The Blade Of A Lion
Chapter 6
Squall, Selphie and Zell went off the elevator as soon as it stopped, and didn't hesitated long to make their way out of the communication tower. Squall thought a little about what they had just experienced. The Galbadians seemed to have been after the communication tower all along, for reasons he was not able to figure out at all. Why? What was so special about this tower? 'On the other hand, it's probably none of my business,' he thought. What was supposed to be worrying him, was the fact that he and the others had disobeyed orders and left the area they had been dispatched too. It was Seifer's decision, but still...
Thoughts like this crept through Squall's mind as he and the others went through the doors and got on the outside. They were about to run for the city, when they suddenly could hear a mechanical screech above them. Squall looked up, as did Zell and Selphie along with him.
Standing on the platform they had been to just a few minutes ago, was some kind of weird machine, shaped like a spider with four legs. It was moving its way to the end of the platform with swift movements, then stopping for a while on the ledge. 'That thing can't possibly be so stupid it will jump all the way down from there?' Squall thought to himself. The spider-machine proved him more than wrong as it practically jumped off the platform and fell down towards them.
"Look out!" Squall shouted as they threw themselves in different directions to avoid being crushed by the machine, which now appeared to be a gigantic, robotic construction. It wasn't looking very friendly, either. The gigantic spider turned to the SeeD candidates, looking threatening. Squall returned the gaze upon taking out his gunblade. Selphie took out her nunchaku and Zell took a fighting stance. The machine extended a foot towards Zell, and tried to stab him with the sharp end. Only quick reflexes stopped Zell from taking a real beating.
Squall was feeling a bit bad. He still hadn't recovered fully from the beating Elvoret had given him, and this machine looked like a tough opponent. Zell threw a Scan on it. The result of the scan was way beyond comforting. But one thing was showing, though.
"X-ATM092! It's weakness is thunder!" Squall exclaimed through gritted teeth. "Zell, You have Quetzacotl, right?"
"Yup!" Zell answered, glaring at the machine.
"Wait!" Selphie said, looking at the machine with real concentration. "It has Protect spells!" Squall looked at her, then checking himself. It was true, the X-ATM092 carried Protect spells. Squall immediately stocked a draw of Protect. But the hesitation had not been wise. It had given the machine time to prepare for a hard attack. The machine roared, before it smashed all of it four legs down into the ground, its nose glowing.
"Watch out!" Squall shouted at the same second as a bright yellow beam shot out of the spider. It hit the ground in front of them, ripping mud, stone and grass violently to pieces of dust. The SeeD candidates were hit by the heat, rocks and the shockwave that followed from the energy ray the X- ATM092-machine had unleashed. The blast was incredible. Selphie managed to stand up and see the machine heading for her, extending one leg to stab her. She rolled back on her feet, and as the leg came, she stepped aside, throwing the nunchaku chain around the machine's leg. The little girl held the leg out, but weren't able to do it for long. The beating had worn her out pretty bad, as well as the others, too. The X-ATM092 growled, and managed to free itself from Selphie's grip.
"Quetzacotl!" Zell suddenly shouted. Selphie's holding had bought him time. The X-ATM092 moved towards him, extending a leg to stab him. Zell didn't move. He was concentrated on summoning the GF. The machine-spider hit the blonde youth full-force with its leg, a stab that could be crushing stones. But Zell remained standing. Not one mark from the stab was shown on him.
"Get back!" Squall called to Selphie, and the two backed off from the battlefield.
"Thunder Storm!" Zell howled towards the sky, before backing off himself.
The sky grew darker all the sudden, clouds gathered over the battlefield where now the mechanical spider were standing alone, the SeeD candidates had backed off. Suddenly, a thunderbolt struck the ground with a mighty roar, giving birth to a spinning, green being, slowly shaping from the whirling electricity. Quetzacotl, the bird of thunder spread its wings and turned towards its enemy, the robot spider X-ATM092. Its beak started to glow, slowly, but surely getting brighter and brighter, from red to yellow, from yellow to blue, from lightening blue to shining whiter, before a swarm of thunderbolts hit the machine, as well as the ground around it. Quetzacotl ascended, still frying the enemy with the blazing lightning. As the great bird arose, a mighty dome of electricity ascended with it. It surrounded its enemy completely, making it look pathetic inside the giant dome. Quetzacotl released the electrical storm from its beak, and flew onwards up to the sky, but the dome remained on the ground, forming a shining light on the top of it. Quetzacotl turned to watch the great dome from far up. As the green bird let out a sharp screech, the dome unleashed all its wrath down on the X-ATM092. A lightning bolt struck down from top of the dome, hammering cascades of electricity onto the spider.
