Final Fantasy: Rise of Despair
When we last left off, Casey engaged General Agres in ferocious one on one combat, all the while arguing on what makes them true warriors. Meanwhile, Blaze quickly gained the edge on Colonel Ize, and Laura is fighting Cious to a standstill. Everything seemed to be going smoothly for the other heroes, but Jessica let her guard down for one moment, prompting Jason to sacrifice himself to save her life from a fatal attack. Now Matt is facing off against General Mis, how shall he fare?
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance, I do own the characters and plot.
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Battle and Balance
"YAAAAAHHHH!" Mis open fired with his gun barrels on his tonfa at Matt. Matt quickly got behind one of the pillars and avoided the rapid gunfire. Matt opened two vents on his gunblade, poked out from the pillar and in turn open fired on Mis. "Whoa!" Mis likewise got behind another pillar to avoid the gunfire. The two kept ducking out and back behind pillars, trading gunfire for what was the longest five minutes of their lives.
"That's it!" Matt took his gunblade, swung it at the base of the pillar, jumped and sliced it at the top of the pillar. A second later, two even cuts at the base and top of the pillar appeared, and Matt jumped at the pillar and kicked it towards Mis' pillar.
"WHA!" The pillar struck Mis' cover, demolishing both pillars.
"Mog Axe!" Matt performed his variation of mog lance, swinging his gunblade rapidly, sending arcs of yellow mana at Mis.
"Why you!" Mis began swinging his tonfa rapidly as well, sending arcs of dark mana that cancelled out Matt's arcs of mana. The kept rapidly sending arcs of mana at each other while slowly walking towards each other, picking up the speed of their swings as they drew closer to each other. "Grrrrrrrr…"
"Grrrrrrr…"
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" They both took powerful swings at each other before engaging in fast close combat, swiping their weapons rapidly at each other. The two jumped backwards while Matt gathered his mana.
"Firaja!"
"Black wall!" Mis created a dome of black mana around him that shielded him from the pillar of flames that rose up around him.
"Dang it." Matt said. When the flames disappeared, the ground around Mis was charred black, but he remained unharmed.
"Take this!" Mis swung both his tonfa at Matt, dark mana extended from the tonfa, lengthening them to great lengths. Matt caught the dark mana in between the gaps of his gunblade. Matt then ran at Mis as fast as he could. Mis dispelled the mana, and raised one tonfa to block mana, he then swung the other tonfa at Matt's neck.
"Mog attack!" Matt sent Mis skidding backwards while open firing on Mis.
"AUGH!" Mis shouted as the many bullets bombarded him. "Black blast!" Mis concentrated dark mana in an orb and sent it flying at Matt, nailing him in the gut.
"OOF!" Matt shouted as the pillar plowed him straight through one of the pillars in the room. "Dang… do you have any idea how many times I've been thrown through something in this adventure?" Matt asked.
"What happened to no more levity?" Mis asked in an annoyed tone.
"My bad." Matt said with a cocky smile.
Meanwhile…
"HIYAH!" Blaze attempted to do a jumping drop kick on Ize. Ize back flipped out of the way as Blaze's flaming foot created a crater where the heel struck. "Ha!" Ize began throwing shuriken in rapid succession at Blaze. Blaze kept swiping his hands and knocking away the many shuriken flying at him.
"Magic Hammer!" Ize summoned a hammer above Blaze, hoping to damage his mana. Blaze rolled under the hammer and brought his fist back, ready to smash it in to Ize when…
"Goblin punch!" Ize threw a fist straight in to Blaze's face.
"AUGH!!!" Blaze went sprawling backward. He felt the blood trickling out of his nose. "Grrrrrr…"
"Goblin punch!"
"Whoa!" Blaze rolled backwards from a laying position and avoided Ize's fist as it completely obliterated the ground he was lying on. "Fire render!" Blaze threw several large fireballs at Ize.
"Heh." Ize easily slashed his way through the fireballs, he then jumped over a fire blast attack from Blaze. "Earth veil!" Ize created a wall of earth in front of where he landed in time to block a fire fist attack from Blaze.
