Part Three: The Dragon

Children of the Flame

Rinoa drove up to the place in her Mercedes. The sun was beginning to set across the sea on the port. The fountain of the angels in the center of the square still trickled their water. Shop lights began to light up, and Rinoa got out of her car. The studio seemed pretty empty. The windows were tinted as she tried to look inside for something. She listened closely for any music, but she obviously didn't hear any. This place really wasn't a dance studio. Of course, she expected.

She left her stuff in the car. She didn't need any weapons for this fight. She wanted to defeat Zell using his own style against him. She pushed the door open to enter a room filled with light. The wooden floors looked worn. Rinoa stared at herself in the walls made of mirrors. This place was probably a dance studio before Zell took it over. But she figured that. She heard her boots click on the wooden floor as she checked the place out. Zell was waiting for her here, but she didn't know where exactly.

Rinoa was prepared for this fight. She wore her old robes that she wore when she trained with Zell. Purple white pants with a skirt. Her open chest top was also purple and was still stained with some mud from some intense training she had endured. She took a few more steps before taking her boots off and lying them against the wall. She brushed her fingers through her short black hair. The end was coming soon. She was going to kill Zell and move onto her next victim.

"He's late." Rinoa groaned.

She sighed and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked almost the same as she did a few years ago with Zell. He had trained her inside the Fire Cavern based outside Balamb Garden. The intense heat wore on her endurance as she had to precisely get every step right or Zell would make her start all over again.

"If you want to master the Flaming Dragon, you will practice in the heat." His usual annoying voice turned into one of a master. Rinoa respected him.

She fell to the ground as the heat began to take her breath and energy.

"Get up. If you want to be one of us then you will get up." Zell grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to her feet.

She screamed from the pain, but felt extreme determination. She took her stance. He bent her arm to point her elbow in the air and behind her head. She pointed her hand, flat, to the ground and carefully stepped. Then she would bring her lower hand up to a serving motion before bringing it back for a forceful blow. Her upper balanced her and helped her let her do whatever she needed to do with the other. She would finally finish the move by slamming her upper fist to the ground. If she practiced it enough, it would do something incredible, but all she could do was tear the skin of her knuckles. She winced each time she did it, but Zell would just make her do it again and again until her fist was covered with blood.

Rinoa stood at the mirror and took her pose. Her elbow in the air, her hand pointed at the ground. Her lower swung and she felt a gust as it did. She twirled her body, keeping her balance to create a "tail kick" as Zell had called it. After all this she finished. She couldn't help but finish with slamming her fist to the ground. Though she never could do anything with it, it stuck in her mind. Though it didn't hurt as much as it used to, she wished she hadn't done it.

Rinoa slowly stood up and saw Zell in the mirror. He was wearing his black robes that looked much cleaner than Rinoa's purple, faded ones.

"Still practicing that move, I see." Zell smiled.

"Practice makes perfect." Rinoa couldn't help but smile back at him.

"I tell all my students that you were always my best one. I tell them the story about the girl who became a warrior. They think it's a legend, but I know it's true." He walked around a bit.

"Did you also tell them about how she got fucked over by their master?" Rinoa lost her smile.

"Anxious...I see. Well, if you want your fight, you're gonna have to prove that you're worth my time." Zell shrugged his shoulders.

"What the fuck!? I didn't come all this way to prove myself to you. I'm here to kill you and that's it." Rinoa yelled at him.

"Maybe, but if you want a fight, you'll have to do it my way." Zell turned his back to her.

"What then?" Rinoa didn't care. No matter how much he tried to stall her, she would kill him in the end.

Zell chuckled a little before he held his fingers in the air and snapped them. In an instance, about twenty men in white robes came into the room. Rinoa didn't see the entrance, but there were probably a few doors she missed. Each one of them sported a black belt across their waste. Rinoa just shook her head as they surrounded her, taking the Flaming Dragon stance.

"Got to get your students to do your dirty work?" Rinoa said to him.

"No...I just want to see if you are what Squall said you were." Zell walked off slowly, up a flight of stairs, laughing to himself.

Rinoa was pissed. Here she was, on a mission to kill Zell Dincht and she was stuck fighting a bunch of students. Though they were black belts, they were all much less experienced than Rinoa. She smiled and took another stance. She took her Flying Phoenix position of bending down and putting her arms in the air. She looked around to see each one, circling in anticipation. But it didn't matter, she would beat everyone of them and move on.

Three of them decided to charge ahead of the others. Biggest mistake of most lackeys is that they never attack in a large group. Rinoa uppercut the middle one before twirling and hitting the other two in neck and incapacitating them. A few more came and Rinoa jumped into the air to land her foot in one's face. As she did, she pushed off of it and nailed the two behind her on the way down. Five came at her now and she knew how to handle this. She went into her Flaming Dragon and performed a Tail Kick. Knocking three of them down. The other soon found their eyes gouged out by Rinoa's free-moving hand. The remaining each tried their hand at taking down Rinoa, but to no avail. She ended up snapping two of their necks, breaking three arms, and giving the rest concussions. She sighed at their lack of commitment. All she had to do was to go upstairs and take care of business.