Chapter 14
Deling City, part 1;
The Tomb of the unknown King.
Squall led Irvine and Rinoa to the train station near Galbadia Garden. Everybody had decided that the quickest route to Deling city was by train.
The Galbadia Garden train station took up only a small area. It wasn't really even a complete station. For the most part, only Garden students used this train stop, and used it only to commute to and from Deling city.
Upon reaching the station, Squall noticed many Garden students lounging around, or standing in a group talking. He knew that the school day had not yet ended, so these students were either skipping class or going home early.
"I guess everybody finds ways out of class at every Garden..." Squall thought with disdain.
Squall ran up the stairs to the train tracks and found a conductor.
"Is this train bound for Deling city?" Squall asked.
The conductor looked at him oddly. He didn't recognize Squall or Rinoa, but he had seen Irvine once or twice before.
"Yes. It's 1,000 Gil per ticket." The conductor replied. "Are you getting on?"
"Yeah. Three tickets please."
Squall exchanged his Gil and led Rinoa and Irvine onto the train. They walked into the back entrance area and looked around. It seemed that Quistis, Zell, and Selphie hadn't arrived yet.
"Selphie's gonna want that door open..." Squall remembered. He didn't want her to throw a fit trying to get inside the train's hallway, like last time.
"Confirming... Access granted..." the computer bleeped as Squall inserted the ticket.
"Haven't we left yet?" Rinoa asked impatiently.
"We'd better not..." Squall thought. "We still have to wait for Quistis and the others."
Irvine stood in the corner, thinking aloud.
"Selphie, Rinoa, Quistis... I don't know which one to choose..."
"Oh brother..." Squall thought. He looked at Rinoa to see if she had heard Irvine's comment, but she seemed oblivious.
"This guy's going to get on my nerves really quickly." Squall thought. "I know Zell isn't gonna like him..."
Squall walked over to the door to see if Quistis and the others were coming. Just as he did, Zell walked through the door.
Squall stood back, surprised a little, and watched Quistis and Selphie walk through the door as well.
Selphie walked over to the hallway entrance immediately and started waving her hands around. The door opened quickly, though.
Selphie turned around and smiled at Squall.
"Hee!" she giggled. "You caught on!" And she ran into the hall to stare out the window.
The train announcer came on the speakers.
"This train, bound for Deling city, will be departing shortly." The voice said as the train engines started. The car started shaking violently, but calmed after a moment.
After the train had steadied itself, everyone was quiet. They had a lot on their minds.
Finally, Rinoa couldn't stand the silence anymore.
"This is the only train bound for Deling city anyway." she said, trying to get someone to talk. But everyone seemed to ignore her. Rinoa began to feel distant from everyone, as they quietly prepared their minds for the mission. She wasn't used to things being so rigid.
Irvine started staring at the door that Selphie had gone through. He seemed to be lost in thought as well, but, unlike the others, he had an odd smirk on his face.
"Hmmm..." he said aloud. "Perhaps it's fate?"
Irvine walked through the door, into the hallway, and it closed quickly behind him.
After Irvine had left, Zell spoke up with irritation.
"So what do we do about HIM?" he said finally. Zell had taken an immediate, and profound dislike to Irvine Kinneas.
Rinoa didn't know what to think of Irvine yet, but he seemed to be rubbing everyone else the wrong way. He acted kind of funny around the other girls and herself... A little bit too interested.
Rinoa turned to Squall.
"Shouldn't you go check on Selphie?" she asked with concern.
Quistis found herself agreeing with Rinoa. She, too, thought that someone should make sure that Irvine wasn't bothering Selphie.
"...Irvine just kind of went off... Shouldn't you check?"
Everyone, even Zell looked at Squall. They were relying on him, and Squall didn't like it.
"What is this? All of a sudden I'm Selphie's body guard...?" Squall thought, irritated. "Why are they making me check on her...?"
But Squall had a funny feeling about Irvine too. He didn't want their sharpshooter to be causing any trouble.
Squall started walking towards the door. Zell yelled at him before he went through.
"I don't want that Irvine guy using the guest room. Don't open it for him!" Zell urged.
Squall rolled his eyes.
"Why are they getting so worried? What does everybody think that he's gonna do....?" Squall stopped his thought, and finally realized what they were concerned about.
"Oh... That. I guess he does seem a little... too friendly..."
Squall walked through the door and immediately saw Irvine and Selphie at the far end of the hall.
"Selphie... We're destined to be together!" Irvine pleaded in an overly dramatic voice.
Selphie raised an eyebrow and replied nervously.
"Y-Yeah right...!" she said, attempting to be sarcastic.
Selphie cleared her throat and sighed.
"A sigh of love?" Irvine responded.
"N-No!" Selphie shouted nervously.
Irvine was making her feel really uncomfortable. This guy had just met her, and was already hitting on her.
Irvine sighed, disappointed, and walked towards the door.
"Pardon me..." he said politely, walking past Squall.
"What does he think he's doing...? He doesn't even know Selphie..."
Squall walked over to the nervous young girl.
"You okay?"
"My heart's pounding... What is this I'm feeling?"
Selphie's cheery smile turned into a worried frown. She placed her hand to her chest, feeling her heart beat nervously.
Squall knew that she was probably referring to Irvine's odd behavior, but he didn't want to try and console her about it... That was too emotional of a topic.
So he tried to change the subject.
