CHAPTER XI (A): FIVE VS. FIVE, ONE-ON-ONE
Inside the training center, the five young teens are wandering around. Roger is searching impatiently for some Grats. Zack followed him from behind with Amber beside him. Jacky and Cindy walked together calmly, not really wanting to fight with anything at the moment.
"Man, isn't there, at least, one monster to fight with?" Roger exclaimed as he beat some bushes with his rod.
He was feeling a little frustrated that they have not met any monsters since they entered the center.
"Roger, stop looking for them. They're probably resting at this time," Cindy told him.
Roger laughed as he answered her, "Stop kidding yourself! I have been fighting monsters since I started using a stick and I have never seen a monster that rests at this time of day."
It was late in the morning and it has already been quite a while since they entered the center. After another while has passed, Amber sees a path leading to somewhere. It was a metal-plated path near some rocks.
"Where does that path lead to?"
Hearing her, everyone looked towards where she was looking at.
"That leads to the place that Quistis told us some time ago," Roger explained to her, "It was supposed to be a secret for some in the garden, but it didn't take long before almost every student in the garden knew about it."
"Don't forget the instructors," Cindy continued after him.
"Yeah, that's right."
"Oh, I see," Amber, looking at the path, "Are we going there?"
"Yeah, right after I fight some monsters," Roger answered before heading towards the bushes again.
As he went on beating the bushes again, Jacky said to him, "Uh, Roger. I think the reason why we have not seen any monsters, since we entered the center, is because you have been scaring them with your beating on the bushes."
Just as he was done, Roger stopped his body completely for a moment before he turned his head towards the group.
"Do you think so?"
"Yeah, Roger, I think that may be it," Zack answered.
"Okay." was all Roger said, as he withdrew back his stick and turned to the group, "So, what am I supposed to do?"
"How about stop beating the bushes and let's just go to that place and rest?" Jacky suggested sharply to Roger, "Is that fine with you?"
"All right, fine. Let's go," Roger sighed before he walked towards the group.
Only taking a few steps, the five were suddenly surprised when five Grats appeared and attacked them. Luckily for them, the Grats' attack only surprised them. As the five grouped together, they prepared themselves for a fight, but to their surprise, the Grats had formed a circle around them, surrounding them.
Surprisingly, Roger smiled before he shouted to Jacky, "Hey, maybe you were right, Jack!"
Jacky just sighed at that as he said tiresomely once more, "Let's just get this over with."
He then continued, "Battle tactic one-on-one! One of them and one of us, got it?"
"Gotcha!" Roger answered, swinging his stick around with his eyes focused on one of the Grats that stood in front of him.
"Let's dance, shall we?" he said, cheekily smiling at it.
Jacky rolled his eyes when he heard him, "So childish."
Zack, on the other hand, smiled happily. It was funny to see Roger so excited about fighting monsters. Looking at the Grat in front of him, he continued smiling.
"Never thought that I would ever get the chance to fight you, Grat," he whispered to himself, as he stood in his attack pose with the Ultimega Sword ready in his hands. The Grat unpleasantly growled at him as its four tentacles swung around in the air, ready to attack.
"Sorry, but I'm going to have to let that be your last movement in your life," Zack said before charging towards it.
With its low evasive ability, the Grat could not evade Zack's attack and one of its tentacles was cut off. It cried gruesomely as it flinched after the attack. Giving an attack opportunity, Zack stabbed his sword right through the Grat's body. As he jumped away from the Grat, the Grat's blood sprayed out from the wound as it fell to the ground and vanished. Having killed his Grat, Zack looked at the others' progress.
Waiting for a counter move, Jacky stood ready to attack. Zack was a little surprised to see his weapon, or was it weapons, he thought. They were unlike any other sword he has ever seen or imagined. The blades of the swords were normal, but the strange part about them was their handles. The handles were placed at the side of the swords unlike the normal swords or the one Zack used. Holding the handles tightly, the blades of the swords laid along the bottom side of Jacky's arms. The tips of the blades reached pass his elbows.
Just then, the Grat suddenly charged towards Jacky with its tentacles ready to attack. However, Jacky was quick enough to jump aside. Just as he landed on the ground, he quickly charged back at the Grat and slashed a mean wound at the Grat's body. The Grat cried a gruesome cry of pain before vanishing into thin air.
