Desperate Desperado:
The Story of Laguna Loire
Part II:
Esthar's Secret
The downward incline overlooked...something... Whatever it was, finding out about it was their mission objective. Laguna stood on the path at the top of the hill, looking down at it and wondering what it was.
Kiros and Ward came up and stood a few feet back from Laguna, turning to discuss it with each other.
"Kiros, you sure this is the place?" Ward asked, crossing his arms.
"Positive," Kiros answered, tapping his fingers against his chin.
"I don't want to be patrolling the wrong place, like last time," Ward said.
Laguna turned around and put his hand to the back of his head. "Ahh, sorry... This ain't the place."
Kiros and Ward both shook their heads; they knew he was lying. Kiros crossed his arms. "This is it. Let's go, commander."
Laguna looked at him questioningly, then turned around and pulled out the map, looking it over. He then put it away, turned back around, and said, "I brought the wrong map." He turned back around and looked at the thing, butterflies beginning to flap around in his stomach. "Somehow, I have a bad feeling about this... Seriously, I have a BAAAD feeling...! There's somethin' fishy goin' on here! You know what the old folks say... The unfamiliar always happens..."
Kiros raised an eyebrow. "You mean...'unexpected', right?"
"You only got the 'un' part right," Ward said.
"Aah, shut up! Stop your clamorin' and make sure all your gear's equipped. Now, let's move out!"
Kiros and Ward moved forward to catch up with him, then the three of them ran down the hill toward the target, Kiros and Ward noting the odd way in which Laguna ran.
---
The catwalk split off into two branches, one apparently leading to a ladder and the other going off farther than they could see. Coming from the right and below the catwalk, a conveyor belt of some kind carried rocks and other debris up and past the left of the catwalk.
The group ran to where the catwalk branched off and Laguna stopped, scratching at the back of his head. "But seriously... This place sure is strange. What the heck is this big pile of rocks? You think these are natural rocks used for carving tombstones?"
Kiros took a step forward and crossed his arms. "Who knows...or cares?"
Ward took a step forward as well and also crossed his arms. "Speaking of strange... Why have you been...running around so strange?"
Laguna turned around to look at Ward. "Strange...? What do you mean strange? ...Just bein' cautious. That's the basic rule of thu..."
A sound of something landing on the catwalk behind him caused Laguna to turn around. "...Hey?"
A soldier came running down the catwalk and stopped just inside the cavern.
"Looks like we've got company," Laguna said. "Esthar soldiers. Still wearing those flashy uniforms."
Another sound drew Kiros' attention backwards as two more soldiers ran up to surround them on the narrow catwalk. Ward spun around as the second soldier ran up. "Laguna...!!!"
Laguna, who was still facing the first soldier, said, "Don't be such a weenie!" He turned around as a fourth soldier ran up with the other two facing Kiros and Ward. "What the...!?"
The soldier who was now behind Laguna took that opportunity to attack.
The soldier lifted up his strange weapon that looked like the fabled pendulum from Edgar Allen Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" but it also had three holes that looked like gun barrels on the grip. The soldier held up the weapon toward Ward and fired out a scatter shot, and Ward whirled around to face the new threat.
Kiros turned around and stood straight, then ran forward with his punching blades in hand, slashing up first the blade in his left hand as he spun and then slashed upward with the right-hand blade. The status attack junction on Kiros' punching blades put the soldier to sleep.
Laguna jumped forward and fired a tri-burst from his machine gun, catching the soldier in a critical area. The soldier dropped to his knees and then collapsed onto the ground, dead.
Kiros, his punching blades laid on the catwalk in front of him, put his hand to his face. "Wasn't our mission just to patrol...?"
"Why does it have to turn out like this?" Ward asked, holding up his anchor with one hand.
Laguna scratched at the back of his head. "Seriously...! I wasn't expecting this at all!"
Then the three Esthar soldiers attacked. One soldier ran up to Laguna and leapt into the air, bringing his strange weapon slashing down at Laguna. The Galbadian soldier lifted up his machine gun to ward off the attack as the enemy retreated. The soldier in the rear fired a scatter shot at Laguna.
Kiros ran toward the soldier who hadn't attacked yet and slashed at him with his punching blades, putting the soldier to sleep. Ward lifted up his anchor and drew his arm back, then hurled it at the same soldier Kiros had attacked, impaling that soldier.
Ward ran forward to retrieve his anchor from the dead soldier as Laguna jumped forward and fired a tri-burst at the soldier who had hit him with scatter shot. The soldier stumbled back and dropped to a knee, shot in the leg and one arm.
The first soldier ran up to Laguna and slashed at him again, opening up an angry wound on Laguna's right arm. Kiros ran to the soldier Laguna attacked and slashed at him with a vengeance, one of the sharp punching blades stabbing through an ammunition pack and sparking up an explosion, which did no harm to Kiros but killed the soldier.
Ward threw his anchor at the last soldier and as he ran forward to retrieve it, Laguna fired a tri-burst of cover fire at the soldier, his shots putting the soldier to a knee. Kiros ran forward to finish the soldier, his punching blades stabbing through the enemy's heart and left lung.
Ward had put his anchor away when he squinted into the distance and saw more Esthar soldiers approaching. "There's more coming?"
Kiros slipped his punching blades back into the sheaths on his hips. "There's no end to this!"
"Better make a run for it," Laguna said.
Ward and Kiros hastily agreed, and the three of them turned and ran down the branch of the catwalk that lead to the ladder. "Huh...? It's a ladder. Guys, it's a ladder. Looks like it leads down."
Laguna climbed down first, then Kiros, then Ward brought up the rear. The ladder led them down to another catwalk, this time with odd blue rocks on the left and with machinery to the right.
