Chapter 12: Demons of Earth and Mind
The waters splashed under their chocobos' feet as the group moved deeper into the Midgar Swamps. Red stepped lightly, often pausing to leap up into the small twisted, leafless trees that grew in this area. His eyes sought out any threats on the horizon, but failed to see anything. Nonetheless, he kept up a brisk pace, and the others' matched him with their chocobos, slowing only to navigate around wide bogs or areas of thick undergrowth. The land was muddy and damp, and pools of water rose up constantly, often forming shallow lakes that at times rose up almost to the chocobos' thighs. There was the occasional call from a swamp bird in the distance, but with that exception, nothing seemed to be alive in this wasteland.
"Wonderful place," Zell commented as they rode along. "I can see bringing my grandkids here for fun and vacation in about forty years."
"If Shinra were to raze this whole swamp it would be an improvement," Squall muttered in agreement. "Keep your eyes open. Those Zoloms could be anywhere."
"Well, we do have Red watching out for us," Quistis added.
"I only have one pair of eyes," Red called back as he traversed a tree, scanning the horizon. He dropped back down and moved off into the swamp silently, the chocobos right behind him.
The mountains ahead steadily grew, and Zell finally spoke again.
"Hey, I'm wondering if we're going to get out of this without having t even see one of those things. We're about halfway across the swamp, aren't we? Maybe we won't-"
"Silence!" Red hissed, watching the horizon. The others froze, stopping the chocobos where they stood. The birds warbled slightly, in fear and anxiety, their feet clawing the muddy ground slightly. Red stared out into the distance, and then, a moment, later, looked to the others, his good eye wide open.
"Go now! Run!" he ordered, and bounded away. Squall and Zell wasted no time kicking their chocobos into an all-out dash, following Red's trail as he cut across the swamp.
"You and your big mouth," Quistis commented to Zell, who shrugged a she urged his bird on faster.
"How far are they?" Squall asked. Red glanced to his left, and looked back for an instant.
"Close! Ride! Hurry!" the beast replied, almost afraid. Squall looked in the direction that Red had glanced, and saw a single hump on the horizon, steadily getting larger as it moved over the muddy ground and through the shallow waters, a hump with white eyes on the front and a mouth that was opening, readying to partake in the kill.
"They're coming!" Squall warned, and leveled a hand at the zolom. A bolt of lightning ripped out as the creature neared, impacting it between its eyes.
Squall then almost wished he hadn't bothered.
The zolom let out a tremendous roar that momentarily deafened the group and sent the chocobos squealing in pain, and sent ripples through the water. It then reared back, rising up, then towering over the quartet of humans and their mounts.
The zolom looked like nothing more than a giant black cobra, as tall as a two-story building and seeming to be just as heavy and durable. It thundered a second cry and smashed back down into the dirt, sliding forward, now with fury and hatred in its eyes, and went straight for Squall's chocobo.
"Not good," he hissed to Rinoa, and urged his bird on faster as the zolom closed in.
"Hey, ugly!" shouted Zell suddenly, edging his bird closer to the zolom. It seemed to ignore him, until he launched a lightning bolt at the creature, which resulted in another enraged roar. It shifted toward Zell and Quistis, and it began to close in, when Quistis snapped her rante at it, the long chain sending the blade into the beast's face as it neared. The zolom cried out again in pain and momentarily veered off, passing in front of Zell's bird. The brawler slowed it to avoid a crash, when the zolom rapidly turned, literally snaking its body around the chocobo and its two riders. The massive snake opened its mouth and breathed flames down on the pair and their mount.
Zell let out a shocked cry as fire poured out of the Zolom's mouth, and sidestepped his bird, the chocobo, leaping out of the path of the flames. Steam erupted from the waters as the inferno threatened to engulf the group, and Quistis cried out in pain as the fires licked her arm, burning it. Zell shouted in anger and kicked the bird forward, driving it toward the body of the Zolom ahead of them. The chocobo, well-trained and instinctively understanding what it needed to do, leapt into the air, directly over the Zolom's body, splashing down on the opposite side of the snake's tail. Zell urged the mount onward. Behind them, the Zolom growled in frustration and moved to pursue immediately, slithering across the marshes.
Quistis, meanwhile, clutched her arm, closing her eyes and wincing at the burning pain. However, her expression swiftly shifted to thoughtful.
"Quistis?" Zell asked. "No time for a nap!" She responded by opening her eyes and turning back toward the oncoming Zolom, pointing a hand toward it as if casting a spell.
"Try some of it yourself!" she shouted, and instantly, flames burst from her hand and shot toward the Zolom, exactly like its own fires had erupted an instant before. The Zolom reared back, roaring in pain and confusion as Quistis' fires seared its flesh. It turned suddenly and pulled away, slithering across the marshes away from the intruders.
