Ch 31 – Beginning Of The End
Angel looked down at the sleeping Dee with something that bordered on muted surprise and awe, amazed at the figure curled tightly into a ball within the covers of the bed. Born from her but not from her…it was confusing, but at the same time, a relief. She knew, if Zell and her ever did have children, that this would be the end result – and she was more then pleased with that fact. She understood that it hadn't been at Zell's request, and she also recognised the fact that there was no real way around it.
But…the way she had hugged Angel when they had finally met…
The time that Zell had spent with her had been a boon. Angel knew that.
The bathroom door finally opened, letting clouds of hot steam and a very clean Zell to walk out, a towel wrapped around his naked waist and his hand scratching his head. "Man it's good to be clean!" He said with obvious relish, rubbing his still wet blond hair and flicking water everywhere.
The Dincht's now had executive sleeping quarters – it seemed that the Heart's previous opponents had been lenient enough to make decent accommodations for a good number of people. The rooms in the living section were buried deep under the earth, nearer to the centre of the planet where it was warmer then the harsh top-side. Whoever had built the place had made sure that over fifty million people could live in the base without fear of being cramped – several other bases like this one was scattered all over the planet, each with the capacity to hold enough people to house a third-world country. Families were allowed to sleep together, as well as married couples – no need in keeping loved ones separated during war. Each compartment, too, had a small kitchen/living room area and a separate bedroom with a bathroom. Everything a small family would need.
Angel blinked at his body again. When he had taken his shirt off before and said he was taking a shower his body had been so covered in grime and dirt that she hadn't been able to see the full extent of the Immortal's recovery procedure. Now she saw his chest, his muscle perfectly formed, not one scar to be seen, the skin all tanned golden, a stark contrast to the collage of damage she had been used to.
Zell scratched his belly absently as he walked over through the tiny compartment to grab a drink from the fridge. "What?" he asked with a chuckle.
"I…I'm just surprised. At…all the new changes." She whispered, looking down at Dee before looking up at Zell again. "Her…you…and now the order to advance…it's all coming to a head, and so many new things are happening all at once…I'm a bit confused about…everything."
Zell placed his can of drink down and walked over to her, crouching down and taking her hand. "Hey Angel – we're back together now. And Dee…was a surprise to me too, but she's a wonderful kid." He smirked. "At least we wont have to raise her – I think she's smarter then you and I put together, and she's obviously got your looks…"
"She's got your looks." Angel corrected with a giggle, looking down at Dee before tenderly brushing a lock of long golden hair from her face.
"Whatever, the point is that it's not going to change a thing – we're going to get through this, we're going to go back home together, and we're going to live happily ever after, right?"
Angel nodded, tears welling up in her chocolate-brown eyes. "I know, Zell…and I love you. You know that…right?"
She's still hurting…she thinks she betrayed me…Zell thought, quickly collecting her up into his arms. "And I love you, and I know that no matter what happens or whats happened, that'll never change – right?"
Angel nodded in his arms, weeping openly into his broad chest…
"Hyne, will you guys go to bed already?" Dee murmured with annoyance, rolling over to present her back to them. "You're making too much noise."
The base was asleep.
Night time had come to the WarWorld, the deep red sun sinking under the boiling sky and enveloping everything into darkness. During the day the red sky made the clouds look like fluffy balls of blood, rolling in the sky – at night it looked relatively sane. Not only that, but the bones and corpses that littered the ground were also gone, melting into the darkness as it rolled across the land.
Squall stood at the entrance of the base, a crutch under each arm, looking out over the empty field before him.
Every now and then a loud boom would report from the horizon, followed by a large glow that lit up the sky…before the world fell silent once more.
He looked down at the ground, looking at the rocky dirt and red dust as a stiff breeze was kicked up all around him.
He wondered just how tomorrow would turn out. Although he had confirmations that all the information Julius had given the Council had been one-hundred percent accurate, there was still the chance of random-probability. The squad leaders to the east and west might not get the messages in time, and the main force could be flanked. The Ragnarok which would fly them over the battle could take a hit in a vital spot, crashing to the ground and obliterating everyone within it. Luck or bad luck…karma, as some of the Earthlings called it…was it in their favour? Would they live to see their homes again?
Squall suddenly felt like he was the only one truly awake…
His musing was interrupted by a figure walking out from the darkness.
Julius blinked as he looked down the barrel of Squall's pistol, given to him by one of the Earthlings – 'just in case', the man had said. "Whoa, easy there Squall – I'm one of the good guys, remember?"
Squall kept the weapon trained on the hacker, however. "It's hard to tell, these days. What are you doing out this late?"
Julius put his hands in his pockets, obviously not worried. "Drawing some Magic for the fight tomorrow and out for a stroll. You?"
Squall's hand was beginning to tremble from holding the projectile weapon up, so he lowered it, flipping the safety on like Irvine had taught him and tucking it into his waistband. He would be better in the morning, he knew it. "Getting some fresh air." He muttered absently.
"…Couldn't sleep either, eh?" Julius said, walking forward to stand next to his comrade and look out at this strange world with him. He couldn't blame Squall. His job was more then stressful – the grey-eyed gunblader had a will of iron to keep up with everything, especially in the condition he was in now.
Squall nodded slowly, almost in defeat. "Yes…and Rinoa forced me out of the room."
Julius snorted and nodded knowingly. "Veronica did the same to me. I wonder if they're having a girl's night out?"
"It's possible. They need one, seeing as all that's happened today…"
Julius nodded and sighed, looking down at the ground like Squall did. "…It's a shame, Emily and Trish turning out the way they did."
"A vicious circle." Squall murmured. "Carpenter using Emily to keep tabs on Trish and Rinoa…Trish burrowing so deep she dug herself in too far…Emily falling in love with her and making it so no one else could ever have her…" His grey eyes narrowed. "Tragic."
"What will happen to Carpenter?"
"He's being held in the cells for now, guarded at all times. When we take care of things here we'll decide what to do with him."
Julius fell silent once more, looking out over the fields and into the mountains, as if answers lay within them.
Squall also became silent, following Julius' gaze. The wind died down, leaving them swamped by roaring silence, and what felt like the first time in a long while, Squall felt the need to break the deafening roar, to quell the silence that was plaguing them. Julius wasn't just a friend – he was a comrade in arms, a fellow warrior who had bled alongside him during the mission. "You know…after this is over…" Squall said, looking out towards the west as another boom echoed into the night, sending a glow into the clouds. "…I can make sure that your SeeD status isn't made redundant. You can come back to Garden, if you wish."
Julius looked down at Squall in shock, watching the man as he looked away into the distance, not looking back up at Julius. This made him smile. "Thanks…but no thanks. I think…after this…I'll go somewhere and settle down with Veronica. Live the life we were supposed to live. Get married…have kids…you know. All that mushy crap that you're supposed to do after you've beaten the bad guy and ridden off into the sunset."
Squall narrowed his eyes – but smiled a small smile, the expression hidden from Julius. "Then I wish you luck as you ride into the sunset," Squall whispered, "And I give you my blessing as the Commander of Balamb Garden."
Julius chuckled, patting Squall on the shoulder, one comrade to another. "Well, that makes me feel a hell of a lot better, Commander. I'll make sure to get you an invitation to the wedding."
"I'll be waiting for it."
Julius nodded, before turning to go – and pausing, looking over his shoulder at the brown-haired gunblader. "Just one last thing…"
Squall continued to look out into the horizon.
Julius kept talking. "…When you killed the Rinoa in the bed in the Heart Universe…how did you feel? About…killing the woman you loved, I mean."
"I think, for the briefest second, I felt much like you did when you killed the woman in the Crisp universe." Squall said, still looking out into the distance. "But then I remembered that she wasn't my Rinoa…and that I would never be able to kill her, no matter how hard someone pushed me."
"So you feel no regret? About having to do it again?"
Squall turned his head slightly. "You didn't kill Veronica, Julius. Veronica is with you now. That is all you have to focus on. If you dwell on the past too much, you allow it to consume you – you know that all too well, as do I. She is with you and loves you dearly – and if you see another Doppel, you'll understand how I know this."
Julius nodded…before looking up. "…You still didn't answer my question."
Squall turned his head away, looking out into the distance again. "I know."
Pausing for a second, Julius nodded slowly before walking back into the base, the door sliding shut behind him and clanging closed with an ominous boom.
Squall narrowed his eyes into tiny slits, remembering the haunting laugher of the Queen as she stared down at him with his Sorceress in his arms, his friends wounded around him, at her mercy. He remembered the snarling face as she turned into the Angel, lashing out at him.
"No regrets." He muttered, the wind picking up his words and carrying them off into the outstrip of the world, lost in the red planes.
Veronica felt her sparkling tears fall down to the floor as she looked down at the photo that Rinoa had handed to her, the silvery liquid dripping to the floor before evaporating almost instantly.
The blond girl was definitely Zell's daughter – and the girl to the right resembled Squall and Rinoa more then anything…so the one in the middle, with the brown hair and the bright blue eyes was…
"What's her name again?" Veronica whispered, wishing she could see the girl better.
"Maxine – they call her Max for short." Rinoa said with a smile. "Dee says she's a whiz at computers."
Veronica laughed at that, more tears spilling down her glossy cheeks, leaving bright silver trails as they ran down her face. "That figures, huh, Julius being so into computers and everything…" She said – before sniffing. "I…I had no idea, huh?"
"Neither did I." Rinoa said comfortingly.
"And…there's no way to go back there? To…meet them?"
Rinoa shook her head. "No. We…we don't have the Universal address for the Immortal world." She watched Veronica lean forward slowly and placed her arm around her shoulder. "Come on, it's not that bad…just…think of it like I do."