"She's probably just jittery about the mission..." Squall excused.
"It's an important mission. Get used to handling pressure while you still can." he offered.
Selphie lowered her head and sighed. Squall had no idea how she was feeling. His 'consolation' didn't help at all.
"How much longer 'til Deling city?" she said impatiently.
Squall decided to let her be alone. He walked out of the hall without responding.
As he reached the door, Squall saw that Irvine had cornered Rinoa now.
"Rinoa...!" Irvine began excitedly, in the same tone he had used with Selphie.
Rinoa became a little 'freaked out' and ran over to hide behind Quistis. She didn't appreciate how forward this guy was being, at all.
"Irvine Kinneas! You're playing a major role in this mission. Now behave yourself!" Quistis scolded him.
Irvine glared at her. Everyone was quiet for a moment.
"No one understands me..." he said suddenly.
Irvine walked over to the far corner of the car, tipping his hat down to hide his eyes.
"Sharpshooters are loners by nature...We hone our instincts, pour our whole being into a single bullet."
"What is he talking about...?" Squall thought. "...Probably just trying to get the girls' attention... Oh well... Whatever."
Irvine began pacing about slowly.
"The pressure of the moment... An instant of tension... That's what... I have to face alone..." he said.
"It's not easy."
Irvine turned his face away from everyone now.
"So, like... Just do me a favor, and let me be!"
He turned around, and pointed at Zell.
"You get my drift?" he said.
"Dammit..." Zell thought. "Who does he think he is...?"
Zell slammed his fist onto the floor of the train angrily, and squatted down. Suddenly the lights on the train flickered, and the train shook violently. The train announcer came on the P.A. system.
"Uhh... There was no damage to the train from that, err, minor vibration..." he said nervously.
"I repeat... Err, there was no damage to that train from that err, minor vibration..."
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The train reached Deling city just as the sun started to set. The locomotive stopped, and the group of SeeDs dismounted. They climbed onto the train station's escalator, which led up the the main street level of Deling city.
Steam rose steadily from the storm drains, and onto the streets of Deling. Because of the cool night air, a small layer of cloud covered the concrete, as the warm fog continued rising from beneath the road.
As they came up the escalator, Rinoa ran ahead. She caught sight of the large golden-colored archway off in the distance, one of Deling city's most prominent landmarks.
The young freedom fighter looked on at the city oddly. Many flags lined the streets, and other symbols of Galbadia were placed everywhere. Emblems hanging off buildings, and designs in the architecture showed the symbols of Galbadian pride. It was a little unsettling for her, but she seemed to look upon the town with a strange familiarity.
"Wow..." Irvine exclaimed. As a Garden student and resident, Irvine rarely had time to visit Deling city. He looked on at the street lights, and the brightly colored decorations that had been prepared all over town. Blue spot lights hit the evening sky, piercing through the clouds.
"They've really decorated this place up for the sorceress..." Irvine thought.
"...Awesome." Selphie agreed.
Quistis breathed heavily. She was tired and frustrated.
"Quite a long walk..." she exclaimed, wondering how far they would have to go to reach the General's mansion.
Rinoa sighed as she looked at the city.
"We're going to Caraway's mansion, right? Just take the 08 bus." she casually informed them.
Deling city possessed an excellent public transport system, busses which ran throughout the city round the clock. People were impressed more by the fact that Deling had need for a bus route, though, than the bus system itself. Deling city was quite large.
Irvine looked over at Rinoa with surprise. How did she know which bus to take?
"She must've been here before..." he thought. "...Nice... A 'traveling' girl..."
"Exactly. You're pretty familiar with this place." Irvine commended slyly.
"We're going there already?" Selphie complained to Rinoa. "Don't you wanna check out the city?"
"That might be good." Squall thought. He folded his arms, thinking. "It'd be nice to know a little about our battle field before we start."
Squall considered this for a moment, but then he remembered that this was the hometown of none other than Laguna Loire, Kiros seagall, and Ward Zabac...
"Maybe Laguna's back from his duties... But what do I do if I see him...?"
Squall wasn't sure what he would do. The whole situation with them 'dreaming' was so strange, and the thought of meeting any of these Galbadian soldiers made Squall feel even more uncomfortable.
"What if we have to fight them...?"
Squall didn't like the sound of that at all. No. It would be better to just get the mission over with as soon as possible without anything or anyone to complicate the situation.
"We should go see General Caraway first..." Squall replied.
Selphie was disappointed, but she nodded in agreement. Rinoa pointed down to the street corner.
"There's a bus stop right there. The '08' bus will come by that corner."
Quistis frowned, and raised an eyebrow at this. Rinoa's familiarity with the city was puzzling to her, especially since Rinoa was a resistance member in Timber. It would've been pretty dangerous for her to be walking around freely in the middle of the Galbadian capitol... So how did she know how to get to the general's house?
"You seem to know this place well..." Quistis said. "How?" she asked in a suspicious tone.
Rinoa looked over at Quistis and answered, a bit nervously.
"... I'm Galbadian."
"Oh really?" Quistis replied, surprised. "You seem to have quite a story..."
Squall was a little shocked to hear this as well, but he knew that they needed to get moving.
"Let's not talk about that here..." he thought, frowning. "We need to concentrate on the mission, now..."
Zell noted Squall's expression.
"What's wrong, Squall?" he asked.