Laguna began to run down the catwalk, but only got a few feet before his right leg tensed up and pain shot through him. "Ooou...cH!"
Ward took a step toward him. "What's wrong?" he asked flatly, assuming the answer already.
"My...leg...cramped up!!!" Laguna screamed.
Kiros turned toward him and crossed his arms, shaking his head slowly.
Laguna stood up a minute later. "Phew... It's fine now! I'm so out of shape. Gotta stretch before I exercise..."
Ward chuckled as he brought his arms back down to his side. "That last battle we had doesn't really count as exercise."
Laguna turned around. "...What? D'ya say something?"
Kiros side and dropped his arms to his sides as well. "...Ahh, no."
Shrugging, Laguna turned around to keep running down the catwalk, until another battle began.
An Esthar soldier dropped onto the catwalk from above, holding his shotblade at the ready. As Ward prepared to throw his harpoon at the soldier, the soldier ran forward and slashed down at Laguna. Ward hurled his harpoon at the soldier, and as he ran forward to retrieve it, Kiros came up from the other side and slashed with his katals, cutting easily through the soldier's armor and eviscerating him.
After putting away their weapons, they continued running down the catwalk until they reached the end and another path led into the blue rocks. As they entered, it seemed that there was a clear-cut path through here.
There was a pile of rubble near by, and something in it caught Laguna's attention. He walked over to the pile to begin rummaging around in it. But before he got there, another Esthar soldier attacked. Laguna took a step forward and fired a tri-burst with his machine gun, killing the soldier instantly.
Shaking his head, Laguna put away his gun and knelt down near the pile. Something shiny caught his eye.
(Hmm? What's this...?)
He reached over and picked it up. It was an old key. Slipping it in his back pocket, he turned to continue going.
(I feel a draft... on my butt...)
"......! T...There's a hole in my back pocket!!!"
He began feeling around for the key, but couldn't find it again. (Can't find it... Ahh well, it's not like I'm gonna die.)
The gang continued running down the tunnel. They crossed over a small ditch in the ground and thought nothing of it as they continued going. The next section of tunnel had three wide panels in the floor. As they crossed over the center one, they heard a distinct clicking sound, but they ignored it for the time being.
The ceiling of the tunnel dropped down drastically until it was only a few feet higher than they were tall. A broken piece of wood caught Laguna's attention for some reason and he began to rummage around it.
(Hmm? What's this...?)
He picked it up. Another key. Or was it the same key?
(This time... It's in my shirt pocket...so HA!)
"Ah... Ahhh... ACHOO!" He sneezed powerfully, and the key clinked as it rebounded off the wall and disappeared. "NOOOO!!! Not again!?"
Again, he looked around for it, but couldn't find it. (Can't find it...)
"Oh, well..." he said. "Nothing cheaper than something free."
Kiros crossed his arms. "Nothing cheaper..."
"...Than something free?" Ward finished.
Laguna turned toward them and scratched the back of his head. "...What? Is it something I said? C'mon... Let's go."
The tunnel continued for about ten feet before it ended and a ladder led up. The gang climbed up the ladder and onto a series of catwalks. The catwalk they had come out on had a circular catwalk leading around the hole to the lower level, and further down had two other catwalks branching from it. Even from their distance, Laguna could tell the branch to his right was blocked off, but saw the draw point on the other branch and ran toward it.
Suddenly a special operations Esthar soldier dropped down in front of them and threw his sword like a boomerang, hitting all three of them. In retaliation, Laguna fired a tri-burst from his machine gun and stepped back as Ward prepared to hurl his harpoon at the soldier.
But before he could, the soldier ran forward and attacked Laguna, slashing at him with the shotblade and then backflipping away. Ward picked up his harpoon and threw it at the soldier, who stumbled back as both Kiros and Ward ran up, Ward to retrieve his harpoon and Kiros to attack with his katals.
The soldier fell back and collapsed on his side as Laguna prepared to cover Kiros' retreat, but it wasn't necessary.
Still holding his machine gun in case of another enemy attack, Laguna ran down the branched catwalk and toward the draw point. As he'd anticipated, another enemy dropped down in front of them, a regular soldier this time.
Ward picked up his harpoon and threw it at the soldier, and as he ran back with it, the soldier held up his shotblade to clear the gun barrels' line of fire. He shot a burst at Laguna, who was largely unaffected by it save for a little melee damage.
Kiros slashed at the soldier with his katals and Laguna covered his retreat with a tri-burst, which put the soldier out of commission.
After finally reaching the draw point, Laguna drew 15 Confuses. He waited a few moments, then came back and drew eight more. He then returned to the ladder and began to run around the circular catwalk, only to be attacked by a spec ops soldier.
The soldier lifted his shotblade and fired it at Laguna, dealing substantially more damage this time than when the regular soldier hit him. In retaliation, Laguna ran forward and fired a tri-burst, and Kiros ran up immediately after the covering fire and slashed viciously with his katals, leaving grievous wounds behind. Ward threw his harpoon at the soldier, impaling him.
The group finished circling the catwalk and then went back down on the ladder.
This time when they passed over the middle floor panel, Laguna knelt down to inspect the clicking sound. "Hmm...? The lever on the hatch is loose... ......!!! I know! If we use this... Some stubborn Esthar fool won't be able to come after us!"
Kiros walked past Laguna to stand on the panel in the direction they had been heading, then turned back and crossed his arms. "What the heck are you up to?"
Ward ran over and stood to the side of Kiros, effectively trapping Laguna. "Somethin' stupid again, I bet."