"Okay, first Rinoa, and now you," Zell commented, looking at Quistis. "What's going on here?"
"Explanation later," Squall responded, slowing his chocobo down so that they were riding parallel. "Escaping now!"
"There are more coming!" Red added loudly, somewhere ahead of them. "At least one more ahead of us! We must hurry!"
Zell and Squall urged their chocobos on in full flight, and the mounts, apparently understanding the threat of the Zoloms, pushed themselves hard, charging across the marshes. Red stayed ahead of them, continuously spotting for them whenever he found a tree high enough to use. At one point, as they drew closer and closer to the mountains, Red called back a warning.
"The Zolom is nearing! We must turn aside!" Squall nodded and began to turn his bird when Red made another exclamation, this one of surprise. Ahead, they saw the Zolom suddenly rise, roaring in fury, and then jerk, before flopping down with a resounding crash into the muddy waters. Red scanned the horizon, and spotted more Zoloms, but these were hesitant, and a few turned away, which he reported to his comrades.
A few minutes later, Squall and Zell moved their chocobos toward the fallen Zolom, alert for any attack. None came, and they were rather surprised as they neared the creature, to see three holes grouped around its head.
"Bullet wounds," Squall commented, hopping off his chocobo and slashing through the waters. "High caliber, too. These look like . . . Sniper fire?"
"Someone sniped the Zolom?" Rinoa asked, and Squall nodded. He looked up, toward the mountains, and thought back to the Shinra building. Someone was seriously looking out for them.
"Like we have our own guardian angels or something," Quistis commented.
"Hey, if this sniper guy picks off the Shinra, and puts a few into this Sephiroth guy, I'd be pretty happy," Zell added as Squall mounted his bird once more.
"The other Zoloms are keeping their distance," Red reported. "I do not think they will be coming close anytime soon."
"Let's ride before they get their courage back," Rinoa advised, and the others agreed. Within seconds they were riding hard across the marshes once again, and no giant fire-breathing snakes emerged to threaten them.
They soon enough exited the marshes, but Squall found dread entering his heart as they did so. Shortly before leaving the marshes Red had discovered a wide area of the shallows tinged crimson. A single lap of the water with his tongue had told Red XIII all that they needed to know.
"Blood," the hunter had hissed.
The bloody water continued on for a while, right up until they left the marshes, and the trail continued, a virtual path paved in the red substance, weaving between and over rocks and jagged stones in their path. Soon enough, the quintet and their chocobos rounded a bend in the trail, heading up into a mountain pass, and they saw it.
A tall tree had all of its branches sheared off. The top of the tree was also missing, instead whittled down into a massive spike. Impaled on this spike, tip driven through the head, was a Zolom. Blood poured down from the dead creature's body and pooled around the tree, and there was little doubt that the trail of blood from here back had come from several lethal slashes across the creature's carcass.
"Okay," Zell stated clearly. "I am now officially freaked out."
"Sephiroth did this?" Rinoa asked, and Squall nodded grimly.
"Left us a calling card," the former SeeD growled.
"So, this is what he can do?" Quistis mused, amazed. "I knew he was powerful, but Hyne . . . ."
"Let's go," Squall said coldly, and kicked his chocobo forward, the bird moving out into the mountain pass. They trudged along the rocky trail as the mountains grew closer and closer, and soon approached an old mining town, long since abandoned. Rail lines ran toward a cavern nestled between the mountains. Squall led them up to the entrance, and dismounted.
"We can't bring the birds inside," he commented, and Zell and the others nodded, following suit. "You have a map of this place?"
"Won't need one," Zell replied. "There's a lot of branching tunnels, but the other end is a straight shot from here, more or less."
"I can also assist you in moving through the tunnels," Red added. "My clan lived in an area honeycombed with tunnels and catacombs. We learned quickly how to find our way through them."
"Well, that makes our job that much easier," Zell added. "Now, we have to send the birds home."
"We just going to let them run across that swamp?" Rinoa asked, and Zell shook his head.
"We just tell them to go home," Zell explained. "Trust me, chocobos are twice as fast without a rider, and can even climb up and down mountain faces as long as they don't have heavy weights on their backs. They're a lot more agile than they seem. They'll be fine." Zell led the pair of birds away from the entrance to the mine, and whispered something in their ears. The riding birds warbled something cheery in response, and Zell clapped his hands. Instantly, the pair of birds took off, dashing up a nearby mountain face with astonishing agility, vanishing within moments.
"Let's go," Squall said once more after a few moments, and the quintet turned toward the gaping entrance to the mine and strode forward, delving into the bowels of the earth.
"Lovely," Quistis commented as they stepped into the shadows and darkness, delving into the depths of the mountain. Harsh red light flared in the darkness as Zell lit a flare, holding the torch out in front of him. Red moved ahead, forging a path into the mines. The others followed, Squall's blue eyes piercing the darkness with their luminous blue glow.