Still in the pose that he attacked the Grat in, he sighed before saying, "You Grats aren't much of a challenge for my Sahara Side-bladers."
As he stood back upright, Jacky slowly slipped his sword into their cases, which hung on his belt and along his legs. Then, he looked to his left. Zack followed suit. It was Cindy that Jacky had turned his attention to, Zack realized, when he saw her. She was standing calmly in front of her Grat. The Grat seemed to be waiting for her to move first.
"Hmph, it has been a while now and you've not move once. I guess you're waiting for me to move," she said to the monster, smiling, "Thank you for being a gentleman. I mean, gentlemonster, but that is a mistake for you."
Raising her right hand close to her face, she chanted, "Eye of Ruby! Gaze like the ruby you are! And cast the magic that you are command to cast!"
After her chant, she kissed, what seemed to Zack, a ring on one of her fingers. To his surprise, the ring suddenly started to glow after her kiss.
"Ruby! Cast, Blizzaga!" Cindy commanded, punching out her right hand towards the monster.
As she did, the ring's glow suddenly shot out a beam towards the Grat. When the beam hit the monster, the monster completely turned into ice. That was not all. Then, a giant block of ice suddenly appeared right on the Grat. After a short moment, the ice shattered away, revealing the monster once more. But just as the last ice disappeared, the Grat suddenly cried out gruesomely before falling to the ground and vanishing away. Putting her hand down, the glow on the ring slowly faded away. Just as it did, Jacky walked towards her.
"Are you alright?"
Turning around towards him, she smiled while answering, "Yeah, I'm alright."
Jacky smiled when he heard that. On the other hand, Zack had been watching them, still standing at where he killed his Grat. Just then, they all heard a loud war cry. They turned towards where it came from. It came from Roger. He was completely having fun playing with his Grat, although the Grat seemed to be annoyed and tired.
"Man, this is FUN!" shouted Roger as he circled the tired Grat.
Zack looked towards Jacky. His hand was rubbing his forehead. He was feeling sort of embarrassed. Zack laughed. He knew the reason why Jacky did so. It was because of Roger's childish behavior. Just then, they heard another war cry from Roger. He was charging towards the Grat. Just as he was a few feet away from the monster, it tried to attack him but missed. Roger was still playing with it. He did not actually want to attack it just yet. He still wanted to play with it some more.
"Just finish it off, Roger!" Zack heard Jacky shouted, finally.
Stopping for a moment, Roger looked back at Jacky as he shouted childishly, "Just a few more minutes!"
"Just finish it! NOW!"
"Aw, fine," mumbled Roger. Looking at the Grat, he said confidently, "I guess I can't play with you anymore. So, I guess it's time for the quick goodbye."
He then charges at the Grat. With one blow from Roger's Stalag Onyx Stick, the Grat immediately fell to the ground and vanished. Still standing in his attacking pose, he sighed disappointingly.
"That wasn't fun."
Jacky sighed when he heard that. Zack laughed when he saw that.
"No matter what happens, Roger will always behave like a little boy, won't he, Jacky?" said Cindy.
Jacky sighs again before continuing, "He is so childish."
Cindy giggled a little.
"Four down, one left. And that's Amber's," thought Zack, turning towards where Amber was.
She did not seem to have much trouble with her Grat. However, he did notice something. The Grat was not injured or even harmed. Just then, Amber shot a bullet at the Grat. Zack thought that it was a hit but instead, it was a miss. The Grat had dodged the flying bullet, unlike the earlier Grats, which were slow moving. It was then that he realized that Amber has gone up against a fast-moving Grat.
"Amber, do you need help?" Zack shouted at her.
"No, I'm fine!" she shouted back with her eyes still on the Grat.
"If it's okay, Amber, let me slow that Grat down for you," Cindy shouted, stretching out her ring, which started to glow again.
Kissing her ring again, Cindy shouted, "Slow!"
A beam shot out from the ring again, hitting the Grat without any problem.
"It shouldn't give you any more trouble now, Amber," Cindy shouted to Amber.
"Thanks, Cindy," Amber shouted back as she aimed at the now slow-moving Grat.