Laguna turned toward Ward and pointed at him. "You guys... You're gonna regret sayin' that. They say, one who makes fun of a genius will end up cryin' in the end."
"?" Kiros was totally confused.
"...So who's the...genius...?" Ward asked with a chuckle.
"Erghhhhhh! Just shut up! ANYWAY! The lever for this hatch is broken. So if we just loosen it a bit more..."
"When they come after us from that side and..." Kiros trailed off, thinking.
"YES! Youuu guessed it! They'll walk over it without expecting a thing! Then, all of a sudden, WHOOPS! ...And down they go." Laguna took a proud stance and laughed. "I have to admit... I really am a genius."
"Hah," Ward said. "...Like the Esthar soldiers are really gonna fall for this trap."
"We won't know until we try!" Laguna said, pointing at Ward. "And those who never try will never know! So... I'm gonna do it! Just remember, if we tamper with the lever, we won't be able to make it back to the other side. It'd be idiotic to fall for our own trap... So, here it goes." He walked over to the lever and knelt down. "You guys, stand back."
Kiros and Ward gladly obliged, expecting his messing with that lever to cause the panel that they were standing on to give in. Or something stupid like that. You could never tell with Laguna...
Laguna tugged at the lever until it came up in his hand. He set it off to the side, then stood up and walked toward Kiros and Ward. "There!"
The three of them continued running down the tunnel.
Behind them, an Esthar soldier was running up to chase and attack them. The soldier ran right over the tampered panel. Suddenly, the panel dropped out from beneath him, dropping him into a fairly deep hole.
Laguna led them toward the shallow ditch, when another soldier attacked. The soldier ran at Kiros and slashed down with the shotblade. In angry retaliation, Kiros slashed with a vengeance at the soldier, actually managing to lop his head off. [Kiros and Laguna level up, GF Siren learns Treatment, Move-Find set as new ability]
The gang just barely got over the ditch before they were attacked once again. But the enemy this time was not a soldier, but an odd monster with a blue, bulbous body and odd rubbery arms and legs [Gesper]. Using telekenetic power, the monster lifted Laguna and inverted him, then dropped him to the ground.
After righting himself, Laguna fired a tri-burst at the monster, his status junctioning afflicting the monster with Zombie. Kiros ran forward and slashed with his katals, and Ward threw his harpoon afterward.
Before Laguna's next move the monster, curiously enough, casted Cure on Kiros. Though puzzled by this helpful move by the enemy, Laguna threw out a Phoenix Down at the monster, hoping to take advantage of the monster's Zombied status. However, he learned that Phoenix Downs don't work on Zombied monsters. Kiros went in for another attack with his katals, and Ward decided to use magic this time, as his harpoon hadn't done a lot of damage to the monster.
Just as he decided to cast Cura on it, the monster casted Float on him, causing him to levitate in the air. [Regen status becomes nullified] Just in case Ward's magic doesn't work, Laguna was selecting a Hi-Potion to use against the monster, while Kiros chose to attack physically.
Ward lifted up his harpoon and swung it over his head as green orbs circled him, then brought his harpoon under his arm. Three green rings of healing power circled around the monster, doing damage to it rather than healing it. It threw its arms up in the air, then dropped them to its side and collapsed backward. [Ward levels up]
The gang heads back toward the tunnel entrance, but turns and runs up a slight incline to a side tunnel. When the path levels out, they are in a cavern that has two exits, and a large hole in the ground with a rock next to it. Heading past the rock, Laguna leads the group into the exit nearest it. Before they reached the exit, another Esthar soldier attacked.
Kiros ran forward, slashing upward with his left katal and back downward with his right katal. This effect killed the soldier outright.
The tunnel again went up slightly and another, larger, rock was on the side of the path. This time there was an odd object on the ground as well. Laguna ran over to it and looked at it.
"The heck's this? A blue and red switch, and 2 fuses...?
Kiros crossed his arms. "A detonator...? You know."
Laguna turned toward him and crossed his arms too. "Ohhh, I get it. The short fuse is for that boulder..." He pointed to the big boulder that Ward stood beside. "And the long red fuse is for the boulder further down?"
Ward looked at the boulder beside him, then scratched his head. "Hey, man...! Are you crazy!? You don't even know how powerful that thing will be!"
Laguna waved off his protests. "Ahh, I bet it's not all that. The detonator's right here, so as long as we stay behind it, we'll be all right."
Ward crossed his arms. "Well... I guess so..."
Laguna turned and looked at the two detonators. "Let's see... What to do..." After a moment's thought, he knelt down and pressed the red switch. He then stood and turned to Kiros and Ward. "The bomb blast won't reach us here. Just stay put." But contrary to his declaration, a massive explosion shook the ground, loosing dust from up high to fall down on their heads. "W-W-W-What!?"
Down below, the boulder rolled down into the hole beside it. It rolled across the ditch that the crew had crossed a few times, an Esthar soldier running ahead of it and trying to escape. But the hole on the opposite end of the ditch proved too short and the boulder stopped in its tracks.
Ward had ran up from the blast and was now standing behind Laguna.
"That was...awfully loud," Kiros said with a hint of scorn in his voice, arms crossed.
"Lucky we were here," Ward replied.
"That's what I told you before!" Laguna exclaimed, trying to cover for his idiocy. "You should always check how powerful the thing could be..."
Ward crossed his arms. "Wasn't that...me, who said that?"
Laguna turned toward him and scratched his head. "...Uh...Ah...Hm... Anyway, we're all still alive, right!?" He turned around and looked at the detonator again, then pressed the blue switch. He turned and looked back at Kiros and Ward. "It's gonna blow! Run for it!!!"