They walked the tunnels for what felt like hours, Red and Zell never wavering as they led the others along the path. They passed numerous side tunnels, but neither of the guides broke off to explore them, instead steadily advancing through the mines. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of walking along the confining corridors, the group suddenly broke free of the narrow tunnels, entering a wide, open chamber with a cool green light emanating from fissures in the ground. They all stepped out, happy to be free of the narrow confines, and spread out across the room, searching for threats. None presented itself, and the quintet relaxed as they explored the chamber.
Squall scanned the chamber, glowing with its own strange inner light. It was wide open, and the walls glittered with dozens of threads of silver metal. Piles of discarded rock and stone, along with old tools and mine carts, were scattered about the room. In the pale light, the room seemed strangely eerie as the quintet moved across it, Zell's flare casting crimson illumination all across the room.
"Main mining room," Squall commented. "Looks like they just dropped everything and ran." None of the others spoke as they fanned out across the chamber.
"What is this?" Quistis asked as she paused near one of the mine carts, sitting next to a wall. She looked into the cart and frowned, and lifted what looked like a silvery shard of raw metal from within the cart. Zell's eyes widened as he saw the metal, and he rushed over to her.
"If that's what I think it is . . . ." he said with a grin, and looked into the cart. The brawler laughed out loud.
"What is it?" she asked again, and Zell lifted another chunk of raw metal. He tossed it casually into the air, and then caught and balanced the metal on a finger.
"Quistis, this is nothing more than exceptionally valuable mythril ore!" Zell responded, and her eyes widened in response to his statement.
"It is a mythril mine," Red added with a rough approximation of a shrug. "Unsurprising that there are still veins of it present."
"Mythril," Quistis said, looking at the ore as if it were more valuable than gold, which it really was. The metal was light and durable, and had a high melting point. It was great as a conductor, and many weapons were made out of the material. The metal was stronger than reinforced steel, and could withstand tremendous abuse. Squall nodded as he hefted one of the shards of ore himself.
"Tseng's sword was made out of this," he commented, and looked down at the Revolver, which was forged only out of steel and not mythril. "A katana can't block such a heavy weapon as mine without being made of mythril."
"This stuff is more valuable than gold," Zell continued, and he wasted no time packing the chunks of ore into his vest pockets. "If we make it to Junon we can sell this ore on the black market for thousands each. We'll be set for cash!" Squall nodded, and he took the pack off his back and opened it up. Quistis and Rinoa followed suit, though Quistis was a bit slower with removing her backpack. She paused for a moment and let out a profound yawn as she did so. Red, meanwhile, prowled around the chamber, and found several other mine carts laden with the ore. He was a bit confused by all this mythril laying around, and no one having taken it with them when the mine had been shut down.
He didn't realize what the problem was until he found a dozen old, bleached skeletons in the corner. They were clad like miners, but their bones were damaged and beaten, with what looked like burn marks on their bodies.
"Be alert!" he called in warning to his comrades, who paused in their gathering of the abandoned mythril. Squall turned around, and paused as he felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him. He shook his head, and then heard Zell yawning behind him.
"Hey, what's goin' on?" he asked after a moment, and Squall turned, to see Zell leaning against the stone wall with one arm, eyelids drooping.
"I'm not sure," Squall answered, fighting to keep his own eyes open.
"Squall, I don't know . . . What . . . ." Quistis was saying as she put a hand to her head, and suddenly stumbled forward, dropping onto her knees. Rinoa dropped beside her, trying to help Quistis stand, but the woman seemed to nod off in her hands. Zell settled down to the floor on his rump, eyelids almost closed. He managed to open them one more time and tried to stand, before falling back into slumber.
"What's going on?" Squall asked, his voice slurred by drowsiness. Rinoa looked up to him as she set Quistis down, and rushed to his side, catching Squall as he feel forward, his knees buckling and pack falling to the dust. She guided him to the ground as darkness overcame his vision.
"Be on alert," Red advised them again as he backed away from the skeletons, and then tuned his eyes toward his collapsed comrades. The one good eye opened wide. "What has happened?" he asked, bounding over to Rinoa. She shook her head, and closed her eyes, reaching out and touching Squall's forehead.
"I sense some aura of magic," she whispered. "Not sleeping magic. Something else. I'm not sure what it is . . . ." As she trailed off, Red's ears perked up, and he turned around, dropping low to the ground with muscles tensed. Rinoa, too, looked up, her Cetra senses telling her something was approaching.
"Do you hear it?" Red asked, and Rinoa shook her head.