Veronica's shoulders heaved as she sniffed and looked up. "How…" She whispered, looking at Rinoa with her silver eyes. "…How do you think of it?"
"I think of it like…like I know they're alright. That they're living their lives in comfort…without war, or famine…they don't need to be scared of any of this stuff we're going through now. They're happy where they are…and that, knowing that, I can look forward without having to worry about them. Cause anyways, they're all grown up, huh?"
"It would've been nice, though…" Veronica sniffed. "…To watch them grow up."
Rinoa leaned forward with a smile. "You still can, you know."
Veronica blinked, wiping a tear away – before realising what Rinoa meant. "Yes…yes, you're right. I…I can watch them grow up…in our world…from me…"
Rinoa nodded. "Yup. See? There's nothing to be sad about, is there?"
"N-no…there's not…" She whispered, looking down at the photo again…before looking up at Rinoa again. "Do…do I have to tell Julius about this?"
Rinoa blinked. "Well, I guess if you want to…but why would you not want to?"
Veronica looked down at the photo again…before placing it down, face down, not wanting to torture herself anymore. "If I tell Julius…there's a good chance he'll tear Gaia apart trying to find a way to find her. And…if she's going to live her life in the Immortal world…I don't think I want Julius to ruin it for her by making us impede."
"Its…it's your decision, of course…" Rinoa said quietly. "…Of course, if I had the address to the Immortal world, I would be there in less then a second…but…I understand what you mean. Squall…Squall knows, but he understands that there's no way for us to go back…and he understands that if we did find a way we wouldn't be allow to do anything with her…like…take her back with us or anything…so…"
Her hesitant words floundered to a stop. She knew exactly what Veronica was thinking and talking about. She didn't even know why she had shown the picture to Veronica and told her of the significance of the brown-haired girl. Perhaps she wanted someone to share the feeling of not being able to see her own flesh and blood, to only know a name and see a picture in a photo – to not hear her speak, laugh, cry, go out with her boyfriend or hang out with her girlfriends.
Veronica understood. She was good at understanding people. Sniffing once and drying her tears, she tentatively picked the photograph up and looked at Max's happy features once more. "Well…" she said with a chuckle. "At least she hasn't got Julius' face."
Rinoa giggled at that and leaned closer, looking into the picture with a smile.
The next morning started just like every other morning on the base.
The sun rose, spilling over the horizon for about half an hour before disappearing behind the clouds in the sky once more, vanishing only to be peeked at by holes in the fluffy grey clouds as they loomed ominously in the air.
The morning alarm sounded, rousing the ones who had had enough rest to be roused, and announced the days notices. Debriefing for Unit's Mike, Papa and Victor, units Alpha 2 and Delta 7 to be called into the main command room, and that the cafeteria had run out of hotdogs once more. Same shit, different day.
Zell rolled over in his bed, snuggling up to Angel. "Dammit, is it always like this?" He grumbled into her hair.
"Yes…" Angel whispered, turning to kiss his forehead. "But today is less hectic then usual – the morning call is usually sounded at 0400. I think they're going to go easy on us cause it's the big push today."
Zell nodded, not opening his eyes as he spoke, wrapping his arms around her mid-section. "Hmph, yes…going easy on us…which means getting to sleep a little longer…"
"No way, scrapper." Angel giggled, pinching his nose closed until he batted her hand away. "We've got to be up and ready for Squall and the others, remember?"
Zell sighed, sitting up in their bed and rubbing his eyes. "Dammit…alright. I guess I'll get up now – but only for you. If anyone else had asked I woulda kicked him through the roof."
"I know, hon. Now go and get changed, and we'll head down to the cafeteria."
Zell sighed as he swung his naked body out of the bed. "Why? There's no hotdogs left…as usual…" He muttered as he disappeared into the bathroom.
Angel giggled – before the door to the adjacent room opened, allowing a sleepy Dee in. "Oh, good morning Dee. Did you sleep well?" Angel asked, her voice a little nervous. She didn't quite know how to speak to the teenager yet – as a mother, as a friend, or as a mixture of the two?
She reckoned she'd figure it all out eventually.
Dee stumbled forward, rubbing her eyes and scratching her tousled blond locks, clad in her sleeping singlet and panties. Climbing onto the bed, startling Angel a little, she crawled over to her and curled up beside her, murmuring as she closed her eyes again and placed her head in her lap. "It's too early, Ma…"
Angel could almost cry with happiness as she reached down to stroke the girl's hair softly. "I know, dear…I know…"
Rinoa clapped her hands as she looked down at Squall, bouncing on their bed excitedly. "Four hundred and Ninety-eight…four hundred and ninety nine…five hundred! Wow Squall, you've never been able to do five hundred push-ups on one arm before!"
Squall pushed himself to his feet, clad only in sleeping trousers, and wiped the sweat from his brow. "I need to be in top shape." He stated in his monotone voice. "I needed to know if I was completely recuperated."
"Well, if you push yourself any harder you will burn yourself out!" Rinoa scolded, jumping to her feet and walking over to him to place a hand on his heaving chest and checking the wrist-watch on her left wrist. "…Good heart rate. Yup, you're definitely back to normal! And after only one day of rest and a Curaga– I'm proud of you, Squall!"
Squall smiled down at her.
Rinoa blushed a little, looking down at his chest. "What? What are you smiling about?"
"…You sound like…Doctor Kadowaki…" He murmured with a small grin.
"Squall!! I don't know wether or not to take that as a compliment or an insult, so I'll just do this!" Rinoa squealed, punching him in the arm before grasping his neck and pulling him down into a passionate kiss.
Her lips breezing over his, Squall wrapped his arms around her midsection, the thin satin nightie she wore brushing against his chest as he prolonged the passionate embrace…before Rinoa broke off to his dismay. "Okay hotshot – you've got to get ready for the debriefing today." Rinoa whispered, her breathing husky thanks to his touch. "You'll get what you want after – alright?"
Squall's stony pout turned into a large grin as he kissed her tenderly on the cheek before walking into the bathroom.
Rinoa hugged herself with glee, falling backwards onto the bed. She didn't care if she had to fight a hundred Sorceresses – she was content and happy and looking forward to being with Squall for a long, long time – this battle was only one last hurdle before they could resume their life where they left off.
She couldn't wait. Jumping to her feet she dashed into the bathroom, pulling off and discarding her nightie and stepping into the shower with Squall. "I changed my mind. Besides, this way we'll save time."
"Not if I have anything to do with it." Squall whispered to her.
Quistis looked up from the sheets sleepily, her long blond hair rumpled into tangles as she watched the figure sitting on the bed pull on his boots. "You're leaving already?" she whispered, rubbing sand from her eyes.
Seifer looked back at her, before looking back down at his boots, lacing the laces tight. "I didn't mean to wake you." He muttered, his cold voice surprisingly less arctic as he spoke to her.
"It's okay…" she whispered, sitting up and crawling forward to drape her arms around his neck, pressing her naked chest to his scarred back.
Seifer raised a hand to caress the arms as they held him, feeling his anger to the world melt away, her touch affecting him even more then the seducing call of battle. Turning his head he kissed her roughly, caressing her hair with one hand…before disengaging the arms and standing, moving over to the chair to grab his shirt.
Quistis sat back, not quite knowing what to say. Although Seifer was a surprisingly good lover, he did have his cold moments – and, unlike Rinoa, she was unable to tell wether he was being cold intentionally or just being…Seifer. "Will…will you be fighting today?"
"Of course."
"What unit will you be in?"
"Bravo One, with Fujin and the Earthling."
His Earth Doppel, she translated automatically. It was amazing how much they didn't get along, seeing as they were so alike – Quistis guessed Seifer didn't like himself that much. At least they respected each other enough to not come to loggerheads on the battlefield or in the base – indeed, she had seen them eating lunch several times, arguing as usual. At least they had been able to hold a conversation for a while – and seeing two Seifers was always funny, especially when they were angry.
Quistis giggled at the thought, and Seifer turned to her with a frown. "What is it?"
Quistis wiped the smile off her face by biting her bottom lip. "Nothing…"
Seifer looked at her as if he didn't trust her words…before grabbing his Hyperion and slipping it into his gunbelt/scabbard, pulling out a box of loaded clips and slipping them into ammunition pouches one by one.
"I'm going to be in Echo One, with Irvine…maybe we'll run into each other on the battlefield." Quistis said, trying to keep the conversation going.
"I hope not." He muttered.
That, surprisingly, hurt Quistis a little. "…Why not?"
"Because," Seifer muttered, pulling on his long white coat with the red cross symbol on the front and turning to face her. "I don't want to be distracted by your presence."
"Oh." Quistis whispered, looking down at the sheet in her hand. "…I see."
Seifer looked at her, then turned to the door, lifting his hand to the open-stud…before pausing. "…I…I also don't want you to see me when I fight. I become…something else. Something…I don't like." He muttered, almost as if it solved everything.
"I've seen you fight before, Seifer. How is any different from any other time?!" Quistis spat, almost yelling her hurt words.
"Because this is different." He growled. "This time…I just don't want you to see me fighting, alright? Is it so hard a task to accomplish?"
"Of course not…"
"Then I hope you stay out of my face." He growled, slamming his fist into the stud, the door sliding open for him and allowing him to exit, the door slipping shut behind him as his white coat-tails flailed behind him.
Quistis hugged her legs to her chest and placed her chin against her knees. She wondered just what about him would have become different since they had been going out. It was common knowledge now, although they had managed to keep it relatively quiet and out of conversation for the most part. Seifer, much like Squall, wasn't much of a boyfriend – but all you needed to know was how he ticked.
No matter how much she studied him, however, Quistis kept finding new things which poked at her brain and kept her awake at night wondering. It was discouraging when it happened, and when she thought she had finally thought she had figured him out she realised there was another layer to him.
