Esca Fantasy
Sorry this chapter took slightly longer to be posted than the others, but it was quite a tough one to write, and also I just bought the Escaflowne movie and I love it so much! It's fantastic! So I've been watching that a lot too. And I've got a little bit of bad news, I decided to break the Dollet battle down into three separate parts, as it's such a big event, so I'm afraid it'll be a little bit longer till we see Hitomi, but she is coming! Slowly but surely. You'll just have to be a little more patient.
Freelancer47: Thanx for your review, I'll make sure I keep the chapters this length.
Love Witch: I'm glad you agree with the pairings. Barbie Boy! lol, that made me laugh! And I'm pretty sure I put the chicken-wuss bit in, it's when they're in the car on the way to Balamb right? Unless I'm thinking of something different to you?! Anyways, enjoy! ^_^
Esca-lover: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like it. Make sure you get your next chapter out soon, I can't wait to read more! ^_^
SabineballZ: Hitomi was gonna be in the next chapter, but as I just explained it'll be a little longer now, sorry! Thanks for reviewing.
Little fairy: Ok, I'll make sure I keep the length the same. Your brother deleated your game?! That was mean. I haven't actually even finished the game yet, I can't figure out how to get onto the lunatic pandora when it's above tear's point, it's not really important yet, but I'm gonna need to get past that some how so I can finish the story, oh well. Oh and sorry about the Hitomi thing, she'll now be in chapter…….7. I hope what I write will keep you satisfied till then!
Previously, on Esca Fantasy
A sharp stalactite shot up and as the mist rolled off of it you could see a woman encased within the cold ice. This was Shiva, the Guardian Force of ice.
Ifrit roared as the coldness bit into his skin and fell to his knees.
Ifrit's body disappeared and turned into a hand full of large blue lights that floated over to Van in large curving arcs before sinking into his body.
~*~*~*~
Van opened his eyes and staring at him were two familiar amethyst orbs framed by wavy blond hair, "Hi, I'm Millerna Sarah Aston, I recently transferred here from Trabia Garden", she said with a friendly smile.
~*~*~*~
"you'll be with…….Dilandau Albatou"
Van turned around and saw a boy with blood red eyes and silver hair doing karate moves through the air.
"You don't get along with Allen do you? I heard he whooped you pretty bad this morning"
"We weren't fighting, we were training."
"I bet you he doesn't think so, Allen is just a pain in the ass"
"Excuse me, but….that pain in the ass you're talking about….. He's your squad leader." Van and Dilandau both stared at Merle in disbelief
"Listen up", said Allen, "Teamwork means staying out of my way."
~*~*~*~
"So that's the vessel?…." said Van.
"There's no turning back now,"
~*~*~*~
"So what are we supposed to do?" Allen asked.
"SeeD candidates are to eliminate the G-Army inside the city." She informed them. "The order to withdraw takes priority."
~*~*~*~
As they got closer and closer to the battlefield, Van could feel his heart beat racing and his veins were filled with adrenaline as he prepared himself for the difficult battle ahead that would determine his fate.
Chapter 4
Dollet
The vessel pulled up onto the sandy beach, and the whole of the front opened up to create two large doors that opened out. Everyone swiftly ran out onto the beach, Celena bowed to Merle politely before running off to her duties and Merle paused in the doorway of the vessel.
"Ok remember, you are to secure the central square!" she instructed and then she disappeared back inside the ship. Allen turned around to face the chaotic town ahead, a smirk adorning his features.
"Let's move out!" he ordered, thrusting his sword into the air. They all ran up the beach, following Allen's lead up a small flight of stairs that lead to the roads of Dollet and it wasn't long before they came across a couple of Galbadian soldiers. The G-soldiers wore strange uniforms that covered the whole of their bodies that consisted of a blue jump suit type outfit with metal armour covering their chests, shoulders and hips with metal arm guards around their lower arms and on their heads they wore metal helmets that came down over their eyes.
The two soldiers attacked, Allen took one while Van and Dilandau dealt with the other, finishing them off easily. Then they continued towards the central square, winding their way through the narrow cobblestone roads and destroying soldiers as they went, every so often passing other members of SeeD.
"The central square is up ahead", Allen announced, gesturing with his gunblade, "Hey! All you Galbadian cowards out there! Come out and show your faces! Don't leave me hanging now!" he yelled as he ran off up the road.