"I don't hear it, but I can feel it getting closer. Coming from one of the mine shafts. Its getting closer." Rinoa quickly drew and extended her staff, setting her feet as she and Red looked back toward the tunnel they had come from. She spared a glance back to her unconscious comrades, and knew that whatever was coming they would have to stand and fight against. They couldn't carry, nor leave, their friends behind.
"Come on then," Red XIII hissed toward the darkness. "Bring yourself forward!"
Squall's feet were moving, although not of his own will. His gloved hands, not leather gloves but cloth, were wrapped tightly around the handle and muzzle of a heavy machinegun. He keenly felt the weight of metal armor, ammunition, grenades, and a pack full of supplies on his back, although he never recalled donning any of them. Sweat, from the heat and from his own sore muscles, poured down his brow, although he hadn't exerted himself enough to have those sore muscles. He reached up with his left hand and brushed hair out of his eyes, and though the action would have been automatic in normal situations, Squall Leonhart was instantly aware of the fact that he had not been the one to make his hand reach up to brush that hair away.
That hair, Squall suddenly noted. That hair was not brown.
It was black.
Squall suddenly stopped without wanting to stop, and looked around, raising his rifle and scanning the area. He was in a stone valley, a wide and barren one, filled with gray rocks and boulders. Distant sounds of explosions and gunfire could be heard, mingled with the shouts of orders and the screams of death; a war was raging in the distance.
"Not again," muttered a voice behind Squall, and he turned around without willing himself to do so, to face a slender soldier clad in the armor of a Shinra regular. Unlike most other soldiers, he wore no faceplate, and his armor itself was a darker shade of blue, his role as a member of Shinra's special forces. A standard-issue assault rifle was slung over his shoulder, and a he carried a pair of short punching daggers, known as katars. His skin was dark, and his black hair was worn long, strands of it braided together.
"Hey, Laguna?" asked another voice, and Squall turned again, to see a massive soldier that dwarfed him, clad in custom-made heavy armor of the same shade as the previous soldier's. He carried a heavier, belt-fed machinegun on his back, but in his hands was a heavy iron spear with a round ring on the blunt end. He, too, lacked a faceplate, and had pale skin with a scruffy beard growing on his face, and a wicked scar running across his lips and down his jaw.
"We're lost again, aren't we?" asked the big man in a booming tone.
"Nah, don't worry, Ward," Squall said, his voice coming out with a deeper pitch than it should have. "I know precisely where we're going."
"He's lost," came the other soldier, chuckling.
"Not you too, Kiros," 'Laguna' said, shaking his head as if betrayed. "Anyway, the valley looks safe." Laguna turned and waved behind him, and, from a thick boulder tumble a couple hundred feet behind the trio, a force of about two hundred Shinra soldiers emerged from hiding and moved forward.
"We didn't fully check it,' Ward muttered, and then shrugged. "But intel says that this place should be secure. If it is the right valley."
"It should be," Laguna replied. "I mean, the main lines aren't that far away, and this was a straight shot from the base camp. Through this valley, out the other side, and around that mountain face, and we'll be right in position to hit those samurai in the back. We pin them down until the main force finishes the defenders in the south pass and comes up and hits the fort from in front."
"What are we waiting for?" Kiros asked as the Shinra forces they were scouting for neared. "Colonel Heidegger needs us to flank the Wutai troops dug in inside their little fort beyond the mountain before they escape, and I doubt Lord Godo's men will be waiting around for long before pulling out."
"Yeah, let's stop wasting time," Ward added. He grinned. "That is, if we aren't lost again."
"We're not lost!" Laguna replied immediately, a bit miffed. "I know exactly where we're going. Its not gonna to be like when we were hunting those ninja two weeks ago! Let's get going!" He waved to the rest of the Shinra force, and gestured for them to advance. Laguna, Kiros, and Ward, at the head of the column, advanced through the boulder strewn valley, weapons up and ready. They suspected that Wutai's troops would be somewhere around, and Laguna figured Godo at least had a few scouts to keep an eye on this valley. Still, the majority of the Wutai samurai were engaged with the main Shinra army in the pass southwest of their position; Shinra Intelligence and Colonel Heidegger had doubted that the Wutai army in this area had many men to secure the surrounding valleys.
That supposition, delivered with confidence by the fat, bearded Heidegger, went out the window the second one of the Shinra troopers shouted "Incoming!"
All eyes went up and around, and the Shinra forces instantly became aware of over a hundred white-feathered arrows streaking through the air, arcing up and diving down at their column.
"Cover!" Laguna ordered, and the Shinra forces dove behind rocks and boulders, raising their rifles defensively over their faces to block the arrow barrage.
"Indirect fire," Kiros commented as the arrows began to rain down upon the Shinra force. "They've got to be out of sight, but someone's watching us!" White-feathered shafts struck around the Shinra force, and several soldiers screamed out cries of pain as the arrows stuck through creases in their body armor, striking legs, elbows, and necks. Squad leaders issued shouts to their men, and soldiers swept their weapons outward, looking for the unseen archers.
