Chapter 2: Landing in Zanarkand Ruins

Twenty-two hours after the Ragnarok took off from Balamb Garden's Quad, it touched down in the courtyard of Zanarkand's old Blitzball dome. Upon landing, Squall turned to the rest of his crew and cleared his throat.

"Well, everyone—Zell! Wake up! Argh…moron…—sorry… Anyway, we're here. That means that we're going to be disembarking shortly. Prepare yourselves for anything. From what I am given to understand, Vegnagun is no laughing matter. So, we're to rendezvous with the three girls who fought Vegnagun: Yuna, Rikku and Paine. Apparently, they've had more than one run in with it. We're on standby until they get here. Just don't leave the ship…I don't know what we'll find out there…" Squall trailed off.

"Don't worry, man, we aren't gonna go anywhere. We're not stupid enough to wander off." Zell said, somewhat sarcastic.

"Whatever…" Squall and Seifer said at the same time. Squall glared at Seifer, who smirked. Even after finally becoming a SeeD, Seifer was the same cocky person he always was. He learned not to care after a while, though. Actually, he and Seifer had begun to get along…which had surprised everyone. He turned and walked over to the lift that would take him to the weapons hold. Ever since the 'incident'—the one where Zell wanted to play with his gunblade and ended up smashing the control panel so bad the ship wouldn't start for a month—Squall had locked it in a locker in the cargo bay. After he performed a check on his gunblade, he loaded six of the high powered concussion shells into the upgraded revolver chamber. He often admired his handiwork; much like everyone else. Ever since he learned he had to fight Ultimecia, he had upgraded the standard Revolver model into something he called the Lion Heart. The newest model of his gunblade had a blue blade and a much higher powered gun. The newest feature of the Lion Heart was that it could take many different types of ammunition. Hence why the shells strapped into the bandoleer on his leg weren't ordinary concussion shells. The shells were a special brand called Pulse Ammo. If he needed them, these shells held enough power to rip a normal human in half with little or no effort. Squall slid the gunblade into its holster and strapped it to his belt. Along with his weapon, he picked up several small gemstones. GF stones. He took a moment to Junction each of his GFs. Ever since the battles and their trek through time, all of the members of Squall's team had kept their GFs junctioned. Each member had trained extensively with their GFs (everyone had the same ones) and learned how to retain their memories. The key had been to summon the GF and subdue it. GFs had an amazing respect for anyone who could best them in battle, so, once that happened, they were willing partners to those who had junctioned them. Squall could still feel their presence, however it was not as dominant as it had been when he first junctioned them. He and his GFs were partners, no longer master and servants.

Squall returned to the Bridge area ten minutes later. Everyone else was already there and fully equipped. Seconds after Squall returned, a light blinked on the control panel—the control for the outboard camera. Squall walked over and pushed the button for the camera and saw that there were three girls on the screen.

"That must be Yuna, Rikku and Paine." Seifer muttered, squinting at the screen.

"Let's go." Squall said, and turned toward the lift.

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Outside, Squall and the others met Yuna, Rikku and Paine for the first time. For some reason, Squall found himself staring at the girl on the left. She was about his height, with silver hair and amber eyes. Squall quickly looked away for fear of attracting attention to himself.

"You must be the SeeD's that we requested. Thank you for coming so soon!" the woman in the center said. "My name is Yuna. This is Rikku—(the girl to the right jumped up and down and waved)—and this is Paine (the other girl simply nodded).

'Man, that Rikku girl acts just like Selphie…and Paine reminds me of myself…' Squall thought. "Yeah, we are the SeeDs that were sent to help you fight Vegnagun. I believe that you've fought it at least once, correct?"

"Yup. We've fought it a total of three times. It…It just keeps going. We can't seem to destroy it. I just don't understand it." Yuna replied.

"That's why we're here. We were hired to help you defeat Vegnagun. Besides, eight is better than three. I still can't believe that you three fought it by yourselves." Squall muttered the last portion.

"Well, thank you. We're at the end of our rope… We don't have any idea what to do anymore…" Yuna said, looking down at her feet.

"Don't worry, lady! We're here to whip Vegnagun's ass! That's all there is to it!" Zell blurted out, being as blunt as always.

"That's the kinda thing I hoped for! Yeah!" Rikku said, following Zell's lead.

Squall shook his head and turned and walked a short distance toward the dome.

"So, what exactly are we going to do about Vegnagun? Do you know its current location? I'd kinda like to get this over with." Squall said; bring the group back to earth.

"Oh, yes. We do know its current location. It is lying in wait on what's called the Farplane. But, if we go there, I'm not sure how we'll get out again…" Yuna said.

"Then how'd you end up fighting it three times?" Irvine asked.

"Oh, well, the times we fought it; it was still contained in the Bevelle Underground." Yuna replied.

The Bevelle underground was where Vegnagun had been developed, over a thousand years ago. A group called 'New Yevon' had gotten the idea in their heads that they could control the thing. The weapon itself was at least thirty feet tall—from what Squall could gather from the sparse information they'd been provided by Cid—just how they thought they could control it was beyond him.

"Well," Squall said, "I have one last thing I want to do before we agree to go to the Farplane. A little test: you three versus me. Ready?"

Squall gripped the hilt of his gunblade and yanked it out of its holster. He fell easily into his combat stance and then charged at the three girls.