It was enough. X-ATM092 fell together like a wounded animal, twitching a few times before getting silent.
"Let's get the hell outta here!" Zell suggested, and the other two agreed. They left the beaten machine at the gates of the communication tower and started to head towards town. They still had 23 minutes. As they rounded the turn, they heard huge, mechanical noises. Something was walking with heavy steps nearby. And around the turn, the X-ATM092 came, repaired and regenerated. Zell's jaw dropped.
"I thought we already busted that thing up!?" he inquired. X-ATM092 obviously didn't agree with him. Zell took a fighting stance, but Squall stopped him.
"Forget it! Let's go!" he said, and something in his tone made sure Zell didn't want to argue with him. "Move!" Squall said as the machine started following them, quite angry from the last fight. The SeeD cadets started to run, the X-ATM092 just behind them.
It turned to be a race of dimensions. For its size, the machine knew very well how to move fast. Squall, Zell and Selphie raced down the mountainside, sliding and climbing the fastest they could to get downtown. The X-ATM092 followed them close by. Where the SeeD cadets had to climb to avoid losing the step and fall down, the machine just kept on walking, not considering safety for a minute.
Eventually, they reached the place where Squall, Zell and Seifer had found the wounded soldier. Now, he was nowhere to be seen. Either a monster ate him, or he had managed to make it somewhere safe. Squall never gave it a second thought. Their stalker were coming right behind them, and were catching up real fast. The SeeD cadets' breathings started to get heavy, especially Selphie's. But they kept on running. The clashing sound that could be heard every time one of the legs hit the ground, boosted the adrenaline within Selphie, Squall and Zell. The cadets ran over the bridge, the machine right behind them. Suddenly, t X-ATM092 took a great leap, over the SeeD candidates, and landed in front of them, blocking their way.
"Not again...," Selphie panted. But she took out her nunchaku, as Squall took out his gunblade again.
"Summon, Zell! I'll keep it!" Squall ordered through gritted teeth. The cries "Quetzacotl" and "Renzokuken" came almost simultaneously. Squall glowed his red limit break light and leaped at the X-ATM092. With brute force, he brought himself down on the machine, metal meeting metal on its weaker points. Squall stabbed the robot four times, before performing an humongous backflip, giving the machine the last blow full-force in its face. Squall, trembled, and Selphie rushed to him to help him out of the way as soon as possible. As they ran off, Zell's cry again howled towards the sky.
"Thunder Storm!"
The bird of thunder came to build its dome of electricity once more. Just as before, X-ATM092 got itself a deep fry before Quetzacotl flew back up into the sky. And the machine fell again.
"Come on, let's get the hell outta here!" Zell said as they ran past the machine and headed into town. They didn't get further than back to the central square before X-ATM092 were back on its feet, chasing them. It headed into town, and where the streets were too small, it just made its way through the walls and the houses. Nothing stopped the furious spider.
At the central square, Doggy Furface was still standing. It barked and wag its tail happily at Squall and offered him to play. Squall couldn't bear leaving the dog, and he bent down, took its face in his hands, and looked it straight in the eyes. The message was clear. "Go!" Squall said. The dog ran off, while the SeeD cadets ran towards the shore. The X-ATM092 machine came right behind them, crushing road and the cars that were standing in the streets with it.
As Squall, Zell and Selphie passed the bar and the bridge from earlier, three SeeD candidates came out through the doors. One look at the X-ATM092, and they were on their way to the shore as well.
"Squad C, withdraw!"
