Final Fantasy VIII: Heavenly Scent
C h a p t e r T h r e e : F a t a l S t r i k e
7:32 pm
"C'mon Irvy, let's go eat somewhere other than the cafeteria this time!" Selphie whined, dragging him towards the parking lot, passing by several bewildered onlookers.
"But Sefie, I don't get paid until tomorrow, you know how the system works!" he objected, but not doing much of anything to break free of his girlfriend's grasp.
Selphie paused for a moment and turned around "You mean you spent all your gil on..."
Irvine nodded with a smile "Exeter's gotta feel loved too. You know what I mean?"
The hyper-active Selphie fixed him with a disgusted look, and then continued to drag him to the parking lot "Fine, I'll pay."
Selphie couldn't see this, but Irvine was grinning broadly 'Score!.' he thought, glad to get a free meal.
"You owe me."
'Shit.'
Front Courtyard Area
As large and technological as Balamb Garden was, none of it's engineers foresaw it becoming a tourist hotspot, a docking port for an Esthar starship, and at the same time a mobile command ship. "This Garden is supposed to be peaceful." muttered the attractive brunette sitting on a bench in the outer grounds of the Garden. SeeDs and cadets, young and old were passing their time doing various activities. Whether it was flirting with that cute cadet over there or playing a game of frisbee. The woman was passing the time by reading a novel, or trying to. The evening sun created a dim but warm ambience, which was aided by the Garden night lamps slowly activating.
The breeze from the ocean was calm and gentle. 'Should have stayed in my room.' she thought regretfully. She glanced down at her watch. "Almost eight..." the blue-clad girl mumbled.
If Squall hadn't been so occupied by his job, she would be enjoying a wonderful dinner with him right now in the not-so-Secret Area. She got up from her seat, and decided to head towards the Training Center to wait for him. A gust of wind sent some leaves scraping over the ground, as if following her.
Training Center
Slash. 'Another down.' he thought. He had come here to keep himself in shape. Now he found himself here just to be alone and to think about things, something he did perhaps too often. The man walked through the foliage, making a crunching noise when his boots hit the ground. A plant-like creature sprung out before him. He had been ambushed.
Lifting his blade back into an attacking position, he didn't allow the Grat to capitalize on his surprise and cut it down. 'This cure isn't perfect... there will always be side-effects I can't control.'
The thoughtful warrior dropped his blade down, but never sheathed it, always ready for a fight. He spotted a floating red globe, and apparently it had spotted him. Fire hit the swordsman with intensity, and he let the energy feed his strength. One strike, and it was over. 'Heh, you don't see those here everyday.'
Several Wendigos and a Grendel later, the man's answer was always the same: death. His blade went through the last monster. Thchack-boom.
Seifer stopped to run a hand through his blond hair, and stopped to recover. There was no challenge. Most of his enemies had fallen after one blow was dealt. He trekked deeper into the Training Center, where only the experienced or stupid journeyed. He wanted to fight something bigger. The undergrowth of this manmade jungle continued to become more dense. When the density of the plants began to recede again, it seemed that someone had already taken his prey. Some meters away, a T-Rexaur's corpse lay. Multiple gashes could be seen on it's exposed side.
The former knight heard heavy breathing from a farther proximity. There, lying against a tree was another man robed in a dark blue overcoat reminiscent to a kimono. A large blade lay beside him. Seifer didn't recognize him 'Maybe he's a cadet.' But that thought was thrown out moments later 'This guy's probably twenty.' he thought. "Nice job." Seifer then commented, attempting to gain the man's attention.
The darkly clothed figure raised his head to determine who was addressing him. "It's not that easy." he responded in a strained voice.
"You shouldn't let your guard down like that, one of those could really mess you up." Seifer advised.
The unidentified man rose to his feet slowly, using his weapon to support him. "I learned that the hard way." he replied, and gestured to his left shoulder.
Seifer noticed some claw marks and winced, he didn't even know if the claws had gone through flesh.
"So who are you?" Seifer finally inquired, leaning against a tree, not heading his own advice.
He took a while to respond, as he was preoccupied with checking his weapon. "Masaki."
"Never heard of the name. A visitor?"
This evoked a small chuckle from Masaki. "I suppose you could say that."
Seifer opened his mouth to get a straight answer, but a short cry of distress broke through the lush jungle. Seifer collected his sword and ran towards the source. Moments later, Masaki did the same. They sprinted to the origin and reached a clearing, near the entrance of the Training Center. Two T-Rexaurs were teaming up on a raven-haired woman. Seifer immediately recognized her. "Rinoa!"
