dark and a giant ball of black energy formed in the air. It grew larger and larger until it was of massive proportions. Then, a demonic GF floated down, out of the bottom, melting out of the ball like a shadow. It had draconic features and haunting red eyes. Long claws graced it's fingers and one hand shot up as it's wings unfurled. The hand held the ball of darkness, causing purple energy to shoot through it, and slowly, his hand disappeared into it.
Thrusting his arm forward, Diablos threw the ball of dark energy at Miko and hit her dead on. Within it, she shifted and melted as the dimensional space tore at her body. Once it faded, she staggered back, clutching her chest and glared at us.
"Impudent SeeDs!" Raising her hand, she cast more ice blades and Tori, Dustin, Marah and Kapri were hit, knocking them out.
Turning to Hunter, I nodded and ran to Kapri's side, carefully lifting her head and using a phoenix down to revive her, before handing her a hi-potion to heal her wounds. Once that was done, I ran to Marah and did the same, thought maybe not as carefully as I'd handled Kapri.
Turning To Miko, I watched as she raised her hand again and quickly shook my head, triple casting Meltdown on her and watching as she stumbled back with a pained look.
"A...ahhh!"
A bright pink light formed around her body before moving out of it and seemingly shattering into thin air. I felt like my body suddenly weighed a ton and fell to the ground, barely able to keep my eyes open. What happened? My...body. I couldn't move.
Everything was hazy. I don't know if it was me, or the room, but everything was white and though I could see, things were blurry.
Kapri collapsed as well. The others remained standing, though none of them seemed able to move, either.
Slowly getting back up, Kapri staggered over to where Blake laid, seemingly in a trance or heavily dazed. She dropped to her knees and leaned forward, a moment later, reaching out and lifting his head into her lap.
I felt pain course through my body as I watched this. Kapri...
Her face lowered towards his and I was sure she was going to kiss him. From my spot, where I lay, I was unable to see if she did or not, but I knew it... I felt something was really wrong with all this.
Kapri...Blake...
My eyes widened as she leaned a little more forward, and a moment later, Blake slowly leaned up, getting up and walking out of the room like he didn't even see us. Like he was a zombie.
Kapri then fell face down onto the ground and stopped moving all together. Tori ran to her side, and seemed to check her pulse. "Kapri, are you alright?" Her voice was shaky and seemed so far away, through the ringing in my ears, but I could understand what she said.
"Shane, Tori, Marah..."
Managing to weakly shift my gaze to Sorceress Miko, I watched as she leaned against the podium, looking at us with pain and pride-filled eyes.
"Hunter, Dustin... You've all grown so much...and become so strong..." Her voice was gentle and filled with love and kindess. "I have waited for this day, and yet, feared this day would come." She sighed and closed her eyes. "Is today a joyous day, or an odious day?"
Suddenly, her eyes shot open and she stood up straight. "Where is Kelly?!" Her tone filled with panic as she looked around. "Have I protected Kelly?!"
"Shane!"
Looking weakly at Tori, I felt my eyes narrow as I saw the terror on her face.
"Something's wrong with Kapri!"
...Kapri? What's wrong with Kapri? I thought in a panic, struggling to make my voice work.
It was all too much for me, and the next thing I know, the welcome darkness swept over me, whisking me away into a dreamless sleep.
END OF DISK 2
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Hmmm... Another chappie done. I'm about halfway done the script... I think. LOL.
Sorry about the long wait between updates. I'm still not 100 percent better, but felt bad in waiting so long to update.
Hope you like it, and most questions will be answered at some point in the fic.
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"After the battle...her body was cold...she didn't move..."
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R+R please.
Thank you.
Tenshi