"What a moron." Dilandau muttered sprinting after him, Van sighed inwardly and followed. When they reached the central square Allen was already in the middle of a battle against half a dozen G-soldiers, Van and Dilandau intervened, Dilandau punching and kicking soldiers unconscious to the ground while Van used his gunblade to the same effect. Once all the soldiers had been defeated Allen turned around to face Van and Dilandau.
"Alright, I want you guys to scout the area for enemies," He ordered, gesturing with his gunblade. Van and Dilandau walked off, searching around the streets that were connected to the central square.
The central square itself was a circular area in the middle of the town, it's main feature was a large fountain, and the cobblestone road that encircled the fountain had blue and white patterns painted onto it with little spotlights sunk into the floor. Aside from this there was a fancy hotel, a restaurant opposite and lots of pretty flower beds lined along the roads. Dollet was a nice little holiday town where people could spend their time on the beach, in the restaurants or café's or looking around the little shops in the town. The town's usual quaint and peaceful atmosphere was very different to the tense one that hung over it now.
A few minutes later, Van and Dilandau returned to where Allen was waiting by the fountain, having found only one lone soldier.
"I think that's all of them." Van reported to their squad leader as they approached.
"Well then, we're on standby until the enemy comes," Allen replied, shifting his weight and resting his hand on his gunblade, the other he ran through his long blond hair, "standby…..how boring….."
Van kept a sharp eye on their surroundings as they waited, constantly on the look out for any enemies or threats that might approach. Off in the distance they could hear the sounds of gunfire and explosions, the whistle of missiles being dropped and loud bangs; all coming from the direction of the mountains.
"Sounds like it's starting." Van commented.
"Bring it on." Allen said intrepidly, he then noticed that a stray dog was sniffing at his leg, "GET OUT OF HERE!" he yelled at it, swishing his gunblade with anger, the dog instantly panicked and ran off. This irritation triggered his frustration and impatience that was burning within him. "Hey! Galbadian soldiers," he shouted, slashing his weapon through the air, "What are you waiting for!? Come show me what you got!" Dilandau and Van just shook their heads in exasperation; they were starting to get used to Allen's violent outbursts.
***
Almost half an hour later, the three young soldiers were still waiting by the fountain. Dilandau was pacing up and down with his hands stuffed in his pockets, Van was still on the look out and Allen was standing quietly to the side, tapping his gunblade on his shoulder; not being as patient as the others his frustration was boiling inside of him and it was taking his every effort not to go mad and kill someone right there. From somewhere near by they heard the chiming of a clock, indicating that it was half past five; 1730 hours to them.
"…..Nothing….." Van said monotonously, with a slight hint of confusion and disappointment, he had hoped for a slightly harder challenge than the one they'd had so far.
"This is what I can boring." Dilandau stated tiredly.
"Still keeping us waiting?…." Allen said in a dangerously low voice, "That's it!….I can't take it anymore! What the hell are we doing here!?" he snapped. Suddenly the dog from earlier came running back down the street, barking at something behind it. Van and Dilandau ducked behind the fountain while Allen remained hidden by the restaurant. They watched as a group of Galbadian soldiers sneaked past the hotel and up the adjoining road, Van counted seven soldiers altogether. Once they had all passed, the trio came out of their hiding places.
"It's the enemy." Van remarked in confusion.
"Where the hell are they going?" asked Dilandau echoing Van's tone. They all looked up from the direction the soldiers had gone and in the distance, on top of a cliff that overlooked the town, they saw a large metal structure that they hadn't noticed before. "Hey, what's that up there?" Dilandau asked, voicing all of their thoughts.
"Our next destination." Stated Allen, his lips curled into a determined grin.
"Wha…But that's against orders!" cried Dilandau.
"Weren't you just saying how bored you were?" Allen replied calmly. Dilandau just stood their, his mouth gaping; he didn't know what to say.
"Van!" he said desperately, looking to Van for support. Van turned away.
"I stand by the captain's decision." Van said bluntly. Allen paused and turned around.
"…...Captain's decision?" he said slowly and incredulously as he walked up to Van and grasped him on the shoulder. "You want to wreak some havoc too don't you?" he implied. Van roughly shoved Allen's hand off his shoulder.
"It's a good opportunity to test out my training," Van retorted, "thanks to you I feel like I can take on anyone. Even if they do fight dirty, like you." Allen gave a small chuckle.
