Incision
Dr. Odine's horrendously huge glasses that magnified his already big eyes rested rather heavily on the bridge of his nose, giving him the appearance of an owl. He sat on a very very high chair (considering his diminutive height) and examined a solution he had made earlier under a very powerful electron microscope. The screen next to the equipment showed what looked like a colony of green goop with glowing particles floating on the surface. Odine removed the glasses, yawned, and stretched his arms out.
"Ah! Ze great Odine had done it again!" he told himself proudly.
Odine operated a few buttons on the chair's side and it began floating around the lab. After pressing a few more of this and that, he landed beside a five-quart vat containing liters of the green liquid. Taking a pipette, the doctor squeezed out a few milliliters of the thing into one of his special containment devices, and stored in a cold nitrogen bath.
"Once again, I, Odine, have dizcovered the latest in magic development! Once again, my solution will change the world az we know it! Once again, I..." The self-praising doctor stopped when he heard a voice behind him.
"Doctor, if you may please stop praising yourself."
Dr. Odine whirled around, the red and white frill around his neck forming a singular pattern of colors, and saw a willowy woman in sorceress robes.
"Oh! Sorceress! Vat brings you here?" the very small man asked the tall woman.
The sorceress gracefully approached him, and produced a few long claws from her fingertips before burying them in the man's stomach. Odine felt the claws slicing through his skin, the white hot pain coursing through his veins, and he began convulsing very violently in the ground.
"Something I should have done a long time ago..." she whispered to the dying man's ears. Closing her eyes, she kissed the man's forehead and gave the doctor the "bye" gesture before twisting her long, sharp claws inside Doctor Odine's gut, damaging some more of his organs in the process. She stood up like a cat and began walking towards his experiments.
Odine began spurting blood from his mouth. "Vat...are...you doing?!? NO!!!!! That iz my research!!! Please!!! SOMEONE! HELP ME!"
The woman turned to the doctor and gave him a seductive pout, kneeling down to show him the curvy shape of her very promising breasts. "No one can hear you little man..." she said while patting his head gently. She stood up, smirked at Odine, and approached the machinery and the other equipment scattered in the Estharian building.
"You are demented, you know zat!" Odine screamed at the woman. He took a small device out of his pocket and pressed a button, causing a few klaxons in his office to blare a red alert signal. The woman just smiled at him.
"I know," the woman nonchalantly replied. Her fingers began to spark and a wave of electricity emerged from her body, burning the circuits of the computers.
"...no..." the man lying on the floor weakly whispered.
The sorceress whirled around and threw a fireball at the volatile liquid spinning in the vat, causing an explosion that lit the lab very brightly.
"...please...don't..." Odine whimpered as he crawled over to the woman destroying his life's work.
Ignoring the man, the sorceress let another jolt of electricity pass through her fingers, transferring all that energy at the electron microscope the doctor had used earlier. Upon touch, the machine exploded, the shrapnel flying in all directions. The woman was shielded from the bits of metal by a Protect spell, and Odine was smart enough to lie in her direction to avoid the labkill.
The woman winked at the doctor, and finally screamed, "Ultima!" A large ball of energy emerged from her palms, claiming what remained of the lab in its destructive wave. Odine was still struggling for dear life when she knelt down and whispered at his ear.
"You're lucky you didn't end up like the others." With that, she used her powers to teleport herself into another dimension of time and space.
Odine fainted on the ground, still holding the device he had used to contact help earlier. The light on the corner blinked red and then green, and everything became dark.
---------------
Outside the lab, a crew of Esthar soldiers rushed into the building that was spewing billowing clouds of dark green and black smoke.
---------------
"No!"
The blonde in her usual coral outfit stomped angrily into the library, a raven-haired girl trailing closely behind her.
"But Quistis..."
"Rinoa! I said no! Hyne! Please stop doing this!" she screamed in the library causing all the students to turn their heads at her direction. She scoffed at them and said, "What?!?"
Noticing the angry look on the steaming instructor's face, the students eagerly went back to hitting the books. Rinoa crossed her arms and pouted.
"Quistis, he won't do anything to you. He's harmless, really," she told her friend quietly.
Quistis, through clenched teeth whispered, "I don't care. I am not interested in him! And how could you even think of doing this with Ouragan around!?!"