They needn't have been told twice. All three of them hauled ass up the incline and onto the stairs at the end. Yet all they heard was that of a little tap.
The boulder dislodged from its position and rolled down the incline, falling into a groove in the floor that led to the hole where the first boulder had been. Two Esthar soldiers fled from its path, one running to each other way out of the cavern. But the boulder lodged in the hole and stayed put.
"That was...awfully quiet," Kiros said confusedly as they walked back down the stairs.
"I was expecting a blast of some sort..." Ward agreed as they reached the bottom.
"See!" Laguna said. "I told you! It wasn't all that powerful!"
Without further comment, the group ran back up the stairs and onto a long pathway. The rocks in this area were no longer a bluish color but were now light red, almost pink. They were successfully able to cross the pathway until the end, when an Esthar soldier appeared. Taking initiative, the soldier fired his shotblade at Laguna. [Limit level reached]
Laguna ran forward in retaliation and fired a tri-burst, taking out the soldier quickly. [GF Ifrit learns Str+40%, GF Diablos learns ST Mag-RF, Ammo-RF set as new ability for GF Ifrit, HP-J set as new ability for GF Diablos]
The next path curved upward and had a small niche off on the left side with a boulder in it. Laguna ran toward the boulder and looked at it, something odd catching his eye. He touched the boulder and it began rolling away. "Hghh...!?"
He just barely saw as a pair of Esthar soldiers were caught by the boulder and crushed beneath it.
"Phew, that was close..." he said.
"Geez..." Ward said. "You have to go around touching everything like a little kid, don't you?"
"Chill out a little, will ya...?" Kiros agreed.
Laguna whirled around. "WHATEVER-MAN! Thanks to ME, those Esthar soldiers and that rock are history. It's like killing two pigs with one stone. I am just so awesome... Genius, I tell you..."
Ward suppressed a laugh. "Pigs...?"
"Don't you mean...birds?" Kiros asked.
Shrugging it off, Laguna ran up the path and around the curve, into the next cavern. [Saved at save point]
In the tunnel to the left, there was a stairway leading up. They turned and ran up the stairway.
Now they were out in the open air again, on the edge of a cliff. The ocean stretched out far in front of them, as far as they could see. They ran to the edge of the cliff, and Laguna was about to say something when he heard Esthar soldiers running up behind them.
"Don't tell me..." he began.
Kiros ran to the side a few feet and faced the soldiers. "Of all the worst possible..."
Ward ran to the middle and turned around. "...Predicaments?"
These soldiers weren't just any Estharian soldiers. They were the elite of the elite, known only as 'Soul Crushers' for their unique attack.
The Soul Crusher on the left ran toward Laguna, slashing down at him with the shotblade and then jumping away. Kiros retaliated against that soldier, slashing at him with katals. In a continuation of the attack, Ward hurled his harpoon at the soldier.
Laguna brought his left hand around and up to his forehead, then pulled a concentrated high-explosive grenade from his belt, pulled the pin out with his teeth, and threw it out toward the Soul Crushers. It bounced twice as Laguna leapt into the air, grabbing a cable in his left hand as his momentum started him swinging, aiming his machine gun down as he opened fire on the Soul Crushers. High-density bullets shot out of the barrel as the used cartridges shot out the side of his gun and small explosions from the bullets covered the battlefield, most of them hitting the Soul Crushers. As his machine gun's magazine emptied, he dropped back to the ground with his back to the Soul Crushers, then stood up and turned just as the grenade exploded, heavily damaging the soldiers.
The Soul Crusher on the left was killed outright, but the one on the right managed to get off Soul Crush against both Kiros and Ward. [HP reduced to 1] With that, the Soul Crusher fell over and died. [No EXP received]
Laguna dragged his friends to the cliff's edge and dropped them to the ground, then collapsed himself. "Look, the ocean... We're saved! Lady Luck is on our side! We can escape to Galbadia!!!"
Kiros twitched. "One would say we've been run down... That's what they'd normally say..."
Laguna forced himself to his feet and looked down at Kiros. "Don't say that. It might come true. Didn't your grandmother tell you that?"
Kiros looked up as Laguna walked to the edge of the cliff. "...If you say something bad... It will come true... Yeah, I think she did."
Ward pushed himself up slightly and barely lifted his head. "Ggghh...rrrhhh..."
Laguna turned toward him. "What'd you say?"
Kiros lifted his head as well, feeling his strength fading away. "I think...his throat...was injured... He lost...his voice."
"It...wa...fu...you..."
Laguna went to a knee beside him. "Say again?"
"It...was...fun...you...guys...La...guna...Ki...ros...It...was...fun..."
"Ward, that's way uncool," Laguna said. "It's not cool to say things like that. Just for that, you're gettin' the Cuchi-Cuchi treatment!" He tickled Ward under the arms, then stood up. "How's that, huh!? Want more!? Well!?"
Ward was silent, he had lost consciousness.
Laguna turned and looked over the side of the cliff, and for the first time noticed the three boats floating at the bottom in an inlet. "WHOA!!! Check it out, a boat! We're gettin' on!"
"A...vessel..." Kiros corrected, struggling to stay awake. It wasn't easy. "...They'd...normally...call...it..."
"Boat, vessel, whatever!" Laguna said. "We're going back to Galbadia!" He pulled Kiros up, then shoved him off the side. A second later, a large splash was heard. Then he pulled up Ward and shoved him off as well. A second, larger splash was heard. He then walked over to the edge and looked down. "You guys...sure have guts. You know how high this cliff is...!?"
He turned around to climb down slowly, but then slipped and fell backwards off the side. "Oh...sh...! ...No way... AHHHH!!!"
There was a third splash, arguably the biggest.