She took a few shots at the Grat and it was a hit with every one of it. The Grat cried agonizingly as it dropped to the ground. However, it did not vanish yet. Weakly, it spat some liquid from its mouth.
"Gastric Juice!" thought Zack, recognizing the attack, which are only done by Grats.
The juice was flying through the air heading for Amber, who was still unaware of the danger.
"Amber!" shouted Zack urgently.
Just as Amber finally realized the juice heading towards her, she suddenly disappeared from Zack's sight. The juice splattered on the empty ground. Surprised, Zack looked around.
"Are ya alright?" suddenly he heard.
He looked towards the direction where the voice came from. There, he saw Roger together with Amber, who was a little shaken by the quick tackle Roger did to her in order to get her away from the juice.
"Yeah, I'm alright," Amber answered, still shaken.
Zack sighed in relief, "That's good."
Standing up, Roger pulled Amber up, "You should be more careful next time, Amber. That juice spat by the Grat could've done some damage on ya."
"Yeah, thanks, Roger."
"It's nothing."
Just then, the injured Grat growled weakly. But in a moment, its growl was silenced by Jacky when he slashed it with his blades.
"Stay silent already."
==========
CHAPTER XI (B): BATTLE WITH T-REX
Zack and the others are now resting inside the place that they were headed for earlier, the little place where Quistis and Squall had a little time with each other at the start of the game, Zack realized. There were a few other people, all of them, young SeeD candidates in their normal clothes. Jacky and Cindy were together at one side of the place. On the other hand, Zack, Amber and Roger are together at the other side of the place.
"Roger, what's Jacky's relationship with Cindy?" Amber asked Roger, curious after watching the two for a while.
Confused, Roger answered her, "What? You still don't know?"
"Hey, I was wondering about that, too. For some time now," Zack told him, watching the two talking with each other.
Roger sighed before answering, "I guess not everyone can see it that easily. Okay, here's how it is. Jacky and Cindy, they have something that's similar with what Squall shares with Rinoa. You get me?"
"Huh?" Amber, confused by what Roger just said, while on the other hand, Zack understood it a little.
"You mean that they are in love?" Zack asked.
"You got that right."
"Is that so?" Amber, surprised a little.
Zack watched the couple once more. Now, he could tell that they were having a happy conversation with one another. For some reason, he just could not help smiling to himself.
*********
Half an hour passed and the five finally came back out.
Roger stretched himself for a moment as he said, "Now, wasn't that a nice rest, eh Jack?"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Roger."
Roger laughed, a little satisfied, before shouting excitedly, "Okay! Now that we're all rested and energized! Let's find some more monsters!"
"Is that all you think about, Roger?" Amber asked, surprised with his urge to fight.
"Don't bother with it, Amber," advised Cindy, "That's all he thinks of when in an area inhabited by monsters."
"Come on already!" Roger exclaimed to the others from a short distance away from them, "It's not like a monster's gonna walk right here and."
Suddenly, before Roger could finish his sentence, a giant monster appeared through the small forest behind him, causing loud noises of tree branches breaking followed by a large wave of branches and leaves falling to the ground. Surprised, Roger immediately ran from where he stood to the small party. Seeing that the monster looked like the giant-lizard, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Zack knew immediately what it was.
"A T-Rexaur!" Jacky gasped.
The five stared at the giant lizard for a moment as it roared fearlessly in front of them.
"I guess a monster did walk right here." Roger said a little shaken, but he soon changed when he started to feel excited again, "Yeah! Come on, guys! Let's not waste the lizard's generosity to appear and fight it!"
Jacky sighed as he drew out his blades, while on the other hand, Zack laughed as he drew out his sword.
Ready to fight, Jacky exclaimed to the others, "Okay, guys! T-Rexaur is a giant lizard as you can see and its weakness is ice-cold magic! Be extremely careful, Zack, Amber! T-Rexaur is not like any other monsters and just might even be the best type of monster in the garden's training center! So, prepare yourselves!"
Everyone was prepared for a tough fight as the lizard roared once again before charging straight for Roger, jaws wide-opened. In a quick glimpse, Zack was surprised to see a smile on Roger's face as he jumped aside, away from the giant lizard's mouth. Missing its target, the lizard quickly got ready to attack again. As it did, Roger had already charged towards it.