She sighed and got out of the bed, feeling the coolness of the air on her supple, naked body. She had held on for this long. There was no point in moping about it. He would just take more time then Squall to figure out – that's all.
"Faster! Faster! Oh, that's it! More, oh gods, more!! Oh, OH, YES, THAT'S IT, YES!!" Selphie shrieked, her fingernails raking across her lover's back in ecstasy.
Irvine groaned suddenly, his muscles quivering – before Selphie pulled him to her, hugging his sweating body to hers as she felt euphoria wash over her, his body heavy on top her, his heart beating wildly through his chest into hers and racing alongside her heart.
"I think…" she whispered huskily into his ear. "…That everything down there is in perfect working order now."
Irvine grinned at her as they both laughed, holding each other in their arms, no closer any other time then they were now. Their relationship was far more understandable then most others – they loved each other, and nothing would come between that. It was simple – just the way they liked it.
Irvine began to kiss her face, her lips, her eyes, her nose, stoking the fire within her again – before she began to wriggle in his arms, shaking her head. "Nuh-uh – we gotta get ready for the debriefing, cowboy."
Irvine smirked and backed off, rolling to the side and looking up at her as she sat up in their bed. "I think Squall and the others can live without us for another hour or so, Selph." He said with a grin, running his finger down the middle of her chest between her breasts to play with her belly button, tickling her.
She giggled and slapped his arm away, pointing at the bathroom. "No way buster – we've already done it three times, too many more and we'll both have trouble walking. I think you've proved that you're 'back in the saddle' as you say – so get those tight buns into the shower before I get angry."
Irvine stuck his tongue out at her and jumped out of the bed. "Tch, fine – but it doesn't mean I'm going to like it."
"Just hurry up!" She giggled, slapping his ass as he walked past her, making him jump and yelp.
Dee sat next to Zell as he lounged back in his chair, rocking back dangerously, watching her father and mother carefully, before looking over the room at the rest of the occupants.
They had been waiting in the briefing room for just under an hour now, and neither Squall or Rinoa had shown up yet.
Zell had smirked as Irvine and Selphie entered fifteen minutes late and looked about the room as if to say what, we're not the only one's late this time? Seifer had looked up and then down again, retaining his brooding silence. Angel had smiled to Dee and winked at her before scolding Zell for rocking on his chair.
It was interesting watching the couples in the room. Irvine and Selphie were obviously the most outward-going couple – as soon as Irvine had taken a seat Selphie had immediately plopped herself into his lap, and was now idly playing with his ponytail whilst they waited for the Commander to arrive.
Sefier and Quistis, who sat at the furthest end of the table, were the least obvious – but Zell had said something about not asking Quistis and Seifer if they had any partners, saying that they didn't like talking about it – and now Dee saw why. Sitting together, the blond beauty with the icy warrior – she couldn't exactly see how, but she could just tell they were together, feel it almost. Perhaps it was the small looks they shot each other every now and then, or the way Quistis drank from Seifer's coffee cup – little, almost innocuous things.
Zell and Angel smiled and played with each other, Zell rocking back in his chair just enough to make Angel scold him, then making her giggle as he did something inane like slip back down to all four legs and sitting to attention like a school-boy in choir. They did little things, like hold hands, or whisper to each other about things unintelligible to Dee – indeed, it was almost like they had their own secret language.
She felt slightly left out – but only for the briefest moments. That was when Selphie would playfully throw a paper ball at her and smile at her from Irvine's hands, or get poked gently in the ribs by Zell to receive a wink and a smile and a 'enjoying yerself, hon?' remark.
It made her feel welcome – in fact, there was almost a family atmosphere about the group that made her feel more then welcome – she felt accepted.
There were other people in the room too – many people, all of them crammed into the table and looking slightly bored. The older people at the other end of the table were beginning to look impatient, and, for lack of a better word, annoyed too. One man, his skin tanned a deep brown with jet black hair cut very short, was playing with some kind of ear-piece in his ear, as if it was irritating him. Dee felt sorry for him – his big hands and thick fingers couldn't grab the ear-piece properly. She wondered if it was a hearing aid of some kind.
The man beside him, a handsome man with long black hair with a few streak of white in it seemed to be slipping off to sleep every now and then, yawning occasionally and resting his head in his hand only to have him nod off, have his chin slide out of his grasp and slam his forehead into the table. He'd wake up, blink sleepily, before the entire routine began all over again.
The man beside this one was a pleasant looking fellow who smiled at her when they saw each other over the table. He was dressed more casually then the rest of the men, who all wore battle-fatigues and the such – this man wore a cardigan and looked more like a scholar then a strategist. He also nodded off to sleep occasionally, his hands folded over his stomach – only to be awoken by the man beside him as his head slammed into the table, shocking him awake only to nod off once more.
Before Dee could analyse the rest of the people at the table, however, the door opened and a flustered looking Rinoa and Squall walked through it, Rinoa taking her seat at the head of the table, Squall flanking her as he stood to address the people around the boardroom. "Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. I apologise for our absence – my health, of late, has been a concern. I needed to make sure I was fully recovered before I came here today."
"I can guess how he tested himself…" Zell whispered to Angel, which got a blush and a giggle from her.
Squall continued, seeming to not hear or ignore Zell's words. "Today is the day. Our soldiers are all prepared for the final push. The units that were fighting last night have been pulled out completely, and the Hearts, having their main supply of communication cut from both their espionage sources, have no idea of our strategy. I'm fairly certain that they will not be prepared for a full-scale attack – our main strategy has been to try and weaken them bit by bit, slowly drawing them out before attacking in waves. Now, with one massively collective strike, we predict with a 95% probability of success that they will not be able to withstand our forces, even with their numbers. Julius, take over."
A man sitting down near the middle of the long table stood, a girl with glossy skin looking up at him with silver eyes as she passed him a small folder. Opening the folder and smiling a thanks down to the girl, the man put on a pair of wire spectacles, looking down at the file before speaking up. "We have taken a census over the last week to tally the numbers of our troops – the base we currently occupy, Base Alpha, have around 1300000 troops at our disposal. Bases Bravo, Charlie and Delta all each have around 1200000. All our bases are fully equipped with SeeD and Earth armaments, with fresh tanks, helicopters and APCs all being sent in through the SeeD Arches and directed to their positions. About a million scouts all across the WarWorld have all reported back the same thing – that, for the past three days, the Hearts have been drawing back to their bases more and more. If we attack hard and fast, pouring everything at them as hard a humanly possible, we will be able to easily swamp them."
"Any real strategy?" Seifer muttered.
Julius nodded and smiled politely to the blond gunblader. "Of course…" Looking down to Veronica, who was waiting with the remote, he took it off her as she handed it up to him and aimed it at the centre of the table. The table opened up, revealing a hologram deck which sprang into life, revealing a round red globe, the surface pock-marked and scratched with ugly scars-like craters and canyons – WarWorld. "These are our bases…" Julius said, pressing a button, the world beginning to revolve as four dots blinked brightly on the display – A through to D. The letters were scattered across the four corners of the globe. "…And these are the Heart bases."
Pressing the button revealed a number of little hearts, much like the ones on Valentine cards. These were also lettered A through to D and also on each of the four corners of the globe. The SeeD letters were about an inch away from the Heart letters respectively, showing that their bases were not all that far from the Heart bases. "All information gathers that this base," Julius said, lighting up the Heart Alpha Base with the press of a button, "Is where the Sorceress Queen is, as well as the bulk of their troops. The remaining Heart bases, we'll most likely find, will be deserted or have very little men remaining in them when we do the push – once the Hearts have found out our plans they will immediately try to protect their queen. So we are focusing our attack strength on Heart Alpha."
"The main force will travel straight up, through the Canyon of Meteors to the Desert of Bone and Blood, about a hundred and fifty to two hundred miles away from this base, on hovercraft or APC units. If they don't meet any resistance on this ground they will then travel another two hundred miles until they reach Heart Alpha. All in all the trip will take about half a day." Julius pressed another button, the globe growing until the area around Heart Alpha was made visible. "Much like SeeD Alpha, Heart Alpha is surrounded by cliffs and canyons – but, unlike the fifty or so kilometres of open ground around our base, theirs has about fifty miles of open ground all around them – plenty of space to fill with attacking units and vehicles."
"The plan goes as follows - as the main forces begin their charge, their diversion will create an opening for a team of SeeDs to fly a Ragnarok directly into the Heart Base, smash through the front door, and blast their way to the Queen, in which they will then assassinate her."
"Do you have any ideas on the layout of the base for the inside?" Someone said.
"Seeing as the architectural structures on the outside are relatively the same as on our own bases, we're positive that all the bases were designed and created by one , unknown race – therefore, the structural layout ought to be similar."
"Ought to be? You don't sound so convinced, Mr. Garner."
"Given the information from Rin…I mean, Miss Heartilly, as well as my own personal viewing, the Queen is very vain – and has a thing for the colour purple. Thus, they are sure all of her private quarters will be adequately furnished with décor that will scream for attention – kind of like announcing their presence that 'this room is for VIP's only'. Finding the Queen should not prove difficult."
"And the team? Who will it consist of?" Laguna asked, looking bored.
Julius cleared his throat. "The Sorceress Heroes, as well as a few extra SeeDs to provide support."
General Raijin looked up from his snooze. "No Earthlings or Te'Get soliders?"
"No offence, General, but if Earth forces and Te'Get soldiers enter the compound they will not last long under the extreme fighting conditions. Neither race has the adequate training to defend against magical attacks – of which, we predict, there will be plenty, seeing as we're trying to kill a Sorceress. The Gaian race has been using magic for centuries – and the people we're sending in are more then adequate at defending against high-powered magic's."