To Be Continued...
The Story of Laguna Loire
Part II:
Esthar's Secret
The downward incline overlooked...something... Whatever it was, finding out about it was their mission objective. Laguna stood on the path at the top of the hill, looking down at it and wondering what it was.
Kiros and Ward came up and stood a few feet back from Laguna, turning to discuss it with each other.
"Kiros, you sure this is the place?" Ward asked, crossing his arms.
"Positive," Kiros answered, tapping his fingers against his chin.
"I don't want to be patrolling the wrong place, like last time," Ward said.
Laguna turned around and put his hand to the back of his head. "Ahh, sorry... This ain't the place."
Kiros and Ward both shook their heads; they knew he was lying. Kiros crossed his arms. "This is it. Let's go, commander."
Laguna looked at him questioningly, then turned around and pulled out the map, looking it over. He then put it away, turned back around, and said, "I brought the wrong map." He turned back around and looked at the thing, butterflies beginning to flap around in his stomach. "Somehow, I have a bad feeling about this... Seriously, I have a BAAAD feeling...! There's somethin' fishy goin' on here! You know what the old folks say... The unfamiliar always happens..."
Kiros raised an eyebrow. "You mean...'unexpected', right?"
"You only got the 'un' part right," Ward said.
"Aah, shut up! Stop your clamorin' and make sure all your gear's equipped. Now, let's move out!"
Kiros and Ward moved forward to catch up with him, then the three of them ran down the hill toward the target, Kiros and Ward noting the odd way in which Laguna ran.
---
The catwalk split off into two branches, one apparently leading to a ladder and the other going off farther than they could see. Coming from the right and below the catwalk, a conveyor belt of some kind carried rocks and other debris up and past the left of the catwalk.
The group ran to where the catwalk branched off and Laguna stopped, scratching at the back of his head. "But seriously... This place sure is strange. What the heck is this big pile of rocks? You think these are natural rocks used for carving tombstones?"
Kiros took a step forward and crossed his arms. "Who knows...or cares?"
Ward took a step forward as well and also crossed his arms. "Speaking of strange... Why have you been...running around so strange?"
Laguna turned around to look at Ward. "Strange...? What do you mean strange? ...Just bein' cautious. That's the basic rule of thu..."
A sound of something landing on the catwalk behind him caused Laguna to turn around. "...Hey?"
A soldier came running down the catwalk and stopped just inside the cavern.
"Looks like we've got company," Laguna said. "Esthar soldiers. Still wearing those flashy uniforms."
Another sound drew Kiros' attention backwards as two more soldiers ran up to surround them on the narrow catwalk. Ward spun around as the second soldier ran up. "Laguna...!!!"
Laguna, who was still facing the first soldier, said, "Don't be such a weenie!" He turned around as a fourth soldier ran up with the other two facing Kiros and Ward. "What the...!?"
The soldier who was now behind Laguna took that opportunity to attack.
The soldier lifted up his strange weapon that looked like the fabled pendulum from Edgar Allen Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" but it also had three holes that looked like gun barrels on the grip. The soldier held up the weapon toward Ward and fired out a scatter shot, and Ward whirled around to face the new threat.
Kiros turned around and stood straight, then ran forward with his punching blades in hand, slashing up first the blade in his left hand as he spun and then slashed upward with the right-hand blade. The status attack junction on Kiros' punching blades put the soldier to sleep.
Laguna jumped forward and fired a tri-burst from his machine gun, catching the soldier in a critical area. The soldier dropped to his knees and then collapsed onto the ground, dead.
Kiros, his punching blades laid on the catwalk in front of him, put his hand to his face. "Wasn't our mission just to patrol...?"
"Why does it have to turn out like this?" Ward asked, holding up his anchor with one hand.
Laguna scratched at the back of his head. "Seriously...! I wasn't expecting this at all!"
Then the three Esthar soldiers attacked. One soldier ran up to Laguna and leapt into the air, bringing his strange weapon slashing down at Laguna. The Galbadian soldier lifted up his machine gun to ward off the attack as the enemy retreated. The soldier in the rear fired a scatter shot at Laguna.
Kiros ran toward the soldier who hadn't attacked yet and slashed at him with his punching blades, putting the soldier to sleep. Ward lifted up his anchor and drew his arm back, then hurled it at the same soldier Kiros had attacked, impaling that soldier.
Ward ran forward to retrieve his anchor from the dead soldier as Laguna jumped forward and fired a tri-burst at the soldier who had hit him with scatter shot. The soldier stumbled back and dropped to a knee, shot in the leg and one arm.
The first soldier ran up to Laguna and slashed at him again, opening up an angry wound on Laguna's right arm. Kiros ran to the soldier Laguna attacked and slashed at him with a vengeance, one of the sharp punching blades stabbing through an ammunition pack and sparking up an explosion, which did no harm to Kiros but killed the soldier.
Ward threw his anchor at the last soldier and as he ran forward to retrieve it, Laguna fired a tri-burst of cover fire at the soldier, his shots putting the soldier to a knee. Kiros ran forward to finish the soldier, his punching blades stabbing through the enemy's heart and left lung.
Ward had put his anchor away when he squinted into the distance and saw more Esthar soldiers approaching. "There's more coming?"
Kiros slipped his punching blades back into the sheaths on his hips. "There's no end to this!"
"Better make a run for it," Laguna said.
Ward and Kiros hastily agreed, and the three of them turned and ran down the branch of the catwalk that lead to the ladder. "Huh...? It's a ladder. Guys, it's a ladder. Looks like it leads down."
Laguna climbed down first, then Kiros, then Ward brought up the rear. The ladder led them down to another catwalk, this time with odd blue rocks on the left and with machinery to the right.
