Fantasy Thunder Chapter Eleven: Lambda
By Blue Dragon
Lambda is about as fast as a blaze on steroids. You guys are doomed.
Oren looked between Lulu, and Wakka, expectant looks mixed in with worry on their faces.
"As you know by now, people continue to lead their lives in the world of the dead. You're friend Chappu is there. I don't have the strength to bring him out, I've used it all up and it cannot be recovered because of my depletion of power. But he wanted to talk to you."
"How can my brudda talk to me from da farplane?" was Wakka's immediate question.
"He can through my translation. The image you see when you think about him is just his current projection, but if he wants to say anything then it can't be filtered through to the world of the living without any outside interference. I will act as the interference."
"We can talk him then?" Lulu stepped closer, her face that pasted a look of worry meaning expectancy.
"Yes. I will make the link"
***
Sephiroth, Ultimecia, and Seymour blinked as they looked around the conference room.
"Now that that's over. . . " Ultimecia walked out, saw a group of SeeDs and students looking the other way, and then turned around with her face paler than usual.
"S-SeeDs! There must be hundreds! I remain here!" she moved a corner tapping her foot as if expecting all of the students to magically disappear.
Cloud took a look at Sephiroth, who didn't seem to be willing to cause trouble. Key word: Seem.
"I think that first I'll kill everyone here, make a hole in the planet, and then feed off of the energy! Ha!"
"Dammit! You come back and the first thing you want to do is cause more mischief!" Cloud once again unsheathed the Ultima Weapon and gestured to his companions to do the same.
Sephiroth stared at them from the other side of the room as if they had interrupted him from something pleasant.
"Yes. I have to kill the three of you first, don't I?"
"It only took three of us to beat you last time" Tifa pointed out.
"Well I couldn't do THIS last time!"
A black circle appeared under his feet and slowly got bigger as he prepared for a previously unseen attack.
***
A powerful energy signal clicked in Oren's head.
"Sephiroth's up to no good" he said, preparing to teleport.
"What about Chappu?" Lulu asked.
"Oh yes. I will make the connection. Talk as long as you please"
Oren disappeared in a familiar blue flash of light.
Wakka and Lulu were doubtful, but walked to the edge of the farplane overlooking the beautiful fields.
They thought about the lost man, and like so many times before, his image appeared. The eyes that they had become used to seeing on Tidus looked back at them.
"Chappu?" Wakka asked the ghostly image that he had seen many times before, feeling ridiculous.
"Wakka?" The image gained his own stance and moved his lips, emitting a voice that they heard more in their minds than their ears.
"Chappu! Its really you, man! How have you been?"
"Me, I'm fine. The farplane really isn't so bad once you get used to it. How are you, Lulu?"
"Chappu. Where have you been for so long? You don't know there are people that care."
He smiled sadly.
"You haven't changed a bit have you? Still the same. The girl I loved"
Lulu gave one of her rare smiles.
"I have missed you, Chappu" she said again quietly.
"You guys don't now how happy I am to see you, the two people closest to me. But now that we've talked some, there's something important I have to tell you both."
Both went into listening position and looked at the deceased Besaidian intently.
"Except I have to tell you individually. Lulu first, okay?" the ghostly image looked at Wakka.
"Sure ting. I'll just be over dare" Wakka said, retaining his accent even in the most emotional of times.
Chappu looked to Lulu.
"Hey, I've noticed that you've been a little grumpy ever since I was gone"
She tilted her head.
"I was always grumpy"
"Right. But even more so after I died. Especially towards Wakka, huh?"
She looked down, telling Chappu he had hit the nail on the head.
"Listen. I love you. I still love you, but now that I'm gone, I there's nothing I would love more than to see you move on. To-"
"You want me to be with Wakka, don't you?"
It was Chappu's turn to look down.
"This may sound weird, but Wakka's my brother. And you were my girl. I love you both. Take care of each other. You don't have to be all mushy if you don't want, but try to be close to each other. And if you could be with him and maybe marry him--"
"Marry him!"
"Okay, maybe that's a little too far, but you know what I mean"
Lulu gave him a look.
"Fine. But only because you say so. And don't expect me to--"
"I know, I know. You don't have to do anything serious you really don't want to."
She nodded in agreement and walked over to Wakka, signaling that it was his turn.
He walked over to Chappu's place at the side of the floating landmass, and wondered why he would need to speak with him alone.
"Wakka, don't even try to hide it. You've had the hots for her since forever"
"What! Did you come all this way just to say I was hitting on your girl?"