Rinoa was beginning to get impatient with her friend, her warm hazel eyes turning into a lighter shade of brown. "It's just a friendly mission. The guy just wants to get to know you more!" she whispered back fiercely.
"I AMNOT INTERESTED," she said firmly and clearly, her tone hinting that her word was final.
"Quisty, this is an order from Squall. You know you can't just ignore that," she said, narrowing her eyes.
Quistis sighed in defeat. "If it is a mission, fine. Just as long as I don't get to stay with him in the same snowmobile."
Rinoa looked at her pleadingly. "Alright. But why don't you like him? I thought you were quite friendly towards him earlier."
Quistis answered adamantly, "And why wouldn't I like him? He's a selfish, cocky, moron who constantly gets himself into trouble. His head is so thick that he thinks that every move of his will bring him the bacon. He tries hard to be the center of attention, and he bullies people. He regards himself too highly, and I don't think I can be with someone like that! He always thinks of himself, never considering how others would feel. He chases his dreams and only his, unlike Squall who would do something for the good of everyone. And on top of that, he betrayed us! He sold us for some evil witch who wanted to destroy the world! Honestly, as popular as he is, I wouldn't choose him over someone who prefers to go unnoticed like one of the CC Group's boys or even Nida! I only acted nicely to him because everyone was, and because I didn't want to look bad in front of his friend. I still wonder why a good man like Ouragan would associate with a lowlife like him. He even invited the guy into E.U. Garden! Can you believe that?"
Rinoa gasped and had a sad look on her face. "If that is how you feel...but he cares about you."
Quistis' face cringed and she said, "Cares to what? Slice me?"
Rinoa shook her head, "No. He showed some genuine interest in you. Maybe if you became just a friend to him, then everything will be alright."
Quistis sighed again, knowing that Rinoa would only keep encouraging her to befriend her former pupil. "I'll think about it."
Rinoa asked, "Promise?"
Quistis gave an affirmative grunt and Rinoa clapped her hands before they left the library. In one corner of the reading room, a man who wore a hat and a pair of shades lowered his dark glasses. His jade-green eyes showed pure hurt and sadness. He had planned to approach the women with his usual, cocky charm, but he finally realized that it would be an effort done in vain after hearing all he had to hear. He slowly got up and left the library.
---------------
Half an hour later, Seifer and Quistis rode out of the Garden in Estharian amphibian snowmobiles, clad in fur jackets and thermal pants. Both never said anything to each other until they reached the coast facing the Shumi island.
"So...how do you work this thing?" Seifer asked uncomfortably, unable to muster his usual cocky self after those painful words had stung him earlier.
Quistis breathed for a moment, causing some fog to appear in front of her mouth, and coldly said, "Push the red button and enter your bike's code number backwards on the panel."
The blonde instructor put on her snow goggles and entered her code on the panel, and in seconds the bike had inflated from underneath. Seifer had done the same after a few minutes, and the two blondes started skimming their amphibious vehicles through the water.
Quistis felt drastically uncomfortable after all the silence between them. Months ago, she would have pestered Seifer to say something. After all that had happened between him and the gang, she didn't even feel like talking to him.
'Honestly, I do feel sorry for him,' she thought as she looked at Seifer.
'He isn't that bad, really. But he's just a confused jerk.'
Seifer noticed Quistis eyeing him and decided to use his famous smirk. "What? You're checking me out? I thought you hated me."
'What am I doing?!? Rinoa told me not to do this!' Seifer told his brain.
Quistis blushed. 'Oh Hyne, he heard that?! I didn't mean to hurt him!'
"Seifer! You weren't supposed to hear that! And what was your business eavesdropping on me earlier?" she demanded of him.
'He is so thick! Eavesdropping on me? Damn! I hate him! (or do I not?)'
"Ah. So you do care for me."
Quistis turned her head to the left and scowled. "What? I do not!"
Seifer smirked again. "Well if you don't, then why didn't you want me to hear that?"
Quistis said nothing.
"You didn't want to hurt me because you somehow like me," Seifer said with a genuine smile.
Quistis groaned. "Ugh! You are a hopeless jerk!" She sped her bike and swerved at least ten meters away from Seifer.