"You'll thank me when the time comes." He replied cockily. All the while they were talking, Dilandau just stood to the side, rooted to the spot with incredulity, his jaw hanging.
"What the hell?….." he said breaking out of his shock and walking up to them, "I thought you guys didn't get along? You're like, all buddy-buddy now." He said in confusion, watching them as they stood there with their gazes locked on each other, a thread of understanding passing between them. "Listen." He continued, still trying to get his words into their heads, "This isn't an ordinary battle. It's an exam, an important one. I'm telling you, we have to stick to orders."
"Then you stay here. I don't need any boy scouts." Allen taunted.
"What was that!!!?" Dilandau yelled with rage, the dog that was still near by, barked at Dilandau's sudden clamour. Van turned to the vehement Dilandau and laid a calming hand on his shoulder.
"Don't take him seriously Dilandau," he said quietly to the vexed soldier, Dilandau folded his arms and looked away, grumbling to himself. Van turned back to Allen, "Allen, if we're going to go, let's hurry." Allen nodded.
"The enemy is headed for the facility." he said authoritatively, pointing to the cliff with his gunblade, "We, squad B, are to secure the summit. Move out!" and he ran off down the streets towards their destination, Van followed shortly afterwards.
"Hmph…..fine." said Dilandau begrudgingly and he sprinted after them. They ran through the ruined roads and across a large bridge on the edge of the town that took them to the foot of the mountain ranges, from here they continued up a flight of stairs that had been carved into the mountain side, and dirt paths that wound their way up the slopes. Strewn either side of the paths were the bodies of defeated Dollet soldiers, the trio ignored this and continued running. As they neared the summit a noise in the bushes to the left of the path distracted them. Out of the bushes came crawling a Dollet soldier who looked pretty beat up.
"Ahhh! W-who are you!?" the soldier cried out, when he saw the three young soldiers standing there
"Don't worry, we're SeeD candidates," Van said reassuringly, bending down to one knee so that he was level with the man, "we've been dispatched by Balamb Garden."
"So what's going on up their?" asked Allen impassively.
"The Galbadian soldiers have entered the communication tower," the soldier reported, "on top of that…..that place has always been a nesting ground for monsters." Van raised his eyebrows slightly.
"Monsters, huh?" he commented nonchalantly.
"Yeh." the soldier affirmed, "If you're going up there, be caref….Ahhh!" the soldier was cut off by a loud rustling in the bushes behind him and screamed as something pulled him in, Van lunged forwards to grab him but was too late and watched as the man disappeared into the dense undergrowth, the expression of terror on the soldiers face was the last thing that Van saw of him. Dilandau and Allen stood to the side, tense and in shock.
Suddenly, they all heard a loud hissing sound that sent shivers up their spines and a large monster with a long, slithering body raised itself from the bushes. It was an Anacondaur, a serpent monster that closely resembled a cobra, about 60 feet long it had sand coloured scales and a large flat head with fans on either side that were lined with spikes and shook threateningly, it's large yellow slit eyes were locked on the young soldiers. Anacondaurs were known to be extremely hostile and had great speed and strength. It hissed menacingly at them and brandished its large sharp fangs that protruded from its mouth, each one dripping with poison. The three students gazed up at it, tense and on edge with senses acute, each one standing still as a statue, not daring to move for fear of provoking it. Even Allen, who would usually be on a fighting frenzy by now, was aware of the danger they were in. They all stood there like that for a few moments, seeing who would make the first move, them or the serpent. Suddenly the slits in the Anacondaur's eyes narrowed and it shot forward with incredible speed, mouth gaping towards its nearest target.
Van, who was still crouched in front of the bushes, managed to throw himself to the side just in time, he quickly sprung to his feet and unsheathed his gun blade. Following Van's actions, Allen and Dilandau also prepared for the inevitable battle, Allen held his gunblade firmly with both hands and Dilandau raised his clenched fists.
The Anacondaur raised itself up from the ground, pulling a huge chuck of rock from the ground where it had hit and using its powerful jaw it crushed the rock into little pieces effortlessly. It turned its head so that its eyes could focus on Van, the prey that escaped. Allen saw this as an opportunity and he rushed forwards, his gunblade trailing through the air behind him and he brought it down, full force onto the Anacondaur's neck. Jumping back Allen was infuriated to see that his attack didn't even leave a scratch on the serpent's touch scales. The serpent whipped its head around to face its attacker, Allen ran forward again and slashed at the monsters gaping mouth, successfully cutting through its long upper fangs.