"No, I'm here to say that we both loved her. That she both loved us"
"She loved you way more, and you loved her--"
"Wakka, please. I'm gone. Go to her. You love her, she loves you, I'm gone. You guys are lonely and you know it. If you won't do if for yourself, then do if for me. Please?"
Wakka sighed.
"If you say so. But I have to tell you, I can't promise that I'll just tro myself at her, ya? I don't exactly want to take your girl"
"At least go to her. Please?"
Wakka sighed.
"Okay, but if I get haunted I'm out."
Chappu smiled.
"I won't haunt you. I promise. Now don't tell Lulu what I told you."
"Deal"
"Would you call her over? My time's almost up."
Wakka waved over for Lulu to come, and she walked over.
"Remember, I love you guys so don't let anything happen to yourselves. I don't want to see you in the farplane until your time"
Both smiled.
"I don't think that will be a problem"
Lulu said with rare sarcasm.
"I'll miss you Chappu. I'm so glad I could see you again"
"I'll see you guys later. See my image at the farplane, okay?"
Chappu started to fade, a smile still on his face as his image disappeared.
Wakka and Lulu stared for a second, and then looked at each other.
"Well, I suppose we should be getting back" Lulu said to Wakka.
"Only one problem. Where's that Oren guy?"
***
'That Oren guy' was staring Sephiroth in the face.
"As much as I would like to see you destroy half of the world and with it our hopes of this universe's salvation, I will have to decline. I promise you can go crazy once this is over in like a week, but please please PLEASE don't cause any trouble until this whole thing blows over."
"Why should I listen to you!" he asked with rage, his eyes widening and the black hole disappearing.
"I have Jessica with me"
Sephiroth's mouth froze, he became a pale that looked foreign on his face, and the green basically drained from his eyes.
"Oh. I apologize" he sheathed the Masamune and left.
"Before you ask, Jessica and Sephiroth actually have a little past. But I don't have time to explain that now. You all will have to begin training in a few hours."
Oren walked briskly out of the room as if he had somewhere to be.
Another blue flash of light followed, and Wakka reappeared with Lulu.
***
Barret sat down on the bench, Marlene still in the room they shared. He felt like he didn't have a say in all that was happening, was on a different world, and forced to interact with people he barely knew.
He saw Vincent staring blankly at a fountain. Of course nothing ever seemed to bother him. Not even the fact that he had suddenly been forced to accept a harsh new reality. Happy to a familiar face, even that of Vincent, Barret stood and walked over to him.
"Hey there, what have you been up to"?
"Don't I have a reflection?" The dark man asked out of the blue.
"What?"
"A reflection"
Barret looked down to see the reflection Vincent clearly had.
"Yeah, so?"
"Shouldn't everything have a reflection?" he asked, looking at Barret.
Barrett of course didn't know where he was going with this, but answered.
"I guess so"
"Then why, why why is everything and everyone that presides at this school referring to me as a vampire? I don't understand. I don't!"
Vincent was suddenly angry and staring straight at Barret.
"Whoa!" he jumped back. Vincent was already pretty scary, but when he was looking right at you like he wanted to kill you right there, it was enough to give you a heart attack.
"Don't do that man! You scared the damn bejeezus outta me!" Barret exclaimed.
"I'm sorry. The kids here are driving me crazy."
"What was your name? Vincent Vampire?" a student asked as she walked by.
"You see? These students are young, naïve, know very little about the horrors of the world"
"I know what you mean" Amarant walked to the fountain and stood next to Vincent by the fountain.
"They've been saying I've been from some place called Jamaica. And a few kept pullin' at my hair trying to see my eyes. Damn kids"
Vincent nodded.
"I think I'll just leave you two alone. I have to check on Marlene."
Amarant and Vincent looked at each other with a sense of understanding.
***
Seifer had wanted to talk Jessica more, but couldn't seem to find her. Finally he spotted her in the gigantic training center. She seemed to be waiting for something.
They were currently in the tropical area of the training facility, and whatever she was waiting for must have been concealed behind the large grove of trees that rustled slightly. Seifer watched from a safe distance.
Jessica lost patience, picked up a rock, and hurled it with all of her might at bush. A monstrous cry and a puff of flame escaped, as the Ruby Dragon emerged and ran off.
She put her hand to her forehead and shook her head in a sign of disapproval, her shockingly white hair swaying from side to side in its ponytail. Seifer emerged.
"Hey"
Jessica turned to him and smiled.
"Hello there, Seifer. Can I help you with anything?"
"Not really. I just wanted to talk if that's okay."
"Oh, that's fine. What about?"
"Well. . . " Seifer had a feeling about her, but was trying to get some of his points across without giving himself away. He ended up failing miserably.