Laguna began to run down the catwalk, but only got a few feet before his right leg tensed up and pain shot through him. "Ooou...cH!"
Ward took a step toward him. "What's wrong?" he asked flatly, assuming the answer already.
"My...leg...cramped up!!!" Laguna screamed.
Kiros turned toward him and crossed his arms, shaking his head slowly.
Laguna stood up a minute later. "Phew... It's fine now! I'm so out of shape. Gotta stretch before I exercise..."
Ward chuckled as he brought his arms back down to his side. "That last battle we had doesn't really count as exercise."
Laguna turned around. "...What? D'ya say something?"
Kiros side and dropped his arms to his sides as well. "...Ahh, no."
Shrugging, Laguna turned around to keep running down the catwalk, until another battle began.
An Esthar soldier dropped onto the catwalk from above, holding his shotblade at the ready. As Ward prepared to throw his harpoon at the soldier, the soldier ran forward and slashed down at Laguna. Ward hurled his harpoon at the soldier, and as he ran forward to retrieve it, Kiros came up from the other side and slashed with his katals, cutting easily through the soldier's armor and eviscerating him.
After putting away their weapons, they continued running down the catwalk until they reached the end and another path led into the blue rocks. As they entered, it seemed that there was a clear-cut path through here.
There was a pile of rubble near by, and something in it caught Laguna's attention. He walked over to the pile to begin rummaging around in it. But before he got there, another Esthar soldier attacked. Laguna took a step forward and fired a tri-burst with his machine gun, killing the soldier instantly.
Shaking his head, Laguna put away his gun and knelt down near the pile. Something shiny caught his eye.
(Hmm? What's this...?)
He reached over and picked it up. It was an old key. Slipping it in his back pocket, he turned to continue going.
(I feel a draft... on my butt...)
"......! T...There's a hole in my back pocket!!!"
He began feeling around for the key, but couldn't find it again. (Can't find it... Ahh well, it's not like I'm gonna die.)
The gang continued running down the tunnel. They crossed over a small ditch in the ground and thought nothing of it as they continued going. The next section of tunnel had three wide panels in the floor. As they crossed over the center one, they heard a distinct clicking sound, but they ignored it for the time being.
The ceiling of the tunnel dropped down drastically until it was only a few feet higher than they were tall. A broken piece of wood caught Laguna's attention for some reason and he began to rummage around it.
(Hmm? What's this...?)
He picked it up. Another key. Or was it the same key?
(This time... It's in my shirt pocket...so HA!)
"Ah... Ahhh... ACHOO!" He sneezed powerfully, and the key clinked as it rebounded off the wall and disappeared. "NOOOO!!! Not again!?"
Again, he looked around for it, but couldn't find it. (Can't find it...)
"Oh, well..." he said. "Nothing cheaper than something free."
Kiros crossed his arms. "Nothing cheaper..."
"...Than something free?" Ward finished.
Laguna turned toward them and scratched the back of his head. "...What? Is it something I said? C'mon... Let's go."
The tunnel continued for about ten feet before it ended and a ladder led up. The gang climbed up the ladder and onto a series of catwalks. The catwalk they had come out on had a circular catwalk leading around the hole to the lower level, and further down had two other catwalks branching from it. Even from their distance, Laguna could tell the branch to his right was blocked off, but saw the draw point on the other branch and ran toward it.
Suddenly a special operations Esthar soldier dropped down in front of them and threw his sword like a boomerang, hitting all three of them. In retaliation, Laguna fired a tri-burst from his machine gun and stepped back as Ward prepared to hurl his harpoon at the soldier.
But before he could, the soldier ran forward and attacked Laguna, slashing at him with the shotblade and then backflipping away. Ward picked up his harpoon and threw it at the soldier, who stumbled back as both Kiros and Ward ran up, Ward to retrieve his harpoon and Kiros to attack with his katals.
The soldier fell back and collapsed on his side as Laguna prepared to cover Kiros' retreat, but it wasn't necessary.
Still holding his machine gun in case of another enemy attack, Laguna ran down the branched catwalk and toward the draw point. As he'd anticipated, another enemy dropped down in front of them, a regular soldier this time.
Ward picked up his harpoon and threw it at the soldier, and as he ran back with it, the soldier held up his shotblade to clear the gun barrels' line of fire. He shot a burst at Laguna, who was largely unaffected by it save for a little melee damage.
Kiros slashed at the soldier with his katals and Laguna covered his retreat with a tri-burst, which put the soldier out of commission.
After finally reaching the draw point, Laguna drew 15 Confuses. He waited a few moments, then came back and drew eight more. He then returned to the ladder and began to run around the circular catwalk, only to be attacked by a spec ops soldier.
The soldier lifted his shotblade and fired it at Laguna, dealing substantially more damage this time than when the regular soldier hit him. In retaliation, Laguna ran forward and fired a tri-burst, and Kiros ran up immediately after the covering fire and slashed viciously with his katals, leaving grievous wounds behind. Ward threw his harpoon at the soldier, impaling him.
The group finished circling the catwalk and then went back down on the ladder.
This time when they passed over the middle floor panel, Laguna knelt down to inspect the clicking sound. "Hmm...? The lever on the hatch is loose... ......!!! I know! If we use this... Some stubborn Esthar fool won't be able to come after us!"
Kiros walked past Laguna to stand on the panel in the direction they had been heading, then turned back and crossed his arms. "What the heck are you up to?"
Ward ran over and stood to the side of Kiros, effectively trapping Laguna. "Somethin' stupid again, I bet."