"Fine! But if you ever need my help, I'm just a smack on the lips away!" he shouted from his bike. Quistis shook her head.
Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the coast of Shumi island. When the bikes reached solid ice, it immediately shifted its mechanism from floating to hovering mode.
"What were we supposed to do again?" Seifer asked through the thick fur hood of his jacket.
Quistis grunted. "Weren't you listening earlier?" Seifer turned to her direction and smirked. "Oh never mind! You are so...Ugh! Squall wants us to draw as many Ultimas as we can draw from the Shumi draw point."
Seifer exclaimed, "That draw point?!? But Quistis, that costs 5,000 gil per draw!"
Quistis replied mockingly, "Yeah, it used to. But if you were with us during our last Shumi visit, in which you were not, you would have found out that the Shumi elder had allowed us to draw freely from that 5000 gil draw point. But you see, you were spending time with Ultimecia while we were fighting our butts off. You were piloting Galbadia Garden while we were waging war against your sorceress. You were..."
Seifer suddenly said, "Alright! Alright! I get it!" He murmured, "Gosh, since when did you become so constipated?"
Quistis whirled from her seat and said while glaring at him with daggers in her eyes, "What was that?"
Seifer smirked and shrugged, "Nothing."
'I'm going to kill him later!' she thought.
Seifer and Quistis arrived at the Shumi village entrance, giving the elder the special Shumi greeting required from visitors.
"Greetings SeeDs. And what is it that you might want?" the elder said while flapping his enormous hands around.
Quistis took a letter out of her fur coat and gave it to the elder. "Sir, our commander requests your permission to allow us to draw Ultima spells from your draw point."
The elder gave her back the letter and said, "Anything for a son of Laguna. Please help yourself." He gestured to the draw point guarded by three large and intimidating Shumi bouncers.
"Please let them through."
The Shumis nodded and let the two SeeDs pass. Quistis was the first to draw. "Ultima!" she whispered, and strands of blue energy emanated from the ground. After a few moments, she was able to gather a whopping two hundred spells.
Seifer looked shocked. "Whoa! How did you draw so much Ultimas?"
Quistis smirked and said, "Rinoa taught everyone how to maximize a draw point. In this case, I gathered two hundred of them. Care to give it a try?"
Seifer gulped and fixed his collar. "Yeah. Sure." He placed his hands over the magical point and screamed, "Ultima!" Seconds later, he had gathered fifteen spells.
"Bummer..." he said to himself.
Quistis drew the spells from him and said, "You're doing it wrong. You aren't supposed to scream at a draw point. You're supposed to sweetly and gently coax it to lend as much energy as it can from its core. It sounds silly alright, but Rinoa knows her magic well, so just try it."
Seifer tried again, and he was able to draw a hundred and fifty-five spells this time. "Yes! I did it!"
Quistis smiled and nodded. "Okay let's go before it gets too dark."
Seifer stood up. "What time is it? I don't have a watch."
Quistis rolled her sleeve to expose a very nice-looking watch and said, "It's 19:30 already, so we'd better make it back in 30 minutes or we won't catch dinner."
Seifer nodded and they gave the Shumi elder a gesture of thanks before leaving the vicinity of the community. They hopped on to their bikes and rode back to the Garden.
Neither one had spoken When the Garden was at least two miles away from where they were, a blue dragon suddenly lunged at Quistis' bike, clawing her in the process. The dragon had scratched a deep gash in her back.
Quistis screamed in pain and fell off her bike. "Ah!" The bike careened and crashed into a tree, causing an insanely bright explosion.
Seifer saw this and stopped his bike, "Quistis!" He grabbed his Hyperion and lunged at the dragon and used his Demon slice on it. The dragon's bicep was sliced, causing green blood to pool on the white snow. He bared his fangs and ran towards Seifer.
The gunblade warrior stood frozen in place when he suddenly remembered his spells. Throwing two Ultimas at the dragon, it fell on the snow, dazed by the intensity of the spell, but got back on its knees and raised a claw to injure Seifer with its poisonous claws.