"If we were to get through this alive, then would you feel like, uh, talking to a boy?"
It sounded completely lame to him, like he was a little schoolgirl talking to her friend.
A slow smile crept over her.
"I already like you, Seifer. You don't have to pretend"
Seifer was more shocked than relieved.
"Well, if this was over would you stay here?"
She then looked as if she were in deep thought.
"Well, I really have no where else to go, and this would be a nice planet. . . I don't see why not. Sure"
"Really?"
"Yes. Really."
"Cool"
There was temporary silence.
"So are you and Oren planning on training us anytime soon?"
"I really don't know the details, but he probably plans on getting you together today"
"How long will it take us to learn all that stuff?"
"Well, if he cheats a little and adds a little Zatach power, it should only take a few hours. You're already experienced fighters."
Seifer let out a whistle.
"I'd gladly give up a few hours to learn all of that."
There was a distant stomping and a T-Rexaur burst out of a congestion of trees.
"How about I teach you a little about the Zatach power right now?"
***
Sephiroth walked briskly down the hallway, thoughts about Jessica flooding his mind. He saw a small girl with red hair on his way to an empty room, near the middle of the circular floor where the dormitories were divided by sexes.
He stopped and looked up at what she was trying to get. It was a blue ball with small bumps all over it.
"I need to stop kicking those so high. . . . " she said, not noticing his presence.
When she turned and saw him, she looked hopeful.
"You're pretty tall." She said. "Could you get my blitzball down for me?"
Sephiroth blinked like he didn't understand English, and then pulled out his sword. He reversed it and picked it up by the blade, poking the hilt up at the ledge where the ball was and freeing it. It landed in her arms.
"Thanks! My name is Rikku."
"Oh" he said, uninterested. He began to continue his path.
"How about you?" Sephiroth didn't feel like answering, but he didn't feel like killing some teenager that wouldn't leave him alone.
"Sephiroth"
"That's a funny name"
"And Rikku isn't?" he turned around sheathing the Masamune like he had been doing a lot recently, feeling deeply annoyed.
"Do you want to go with me to the cafeteria? I'm a little hungry"
He was again surprised, this time by the change of subject.
"I'm not really hungry"
His stomach growled as if to object to the previous statement.
"On second thought, why not?"
As the couple continued down the hallway towards the elevator, Rikku stared at Sephiroth. He noticed, and then turned to her.
"Is my sword in backwards?"
"You have weird hair. It's silver"
". . . That's what happens when you're injected with JENOVA cells."
"Je-whata cells?"
"Never mind. You need not concern yourself with it."
They stopped, when into the elevator, and it took them to the cafeteria level. Rikku still carried her blitzball.
"How old are you?" she asked him as the elevator moved.
He looked down at her.
"That's really none of your business"
"I was only asking. You look pretty young"
"How old are you? Sixteen?"
"About. But you don't look very old at all"
"Its thanks to a little thing called Mako" Sephiroth got a little bored so he decided to go into a lecture on simpler terms about the uses and dangers of the powerful energy that basically put the planet into war.
They reached the gigantic cafeteria, and ordered from the lower level. Rikku ordered a whole sandwich entrée, Sephiroth asked for a simple glass of water. At the table she chattered on about what she did on 'Spira' as an Al Bhed and it turned out she was actually involved in some pretty incredible events.
He contemplated tricking her into letting him leave with no warning, but decided for some strange reason that he preferred to be around her.
***
Laguna, Kiros, and Ward had settled down and decided that if they were already on garden, then they might as well explore it. They were exploring the outside of the conference room when a big group of people and three more walked out. The three were Jecht, Braska and Auron. Laguna blinked at Jecht, Braska blinked at Kiros, and Auron blinked at Ward, vice versa.
It seemed to be a weird group of six.
"Uh, who might you be?" Laguna felt strangely obligated to say.
"Excuse us. My name is Braska, and these two are Jecht and Auron" he said, gesturing towards them.
"I'm Laguna, presi-" Kiros covered his mouth before his friend could go into a long story about how important he was.
"He's Laguna, I'm Kiros, and that's Ward. He can't talk so we kind of read his mind because we've known him for a while."
"Oh. Well it was nice meeting all of you" Braska and his companions turned to leave, but Laguna felt like talking to him more.
"Wait! Why don't we talk a bit in that room?"
The three were puzzled by the request.
"I actually have a son I want to catch up with. Right some wrongs" Jecht explained.
"You don't say? I have a son who doesn't even know he's my son!" Laguna said a little too loudly for the comfort of his partners. However, Jecht looked interested.
"Come on guys. We seem pretty much the same. Maybe we could strike up a conversation."
