Disclaimer : I don't own anything.
Note :
Junctioning - Impossible to explain, because I have no idea how, but I'll try. It was actually introduced a LOT earlier in the game, but I hoped to avoid it. So don't ask me why I chose to include it in the next chapter.
Basically, it has to do with somewhat infusing a weapon with magic. Say...Blizzard. If a weapon is junctioned with blizzard, it will give an ice element to the attack, doing more damage to monsters weak against ice. And if you use Blizzara or Blizaga, then the damage is increased for each spell. Same goes for other elements, including Cure-type spells.
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Suddenly, there was a strange whirring and the reactor began to glow less and less as it slowly shut down. once it was done, the lights shut off and I jumped in surprise and perhaps a little fear. "Heeeeeeey! The lights went out!" Ok, when I said 'do something', I didn't mean shut us in the dark! I thought with a pout as I looked around.
"Electrical System malfunction. Maintenance Team, investigate immediately. Repeat... Electrical System malfunction. Maintenance Team, investigate immediately." the automated voice replied calmly as the backup lights began to flicker on, still leaving the place fairly dark.
Tori crossed her arms and sighed before turning to me. "It would look really bad if they found us in here... We should leave this room now."
I nodded and grinned under my helmet. That was fun! "Alright! Next!"
Walking to the door casually, we opened it and stepped out into the hall, only to be called by a voice and again I jumped.
"Hey you! What's going on here?!"
I turned to find the two maintenance guards walking up to us, obviously angry, and sighed. Oh man. What do I say?? "Uhh..." Thinking quickly, I closed my eyes tightly and said the first thing that came to mind. "We just got here too, and we have absolutely no idea what's going on!"
"Bite your tongue! We just saw you coming out of that room!" one of the guards replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
Damn! Uhhh... "It's just your imagination!" I insisted in a light tone. "Just leave everything to us! Don't worry about a thing! We can take care of this!"
"Well...we do have other work to do..." the first guard thought deeply.
I rolled my eyes behind my helmet. Yeah, like more standing idolly at the railing and chatting with your buddy.
"Let's just let them handle it." he finished, looking at the other guard.
The second guard took a moment before he slowly nodded. "...Ahh, alright. Don't do anything stupid!" he warned, shaking a finger at us before he turned and walked off with the other guard.
As soon as they left, I let out a big sigh of relief and let my shoulders sag a bit. "That was toooooo close!" I whined.
"Marah, what's gotten into you?!" Tori demanded with a hand on her hip.
I shrugged and bit back the tears, thinking of the children at my Garden who might've been killed by the very missiles this base launched. Frowning deeply, I sighed loudly and shook my head. "Whatever! Let's just hurry!" I insisted walking quickly to the stairs.
We made our way down the stairs and began walking towards the missile launch room when we noticed the maintenace team standing outside the doors. I was about to turn and tell the others to run, when the door opened and a man came out, waving to them.
"Hey, could you lend us a hand? The power's out and we need some help."
The one guard exchanged a look with the other before shrugging. "...Uh, I guess so." With an audible sigh, he nudged his partner and started off towards the door. "Come on."
They entered and I breathed a sigh of relief. Then I noticed that the other guard was aobut to enter but stopped at seeing us.
"Hey! You! Haven't seen you around here before..."
Oh god! What to do... What to do... Blinking a moment, I shrugged and acted cool.
He sighed and looked back towards the door before shaking his head. "Well, we need some help in here. I guess it really doesn't matter who... Do you think you could lend us a hand?" he asked politely.
With a nod, I stepped up to him and bit back a sigh.
"This way. Follow me." he instructed, turning on his heel and opening his door. "Power failuer at a crucial time like this?" he muttered to himself in irritation. "What the heck are those maintenance guys doing?!"
I laughed silently, rolling my eyes behind my back as I dutifully followed him, aware of Hunter and Tori following behind me quietly.
He stopped in the center of the room and gestured to a sixth missile launcher that was near it's destination, but was holding fast to that spot as two men tried to push it by the others.
Walking over, we stood beside it and turned, waiting for instructions.
"Yeah, that's the one. One stand in the middle of the two men, and the other two on either side."
Shrugging to the others, I turned and walked between the two pushing men and bent down, taking a good position and waiting for the command. Tori stood on one side, mimicking my position, and Hunter did the same on the other.
Counting to three, the five of us began to push the missile launcher. Part of me wanted to run away screaming, refusing to help set up the tools of our Garden's imminent demise, but I bit it back and pushed harder, determined to keep up the ruse. It took a little while, and by the time we were done, I felt like my arms were made of lead, but we managed to get it done and sighed in relief when it was finally over.
"Good work." the soldier nodded. "Now all we need to do is confirm the coorinates on the control panel just outside the room. "Turning to us, he nodded again. "You guys go ahead and take care of it.
I grinned broadly at the order and almost ran out of the room in my excitement. The control panel?? Now we're talkin'!!
"Ok, so what should we do?" Tori asked curiously as we stood by the control panel.