Any orders anyone shouted were instantly drowned out as battle cries sounded around the Shinra force. Instantly, over three hundred men, clad in leather armor backed by steel bands, and wearing flaring helmets, some with frightening metal masks on the front, emerged from behind boulders all around the Shinra troops. Colorful banners waved from flags mounted to many of their backs, emblazoned with the rising sun sigil of Wutai. Katana, glaives, and other Wutai weapons were held in their hands, and they instantly rushed forward, dashing across the distances between their hiding places and the Shinra column.
"Fire, fire!" Laguna and a dozen other officers, commissioned and non, shouted, and the Shinra troops raised their rifles. Two hundred soldiers opened fire, rifles belching streams of hot metal at the Wutai samurai. However, the samurai were already close, almost within arms' reach even as the Shinra troops had been coming about to fire. Scores of samurai fell in the first few moments, however, cut down in Shinra gunfire in the seconds that the soldiers had to fire, but then the samurai were upon the column. Katana flashed, glaives dove in, and Shinra soldiers screamed and died as the enemy tore into them.
Human eyes would not have perceived its advent, but neither Rinoa nor Red XIII were humans. Red's eyes pierced the darkness, sensing the shadow's approach, and Rinoa's innate sense told her precisely when it exited the dark tunnels and floated into the mining chamber. The creature took on the form of an immense shadow at first, a spreading darkness that quickly took on a coherent form. Both Red and Rinoa watched as the entity quickly reshaped itself, transforming into a demonic, humanoid shape fifteen feet tall, with black wings extending across the chamber. A long, whiplike tail flew out behind it as its yellow eyes, glowing in the dim green light of the chamber, fixed on the pair.
"A Guardian," Rinoa said quietly, and Red looked to her. "An elemental spirit. It must have taken residence in the mines . . . ."
"I am Diablos. You violate my sanctuary," it whispered, its voice sound like an avalanche. The creature's mouth, however, did not move, and only its eyes seemed to flicker as it spoke. "My rest was disturbed before, and I have dealt with the interlopers. Why do you disturb me now?"
"We are merely passing through," Red XIII replied, but the Guardian roared something and gestured at Red. A ball of shadow lanced out at the beast, who darted aside in the blink of an eye. Diablos was apparently not a very welcoming creature, but neither Red nor Rinoa appreciated being attacked without warning.
Rinoa raised her staff, and pointed one end at Diablos, channeling magical power through her Materia. Her wrist flared a bright green as Red dashed across the chamber at Diablos, leaping into the air in an eye blink and latching onto the Guardian's throat. The shadowy devil let out a surprised roar of pain as Red's fangs tore into its throat, shadowy mist flowing from its flesh and around Red's fangs as he dug in. Diablos reached up to grab Red with its claws, when a shard of ice imbedded itself in its face, just above Red's position. The creature dropped off Diablos' throat, teeth tearing a chunk of flesh with it, and the icicle exploded into a thousand shards of ice and expanding frost. Diablos' cry of pain shuddered the mining chamber.
Even as it was roaring in suffering, h however, Diablos shot forward, wings propelling it across the chamber as it raised its claws, swiping at Rinoa. She saw the attack coming and hurled herself back, dropping on her rear and almost laying herself out flat on the ground to evade the sweeping claws. Red took the opportunity to leap atop Diablos again, landing on its left shoulder and digging his teeth in anew, biting and clawing viciously. Diablos growled in pain again, and its right arm shot across in an attempt to seize the beast, who quickly leapt off the Guardian's arm and onto its face. Diablos' shuddering cry was redoubled as Red's razor fangs and tearing claws ripped into the Guardian's face and eyes. A bolt of lightning that would have broken a Shinra war machine thundered into Diablos' chest, courtesy of Rinoa, pushing the guardian back.
Diablos spun around quickly, lashing out with its tail at Rinoa, who took the hit across her torso and was launched back across the room to crash heavily into a mining cart, where she slumped for a moment, blacking out.
Diablos raised it hands and clasped them around Red, tearing him free of its face. The beast snarled and lashed out, biting the Guardian's hands and clawing its fingers, but the demon shook off the damage, gritting its teeth. Darkness flowed down its arms and swept into Red as he fought, the powers of shadow and death biting into him. Red let out a cry of agony as his very life-force was being assaulted by Diablos' magic.