Seifer lept into the air and did a backward flip, expertly landing on his feet and slashing at the dragon with his gunblade. The creature groaned in pain and cast a Break spell at Seifer. Immediately casting Reflect on himself, he was able to deflect the magic back at the dragon. The animal let out a bloodcurdling scream and slowly turned into stone, and a perfect sculpture of the dragon stood erect with its threatening stare.
'That's gonna add be another thing added to the Trabia sculpture collection,' he chuckled to himself, and suddenly felt as if he forgot something very important.
He ran to a figure in the snow surrounded by blood. "Quistis!" He shook her and tried to resuscitate her.
Seifer took a small remote from his pants' pocket and pressed a button. Seconds later, his snowmobile sped and stopped at his side. He opened the trunk and took a Remedy and a syringe out. Using his teeth to open the cap of the bottle, Seifer put a few milliliters of the medicine into the needle, and injected it into Quistis.
'Damn! She's still bleeding!'
He drew two Curagas from herself and cast it on her. Her wounds had begun to heal but stopped when the crust was still moist. Deciding that the infirmary would be the best solution for her injuries, he put Quistis on the back of his bike and hurried to the Garden.
Seifer was welcomed by the Garden's front gate sentries and by Xu.
The Asian woman exclaimed, "Oh my! What happened to Quistis?" She ran over to her friend and examined the unconscious instructor.
Seifer carried her on his arms on the way to the infirmary. "Blue Dragon."
Ouragan was walking down the halls when he saw Quistis' slashed, blood- soaked coat covering her sleeping body. He immediately rushed to her. "Quistis!"
He ran to his friend and looked to Seifer. "Seifer, I'll take it from here. You go get some rest."
Seifer wanted to protest but nodded sadly when he realized that Ouragan was a commander. "You take care of her okay?"
Ouragan nodded and Quistis stirred slightly. Her eyes fluttered to see Ouragan. "Ouragan?"
Ouragan put a gloved finger on her lips and said, "Hush. You shouldn't speak." Quistis smiled and went back to sleep. Ouragan carried her into the infirmary.
When they were almost out of sight, Seifer stared at the couple and looked at Quistis sadly before returning to his dorm.
===============
Chapter 18 done! So how do you guys like the story so far? Please read and review! Next chapter: Stormy Slumber
Dr. Odine's horrendously huge glasses that magnified his already big eyes rested rather heavily on the bridge of his nose, giving him the appearance of an owl. He sat on a very very high chair (considering his diminutive height) and examined a solution he had made earlier under a very powerful electron microscope. The screen next to the equipment showed what looked like a colony of green goop with glowing particles floating on the surface. Odine removed the glasses, yawned, and stretched his arms out.
"Ah! Ze great Odine had done it again!" he told himself proudly.
Odine operated a few buttons on the chair's side and it began floating around the lab. After pressing a few more of this and that, he landed beside a five-quart vat containing liters of the green liquid. Taking a pipette, the doctor squeezed out a few milliliters of the thing into one of his special containment devices, and stored in a cold nitrogen bath.
"Once again, I, Odine, have dizcovered the latest in magic development! Once again, my solution will change the world az we know it! Once again, I..." The self-praising doctor stopped when he heard a voice behind him.
"Doctor, if you may please stop praising yourself."
Dr. Odine whirled around, the red and white frill around his neck forming a singular pattern of colors, and saw a willowy woman in sorceress robes.
"Oh! Sorceress! Vat brings you here?" the very small man asked the tall woman.
The sorceress gracefully approached him, and produced a few long claws from her fingertips before burying them in the man's stomach. Odine felt the claws slicing through his skin, the white hot pain coursing through his veins, and he began convulsing very violently in the ground.
"Something I should have done a long time ago..." she whispered to the dying man's ears. Closing her eyes, she kissed the man's forehead and gave the doctor the "bye" gesture before twisting her long, sharp claws inside Doctor Odine's gut, damaging some more of his organs in the process. She stood up like a cat and began walking towards his experiments.
Odine began spurting blood from his mouth. "Vat...are...you doing?!? NO!!!!! That iz my research!!! Please!!! SOMEONE! HELP ME!"
The woman turned to the doctor and gave him a seductive pout, kneeling down to show him the curvy shape of her very promising breasts. "No one can hear you little man..." she said while patting his head gently. She stood up, smirked at Odine, and approached the machinery and the other equipment scattered in the Estharian building.