Hunter shrugged and pointed to it. "So, like...let's just bust it up."
Sounds like something Dustin would suggest. I thought wryly, smiling a little behind my helmet. Looking at the panel, I disagreed with his plan. Yeah, bust it up real good! But... "Wouldn't it be a mega bummer is we launched the missiles by mistake?" I suggested with a raised eyebrow. "So, I think we should hold back and mess around with it, instead."
"That sounds good." Tori agreed with a slightly impressed tone at my restraint.
Hunter sighed and shrugged. "Whatever works for you." he put in with a disappointed tone.
Logging into the system, we noted it had been unlocked and we could get into everything. First thing we did was go into the programming area and mess with the error ration, hoping it would mess up the sensors on the missiles. Then, I went to the coordinates section and tried changing them, but they were set firmly into place. I managed to move the indicator a little to the left, and that was it. Hopefully, it would be enough to mean a major miss.
Once we were done, we logged out and I turned to the stairs. That was the only place we hadn't been and the curiosity of what was behind that door was eating at me. So I walked ahead to the stairs, only to be stopped by the single guard that was standing there.
"This place is off-limits! You're not allowed up here." he said firmly.
Thinking quickly, I realized that coming from the control panel had bonus points. "But we've come to report the missile coordinate data!" I insisted.
He nodded quickly and moved aside. "Oh, very well. Go right ahead."
We walked past, but I was still clearly able to hear what he muttered to himself as we passed, and I clenched my fists as I stalked angrily up the stairs.
"...Did we have someone that puny on our base?"
What nerve! I'm not puny!
Biting back a snarl, I finally made it up the stairs and stopped just on the other side of the door, still out of view of the people in this control room. From what I could see of it, the walls were lined with computer consoles, and there were three guards present. One, an Elite Guard.
"All systems go, sir!" on e guard saluted.
The second guard followed his example. "Everything's all set, sir!"
The Elite Guard nodded a moment before sighing in relief. "We had some minor setbacks, but proceed as scheduled. We're running a little behind, but prepare for the final launch phaze."
Oh no! We have to stop the missiles! I thought in horror.
"Roger!" The Guards chorused, and the Elite Guard hit a button before speking into a speaker system.
"Attention. This is the control room. We are now entering the final phaze of the missile launch. Take your designated positions and prepare for the launch." He hit the button again, and the speakers crackled off with a small whine.
That's it. Leading the others in, we stopped just in view of the guards, watching as the Elite Guard fingered his blade suspiciously when he noticed us.
"What're you doing in here?!" he demanded angrily.
Saluting him, I sighed quietly. "We've come to report the missile coordinates."
He seemed to relax a moment. "Oh..." Then he was quiet for a long moment before tensing back up and withdrawing his sword. "Don't move! I thought something was suspicious. You guys are the intruders! No use hiding it now, the salute you just did was all wrong!"
I looked at my hand a moment before looking at the others and shrugging. Well, at least we made it this far. It's time to rumble! I raised my hand to a hany flash bomb we'd been carrying and watched as the guards all tensed up.
"What're you doing?!"
The only answer he got was me throwing the bomb down and in the bright light that followed, we quickly tore off the uniforms to reveal our real clothing and weapons. Then we armed ourselves and waited until they could see again.
"TA-DA!" I cried cheerily. "Hooo!" I breathed a loud sigh of relief. "Finally! That military uniform stunk and itched!"
Running forward, I lashed out with my nun chucks, hitting one of the blue uniformed guards in the head and stunning him. Tori finished him off by lashing out with her whip, wrapping it around his neck before pulling it back and causing him to spin off balance, craching into a console and being knocked out.
Hunter fired at the other guard, hitting him in the leg, and causing him to cry out in pain as he fell to the ground. Firing a second shot, he hit the guy in the chest, not killing him, but knocking him out, too.
That left us with the Elite Guard left. I hit him in the chest with my nun chucks, but unfortunately, it only slightly dented his armor. Tori followed my example, but aimed for his arm that held the sword, making him drop it and yelp in obvious pain.
Hunter fired a shot at the chest, but again, the metal armor deflected it. Frowning deeply, his blue eyes scanned the soldier before he reloaded his gun and aimed for the shoulder.
Staggering back from the hit, the soldier growled before pulling out a grenade and throwing it at us, but Tori swung her metal whip out and knocked it back at him, watching it explode at his feet.
"Shit!" he cried, falling back a foot.
Using my nun chucks, I hit him in the throat and he gave a garbled cry as he held it and fell to his knees. Hunter walked right up to him and lifted his helmet efore punching him in the face and knocking him out.
Once the guards were knocked out, I nodded to myself and looked at all the consoles in the room. "Ok, then. Let's stop the missiles, blow the base to smitherenes and get the hell outta here!"
Tori looked around in confusion before walking over to a control panel and inspecting it closely. "One of these control panels should be the launch control mechanism." She fiddles with a few buttons before sighing and shaking her head. "Not this one..." she murmured, moving to the next console.