A katana that would have cloven Laguna in two slashed down hard at him, but he quickly raised his rifle, the butt intercepting the sharp blade and stopping it in the space between the samurai and the soldier. Laguna twisted his weapon, pushing the katana out wide and to the side before the Wutai samurai could retract the weapon, and the motion gave him an opening. He shot his weapon forward, smashing the butt into the samurai's open-faced helmet, and crushed the man's nose. The Wutai warrior fell back, and Laguna flipped the rifle over, leveling the barrel at the stunned samurai's face. A double-tap of the rifle's trigger put three rounds in the man's face and sent him down hard to the dirt.
Beside him, Kiros proved much more adept at melee combat. His twin katars danced in the air before him, clashing against the katana of two other samurai as they came in at him. Their curving cuts were stopped and thrown out wide in a spiraling swirl of swordsmanship, and one of the samurai found the dagger he was battling jabbing into his throat as he recovered. The other samurai was able to quickly back away and come forward with a jab, stabbing the blade at Kiros' face. Kiros snapped his blade around, knocking that katana aside, and brought his other, bloodied punching dagger forward, slashing it across into the samurai's helmet. The dagger slashed through the metal helm and into the samurai's head.
Ward exercised neither Laguna's firearm arts nor Kiros' speed and subtlety, instead simply using his harpoon and sheer bulk to crush a samurai under over a hundred pounds of unyielding iron harpoon. The ring smashed down into the nearest Wutai soldier, crushing him to the dirt, and he spun, smashing the weapon across and using the ring to launch another across the battlefield. Ward then whirled, setting the harpoon against the furious, screaming charge of a third samurai, who impale himself on the spear's sharpened tip without warning. Ward shook the dead man off and spun toward his next foe.
The samurai swirled around the Shinra column, many of the armored warriors amidst the blue-clad soldiers, and Shinra troops were dropping fast. In close quarters they were decent fighters, but they were outnumbered by men who were far greater warriors in melee than themselves. The only ones who were holding out by themselves were Laguna and his two friends, who stacked up dead samurai all around them.
Laguna emptied his magazine at a pair of samurai, chopping both men down in a hail of gunfire, and then grabbed at his belt. he pulled a high-explosive grenade free and popped the pin, before lobbing it into a cluster of samurai bearing down on a badly embattled segment of the Shinra column. The grenade landed in the samurai's midst, and detonated, hurling men, body parts, and colored flags into the air. The Shinra soldier then grunted, a sharp sting in his shoulder, and looked across to see a white-feathered arrow quivering in his arm. He grunted and quickly reached up, pulling the arrow free, surprised that it didn't hurt as badly as he thought it would. Another samurai rushed at him, and Laguna dropped the useless rifle, instead reaching down and grasping one of the fallen warrior's katana. The samurai who was advancing saw this, and let out a cry of outrage, dashing across at Laguna. Laguna watched him advance, holding the blade close to his side, and waited for the samurai to near. The Wutai warrior drew close, raising his sword, eyes full of hatred, and he cleaved across with the slender weapon. Laguna saw the attack coming, angled for his head, and ducked down low, stepping to the right as he did so, and slashed across, angling the tip of the katana up into his foe's chest. The blade dug into the samurai's torso, tearing his lungs, and the man stumbled forward before dropping to the ground, tearing the stolen blade from Laguna's hands.
Laguna didn't bother going for his stolen blade, and instead grabbed his rifle again. There were no samurai within close range, so he had an instant to reload. He tore a magazine from his belt and rammed it into the rifle, and drew back the bolt, in time to spot a trio of samurai advancing, screaming challenges to the Shinra soldier. Laguna raised his rifle and poured fire on them.
Kiros was doing well, and a half-dozen samurai were dead before him, when he found himself standing beside Ward. A quartet of samurai assaulted them from four separate directions, and without a word, the two veterans moved back to back, facing off against two Wutai warriors each. Ward lashed out across with his harpoon, knocking the katana from a samurai's hands with almost casual ease, which surprised even him. The other samurai dove in, slashing hard at Ward's gut, but he stepped back and spun, jabbing his harpoon over his shoulder at one of the samurai Kiros was engaging. Kiros, likewise, had dispatched one of his foes with a quick deflection and stab to the gut, and whirled on the samurai cutting at Ward, both katars slashing up through his belly and out his chest. Ward's harpoon crunched into the helmet of the last armed samurai, tearing his head off his shoulders. The fourth, disarmed samurai, took a step back, and quickly drew a second blade off his belt, another katana. Kiros and Ward turned toward him, but then froze.
Behind that warrior were four dozen lightly armored samurai, carrying heavy bows with arrows notched and ready to fire.
Laguna rolled around the last samurai he was firing on as the man came in, and planted a boot to his back, knocking him off his feet. The samurai dropped to his knees, and Laguna wasted no time bringing the butt of his rifle into the back of the man's head. The soldier was expecting his rifle butt would stun the samurai, but not hurt him through his helmet, but was surprised when the helm deformed under the impact, and the samurai fell down, knocked unconscious by the hit. Laguna blinked for a moment, shocked at the power behind his hit, and then turned around, seeking another opponent.