"Nothing to it but to do it!" Roger shouted as he stroke the T-Rexaur's body hard.
It roared in pain for a moment but when it stood ready to fight again, it seemed as if the strike was nothing at all!
"What the!?" Zack gasped when he saw that.
Just then, he saw Cindy casting another magic.
"Blizzaga!" she chanted as she pointed her glowing ring towards the creature.
A beam shot out of the ring, hitting the lizard shortly after. The magic seemed to have some effect on it, although the lizard soon shook off its shock.
"Zack!" Jacky suddenly called, "You attack its right! I'll attack its left!"
"Got it!"
The two then charged forward. Both of them slashed the lizard from both direction, leaving behind the monster roaring painfully and three mean wounds, one by Zack and two by Jacky. Although wounded badly, the lizard was still standing steadily.
"Amber! Shoot at its wounds!" Jacky commanded.
Upon hearing that, Amber immediately took aim at one of the creature's wounds. She took a shot and it was a direct hit into the wound. The T- Rexaur roared in agony as she took another shot into its other wound. Without warning, Roger suddenly jumped and attacked the wound with his rod, injuring the monster even more. Desperate, the T-Rexaur attacked Roger who was just beside it. However, Roger was still able to dodge its attack.
"Ah, come on! Is that all you got, T-Rexaur?"
Just as things seemed to get a little easy for Roger, suddenly the T-Rexaur leaped off its feet towards him. Surprised, Roger could not do anything but to get hit by the creature's enormous body. Roger was pushed hard to the fence barricading the forest in the training center.
"Roger!" Zack shouted, rushing towards him.
However, the T-Rexaur did not let Zack pass it to reach Roger, stopping him in his tracks.
"Roger!"
"Urgh, don't worry about me!" Roger shouted back, standing up slowly as he did, "Urgh, I'm alright."
Seeing this, the monster tried to take him down again but was stopped when, from behind, Jacky slashed it, leaving behind two more wounds. After roaring out another terrible roar of pain, it turned its head towards Jacky. Staring into each other's eyes for a moment, the T-Rexaur then roared before swinging its long tail at him. Knowing that it would do so, Jacky carefully jumped onto its tail, stabbing his blades right through the monster's tail as he did. The lizard roared terribly in agony.
"Do it, Cindy!" Jacky shouted to Cindy who stood a few meters behind him.
Cindy immediately prepared herself and cast another Blizzaga at the monster. Just before her magic beam hit the monster, Jacky jumped off of it, along with his blood-covered blades. The beam hit the monster turning it into ice as a block of ice formed on it for a moment before shattering away. The T-Rexaur roared in pain this time as it wobbled a little in his movement. At this point, Zack immediately went for Roger who was still shaken from the earlier attack that he received.
Just as he reached Roger, the T-Rexaur roared again before charging towards the two. Seeing this, Zack prepared himself for a fight. Just as the giant came closer and closer to Zack, he suddenly hears a few gunshots, which was followed by a loud roar of pain from the monster. Zack looked towards the person standing behind the creature, who had a smoking gun pointed right at the injured monster. Amber!
Zack was glad to see Amber, who was smiling quite excitedly. But this moment was immediately halted when the giant lizard suddenly roared angrily and quickly turned its whole body around, swinging its strong tail right at Zack. In his quick thinking, Zack thought of slashing its already hurt tail as it came by. However, his timing was too slow as he was preparing to attack when suddenly he was thrown into the air by the strong tail and landing painfully on the hard dirt floor.
"Zack!" screamed Amber when she saw this.
Zack was now not in the condition to fight as he continued to hug his body, which felt as if a whole stampede of bulls had ran over him. He was definitely not ready to feel this much pain as he felt the desire to cry. But in his painful condition, he could not even feel the tear running down the side of his face from his left eye and dripping onto the dirt floor.
"Zack!" cried Amber once more.
"Amber! Stay focus!" shouted Cindy, "He'll be fine! Trust him!"
Even so, Amber could not help it. She was too worried about Zack, who was still hugging himself on the floor.