"You are demented, you know zat!" Odine screamed at the woman. He took a small device out of his pocket and pressed a button, causing a few klaxons in his office to blare a red alert signal. The woman just smiled at him.
"I know," the woman nonchalantly replied. Her fingers began to spark and a wave of electricity emerged from her body, burning the circuits of the computers.
"...no..." the man lying on the floor weakly whispered.
The sorceress whirled around and threw a fireball at the volatile liquid spinning in the vat, causing an explosion that lit the lab very brightly.
"...please...don't..." Odine whimpered as he crawled over to the woman destroying his life's work.
Ignoring the man, the sorceress let another jolt of electricity pass through her fingers, transferring all that energy at the electron microscope the doctor had used earlier. Upon touch, the machine exploded, the shrapnel flying in all directions. The woman was shielded from the bits of metal by a Protect spell, and Odine was smart enough to lie in her direction to avoid the labkill.
The woman winked at the doctor, and finally screamed, "Ultima!" A large ball of energy emerged from her palms, claiming what remained of the lab in its destructive wave. Odine was still struggling for dear life when she knelt down and whispered at his ear.
"You're lucky you didn't end up like the others." With that, she used her powers to teleport herself into another dimension of time and space.
Odine fainted on the ground, still holding the device he had used to contact help earlier. The light on the corner blinked red and then green, and everything became dark.
---------------
Outside the lab, a crew of Esthar soldiers rushed into the building that was spewing billowing clouds of dark green and black smoke.
---------------
"No!"
The blonde in her usual coral outfit stomped angrily into the library, a raven-haired girl trailing closely behind her.
"But Quistis..."
"Rinoa! I said no! Hyne! Please stop doing this!" she screamed in the library causing all the students to turn their heads at her direction. She scoffed at them and said, "What?!?"
Noticing the angry look on the steaming instructor's face, the students eagerly went back to hitting the books. Rinoa crossed her arms and pouted.
"Quistis, he won't do anything to you. He's harmless, really," she told her friend quietly.
Quistis, through clenched teeth whispered, "I don't care. I am not interested in him! And how could you even think of doing this with Ouragan around!?!"
Rinoa was beginning to get impatient with her friend, her warm hazel eyes turning into a lighter shade of brown. "It's just a friendly mission. The guy just wants to get to know you more!" she whispered back fiercely.
"I AMNOT INTERESTED," she said firmly and clearly, her tone hinting that her word was final.
"Quisty, this is an order from Squall. You know you can't just ignore that," she said, narrowing her eyes.
Quistis sighed in defeat. "If it is a mission, fine. Just as long as I don't get to stay with him in the same snowmobile."
Rinoa looked at her pleadingly. "Alright. But why don't you like him? I thought you were quite friendly towards him earlier."
Quistis answered adamantly, "And why wouldn't I like him? He's a selfish, cocky, moron who constantly gets himself into trouble. His head is so thick that he thinks that every move of his will bring him the bacon. He tries hard to be the center of attention, and he bullies people. He regards himself too highly, and I don't think I can be with someone like that! He always thinks of himself, never considering how others would feel. He chases his dreams and only his, unlike Squall who would do something for the good of everyone. And on top of that, he betrayed us! He sold us for some evil witch who wanted to destroy the world! Honestly, as popular as he is, I wouldn't choose him over someone who prefers to go unnoticed like one of the CC Group's boys or even Nida! I only acted nicely to him because everyone was, and because I didn't want to look bad in front of his friend. I still wonder why a good man like Ouragan would associate with a lowlife like him. He even invited the guy into E.U. Garden! Can you believe that?"
Rinoa gasped and had a sad look on her face. "If that is how you feel...but he cares about you."
Quistis' face cringed and she said, "Cares to what? Slice me?"
Rinoa shook her head, "No. He showed some genuine interest in you. Maybe if you became just a friend to him, then everything will be alright."
Quistis sighed again, knowing that Rinoa would only keep encouraging her to befriend her former pupil. "I'll think about it."
Rinoa asked, "Promise?"