Squall looked up at Zell, and then to the whole group. He decided to make sure everyone understood the situation completely. He didn't want any 'mishaps' to put them in an even more dangerous situation, like Zell had done at the Timber TV station earlier.
"We're heading for Caraway's mansion. It's in the government district. We're here as back up from Galbadia Garden. Don't blow our cover."
Zell hung his head sadly, and sighed at this, remembering his earlier mistake. But he assured himself that he would not make that error again.
Everyone seemed to understand. Squall sighed, satisfied that they all comprehended the importance of keeping a low profile. He took another look at the city before him.
"So, this is where Laguna's from..." Squall thought. "I wonder if he's here now...?"
They walked off of the steps down to the street below. In the middle of the street was a large, beautiful fountain. The splashes from it echoed across the street.
Squall recognized the area well from his first 'dream' with Laguna.
"This is pretty weird... feels almost like I've really been here before..." he thought.
Squall, Rinoa, Irvine, Quistis, Selphie and Zell walked to a bus stop and boarded the number '08' bus, just as Rinoa had said. The large vehicle drove quickly down the street and soon reached General Caraway's mansion.
Squall started to focus his mind on the mission.
"Caraway is the head of the Galbadian army.... Could this be a coup d' etat?" Squall thought as they pulled up to the stop. "No... I don't think he's out to overthrow the president..."
After dismounting the bus, the six teenagers all moved up to the front walk of General Caraway's mansion. They were stopped by a Galbadian soldier.
"General Caraway's mansion is right through this gate, but... I can't just let you walk in." The soldier informed them, gesturing for them to move back.
"I believe he's been informed of our arrival." Squall explained.
The guard realized that these were probably SeeD, and he knew that General Caraway was expecting some visitors from Garden. But the general had given him odd orders.
"Yes indeed, but... I was ordered not to let you through until your skillz have been tested.."
Rinoa rolled her eyes and huffed at this.
"He's still so skeptical of people."
"'Still' ?" Squall thought. "When has she ever met him...?"
"Test our skills?" he replied to the soldier. "What does he want us to do?"
"The Tomb of the Unknown King to the northeast." the guard began. "All you have to do is go there. It's real simple, but...You have to bring back proof that you were there. A code number."
A few miles outside Deling city was an old, elaborate tomb, in which an ancient king had been buried. Since the area had become littered with monsters, especially inside the tomb, no one had 'officially' explored it, though there were unconfirmed reports of a Guardian Force residing in the tomb. On top of that, no one knew what the king's name was.
It was known that he was the last King from the old Dollet empire, which had once resided in Galbadia's territory. However, it was considered bad luck to speak the name of a dead king, a superstition that had hung over from ancient times, so the tomb was never labeled.
"A code number?" Squall replied, confused.
"What the heck is this...? Some kind of weird game...?"
"All the way out here for a test of courage?" Rinoa huffed impatiently.
"There are many students like yourself who wish to call on General Caraway." The guard explained. "There was a student from Galbadia Garden yesterday, who has yet to return from the test at the Tomb of the Unknown King. Your objective is to go to the tomb, look for traces of this lost student, and return with his ID number."
The guard stopped to catch his breath, and continued.
"You should be able to find what you're looking for shortly after you go in. The ID number should be written on it. I don't recommend going any further than you have to. You may never make it back alive... Anyway, here's a map for you to use."
The guard handed Squall a rustic looking map of the tomb. It was built like a maze.
"This is ridiculous..." Squall thought.
"Are you serious about this...?" Squall said, looking at the soldier accusingly.
"Absolutely. None of you are allowed in until you complete this task." the soldier replied.
Squall realized from the soldier's all-to-specific instructions and somewhat casual tone, that this 'task' was nothing more than that. A task. It was obviously a staged diversion, meant only to test out how well the students who called on General Caraway could follow directions.
"If there was a student missing, they'd have a search party in there looking for him 24/7... But I suppose if the general insists on this, then we have to comply..." Squall thought, remembering the orders in the mission documents. "He's the one who's giving us the instructions for this mission..."
"I can escort you outside town, but you have to journey to the tomb on your own." the soldier continued. "You can rent a car near the outskirts of the city if you would like. The tomb isn't far from here, but there have been a lot of monsters around lately. Riding in a car will help you avoid any unnecessary trouble with them."
Squall nodded, and the soldier led them to the Deling car rental shop, near Deling city's entrance.
When the soldier left to return to his post at General Caraway's mansion, Squall turned to the group.
"...I guess we don't all need to go." he said. "Who's coming with me to this 'tomb'...?"
*--------------------------PLACE MARKER BONUS!---------------------*
(Sick of reading right now? Take a break, and find your spot right here when you come back to the story! And for some extra reading for you hard-core fans... The following is two conversations by Galbadia Garden students at the Garden train station. )
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(Male and Female student sitting on bench in front of station.)
Male student: "Man this sucks."
Female student: "What does?"
M: "You know, the war. You can tell the country's startin' to get all edgy. And plus the sorceress."
F: "So, like, it's gonna be a repeat of the sorceress War we learned about?"
M: "Well, there's more. It's terrible I tell ya..."
F: "No WAY! Are you serious!?
M: "Yeah, she wants to make this Garden her base of operation."
F: "The sorceress!? Her base!?"
M: "You know what would happen then? Garden will be taken over, and we'll all be killed, axed, and eliminated..."
F: "That's scaryyyy! I'm going home!"