"Zack." was all that the still shaken Roger could murmur to himself.
Inside the training center, the five young teens are wandering around. Roger is searching impatiently for some Grats. Zack followed him from behind with Amber beside him. Jacky and Cindy walked together calmly, not really wanting to fight with anything at the moment.
"Man, isn't there, at least, one monster to fight with?" Roger exclaimed as he beat some bushes with his rod.
He was feeling a little frustrated that they have not met any monsters since they entered the center.
"Roger, stop looking for them. They're probably resting at this time," Cindy told him.
Roger laughed as he answered her, "Stop kidding yourself! I have been fighting monsters since I started using a stick and I have never seen a monster that rests at this time of day."
It was late in the morning and it has already been quite a while since they entered the center. After another while has passed, Amber sees a path leading to somewhere. It was a metal-plated path near some rocks.
"Where does that path lead to?"
Hearing her, everyone looked towards where she was looking at.
"That leads to the place that Quistis told us some time ago," Roger explained to her, "It was supposed to be a secret for some in the garden, but it didn't take long before almost every student in the garden knew about it."
"Don't forget the instructors," Cindy continued after him.
"Yeah, that's right."
"Oh, I see," Amber, looking at the path, "Are we going there?"
"Yeah, right after I fight some monsters," Roger answered before heading towards the bushes again.
As he went on beating the bushes again, Jacky said to him, "Uh, Roger. I think the reason why we have not seen any monsters, since we entered the center, is because you have been scaring them with your beating on the bushes."
Just as he was done, Roger stopped his body completely for a moment before he turned his head towards the group.
"Do you think so?"
"Yeah, Roger, I think that may be it," Zack answered.
"Okay." was all Roger said, as he withdrew back his stick and turned to the group, "So, what am I supposed to do?"
"How about stop beating the bushes and let's just go to that place and rest?" Jacky suggested sharply to Roger, "Is that fine with you?"
"All right, fine. Let's go," Roger sighed before he walked towards the group.
Only taking a few steps, the five were suddenly surprised when five Grats appeared and attacked them. Luckily for them, the Grats' attack only surprised them. As the five grouped together, they prepared themselves for a fight, but to their surprise, the Grats had formed a circle around them, surrounding them.
Surprisingly, Roger smiled before he shouted to Jacky, "Hey, maybe you were right, Jack!"
Jacky just sighed at that as he said tiresomely once more, "Let's just get this over with."
He then continued, "Battle tactic one-on-one! One of them and one of us, got it?"
"Gotcha!" Roger answered, swinging his stick around with his eyes focused on one of the Grats that stood in front of him.
"Let's dance, shall we?" he said, cheekily smiling at it.
Jacky rolled his eyes when he heard him, "So childish."
Zack, on the other hand, smiled happily. It was funny to see Roger so excited about fighting monsters. Looking at the Grat in front of him, he continued smiling.
"Never thought that I would ever get the chance to fight you, Grat," he whispered to himself, as he stood in his attack pose with the Ultimega Sword ready in his hands. The Grat unpleasantly growled at him as its four tentacles swung around in the air, ready to attack.
"Sorry, but I'm going to have to let that be your last movement in your life," Zack said before charging towards it.
With its low evasive ability, the Grat could not evade Zack's attack and one of its tentacles was cut off. It cried gruesomely as it flinched after the attack. Giving an attack opportunity, Zack stabbed his sword right through the Grat's body. As he jumped away from the Grat, the Grat's blood sprayed out from the wound as it fell to the ground and vanished. Having killed his Grat, Zack looked at the others' progress.
Waiting for a counter move, Jacky stood ready to attack. Zack was a little surprised to see his weapon, or was it weapons, he thought. They were unlike any other sword he has ever seen or imagined. The blades of the swords were normal, but the strange part about them was their handles. The handles were placed at the side of the swords unlike the normal swords or the one Zack used. Holding the handles tightly, the blades of the swords laid along the bottom side of Jacky's arms. The tips of the blades reached pass his elbows.
Just then, the Grat suddenly charged towards Jacky with its tentacles ready to attack. However, Jacky was quick enough to jump aside. Just as he landed on the ground, he quickly charged back at the Grat and slashed a mean wound at the Grat's body. The Grat cried a gruesome cry of pain before vanishing into thin air.