He found plenty.
On all sides, ringing the Shinra soldier, were dozens of samurai, some wounded, and others wielding longbows, obviously the archers that had been firing at the beginning of the engagement. At the samurai's feet lay the entirety of the Shinra column, slaughtered in the brutal close-quarters battle, having fought to the last man. Laguna turned, and saw Kiros and Ward backing away from a phalanx of archers, arrows ready to fire, their weapons raised, but expressions telling him that they were aware of the hopeless odds.
"Well, c'mon," Laguna said, shouldering his rifle. In response, the samurai around him tensed up, and the archers drew their arrows back a bit further. Kiros and Ward raised their weapons as well.
"Let's boogie!" Ward roared.
Red writhed in Diablos' grasp, his life being drained away from the Guardian's magic, and he let out another pained roar while in its grip. That roar was what caught Rinoa's attention as she regained her senses, consciousness coming back after her momentary black-out. She sat up, and saw Red twitching, and started to rise, to loose magic to assist him.. However, for an instant, she paused, and looked down at the floor around her. She could feel a rhythmic thrum in the dirt all of a sudden, a sense of power within the dirt and rock and stone around her.
Rinoa closed her eyes, and dropped down, putting a hand to the dirt. She ran a finger along the ground, sensing the pulsing heartbeat of the earth beneath her feet. She reached out with her mind, in a manner she had only done before while in her church in the slums, and touched the lifeforce within the dirt, whispering to it. She felt a subtle change in the pulsing rhythm of life, and she continued whispering to it, pulling it and calling on it.
The ground began to shake, and she continued whispering to the planet, asking for its aid, and began to direct it to help her against the Guardian Diablos. Then, as she did so, the ground suddenly shook violently, and in the center of the chamber, the ground bulged.
A rising hump of rock and dirt rose, twisting and expanding like a living thing, and Diablos saw this. Red was instantly forgotten, which gave the beat a moment to clamp both his claws and his jaws on the Guardian's fingers. Diablos yelped in pain, and its grip slackened, allowing Red to suddenly spring free, darting away. Diablos turned to face him, when the dirt and stone began to shift, taking on a humanoid form. The stone began to define itself, arms and legs and a head appearing, with sculpted humanoid muscles appearing on its body, and the head taking on a human shape. The stone rapidly came to resemble a titanic human with gray skin, riding up to face Diablos eye to eye.
"Titan?" Diablos asked suddenly, and the massive humanoid creature nodded. You side with humans?"
"I side with Cetra who call for the Planet's aid," responded the thundering, gravely voice of the creature Rinoa had channeled. And just like that, Titan reached down, and grasped at the earth. He pulled up, ripping a segment of the ground free. Diablos' glowing eyes widened, and it began to backpedal, when the Titan simply hurled the stone slab directly at Diablos. The demon was crushed backward against the cavern walls by the impact, which sent massive rumbles through the room and knocked Rinoa off her feet. She landed among her unconscious friends, and began to rise, when a hand clamped over hers. She looked down, to see Squall suddenly awake, eyes wide as he took in the furious battle raging. Titan rushed at Diablos, hammering his fists into the demon as it was pinned against the wall.
"Leave these mines, Cetra!" Titan bid them as Squall struggled to his feet. Zell and Quistis were also awakening from the mysterious sleep, and saw the battle raging as well. They quickly scrambled to their feet, Quistis drawing her rante. Red suddenly appeared among them, slipping into their midst as the two Guardians fought one another.
"What's happening?" Squall asked urgently, obviously confused, but not just by the battle raging before the group. Diablos dug its claws into Titan and sent pulses of shadow into the enemy Guardian, causing the spirit of earth to roar in pain and fury. He clasped his massive hands around Diablos' neck and lifted the other Guardian up, before slamming it into the ground hard.
"We have to go!" Rinoa shouted, and she waved her hands frantically. Squall nodded and turned, rushing toward the far end of the mining chamber and toward safety. The cavern shook all around them as Diablos and Titan fought ferociously. The group ducked into the mine tunnel and left the shaking cavern behind them though the could hear the roars and impacts of the battle for many minutes as they ran through the mines, only slowly fading off into the distance. Finally, after several moments of silence, Rinoa slowed down and looked back.
"What is it?" Zell asked, and she shook her head.
"I think its over," she said.
"What was that thing?" Quistis asked. "Was it what knocked us out?"
"No," Rinoa replied, thinking. "It was a malevolent elemental spirit. It must have taken residence in the mines before the miners found it, and when they dug it up . . . ."
"That' why the mine was shut down," Squall finished, and she nodded. "What about that other creature?"
