Ch 16 – Limit Break Acquired
The next two days were pure bliss for Zell.
After an excellent breakfast, Angel and him didn't do anything – they stayed in his room all day, simply talking about meaningless stuff – nothing about Garden, and nothing about the Tournament. They talked about weather, fashion, chocobos, a few new techniques that they had been working on…meaningless stuff. Somehow, it made them forget the more important things in life – it gave then something to think of except death.
The day after Zell had wanted to go out to lunch. Angel was against the idea, wanting to stay at home – but Zell insisted.
"We can't have Ma bringing us food everyday! It's just plain rude. So we'll go out, have lunch, and bring back dinner for the three of us."
"…Ok." Angel had said.
So they went walking, going through Balamb slowly, carefully picking their way through the small streets, pausing at the wharf to look out into the ocean, and stopping into houses of friends to catch up on old times.
They had just sat down in the restaurant outside the Balamb Hotel overlooking the sea, had ordered and were waiting for their food when Angel placed down her glass of water and looked at Zell straight in the eye. "Zell…can I ask you a question?"
Zell smiled, tossing us one of the chocolate covered peanuts that they had bought from the item store beside the train station and catching it in his mouth. "Ya didn't give me much choice there, Angel. But shoot."
Angel smiled at the joke, before looking down at her hands, which were playing with a napkin. "I…I've been meaning to ask you...about the Tournament…"
Zell tossed another chocolate up in the air and catched it in his mouth. "What about it, hon?"
"What…what do you feel when you fight those guys?"
Zell paused in his chocolate tossing, looking at Angel as she blushed, the old Librarian resurfacing, shy and withholding. "I…I don't understand, Angel. What do you mean?"
Angel released the napkin and began to run her finger around the rim of her glass equally nervously. "I mean…I see you on the TV…and you seem to…enjoy it? No, that's not right…you seem to…" She frowned, frustrated. "Hyne…" She muttered.
Zell looked at her, before leaning back in his chair, and placing his hands behind his head. "I…I don't know how I feel, Angel. I mean, there's a rush…a rush you'll never experience in everyday life…" He frowned. "And then it's over. I try not to feel anything. I try – sometimes you have no choice but to get involved – but sometimes it's…its like you're on a mission. You…you don't have any choice but to fight, and whether you like it or not, you have to get the job done."
"So…you jut try to…dehumanise them? Make them…not people?" Her tone wasn't patronising – simply trying to decipher his own stumbled words.
"Of course not – they all have names, they all have a life, and they all have a reason to do battle with me. Just because we're competing for money doesn't mean we don't have to know each other."
"Did…did you know the name of the guy you…you know…killed?"
Zell nodded. "Of course. His name was Sheran Timlett."
"But…doesn't it bother you that he's dead?"
"Of course it bothered me…it bothered me a lot more then you could think…but that's the point when you have to stand up and say 'enough sulking, time to get back to work'."
Angel sighed. "I…I just don't understand why you have to risk you're life with these people…"
Zell placed the bag of chocolates down, got up and moved around the table, sitting in the chair next to her. He placed an arm around her shoulder, and she rested her head against his. "I…did have a choice in the matter, Angel…and my choice was to fight. The fact that I'm fighting for money isn't really important…there's a mutual understanding with all the fighters, an honour to uphold…and I have to uphold that honour too…even if I have to do things that would seem a little…over the top."
She snuggled a little closer to him with a sigh. "I…I think I understand now. It's all about honour."
Zell nodded, looking out to the sea. Yeah…honour…but that's not the only reason why I fight…but you'll understand soon, Angel…when all this is over, I'll tell you everything.
* * *
After lunch they walked back to Zell's home, Zell laden down with bags of food for the feast they were going to have tonight.
He kicked open the door with a foot, and barged in. "Ma, we're home!"
No answer. He shot a look at Angel and shrugged as best he could with his arms full. "She must have gone out. We'll just dump this stuff in the kitchen and we'll brainstorm out to set it up when Ma gets back."