Enraged, the Anacondaur gave a loud and shrill scream-like hiss and lunged forward towards Allen. Allen done a neat back flip away from the incoming fangs, but using quick reflexes, the serpent changed its route and headed towards where Allen had landed. The blond soldier looked up and was shocked to see that the serpent was headed straight for him, not having enough time to move Allen raised his arms up in front of him and braced himself for the attack, but it never came. Instead he felt a strong heat burning in front of him, and when he opened his eyes he saw that the serpent had been thrown off its course by a powerful fire spell that Dilandau had used, although the spell was strong enough to prevent the attack, it didn't injure the snake at all. Van was getting frustrated with the chaotic and failing battle.
"We need to work together to a plan if we're going to beat this monster," he thought to himself.
"Fire attacks and weapon attacks won't work against it!" Van called out to them, "Dilandau! Use a scan spell and find out what its weakness is, Allen and I will keep it busy." And Van turned to face the Anacondaur.
"Ok." Dilandau called out in reply and he shut his eyes in concentration. With his mind's eye he could see hues of blue and purple floating around each other in a moiré of colour, then slowly a mental image of the Anacondaur appeared and he focused on it trying to find a weakness in the monster.
Meanwhile, Van rushed towards the Anacondaur and took continuous swipes and slashes at it but, the serpent, with it's great speed, dodged all of them easily, simply sliding its long flexible body out of the way, however it grew annoyed with Van's continuous assaults and using it's tail it sent a blow to Van's side, which sent him rolling along the ground. With Van out of the way, the monster turned its attention back to Allen, determined to get revenge for the damage he done to its fangs. With lightning fast speed the Anacondaur looped around the soldier, trapping him in it's constricting coils. Allen grunted deep in his throat and struggled to get free, but his arms were pinned to his sides, there was nothing he could do.
Van moaned and shook his head to remove the dizziness as he pushed himself off the ground. Looking up he saw that Allen was caught in the Anacondaur's squeeze attack, and was in trouble.
"Dilandau! You have to hurry!" Van shouted out as he ran to aid Allen.
In the back of his mind Dilandau could hear Van's voice echoing for him to hurry.
"Come on," he urged himself in his mind, "what's its weakness?" Slowly, as if on cue, the image started to change, first a part of the monsters body glowed and then the image faded away and was replaced with one of an ice symbol. Dilandau quickly put the pieces together and broke the spell.
"Van! The scales on the underside of its body are the weakest and it isn't very strong against ice attacks!" The albino informed. Van took in this information and quickly formed a plan to save the slowly suffocating Allen.
"Dilandau, I want you to attack it so that the underside of its neck is exposed."
"You got it!" he called as he ran towards the serpent. When he got to it he used a flame spell and set fire to one of its thick coils, which caused the serpent to glare down angrily at him. Dilandau knew the attack would have no effect, it was merely a set up for his next move. The Anacondaur quickly brought its jaws down to strike the nuisance, but Dilandau swiftly responded by hitting the serpents jaw with a strong upper-cut that sent the monsters head flying back, exposing its neck as desired. That was Van's cue.
With his palms raised out in front of him he concentrated on forming an icy blue orb, it glowed brightly, like a star. Then he sent the ball of light flying towards the Anacondaur, when it came into contact with the serpent the ice started to spread. It crept over the majority of the monsters body, freezing it completely, the Anacondaur lost its grip on Allen and he fell to the ground on hands and knees, gasping for breath and glad to be out of the death hug. The now frozen Anacondaur toppled backwards and smashed into little pieces when it hit the ground.
All three students stood for a moment to catch their breaths and their thoughts.
"Well that was fun," Allen said flippantly as he straightened up, "come on." And he ran off up the slope, apparently unfazed by his near death experience. Dilandau stared after him incredulously.
"…Fun? Puh-lease….." and he and Van both ran off after Allen. As they neared the communication tower they saw that it was built into a small crater in the cliff and the path they were on wound down into it. They paused at a point in the path that over looked the entrance of the tower to assess the situation. Both Allen and Van lay on their stomachs on the edge of the path, while Dilandau was further back, crouched down. They watched the doors as a G-soldier in the blue uniform walked out to meet two others.
"The generator is up and running." The first one informed.