Laguna turned toward Ward and pointed at him. "You guys... You're gonna regret sayin' that. They say, one who makes fun of a genius will end up cryin' in the end."
"?" Kiros was totally confused.
"...So who's the...genius...?" Ward asked with a chuckle.
"Erghhhhhh! Just shut up! ANYWAY! The lever for this hatch is broken. So if we just loosen it a bit more..."
"When they come after us from that side and..." Kiros trailed off, thinking.
"YES! Youuu guessed it! They'll walk over it without expecting a thing! Then, all of a sudden, WHOOPS! ...And down they go." Laguna took a proud stance and laughed. "I have to admit... I really am a genius."
"Hah," Ward said. "...Like the Esthar soldiers are really gonna fall for this trap."
"We won't know until we try!" Laguna said, pointing at Ward. "And those who never try will never know! So... I'm gonna do it! Just remember, if we tamper with the lever, we won't be able to make it back to the other side. It'd be idiotic to fall for our own trap... So, here it goes." He walked over to the lever and knelt down. "You guys, stand back."
Kiros and Ward gladly obliged, expecting his messing with that lever to cause the panel that they were standing on to give in. Or something stupid like that. You could never tell with Laguna...
Laguna tugged at the lever until it came up in his hand. He set it off to the side, then stood up and walked toward Kiros and Ward. "There!"
The three of them continued running down the tunnel.
Behind them, an Esthar soldier was running up to chase and attack them. The soldier ran right over the tampered panel. Suddenly, the panel dropped out from beneath him, dropping him into a fairly deep hole.
Laguna led them toward the shallow ditch, when another soldier attacked. The soldier ran at Kiros and slashed down with the shotblade. In angry retaliation, Kiros slashed with a vengeance at the soldier, actually managing to lop his head off. [Kiros and Laguna level up, GF Siren learns Treatment, Move-Find set as new ability]
The gang just barely got over the ditch before they were attacked once again. But the enemy this time was not a soldier, but an odd monster with a blue, bulbous body and odd rubbery arms and legs [Gesper]. Using telekenetic power, the monster lifted Laguna and inverted him, then dropped him to the ground.
After righting himself, Laguna fired a tri-burst at the monster, his status junctioning afflicting the monster with Zombie. Kiros ran forward and slashed with his katals, and Ward threw his harpoon afterward.
Before Laguna's next move the monster, curiously enough, casted Cure on Kiros. Though puzzled by this helpful move by the enemy, Laguna threw out a Phoenix Down at the monster, hoping to take advantage of the monster's Zombied status. However, he learned that Phoenix Downs don't work on Zombied monsters. Kiros went in for another attack with his katals, and Ward decided to use magic this time, as his harpoon hadn't done a lot of damage to the monster.
Just as he decided to cast Cura on it, the monster casted Float on him, causing him to levitate in the air. [Regen status becomes nullified] Just in case Ward's magic doesn't work, Laguna was selecting a Hi-Potion to use against the monster, while Kiros chose to attack physically.
Ward lifted up his harpoon and swung it over his head as green orbs circled him, then brought his harpoon under his arm. Three green rings of healing power circled around the monster, doing damage to it rather than healing it. It threw its arms up in the air, then dropped them to its side and collapsed backward. [Ward levels up]
The gang heads back toward the tunnel entrance, but turns and runs up a slight incline to a side tunnel. When the path levels out, they are in a cavern that has two exits, and a large hole in the ground with a rock next to it. Heading past the rock, Laguna leads the group into the exit nearest it. Before they reached the exit, another Esthar soldier attacked.
Kiros ran forward, slashing upward with his left katal and back downward with his right katal. This effect killed the soldier outright.
The tunnel again went up slightly and another, larger, rock was on the side of the path. This time there was an odd object on the ground as well. Laguna ran over to it and looked at it.
"The heck's this? A blue and red switch, and 2 fuses...?
Kiros crossed his arms. "A detonator...? You know."
Laguna turned toward him and crossed his arms too. "Ohhh, I get it. The short fuse is for that boulder..." He pointed to the big boulder that Ward stood beside. "And the long red fuse is for the boulder further down?"
Ward looked at the boulder beside him, then scratched his head. "Hey, man...! Are you crazy!? You don't even know how powerful that thing will be!"
Laguna waved off his protests. "Ahh, I bet it's not all that. The detonator's right here, so as long as we stay behind it, we'll be all right."
Ward crossed his arms. "Well... I guess so..."
Laguna turned and looked at the two detonators. "Let's see... What to do..." After a moment's thought, he knelt down and pressed the red switch. He then stood and turned to Kiros and Ward. "The bomb blast won't reach us here. Just stay put." But contrary to his declaration, a massive explosion shook the ground, loosing dust from up high to fall down on their heads. "W-W-W-What!?"
Down below, the boulder rolled down into the hole beside it. It rolled across the ditch that the crew had crossed a few times, an Esthar soldier running ahead of it and trying to escape. But the hole on the opposite end of the ditch proved too short and the boulder stopped in its tracks.
Ward had ran up from the blast and was now standing behind Laguna.
"That was...awfully loud," Kiros said with a hint of scorn in his voice, arms crossed.
"Lucky we were here," Ward replied.
"That's what I told you before!" Laguna exclaimed, trying to cover for his idiocy. "You should always check how powerful the thing could be..."
Ward crossed his arms. "Wasn't that...me, who said that?"
Laguna turned toward him and scratched his head. "...Uh...Ah...Hm... Anyway, we're all still alive, right!?" He turned around and looked at the detonator again, then pressed the blue switch. He turned and looked back at Kiros and Ward. "It's gonna blow! Run for it!!!"
They needn't have been told twice. All three of them hauled ass up the incline and onto the stairs at the end. Yet all they heard was that of a little tap.