Angel nodded, and helped him spread everything out o the kitchen counter, before standing back with her hands on her hips. "Well, what now, tough guy? The rest of the day hinged on Ma being here."
Zell smiled, scratching the back of his neck. "Well…we could go and do some exercises…or we could go other some of those new moves we've been developing?"
"Ok. I have to get changed first." Angel said, before winking at him and going up the steps to his bedroom.
Zell smiled and walked around in the bottom, looking through all the things he had missed whilst at the Tournament. For some reason unfathomable by him, he had felt amazingly homesick whilst at the tournament. Maybe it had been the alien environment in the Ragnarok? Or maybe it had been the fact that he had just gotten used to living in home after being under embargo all that time?
He moved through the living room, running a hand over some of the stuff that adorned the shelves and walls.
His SeeD diploma, framed and hung in the direct centre of the room, all spirally writing, with the Headmaster's signature at the bottom.
A picture of Squall and Zell, just back from their final exam, walking off the ship, looking decidedly tired. Zell had seen the camera and had flashed a smile and a peace sign, but Squall's eye simply bore into the camera, the dead look uncommon today, but still hiding behind something in his mind.
A picture of them at the 'saving the world' party. All of them – Rinoa, Squall, Selphie, Irvine, Quistis, and Zell, all lined up and grinning like little children, Angelo sitting between Rinoa's legs.. Selphie was wearing Irvine's hat, and Zell still held onto one of the hotdogs he had been chomping on when Selphie had dragged him away from the table to take the photo.
He still had the videotape of that night – someone, he guessed Selphie, had brought it and had recorded most of their antics that night. Unfortunately, the batteries had given out halfway through – but there were some good memories left on there.
A Moomba doll, bought back from Shumi village.
A photo of Headmaster Cid and Matron at the party, standing beside Squall, Cid shaking his hand, whilst Edea pointed at the necklace that Squall wore.
A photo of Zell, aged ten, doing handstand pushups.
A piece of Lunatic Pandora, the shining blue crystal winking at him in the light.
Another picture of Zell, aged fifteen, punching a car in the car-shop down the road, his fist just connecting with the engine as the camera had gone off. It had started shortly after.
His first pair of fighting gauntlets, given to him by his first master, Baku, when he was aged twelve. Baku had always referred to their training as 'playing', which was the only way to get the hyperactive Zell to go with him.
Another picture, this one more recent, of Zell and Angel training on the beach, Angel throwing a punch with Zell dodging, both of them smiling.
His acoustic guitar, used in the Garden Festival all those years ago. He still played, but only with friends.
Another of Angel and him, passed out after a long day playing, falling asleep in each other's arms in front of the TV in the living room.
He smiled, picking up the photo, and looking at it more closely. He remembered the exact course of action they had done that day – swimming in the beach with Irvine and Selphie, followed by lunch at the Balamb restaurant, followed by a trip to Deling to go window shopping, before coming back and doing some training for a few hours.
He placed the picture down where he picked it up, and turned to look up at the stairs. "Angel?!" He yelled. "Come on! We only have about two more hours of sunlight left to play with!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Was the giggled reply as she skipped down the stair, now dressed in figure-hugging blue track pants and a black sweat-top. She reached the bottom of the stairs and sat on the bottom step to do up the laces on her sneakers.
Zell watched her with a small smile on his face, leaning on the wall next to the stairs. She looked up at him with her own smile, finalising the knot with a confident jerk, before standing with a small jump and kissing him lightly on the lips. "You're turn, tough guy." She said, gesturing up the stairs with a thumb.
"Ok, ok…" he muttered with a grin, pushing past her and up the stairs. "Just make sure you're nice and stretched before I come down, ok?"
"Yes, Master Dincht." She said sarcastically.
He jumped up the steps two at a time, opening the door and closing it with a foot. He ripped his shirt off and threw it into a corner, before sitting on the corner of his bed to untie the laces on his shoes. Pulling those off, he threw those in the same direction as the shirt, as well as his socks.
