Mayor Jones was a small, grumpy man with a baldhead and a permanent scowl on his face. He looked at Davis and Sophia in obvious contempt.
"We
have not got a Sorceress here," he said gruffly. "So you warmongers can just
leave now."
Davis
and Sophia looked at each other. They hadn't really expected a warm welcome in
the first place, but the way this man was treating them was inexcusable.
"With
all due respect, Mayor, we were sent here to find out whether or not you are
harbouring a Sorceress in this town, and if you are, we are to see if she is a
threat to international peace," said Davis. The mayor just glared at him.
"And
what if we were harbouring a Sorceress?" he said.
"Then
we would talk to her and merely see if she has any hostile intentions,"
replied Davis. "What's wrong with this guy?"
"You're
one to talk, Mr. Leonhart," the mayor said. "After all, your mother
is a Sorceress, is she not?"
Davis
was taken aback. How had he known that? The mayor smirked.
"Let
me ask you a question. If your mother was to become the world's enemy, what
would you do?" he said. Davis looked at him. That was not an easy question to
answer, so he said nothing, but Sophia did.
"Listen
to me you little jackass," she said. "We are here to see if you have a
Sorceress in this town, not to look into my comrade's family history."
The
mayor looked at her. "This coming from the daughter of the man that nearly
betrayed, no, did betray the world by becoming the Knight to
Ultimecia?" he said. "I'm surprised that they let you into Garden, let
alone allowed you to enter SeeD."
Sophia
lost her temper. She took out her gunblade and buried it into the mayor's
desk. "Don't you talk to me about my father!" she screamed. "He
was being manipulated!"
The
mayor hardly seemed phased. He stood up and pressed a button on his desk.
"Security,
please come and escort these two SeeDs to the outskirts of Kikon. They have
outstayed their welcome."
A
minute later a trio of armed guards came into the room. Sophia took her gunblade
out of the desk and put it away. Davis could tell that unless he did something
fast, there was going to be trouble.
"Come
on Sophia," he said. "We're not getting anywhere. We'll just come back
here later and investigate this town with a full SeeD escort."
Sophia
looked at him. "Fine."
They
allowed the guards to escort them to the outskirts of the town. When the guards
had gone, Davis turned to Sophia. She was still fuming because of what the Mayor
had said.
"What
happened back there?" he said. "How could you have lost your temper like
that?"
Sophia
glanced at him. "My father has had this stigma attached to him because he
helped Ultimecia create havoc from the future, and people always assume that
because I'm his daughter, I'll cause trouble too."
Davis
nodded. "I think I understand."
Sophia
turned and looked at him curiously. "When he mentioned your mother being a
Sorceress, you hardly seemed phased. Why didn't you say anything?" she
asked. Davis shrugged.
"My
mother never wanted to become a Sorceress, but she did, and there's nothing I
or anybody else can do or say that will change that, so I've just learned to
live with it," he replied. Sophia remained silent for a moment as she thought
about his words.
"You're
right," she said. Davis just looked down at the ground.
"Well,
since we're obviously not getting anywhere here, let's radio Garden and tell
them to pick us up."
Sophia
nodded and took a small radio out off her backpack. She radioed Garden and told
them that the mayor of Kikon wouldn't cooperate, and that they had been thrown
out of the town and were waiting on the outskirts. The voice at the other end of
the line confirmed and told her that they would be there in 5 minutes.
"Now
all we have to do is wait," Sophia said.
"Yeah,
sure," said Davis.
Something
hit Sophia in the back and she fell to the ground. Davis ducked and checked on
her. It was some kind of dart. Poison. Davis quickly took out a Remedy and
lifted Sophia's head up and poured the remedy into her throat. Soon, the
Remedy would cancel out the poison in Sophia's body. Davis heard laughter
nearby, and jumped to his feet, his gunblade already in his hands. Behind him,
the Garden moved in closer. The image in the tapestry was coming true, but Davis
didn't know that. Davis turned, and saw a single man standing behind him, a
dart gun in his right hand, and a sword in his left. This man was tall, dark
skinned with black hair and a scarred face. He grinned at Davis.