General Raijin nodded sullenly, sitting back in his chair. "Fine then…"
Julius nodded, looking back down to the file before looking up at the globe again. "Once the Queen has been defeated, the plan is to set charges within the base and destroy it – but not before searching it for sufficient information on the Tidus' and the Orihalcon. There is still a mass of info on these two items that we simply don't know – and that the Queen obviously does know. After all, she was the first to use Universal Compression, and almost all her crack soldiers are clad in the nigh-to-indestructible armour – she would at least know the origins of both."
The military men around the table nodded simultaneously, murmuring to one another. The Arches and Orihalcon was a huge mystery – a mystery that would be nice to know, especially on a warring standard.
Squall stood then, looking over to Julius. "Is that all?"
Julius nodded and sat down, closing the file and handing it back to Veronica before removing his spectacles and rubbing his eyes, as if tired. It was obvious he had been up all night studying for this and getting his speech right.
"Very well…ladies and gentlemen, the time is currently 0820. Our troops are ready to mobilise at a moment's notice. Lets get this done already." Squall said finally, thumping the table with his gloved fist, his stony voice lilted with determination.
The Ragnarok, as usual, whirred into life, the afterburners roaring as the engines began to warm up, the red wings folding out like some kind of giant robotic Red Dragon, the wingspan gigantic compared to the Black Hawk's rotors beside it. Within the cockpit sat Selphie in the pilot seat and two Estharians in the seats on either side of her, doing the pre-flight checks. For once Selphie was in business mode, flicking switched and calling commands, in control of her vessel. She had done more hours then anyone within the giant red dragon, and still didn't have her licences from Esthar – of course, when she wanted to go for a joyride, nobody stopped her. But Laguna still preferred for two of his professional Estharian skymen to go with her, just in case she did a ramming stunt like on Lunatic Pandora.
Within the loading bay sat Squall, Rinoa, Irvine and Zell, each one strapped to the sides of the bay in uncomfortable seats. The living quarters had been closed down, as well as the sleeping quarters – although Zell was sure he could pound his way in, the whole point of the exercise was to fly in, jump off, and let it fly away. There was no time to waste having a coffee or snoozing.
Not that anybody was going to be doing that in a hurry. Each of the faces Zell looked over was rigid with seriousness, each person silent, within their own thoughts. As soon as the battle began they were going – their forces were being used as a distraction for their infiltration.
Failure wasn't an option.
Zell sighed heavily. He had said his goodbyes to Dee and Angel a few hours ago, when he had had to get off the APC they had been travelling on and get into the Ragnarok to be kitted up. Surprisingly they had been rather jovial about the goodbyes – as he hugged her, Angel had hugged him back with a warm smile and said "See you soon.", which had enticed a giggle from Dee. Zell had figured they were up to something, but what that was he wasn't so sure of…
"We're not late, are we?" Angel asked, plonking down in the seat next to a few befuddled Zell, strapping herself in and stretching over to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Hiya sweety."
Zell gasped for a second before blinking hard – then found his tongue. "Angel…what are you doing here?!"
"I asked Squall if I could tag along. I'm a SeeD after all, and you will need some help in fighting the Sorceress…and I'm a rather good fighter, as you well know…" Angel looked up at Zell meekly. "You're not mad, are you?"
Zell sighed. "No sweety, I'm not mad." Just a little worried…can she stand up against something even I'm not sure I can stand up to?
Angel nodded and smiled, waving over to Rinoa – and the other addition to the team.
Dee waved back and blew Zell a kiss.
Zell choked again – before Angel squeezed his shoulder. "She didn't want to wait at the base and I didn't want her fighting on the battlefield alone – at least, acting as a bodyguard for Squall and Rinoa, we'll be able to keep an eye on her, neh?"
Zell let his body go limp, feeling very defeated. It was okay for him to go into the belly of the beast – but now his family was going with him too? Knowing the hand Fate had just dealt him, Ma would walk in clad in camo fatigues and draped with ammunition too, screaming 'You're hoggin all the fun, Zell, let your Ma show you how it's done!!'
Angel simply giggled at Zell's expression and hugged his arm as the final preps were done and the Ragnarok's massive metal belly began to rumble.
The APC's full of men lining the barren ground surrounding Heart Alpha finally drew up to their originated drop-off points, about ten miles away from the base. Tanks jeeps and hovercrafts also pulled up along the APCs, opening their doors and hatches to allow the gunners entrance. The ground was covered in people scurrying to set up a temporary base of operations, as well as get set up for the attack.
Bravo One stood out before the rest on a small ridge, looking down at the open fields before them. The Heart base was just visible on the horizon, bleak and grey in the red background of rocks and clouds. Fujin stood beside Seifer and looked over the sight with something that might have resembled awe if she had emotions. She was as barren of feelings as Squall had been, if not more, her white hair ruffling in the wind as she looked up to Seifer with her one good eye, the other hidden behind a dark black patch.
"Scared?" She asked gruffly.
Major Almasy blinked, looking down at the girl. He hadn't had the time to be properly introduced to her, Seifer grunting a quick introduction for them before the rattle and roar of the APC on the stony ground made any conversation pointless. She seemed alright – but as cold as ice. "Yeah, a little." He gave up with a small smile. No point in hiding it, and there was no harm in admitting it. Fear was what made them human, after all. "You?"
"Never." She stated, turning back to the battleground, crossing her arms and looking away from him.
"That's kinda pointless, isn't it?" He asked, garnering a cocked eyebrow from her one good eye. "I mean, without fear, how do you motivate yourself on the battlefield?"
Fujin narrowed her eye and looked away again. "No motivation. Just kill."
Almasy sighed, looking away from her. She doesn't need to be motivated – she just takes out as many as they tell her to. The perfect solider. Trained from childhood to be a solider would create something like that, he mused. He'd heard of child soldiers being used in civil wars in third-world countries during the eighties – and there were even children being used in the Gulf and Iraq to shoot back at the Americans sent in to help. Using children for soldiers…it's such a flawless way to make a perfect soldier…that's why it shouldn't be done. Children need to choose wether they want to be a solider or not, not have it forced onto them. How's a five-year-old supposed to know wether he wants to be a soldier or not? Barely old enough to shit properly and he's being taught to kill…it's sickening.
He looked back at the Gaian forces, the masses of soldiers as they all began to line up at the front line. A collage of faces greeted him – men, women, kids barely old enough to shave, and even a few who weren't even old enough for that. "They're all here for a purpose…so we'd better make sure that they get their job done right, right?" He whispered to himself out loud, looking back to the front and to the base.
Fujin looked up at him, her one good grey eye latched onto his face. Covered in reddish-brown camo-fatigues/body armour and with a M16A1 in his hands and a P90 strapped to his back, he looked absolutely nothing like the Seifer she knew. He looked…less threatening somehow.
Then he narrowed his eyes, pulling back on the bolt of the rifle in his hands, chambering a round – before reaching into a pocket to pull out a pair of sunglasses, putting them on his face, shielding his blue eyes from the rest of the world. "Well…better get this thing started, huh?" He asked her, turning and walking off the ridge to move to where Seifer was preparing his troops.
Fujin paused only once before she followed.
The masses of men were finally in position, and the order to advance was sent out. Units of troops marched forward, guns and weapons clenched tightly in their hands, their eyes hard, their minds set. Earth Abrams and SeeD Tanks also moved forward, rolling before the troops on their caterpillar-like tracks and hover-pads. Although the Abrams had the upper-hand in destructive power – a direct hit by a shell was enough to dent Orihalcon – the SeeD hover-tanks were more manoeuvrable, able to move over twice the speed of the Earth vehicles. They were equipped with paramilitary guns on the rooves, with several other portholes for gunners to shoot out of.
The majority of the main line of troops were Te'Get and Gaian, the Earthlings keeping to their tanks and the back where they could shoot over their backs and into the ranks of the enemy. The battle would be a long, savage and arduous one – most, if not all of the soldiers in the Universal army were armed with swords and clubs – melee weapons. The fighting would be completely old-school.
The two Seifers walked with their troops on the front line with the rest of their men, as did the rest of the squad leaders. Only the commanding officers were to remain behind at the base to give out orders – and, although Seifer was considered a commanding officer, he had ignored the order to stay and had put himself down for the front line. There was no way in hell he would let the troops have all the glory – he wanted to be in the thick of it, to feel his soul soar with the bodies of his fallen foes – that was when he felt alive.
Of course, there was another reason he was here too…
It was not long before the Army began to near the base, the order for manning weapons and turret going out across the lines like wildfire. Everyone was ready, everything was manned and primed. Tension was palatable in the air, the heat of the sun hot on everyone's bodies and making their blood boil. Adrenaline had kicked in a while ago, and everyone was rearing to go, some men stripping out of their shirts to allow themselves more manoeuvrability, some others pre-casting Protects and Shells just in case.
The line halted exactly five kilometres from the base with the vehicles rumbling forward to halt before the troops. All five hundred Abrams raised their turrents, the long barrels pointed directly to the base, the gunner within the metallic bellies of the beasts with their fingers on the triggers.
Seifer walked forward before the tanks, directly in the middle of them, and raised a pair of field binoculars to his eyes.
In the distance he saw the base, serene in the red landscape, not a soul to be seen. Exactly designed like the SeeD base, the only exception was that there were purple banners flapping gently in the wind outside the main entrance.
He narrowed his eyes, before raising his wrist-mic to his lips. "Show them that we're here."
As soon as the order was given the air seemed to empty of all sound, the silence growing to colossal heights – before the roaring emptiness was destroyed, shattered completely by the sudden explosions of the Arbam's main guns, their main bodies rocking as the guns blasted their shells high into the air and arching off into the distance.
On Earth the Abrams' main gun, the tank turrent, was able to fire their projectile shells a good 3000 meters – but with Estharian technology in the firing mechanism and within the exploding power of the shells, the range had been doubled to just over 6000 meters, allowing the heavy shells to fly true to their intended target with little concern for missing.