"Roger!" they said. Everyone ran down the street, away from the mechanical beast. Squall looked back, and saw X-ATM092 trying to climb over the little bridge, instead of just bashing through it. But suddenly, he understood why, and that made him speed up even more. The others were way ahead of him. X-ATM092 leaped off the bridge. But its aim wasn't exactly good. The spider crashed through a roof, totally off course. But it didn't stop it, nor made it lose its target. Just behind Squall, it bashed straight through the wall, and started chasing after him again. The range between the SeeD cadet and the machine weren't much more that a few meters as Squall and the X-ATM092 came out of the streets, and saw Lapin beach one more time. Squall ran to the ledge above the beach and just flipped over the ledge, X-ATM092 following right behind him. It was a long drop for the both of them. Squall landed rough on his feet, while the X-ATM092, driven onward by programming and rage, took a dive straight down in the sand.
Selphie stopped down by the vessel and looked back towards Squall and the X- ATM092 with a worried expression on her face. Zell looked back as well, before jumping aboard the vessel. Quistis waited for him in there.
"Squall's in trouble!" he groaned to Quistis between heavy breath. Quistis looked upwards to the town, and saw the giant spider lay down in the sand, Squall just in front of it. The gunblader struggled onto his feet, mobilising what he wore of strength to run the last part down to the vessel.
The X-ATM092 didn't take long to regain from the sudden shock of hitting sand. Within not long, it was back up on its feet, it's scope locked onto the human running down towards the shore. It started to glow again, collecting all its energy for a blast towards the human being. Squall could feel his legs being tired. Zell waved at him from the vessel.
"Come on, buddy! You can do it!" Zell shouted at him. Squall ran all he could, listening to the sound of the X-ATM092 following right behind him. The youth took a deep breath and leaped towards the vessel waiting for him, just as the X-ATM092 caught up with him, extending a claw, ready to drag him back to the beach and kill him.
It never got that far. Over the whole beach, a roar of rapid gunfire could suddenly be heard. Quistis Trepe locked her aim at the X-ATM092 and fired the best she could do. The spider-robot twitched, trembled and screeched as Quistis pumped loads and loads of bullets in its machinery. Squall looked back at the beach through closing doors, watching the X-ATM092 fell to the ground as the vessel backed out from the beach and sat a course for Balamb. Back on the beach, X-ATM092 exploded into bits of circuits and metal, blowing a good hole in the sand as well.
Into the vessel, Squall fell flat on all four. He breathe heavily, as well as Selphie and Zell. Xu came to them.
"Come here, and get some rest. You can sleep all the way back to Balamb if you'd like!" she said.
Squall couldn't remember where he lay down, or how he found it. All he knew, was that he rested, and was way beyond anything as the vessel headed back.
Some time later, the vessels came ashore in Balamb. Seifer were first out of the vessel, followed by Squall, Zell and Selphie. They were back on their feet now, after gotten some rest, water and a few Cure spells. As soon as Seifer came ashore, two youths ran to him.
"SEIFER!" Fujin said, approaching him. Raijin followed right behind.
"How'd it go?" Raijin inquired. Seifer rolled his eyes.
"Man... All they did was get in my way," he said with a tired voice. "Being a leader ain't easy!" he added. Squall could hear Zell growl behind him. Selphie just rolled her eyes.
"SAFE?" Fujin asked. Seifer just nodded, before he started walking. Squall, Zell and Selphie centred their attention towards Quistis, who came out of the vessel. She looked at them, especially at Squall, it seemed.
"Good job!" she said, and smiled proud. Then she looked a little closer at them all. "Where's Seifer?" she asked.
Squall pointed towards Seifer, Fujin and Raijin that walked towards the garden car. Quistis nodded. "Just be back at garden by sundown. You're free 'til then," she said. "Ok, dismissed!" The three cadets saluted her before heading towards the garden car. The car had already started, and was heading out of the harbour before any of them could catch up with it. Squall shook his head.
"H-Hey!!!" Zell shouted, running after the car for a while. Then he threw his hands up in the air and sighed. "Not again, man! There goes Mr. Ego...," he growled as Squall and Selphie approached him.
"Might as well walk it!" Squall said, receiving a nod from the two others. AS soon as settled, the three SeeD cadets headed their way back to Balamb Garden.
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I got this chapter out sooner than I expected. Dunno when next chap will come, though. I'll try not to make you wait too long. There are plenty of room for reviews, so R&R. All comments are welcome.