"Oh
goody!" he said. "More SeeDs to kill!"
Davis
raised his gunblade as the man charged him. The man swung downwards with his
sword, but Davis easily parried the blow and raised his palm.
"Quake!"
He
and Sophia disappeared, and the ground beneath the would-be attacker cracked and
he was thrown up and down by the violent shaking of the Quake spell. When Davis
and Sophia reappeared, the man grinned evilly, and the Garden was now right
behind them. Davis scowled, and charged. The man sidestepped and brought his
blade downwards, cutting a huge gash in Davis' side. Davis stumbled, but
resumed his fighting stance. He had no time to heal himself, and prepared to
defend. He parried each blow and countered, and then the man feigned a downward
swipe, and when Davis moved to block it, his attacker cut upwards, cutting
another gash, this time in Davis' chest. Davis collapsed, and the man raised
his sword to finish the job. As he was about to stab downwards, a bullet went
into his head, killing him instantly. Felicia ran over to her friends, and
gasped at Davis' wounds. If she didn't do something fast, he was going to
die. She concentrated on Triple Curaga spells and healed the wounds, but Davis
was still unconscious. Behind her, Sophia woke up and gasped.
"DAVIS!"
she yelled. She knelt down next to him. "What happened?" she asked. Felicia
shook her head.
"He
was about to be killed by that man over there," she said, pointing to the
fallen attacker. "I only just managed to take him out and heal the wounds, but
Davis has lost a lot of blood and will need to rest. Help me carry him to the
Garden infirmary."
Sophia
nodded and helped Felicia carry Davis to the infirmary.
----------------------------
"How
could he have been taken down so easily?" Sophia said. "I heard that he is
one of the best fighters in Garden."
Felicia
shook her head. "I examined his attacker's body. He was wearing some kind of
body armour. Nothing short of an armour-piercing missile could have put him
down, and I also found traces of Reflect, Shell and Regen spells around his
body. This man was prepared for just about anything."
The
door opened, and Rinoa walked in. She was in a state of shock. "Why did that
man attack you two?" she asked. Sophia shook her head.
"I
have no idea," she replied. "I was unconscious during the battle."
"I
found an empty Remedy bottle next to you. I think that the attacker first
poisoned you, and then attacked Davis," Felicia said. "Davis must have given
you a Remedy before he was attacked."
Rinoa
let out a deep breath. "Sophia, your report says that the town mayor knew that
I was Davis' mother, and that Seifer was your father," she said. "Any idea
how?"
"None
at all," replied Sophia. "But I think that he's hiding something in that
town. It was too quiet."
"Maybe
he's hiding a Sorceress and is afraid to hand her over," Felicia said.
Sophia shook her head.
"I
don't think so. That man has to be one of the smuggest people that I've ever
met. If he was afraid, then he's very good at hiding his fear."
"I
think that we should go back to that town and investigate it. Something's
going on, and it's obviously a threat to international security," Felicia
remarked. "But this time, we should send in at least three squads and arm them
to the teeth."
Rinoa
and Sophia agreed completely. "But we have to see what Squall has to about
it," Sophia said.
"He's
already getting two squads ready," said Rinoa. "I think that Felicia,
Brandon and you are going to form the third squad."
"Good,"
Sophia said. "Because I am personally going to ring the neck of that little
asshole myself if we find anything suspicious in Kikon."
Rinoa
and Felicia glanced at each other, and then at Sophia. All she needed to do now
was say 'rage' and she would be just like Fujin, scary as that thought was.