"Grrrrrrrrrrr…" Blaze ran at the earth veil wall and smashed right through it with a single punch. Blaze then attempted to karate chop Ize, but he simply deflected the hand to the side and swung his sword at Blaze's side. "AUGH!!!" He shouted as the saber left a deep gash in his side, the blood leaking out of it.
"Ha ha! I'm not done yet!" Ize shouted.
"SHIVA!!!" Laura summoned Shiva right above Cious. Shiva aimed a gust of icy wind straight downward.
"IFRIT!!!" Cious summoned Ifrit right above her. Ifrit took the brunt of the cold air while charging up a large fireball in its hands.
"RAMUH!!!" Laura summoned Ramuh, who began charging up an equally large sized ball of lightning. Both espers threw their respective attacks at each other, both attacks colliding, and both causing a massive explosion.
KAAAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM
Both Laura and Cious were thrown backwards by the explosion. "Argh!" Laura cried as she went skidding across the ground.
"Grrrrrr…" Cious regained her balance and charged for Laura with her sword ready. Laura regained her balance just in time to raise her rapier in defense. The two briefly exchanged quick slashes and stabs at each other. Then they both created summoning circles beneath themselves.
"TITAN!!!" Cious summoned Titan. Titan then raised his massive foot, ready to stomp Laura in to the ground.
"Carbuncle!" Laura summoned Carbuncle right above her. Carbuncle took the stomp for Laura, however Titan put so much force behind it that he buried both of them and created a massive tremor that caused everyone within a few meters to fly in to the air while Cious and Laura remained relatively unharmed.
"Bad breath." Kate breathed out a green gas. All of the black soldiers that inhaled it started groaning in pain.
"Ugh… gack…"
CRUNCH
CRACK
The soldiers could feel their bones crunching as they shrunk, eventually turning in to frogs. Kate then turned around and fended off a soldier that was about to embed his sword in to her skull before impaling him.
"CHROMA GEM!!!" Cid flipped a coin in to the air, caught it, and in the next flash of light, several black soldiers fell asleep from the effects of the spell. "Now to…"
"No… leave these bastards… TO MY SWORD!!!" Jessica shouted in fury as she drew her swords and ran through the soldiers like a wild animal, cleaving through soldiers like butter, letting their blood spill on to the ground, not even caring if it splattered on to her. She was furious, she wanted revenge.
"Adam! Need a lift?" Kyle asked as he ended up being back-to-back with Adam.
"Sure." Adam said. Kyle turned around, grabbed Adam under his arms, and then jumped as high as he could in to the air with the extra weight.
"Here we GO!!!" Kyle then spun around and around and hurled Adam down towards the ground.
"TREMOR!!!" Adam raised both fists, he then slammed his feet and fists in to the ground and created a massive quake that blew back all of the surrounding black soldiers. "Go Kyle!" Adam cupped is hands, allowed Kyle to land in his cupped hands, he then tossed Kyle upward as Kyle jumped, sending him much higher in to the air than Kyle had ever jumped.
"BOLT BREATH!!!" Kyle spun around and spewed lightning bolts in every direction he twirled, frying black soldiers left and right.
"Breath of life, light my katana and sing within light! Ultima Masher!" Toxin swung her blade, streaked the tip of it across the ground, and sent a wave of Ultima magic plowing through numerous black soldiers. "AUGH!" Toxin felt a few bullets hit her backside before she dodged out of the way. "This is getting exhausting."
Meanwhile…
"HA!!!"
CLANG
Both Matt and Mis met near the middle of the arena and were trading their weapons rapidly with each other. Sparks flew every time their weapons clashed, and the ferocity of the pace they swung their weapons was nearly too much to bear. The gunblade then locked with one of the tonfa while Matt caught the other tonfa. The two began pushing against each other as they both fired off their ammo. The sound of automatic firing rang in the air from both of their weapons as they pushed against each other, bullets flying everywhere.
"Just give in!!!" Mis demanded.
