Vincent Kinneas
Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Squaresoft and Akira Toriyama own all these characters. You know the standard disclaimer drill,.so don't sue me.
Rage
Chapter 1: Training
'You can't sleep,You can't eat,
There's no doubt,You're in deep,
Your body sweats another time,
Just one kiss and you'll be mine!
Oh-oh-oh, you like to think that you're immune to the stuff,
Oh yeah!
Closer to the truth to say you can't get enough,
Ya know you're gonna hafta face it you're addicted to love.'
Addicted To Love
Robert Palmer
A bullet slammed home into the Grat's chest, the impact fliping it backwards to collapse in a crumpled heap, where it withered and died.
Irvine pumped the Exeter leisurely, the spent cartridge falling to the earthen floor of the Balamb Garden Training Centre as a fresh one slipped neatly into place. The cowboy gave a cocky smirk at the rapidly decomposing monster, enjoying his early morning training session as much as ever. Seeming not even to pay attention, he deftly swung the rifle over his shoulder and pulled the trigger, blasting the Grat which had been sneaking up on him in the face. It died instantly.
"Too slow freak," he chuckled, reloading again and scanning the area for another target. Nothing was on the path and the only noise was the chirping of the crickets. Time for a break. Sitting himself down on a fallen tree trunk, Irvine laid down his rifle and stretched, his muscles starting to ache slightly from the strenuous workout. Two hours in the Training Centre was tough by anyone's standards,but Irvine had needed to blow off some steam. It had been too quiet lately for his liking, his last SeeD mission having been three months ago. Since then he had been feeling restless, not only from the lack of action. In all honesty his main problem was just over five feet tall with fairly short brown hair, a yellow dress, a pair of nunchuks and the most gorgeous pair of green eyes Irvine had ever seen. He felt like he could spend all day just gazing into those emerald depths and still have difficulty looking away. Selphie Tilmitt, the girl he had loved for as long as he could remember. And she had no clue.
Irvine sighed, his mood rapidly heading towards depression. He just had to pluck up the courage to ask her on a date. Easier said than done, sadly. And Zell used to moan that the cowboy had it easy with regards to his lovelife...
A scream of terror sliced through Irvine's musings like a gunblade through a gayla. Scooping up Exeter he was on his feet in an instant, darting towards the noise.
Two junior classmen, a boy and a girl who both looked around thirteen, were cowering in each other's arms in front of a vicious looking Granaldo. Irvine cursed, they shouldn't be here without supervision! Then he noticed the instructor lying in a heap beside them, his broken sword lying in pieces on the ground. Cursing again, Irvine leapt into the battle, shooting the monster in the arm. Howling, it turned from the youths and came at the gunman in a flurry. He ducked under it's claws and rolled to the right, firing into it's underbelly. The beast roared and lashed out with it's tail, catching him on the side of the face. Grunting in pain, the cowboy rolled with the attack and grabbed a handful of dirt. As it spun to attack with it's foreclaws, he hurled the muck in it's eyes, blinding it. The Granaldo fell back, grabbing it's face.
"Time for a change of tactics," Irvine muttered, flicking some red cartridges from his pockets and into the gun, expertly loading the ammo and sliding the catch into place in a few seconds. "Try this on for size!" he sneered, and opened fire. The Fire Ammo seared into the creature, burning holes straight through it's chest. The Granaldo let out an unholy wail as it's wings caught ablaze, the flames quickly spreading to it's torso. As it writhed in agony, the gunman reached into his other pocket and fished out a single orange shell, inserting it into the rifle and closing the casing. "Time to finish this!" he yelled, taking aim. As the bug tried vainly to put out the flames he fired, the kickback throwing him a good five feet. The Demolition Ammo hit it full in the face, and the resulting explosion obliterated it.
Irvine chuckled as he reloaded, then turned to face the junior classmen, who were picking up their instructor. They gave him grateful smiles, then realised they were still hugging each other and broke apart, blushing furiously. Irvine gave a knowing smile to the boy, who coughed and blushed harder. "Uh, th-thanks for saving us Instructor Kinneas," he said embarassedly.