***
Zidane and Zell were lounging in the rest area near the cafeteria, mostly because Zidane was the only guy around that wasn't bored by his video game talk.
". . . And then there was Garland from the first Final Fantasy"
"What?" Zidane sat up.
"Garland from Final Fantasy" Zidane said again.
"I knew a Garland, too. He wasn't a very nice guy"
"You don't say? From what I've played, Garland from the first FF wasn't a real pal either!"
"What are the odds?" Zidane asked to himself. Another observation popped into his head.
"And remember that guy with spiky hair that carried a sword like the one at Lindblum I told you about? I bet it was Cloud!"
"Yeah. . . . ! That'd make sense wouldn't it? Although I don't know how you'd know about him"
"Well, I played a little FFVII, too, except the guy wasn't Cloud Strife. It was some other guy that looked like him"
"I bet we should ask him if he had anything to do with the development," Zell said, sitting up as well.
An announcement rang from the garden-wide intercom.
"All designated personnel, please report to the training room by direct request from Oren Murasaki. You're training is to begin now. If you were not recognized by Oren Murasaki, please remain in your position."
Zidane and Zell stood up.
"I guess that's us" the martial artist said.
***
After a few minutes, everyone that had been in Alexandria fighting Alpha- Zeta except for Cid and Marlene. Due to the timing of the call, few people had learned of the new arrivals from the farplane. Those that did were saving the surprise, trying to block out the thought that the not-so-cool arrivals were walking around campus doing whatever they pleased.
Oren paced around near the head of the room, which had glass on all sides, was about one hundred by one hundred yards long, and was lined by a blue mat covered with a polymer plastic.
"Well, I have decided that now would be a better time than any to teach you all to do the thing we do. I just wanted to say that if I do this, it would mean you are no longer limited to your current power and will be able to do far more than you could before. Just keep in mind that most of these things are fun to do but take a tremendous amount of energy and cannot be done for pleasure. I'm only saying this because if we were to be attacked, you all would be our first line of defense against the attackers. Therefore you must be at the top of your game at all times"
Now enough with the boring stuff, I'll start with the real fun. I want all of you to make sure there is space in front of you"
That wasn't a problem considering the size of the crowd and the size of the room.
"Uh, good. Anyway, I'm about to use one-fourth of the remaining power I have of Omega inside me to rain over this area and absorb itself into your bodies. Your own energy will have to prevail after that, and you'll probably be a little stronger than me."
Murmurs of all kinds of ideas came about, some of which Oren could only hope didn't include mutiny.
"It's done"
"What?" Barret asked.
"The energy is already in you, and what I did you can't really see or feel. But you'll notice an increase in performance. Could I have Seifer up here?"
Seifer walked from his position in the crowed to the front area about twenty feet ahead of the crowd and twenty feet in front of Oren and Jessica.
"Seifer, run as fast as you can to the left"
Seifer got a skeptical look, and then complied. He simply ran normally and nothing happened.
"I didn't do anything" he concluded.
"Everyone look at where Seifer ran and stare for a few seconds."
In two seconds, a trail of fire sprung up.
"Holy cow!" he jumped back to fan the flames from his shoes and everyone stared on in amazement.
"That was for confidence. Now believe you can glide"
That was all he needed. This time Seifer GLIDED a trail so fast fire stronger than before sprung up.
Jessica leaned into Oren's ear and whispered:
"Big mistake"
"We can do that!"
"Holy moly!"
"I wanna try that!" were the cries that rung out. Soon everyone was experimenting and blazing the mat with fire, smiting it, and then turning it on fire again.
"STOP! THAT IT USING A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF, never mind. Wait till you fly" Oren made another mistake. Reno floated a bit, and then levitated completely and began to zoom around. Everyone saw this and followed him, making comments. Of course it can be imagined how great it was for them to be taking flight, but the energy it took was far too much to be done for a long time, and Oren didn't feel that sort of sympathy. So instead of waiting for them to stop flying and to sensibly tell them to stop, he waited. Jessica saw what he was doing and shook her head. One by one those that had flown too much slowly came back to the ground, overwhelmed and fatigue taking over them.
"No one believed me. That takes and incredible amount of energy. This is only the first out of three days; the complicated activities are to come. For now just rest and try to master your new skills."
With that, the Zatach hurried out of the room in that special way of his, as if he was late for something.
____________________________________________________________________
AN: This is significantly shorter than the last, but is the last of its kind. For those that don't know I have played FFI-VI, but not enough to write good fanfiction. I also have to say that I will not be writing this any more this week, but every other week at about two to three chapters a week. I apologize, but I have many things to work on. But I'll give it my full effort for two to three chapters next week.