Chapter 6
Squall, Selphie and Zell went off the elevator as soon as it stopped, and didn't hesitated long to make their way out of the communication tower. Squall thought a little about what they had just experienced. The Galbadians seemed to have been after the communication tower all along, for reasons he was not able to figure out at all. Why? What was so special about this tower? 'On the other hand, it's probably none of my business,' he thought. What was supposed to be worrying him, was the fact that he and the others had disobeyed orders and left the area they had been dispatched too. It was Seifer's decision, but still...
Thoughts like this crept through Squall's mind as he and the others went through the doors and got on the outside. They were about to run for the city, when they suddenly could hear a mechanical screech above them. Squall looked up, as did Zell and Selphie along with him.
Standing on the platform they had been to just a few minutes ago, was some kind of weird machine, shaped like a spider with four legs. It was moving its way to the end of the platform with swift movements, then stopping for a while on the ledge. 'That thing can't possibly be so stupid it will jump all the way down from there?' Squall thought to himself. The spider-machine proved him more than wrong as it practically jumped off the platform and fell down towards them.
"Look out!" Squall shouted as they threw themselves in different directions to avoid being crushed by the machine, which now appeared to be a gigantic, robotic construction. It wasn't looking very friendly, either. The gigantic spider turned to the SeeD candidates, looking threatening. Squall returned the gaze upon taking out his gunblade. Selphie took out her nunchaku and Zell took a fighting stance. The machine extended a foot towards Zell, and tried to stab him with the sharp end. Only quick reflexes stopped Zell from taking a real beating.
Squall was feeling a bit bad. He still hadn't recovered fully from the beating Elvoret had given him, and this machine looked like a tough opponent. Zell threw a Scan on it. The result of the scan was way beyond comforting. But one thing was showing, though.
"X-ATM092! It's weakness is thunder!" Squall exclaimed through gritted teeth. "Zell, You have Quetzacotl, right?"
"Yup!" Zell answered, glaring at the machine.
"Wait!" Selphie said, looking at the machine with real concentration. "It has Protect spells!" Squall looked at her, then checking himself. It was true, the X-ATM092 carried Protect spells. Squall immediately stocked a draw of Protect. But the hesitation had not been wise. It had given the machine time to prepare for a hard attack. The machine roared, before it smashed all of it four legs down into the ground, its nose glowing.
"Watch out!" Squall shouted at the same second as a bright yellow beam shot out of the spider. It hit the ground in front of them, ripping mud, stone and grass violently to pieces of dust. The SeeD candidates were hit by the heat, rocks and the shockwave that followed from the energy ray the X- ATM092-machine had unleashed. The blast was incredible. Selphie managed to stand up and see the machine heading for her, extending one leg to stab her. She rolled back on her feet, and as the leg came, she stepped aside, throwing the nunchaku chain around the machine's leg. The little girl held the leg out, but weren't able to do it for long. The beating had worn her out pretty bad, as well as the others, too. The X-ATM092 growled, and managed to free itself from Selphie's grip.
"Quetzacotl!" Zell suddenly shouted. Selphie's holding had bought him time. The X-ATM092 moved towards him, extending a leg to stab him. Zell didn't move. He was concentrated on summoning the GF. The machine-spider hit the blonde youth full-force with its leg, a stab that could be crushing stones. But Zell remained standing. Not one mark from the stab was shown on him.
"Get back!" Squall called to Selphie, and the two backed off from the battlefield.
"Thunder Storm!" Zell howled towards the sky, before backing off himself.
The sky grew darker all the sudden, clouds gathered over the battlefield where now the mechanical spider were standing alone, the SeeD candidates had backed off. Suddenly, a thunderbolt struck the ground with a mighty roar, giving birth to a spinning, green being, slowly shaping from the whirling electricity. Quetzacotl, the bird of thunder spread its wings and turned towards its enemy, the robot spider X-ATM092. Its beak started to glow, slowly, but surely getting brighter and brighter, from red to yellow, from yellow to blue, from lightening blue to shining whiter, before a swarm of thunderbolts hit the machine, as well as the ground around it. Quetzacotl ascended, still frying the enemy with the blazing lightning. As the great bird arose, a mighty dome of electricity ascended with it. It surrounded its enemy completely, making it look pathetic inside the giant dome. Quetzacotl released the electrical storm from its beak, and flew onwards up to the sky, but the dome remained on the ground, forming a shining light on the top of it. Quetzacotl turned to watch the great dome from far up. As the green bird let out a sharp screech, the dome unleashed all its wrath down on the X-ATM092. A lightning bolt struck down from top of the dome, hammering cascades of electricity onto the spider.