(Group of guys further up train platform.)
Student1: "Hey, you guys wanna stop by the 'usual'?
Student2: "Where's that?"
Student1: "The Deling shopping arcade."
Student3: "Not me! I got homework."
Sudent1: "C'mon, just for a little bit."
Student3: "It's good for you guys. You live really close. I have to change trains twice!"
Student2: "Get you license already!"
Student3: "My dad's givin' me a hard time, you know?"
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Umm... yeah. A lot of this doesn't make sense, does it? But I gar-un-tee that this is a word for word type-out of those conversations.
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"I'll go." Zell spoke up without hesitation. "I've heard about this tomb before. I want to check it out."
Everyone else looked at Squall uneasily. They were all tired, except for Irvine, who didn't seem too excited about the task anyway. They all knew that tonight's assignment would end up wearing them out even more, too.
But Rinoa finally spoke up.
"I... I can't stay here... I don't like it." she said. "I wanna go with Squall and Zell."
"...I can't stay here without someone to keep me..." she hesitated, feeling slightly foolish about the thought. "...safe..."
Deling city frightened Rinoa, though she was a former resident. When she had left for Timber, she completely disregarded Deling as her 'home'. Now she simply viewed it as the capitol city of the 'Forest Owl's' enemies.
Though she didn't quite feel at home in Timber, either.
Despite her seeming strong will and adaptability, Rinoa had a hard time feeling comfortable in a lot of places, even in areas she was familiar with. She loved living in Timber, but Rinoa never really felt like she belonged with the 'Forest Owls'. Her desire to help Timber gain independence fueled her ambitions, and made her want to be a part of the 'Forest Owl' team, but she always felt like she was missing something, or getting left behind in some way. It wasn't that Zone, Watts, or any of the others had made her feel unwelcome, however. They had gladly accepted Rinoa as 'one of them', even calling her their 'princess'. She realized this and cared about them dearly, but something about herself made it impossible for her to feel at home among them, and the other residents of Timber.
Rinoa hadn't always felt like a stranger in the town, though. When Seifer was there, she began to feel like she truly 'belonged' in Timber, and even with the 'Forest Owls'. He made her feel protected in certain ways, and she liked the feeling. Though Rinoa didn't want to believe that she needed someone to watch over her and make her feel safe in order for her to be 'at home' there, she also couldn't deny how good it felt when Seifer had been there for her, the sense of peace and belonging that she possessed when he was around.
"I'm not that scared... I guess. But this place does give me the creeps..." Rinoa thought, hoping Squall would let her come with him.
"Besides... I asked him to help protect me, right? He's a SeeD... He'll follow the client's orders... Won't he?"
But Rinoa wasn't sure that she even took those orders seriously. It wasn't as if she could discipline Squall if he didn't let her come or anything. She just wanted to stay with him... to feel safe.
Squall agreed with Rinoa's request, and walked with her and Zell over to the Deling city 'rent-a-car'. The three pilled into a vehicle, which Squall had rented for a hefty amount of Gil, and started out towards the 'Gotland peninsula', on which the Tomb of the Unknown King resided.
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Miles away from Deling city, out onto the grassy 'Gotland peninsula', Squall spotted the ancient building, surrounded by a forest. He parked just yards away from the grounds and led Zell and Rinoa to the Tomb of the Unknown King.
As they approached the Tomb, they heard someone scream from within.
"F-Float!"
Two Female Garden cadets ran out of the entrance, frightened. They ran right past Squall and the others without even noticing them.
"What was that all about...?" Rinoa wondered, becoming slightly frightened herself.
"Must've been some monster..." Squall replied, oblivious to Rinoa's fear.
Zell looked at Rinoa. She grabbed the ring on her necklace, and was biting her bottom lip. She seemed to do that whenever she was nervous... or scared.
"I'm sure there's nothing to worry about!" Zell quickly told her. He nudged Squall, giving him an accusing look. "We'll be outta here in no time!"
Squall rolled his eyes.
"...Whatever."
He looked around the Tomb entrance. It was quite large. The stony walls and pillars had become overgrown with moss, vines, and other plants. A moat surrounded the actual structure, however, and a small stone bridge ran across it, leading the way into the dark Tomb.
Squall also noticed something odd as he looked around. A swirling mass of energy emmitting from the ground near a pair of stone pillars... A draw point.
"Just stay here. I'll be right back." Squall said as he walked towards it.
So called 'Draw points' were small spots on the ground which radiated usable types of energy, specifically, magic. Squall focused the energy from his GF to draw out the energy from the ground. He felt the magic being learned and stocked within him by his GF, Shiva.
"... ... Protect magic..." he realized. "This'll come in handy..."
After returning to Rinoa and Zell, Squall led them across the moat, and finally into the tomb's dark entrance.
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The inside was ill lit, though moonlight came in from cracks in the ceiling. The air inside the tomb was wet and humid. Squall noticed intricate designs on the wall, though they were overgrown with moss and grass.
They trudged along the stone floor, keeping an eye out for any clues.
"An ID number...." Squall thought. "The guard made it sound like it should be pretty easy to find..."
"Hey! Check this out!" Zell cried suddenly.
"Arggh... Zell!" Squall thought with irritation. He sighed.
"Maybe he found something, though..."
"...Zell. Be quiet." Squall lectured. "There are monsters in here. Remember...?"