"Titan," Rinoa replied. "A spirit of the earth. I asked for the Planet to protect Red while he was suffering,. I thought it would cause a quake or reshape the ground, but I wasn't expecting the Planet to send a fully developed earth spirit to save us."
"Thank you," Red said suddenly, and Rinoa nodded after a moment. "Without your aid, I would not have survived."
"Its nothing," she replied, and Zell chuckled.
'Nothing, huh?" he said, shaking his head. "By the way, what happened to us? One second we were looting the mines, and then pow!"
"Some kind of sleeping gas?" Quistis asked. "The mines may have had some chemicals in the air that influenced our brains somehow?"
"No," Squall replied, shaking his head. "If it was we wouldn't have been awakened during the battle. Something weird happened back there."
"Yeah, I had a funny dream," Zell commented. "I was a big soldier in the Shinra army back in the Wutai war."
Squall turned to face Zell, eyes slightly wider than normal in surprise. What had he just said? A soldier of Shinra, in Wutai during the war?
"Seventeen years ago?" Squall asked, and Zell nodded.
"Yeah, the war against Lord Godo's samurai, Battle of Yamatada Pass," Zell replied, offhandedly. "Though from what I heard, Sephiroth won that battle after a team of men inside the fortress broke down the gates."
"Who did you see in that battle?" Quistis asked, and Zell scratched his head.
"Few hundred Shinra troops, more samurai, archers. I was a big soldier named Ward, working with-"
"-Kiros and Laguna," Squall answered, and Zell blinked in surprise.
"I was Kiros," Quistis added, nodding. "Then were you Laguna, Squall?" Squall nodded, clearly confused.
"I'm not sure what this is," he said after a moment's thought.
"Perhaps we should save contemplation until a better time, perhaps," Red interjected. "I do not know if that Guardian is stopped, and I would rather leave its home before it comes looking for us."
"Good point," Squall said with a nod. He pointed down the tunnel, and Zell nodded as well. The brawler lit another flare and started down the path. "Let's move out. I'd rather get someplace with light, wouldn't you?"
-
Well, that's the end of this chapter. Man, took me forever to do. Funny thing was, the first few pages were sitting on my hard drive for a month or two before I got down to the rest over the last few days! I picked up this image of Rinoa and red fighting Diablos while the others were asleep, and then this image of Laguna fighting Wutai samurai, and latched onto both images like a rabid pit bull.
Anyway, this is setting things up for many later events. I wanted to handle Laguna flashbacks, but unlike in Gunblade, these will be like the Sephiroth flashback, showing the events in italics while the other characters are doing their things.
The Wutai War will be the main focus of the Laguna arcs of the storyline. I have plans laid out for the whole war itself and how it ultimately relates to this storyline.
And now for the mighty shout-outs of shining justice!
Angel-Broken-Sorrow: Gee, I hope you can wait for my slow-ass updates. With Gunblade out of the way I hope I can really get to posting this more and more. Summer vacation is coming up, which will really help me out. Sadly, I got disqualified from the Marine Corps, which does mean I have the whole summer to myself rather than boot camp. I'll be putting that time to good use.
The carnage thing . . . It will pick up, trust me. XD
There will be more character development. Everyone has a role in the storyline, and I think it will rock.
Daniel Wesley Rydell: Epic? You call this epic? Wait until the next few chapters. Fort Condor, baby!
Tsuyunoinochi Koukyo: Thanks!
JadeAlmasy: You think I'll answer that critical of a question? Irvine, being the mysterious sniper? He could very well be . . . Only I and Xenogears know!
Kaiser-Kun: Who said Raine wasn't in that part of the story? Eehehehee!
Akira Stridder: I'll never tell!
Anime-Obsessed fan: Yeah, it took me a while, but I'm finally posting…after Gunblade ended, of course. This and Chimera should be getting updates more often. FFVII and FFVIII characters may pop up soon!
Peter J. Marcroft: Whoa! You reviewed? Heart attack time! That's like getting a review from Ashbear or someone else really important and famous!
My intro is nothing special. It was largely copy-pasted from Gunblade saga anyway, so I don't take much pride in it myself. I felt I could do better after finishing Gunblade, so I may just change that chapter around to make it work much better.
Villianous crossover may occur here, but not in a tremendous sense. The villains of FFVII are much better than FFVIII's (excepting Seifer, heh) and I want to write more evil dictators and corporate scheming with the Shinra villains.
I'm quite eager to read any further reviews you give me, Marcroft-sensei!
Jryu: Your guess as to Seifer may be right. It may be wrong. It may make me laugh at how far off it is. It'll be cool once you find out, which won't be for a long time.
Who said that those guys in the flashback were a cameo? Biggs and Wedge may appear, but may not, depending on if I have a place for them.
That everyone? Great! Now, I have to sleep.
Until next chapter!