Seifer watched through the binoculars, waiting for the shells to hit.
The shells flew through the air, hurtling to the base at breakneck speed – before exploding around the base, the explosions so loud and powerful they echoed out through the sky and to the army. From where they were the army could see the base be enveloped in smoke – and let out a massive cheer, the roar of millions of people enveloping the echoes of the explosions easily.
Even Seifer had a small smirk on his face as he continued to look through the binoculars. "Not bad…" He whispered…before suddenly grimacing. "Dammit."
The smoke around the base cleared – to reveal a blueish-green barrier surrounding the entire massive impound. Somehow someone had put up a massive Protect over the entire facility, rendering bombing useless.
As he watched through the field glasses the main doors of the entrance open – and men began to pour out, their weapons held ready as they raced forward to meet their foes. They moved like lightening, racing to their deaths – and they just kept on coming, their bodies soon covering the entire red field before them
Seifer threw the binoculars away and turned, ripping his Hyperion from it's sheath and running towards one of the nearest Abrams, jumping up onto the deck and to the hatch. "Gimme that loud-speaker microphone." He muttered, the Earthling handing him the mic without a question.
Standing up and facing the crowd Seifer spoke into the microphone, his voice ringing out over the crowd from the tank's loud-speakers. Within the tank a man flipped a switch, opening the frequency to broadcast over the entire Universal network – Seifer was talking to the entire army. "Listen up! These bastards want to steal your souls and bring about an age of war and destruction! I don't know about you, but I'm not about to let myself bow down to them – so we're going not going to give them our lives, we're going to give them fucking hell!!"
The roar of the crowd drowned out his words as the army as one all screamed their determination, their courage, their pride. "Advance!!" He shouted.
The distance between the two armies was covered in less then a few minutes.
Hell began shortly after.
Bullet sizzled through the air, the sounds of cries and screams ripping through the air as easily as any projectile, men and women both roaring in determination as they all threw themselves at the enemy, fighting and shooting, blasting and blowing up, killing and maiming. Blood flowed easily, the ground soon drenched in it, making it hard to run in the sloppy mud – not that they needed to run a lot. The bodies of the fallen were easy to run on, now that everyone were accustomed to it – they'd been doing so for a month now. Magic also blew through the air, lightening flashing, ice smoking, fire flaming, air blowing.
A team of Thunder experts teamed with a unit of Air users all moved before the Air unit and prepared themselves – before being blown directly into the air, flying and scattering over the ranks of the Hearts and landing right within them – before each and every one of the Thunder soldiers let off a massive Thundaga simultaneously, roasting hundred of soldiers instantly. A group of men and woman, protected by scores of soldiers with swords and guns, traced signals into the air – before the air around the Hearts was filled with flaming rocks, the Meteors slamming directly into the collective foes, crushing some with resounding booms and taking out others with their explosions, bodies and limbs flying in all directions as the explosions rocked the ground…
…But then the ground didn't stop shaking as the Quake users began to cast their magic's, the areas around masses of Hearts ripping open with massive tearing noises, boiling red magma searing up from the very core of the earth as the WarWorld swallowed the units up and closed over them, hands and arms protruding out of the cracks in the ground, bloody reminders that the ground was not a safe place to be all the time.
Seifer was directly in the thick of it, surrounded by bad guys and loving it. His Hyperion sang through the air, dicing and slicing heads, limbs, torsos, anything that came in contact with him was instantly pierced and disembowelled before being shoved aside and discarded for the next enemy. It was not long before his white coat, flailing around his legs and body as he danced through the masses of enemies, was drenched in rich red blood, his fake caked with it, his hair matted with the liquid. His body carried scores of minor wounds, but he didn't care, he didn't even feel it – all he cared was how many he killed.
Major Almasy stood a little way away from Seifer, making sure his Doppel didn't get killed outright. His M16A1 burst into life, perforating one man and swinging across to blow another's brains out. He didn't even really need to aim – he simply jammed his finger down on the trigger and sprayed bullets in all directions. There were so many Hearts that he killed numerous ones with just that one tactic then with any presicion shooting. Popping a spent clip and reaching around to grab another one from his belt, he looked up to see that the Hearts were beginning to surge forward, a break in the line already.
Bringing his hand up he gripped the small tube at the bottom of the gun barrel – and squeezed the trigger beneath it, the little M60 grenade launcher attached to the undercarriage of the gun shooting the shell out with a 'phunk' – and destroying the Hearts who pushed forward, enveloping them in flames and throwing them with the explosion. Smirking with satisfaction Almasy pushed the tube forward, allowing the empty smoking shell out of the tube and sliding another one in, pulling the tube back, the grenade primed – and fired another one, this one exploding within the ranks of the Hearts, making them think twice about going for the break in the line.
The break was reformed in that instant and the Universals surged forward – before watching as the crowds of Universals parted to allow one man to walk forward.
His yellow coat flapping in the wind, the sounds of battle waging all around him, he tugged his cowboy hat down over his blue eyes with a grin – before hefting the massive gun he held in his hands, the multi-barrelled weapon pointed directly at the mass of Hearts. "Who wants some?!" He yelled – before jamming his finger down on the trigger of the mechanism in his hands.
The barrels began to spin with a mechanic whine, slowly at first but then faster – before a three-foot long tongue of flame flared out of the barrels, spewing lead faster then a hose poured water. Waves after waves of men fell before him as he waved the multi-barrelled gun across the ranks, bodies disappearing in puffs of blood as the bullets screamed forward to perforate them completely, shattering the Heart grunts' cheap armour and denting anything substantial to a useless degree. Irvine had seen the Mini-Gun being hauled around by the beefier members of the Earth Special Forces and had begged to have one. Delight wasn't the word for the feeling he had gotten when they had handed one to him – orgasmic elation was more like it. This was the supreme example of a projectile weapon Irvine could think of at the moment – of course, he wasn't thinking of that right now. He was concentrating on how many died before he had to reload – which would be soon.
Quistis stood beside him, her whip cracking and slashing through the air as easily as any sword, taking out any who came close to her and Irvine. Twirling Save The Queen, the golden whip crackling with Junctioned Thunder elemental power, Quistis slashed another man off his feet – before a mass of men began to push forward, picking up their fallen comrades and using them as shields against the aggressive cutting power of her whip, the barbed end slashing into the body of one man and tearing him open once more – but he was already dead.
"Irvine!!" She screamed to Irvine – but he couldn't hear her over the screaming roar of the Mini-Gun, his teeth gritted as he put all his weight into turning the weapon left and right, trying to make sure the Hearts all got what they deserved.
Swearing and turning back to the men, Quistis narrowed her light blue eyes behind her spectacles – then pulled them off her face, holding them in her left hand whilst her right pulled Save The Queen back, the length of tensile-strong rope looping professionally around her body as she span, curling the length up around her easily…before she looked up at the men who pushed forward, her light blue eyes glowing a bright blue, the whites disappearing completely.
She opened her mouth and screamed, thrusting her hands forward.
Instantly the men tried to stop and pull back – but it was no use. An invisible force ripped and tore the tough rocky ground apart as it blasted straight to them – and literally ripped them to shreds, the Shockwave Pulsar screeching along with her as she pushed all her magical might into the Blue and created a massive opening in the Heart's ranks. Body parts filled the air from when they were blown up into the sky – but nobody took heed as the Universals raced forward to take advantage of the opening.
The Hearts met the Universals equally, each army beating and blasting the hell out f each other. The ground trembled and rumbled with the power, the skies boiled with Meteors and thunder, the smell of blood and sweat and dirt thick in the air. The tanks that had opened the fighting up were now in the middle of the destruction – although the Hearts had the numbers, they were under skilled, and thusly didn't have much in the field of magical attacks or defences. The M1's all had their turrets turned to the ground and blasting great gouts of dirt and bodies in the air, the explosions rocking the ground as easily as a Firaga. The hatches up the top had men on the anti-personal guns, the guns blasting many men from coming close to the tanks. The SeeD tanks, also, flew about the battlefield, dispensing ammunition at the Hearts in great quantities and with no stop in sight. Both units of tanks also began to push forward, crushing many of the Hearts in the process and pulping their bodies under their tracks or electrocuting them under the hoverpads.
A gunner on a M1 suddenly having his head blown off, a Heart clambering onto the top of the tank and threw down several grenades – before the tank rocked and exploded, blasting many Universals off the face of WarWorld as the rounds stored within it also blew, creating a massive smoking crater in the middle of the battlefield – which was soon filled with fighting bodies.
Seifer had just decapitated three people in a row and blasted several more with his Hyperion when a crackling message entered his earpiece from the base. "Commander Almasy, commence Operation Cover Flood!!"
So soon? We've only been fighting for a few hours. Seifer thought to himself – before stepping back and holding his hands out, summoning every scrap of paramagical energy he could – before disappearing in a puff of logic.
The Hearts around him, confused as they were, knew the roar of a monster when they saw one, and watched as, from over the horizon, a massive blue reptilian monster swam through the air like an eel to stop over where Seifer had just been. Leviathan, the Water Dragon, looked down over the Heart army, the masses of men writhing beneath it's scaled body – before it opened it's many-toothed maw and let loose an ear-rattling roar, the sound travelling miles and causing the heaviest armour to tremble.
Leviathan swam high up into the air, spiralling up and glowing a bright blue – before a sudden torrent of water appeared from nowhere, washing straight over the Heart Army and engulfing them completely, the Tsunami killing scores of them and washing the bodies of the fallen away from the ground. The Universals retreated for the moment, pulling back away from the wall of water that was falling. Amazingly the water just seemed to fall from the sky and wash over the Hearts – there wasn't any going back towards the Universals.