By Blue Dragon
Lambda is about as fast as a blaze on steroids. You guys are doomed.
Oren looked between Lulu, and Wakka, expectant looks mixed in with worry on their faces.
"As you know by now, people continue to lead their lives in the world of the dead. You're friend Chappu is there. I don't have the strength to bring him out, I've used it all up and it cannot be recovered because of my depletion of power. But he wanted to talk to you."
"How can my brudda talk to me from da farplane?" was Wakka's immediate question.
"He can through my translation. The image you see when you think about him is just his current projection, but if he wants to say anything then it can't be filtered through to the world of the living without any outside interference. I will act as the interference."
"We can talk him then?" Lulu stepped closer, her face that pasted a look of worry meaning expectancy.
"Yes. I will make the link"
***
Sephiroth, Ultimecia, and Seymour blinked as they looked around the conference room.
"Now that that's over. . . " Ultimecia walked out, saw a group of SeeDs and students looking the other way, and then turned around with her face paler than usual.
"S-SeeDs! There must be hundreds! I remain here!" she moved a corner tapping her foot as if expecting all of the students to magically disappear.
Cloud took a look at Sephiroth, who didn't seem to be willing to cause trouble. Key word: Seem.
"I think that first I'll kill everyone here, make a hole in the planet, and then feed off of the energy! Ha!"
"Dammit! You come back and the first thing you want to do is cause more mischief!" Cloud once again unsheathed the Ultima Weapon and gestured to his companions to do the same.
Sephiroth stared at them from the other side of the room as if they had interrupted him from something pleasant.
"Yes. I have to kill the three of you first, don't I?"
"It only took three of us to beat you last time" Tifa pointed out.
"Well I couldn't do THIS last time!"
A black circle appeared under his feet and slowly got bigger as he prepared for a previously unseen attack.
***
A powerful energy signal clicked in Oren's head.
"Sephiroth's up to no good" he said, preparing to teleport.
"What about Chappu?" Lulu asked.
"Oh yes. I will make the connection. Talk as long as you please"
Oren disappeared in a familiar blue flash of light.
Wakka and Lulu were doubtful, but walked to the edge of the farplane overlooking the beautiful fields.
They thought about the lost man, and like so many times before, his image appeared. The eyes that they had become used to seeing on Tidus looked back at them.
"Chappu?" Wakka asked the ghostly image that he had seen many times before, feeling ridiculous.
"Wakka?" The image gained his own stance and moved his lips, emitting a voice that they heard more in their minds than their ears.
"Chappu! Its really you, man! How have you been?"
"Me, I'm fine. The farplane really isn't so bad once you get used to it. How are you, Lulu?"
"Chappu. Where have you been for so long? You don't know there are people that care."
He smiled sadly.
"You haven't changed a bit have you? Still the same. The girl I loved"
Lulu gave one of her rare smiles.
"I have missed you, Chappu" she said again quietly.
"You guys don't now how happy I am to see you, the two people closest to me. But now that we've talked some, there's something important I have to tell you both."
Both went into listening position and looked at the deceased Besaidian intently.
"Except I have to tell you individually. Lulu first, okay?" the ghostly image looked at Wakka.
"Sure ting. I'll just be over dare" Wakka said, retaining his accent even in the most emotional of times.
Chappu looked to Lulu.
"Hey, I've noticed that you've been a little grumpy ever since I was gone"
She tilted her head.
"I was always grumpy"
"Right. But even more so after I died. Especially towards Wakka, huh?"
She looked down, telling Chappu he had hit the nail on the head.
"Listen. I love you. I still love you, but now that I'm gone, I there's nothing I would love more than to see you move on. To-"
"You want me to be with Wakka, don't you?"
It was Chappu's turn to look down.
"This may sound weird, but Wakka's my brother. And you were my girl. I love you both. Take care of each other. You don't have to be all mushy if you don't want, but try to be close to each other. And if you could be with him and maybe marry him--"
"Marry him!"
"Okay, maybe that's a little too far, but you know what I mean"
Lulu gave him a look.
"Fine. But only because you say so. And don't expect me to--"
"I know, I know. You don't have to do anything serious you really don't want to."
She nodded in agreement and walked over to Wakka, signaling that it was his turn.
He walked over to Chappu's place at the side of the floating landmass, and wondered why he would need to speak with him alone.
"Wakka, don't even try to hide it. You've had the hots for her since forever"
"What! Did you come all this way just to say I was hitting on your girl?"
"No, I'm here to say that we both loved her. That she both loved us"
"She loved you way more, and you loved her--"
"Wakka, please. I'm gone. Go to her. You love her, she loves you, I'm gone. You guys are lonely and you know it. If you won't do if for yourself, then do if for me. Please?"