Quistis gave an affirmative grunt and Rinoa clapped her hands before they left the library. In one corner of the reading room, a man who wore a hat and a pair of shades lowered his dark glasses. His jade-green eyes showed pure hurt and sadness. He had planned to approach the women with his usual, cocky charm, but he finally realized that it would be an effort done in vain after hearing all he had to hear. He slowly got up and left the library.
---------------
Half an hour later, Seifer and Quistis rode out of the Garden in Estharian amphibian snowmobiles, clad in fur jackets and thermal pants. Both never said anything to each other until they reached the coast facing the Shumi island.
"So...how do you work this thing?" Seifer asked uncomfortably, unable to muster his usual cocky self after those painful words had stung him earlier.
Quistis breathed for a moment, causing some fog to appear in front of her mouth, and coldly said, "Push the red button and enter your bike's code number backwards on the panel."
The blonde instructor put on her snow goggles and entered her code on the panel, and in seconds the bike had inflated from underneath. Seifer had done the same after a few minutes, and the two blondes started skimming their amphibious vehicles through the water.
Quistis felt drastically uncomfortable after all the silence between them. Months ago, she would have pestered Seifer to say something. After all that had happened between him and the gang, she didn't even feel like talking to him.
'Honestly, I do feel sorry for him,' she thought as she looked at Seifer.
'He isn't that bad, really. But he's just a confused jerk.'
Seifer noticed Quistis eyeing him and decided to use his famous smirk. "What? You're checking me out? I thought you hated me."
'What am I doing?!? Rinoa told me not to do this!' Seifer told his brain.
Quistis blushed. 'Oh Hyne, he heard that?! I didn't mean to hurt him!'
"Seifer! You weren't supposed to hear that! And what was your business eavesdropping on me earlier?" she demanded of him.
'He is so thick! Eavesdropping on me? Damn! I hate him! (or do I not?)'
"Ah. So you do care for me."
Quistis turned her head to the left and scowled. "What? I do not!"
Seifer smirked again. "Well if you don't, then why didn't you want me to hear that?"
Quistis said nothing.
"You didn't want to hurt me because you somehow like me," Seifer said with a genuine smile.
Quistis groaned. "Ugh! You are a hopeless jerk!" She sped her bike and swerved at least ten meters away from Seifer.
"Fine! But if you ever need my help, I'm just a smack on the lips away!" he shouted from his bike. Quistis shook her head.
Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the coast of Shumi island. When the bikes reached solid ice, it immediately shifted its mechanism from floating to hovering mode.
"What were we supposed to do again?" Seifer asked through the thick fur hood of his jacket.
Quistis grunted. "Weren't you listening earlier?" Seifer turned to her direction and smirked. "Oh never mind! You are so...Ugh! Squall wants us to draw as many Ultimas as we can draw from the Shumi draw point."
Seifer exclaimed, "That draw point?!? But Quistis, that costs 5,000 gil per draw!"
Quistis replied mockingly, "Yeah, it used to. But if you were with us during our last Shumi visit, in which you were not, you would have found out that the Shumi elder had allowed us to draw freely from that 5000 gil draw point. But you see, you were spending time with Ultimecia while we were fighting our butts off. You were piloting Galbadia Garden while we were waging war against your sorceress. You were..."
Seifer suddenly said, "Alright! Alright! I get it!" He murmured, "Gosh, since when did you become so constipated?"
Quistis whirled from her seat and said while glaring at him with daggers in her eyes, "What was that?"
Seifer smirked and shrugged, "Nothing."
'I'm going to kill him later!' she thought.
Seifer and Quistis arrived at the Shumi village entrance, giving the elder the special Shumi greeting required from visitors.
"Greetings SeeDs. And what is it that you might want?" the elder said while flapping his enormous hands around.
Quistis took a letter out of her fur coat and gave it to the elder. "Sir, our commander requests your permission to allow us to draw Ultima spells from your draw point."
The elder gave her back the letter and said, "Anything for a son of Laguna. Please help yourself." He gestured to the draw point guarded by three large and intimidating Shumi bouncers.
"Please let them through."
The Shumis nodded and let the two SeeDs pass. Quistis was the first to draw. "Ultima!" she whispered, and strands of blue energy emanated from the ground. After a few moments, she was able to gather a whopping two hundred spells.
Seifer looked shocked. "Whoa! How did you draw so much Ultimas?"