Irvine staggered back, looking up at the wall of water as it rushed like some massive floating waterfall, and ripped open the ammo-bay for the Mini-Gun, pulling out another large box of shells from where the last ammo-bunny had dropped it and laying the chain of bullets into the bay before slapping it shut and pulling the slide back, locking the ammunition into place and readying it to be fed into the barrels when he next turned the barrels. The Mini-Gun smoked like a business-man with a cigar, the metal creaking from the abuse it had just been through having to fire thousands of rounds for extended periods of time. Irvine walked forward to the massive wall of water and stood close to it, allowing the spray to slosh onto the red-hot barrels, making them hiss and steam, cooling them off and protecting them from warping.
Sighing and hefting the massive gun again as the water began to finally slow down some, he looked up as he heard a roar – and watched as a massive red dragon, fire blazing out from beneath it's flared wings, flew straight past the blue Leviathan. Irvine smiled as the masses behind him let out another loud cheer as the Ragnarok soared high above them, circling around the water dragon and letting the Universals see it one last time before activating it's afterburners and screeching towards the Heart Base. "Good luck, dudes…" The Sorceress Slayer whispered to the Ragnarok as the waves finally dissipated – to reveal some very angry and very wet Heart soldiers. The power of the attack had managed to take out about half of the numbers in the middle of the main force – but quite a few had survived somehow. The front line had been pushed back towards the Heart Base a little more, and Irvine grit his teeth before jamming his finger down on the trigger once more and began to walk forward slowly, spraying lead in all directions.
The Ragnarok flew straight over the Leviathan and over the Heart Base, circling around it – to meet even more soldiers behind the base, as if in hiding! The numbers were marginally less then the forces out the front of the base – but more men were coming out of the back of the base, and it looked like they were setting up their positions right where they were.
Selphie instantly hit the communications button for the loading bay, the flight-sticks in her hands jumping slightly as the Hearts beneath her began to fire up at the Ragnarok, magic and bullets slamming into the massive dragon's underbelly and pinging away off the hard Estharian shell. "Squall, there's a few more men here then Julius said there would be!!"
"The Hearts might have a few more Arches then we do. It's safe to assume that as soon as the other bases heard of the main attack they were called back to guard the Base in-case we tried something sneaky."
"Permission to take out as many as I can?"
"Granted."
Selphie sneered evilly and twisted the controls to the left, the Ragnarok dipping low and twisting around to sweep over the gathered reinforcements. Looking down at the men from the eyes of the Ragnarok's head/cockpit, Selphie flicked a tab on her left control-stick up to reveal a button – and jammed her finger on it. Hard.
The crimson underbelly of the Ragnarok's 'arms' flipped open – revealing twin mini-guns, the barrels pointing down and firing bright red tracer rounds, the bullets slashing and sizzling through the air to kick up dust and dirt within the crowds in a long trail, men disappearing in the red dirt, their bodies reduced to nothingness by the sheer power of the rounds being spat out by the massive dragon.
The reinforcements did what was logical – they scattered, trying not to stay in as big a group as they had been when the Ragnarok had flown over before, and Selphie twisted the sticks again, the massive dragon almost spinning in the air, it's afterburners firing wildly as she alternated between speed and hover mode. Selphie's strafe of the base included trying to kill any who retreated back to the base – the majority of the men ran away to the desert or around the base towards the front – but a small number tried to get back into the base through the back doors where they had been coming from. Flying over the area she jammed her finger down on the trigger again – and grimaced as the base suddenly flared a bluish-green, the massive Protect shielding what few men had gotten back to the doors. Better take care of that before I let them off…Selphie thought to herself, watching the Protect drop back down to invisible mode – before looking around.
Watching a bunch of men racing for what looked like an anti-aircraft gun, Selphie flew low over the crowds, the wind resistance blowing most off their feet and into the air completely whilst the afterburners roasted the ones who had held on. Watching one man jump into the firing seat and another disappear around the back – probably to release the safeties – Selphie pulled back on the controls harshly, the Ragnarok's boosters suddenly blasting with a massive roar, scorching the ground and turning the red sand into glass almost immediately – as well as making the AA gunner suddenly burst into flames, shrieking in agony and terror as he fell from the blackened metal turret and ran for his life.
Flying high up into the air, corkscrewing around as she did, Selphie flicked another button – and was slammed into her seat as the boosters slammed into full power, causing the Ragnarok to scream through the red clouds and up high into the sky, slashing through the air with unbelievable speed. Ejecting from the top of the clouds for a split second and killing the boosters, Selphie smiled at the sight – an ocean of fluffy cloud, still as stone with the occasional red mountain peeking out from the edges – before gravity took hold once more, grabbing the Ragnarok by the nose and sending it hurtling to the ground.
Blowing through the clouds once more and seeing the red dirt – and the base – coming towards her fast and with no sign of slowing down, Selphie flicked another tab up on the opposite control stick, her finger resting lightly on the button as the screen before her suddenly flickered into life, targeting modules and information scrawling across her view of the base.
Beneath the Ragnarok, the last of the trailing wisps of cloud leaving the shining red metal body, the long barrelled Plasma Cannon lowered itself from it's resting position between the 'arms' which held the mini-guns. The long red length, easily half the length of the Ragnarok's body, lowered itself slowly before latching into position with a 'ka-chunk' – and split down the middle suddenly, great lacing spider webs of static slashing out around the two prongs, the main gun armed and ready.
"Firing Plasma charge!" Selphie cried into her microphone, the Ragnarok's targeting systems suddenly crying out with a shrill tone as everything lined up perfectly onto the base, the building growing larger and larger with every passing millisecond… "Brace!!"
Then the entire ship shook, the lights and systems flickering and dimming as the Plasma Cannon suddenly went off with a gigantic explosion, the giant red dragon bucking dangerously as the super-heated particle charge screamed forth – to slam directly into the Protect surrounding the base, the Protect flashing a bright blue as the charge forced the shield inward with it's power – then broke through, causing the Protect to pop like a soap bubble – and allow the Plasma charge to slam into the side of the base, making the east side blow with a fantastic blue eruption.
Grabbing the controls and pulling back with all her tiny might, Selphie wrestled the Ragnarok under control and caused it to dip up, exiting it's kamakazi dive and spinning to the left, banking just to the side to allow the belly of the metallic beast to scrape against the roof of the compound's main building, giving the Ragnarok's paint job a great sparking scratch and wiping out a corner of the base's roof.
Selphie whimpered as she banked the red dragon away and turned it around for another pass. "Sir Laguna's going to kill me…" Reaching over to the comms button she slammed her fist into it again. "Squall, the reinforcements have scattered and it'll take them a while to regroup. Want me to drop you off now?"
"Yes. Do it now."
"Roger!"
Within the base Azel looked down at his Queen as she picked herself up from where she had been sitting. Something had hit the base violently, so violently it had shaken the compound to the very core.
Shaking her head, not believing that something had broken through her Protect, she looked up to a man as he ran in. "My Queen, a Ragnarok has broken through the Protect and scattered the reinforcements from Beta and Cappa base!!"
The Queen pulled herself back into her chair and sat down elegantly, reaching forward to the table before her to pick up the stone bucket with the arcane symbols all over it. "Deploy the fleet." She ordered simply and coldly, her eyes blank as she looked down at the Well Of Souls, staring at it as if it were her salvation.
The man saluted sharply and left the room as quickly as he'd entered.
Azel looked down at Queen Rinoa with a smirk. "I thought you said the fleet was a last resort."
"I don't care anymore!" She spat sharply. "No more games, no more waiting – I want them dead now!!"
Azel narrowed his eyes and smiled a cold smile. "You were thinking I'd invite them in for coffee and cake?"
The Queen didn't say anything – she simply cradled the Well to her, rocking slightly in her chair, her knees drawn up to her chest as she hugged the stone bucket to her tightly, an insane glint in her eye...
Zell dropped down to the tarmac, looking out to where the reinforcements had scattered. "C'mon, they'll be coming back soon!!" He screamed, Squall landing beside him and catching Rinoa as she jumped down before the two of them ran for the massive hanger doors to the building closest to them.
Dee jumped down, landing easily – before Angel followed, landing beside her daughter and, taking her hand, led her towards the area which the Heart reinforcements had been streaming from, closely following Squall and the others. As they neared the massive back-door of the main base, huge and wide like air-machine hanger doors, the ground shook viciously as if someone had cast Quake all around them, knocking the SeeDs right off their feet in surprise.
The Ragnarok slashed over their position with a loud roar, blowing wind and dust everywhere, ruffling clothing and hair as Selphie passed by. "Squall? Zell? What's going on down there?! This is no time to be sitting down on the job!"
Squall grimaced up at the red dragon as it flew around near where the Heart reinforcements had scattered, able to see it's arms flashing from the two turrent guns mounted on there as Selphie thinned out the numbers a little more. "Selphie, keep yourself focused! We'll be needing an immediate extraction when we kill the Queen and plant the charges, so don't stray too far!" He shouted into his wrist-mic – before the ground shook again, more violently this time, accompanied by a different sound this time – the roars of engines. Turbine engines.
"What the fuck are those?!" Zell yelled over the ear-splitting noise, pointing at a small hanger to the left, watching as the hanger doors opened – to let a blue shape slash out from behind the doors, the shape moving at unbelievable speed as it threw itself into the sky – and activated it's afterburners, the shape blasting forth and towards the Ragnarok.
"There too!!" Dee shouted, pointed right as another hanger opened – and spewed out a yellow shape, the unbelievable blur unmistakably dragon-esque in shape as it spiralled into the air – to blast off towards Selphie's direction once more.