"No problem with the boosters?" the second asked.
"What the hell are they doing?" Dilandau whispered.
"Cable disconnection confirmed! Beginning exchange process!" and with that, all three soldiers walked back into the building.
"Could it be repairs?" Van suggested, as they picked themselves up from their positions on the ground.
"Who cares," said Allen impatiently, folding his arms, "this must be your first real battle," Allen commented at their over analytical talk, "you scared?" he asked Van, a hint of ridicule in his voice.
"…I don't know…I try not to think about it." Van answered sincerely with arms akimbo.
"I love battles. I fear nothing." Allen replied, his head held high with pride. "The way I look at it, as long as you make it out of a battle alive, you're one step closer to fulfilling your dream." Van turned to face him, slightly surprised with Allen's current talk.
"What!? Your dream?"
"You have one too don't you?" Allen inquired. Van folded his arms and looked away.
"…Sorry, but I'm going to pass on that subject." He said huffily. Dilandau who had been standing to the side became curious with their conversation and approached the rivals.
"Hey, what're you guys talking about?" he asked.
"Mind your own business." Allen replied bluntly. Dliandau growled deep in his throat, a scowl adorning his features. He punched the air in frustration and anger, Allen snickered and crossed his arms.
""What's the matter Dil'? Swatting flies?" Allen taunted, satisfied with the look of pure rage that Dilandau gave him, he walked off down the path to the communication tower's entrance.
"Damn you!…" Dilandau whispered balefully, barely containing the rage that was burning in his blood. He threw a hard punch into the rocky ground, creating a small dent with his fist.
Meanwhile, Van smiled inwardly, "I guess it's not so easy to just ignore him, huh? Dilandau." Van thought to himself, remembering Dilandau's earlier words;
~*~*~*~
"Everyone knows that Allen is just a pain in the ass, all you have to do is ignore him", Dilandau said in his smooth and cool voice.
~*~*~*~
Van's thoughts were broken however by a familiar female voice above them.
"There you are!" someone called out with joy and relief. Both Van and Dilandau looked up to the direction the voice came from and standing on a ledge above them was the blond haired girl. Carefully and tentatively she made her way down the steep slope towards them, but halfway down some rocks became dislodged under her foot and she slid down the last few feet, landing roughly on her knees. Wincing slightly from the hard fall she looked up at them and smiled weakly. Van and Dilandau just stared at her incredulously as she stood up and dusted herself off. "Hey it's you again!" she exclaimed when she saw Van, she smiled brightly, then her tone and composure changed as she remembered her task. "Are you squad B?" she asked them. Van just nodded. "I'm a messenger from squad A. Names Millerna. I was told your squad captain is Allen, where is he?" Suddenly a small figure running across the area below them caught their attention.
"One of these days I'll tell you about my ROMANTIC dream!" Allen shouted out to them before running into the communication towers entrance.
"That's our squad leader." Van informed her impassively.
Millerna let out a sigh and slumped her shoulders.
"This sure is tough….." and with that she jumped straight off the path down to the area below. Van and Dilandau just watched, completely stunned at what she just did, the drop must have been about fifteen feet. Below them they could hear her shouts; apparently she landed safely. "Captain! Wait up!!!" Then she turned around to face the shocked students. "What are you waiting for!? Come on! Come on!" she shouted out to them, waving her arms impatiently. Van walked slowly to the edge of the path and looked down. Dilandau watched Van's actions uneasily.
"Van…you're not going to jump are you?…..It's a cliff!"
"That's the plan." Van replied simply and jumped of the edge.
"I…I can't believe he just did that!" Dilandau stuttered incredulously, then his face set in determination, "Ah hell! Here goes!" And following Millerna and Van's actions, he too jumped of the cliff.
Ok people what did you think? I decided to do the 'previously, on Esca Fantasy' thing cos I read a lot of stories and when people update I often forget what has happened so far, so I have to skim through all the chapters again to remind myself, so I thought I'd do this little thing to kind of recap the important points of the last chapter or past chapters who's events need to be recapped because they are linked with the events in the new chapter, so did you think that was helpful or not? Either way, I'm gonna continue doing that cos I like it. I'm not really completely satisfied with this chapter, I think I may have rushed it a bit, or something, maybe I'll review it later, please tell me what you guys think, is this chapter up to scratch or does it need improvement? I think that's all I needed to say. Thanks for reading!
Natalie xXx