Finally removing his shorts, he opened his closet and grabbed a pair of tracksuit pants, as well as a white singlet.
Putting them on, he grabbed a second pair of sneakers – blue ones – and put them on, not bothering with socks.
Finally dressed, he opened the door – to find Angel with her head to the door. He grinned, caught by surprise. He had almost bowled her over coming out. "What are you doing?"
She blushed crimson, shyly looking down. "Just waiting for you."
He smiled at the remark, before placing an arm over her shoulder. "Come on. We've only got…" He checked the clock on the wall. "…An hour and forty-five minutes before the sun starts to set. I wanna try out that new technique one last time."
* * *
They trained on the beach at first, allowing the sea to clear their minds and allow their legs to strengthen by trudging through the sand. They went through punches, chops and upper strength movements, before moving on to kicks and short sprints. Then they moved up to the Alcauld Plains, working out only a few kilometres from the Balamb Garden.
They finally paused for a break as the sun began to set, casting an orange glare over the plains. Between fending off Bite Bugs and their training, they felt exhausted.
Falling to the soft grass below, not a monster in sight, they managed to crawl over to each other and hold onto one another. They were sweaty and tired, but felt slightly content.
Zell lay on his back, one hand behind his head, the other lazily toying with Angel's hair, Angel lying at right angles to him with her head on his stomach.
They lay like that for a few seconds, regaining their strength, before Angel looked up at Zell. "So…you wanna test out that move yet?"
Zell looked down at her with a grin. "Not on you, that's for sure."
Angel rolled over onto her belly and frowned at him. "Oh, come on! You cant be serious!!"
"I am serious, Angel! If I can my predictions are correct, this technique could be more powerful then My Final Heaven, so no, I'm not going to use it on you!"
Angel pouted. "Come on…there's nothing more powerful then My Final Heaven…"
"This might be…"
Angel pushed herself up to a sitting position. "Well, then lets see it!" She gestured to the forest just to the east of Garden. "I hear there are some wild T-Rexaurs in that forest. Why don't you try it out on them?"
Zell looked at the forest, before looking at the setting sun. "By the time we've walked over there, found a T-Rexaur and kicked the crap out of it, it'll be night-time. And we have to be back home by dinner time."
Angel stood, grabbing him by the hand and dragging him to his feet. "Come on! where's you're spirit for adventure?!"
"Where'd you get yours?" Zell asked in surprise. "A year ago you would have been beggin' me to take you home by now!"
"Well…I must have borrowed some of yours." She said, poking him in the ribs. "Come on! We'll be back for dinner in no time."
Zell rolled his eyes, before grinning. "Sure. Why not?"
* * *
The sun had sunk well below the horizon by the time they had reached the forest, changing the orange glare into a blood red sky. Long, spindly shadows filled the trees, and there were a few…noises usual to the forest. Leaves brushing together from a breeze. The occasional owl hoot. The roar of a T-Rexaur, looking for it's dinner.
Unfortunately for the one that just entered a small clearing, it had found it's prey.
Zell looked up at the giant dinosaur, and sneezed. "He's pretty big…bigger then the ones in the Garden…"
Angel stood beside him, pulling a hanky from her pocket and wiping Zell's nose for him. He tried to bat her hand away but failed, deciding to endure a little humiliation instead. "He's probably older then the ones from Garden…I heard they genetically modify them so they grow older quicker."
"You heard? I know they do. They've had their hands full growing more and more T-Rexaurs ever since my embargo was begun. I just kept wiping them out…they actually complained to Cid that I was getting too good, but he said…"
"Zell!!" Angel screamed, jumping out of the way as the T-Rexaur's big tail came smashing down – to be caught in Zell's hands.
Zell looked up at the bewildered dinosaur with annoyance – he was talking to Angel. Gripping the tail tighter, he swung the dinosaur around his head, smashing him into the nearest tree. The tree fell, as did the dinosaur.
Zell let go of the tail and patted his hands down, before turning to Angel. "As I was saying, Cid said that it was their job to breed the monsters, and that if they weren't up to the demand, then maybe he should…"
Angel walked over to him and placed her hand over his mouth. "Zell? Will you please shut up and finish the poor thing off?"
