Chapter VI: Infiltration

Zell, Irvine and Quistis each readied their weapons, knowing that they would come in contact with some very unfriendly hosts. Zell constantly kept a firm grip on Lionheart, walking down the many hallways of the large and extensive Galbadia Garden. Irvine kept glancing around nervously, holding his rifle, Exeter, at ready. The entire Garden had gone incredibly dark, but for what reason nobody could tell. Despite reassurance from Quistis that things would be okay until they came into contact with Seifer, Fujin and Raijin, Zell had a constant feeling that something had gone incredibly wrong. Upon their last visit to Galbadia Garden, the rooms and hallways had been filled with monsters, and now there were none. Irvine continuously denied and argued that he was just uncomfortable because his hat was gone, but it was obvious that he was a little nervous himself; his voice and the look in his eyes showed it. Because there were no monsters roaming about, they reached the center hall of the Garden with ease; the same place where they had found the GF Cerberus. Zell looked around warily, although he was beginning to let his guard down a little. Nothing had happened to them, and he was beginning to suspect that Seifer and his friends might not even be there at the moment. Zell took a couple steps deeper into the room and sheathed Lionheart, just in time to see Fujin's pinwheel fly narrowly past his head, striking Irvine in the chest and knocking him to the floor. Zell let out a yell of surprise and pulled out Lionheart again, facing the direction that the pinwheel came from and slowly backing up towards Irvine, who had been knocked out cold from the sheer force along with the element of surprise from the blow. The next thing he heard was a cut-off yell from Quistis, who had been slammed unconscious by Raijin. Seifer leapt from the balcony and landed in front of Zell, with his gunblade drawn and pointed directly at Zell's face. Zell took several steps back, holding his own gunblade ready. Seifer shook his head with a smirk, staring coldly at him. "You should've known better than to just walk right in here. Where are your manners?" Zell shook his head, raising Lionheart a little. "My manners? Gone. Just like Squall. Just like you will be." Zell let out a loud yell, rushing towards Seifer.

Seifer shifted his weight to his back leg, quickly pulling his gunblade back and blocking a forceful attack from Zell. Raijin and Fujin immediately came to his side, but Seifer shook his head, yelling out between clenched teeth, "Leave us! This is between the two of us!" Raijin and Fujin exchanged nervous glances and slowly backed away. Seifer raised his gunblade upwards and brought it down at Zell's head, only to have the downward slash blocked and quickly parried. Zell spun to the side, pulling his gunblade to the left, leaving a gash in Seifer's side. With a yell of pain, Seifer leapt backwards, spinning his gunblade as he dashed at Zell, thrusting his gunblade forward at his throat. Zell kept calm and focused, remaining undaunted by Seifer as he stepped backwards and knocked the stab attempt to the side. The battle continued for hours that seemed like an eternity; exchanging blows and blocks, constantly switching attack positions and block positions in hopes of gaining an advantage, but all to no avail. They were both almost equal, with the exception of the slash that Zell had managed to lay into Seifer's left side. Raijin and Fujin had been ordered to leave the Garden with the unconscious Irvine and Quistis so that their fight wouldn't be interfered with. Zell and Seifer found themselves at an impasse. Neither of them could find a way to slash, stab or strike that would in any way even do so much as pierce the other. After several hours, there they stood, each holding gunblade in hand, gasping heavily for breath, each with their non-sword hand against their leg or waist for support. Zell was quite surprised; Seifer actually had decided to fight fairly. In a sense Zell was proud of him, and yet a little upset that Seifer had managed to parry all his blows except for one without using any form of trickery or magic. Once they had both caught their breath, they spun their gunblades again and rushed at each other, head on, each yelling a battle cry in anticipation of the kill that should have happened long ago.