Wakka sighed.
"If you say so. But I have to tell you, I can't promise that I'll just tro myself at her, ya? I don't exactly want to take your girl"
"At least go to her. Please?"
Wakka sighed.
"Okay, but if I get haunted I'm out."
Chappu smiled.
"I won't haunt you. I promise. Now don't tell Lulu what I told you."
"Deal"
"Would you call her over? My time's almost up."
Wakka waved over for Lulu to come, and she walked over.
"Remember, I love you guys so don't let anything happen to yourselves. I don't want to see you in the farplane until your time"
Both smiled.
"I don't think that will be a problem"
Lulu said with rare sarcasm.
"I'll miss you Chappu. I'm so glad I could see you again"
"I'll see you guys later. See my image at the farplane, okay?"
Chappu started to fade, a smile still on his face as his image disappeared.
Wakka and Lulu stared for a second, and then looked at each other.
"Well, I suppose we should be getting back" Lulu said to Wakka.
"Only one problem. Where's that Oren guy?"
***
'That Oren guy' was staring Sephiroth in the face.
"As much as I would like to see you destroy half of the world and with it our hopes of this universe's salvation, I will have to decline. I promise you can go crazy once this is over in like a week, but please please PLEASE don't cause any trouble until this whole thing blows over."
"Why should I listen to you!" he asked with rage, his eyes widening and the black hole disappearing.
"I have Jessica with me"
Sephiroth's mouth froze, he became a pale that looked foreign on his face, and the green basically drained from his eyes.
"Oh. I apologize" he sheathed the Masamune and left.
"Before you ask, Jessica and Sephiroth actually have a little past. But I don't have time to explain that now. You all will have to begin training in a few hours."
Oren walked briskly out of the room as if he had somewhere to be.
Another blue flash of light followed, and Wakka reappeared with Lulu.
***
Barret sat down on the bench, Marlene still in the room they shared. He felt like he didn't have a say in all that was happening, was on a different world, and forced to interact with people he barely knew.
He saw Vincent staring blankly at a fountain. Of course nothing ever seemed to bother him. Not even the fact that he had suddenly been forced to accept a harsh new reality. Happy to a familiar face, even that of Vincent, Barret stood and walked over to him.
"Hey there, what have you been up to"?
"Don't I have a reflection?" The dark man asked out of the blue.
"What?"
"A reflection"
Barret looked down to see the reflection Vincent clearly had.
"Yeah, so?"
"Shouldn't everything have a reflection?" he asked, looking at Barret.
Barrett of course didn't know where he was going with this, but answered.
"I guess so"
"Then why, why why is everything and everyone that presides at this school referring to me as a vampire? I don't understand. I don't!"
Vincent was suddenly angry and staring straight at Barret.
"Whoa!" he jumped back. Vincent was already pretty scary, but when he was looking right at you like he wanted to kill you right there, it was enough to give you a heart attack.
"Don't do that man! You scared the damn bejeezus outta me!" Barret exclaimed.
"I'm sorry. The kids here are driving me crazy."
"What was your name? Vincent Vampire?" a student asked as she walked by.
"You see? These students are young, naïve, know very little about the horrors of the world"
"I know what you mean" Amarant walked to the fountain and stood next to Vincent by the fountain.
"They've been saying I've been from some place called Jamaica. And a few kept pullin' at my hair trying to see my eyes. Damn kids"
Vincent nodded.
"I think I'll just leave you two alone. I have to check on Marlene."
Amarant and Vincent looked at each other with a sense of understanding.
***
Seifer had wanted to talk Jessica more, but couldn't seem to find her. Finally he spotted her in the gigantic training center. She seemed to be waiting for something.
They were currently in the tropical area of the training facility, and whatever she was waiting for must have been concealed behind the large grove of trees that rustled slightly. Seifer watched from a safe distance.
Jessica lost patience, picked up a rock, and hurled it with all of her might at bush. A monstrous cry and a puff of flame escaped, as the Ruby Dragon emerged and ran off.
She put her hand to her forehead and shook her head in a sign of disapproval, her shockingly white hair swaying from side to side in its ponytail. Seifer emerged.
"Hey"
Jessica turned to him and smiled.
"Hello there, Seifer. Can I help you with anything?"
"Not really. I just wanted to talk if that's okay."
"Oh, that's fine. What about?"
"Well. . . " Seifer had a feeling about her, but was trying to get some of his points across without giving himself away. He ended up failing miserably.
"If we were to get through this alive, then would you feel like, uh, talking to a boy?"