"Sorry... " Zell answered sheepishly. "But check this out!" he said regaining his excitement.
Zell pointed at the floor. On either side was a small stream running down the walkway. The water almost glowed blue as it reflected the light from the broken ceiling.
"Almost like a plumbing system, huh?!" Zell exclaimed. "That's amazing, considering how old this place must be...!"
Squall looked at the built-in stream, apparently some kind of draining system, with interest for a moment, but turned his attention to the task at hand.
"Lets just hurry." he said impatiently.
Zell hung his head, disappointed by Squall's seeming lack of interest.
"Okay... Fine..."
"Maybe I should have come by myself..." Squall thought. Then he sighed "Quistis wouldn't have let me if I had tried, though... 'Garden code, article 2, line 5; Garden students, with or without SeeD rank, are always to battle in groups of two or more when in an actual battle situation." Squall quoted the Garden code book, once again.
"'In the event that, at least, one suitable partner is not available, wait for reinforcement(s), and/or proceed with EXTREME caution. ' "
"Sure is dark in here..." Rinoa said, rubbing her hands on her bare shoulders. "...And cold."
"Yeah." Squall replied in an indifferent tone. His warm leather jacket made him almost oblivious to the icy air inside the tomb.
Water dripped from the ceiling as Squall led Zell and Rinoa further down the corridor. The hallway soon intersected with another path. Squall wasn't sure that he wanted to go any further, but then he noticed a small weapon lying on the floor.
He bent down and examined it closely. Attached to the blue dagger was a tag which read. 'Student ID No. 26.'** This was the 'code number' that they needed to find.
"This must be it..." thought Squall. He memorized the number quickly
"Alright... 'ID No. 26'. This is it." he announced. "Now let's get out of here."
"Uhhh.. Squall...?" Zell's voice sounded shaky. " I think we've got a problem..."
"Don't tell me..." Squall thought.
He turned to look where Zell was pointing and saw two huge blobs of goo with eyes and arms moving towards them quickly.
"Oh no..." Squall said. "Rinoa, We equipped a GF onto you earlier, right?" Squall quickly asked.
Rinoa nodded her head, trying to hold back her fear. Two huge monsters had noticed them, and were oozing towards the three quickly.
"Just in case..." Squall thought. He wanted everyone to have a GF Junctioned, just in case they needed to use magic, or even summon the Guardian Forces themselves. He even spared one for Rinoa, though she had never really used GFs before.
"Alright, just hit 'em fast and hard." Squall commanded. "Zell, you know what to do."
The two blue blobs attacked Squall, Zell, and Rinoa viciously, grabbing at them with their stretched out, gooey arms. Squall attacked with his gunblade, but it didn't seem to hurt the monsters much. Even Zell's quick punches, and Rinoa's blaster edge weren't effective.
"Zell!" Squall cried, avoiding the monster's swings. "Cast some magic... Just see what hurts them!"
Zell nodded, and stood back. He closed his eyes and cast a Thundara spell on one of the monsters.
The lightning bolt hit the half-liquid monster and killed it quickly.
"YES!" Zell thought, and began to cast another Thundara spell, so he could get rid of the other blob.
But it didn't work.
The magic attack hit the monster dead-on, but seemed to have little effect. Zell began frantically thinking of another spell he could use.
The monster started lunging towards Rinoa, now. She screamed and fell down, blocking her face with her arms. Squall jumped in front of her and swung at the blob, knocking it back.
The monster became infuriated, and stretched out its arms. It grabbed all three fighters, tossing them down another corridor of the Tomb. The gooey mess crawled off quickly, fearing for it's life.
Luckily, neither Squall, Rinoa nor Zell was injured. Squall picked himself up and dusted off his jacket. He looked down at Rinoa, and helped her to her feet.
Zell, lying on his back, kicked up his legs and landed on his feet again.
"What the hell was that...?!" Zell cried once they had all got their bearings.
"... 'Blobras', I think.." Squall replied. He had learned a lot about monsters in Quistis' class. "They're a weird monster mutation. Partly like gelatin... Each one is weak against a different type of magic."
"Well, whatever they were, I'm glad they're gone now!" Rinoa said. Though she was somewhat accustomed to battle with Galbadian soldiers, she didn't have too much experience with monsters. Most of them scared her.
"... I'm glad you were there to protec..." Rinoa began saying to Squall. But she became embarrassed, and cut herself off.
"...Oh... nothing. Nevermind." she blushed slightly.
"...What?" Squall thought. He didn't understand what she was trying to say, as he was hardly paying attention anyway.
"So now where are we?" Zell asked. The monster had knocked them quite a ways down the corridor, and it was almost too dark to see. "Are we gonna be able to find our way back?"
"Oh no..." Rinoa said. "Are we lost...?"
"We'll find our way out..." Squall assured them. "We've got that map, remember?"
Squall pulled out the wrinkled map that General Caraway's guard had given him, and looked at it closely.
"We started here..." Squall placed his finger on the map where the entrance was shown. "And I think we moved down to here. This is where we are right now..." Squall traced his finger to the bottom right corner.
"Oh... okay." Zell said calmly. Then, an idea came to him. "Hey...! I know...! Let's explore around a little bit! This map'll keep us on track, so we won't get lost. I've been dieing to know more about places like this!"
Before Squall could tell Zell that, 'they didn't really have the time to mess around here', Zell snatched the map out of Squall's hand and ran down the hall.