It was enough. X-ATM092 fell together like a wounded animal, twitching a few times before getting silent.
"Let's get the hell outta here!" Zell suggested, and the other two agreed. They left the beaten machine at the gates of the communication tower and started to head towards town. They still had 23 minutes. As they rounded the turn, they heard huge, mechanical noises. Something was walking with heavy steps nearby. And around the turn, the X-ATM092 came, repaired and regenerated. Zell's jaw dropped.
"I thought we already busted that thing up!?" he inquired. X-ATM092 obviously didn't agree with him. Zell took a fighting stance, but Squall stopped him.
"Forget it! Let's go!" he said, and something in his tone made sure Zell didn't want to argue with him. "Move!" Squall said as the machine started following them, quite angry from the last fight. The SeeD cadets started to run, the X-ATM092 just behind them.
It turned to be a race of dimensions. For its size, the machine knew very well how to move fast. Squall, Zell and Selphie raced down the mountainside, sliding and climbing the fastest they could to get downtown. The X-ATM092 followed them close by. Where the SeeD cadets had to climb to avoid losing the step and fall down, the machine just kept on walking, not considering safety for a minute.
Eventually, they reached the place where Squall, Zell and Seifer had found the wounded soldier. Now, he was nowhere to be seen. Either a monster ate him, or he had managed to make it somewhere safe. Squall never gave it a second thought. Their stalker were coming right behind them, and were catching up real fast. The SeeD cadets' breathings started to get heavy, especially Selphie's. But they kept on running. The clashing sound that could be heard every time one of the legs hit the ground, boosted the adrenaline within Selphie, Squall and Zell. The cadets ran over the bridge, the machine right behind them. Suddenly, t X-ATM092 took a great leap, over the SeeD candidates, and landed in front of them, blocking their way.
"Not again...," Selphie panted. But she took out her nunchaku, as Squall took out his gunblade again.
"Summon, Zell! I'll keep it!" Squall ordered through gritted teeth. The cries "Quetzacotl" and "Renzokuken" came almost simultaneously. Squall glowed his red limit break light and leaped at the X-ATM092. With brute force, he brought himself down on the machine, metal meeting metal on its weaker points. Squall stabbed the robot four times, before performing an humongous backflip, giving the machine the last blow full-force in its face. Squall, trembled, and Selphie rushed to him to help him out of the way as soon as possible. As they ran off, Zell's cry again howled towards the sky.
"Thunder Storm!"
The bird of thunder came to build its dome of electricity once more. Just as before, X-ATM092 got itself a deep fry before Quetzacotl flew back up into the sky. And the machine fell again.
"Come on, let's get the hell outta here!" Zell said as they ran past the machine and headed into town. They didn't get further than back to the central square before X-ATM092 were back on its feet, chasing them. It headed into town, and where the streets were too small, it just made its way through the walls and the houses. Nothing stopped the furious spider.
At the central square, Doggy Furface was still standing. It barked and wag its tail happily at Squall and offered him to play. Squall couldn't bear leaving the dog, and he bent down, took its face in his hands, and looked it straight in the eyes. The message was clear. "Go!" Squall said. The dog ran off, while the SeeD cadets ran towards the shore. The X-ATM092 machine came right behind them, crushing road and the cars that were standing in the streets with it.
As Squall, Zell and Selphie passed the bar and the bridge from earlier, three SeeD candidates came out through the doors. One look at the X-ATM092, and they were on their way to the shore as well.
"Squad C, withdraw!"