"No." Matt said defiantly. "Mog attack!" Matt shoved Mis backwards while aiming his gun at him, unloading his ammo at Mis. Mis swung his weapons at an even faster pace and was successfully blocking each shot fired at him. Mis then ducked out of way while firing both of his weapons. Matt and Mis ran circles around the center while doing so. The two eventually expanded outside of the center of the circle while throwing other attacks at each other.
"FIREBOMB!!!" Matt threw Molotov cocktails at Mis, all of them missing as Mis ran around the room.
"Hiyah!" Mis kept sending arcs of dark mana at Matt. Matt then resorted to throwing knives at Mis in rapid succession. The two were now running around the room so quickly they were able to run along the walls without losing speed.
"DAGGER!!!"
"BLACK BLAST!!!"
"FIRAJA!!!"
"BLACK TENDRILS!!!"
"HIIIIIIIIIIIIYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
"HIIIIIIIIIIIIYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" Spells exploded, weapons flew around the room. The two then rocketed off of the walls back towards the center. "DIIIIIIEEE!!!"
"MOG RUSH!!!" Both of them met near the center, their weapons colliding with such force that a wave of energy expanded from them and leveled all of the pillars around them.
"Heh… heh… this is pretty fun… haven't made this much of a mess in a long time…" Matt said with a smile.
"AUGH!!! YOU ARE SO ANNOYING YOU KNOW THAT!!!" Mis shouted angrily. "THIS IS A BATTLE!!! NOT A GAME YOU IDIOT!!!"
"I know that." Matt said with an annoyed tone in his voice. The two broke off from each other and began swinging their weapons rapidly at each other. "But if you take everything too seriously, then what is there to enjoy in life huh?" Matt asked.
"I DO ENJOY WHAT I DO!!!" Mis yelled.
"Yep, you sound like it." Matt said as he stuck a tongue out.
"ARGH!!!"
Meanwhile…
"Hah!" Blaze was again throwing as many fists as he could at Ize, who dodged and countered effortlessly, while Blaze was sweating to both dodge and continue the attack.
"Heh… Matra Magic!" Ize cast a spell that caused a triangle to appear above Blaze's head, and below his feet. The two triangles switched places.
"AUGH!!!" Blaze doubled over, his flames extinguished; he suddenly felt like he had been turned inside out, his mana surged while he felt physically weakened.
"Ha ha ha. You are so pathetic you know that?" Ize asked as he held a saber at Blaze's throat. "I can't tell you how much you amuse me. But to learn all these new tricks so fast… you really have to have some natural talent." Ize said. His eyes then turned hard. "Well I hate people like you the most, who've had the world handed to them. It's time you knew what it was like to have everything stacked against you. Having to work hard to have everything, and then to have it snatched away from you." Ize hissed.
"Not yet he doesn't!!!"
"Hm?" Ize jumped back as he avoided several arrows fired at him. He looked at Hunter standing there, bow drawn and with a look of determination in his eyes.
"What… are you doing?" Blaze asked.
"Offering a friend some help." Hunter said as he held out a hand.
"…" Blaze stared at Hunter's hand. His pride and anger towards Hunter conflicting with something else inside of him. Something he hasn't felt in a long time. Blaze took Hunter's hand and turned to face Ize. He took a fighting stance and re-ignited his arms while Hunter prepared his bow.
"Fine then… BRING IT ON!!!" Ize shouted as he ran at them.
"Ha! Hiyah yah yah!" Will was going all out, throwing fists left and right to fight off Black soldiers, trying to keep them from laying a hand on him.
"Thundara!" Stacy called down numerous lightning bolts around Will, zapping the soldiers around him, allowing him to finish clearing them away.
"Soil evidence!" Syack stomped a foot and caused a large earthquake beneath the soldiers. "Toxin! Stay close!" Syack shouted.
"Right, I guess you'll need my protection won't you?" Toxin asked coyly.
"Hey I've got you both covered! Don't worry!" Monty shouted as he shot a few soldiers.
"Yeah but who's covering you?" Mendoza asked sarcastically as he frantically fended off soldiers surrounding the both of them.
