Feeling the light breeze of the wind across his face, he could sense everything around him, whether it was from a leaf that had floated off a tree and was drifting in the wind to the particles of dust that was disturbed from the ground in a mini twister. The sun was beginning to rise as the colors of dawn raced across the still darkened sky. Waiting, as every warrior should, Squall remained in a defensive position with his left foot positioned in front of him and his right hand on the hilt of the Lionheart. His knees were slightly bent to get an even balanced as his eyes were closed to seek the perfect mental balance.
Three… It was an important part of his arts…the moves required every muscle, joint and mind to be focused. The only way to reach his ultimate power was to perfect this skill. The gunblade was a hard weapon to master but magic combined within it was harder.
Two… This was the last result though…it was the only way to beat Draken and avenge his family. Feeling the reassured presence of his Guardian Force,
One!
Stormy eyes shot open as he ran forward and pulled his gunblade out and shifted to an offensive position. SHING! SHING! The Lionheart sliced through the air with ease. Pausing, Squall placed both hands in the hilt and held the gunblade a few inches in front of his face. Swinging the gunblade back, he let go of the hilt and the spinning Lionheart flew around him in deadly circles.
Raising his fists Squall delivered a barrage of neatly done punches that were flowed by a flying uppercut and tornado kick to an invisible opponent. The momentum he built up after the combo allowed him to flip backwards into the air and holding one arm out toward the gunblade, it spun back into its owner's hand. Squall remained in the air as he focused his energy within his gunblade and preformed deadly slashes in the area around him in a circle pattern.
After each slash, sparkles of light blue energy appeared and seemed to form a mystic circle around Squall. After the final slash, he brought his gunblade back up and pulled the trigger back as the Lionheart glowed baby blue…
As he waited, grew closer and closer to the ground. A good 8 feet before landing back on the around, Squall aimed the Lionheart at the ground and fired. The mystic circle dove down after the bullet as Squall was propelled back into the air and watched his latest finishing move. The bullet struck the ground first and caused a shockwave of explosion but was muffled by the mystic circle that struck and shafts of ice shot from the ground and a wave of icicles shot down.
Landing a good few inches away from the ice impaled area - Squall surveyed his finishing move. It was nicely done but needed more power backing it if he was to fight against something like a fire demon. A calming presence comforted him in his mind.
('Thank you Shiva.') thought Squall. His mother gave the ice goddess GF to him and ever since, she had been there within his mind. It was another reason he didn't fear the icy solitude in which so many despaired of experiencing. Sheathing his gunblade, Squall concluded that the finishing move wasn't so bad – though it could be better. (There's always next time.') Shiva agreed.
Casting a Fire spell the slowly melted the ice, Squall walked toward the exit of the training area as a rustle in the bush was heard. Pausing in his tracks, Squall clenched his fists and prepared himself…
WOOSH! An end of a sharp whip shot out of the bush as Squall quickly dodged and landed on top of the whip. The blonde wielder walked out.
"Nice dodge," said Instructor Quistis Trepe. Squall merely nodded as he stepped off the whip. "Do you come here daily?"
"Yes," replied Squall. There was no reason to be rude to the woman – who would be his magic combat advisor for the year… Quistis re-coiled the whip and hung it back on her belt.
'There's his usual attitude again…' thought Quistis. 'The move I just saw him execute was pretty powerful. I don't see why he hides such skills from the others – the moves were so coordinated, it must have taken months to master that…'
"That's always a good trait in a student. Devotion," said Quistis. "The finishing move you did was quite impressive… Does it have a name?"
"…Not yet…"
"Well, you still have a lot of time since the battle exam won't start anytime soon… I was going to ask you if you wanted a practice battle against me but I'll see you later Squall," said Quistis. "I have a class to teach…" The instructor walked off and left Squall to his own thoughts.
Shrugging, the first year cadet parted from the training area as he originally intended.
******************
A dark figure in the shadows watched as the person known as Squall Leonhart walked out of the training area. The boy was strong…but was he strong enough? Smiling the shadow placed a hand on her weapon. Her mission was to get rid of the threats that may be posed by these demon hunters to the coming of her mistress. Of course, it wasn't too hard… The exams were a perfect place to stage the fatal 'accidents' that may happen… But the other part of the mission was to search for possible defects from the Academy that can serve her mistress…
"Soon enough demon hunters…you'll taste the true dangers of what pure demons can cause." Said the shadow as she disappeared in a swish.
Meanwhile…
RIIIINNNGGG!!!! A figure sleepily rolled over in bed as a hand reached out and swatted the 'Off' button. Setting back down, and falling back asleep, the figure bolts up in bed and looks at the time.
"Oh $hit!" exclaimed the figure as he ran out of bed and got ready for the day.
~*~10 minutes later~*~
The man looked in the mirror and combed his wild blonde hair. Yup, thus begins a day in the life of 17 year old Zell Dincht... Placing the comb down and grabbing his Gauntlets off the dresser, he slipped them on.
As Zell did, he remembered the exams were today and his clutched his fists together. Being in the demon-hunting academy was something he had always wanted to do since his grandfather was originally a demon hunter that was killed in the line of duty. It was also his chance to prove himself to everyone else that looked down on him.
'Dream on ChickenWuss.'
Seifer… That name rang like a bitter curse in Zell's head. It from Seifer that most of his motivation came from … Even in grade school, Seifer had always made fun of him and now, they were both in the demon-hunting academy and the 'rivalries' began again. No, Zell won't call them rivals since Seifer's 'rival' was a fellow first year named Squall Leonhart.
Zell had only seen Squall and Seifer duel once and it was in the armed combat class with dull edged practice swords. Even though Seifer was a more experienced higher classmate, Squall was able to match the strength and agility shown by Seifer. No one came victorious though; it was a draw since the instructor thought the battle had preceded for long enough.
Of course, Zell always had a feeling that Squall could have kicked Seifer's @$$ - he never saw it done before. The two had shared a dorm last year and Squall was always out of bed before Zell and usually woke the martial artist up.
'So that's the reason why I'm late this year… Damn, where's Squall when you need him,' thought Zell. Squall may have been cold and quiet but eventually, Zell was able to become his friend. It was a friendship that mostly benefited Zell since… Realization struck him. 'Wait, why am I recapping on this stuff?'
The reason why he had set his alarm clock – to get to the cafeteria before everyone else did. The purpose was to get some hotdogs before the cafeteria woman's famous 'Sorry we're out' line. Zell shook his head and remembered Instructor Aki's harsh comment about him being sidetracked too easily.
'Perhaps he was right…' thought Zell as he zipped out of the door.
A/N: So how is it so far? Sorry about the slow updates on all fanfics but school has been a &@^% on the workload lately. Yeah, this chapter was a little short but don't worry, the next chapter will be lengthier.
Thanks to Rhi-an, Dara103, and Kikoken for the lovely reviews!
Rhi-an, thanks for reviewing and hopefully this fanfic would turn out well. ^_^
Dara103, to answer the part about Squall's parents getting murdered by demons, that will play a big role in the plot later on.
Kikoken, yeah school has been a drag. I'm glad you're still alive and I'm looking forward to reading the update on 'Final Fantasy Legacy'.
To everyone, I hope everyone has a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving!
I'm thankful for Squaresoft for FF8 and to Fanfiction.Net for this wonderful fanfic website where people can post their fanfics. Also, I'm thankful for everyone here that has been utterly helpful and supportive. There are quite a few other things I'm thankful for but I gtg – the turkey is waiting… ~_^
~Ari