Masaki's head shot up, 'Her?'
Seifer ran towards Rinoa, who was on her back. He checked for any injuries. He jammed his hands frantically into his pockets, looking for a Phoenix Down tablet. Finding one, he split it in half and held the pieces to Rinoa's nose. The acted like smelling salts and revived her.
Seifer was more engrossed in nursing the woman back to health and paid no attention to the monster, something he should have done. Letting out a feral cry, one the T-Rexaurs swiped at Seifer, swatting him away before he could give Rinoa a healing potion. Masaki approached the attacking monster quickly and brought down his blade using only his right arm. He tucked in his left arm closer to his body, it was probably injured.
The strike was more of a distraction than a damaging hit. Rinoa, crawled back in fear, trying desperately to find her Blaster Edge. Masaki withstood an attack from the fiend and attacked again. The other whipped out its tail to strike. He was already injured, and fighting two T-Rexaurs alone wasn't something he could do successfully at the moment. He tried to guard the woman, keeping the beasts' eyes on him until the blond recovered.
Masaki struck again. He knew his strikes were weaker that normal, as he could not use his left arm easily. One of the monsters made a vicious bite to his left body, as if knowing his weakness. Another slash with his heavy weapon, then another bite or tail whip. His strength was weakening with every assault he took. Advancing on the weaker monster, he struck once more, using his left arm to increase the damage.
Big mistake. One of the beasts was now out of the battle, but the pain shot through his arm. He fell to his knees, his blade in the earth. He figured that he could kill the other threat in one, well-calculated strike. That would take two arms again. Weighing out the pros and cons while being rammed by the T-Rexaur, he decided it was better ending this now with him injured, than letting the battle wear him down even more and potentially risk the two others. 'Where the hell is that other guy?' Rinoa had given up searching for her weapon it seemed, and was hovering between consciousness and unconsciousness. She must have been losing blood.
Masaki readied for his attack, gathering the rest of his strength for this one last strike. 'Go!' He rushed at the large lizard and used all of his power to drive his blade into it's throat. 'Fuck.' He had missed the vital spot and hit slightly below. All of his spirit wasted, Masaki dropped to the ground, embracing the void.
C h a p t e r T h r e e : F a t a l S t r i k e
7:32 pm
"C'mon Irvy, let's go eat somewhere other than the cafeteria this time!" Selphie whined, dragging him towards the parking lot, passing by several bewildered onlookers.
"But Sefie, I don't get paid until tomorrow, you know how the system works!" he objected, but not doing much of anything to break free of his girlfriend's grasp.
Selphie paused for a moment and turned around "You mean you spent all your gil on..."
Irvine nodded with a smile "Exeter's gotta feel loved too. You know what I mean?"
The hyper-active Selphie fixed him with a disgusted look, and then continued to drag him to the parking lot "Fine, I'll pay."
Selphie couldn't see this, but Irvine was grinning broadly 'Score!.' he thought, glad to get a free meal.
"You owe me."
'Shit.'
Front Courtyard Area
As large and technological as Balamb Garden was, none of it's engineers foresaw it becoming a tourist hotspot, a docking port for an Esthar starship, and at the same time a mobile command ship. "This Garden is supposed to be peaceful." muttered the attractive brunette sitting on a bench in the outer grounds of the Garden. SeeDs and cadets, young and old were passing their time doing various activities. Whether it was flirting with that cute cadet over there or playing a game of frisbee. The woman was passing the time by reading a novel, or trying to. The evening sun created a dim but warm ambience, which was aided by the Garden night lamps slowly activating.
The breeze from the ocean was calm and gentle. 'Should have stayed in my room.' she thought regretfully. She glanced down at her watch. "Almost eight..." the blue-clad girl mumbled.
If Squall hadn't been so occupied by his job, she would be enjoying a wonderful dinner with him right now in the not-so-Secret Area. She got up from her seat, and decided to head towards the Training Center to wait for him. A gust of wind sent some leaves scraping over the ground, as if following her.
Training Center
Slash. 'Another down.' he thought. He had come here to keep himself in shape. Now he found himself here just to be alone and to think about things, something he did perhaps too often. The man walked through the foliage, making a crunching noise when his boots hit the ground. A plant-like creature sprung out before him. He had been ambushed.
Lifting his blade back into an attacking position, he didn't allow the Grat to capitalize on his surprise and cut it down. 'This cure isn't perfect... there will always be side-effects I can't control.'