"I've got you both!" Gilbert shouted as he cast firaga and fried the lot of black soldiers around him.
"Growth veil!" Seth caused many wooden branches to grow over the whole battlefield, entangling black soldiers over the span of the battlefield.
"Fire whip!" Toxin cast fire whip and lashed at one of the branches, the fire then rapidly spread over the branches, incinerating all of the soldiers entangled in them.
"Too many of them…" Brently groaned.
"What are you going to do?" A generic ally asked.
"Well… I was studying those guys at the base… I bet I can pull this off." Brently said. "Breath of life, light my knife and sing within light… ULTIMA DAGGER!!!" Brently stabbed his knife in to the stomach of a black soldier.
"Ugh…" That soldier backed away slowly before the dome of purple mana consumed him and any black soldiers standing around him.
"SWEET!" Brently cheered.
"TITAN!!!"
"IFRIT!!!" Cious summoned Ifrit, who had a fist enveloped in flames, while Laura summoned Titan, who covered his fist in hardened mud. The two threw their fists at each other, causing another violent explosion of flames and dirt. The hot and hardened mud would cause burns every time a piece of it struck the two of them. "I'll kill you…" Cious hissed.
"Just try it." Laura hissed back. The two took another fighting stance, before they lunged at each other.
Meanwhile…
"Demi!" Matt cast demi, forming a dome of gravity around Mis.
"Black tendril!" Mis wrapped the tentacles made of dark mana around Matt and drew him in to the dome.
"Argh! Now this… is a heavy moment." Matt groaned.
"There you go… AGAIN!!!" Mis shouted angrily. Both of them ignored the pain being inside the dome was causing them as they charged each other.
"Chcobo rush!" Matt called upon a herd of chocobos to run in to the room towards Mis.
"BLACK GALE!!!" Mis began spinning his weapons in front of him really quickly. Sending a whirlwind of dark mana that tore the chocobos to shreds and sent Matt flying across the room, pressing him against the wall, and cutting in to his skin.
"Grrrr…" Matt focused his mana. "FRIEND!!!" Matt slammed a palm against the wall, creating a magic circle that was flashing random colors. The magic circle finally turned a bright white in color and stayed there. "Lucky…" Matt said with a smile.
"What?" Mis gawked as Madeen came out of the circle.
"ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!" Madeen then sent a wave of holy mana at Mis that overpowered the gale easily and sent him flying in to the wall.
"AUGH!!!"
"You know what your problem is?" Matt asked. "You take things waaaaaaaaaay too seriously. And that's something considering I've been around Cole." Matt said.
"You take everything too lightly." Mis hissed.
"Not everything." Matt said. "But if you take everything too seriously, you only end up being unhappy." Matt said as he started fiddling with the switches on his gunblade. "But conversely, if you take things too lightly you'll never get anything done." Matt said. "So I'm trying to find the happy balance somewhere… but in the meantime…"
"Hm?" Mis looked at him curiously.
"I'm going to enjoy myself." Matt said with a smile as the blades of his gun began spinning around the barrel. "DEMI RAY!!!"
"AH!!! DARK BEAM!!!" Mis put his tonfa together, charged up a lot of dark mana and fired a concentrated beam of black mana at Matt while Matt fired his demi ray. The two attacks collided and started fighting each other. "I WON'T LOSE TO A CLOWN LIKE YOU!!!"
"Yeah well guess what." Matt told him. "YOU ALREADY HAVE!!!" The demi ray suddenly overpowered the dark beam and raced towards Mis.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Mis screamed as the beam crushed him from the outside and in.
"Whew… that… was a hassle…" Matt sighed.
CRUMBLE
CRASH
"Crap." Matt said as he realized the place was starting to cave in. "AAAAAHHH!!!" Matt ducked as the ceiling caved in front of him. He hugged the wall, barely staying away from the rubble. When the dust finally settled, he looked at the hole in the ceiling, opening up in to the courtyard. "Well… that was interesting…" Matt sighed. He collapsed against the wall of what was left of the room and closed his eyes.
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