"Damn you Carpenter…" Squall shouted as the hanger doors before them opened, revealing a green Ragnarok, it's reptilian shell glinting in the WarWorld sky as it suddenly shot off from it's hover position within the hanger, blasting the SeeDs off their feet once more with the powerful backwash of the after-burners. "…You gave the Queen Ragnarok's too?!"
Selphie flew over the men once more, her mini-guns blazing as the shells ripped through the air to destroy the infantry in their tracks – before Squall's voice suddenly rang clear in her headset. "Selphie, you have three Ragnaroks heading towards you controlled by the Hearts from eight-o'clock!!"
His shouted words hadn't entered her ears for less then a second before the Ragnarok shuddered violently, warning signs and flashing beacons suddenly filling Selphie's screen as something large and hard smashed into the Ragnarok's left after-burner, causing the launching device to creak dangerously inside towards the loading bay doors.
Thankful she hadn't been doing a sweep at the time and had only been on hover, Selphie watched as a yellow Ragnarok circled around from behind her – and began to approach fast, it's little forearms springing open – to reveal twin mini-guns!!
Pulling back hard on her control-sticks, the Red Ragnarok banked upwards sharply, the boosters on the bottom spewing burning fire as the tracer rounds barely missed the cockpit, scraping the bottom of the ship's hull and causing more beacons and warning sirens to wail.
Selphie, having only been using the control sticks so far, was suddenly a mass of moving limbs, her feet pumping pedals and her hands breezing over touch-displays, shouting orders to the Estharian technicians on either side of her as she tried to take evasive manoeuvres. "I want a status report pronto! Shut down the boosters until the auto-repair has patched the damage, gimme full power to the mini-thrusters and the angle-burners, and keep the hovers going at all times! Missiles and turrent are to be reloaded immediately – and I want a report as soon as the Plasma Cannon is ready to fire again!"
"Yes ma'am!!" The Estharians shouted in unison, suddenly working twice as fast as they had been before.
Her left hand wrestling with the controls and her feet still pumping and pressing pedals and switched beneath the control board, Selphie slammed her little fist into the comm's switch. "Squall, continue with the mission!! I'll hold em off and give you your ride back!"
"Squall, c'mon!" Rinoa cried, tugging on his sleeve.
His face was twisted in anger as he turned and ran for the base. The first time they had met Carpenter he had been flying in Ragnarok's not unlike the ones that was attacking Selphie right now. Either those had been Heart Ragnarok's the entire time…or Carpenter had dealt out schematics for the Ragnarok's to the enemy way before they had even heard of them. Laguna hadn't even considered sharing the Ragnarok technology with other counties yet – the betrayal boiled in Squall's belly, gnawing at his insides, feeding his determination.
And besides…even though he wanted to protect his friend and teammate…there was nothing any of them could do for Selphie now. All they could hope for was that her insane flying abilities would help her when she needed it.
"Move!" He shouted, whipping out his LionHeart and activating the blade, the energy shimmering blue in the red light as they all advanced into the hanger, infiltrating the base.
Selphie was fighting with the controls as the Rangrok pulled up, banked sharply to the left – and flew away as fast as it could, flying directly over the base and off towards the fight being held before the base. Dipping the left wing as she did, she could almost feel the tracer round whistling past her face as they slashed straight through the little crook between the left main wing/booster and the little left arm at the front, biting up the ground as she flew dangerously low to the rocky red dirt, the tip of the back booster skimming the ground and kicking up a long black trail as spark spat and flew from the contact.
The ship shuddered as she scraped the ground, Selphie's body shaking with the ship as she tried desperately to hold the controls steady – before a warning klaxon sounded and she wrenched the controlled to the right sharply, her Ragnarok pulling it's wing from the ground and turning on it's axis to the right – to allow a missile passage to blow a great chunk of dirt from the ground, the massive smoking crater disappearing behind them as their speed increased a little further as Selphie pulled up from the ground to fly up into the sky, spiralling up as she did to avoid more machine-gun fire, the tracer rounds sizzling around her red dragon as she zipped off the ground and into empty air.
Grimacing, Selphie turned her head to the right – to see another Ragnarok, this one a bright green, pulling up beside her – and suddenly try to ram into it, banking in sharply and firing it's right-hand thrusters at the same time!!
Pulling up on the controls in reflex, Selphie's ship suddenly pulled straight up, doing a loop-dee-loop, which allowed the green Ragnarok to simply strafe across directly underneath them and fly off into the red distance, having now to circle around to approach once more.
Now flying upside-down and straight, Selphie's brown curls dangling around her face, she breathed a sigh of relief – before looking back at one of the Estharians. "What's the status on the ship?!"
"Main left booster is down, ma'am! It will be operational in exactly T-Minus ten minutes, if the auto-repair isn't interrupted!" The man on her left shouted.
"And our enemy?"
"The scanners aren't picking up any life-forms on the ship, human or otherwise, ma'am!" The Estharian on her right shouted. "I'd say they're being controlled by AI systems – it would explain the suicidal tendencies so far!"
Selphie smirked, turning her head back to look out the dragon's eyes, her hands tightened around the controls into a white-knuckled grip. "Robots, huh? Well, lets see how good they are against flesh and blood!!"
Suddenly bringing the Ragnarok around so it was level again, Selphie turned the controls to the right – and barely avoiding more machine-gun fire as it ripped up the atmosphere beneath her, her red Ragnarok banking sharply to the right and spinning around to face off with her attackers, the hover-pads beneath her flaring wildly as she stopped it on a dime. The yellow and green dragons screamed towards her with reckless abandon, not seeming to heed her sudden and evidently insane pause in mid-air. Selphie turned her head slightly, not taking her eyes off the two ships before her and she addressed her two co-pilots. "On my mark give me everything you've got to the main thrusters at the back."
Yellow dipped itself slightly and span upside down, whilst Green banked up slowly, the distance between them and the SeeDs decreasing with lightening speed. Narrowing her green eyes, her grips on the controls tightening even more and making the steel and plastic creak slightly, Selphie watched the two ships as they began to curve upwards and downwards respectively – trying to sandwich her in between them in a north-south pincer attack. Instead of turning and fleeing, however, Selphie waited intently, patiently, giving the Heart vessels time, time to approach, time to charge their guns, time to draw closer together…
"Full power back thrusters, now!!" She screamed, suddenly pushing the controls forward, the hovers suddenly flaring brilliantly – before the thrusters kicked in, sending her screaming forward, aiming right for the empty space between the two advancing ships!!
The AI, realising what she was trying to do with amazing computing speed, activated it's main guns, the mini-guns on the two Heart ships flared into life, spitting red-hot tracer rounds at the belly and back of the massive red dragon, the round ripping straight into the metal and rending great holes in the shiny hide of the mechanical beast – but not much as Selphie slashed straight through the middle of their trajectory, speeding straight past them entirely. Programmed to only destroy the SeeD Ragnarok, the two Heart ships immediately abandoned their ramming tactic and took evasive manoeuvre, Yellow levelling out up-side down as Green levelled out right-ways up, the two Ragnaroks flying belly-to-belly with the Yellow on the bottom.
Killing the right thruster as soon as she was clear of the two Heart Ships, Selphie pumped her foot down on the left thruster's pedal and twisted the controlled to the left as well. The back right thrusters dying immediately, the left ones blazing hotly with sudden force, the Red Ragnarok suddenly twisted in mid-air, spinning around in a perfect 'slingshot', the sky spinning around in Selphie's sight – before she saw the quickly escaping Heart ships and jammed her fingers down on her fire-switches on the controls, slamming both her feet down on the pedals and shoving the controls forward as she did.
The Green Ragnarok managed to get out of the way, flying up and off into the clouds – but the Yellow one hadn't been so lucky, Selphie's tracer-rounds slamming straight into the back boosters and igniting the fuel-reserves stored within the sides of the loading bays – and causing the bright-yellow dragon to erupt into flames, metal flying in all directions as the dragon exploded brilliantly.
"Haha!! Stupid machine!!" Selphie crowed in triumph as she slashed straight through the cloud of smoke and flame that had emitted from the obliterated wreckage – before blanching as she saw something. "Oh poo!!"
The Blue Ragnarok had appeared out of nowhere, apparently having tried to sneak up behind Selphie to join in on the pincer attack launched by Yellow and Green – and was now careening towards her at unbelievable speeds!!
The man to her right suddenly looked over to Selphie. "Left boosters fully restored!!"
Selphie didn't need anymore telling – instantly her hand reached over to slap that big inviting red button she had hit so many times before – and felt that familiar crushing sensation as gravity took it's toll on her body as it squashed her into her pilot's seat and threatened to make her lose her lunch.
The Blue Ragnarok, having only been travelling at dog-fight speed - i.e. normal thruster speed – simply flew directly past them as Selphie pushed the controls down at the last second, the twin wings on the top of the Ragnarok scraping against the little arms of the Blue Heart ship as she passed by it, the Heart ship losing it's main guns – and it's target as Selphie screamed towards the WarWorld Badlands, a messy terrain of gigantic rocky canyons and mountains.
"Status!!" Selphie growled through gritted teeth as the G-forces continued to push at her.
"Living and Sleeping quarters have just sustained severe damage, ma'am! The top and bottom of the hull has been perforated as well, although only causing minimal damage. Missiles and main guns are loaded and ready for use – the Plasma Cannon will be fully charged and ready to fire on your command, ma'am!"
"What about our copy-cat friends?"
"The blue one had sustained damage to it's main guns, meaning it'll be using either it's missiles or it's Plasma Cannon in it's next attack – and the green one has disappeared into the clouds for the moment…"
"Keep an eye out for it." Selphie ordered as she tapped a button to activate the back-cameras, seeing the Blue Heart ship, having activated it's own boosters, quickly catching up with her. Narrowing her eyes at the massive blue dragon, she then looked down at the terrain before her, it's deep wide canyons open beneath her and almost beckoning for her, calling for her…
So she smirked and answered that call, deactivating the boosters and slipping down a few mach's, the Ragnarok suddenly dipping low – to disappear into a canyon!!