"Com'on! Let's see where this leads too!" Zell called.
"Great..." Squall thought sarcastically.
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Zell turned a corner into a dead end. What he saw wasn't just a wall, though.
"Wow..." he thought.
The small room he had entered was lit by two flames on either side of a mysterious-looking statue. Squall and Rinoa followed Zell in to the room, and noticed the huge stone figure.
"What is this...?" Squall wondered. "...That statue looks like a GF..."
Suddenly, they heard a loud roar. The statue began moving, twisting its stone body around, until it revealed its true form.
"GRRR!!! WHO'S THERE!!!?" the statue growled angrily. The stone covering had shattered, revealing dark purple fur.
It was a Guardian Force. One which resembled a bull, except for its man-like torso. The huge beast started attacking the humans before they had a chance to respond.
Squall dodged the swings from the GF's huge steel mace, and cast 'scan' magic on the beast. The spell began revealing information about it to Squall.
"... ... He's definitely a Guardian Force..." Squall realized. " He's called 'Sacred'. ... ... and he's an earth-typed GF, at that..."
Squall began thinking of the different kinds of magic he had gathered recently.
"... What was it those two girls were screaming earlier...? ...'Float'?" Squall thought, again dodging the GF's punches. "It's not wind magic... but it'll keep Sacred from contact with the ground. That should weaken him..."
As an Earth-based creature, Sacred could heal himself when in contact with the ground. If a magic like 'Float' was cast on him, he wouldn't be able to do so.
Zell ran up to the monster and socked him several times in the gut. The ten foot tall GF winced slightly, but attacked back, throwing Zell away from him.
Rinoa stayed a safe distance away from Sacred, shooting at him with her blaster edge, while Squall began focusing, and cast 'Float' magic on the GF. The magic lifted Sacred away from the ground.
"That'll make it easier to injure him!" Squall yelled to Zell and Rinoa. "Keep attacking him!"
Eventually, the GF grew weary from there onslauts. He fought back fircely, knocking them down several times. But he couldn't take much more of this, especially when he couldn't heal himself.
"THEY'RE PRETTY STRONG!!!" Sacred exclaimed. The 'Float' spell finally wore off, but they had weakened Sacred too much already, and he didn't want to lose to a bunch of humans.
He glared at them, backing away.
"BASTARDS!!! IT AIN'T OVER!!!" he yelled. Sacred leapt over them, and ran quickly down into the Tomb corridors. The pedestal he was standing on lifted up, the stone scraping against the walls loudly.
"That was weird..." Zell said. "He just ran off..."
"Yeah..." Squall thought. "But... Maybe we should find him again... That's a pretty powerful GF..."
"I think we should go after him." Squall finally said. "He's a GF. If we 'beat' him, we might get him to join us. Another Guardian Force could always come in handy..."
"Yeah..." replied Zell. "But how're we gonna find him...?"
"I don't think we should go looking for him." Rinoa spoke up nervously. "H-He could be anywhere in the tomb by now... I don't wanna get lost."
"We might end up battling that sorceress tonight... I want to be prepared." Squall coldly replied.
Zell nodded in agreement and followed Squall. Rinoa followed as well, disappointed, though, that Squall had not taken her concern more seriously.
"It's not like I don't know what I'm talking about..." she thought.
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Squall, Zell, and Rinoa searched around the tomb corridors, following the map carefully.
"I think he ran off towards the middle section..." Squall thought. "That's where the actual tomb is located... But the map shows that it's surrounded by a moat of some kind..."
Eventually, as they walked along the outer edge of the tomb, they found a small room, in which was a large window, opening to the outside.
"Whew... some fresh air..." Rinoa exclaimed.
Squall took a look outside, and noticed that they were surrounded by a body of water.
"The water comes all the way up to this wall..." Squall observed. "I wonder if the streams in the corridors have anything to do with this...?"
Zell wasn't paying any attention. He had found an interesting attachment on the wall.
"Hey... whatta' ya suppose this does...?" Zell asked. Without waiting for a reply, he pushed the lever and immediately, the center of the wall sunk down. Water flooded through, pouring into the room. Rinoa screamed a little, and Squall jumped back in surprise.
"Zell...!" Squall yelled. But he soon calmed down, as he realized that the water was being drained into the stone floor, through a grate.
"...He acts like Laguna..." Squall thought, still slightly irritated.
"Let's keep moving." Squall said. "If this takes too long, we'll have to start heading back to Deling city."
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They continued to move along the tomb's outer hallway, until they reached another small, side room.
This area had a doorway leading to the outside. However, the stone floor only extended out so far, and was surrounded by water as well.
Inside, though, was an old wooden turn wheel. Zell began examining it.
"This thing looks like its trying to move..." Zell observed. "But its got a little rod in here blocking the spokes..."
Once again before Squall could stop him, Zell pulled the rod away. The wheel started turning quickly, and Squall, Zell, and Rinoa heard a loud metal cranking echo throughout the tomb. Finally, the noise ended with a loud, 'Thud!'
"Zell... " Squall began, irritated. But he let it go. Zell was just like that. As long as he didn't screw anything up, Squall decided to let him be.
"What do you think all these levers and stuff do...?" Rinoa asked.
Squall paused for a moment. What did they do...?
"I don't know..." Squall replied. "But... Maybe those'll help us get into the center of the tomb... I think that's where the GF ran off to."
