Chapter 6 – Infiltration

"I am so, so sorry, my love, but this is a must." Dragoon began explaining to an unconscious Rinoa. He needed her alive in order to extract her powers, so he had her placed in a clear protective cell, where oxygen was present. "In order for me to become the most powerful being, I need your powers, so I'm very sorry, my love." he finished, in a passionate voice. As he was about to prepare for the transfer of powers, something very unexpected happened.

Alarms went off all over the castle. Monsters were running everywhere. "What the hell is happening?" one asked. "I have no clue." another replied.

The evil kind immediately got up, in a blind rage of fury. "SOLVE THAT FUCKING CRISIS NOW!" His voice could be heard throughout the whole ten-story castle.

-----*****-----

Zell awoke abruptly. "Now what? Have they finally decided to kill us or something?" he said jokingly, really not wanting that to happen. He looked around and noticed the alarms off. "Really, what's happening?"

"I'm really not sure," Irvine started. "Seems like some disturbance in the colony." He paused for a second, thinking what it could be. He then smiled, and as he was about to speak, both Selphie and Quistis answered for him.

"Squall!" they both cheered.

"Finally…" Zell said. "It's about time. Wonder what he was waiting for. Talk about close. There are only a few days left before total annihilation. But right now, if there is one thing I want to do before anything else, that's to get even with that Raven character for sure!!!"

-----*****-----

He looked behind him. He had covered about a mile, and already he guessed he had been through 50 to 60 monsters, and their carcasses lying on the floor. His gunblade was covered with all the colors of the rainbow, except red. It was then when he felt his first drop of sweat hit the floor. "One mile down, and only…." It looked like there was a small army of a hundred coming from the castle. 'There is no way I'm going to be able to take them all on at once' he said to himself. Then it hit him. "IFRIT! I summon thee!"


The ground started to break apart. The fires of hell were becoming more and more apparent. Then it came: the red inferno beast from the underworld. His long golden horns were practically the only thing not red or brown. He breathed fire; was covered in fire. Everything then happened so quickly. One minute the small army of monsters was present, the next thing, they were burned to crisp. Ifrit smiled, knowing his job done, and then left for the underworld once more.

Squall breathed a sigh of relief as he was happy to see they were no match for Ifrit. "This seems a little too easy. I wonder when Dragoon is going to get serious?" Squall once again continued his solo assault to the castle.

-----*****-----

"The first line has been breeched." The 1st major reported. "What shall we do now?" he asked Raven.

Raven smiled. "Chill out. Do you think that was our best? More like our worst. Anyway, Dragoon has given the go ahead sign to exterminate the prisoners. And oh yea, let out Weapon X while your at it. Dragoon wants NO interference whatsoever." Raven commanded as he left for the prison cell.

The 1st major shivered at the sound of Weapon X. He looked around to his crew, who had the same terrified look on their face. Releasing him would be easy, but getting him under control was the hard part. "Well, you heard the man, release the monster!"

-----*****-----

The rusted old prison doors once again opened, and again, walked in Raven with this pathetic smile on his face – the smile that detested Zell so much to the point of deep rage. "Well, well, well, what do we have here. Four little SeeD members hanging on the wall. You take one down, kill him immediately and only three left to savor their agony. Oh well. As Lord Dragoon would say, 'it was fun while it lasted.'" Raven said as he sneered at the prisoners.

"Just get the damn thing over with." Irvine managed to say, already giving up all hope of survival. Both Quistis and Selphie also had the same look as Irvine.

"Umm…I don't like that attitude. I'll save you for last, so you could watch your friends suffer." he replied back as he walked up to Zell. "I think I'll take you out first." And with that, Raven drew his sword and hoisted it above his head. He pointed it toward Zell's heart. "Farewell…" he whispered as he lunged toward Zell.

"I don't think so." was the only thing heard before Raven was belted towards the floor and Zell on top of him. "It took four weeks to get this out of my shoe, but I did it." he bragged brightly as he showed everybody the small hairpin. Zell took a small victory dance before he took Raven's sword and freed his friends. "Ok, you guys go for the power core, and I'll make sure we don't see this guy again." he commanded as he pointed to Raven.

"Ok!" the three SeeDs said as they stretched a little before sneaking out of the cell, weapons in hand.

"Now for payback." Zell said as he cracked his knuckles.

"Your going to regret those three words, you little bastard." the fallen general said as he smeared off the small trace of blue blood of his face.

-----*****-----

His breathing could be seen at a very high pace. He was definitely tired, but he wasn't about to give up. He looked back once again, and all he could see was laying carcasses once again, a sight that made him very happy. He then turned his attention towards the castle. There was only about a mile to cover before he reached there, and there were no signs of enemies. He decided to jog the rest of the way, in order to conserve some energy.

It wasn't till he was about three hundred or so feet from the castle when he heard a huge roar. At first, Squall had thought it was another small army, but then there would have been many roars. He looked left and right, but didn't find his answer till he looked up. That's when four huge feet sent him flying back into the dust. Squall choked and coughed, but still managed to get up. After casting a Cura spell, he looked at the massive monster that was blocking his way. At least 25-30 feet tall, it resembled somewhat of a Sphinx with a Griffin's body and a lion's tail to finish it off. "Ok, so now Dragoon decides to pull off some stunts – right when I'm next to his castle. Ok, fine by me." he muttered to himself.

The battle started off with Squall using a thundaga spell, thinking he could paralyze the creature. Nevertheless, the creature absorbed the magic and snickered at him. With one hit from his paw, Squall was sent flying into a small stone structure, which immediately exploded to rubble. The fallen SeeD slowly got up and again, casted a Curaga spell to keep him afloat. "Ok, time to get serious. IFRIT! I summon thee!"

Once again, the fire demon from hell sprang up from the Moon's surface and stared his opponent straight into the face. "Finally, a worthy adversary." With that, Ifrit sprung forth towards the enemy with his fist ready for an attack. However, the sphinx-griffin hybrid caught the mighty demon off-guard with a quick Blizzaga magic, sending Ifrit flying in the other direction. He crashed into a nearby mountain, almost draining him of his life. It took awhile, but Ifrit finally managed to get up, all ending with a slight smirk. "Fool, now face the wrath of IFRIT!" he yelled as he raised a huge crater from the ground, completely lit up with the fires of hell. He literally kicked it with a speed that seemed only comparable to sound, towards the hybrid creature. Ifrit smiled as he thought this would surely finish off the job, and to some extent it did, sending his enemy straight into the ground, covered in flames. "DONE!" Ifrit yelled in pride as he let his guard down, which was the mistake. The creature arose from the once thought ashes and returned the favor by sending an ice spear right into Ifrit's chest. The fire demon landed on his knees, and with one final breath, fell to the ground and slowly disintegrated into tiny specs of light, which returned to the underworld.

Squall watched in shock, as one of his four GF's was totally overpowered by the creature. "Damn…"