The cock-pit suddenly plunged into darkness from the canyons long black shadows, about every warning signal and siren wailed into Selphie's ears, making her grimace her pretty little face – and pull her hand back to slam it into the panel beside her, the metal buckling and rending – to allow her to grab a handful of wires, yanking them clear, the sirens and warnings suddenly shutting down as she ripped the safety system from it's position in the deck.
"That's better…" she whispered as she took a hold of the controls again and took evasive action, dipping and sliding in and out of long alleyways and winding corridors, some twisting like snakes with broken backs, others as straight as Casanova on Valentines day – before she slowed down, killing the main thrusters and only leaving on the hover-pads beneath her and any small bottom-burners to stop the metal dragon from bottoming out.
The Estharians were freaking out – it was insanity to fly within such enclosed and narrow spaces, not to mention illegal – there had already been more then enough damage to the Ragnarok to set back the Estharian weapons budget a few billion gil, any more would certify that President Laguna would not be pleased. Even more unsettling was the fact that Selphie had seemed to stop flying the ship seriously – setting the thrusters and hover-pads on auto-pilot, she steered with her foot as she shook her arms uncomfortably. "Aiyaaa, maybe I ought to do more push-ups like Zell says I ought to do…wrestling with those controls is cramp-city!"
"M-ma'am!!" One co-pilot shouted, watching the red walls com dangerously close to the edge of the Ragnarok. "Please use both hands!! We're still being hunted!!"
Selphie smirked over to the man, poking her tongue out at the man. "What you cant see cant hurt you – or, at least, until it decides to hurt you."
"Excuse me, ma'am?"
Selphie pointed up to the cloud-filled sky, and the Estharians looked up – to
watch as the Blue Ragnarok flew straight over them, leaving large vapour trails
behind it as it still fired it's main thrusters, trying to seek it's prey out
within the dank depths of the canyons beneath it. Seeing the confused looks on
their faces, Selphie smiled. "Even an AI system has be programmed – seeing as
doing something like what I'm doing requires an expert pilot of infinite skill
and wisdom, not to mention grace, beauty – and bucket-loads of insane stunts
under her belt – an AI would not be able to come down here for the sheer fact
that there are too many risks at stake! Cool, huh?"
"…Yes ma'am, you are all those things and very astute for recognising such a unique weakness…but it would make us feel a lot better if we finished what we are here to do and resume something a little less…dangerous? Like our prior mission?"
Selphie sighed, cracking her knuckles and putting her foot back down on the floor. "Scaredy-cats…" She muttered as she turned the controls up slightly, letting the dragon bank upwards slowly, emerging from the darkness…
Casually flicking a switch up and delicately placing her finger down on the button beneath it, Selphie smiled sweetly. "Chocks away."
From the little arms, not from the middle where the mini-guns were situated but from the sides, two compartments opened from the outside of both sides – to allow two little missiles to launch from the compartments, the missiles flying forward a little faster then the ship's speed thanks to momentum – before their little boosters fired into life, long licking flames blazing from behind them as they suddenly flew forward with impressive speed. About the size of a small car and packing enough power to wipe out half of Balamb Garden, the missiles also had a heat-seeking device attached to the tips, kindly donated from the Earthlings – most, if not all, Gaian missiles didn't have heat-seeking apparatuses because, quite simply, not many conventional war-vessels used burners, replying on the more silent and manoeuvrable hover pads instead, which emitted very little heat.
Selphie watched with a small smile as the Blue Ragnarok, obviously seeing the incoming missiles on it's monitors and taking evasive action, fired it's thrusters a little harder and banked sharply to the right – only to have the missiles bank right after it!!
Just as I thought – the AI doesn't know what to do! It's based on Gaian technology, on Estharian technology – not Earth technology! Selphie thought triumphantly as she giggled, watching the Blue Heart ship begin to fly in a tight circle to avoid the heat-seekers, unable to break out of it's circle as the two missiles continued to follow it's thrusters – before the missiles finally caught up and detonated right within the two thruster-ports, the explosions kicking the blue dragon forward – and eradicating it's back-half, only the destroyed arms and head left to fly forward to explode onto the rocky terrain.
"Booya!!" Selphie cried in delight, clapping her hands together with joy. "Selphie two, copycats nil!!"
The Estharians cheered along with her – before the one on the left looked down at his screen. "Ma'am, bogey at six-o'clock approaching fast – it's the last one, ma'am."
Selphie, feeling immensely confident and with a smirk etched onto her face, immediately flipped a few switched and span the Ragnarok around to face her opponent, the thrusters firing as she began to advance towards the Green Heart ship. "Just one more, boys, and we can go and relax after that!" She giggled. "What's it doing?"
"Nothing ma'am. It's approaching at half-thrusters speed, doesn't seem to be targeting anything just yet. It might be waiting until we're closer until it decides to lock on…but nothing yet."
"That's interesting…" Selphie whispered – before shrugging. "Meh. It's an AI, it's allowed to be scared. Lock on main guns and all missiles! Lets wax this silly machine!"
"Wax targeting initiating… You are fully prepared to wax, ma'am."
The two ships slowly closing their gaps between them, Selphie with an even smile on her face from the Estharians try-hard attempt at humour, the Green Ragnarok simply coasting towards her with little to no heed of the targeting klaxons blaring within it's empty cockpit, Selphie suddenly jammed her fingers on the triggers on the controls.
A massive payload of missiles suddenly fell out of the sides of the dragon's arms as the arms split down the middle and unloaded it's tracer rounds at the head of the massive metallic dragon, Selphie cackling with glee as the bullets and missiles raced one another to be the first to wipe the Green copy from the face of the WarWorld…
"Ma'am, I'm detecting a massive output of ion and plasma energy from the bottom of the blue Ragnarok!! It's about to fire it's Plasma Cannon!!"
"Oh crap." Selphie whispered as she watched the bottom of the Green Ragnarok flash – before a beam of sheer energy slashed forward, reducing the tracer rounds to ash and causing the heat-seekers to explode as soon as they got within range – then bore down on the SeeD Ragnarok with no mercy whatsoever!!
Her eyes wide, her arms suddenly straight as she pulled the controls up and to the right with all her might, her feet slamming down on the pedals to fire every single booster, thruster and hover-pad she had, Selphie literally felt the heat of the Plasma Charge as it sizzled right over the Ragnarok's belly, sheering a great chunk out of the loading bay in the bottom of the ship, only barely missing the fuel-pods on either side of the loading bay – but only grazing the ship, the charge flying away behind them to hit a mountain – and detonate, exploding in a sudden flash of blue plasma, reducing the mountain to ashes.
"Ma'am!! The loading bay had been severely damaged, and we've lost almost all the hover-pads on the bottom!!" The man on the left screamed.
"Main guns are down!! Missiles are in-operational!! We're defenceless now! We have to retreat!!" The man on the right cried.
"Not on your life." Selphie growled, her little arms baring their muscles as she wrestled with the shaky controls. "Nobody ruins my ship like this and gets away with it with only a few scratches. Report on the enemy!"
"…Enemy ship is recharging it's Plasma Cannon. It's opting to take us out with one clean shot instead of finishing us off with conventional weapons. Recharge time T-Minus three minutes! How the hell could they make it recharge that fast?!"
"…Charge the Plasma Cannon." Selphie ordered.
The Estharians paused, before the one on the left spoke up. "Ma'am, if we fire the Plasma Cannon with our current energy…the chances we'll be able to complete our mission will go down dramatically."
"The chances of failure are already quite high, dammit – the only way we can be sure to keep things level is to take out that ship!! Divert all spare power to remaining after-burner and boosters and keep them on standby – and charge the damn Plasma Cannon."
"…Yes ma'am…" The Estharians said professionally, doing their job.
Selphie kept her eyes on the ship before her, not even a kilometre away, obvious in the red sky, it's green hull like a loose leaf in a sea of blood. She'd fought a good game against the machines – but now this would be the deciding factor. Who would be the one to get the first shot off. Her Plasma Cannon was lowered and had been charged before hand, so its length was already sparking and flashing with gigantic tongues of static. The bottom of the long barrel was scorched and melted away from the previous Plasma attack – but it was still mainly intact and fully operational, only still able to fire from the fact that it had been hidden within the Ragnarok's belly. If it had been hanging out, it would've been taken out easily.
The targeting system was locking onto the Green Heart ship, the tone ringing softly in Selphie's ears, Selphie's finger poised at the ready over the trigger on the left control stick. What Irvine would call a Galbadian Draw…he'd probably think of some clever way to distract the bad guy…say something funny, or do something stupid like he always does…oh Irvine…I love you… She thought, her mind a mixture of emotions as she looked at the Green Ragnarok…
…And heard the tone go off with a shrill beep, the Plasma Cannon charged and ready to fire.
"Brace!!" She screamed – before pulling the trigger.
Okay, so I promised six GFs…and I only gave you one…but what about that Ragnarok fight? Better then some GF's, huh?
Tch, fine, coming up in the next few chapters I'll give you five GF's…pushy audience, but you know I love the challenge...not only that, but more Universal War (Seifer&Seifer VS Seifer, anyone?), the Azel VS Zell battle, and yes, you've guessed it – two Sorceresses literally tearing the planet to shreds – as well as the final, shocking twist that no-one will see coming!! YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT, NO-ONE DAMMIT!!
You wont wanna miss it.
((Whoowa, 34 pages…16,000 words…I think I'm gaining more levels with each chapter, what do you think? Michael Kenny: Level 87, SeeD Rank S. :P ))