She didn't remove her hand until he nodded. He turned and walked over to the T-Rex, guided by a pat on the ass by Angel.
He grinned at her before turning back to the dinosaur, who had managed to groggily get to it's clawed feet. It shook it's head and groaned, before turning to Zell and roaring it's fury.
He smirked at it and took his stance.
The dinosaur still seemed groggy, but snapped at him all the same. It was what he was waiting for, and he seemed to simply step aside as the dinosaur's massive head slashed past him to snap at thin air.
He didn't need to build any power – that was the beauty of the technique. He could do it sitting down, or standing on his head. All he needed to do was apply a certain amount of pressure and…
Zell whipped around and smashed his fist into the monster's head. The blow didn't seem to do anything – just create a small indent in the dinosaurs face. The dinosaur, however, didn't move.
It simply twitched – before it's head blew to smithereens, large chucky bits of bone and brain splattering around the clearing.
Angel ducked most of the blast, but Zell got a face full of it. He stood his ground, however, the explosion of blood and bone flying all over him and around him.
He turned to Angel grinning, his teeth white through all the red. "I don't really have a name for it yet. I was thinking of an Old World name, but…" He frowned. "Angel? Are you alright?"
Angel was looking at him, through the dusk light. Her look was one of shock and horror. All she could do was gasp a "…Whoa."
Zell pointed at her. "That's right."
"I've…I've never seen something so…bloody."
"You should see what happens when I use My Final Heaven. Just like before, only more…backward to where I punch em…ya' know…"
Angel moved over to where he stood, walking around him and looking him up and down. "But…but I thought…that when you used My Final Heaven…you like, hurt yourself…"
"That's because when I build up the power to move at those speeds, there's repercussions to my body. I think the last time I used My Final Heaven I went somewhere around…Mach 6? I'm not sure." They began to walk back towards the beach, moving through the trees and bushes of the forest.
"You went at Mach six? How did you survive?!" Angel asked, her voice incredulous.
"It's all about vibrations and energy, hon. You see, when I use My Final Heaven, its not about using all that built up energy in a short amount of time." He realised that he had her attention, and grinned as he got more into the description. "When you use a Limit Break, you build up and store massive quantities of paramagical energy. For some reason, it isn't considered magic – it's simply called the Limit Break."
Angel nodded, trying to follow, and Zell continued. "When I use my Limit Break, I have the choice of several methods properly suited to that kind of energy level. The most powerful, obviously, My Final Heaven, which I learned from an old man, who had learned it from an old magazine…an early issue of Combat King"
"Combat King published a move that powerful?!" Angel exclaimed.
"Back then, it wasn't much of a big thing. There weren't many martial artists in the world, and even then only a very small fraction of them were able to master the severe energy levels needed to perform the technique."
"Wow…"
"Yeah. Anyways, My Final Heaven is performed by harnessing that massive energy, and borrowing a little from the attack power to shield you're body as you run. To be truthful, there's not much to the technique – anybody with really good reflexes can dodge it, and if you think you're good enough, you are able to block it."
"So, if it's so easily beaten, why use it at all? If you miss with the attack, you'll be wide open for a counter!"
"But that's where you're wrong, you see. I haven't come across an opponent who has dodged My Final Heaven, or ever heard of a person who was good enough to beat it."
"Why not?" Angel asked, before she realised the meaning of the look that Zell gave her. "Oh…I understand…"
"Yep. The reason it works so well is because everybody thinks it works."
"So, how come you're new technique is so much better then My Final Heaven?"
Zell smiled. "That's when brains come into it. I've figured out a way to get the power of My Final Heaven, without all the running around the world bit."
"How?"
"It's all vibrations." They reached the beach, and sat for a second to take off their shoes and socks. "What happens when you lean your head against a car window when it moves?"
"It gives me a bit of a headache, and makes my teeth rattle." Angel said with a smile.