The cowboy winced. "I've told y'all before, just call me Irvine. I might be an Instructor, but I hate being called that."
"Ok Ins- Irvine," the boy said, catching himself with a slight grin. "Can you help us get Instructor Barton to the medbay? He got beat up pretty bad."
"I told him that bug-thing was sneaking up behind him," nagged the girl, "Didn't I Pete?"
"Y-you sure did Susan," gulped Pete, not looking into Irvine's amused face.
"Alright you two," he chuckled, picking up the unconscious instructor. "Let's get Rip Van Winkle here to Dr. Kadowaki."
***************
Squall was approaching breaking point. His irritation levels were reaching new peaks, and he was having trouble keeping his temper. He had known when he took the job of Garden Commander that there would be many situations to try his patience, but even now, two years later, there were some things he still couldn't stand.
"I'm sorry, but it just isn't possible," he said slowly, resisting the urge to bury his face in his hand. "As I've already said, I simply don't have the time."
"Oh come on Squall!" whined Rinoa, "You promised me you'd take me when it came to Balamb! It's my favourite play of all time!"
"Rinoa, I'm already snowed under by reports, and it's the SeeD candidates field exam next week," Squall sighed. "You know I'd love to go with you, but I just can't abandon my responsibilities."
"Then get Nida to do it!" she replied in annoyance. "He is the Assistant Commander after all, and he never leaves the bridge! Have the trainee pilot take over for a few days, she needs the practice!"
Squall's defences were wearing down, and he knew she could sense it. "Can't you just go with Selphie and Quistis?" he said in exasperation.
"It's not the same and you know it!" she pouted. "'I Want To Be Your Canary' is a love story Squall, I want to see it with you! Please?" she smiled, giving him her best puppy-dog eyes.
Squall sighed again and caved in. "Ok, ok you win! We'll go see the play tonight, you happy?" Rinoa squealed in delight, and gave him an enormous hug. The scar-faced youth grinned in spite of himself. She always knew just how to wear down his defences. He paged Nida to come and relieve him, then they went to get ready for the big night out.
***************
As Irvine and the juniors approached the entrance, the ground rumbled slightly. The cowboy froze and reached ofr his rifle, his eyes widening. "What was that?" asked Pete, frowning slightly as it happened again.
"Get Barton out of here and send another SeeD back. Now," Irvine replied harshly, snapping his rifle into position and turning back to face the rainforest as the third rumble hit, then the fourth, getting stronger every time.
"But Ir-"
"Now!" he snapped as a roar sounded out, sending various smaller monsters scattering. The juniors paled in terror and broke into a run, dragging Barton behind them. They passed the exit just as the lumbering T-Rexaur burst through the trees. It threw back it's head and roared again, then focused on the puny human before it. With terrifying speed, it lunged, gaping jaws intent on ripping the gunman apart. But Irvine stood his ground. At the last second he dived forward, straight underneath it. The hideous fangs snapped closed on thin air. As he hit the ground, Irvine twisted on to his back and fired straight up, right into the creature's throat. It howled in agony and backed up rapidly, giving him a chance to blast it in the face three times. The beast thrashed it's head from side to side, it's howls becoming higher pitched, as if it was almost screaming. Irvine blasted it again then jumped back, barely avoiding it's clawed forearm. Before he could regain his aim the T-Rexaur charged, slamming it's head into his chest. Irvine flew back, landing hard on the other side of the clearing, the wind knocked out of him. The beast bellowed it's fury and charged again. The cowboy began chanting quickly, calling forth a blizzaga spell from inside him and releasing it. The spell took the monster full in the chest, knocking it back and gouging a deep wound. It bayed in pain and stumbled, critically injured. Irvine got back to his feet again and jerked as a sharp pang tore across his chest. Broken rib, maybe two, he thought, breathing hard. Not good. But it's almost dead. One more hit should do-
A tree crashed to the ground behind him. Whirling round, his jaw dropped as another T-Rexaur lurched into view, heading straight for him.
Hyne, this is it. Goodbye life. Selphie... he mourned as the dinosaur closed in for the kill.