----------------------------
The
town was as quiet as before, except for the fact that the mayor had called in
reinforcements in the form of Galbadian soldiers that had been posted in the
surrounding area. The nine SeeDs were outnumbered at least 10-to-1, but they
were trained for this kind of combat. Sophia closed her hand around the handle
of her gunblade and brought it out as the first of the enemy soldiers charged at
them. She easily sidestepped his blade, and brought her gunblade down across the
back of his neck, felling him. She raised her palm and hit another soldier with
a Firaga spell, burning him to death and concentrating on her next opponent, who
went down just as easily, this time with two swipes of her gunblade. She saw
Felicia and Brandon fending off other G-soldiers just as easily. They clearly
did not need any help. But another SeeD did. She was being attacked by two
G-soldiers at the same time, and was out matched. Scowling, Sophia jumped at the
one soldier and took his head off with her gunblade, and felled the second
soldier with a Death spell. The SeeD thanked her and picked up her flail before
rushing off into battle again. Sophia saw ten soldiers go down as a huge sheet
of ice covered them. Squall and his friends had obviously entered the fray,
because she knew for a fact that Selphie always had the Ice GF Junctioned.
Sophia decided to summon her own GF, Jakos. She had a good compatibility with
him, so he appeared in a matter of seconds.
"Terra
Hammer," she said.
She
faded out from sight and was replaced by a humanoid GF with a large hammer in
his hands. This was Jakos, an Earth Elemental GF. He raised his hammer, and
brought it crashing down onto the ground, causing a massive earthquake that
killed off at least fifty of the soldiers. Jakos disappeared into the very quake
that he had caused and Sophia reappeared; ready to finish the battle. Another
soldier, who went down with a Flare spell, charged her.
Finally,
after many hours of combat, the battle was over. Miraculously, there had been no
SeeD casualties. Sophia wondered if it was because they were trained so well, or
because the soldiers weren't. Either way, the welcome wagon that they had just
fought off had seemed pretty suspicious, and Sophia was ready to storm in on the
mayor's office and ring his neck. The only problem was that he had escaped
during the battle, and the office was burnt to the ground, destroying any clues
that they might have found as to why, or how, he had called in those Galbadian
soldiers to attack them like that.
------------------------------------
THE
FOLLOWING MONDAY
Davis
opened his eyes slowly. It took him a moment to realise that he was in Balamb
Garden's infirmary, and that his chest and side was covered in bandages. He
sat up with effort. He found that he could breath without too much pain, but if
he tried to stand up, the wound at his side protested and he was forced to sit
down again. The door opened and Doctor Kadawoki walked in.
"I
see that you're finally awake," she said. Davis glanced at her.
"How
long was I out for?"
"Two
days."
Davis
sighed. "At least I'm alive. Wait, what about…?"
"What about Sophia? Is she all right?" he said. "She was poisoned before I was attacked."
Kadawoki
looked at him. "She's fine. The Remedy you gave her saved her life, but you
almost lost yours."
Davis
shrugged, causing a little bit of pain in his chest and side. He moved to stand
up, and immediately sat down again because of the pain in his side.
"You
need to stay here and rest for a while," Kadawoki said. "You're lucky that
Felicia managed to heal those wounds before you lost too much blood,
otherwise…"
Davis
got the message. "So Felicia saved my life? Great, now I owe her my life.
Perfect," he thought. As if she was summoned, Felicia appeared in the
doorway. When she saw that Davis was all right, she smiled.
"You're
awake!" she said. "Sophia is going to be so happy! She's been ready to
start a huge war because you were injured. She really cares about you, you
know."
"Yeah,
I know," said Davis. "I care about her too…"
"I think that we should leave him to rest for now," Kadawoki said. "He still needs to heal completely. Not even a Full-Cure spell can heal those wounds fully."
Felicia
nodded. "I'll tell Sophia that you're OK," she said to Davis.
Davis
glanced at her. "You do that," he said. "I'm changing. Normally, I
would just say 'whatever' and be done with it."
Felicia chuckled and ran off. Something told Davis that he was missing something important here, but he was just too tired to care. He lay back and fell asleep.