It sounded completely lame to him, like he was a little schoolgirl talking to her friend.
A slow smile crept over her.
"I already like you, Seifer. You don't have to pretend"
Seifer was more shocked than relieved.
"Well, if this was over would you stay here?"
She then looked as if she were in deep thought.
"Well, I really have no where else to go, and this would be a nice planet. . . I don't see why not. Sure"
"Really?"
"Yes. Really."
"Cool"
There was temporary silence.
"So are you and Oren planning on training us anytime soon?"
"I really don't know the details, but he probably plans on getting you together today"
"How long will it take us to learn all that stuff?"
"Well, if he cheats a little and adds a little Zatach power, it should only take a few hours. You're already experienced fighters."
Seifer let out a whistle.
"I'd gladly give up a few hours to learn all of that."
There was a distant stomping and a T-Rexaur burst out of a congestion of trees.
"How about I teach you a little about the Zatach power right now?"
***
Sephiroth walked briskly down the hallway, thoughts about Jessica flooding his mind. He saw a small girl with red hair on his way to an empty room, near the middle of the circular floor where the dormitories were divided by sexes.
He stopped and looked up at what she was trying to get. It was a blue ball with small bumps all over it.
"I need to stop kicking those so high. . . . " she said, not noticing his presence.
When she turned and saw him, she looked hopeful.
"You're pretty tall." She said. "Could you get my blitzball down for me?"
Sephiroth blinked like he didn't understand English, and then pulled out his sword. He reversed it and picked it up by the blade, poking the hilt up at the ledge where the ball was and freeing it. It landed in her arms.
"Thanks! My name is Rikku."
"Oh" he said, uninterested. He began to continue his path.
"How about you?" Sephiroth didn't feel like answering, but he didn't feel like killing some teenager that wouldn't leave him alone.
"Sephiroth"
"That's a funny name"
"And Rikku isn't?" he turned around sheathing the Masamune like he had been doing a lot recently, feeling deeply annoyed.
"Do you want to go with me to the cafeteria? I'm a little hungry"
He was again surprised, this time by the change of subject.
"I'm not really hungry"
His stomach growled as if to object to the previous statement.
"On second thought, why not?"
As the couple continued down the hallway towards the elevator, Rikku stared at Sephiroth. He noticed, and then turned to her.
"Is my sword in backwards?"
"You have weird hair. It's silver"
". . . That's what happens when you're injected with JENOVA cells."
"Je-whata cells?"
"Never mind. You need not concern yourself with it."
They stopped, when into the elevator, and it took them to the cafeteria level. Rikku still carried her blitzball.
"How old are you?" she asked him as the elevator moved.
He looked down at her.
"That's really none of your business"
"I was only asking. You look pretty young"
"How old are you? Sixteen?"
"About. But you don't look very old at all"
"Its thanks to a little thing called Mako" Sephiroth got a little bored so he decided to go into a lecture on simpler terms about the uses and dangers of the powerful energy that basically put the planet into war.
They reached the gigantic cafeteria, and ordered from the lower level. Rikku ordered a whole sandwich entrée, Sephiroth asked for a simple glass of water. At the table she chattered on about what she did on 'Spira' as an Al Bhed and it turned out she was actually involved in some pretty incredible events.
He contemplated tricking her into letting him leave with no warning, but decided for some strange reason that he preferred to be around her.
***
Laguna, Kiros, and Ward had settled down and decided that if they were already on garden, then they might as well explore it. They were exploring the outside of the conference room when a big group of people and three more walked out. The three were Jecht, Braska and Auron. Laguna blinked at Jecht, Braska blinked at Kiros, and Auron blinked at Ward, vice versa.
It seemed to be a weird group of six.
"Uh, who might you be?" Laguna felt strangely obligated to say.
"Excuse us. My name is Braska, and these two are Jecht and Auron" he said, gesturing towards them.
"I'm Laguna, presi-" Kiros covered his mouth before his friend could go into a long story about how important he was.
"He's Laguna, I'm Kiros, and that's Ward. He can't talk so we kind of read his mind because we've known him for a while."
"Oh. Well it was nice meeting all of you" Braska and his companions turned to leave, but Laguna felt like talking to him more.
"Wait! Why don't we talk a bit in that room?"
The three were puzzled by the request.
"I actually have a son I want to catch up with. Right some wrongs" Jecht explained.
"You don't say? I have a son who doesn't even know he's my son!" Laguna said a little too loudly for the comfort of his partners. However, Jecht looked interested.
"Come on guys. We seem pretty much the same. Maybe we could strike up a conversation."