"Roger!" they said. Everyone ran down the street, away from the mechanical beast. Squall looked back, and saw X-ATM092 trying to climb over the little bridge, instead of just bashing through it. But suddenly, he understood why, and that made him speed up even more. The others were way ahead of him. X-ATM092 leaped off the bridge. But its aim wasn't exactly good. The spider crashed through a roof, totally off course. But it didn't stop it, nor made it lose its target. Just behind Squall, it bashed straight through the wall, and started chasing after him again. The range between the SeeD cadet and the machine weren't much more that a few meters as Squall and the X-ATM092 came out of the streets, and saw Lapin beach one more time. Squall ran to the ledge above the beach and just flipped over the ledge, X-ATM092 following right behind him. It was a long drop for the both of them. Squall landed rough on his feet, while the X-ATM092, driven onward by programming and rage, took a dive straight down in the sand.
Selphie stopped down by the vessel and looked back towards Squall and the X- ATM092 with a worried expression on her face. Zell looked back as well, before jumping aboard the vessel. Quistis waited for him in there.
"Squall's in trouble!" he groaned to Quistis between heavy breath. Quistis looked upwards to the town, and saw the giant spider lay down in the sand, Squall just in front of it. The gunblader struggled onto his feet, mobilising what he wore of strength to run the last part down to the vessel.
The X-ATM092 didn't take long to regain from the sudden shock of hitting sand. Within not long, it was back up on its feet, it's scope locked onto the human running down towards the shore. It started to glow again, collecting all its energy for a blast towards the human being. Squall could feel his legs being tired. Zell waved at him from the vessel.
"Come on, buddy! You can do it!" Zell shouted at him. Squall ran all he could, listening to the sound of the X-ATM092 following right behind him. The youth took a deep breath and leaped towards the vessel waiting for him, just as the X-ATM092 caught up with him, extending a claw, ready to drag him back to the beach and kill him.
It never got that far. Over the whole beach, a roar of rapid gunfire could suddenly be heard. Quistis Trepe locked her aim at the X-ATM092 and fired the best she could do. The spider-robot twitched, trembled and screeched as Quistis pumped loads and loads of bullets in its machinery. Squall looked back at the beach through closing doors, watching the X-ATM092 fell to the ground as the vessel backed out from the beach and sat a course for Balamb. Back on the beach, X-ATM092 exploded into bits of circuits and metal, blowing a good hole in the sand as well.
Into the vessel, Squall fell flat on all four. He breathe heavily, as well as Selphie and Zell. Xu came to them.
"Come here, and get some rest. You can sleep all the way back to Balamb if you'd like!" she said.
Squall couldn't remember where he lay down, or how he found it. All he knew, was that he rested, and was way beyond anything as the vessel headed back.
Some time later, the vessels came ashore in Balamb. Seifer were first out of the vessel, followed by Squall, Zell and Selphie. They were back on their feet now, after gotten some rest, water and a few Cure spells. As soon as Seifer came ashore, two youths ran to him.
"SEIFER!" Fujin said, approaching him. Raijin followed right behind.
"How'd it go?" Raijin inquired. Seifer rolled his eyes.
"Man... All they did was get in my way," he said with a tired voice. "Being a leader ain't easy!" he added. Squall could hear Zell growl behind him. Selphie just rolled her eyes.
"SAFE?" Fujin asked. Seifer just nodded, before he started walking. Squall, Zell and Selphie centred their attention towards Quistis, who came out of the vessel. She looked at them, especially at Squall, it seemed.
"Good job!" she said, and smiled proud. Then she looked a little closer at them all. "Where's Seifer?" she asked.
Squall pointed towards Seifer, Fujin and Raijin that walked towards the garden car. Quistis nodded. "Just be back at garden by sundown. You're free 'til then," she said. "Ok, dismissed!" The three cadets saluted her before heading towards the garden car. The car had already started, and was heading out of the harbour before any of them could catch up with it. Squall shook his head.
"H-Hey!!!" Zell shouted, running after the car for a while. Then he threw his hands up in the air and sighed. "Not again, man! There goes Mr. Ego...," he growled as Squall and Selphie approached him.
"Might as well walk it!" Squall said, receiving a nod from the two others. AS soon as settled, the three SeeD cadets headed their way back to Balamb Garden.
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I got this chapter out sooner than I expected. Dunno when next chap will come, though. I'll try not to make you wait too long. There are plenty of room for reviews, so R&R. All comments are welcome.