Still in the pose that he attacked the Grat in, he sighed before saying, "You Grats aren't much of a challenge for my Sahara Side-bladers."
As he stood back upright, Jacky slowly slipped his sword into their cases, which hung on his belt and along his legs. Then, he looked to his left. Zack followed suit. It was Cindy that Jacky had turned his attention to, Zack realized, when he saw her. She was standing calmly in front of her Grat. The Grat seemed to be waiting for her to move first.
"Hmph, it has been a while now and you've not move once. I guess you're waiting for me to move," she said to the monster, smiling, "Thank you for being a gentleman. I mean, gentlemonster, but that is a mistake for you."
Raising her right hand close to her face, she chanted, "Eye of Ruby! Gaze like the ruby you are! And cast the magic that you are command to cast!"
After her chant, she kissed, what seemed to Zack, a ring on one of her fingers. To his surprise, the ring suddenly started to glow after her kiss.
"Ruby! Cast, Blizzaga!" Cindy commanded, punching out her right hand towards the monster.
As she did, the ring's glow suddenly shot out a beam towards the Grat. When the beam hit the monster, the monster completely turned into ice. That was not all. Then, a giant block of ice suddenly appeared right on the Grat. After a short moment, the ice shattered away, revealing the monster once more. But just as the last ice disappeared, the Grat suddenly cried out gruesomely before falling to the ground and vanishing away. Putting her hand down, the glow on the ring slowly faded away. Just as it did, Jacky walked towards her.
"Are you alright?"
Turning around towards him, she smiled while answering, "Yeah, I'm alright."
Jacky smiled when he heard that. On the other hand, Zack had been watching them, still standing at where he killed his Grat. Just then, they all heard a loud war cry. They turned towards where it came from. It came from Roger. He was completely having fun playing with his Grat, although the Grat seemed to be annoyed and tired.
"Man, this is FUN!" shouted Roger as he circled the tired Grat.
Zack looked towards Jacky. His hand was rubbing his forehead. He was feeling sort of embarrassed. Zack laughed. He knew the reason why Jacky did so. It was because of Roger's childish behavior. Just then, they heard another war cry from Roger. He was charging towards the Grat. Just as he was a few feet away from the monster, it tried to attack him but missed. Roger was still playing with it. He did not actually want to attack it just yet. He still wanted to play with it some more.
"Just finish it off, Roger!" Zack heard Jacky shouted, finally.
Stopping for a moment, Roger looked back at Jacky as he shouted childishly, "Just a few more minutes!"
"Just finish it! NOW!"
"Aw, fine," mumbled Roger. Looking at the Grat, he said confidently, "I guess I can't play with you anymore. So, I guess it's time for the quick goodbye."
He then charges at the Grat. With one blow from Roger's Stalag Onyx Stick, the Grat immediately fell to the ground and vanished. Still standing in his attacking pose, he sighed disappointingly.
"That wasn't fun."
Jacky sighed when he heard that. Zack laughed when he saw that.
"No matter what happens, Roger will always behave like a little boy, won't he, Jacky?" said Cindy.
Jacky sighs again before continuing, "He is so childish."
Cindy giggled a little.
"Four down, one left. And that's Amber's," thought Zack, turning towards where Amber was.
She did not seem to have much trouble with her Grat. However, he did notice something. The Grat was not injured or even harmed. Just then, Amber shot a bullet at the Grat. Zack thought that it was a hit but instead, it was a miss. The Grat had dodged the flying bullet, unlike the earlier Grats, which were slow moving. It was then that he realized that Amber has gone up against a fast-moving Grat.
"Amber, do you need help?" Zack shouted at her.
"No, I'm fine!" she shouted back with her eyes still on the Grat.
"If it's okay, Amber, let me slow that Grat down for you," Cindy shouted, stretching out her ring, which started to glow again.
Kissing her ring again, Cindy shouted, "Slow!"
A beam shot out from the ring again, hitting the Grat without any problem.
"It shouldn't give you any more trouble now, Amber," Cindy shouted to Amber.
"Thanks, Cindy," Amber shouted back as she aimed at the now slow-moving Grat.