The boulder dislodged from its position and rolled down the incline, falling into a groove in the floor that led to the hole where the first boulder had been. Two Esthar soldiers fled from its path, one running to each other way out of the cavern. But the boulder lodged in the hole and stayed put.
"That was...awfully quiet," Kiros said confusedly as they walked back down the stairs.
"I was expecting a blast of some sort..." Ward agreed as they reached the bottom.
"See!" Laguna said. "I told you! It wasn't all that powerful!"
Without further comment, the group ran back up the stairs and onto a long pathway. The rocks in this area were no longer a bluish color but were now light red, almost pink. They were successfully able to cross the pathway until the end, when an Esthar soldier appeared. Taking initiative, the soldier fired his shotblade at Laguna. [Limit level reached]
Laguna ran forward in retaliation and fired a tri-burst, taking out the soldier quickly. [GF Ifrit learns Str+40%, GF Diablos learns ST Mag-RF, Ammo-RF set as new ability for GF Ifrit, HP-J set as new ability for GF Diablos]
The next path curved upward and had a small niche off on the left side with a boulder in it. Laguna ran toward the boulder and looked at it, something odd catching his eye. He touched the boulder and it began rolling away. "Hghh...!?"
He just barely saw as a pair of Esthar soldiers were caught by the boulder and crushed beneath it.
"Phew, that was close..." he said.
"Geez..." Ward said. "You have to go around touching everything like a little kid, don't you?"
"Chill out a little, will ya...?" Kiros agreed.
Laguna whirled around. "WHATEVER-MAN! Thanks to ME, those Esthar soldiers and that rock are history. It's like killing two pigs with one stone. I am just so awesome... Genius, I tell you..."
Ward suppressed a laugh. "Pigs...?"
"Don't you mean...birds?" Kiros asked.
Shrugging it off, Laguna ran up the path and around the curve, into the next cavern. [Saved at save point]
In the tunnel to the left, there was a stairway leading up. They turned and ran up the stairway.
Now they were out in the open air again, on the edge of a cliff. The ocean stretched out far in front of them, as far as they could see. They ran to the edge of the cliff, and Laguna was about to say something when he heard Esthar soldiers running up behind them.
"Don't tell me..." he began.
Kiros ran to the side a few feet and faced the soldiers. "Of all the worst possible..."
Ward ran to the middle and turned around. "...Predicaments?"
These soldiers weren't just any Estharian soldiers. They were the elite of the elite, known only as 'Soul Crushers' for their unique attack.
The Soul Crusher on the left ran toward Laguna, slashing down at him with the shotblade and then jumping away. Kiros retaliated against that soldier, slashing at him with katals. In a continuation of the attack, Ward hurled his harpoon at the soldier.
Laguna brought his left hand around and up to his forehead, then pulled a concentrated high-explosive grenade from his belt, pulled the pin out with his teeth, and threw it out toward the Soul Crushers. It bounced twice as Laguna leapt into the air, grabbing a cable in his left hand as his momentum started him swinging, aiming his machine gun down as he opened fire on the Soul Crushers. High-density bullets shot out of the barrel as the used cartridges shot out the side of his gun and small explosions from the bullets covered the battlefield, most of them hitting the Soul Crushers. As his machine gun's magazine emptied, he dropped back to the ground with his back to the Soul Crushers, then stood up and turned just as the grenade exploded, heavily damaging the soldiers.
The Soul Crusher on the left was killed outright, but the one on the right managed to get off Soul Crush against both Kiros and Ward. [HP reduced to 1] With that, the Soul Crusher fell over and died. [No EXP received]
Laguna dragged his friends to the cliff's edge and dropped them to the ground, then collapsed himself. "Look, the ocean... We're saved! Lady Luck is on our side! We can escape to Galbadia!!!"
Kiros twitched. "One would say we've been run down... That's what they'd normally say..."
Laguna forced himself to his feet and looked down at Kiros. "Don't say that. It might come true. Didn't your grandmother tell you that?"
Kiros looked up as Laguna walked to the edge of the cliff. "...If you say something bad... It will come true... Yeah, I think she did."
Ward pushed himself up slightly and barely lifted his head. "Ggghh...rrrhhh..."
Laguna turned toward him. "What'd you say?"
Kiros lifted his head as well, feeling his strength fading away. "I think...his throat...was injured... He lost...his voice."
"It...wa...fu...you..."
Laguna went to a knee beside him. "Say again?"
"It...was...fun...you...guys...La...guna...Ki...ros...It...was...fun..."
"Ward, that's way uncool," Laguna said. "It's not cool to say things like that. Just for that, you're gettin' the Cuchi-Cuchi treatment!" He tickled Ward under the arms, then stood up. "How's that, huh!? Want more!? Well!?"
Ward was silent, he had lost consciousness.
Laguna turned and looked over the side of the cliff, and for the first time noticed the three boats floating at the bottom in an inlet. "WHOA!!! Check it out, a boat! We're gettin' on!"
"A...vessel..." Kiros corrected, struggling to stay awake. It wasn't easy. "...They'd...normally...call...it..."
"Boat, vessel, whatever!" Laguna said. "We're going back to Galbadia!" He pulled Kiros up, then shoved him off the side. A second later, a large splash was heard. Then he pulled up Ward and shoved him off as well. A second, larger splash was heard. He then walked over to the edge and looked down. "You guys...sure have guts. You know how high this cliff is...!?"
He turned around to climb down slowly, but then slipped and fell backwards off the side. "Oh...sh...! ...No way... AHHHH!!!"
There was a third splash, arguably the biggest.
To Be Continued...