"You think!?" Zell exclaimed happily. "Boy! I was just messin' around, too...!"
"Yeah... I know..." Squall thought.
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The group followed the map to the center of the tomb. Sure enough, there was a door leading to the outside. From it, they could see a tall structure in the center of a water-filled moat. The coffin room.
Squall continued to observe the area. A draw bridge had apparently been lowered from the center structure, and the moat had been filled to the brim with water.
"This makes sense now..." Squall thought. "The lever released water into the moat, and the wheel lowered the draw bridge... Not bad, Zell."
Squall turned to look at Rinoa and Zell.
"That GF is probably over there. Get ready to fight again." he commanded.
"Are you sure he's over there..." Zell asked. "How did he get to the center without lowering the draw bridge...?"
"Who knows." Squall replied. "But he lives here, so there must be all sort of secret passages he knows about... Besides, where else could he have gone?"
Zell nodded, showing he understood. He began cracking his knuckles, and started stretching out.
"Gotta get psyched-up, baby..." he said.
Squall looked at Rinoa. She held the metal chain on her neck close, and was biting her bottom lip.
"...You don't have to come." Squall offered. "Me and Zell can take care of it..."
"N-No... That's okay." Rinoa hastily replied. "I can help..."
"Are you sure you can handle it...?" Squall thought. But he thought it best not to ask.
"Boy... I guess I'd better get used to this kind of stuff if I'm going to hang around with you SeeD, huh?" Rinoa attempted to joke.
But Zell didn't hear her, and Squall just stood there, frowning as usual.
"...Whatever." he thought.
*--------------------------PLACE MARKER ---------------------*
(Sick of reading right now? Take a break, and find your spot right here when you come back to the story!)
Soon, they started across the long draw bridge, and into the coffin room. Once inside the dark, damp, center, they saw the Sacred GF, poised to attack, standing on top of a large coffin.
"Y-YO, Y-YOU BACK AGAIN!? TOOK IT EASY ON YOU LAST TIME, B-BUT NOT THIS TIME! T-THIS TIME MY BIG BRO IS WITH ME! N-NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO RUN, MAN!" Sacred screamed at them, stuttering nervously.
Zell rolled his eyes. For as powerful as this GF seemed, he sure sounded like a nervous wreck. And not too smart either. There was no one else in the room besides them.
"Man, this guy's a major idiot." Zell thought.
Seeing that they weren't going to leave, and that they were, in fact, ready to fight, Sacred started yelling again.
"BRO!"
A loud rumbling shook the room.
"Uh-oh..." Zell thought. "Maybe he's not so dumb after all..."
Another GF appeared, materializing before them, and slammed its steel orb into the ground harshly. This beast looked exactly the same as Sacred, except for one major difference...
Sacred stood roughly six feet taller than his, 'big', brother.
"Yeah bro." the small GF replied.
"YO BRO, THESE GUYS CRASHED THE TOMB! P-PLUS THEY ATTACKED ME!" Sacred screamed.
"Oh really... They attacked you?" the smaller said, impressed. "Not bad for a human..."
Squall scanned the smaller Guardian Force with magic as they talked.
"... 'Minotaur'... that's an appropriate name..." Squall thought. "But he's a lot stronger than he looks... this might be tough..."
Zell looked on in disbelife. This huge monster of a GF was answering to a puny-little, bull-faced copy of himself.
"The puny one's the elder brother?!" Zell exclaimed.
"He's so much smaller..." Rinoa agreed.
"Y-YO BRO, THEY'RE MAKIN' FUN OF US!" Sacred yelled.
"Foolish little humans. I'll show you not to judge a book by it's cover..." Minotaur said.
Then the 'brothers' began attacking. Using strong physical attacks, reinforced by earth magic, their hits were powerful and potentially deadly.
Squall began to scan through his magic, and found 'Float' again.
"Here we go..." Squall thought as he cast the levitating magic.
Minotaur was lifted from the ground.
"Hey!" he yelled. "Put me down, dammit!"
Without contact to the ground, these earth typed GFs could not recover quickly from any attack. Their advantage of strength was soon undermined...
But they wouldn't give up without a full-on fight.
"HEY BRO! HOW ABOUT THE 'MAD-COW SPECIAL'?" Sacred yelled.
"Do it, bro." Minotaur replied.
Squall saw the attack coming, and just barely had time to cast 'Protect' on himself, Zell, and Rinoa.
Sacred grabbed Minotaur from the air, and swung him into the three humans. The two-foot tall GF hit them all in one shot with his steel orb.
Squall, Zell, and Rinoa moaned as the attack hit them, knocking them down. The 'Protect' magic shield absorbed a lot of the impact, but it still hurt quite a bit.
"Ouch..."
Zell rubbed his head. He began casting cure magic on himself, Squall and Rinoa.
"Alright..." Squall thought as he picked himself up from the ground. "We'll have to fight a lot harder now..."
Squall closed his eyes and began casting 'Aero', a wind-typed energy attack that he'd acquired. It hit Minotaur, twisting a small tornado around him, and hurled him to the ground.
"Unngh!" the GF exclaimed. He collapsed onto his knees. Minotaur was too weak to finish fighting.
"The rest is up to you, bro."
Sacred glared at the humans before him in disbelief. He knew that with their wind magic, he didn't stand much of a chance, but they had taken out his 'big-bro', and he wanted revenge.