She took a few shots at the Grat and it was a hit with every one of it. The Grat cried agonizingly as it dropped to the ground. However, it did not vanish yet. Weakly, it spat some liquid from its mouth.
"Gastric Juice!" thought Zack, recognizing the attack, which are only done by Grats.
The juice was flying through the air heading for Amber, who was still unaware of the danger.
"Amber!" shouted Zack urgently.
Just as Amber finally realized the juice heading towards her, she suddenly disappeared from Zack's sight. The juice splattered on the empty ground. Surprised, Zack looked around.
"Are ya alright?" suddenly he heard.
He looked towards the direction where the voice came from. There, he saw Roger together with Amber, who was a little shaken by the quick tackle Roger did to her in order to get her away from the juice.
"Yeah, I'm alright," Amber answered, still shaken.
Zack sighed in relief, "That's good."
Standing up, Roger pulled Amber up, "You should be more careful next time, Amber. That juice spat by the Grat could've done some damage on ya."
"Yeah, thanks, Roger."
"It's nothing."
Just then, the injured Grat growled weakly. But in a moment, its growl was silenced by Jacky when he slashed it with his blades.
"Stay silent already."
==========
CHAPTER XI (B): BATTLE WITH T-REX
Zack and the others are now resting inside the place that they were headed for earlier, the little place where Quistis and Squall had a little time with each other at the start of the game, Zack realized. There were a few other people, all of them, young SeeD candidates in their normal clothes. Jacky and Cindy were together at one side of the place. On the other hand, Zack, Amber and Roger are together at the other side of the place.
"Roger, what's Jacky's relationship with Cindy?" Amber asked Roger, curious after watching the two for a while.
Confused, Roger answered her, "What? You still don't know?"
"Hey, I was wondering about that, too. For some time now," Zack told him, watching the two talking with each other.
Roger sighed before answering, "I guess not everyone can see it that easily. Okay, here's how it is. Jacky and Cindy, they have something that's similar with what Squall shares with Rinoa. You get me?"
"Huh?" Amber, confused by what Roger just said, while on the other hand, Zack understood it a little.
"You mean that they are in love?" Zack asked.
"You got that right."
"Is that so?" Amber, surprised a little.
Zack watched the couple once more. Now, he could tell that they were having a happy conversation with one another. For some reason, he just could not help smiling to himself.
*********
Half an hour passed and the five finally came back out.
Roger stretched himself for a moment as he said, "Now, wasn't that a nice rest, eh Jack?"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Roger."
Roger laughed, a little satisfied, before shouting excitedly, "Okay! Now that we're all rested and energized! Let's find some more monsters!"
"Is that all you think about, Roger?" Amber asked, surprised with his urge to fight.
"Don't bother with it, Amber," advised Cindy, "That's all he thinks of when in an area inhabited by monsters."
"Come on already!" Roger exclaimed to the others from a short distance away from them, "It's not like a monster's gonna walk right here and."
Suddenly, before Roger could finish his sentence, a giant monster appeared through the small forest behind him, causing loud noises of tree branches breaking followed by a large wave of branches and leaves falling to the ground. Surprised, Roger immediately ran from where he stood to the small party. Seeing that the monster looked like the giant-lizard, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Zack knew immediately what it was.
"A T-Rexaur!" Jacky gasped.
The five stared at the giant lizard for a moment as it roared fearlessly in front of them.
"I guess a monster did walk right here." Roger said a little shaken, but he soon changed when he started to feel excited again, "Yeah! Come on, guys! Let's not waste the lizard's generosity to appear and fight it!"
Jacky sighed as he drew out his blades, while on the other hand, Zack laughed as he drew out his sword.
Ready to fight, Jacky exclaimed to the others, "Okay, guys! T-Rexaur is a giant lizard as you can see and its weakness is ice-cold magic! Be extremely careful, Zack, Amber! T-Rexaur is not like any other monsters and just might even be the best type of monster in the garden's training center! So, prepare yourselves!"
Everyone was prepared for a tough fight as the lizard roared once again before charging straight for Roger, jaws wide-opened. In a quick glimpse, Zack was surprised to see a smile on Roger's face as he jumped aside, away from the giant lizard's mouth. Missing its target, the lizard quickly got ready to attack again. As it did, Roger had already charged towards it.