"Squall!! What the hell are you doin!?" Zell shouted, clearly shocked.

Squall wasted no time in attacking. Yuna, Rikku and Paine all seemed slightly confused for about a second, but then had their weapons in hand. The three girls seemed to work extraordinarily well as a team. Squall had to dodge the volley of bullets from Yuna's gun, and block Rikku's dual thief blades, along with Paine's sword all at the same time. Paine ran toward Squall and performed a rising cut, but Squall's gunblade quickly smashed her blade to the ground.

"Damn!" Paine shouted, and raised her hand. Whirls of light engulfed Paine forcing Squall to jump back. After she dropped her sword to the ground, she jumped high into the air. A blinding flash of light later, Paine landed back on the ground with a new outfit. She carried a staff and had a robe on. Squall wasn't sure what had happened, but he did know what he was facing now.

"Oh, god… a black mage… this can't be good…" Squall muttered, and raised his hand to eye level. He concentrated on a Fira spell and launched it off toward Rikku. She spun her blades in an attempt to block the spell, but ended up getting burned.

"Owwie, owwie, owwie!!" She sunk to the ground and glared at Squall, although she knew she was beaten.

'One down… two to go…' he thought. He focused his attention on Yuna next. He launched another Fira spell, but Yuna dodged it. He ran towards her, trying to overpower her outright. He brought his gunblade down in a wide arc and hit the barrel of the gun. He didn't hesitate to pull the trigger on his gunblade; he knew that the gun would shatter and Yuna wouldn't be harmed. With one of her guns destroyed, Yuna decided to take a different approach. She dropped the clip out of the gun and loaded another. A yellowish light surrounded her. Squall knew she was going to use the last bit of strength she had to use her version of a limit break. Just what Squall would expect. She whipped the gun forward and unloaded the entire clip in two seconds. The barrel of her gun glowed red, but Squall had dodged everything. He swung upwards and disabled the remaining weapon. Yuna fell to the ground, exhausted. Squall turned just in time to deflect a fire spell from Paine. She was the only one left now.

Squall launched himself at Paine. She blocked his gunblade swipe with her staff, and immediately counterattacked by clubbing Squall across the face. Dazed, Squall stumbled backwards and shook his head.

'Damn…this girl can hit.' Squall thought, as he recovered his balance.

Going back on the offensive, Squall hacked over and over with his gunblade, trying to break the focal point of her magic. Finally, Squall's gunblade broke through Paine's staff and slashed a small cut on her stomach. Paine gasped in outrage, and shrouded herself in light again. She was back in her normal attire and her sword was back in her hand. She brought her sword up and smashed it into Squall's gunblade. They stood there, deadlocked, glaring into each other's eyes. Squall noticed for the first time during this fight just how attractive she really was.

'No! That's not something I'm supposed to be noticing right now!' Squall mentally berated himself. Paine saw his eyes soften slightly and realized that his momentary lapse in concentration was the only window she needed. She brought her fist off the hilt of the sword and smashed it into Squall's stomach.

"Ugh!" Squall exclaimed, as the fact that he had just been punched in the stomach sunk in. His gunblade slipped off her sword and he sunk to one knee.

"Humph. Some SeeD… Hardly even worth my time." Paine muttered.

Squall's eyes flashed as he heard this last comment. This reminded him of the training session with Seifer, two years ago. 'This time,' he thought, 'I'm not gonna lose my temper and give her a scar…' He did, however, bring the hilt of his gunblade up into her stomach, causing her to gasp in pain and shock. She collapsed into his arms.

"Not worth it, huh?" Squall murmured into her ear, smiling.

"Well, maybe you are…" Paine muttered.

The entire crew walked back toward the Ragnarok after the sparing match Squall had started. They entered the bridge area and turned around to face Squall, whom had gained a high level of respect from the three women.

"Take a seat and listen up," He said, getting to the point, "Well, now that I know your skills, I think we can get down to business. Judging by your current strength, I think it's safe to say that we all need to train more before we take on Vegnagun. Your skills are formidable, though, don't get me wrong. I just think that it would be a good idea to train. All of us, together. So, Yuna, do you have any good places on this world to train?"

"Umm… Well, we could go to the Calm Lands. The fiends aren't exactly impossible, but they are challenging." Yuna said, "Plus, its wide open and we could spar with each other, too."

"Alright, let's set course for the Calm Lands then."

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The Calm Lands were a large open space where the legendary Lord Braska fought Sin. Legend went that Sin—on the verge of defeat—slashed the ground with its tail in an attempt to frighten Braska into leaving. That is were the seemingly random marks and gashes came from. When the Ragnarok touched down in the center of the Calm Lands, the crew disembarked. They trained there for hours on end. After a day and a half of training, Squall finally decided that they were in much better condition than they were when he tested their strength. Back on board the Ragnarok, they set the destination for Guadosalam. Squall walked up to the bridge and turned toward the group.

"Well, everyone, we'll be arriving in Guadosalam shortly. From there we're going to be entering the Farplane, so everyone get ready. It's going to be a very long battle. Try and get some rest before we get there. That is all. Dismissed."

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Chapter 2 down! Hope it lived up to everyone's expectations. And I just wanted to give a shout out to my reviewers: Shadow Leonhart, HotIceRed, Melfice-sama, and Brutal2003. Thanks for the support.

Kyle-Leonhart