"T-TAKE THIS!" Sacred yelled as he threw his fist into Squall's body.
"Ugh...!" Squall exclaimed. He was knocked to the ground.
"Squall!" Rinoa yelled.
Without the 'Protect' magic, the hit might've killed Squall.
"I- I'm... Fine..." Squall replied, nursing his bruised chest. "Use ...Aero..."
Zell responded quickly to Squall's command, casting his own 'Aero' spell onto Sacred. The magic hurled the GF into the air, as it had done to Minotaur. Sacred slammed down into the ground. He moaned, signifying the end of the battle.
"THE BROTHERS... DEFEATED..." Sacred sighed in anger. "...I GUESS WE'LL JOIN YA..."
Squall had just used some 'Cura' magic to heal himself when the GF disappeared. He felt both Sacred and Minotaur enter his mind, taking a 'place' with his other GFs.
"...It's as if they're two Guardian Forces, in one..." Squall realized. "...Weird."
"Whew... You okay, Squall?" Zell asked, walking over to him.
"...Yeah." Squall replied, brushing himself off. "Where's Rinoa...?"
Rinoa was examining an odd inscription written above the coffin that Sacred had been standing on. The letters glowed eerily, though their was no light source behind them, only stone. The words had started shining when Sacred and Minotaur disappeared.
"Look at this..." Rinoa said, waving Squall and Zell over.
The inscription read;
'You are quite the powerful ones to have defeated the two Brothers. Thanks to you, I am now free from this cramped stone coffin... However, there is something I have been thinking of for a very long time... Is it really necessary to entomb those traveling to the other world, after such a long and tiring journey through life?'
The letters then stopped glowing and disappeared. A bright light then flashed throughout the room, blinding Squall, Rinoa and Zell for a moment.
When their eyes adjusted, the coffin lid had been swung wide open, revealing the emptiness of the stone container. The lid then slammed down suddenly with a loud 'Boom!'. Dust flew from the cracks as it closed.
All three of the young fighters stood there, speechless. They had no idea what had just happened, and they weren't sure that they wanted to know.
Finally, Squall spoke up.
"Um...uh, we... We should start heading back to Deling city..." he said slowly.
Rinoa and Zell nodded in agreement, and quickly followed Squall out of the tomb.
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** This number is actually a random number in the game. 'No. 26' is just the one I happened to get this time. I've gotten, like, '135' and other stuff before.
End chap 14.
Well, kind of a long and pointless journey through the tomb, I know. But at least they have a new GF to show for it. Hope this one wasn't to boring. (I know you guys... you're waiting for the mushy l-o-v-e scenes, aren't you? Well, you're gonna have to wait for 'em... sorry!)
OMG! I just realized that this chapter is longer than chapter 3! I can't believe it... I never thought that I'd top that. Yikes...
Oh, and I just had to change up the end part of this scene a little. I mean, c'mon. In the game, a skeleton talks to you. That just doesn't translate very well into written form. Shoot! It doesn't even make sense when you play through it in the game! So I had to alter the scene a little to make more sense.
(But, you know, far be it for me to criticize a weird FF moment... O_O )
*Get's beat up by nerdy Final Fantasy diehards... #_O*
In any case, my point is that, some stuff that works well on a visual/interactive level (i.e. video games), doesn't work on a non-visual/non-interactive level (i.e. my story here...) Since you don't really get what Squall's reaction to the *ahem* skeleton is (there is none, in the game...), you gotta make something up. I just decided to make it eaisier on myself, and make the scene a little less cheesy... Squall's response to the odd event was much eaisier to come up with in the form that I put it in. Seriously, how do you just go about your buisness after seeing this weird-as-hell skeleton start singing and dancing in front of you for no good reason? A slightly eerie message with some special effects are much eaisier to deal with.
In fact, the whole side-quest to get the 'Brothers' GF was kind of hard to explain. So I used Zell as a scape goat. You'd be surprised how easy it is to use his childlike curiosity to explain in written form what is not explained in the game... heheheh...
*Evil laughing, followed by insatiable desire to make quotation marks with my fingers at every other noun...*
How was Rinoa in this chapter? She may sound kind of weak and needy... But she isn't! Rinoa just wants someone, ya' know? (Not anyone in particular... yet!) She wants to be loved, and feel protected by that love... But she just doesn't realize that that's what its all about yet. Oh well.... she'll soon find out, and then I get to have fun messing with her emotions and how unsure she'll get about her feelings towards Squall... hehehehe... Oh! And what was up with Squall, by the way?! The poor girl is freezing her butt off in a dark tomb, and Squall is just sittin' there warm and cozy with his frikin' fur-collared leather jacket on. Call me crazy, but if a sweet girl like Rinoa is cold, you just gotta give up your coat, man. It's the gentelmanly thing to do. *Sigh* But Squall will get nicer, I swear it! If he didn't, I would never lay claim to having any similarity to him (Reference the chapter 10 comments for a rather scary profile comparison.)
*More evil laughing... puts pinky to mouth and pats miniture clone of self on the head...*
Sorry, I've been thinking about 'Austin Powers' movies lately... Don't know why. I really don't like 'em all that much...(Except for 'Dr. evil' and 'Scott evil'... They're a hoot!)
Up next! Chapter 15: Deling city part 2;The 'Ambassador's' Commemoration Ceremony.
^_^
R+R (please!)
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