"Nothing to it but to do it!" Roger shouted as he stroke the T-Rexaur's body hard.
It roared in pain for a moment but when it stood ready to fight again, it seemed as if the strike was nothing at all!
"What the!?" Zack gasped when he saw that.
Just then, he saw Cindy casting another magic.
"Blizzaga!" she chanted as she pointed her glowing ring towards the creature.
A beam shot out of the ring, hitting the lizard shortly after. The magic seemed to have some effect on it, although the lizard soon shook off its shock.
"Zack!" Jacky suddenly called, "You attack its right! I'll attack its left!"
"Got it!"
The two then charged forward. Both of them slashed the lizard from both direction, leaving behind the monster roaring painfully and three mean wounds, one by Zack and two by Jacky. Although wounded badly, the lizard was still standing steadily.
"Amber! Shoot at its wounds!" Jacky commanded.
Upon hearing that, Amber immediately took aim at one of the creature's wounds. She took a shot and it was a direct hit into the wound. The T- Rexaur roared in agony as she took another shot into its other wound. Without warning, Roger suddenly jumped and attacked the wound with his rod, injuring the monster even more. Desperate, the T-Rexaur attacked Roger who was just beside it. However, Roger was still able to dodge its attack.
"Ah, come on! Is that all you got, T-Rexaur?"
Just as things seemed to get a little easy for Roger, suddenly the T-Rexaur leaped off its feet towards him. Surprised, Roger could not do anything but to get hit by the creature's enormous body. Roger was pushed hard to the fence barricading the forest in the training center.
"Roger!" Zack shouted, rushing towards him.
However, the T-Rexaur did not let Zack pass it to reach Roger, stopping him in his tracks.
"Roger!"
"Urgh, don't worry about me!" Roger shouted back, standing up slowly as he did, "Urgh, I'm alright."
Seeing this, the monster tried to take him down again but was stopped when, from behind, Jacky slashed it, leaving behind two more wounds. After roaring out another terrible roar of pain, it turned its head towards Jacky. Staring into each other's eyes for a moment, the T-Rexaur then roared before swinging its long tail at him. Knowing that it would do so, Jacky carefully jumped onto its tail, stabbing his blades right through the monster's tail as he did. The lizard roared terribly in agony.
"Do it, Cindy!" Jacky shouted to Cindy who stood a few meters behind him.
Cindy immediately prepared herself and cast another Blizzaga at the monster. Just before her magic beam hit the monster, Jacky jumped off of it, along with his blood-covered blades. The beam hit the monster turning it into ice as a block of ice formed on it for a moment before shattering away. The T-Rexaur roared in pain this time as it wobbled a little in his movement. At this point, Zack immediately went for Roger who was still shaken from the earlier attack that he received.
Just as he reached Roger, the T-Rexaur roared again before charging towards the two. Seeing this, Zack prepared himself for a fight. Just as the giant came closer and closer to Zack, he suddenly hears a few gunshots, which was followed by a loud roar of pain from the monster. Zack looked towards the person standing behind the creature, who had a smoking gun pointed right at the injured monster. Amber!
Zack was glad to see Amber, who was smiling quite excitedly. But this moment was immediately halted when the giant lizard suddenly roared angrily and quickly turned its whole body around, swinging its strong tail right at Zack. In his quick thinking, Zack thought of slashing its already hurt tail as it came by. However, his timing was too slow as he was preparing to attack when suddenly he was thrown into the air by the strong tail and landing painfully on the hard dirt floor.
"Zack!" screamed Amber when she saw this.
Zack was now not in the condition to fight as he continued to hug his body, which felt as if a whole stampede of bulls had ran over him. He was definitely not ready to feel this much pain as he felt the desire to cry. But in his painful condition, he could not even feel the tear running down the side of his face from his left eye and dripping onto the dirt floor.
"Zack!" cried Amber once more.
"Amber! Stay focus!" shouted Cindy, "He'll be fine! Trust him!"
Even so, Amber could not help it. She was too worried about Zack, who was still hugging himself on the floor.
"Zack." was all that the still shaken Roger could murmur to himself.