The thoughtful warrior dropped his blade down, but never sheathed it, always ready for a fight. He spotted a floating red globe, and apparently it had spotted him. Fire hit the swordsman with intensity, and he let the energy feed his strength. One strike, and it was over. 'Heh, you don't see those here everyday.'
Several Wendigos and a Grendel later, the man's answer was always the same: death. His blade went through the last monster. Thchack-boom.
Seifer stopped to run a hand through his blond hair, and stopped to recover. There was no challenge. Most of his enemies had fallen after one blow was dealt. He trekked deeper into the Training Center, where only the experienced or stupid journeyed. He wanted to fight something bigger. The undergrowth of this manmade jungle continued to become more dense. When the density of the plants began to recede again, it seemed that someone had already taken his prey. Some meters away, a T-Rexaur's corpse lay. Multiple gashes could be seen on it's exposed side.
The former knight heard heavy breathing from a farther proximity. There, lying against a tree was another man robed in a dark blue overcoat reminiscent to a kimono. A large blade lay beside him. Seifer didn't recognize him 'Maybe he's a cadet.' But that thought was thrown out moments later 'This guy's probably twenty.' he thought. "Nice job." Seifer then commented, attempting to gain the man's attention.
The darkly clothed figure raised his head to determine who was addressing him. "It's not that easy." he responded in a strained voice.
"You shouldn't let your guard down like that, one of those could really mess you up." Seifer advised.
The unidentified man rose to his feet slowly, using his weapon to support him. "I learned that the hard way." he replied, and gestured to his left shoulder.
Seifer noticed some claw marks and winced, he didn't even know if the claws had gone through flesh.
"So who are you?" Seifer finally inquired, leaning against a tree, not heading his own advice.
He took a while to respond, as he was preoccupied with checking his weapon. "Masaki."
"Never heard of the name. A visitor?"
This evoked a small chuckle from Masaki. "I suppose you could say that."
Seifer opened his mouth to get a straight answer, but a short cry of distress broke through the lush jungle. Seifer collected his sword and ran towards the source. Moments later, Masaki did the same. They sprinted to the origin and reached a clearing, near the entrance of the Training Center. Two T-Rexaurs were teaming up on a raven-haired woman. Seifer immediately recognized her. "Rinoa!"
Masaki's head shot up, 'Her?'
Seifer ran towards Rinoa, who was on her back. He checked for any injuries. He jammed his hands frantically into his pockets, looking for a Phoenix Down tablet. Finding one, he split it in half and held the pieces to Rinoa's nose. The acted like smelling salts and revived her.
Seifer was more engrossed in nursing the woman back to health and paid no attention to the monster, something he should have done. Letting out a feral cry, one the T-Rexaurs swiped at Seifer, swatting him away before he could give Rinoa a healing potion. Masaki approached the attacking monster quickly and brought down his blade using only his right arm. He tucked in his left arm closer to his body, it was probably injured.
The strike was more of a distraction than a damaging hit. Rinoa, crawled back in fear, trying desperately to find her Blaster Edge. Masaki withstood an attack from the fiend and attacked again. The other whipped out its tail to strike. He was already injured, and fighting two T-Rexaurs alone wasn't something he could do successfully at the moment. He tried to guard the woman, keeping the beasts' eyes on him until the blond recovered.
Masaki struck again. He knew his strikes were weaker that normal, as he could not use his left arm easily. One of the monsters made a vicious bite to his left body, as if knowing his weakness. Another slash with his heavy weapon, then another bite or tail whip. His strength was weakening with every assault he took. Advancing on the weaker monster, he struck once more, using his left arm to increase the damage.
Big mistake. One of the beasts was now out of the battle, but the pain shot through his arm. He fell to his knees, his blade in the earth. He figured that he could kill the other threat in one, well-calculated strike. That would take two arms again. Weighing out the pros and cons while being rammed by the T-Rexaur, he decided it was better ending this now with him injured, than letting the battle wear him down even more and potentially risk the two others. 'Where the hell is that other guy?' Rinoa had given up searching for her weapon it seemed, and was hovering between consciousness and unconsciousness. She must have been losing blood.
Masaki readied for his attack, gathering the rest of his strength for this one last strike. 'Go!' He rushed at the large lizard and used all of his power to drive his blade into it's throat. 'Fuck.' He had missed the vital spot and hit slightly below. All of his spirit wasted, Masaki dropped to the ground, embracing the void.