"That's right. Now imagine that kind of vibration, magnified a hundred times, delivered in one blow."
Angel's eyes went wide. "So that's what happened to the T-Rexuar's head!"
They got up and began to walk to the beach, shoes and socks in hand. "Yep. The vibrations were so intense; it took a few seconds for it to move straight through the body. All I need to do is apply enough force, and the right kind of vibration, and I can punch through just about anyone or anything." He shrugged. "It a little messy…but who said it had to be graceful?"
"Maybe you can tone down the vibrations enough to make it less messy?" Angel asked thoughtfully.
Zell smiled. "You think I tried that? No…for total incapacitation, I need to use just a right amount. Unfortunately, the appropriate amount is lethal." He smirked. "That what I get for training without GFs or magic for a year…I work my way around…"
They finally reached the shore. Angel looked up to the night sky, at the giant moon beaming down at them, before looking down at the Balamb waters, glassy and clear, small waves lapping along the shore. "Warm tonight…"
Zell smiled, taking off his singlet. "It certainly is…"
She looked at him with wide eyes as he began to untie his shoelaces. "What are you doing?!" She shrieked as he removed his tracksuit pants.
He rolled his eyes at her as he bundled the clothing into a ball. "You think I'm going to walk home looking like this?" he asked sarcastically, gesturing to the blood all over him. "She'd freak, then kick my ass for getting my clothes dirty!"
Angel was giggling as she turned away to shield her eyes as he ripped off his boxers. She heard him laughing as he ran into the surf, splashing and diving underwater, and peeked out to see him bob to the surface, a few meters from the shore. "Come on! The water's really good!!" He yelled to her with a laugh.
"I'm not going in there with you like that!" she said with a laugh.
"Come oooon…you know you want to… and besides, there's no one around…" He gestured her in with a wave of the hand and a wink.
She bit her bottom lip, thinking it through…before shrugging. She quickly looked left and right, and put her hands on her hips. "Turn around."
Zell's grin was huge. "Yesssss…" he hissed happily, turning around slowly and allowing his body to sink under the water, until only his head bobbed above the still seawater.
He tried desperately not to turn around as he heard her remove her shirt, but gave into the temptation and peeked, turning his head slightly to look with the corner of his eye.
"Don't look, or I'm not coming in!!"
Adequately chaste, he turned around and stayed that way until he heard her sloshing through the water to him. She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her body to his back.
"It's cold…" She mumbled, holding close to him, pressing her cheek to his tattoo.
"You'll warm up if you move around a little…" Zell said quietly.
He turned his head and kissed her lightly on the lip. She closed her eyes, seeming to savour his taste, his smell. He turned and embraced her, kissing her with all his might and soul.
They sank beneath the water in each other's arms.
* * *
Hey there readers! I hope you liked this insight into Zells mind. I also hope I hit the Limit Break description on the button. I thought long and hard about how to word and describe it right.
Not only that, but I know, for sure, that the thing that releases stress the best is sex. And lots of it.
Unfortunately, for some of the more… younger readers, I can't go into depths with the descriptions. So…you'll just have to use you're imaginations.
I have a quiz for you readers, however. A homework assignment, if you will. (Fight Club, anybody?)
If anyone can e-mail me full descriptions of Zell's major Limit Break manoeuvres, that would be excellent. I'm not talking about a brief description, however. I need full body movements, the colours of the energy projected, the works. They need to be thorough too, as he will use every last one in next few upcoming fights…and my sister wiped my memory card. Stepping on it will do that.
The major Limit Break Manoeuvres are the following:
Burning Rave – used in Chapter6 – Selection Began Meteor Barret – used in Chapter7 – Round 1: Zell vs Chan Different Beat – Unused so far. This one completely eludes me. I don't think I've even used it before. My Final Heaven – Used in my other FF8 Fic, FF8 Chronicles, against two T-Rexaurs. Zell was weaker back then, and had no choice. Suffice to say, the results were…messy.Thank you, and remember, keep reading and reviewing!!!
Michael Kenny