***
Zidane and Zell were lounging in the rest area near the cafeteria, mostly because Zidane was the only guy around that wasn't bored by his video game talk.
". . . And then there was Garland from the first Final Fantasy"
"What?" Zidane sat up.
"Garland from Final Fantasy" Zidane said again.
"I knew a Garland, too. He wasn't a very nice guy"
"You don't say? From what I've played, Garland from the first FF wasn't a real pal either!"
"What are the odds?" Zidane asked to himself. Another observation popped into his head.
"And remember that guy with spiky hair that carried a sword like the one at Lindblum I told you about? I bet it was Cloud!"
"Yeah. . . . ! That'd make sense wouldn't it? Although I don't know how you'd know about him"
"Well, I played a little FFVII, too, except the guy wasn't Cloud Strife. It was some other guy that looked like him"
"I bet we should ask him if he had anything to do with the development," Zell said, sitting up as well.
An announcement rang from the garden-wide intercom.
"All designated personnel, please report to the training room by direct request from Oren Murasaki. You're training is to begin now. If you were not recognized by Oren Murasaki, please remain in your position."
Zidane and Zell stood up.
"I guess that's us" the martial artist said.
***
After a few minutes, everyone that had been in Alexandria fighting Alpha- Zeta except for Cid and Marlene. Due to the timing of the call, few people had learned of the new arrivals from the farplane. Those that did were saving the surprise, trying to block out the thought that the not-so-cool arrivals were walking around campus doing whatever they pleased.
Oren paced around near the head of the room, which had glass on all sides, was about one hundred by one hundred yards long, and was lined by a blue mat covered with a polymer plastic.
"Well, I have decided that now would be a better time than any to teach you all to do the thing we do. I just wanted to say that if I do this, it would mean you are no longer limited to your current power and will be able to do far more than you could before. Just keep in mind that most of these things are fun to do but take a tremendous amount of energy and cannot be done for pleasure. I'm only saying this because if we were to be attacked, you all would be our first line of defense against the attackers. Therefore you must be at the top of your game at all times"
Now enough with the boring stuff, I'll start with the real fun. I want all of you to make sure there is space in front of you"
That wasn't a problem considering the size of the crowd and the size of the room.
"Uh, good. Anyway, I'm about to use one-fourth of the remaining power I have of Omega inside me to rain over this area and absorb itself into your bodies. Your own energy will have to prevail after that, and you'll probably be a little stronger than me."
Murmurs of all kinds of ideas came about, some of which Oren could only hope didn't include mutiny.
"It's done"
"What?" Barret asked.
"The energy is already in you, and what I did you can't really see or feel. But you'll notice an increase in performance. Could I have Seifer up here?"
Seifer walked from his position in the crowed to the front area about twenty feet ahead of the crowd and twenty feet in front of Oren and Jessica.
"Seifer, run as fast as you can to the left"
Seifer got a skeptical look, and then complied. He simply ran normally and nothing happened.
"I didn't do anything" he concluded.
"Everyone look at where Seifer ran and stare for a few seconds."
In two seconds, a trail of fire sprung up.
"Holy cow!" he jumped back to fan the flames from his shoes and everyone stared on in amazement.
"That was for confidence. Now believe you can glide"
That was all he needed. This time Seifer GLIDED a trail so fast fire stronger than before sprung up.
Jessica leaned into Oren's ear and whispered:
"Big mistake"
"We can do that!"
"Holy moly!"
"I wanna try that!" were the cries that rung out. Soon everyone was experimenting and blazing the mat with fire, smiting it, and then turning it on fire again.
"STOP! THAT IT USING A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF, never mind. Wait till you fly" Oren made another mistake. Reno floated a bit, and then levitated completely and began to zoom around. Everyone saw this and followed him, making comments. Of course it can be imagined how great it was for them to be taking flight, but the energy it took was far too much to be done for a long time, and Oren didn't feel that sort of sympathy. So instead of waiting for them to stop flying and to sensibly tell them to stop, he waited. Jessica saw what he was doing and shook her head. One by one those that had flown too much slowly came back to the ground, overwhelmed and fatigue taking over them.
"No one believed me. That takes and incredible amount of energy. This is only the first out of three days; the complicated activities are to come. For now just rest and try to master your new skills."
With that, the Zatach hurried out of the room in that special way of his, as if he was late for something.
____________________________________________________________________
AN: This is significantly shorter than the last, but is the last of its kind. For those that don't know I have played FFI-VI, but not enough to write good fanfiction. I also have to say that I will not be writing this any more this week, but every other week at about two to three chapters a week. I apologize, but I have many things to work on. But I'll give it my full effort for two to three chapters next week.