Quistis smirked and said, "Rinoa taught everyone how to maximize a draw point. In this case, I gathered two hundred of them. Care to give it a try?"
Seifer gulped and fixed his collar. "Yeah. Sure." He placed his hands over the magical point and screamed, "Ultima!" Seconds later, he had gathered fifteen spells.
"Bummer..." he said to himself.
Quistis drew the spells from him and said, "You're doing it wrong. You aren't supposed to scream at a draw point. You're supposed to sweetly and gently coax it to lend as much energy as it can from its core. It sounds silly alright, but Rinoa knows her magic well, so just try it."
Seifer tried again, and he was able to draw a hundred and fifty-five spells this time. "Yes! I did it!"
Quistis smiled and nodded. "Okay let's go before it gets too dark."
Seifer stood up. "What time is it? I don't have a watch."
Quistis rolled her sleeve to expose a very nice-looking watch and said, "It's 19:30 already, so we'd better make it back in 30 minutes or we won't catch dinner."
Seifer nodded and they gave the Shumi elder a gesture of thanks before leaving the vicinity of the community. They hopped on to their bikes and rode back to the Garden.
Neither one had spoken When the Garden was at least two miles away from where they were, a blue dragon suddenly lunged at Quistis' bike, clawing her in the process. The dragon had scratched a deep gash in her back.
Quistis screamed in pain and fell off her bike. "Ah!" The bike careened and crashed into a tree, causing an insanely bright explosion.
Seifer saw this and stopped his bike, "Quistis!" He grabbed his Hyperion and lunged at the dragon and used his Demon slice on it. The dragon's bicep was sliced, causing green blood to pool on the white snow. He bared his fangs and ran towards Seifer.
The gunblade warrior stood frozen in place when he suddenly remembered his spells. Throwing two Ultimas at the dragon, it fell on the snow, dazed by the intensity of the spell, but got back on its knees and raised a claw to injure Seifer with its poisonous claws.
Seifer lept into the air and did a backward flip, expertly landing on his feet and slashing at the dragon with his gunblade. The creature groaned in pain and cast a Break spell at Seifer. Immediately casting Reflect on himself, he was able to deflect the magic back at the dragon. The animal let out a bloodcurdling scream and slowly turned into stone, and a perfect sculpture of the dragon stood erect with its threatening stare.
'That's gonna add be another thing added to the Trabia sculpture collection,' he chuckled to himself, and suddenly felt as if he forgot something very important.
He ran to a figure in the snow surrounded by blood. "Quistis!" He shook her and tried to resuscitate her.
Seifer took a small remote from his pants' pocket and pressed a button. Seconds later, his snowmobile sped and stopped at his side. He opened the trunk and took a Remedy and a syringe out. Using his teeth to open the cap of the bottle, Seifer put a few milliliters of the medicine into the needle, and injected it into Quistis.
'Damn! She's still bleeding!'
He drew two Curagas from herself and cast it on her. Her wounds had begun to heal but stopped when the crust was still moist. Deciding that the infirmary would be the best solution for her injuries, he put Quistis on the back of his bike and hurried to the Garden.
Seifer was welcomed by the Garden's front gate sentries and by Xu.
The Asian woman exclaimed, "Oh my! What happened to Quistis?" She ran over to her friend and examined the unconscious instructor.
Seifer carried her on his arms on the way to the infirmary. "Blue Dragon."
Ouragan was walking down the halls when he saw Quistis' slashed, blood- soaked coat covering her sleeping body. He immediately rushed to her. "Quistis!"
He ran to his friend and looked to Seifer. "Seifer, I'll take it from here. You go get some rest."
Seifer wanted to protest but nodded sadly when he realized that Ouragan was a commander. "You take care of her okay?"
Ouragan nodded and Quistis stirred slightly. Her eyes fluttered to see Ouragan. "Ouragan?"
Ouragan put a gloved finger on her lips and said, "Hush. You shouldn't speak." Quistis smiled and went back to sleep. Ouragan carried her into the infirmary.
When they were almost out of sight, Seifer stared at the couple and looked at Quistis sadly before returning to his dorm.
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Chapter 18 done! So how do you guys like the story so far? Please read and review! Next chapter: Stormy Slumber