"So, like...Let's just split up and look." Hunter suggested with a shrug, moving across the room and checking out a random console. He began to press random buttons with abandon behore slamming his fist on the top of the console and groaning in irritation before walking to another one.
Shrugging, I headed to a console a little ways from both of them and began looking. I carefully hit some buttons, not wanting to accidentally set off the missiles, and grinned when I noticed this was the console I wanted. "Heeey! I found it!" I began pressing buttons with abandon, trying to mess with the launch control, but I noticed that it seemed to have backup safeties in place. It wouldn't guarantee that the launch would be stopped, but there was a small chance, at least. "Push this, then that... There! All we have to do now, is find the self-destruct mechanism!"
"...But it doesn't seem to be in here..." Tori responded with a frown, looking around at the consoles we'd examined.
I looked around as well and checked the last few console, only to find that she was right. Then I noticed there was a small back room and more consoles. With another shrug, I walked into it and found a single large console with a big red button in the center that had writing underneath that said, 'Push in Case of Emergencies. Self-Destruct'.
Direct enough?
I also noticed that if we pushed the button, we'd be required to set a time limit. With a frown, I figured I'd better play it safe. This wasn't a SeeD field Exam, so it didn't matter if I used more time, but it would enable the guards to undo the damage we'd done, so to be safe, we chose 20 minutes and set it before hitting the button.
"Self-Destruct mechanism operating. 20 Minutes until destruction. All staff evacuate the base immediately. I repeat..."
We were so focused on the self-destruct going, and that we'd basically successfully completed our mission, that we failed to notice the guard behind us, standing shakily and typing something on the console before he collapsed. We might've heard him, but alarms were blaring at this point, so we couldn't hear anything but that.
"Whoo-hoo! Let's hurry on outta here!" I cheered as we ran through another door, surprisingly, leading us directly to the main entrance. We took off outside, but had to remain hidden as we saw the hundreds of guards and elites running through the doorway as it remained open. Even vehicles were taking off, running over a few slower officers in order to get out while they could.
Soon, there was no one left and we stood out from the boxes we were hiding behind. Then, we stopped. There was the sound of something large moving and metal scraping on metal. "Huh? Heeey! What's that noise?" I asked warily.
Suddenly there was a loud scarping sound and we turned, watching in horror as the missile launch shoots shot open and a volley of missiles was shot ito the air. Shaking my head, I blinked a moment before sinking to my knees. But...we...
There was a large whirring sound and I slowly turned my head to see a massive mechanical machine backing up in front of the door. It had six convered control rooms, besides the main one in the head, and had many smaller missile launchers.
"There's no way I'm letting you all live!" a man's voice from inside the machine cried angrily. "It would be inexcuseable to Sorceress Miko!"
Sorceress Miko... I thought in a daze as my eyes narrowed angrily. She's the one who ordered the missile attack on Trabia and Balamb Gardens. And this was one of her toys.
"I don't want to suffer her wrath!" he cried, almost sounding scared. "Are you men ready?" he demanded.
"Yes, sir!" one man in one of the small control rooms replied.
Another one ehoched that. "Yes, sir!"
"Alright, let's go!" he cried as a volley of missiles was launched at us.
I jumped up and to the side, managing to avoid the missiles, and I watched as Hunter and Tori did the same. With a glare to the machine, I jumped in front of it and focused my powers, channeling through my spells until I found a thundaga, and triple. So I cast a powerful Thundaga three times in a row, and watched as two of the single control rooms exploded clean away.
"Keep attacking anyways!" the captain ordered shakily.
"Let's just get outta here!" one guard cried as the machine unleashed a powerful beam cannon on us.
I felt my body spasm painfully and fell to my knees with a cry as the beam hit me. Laying there panting, I closed my eyes tightly, trying to handle the pain that coursed through me. I managed to raid my item pouch for a hi-potion and used it to regain my strength, standing back up and glaring coldly at the machine in front of us.
Tori cast two Thundaras, thanks to the Double spell, and Hunter followed suit, and I cast a single Double spell on myself.
Another control room exploded.
"Can't let them seize this MRV." the captain grunted.
"Yes, sir!" one of the soldiers cried.
I quickly cast Haste on myself and Tori, thankful for the hidden Draw Point in the base, and then cast two Thundaras on the machine. She did the same, and another of the six control rooms blew sky high, leaving only two left.
"I...I can't control it!" the soldier yelled.
"What?!" the captain demanded as the machine shook and several loud explosions ensued.
A small hatch in the side opened, and an Elite Guard, and soldier came rushing out, and I had to bite back a laugh when the Elite guard dropped on his ass and rolled to put the fire out. It wasn't every day you were confronted by a soldier with his ass on fire!
"OW! HOT! HOT! HOOOTT!!" the guy screamed, before he managed to put the fire out. "That piece of crap!"
"What now, sir? It needs repairs!"
"We'll kill 'em first!" he snarled, grabbing a gun.
I quickly cast another Haste on Hunter and a Thundara on the Elite Guard.
Tori smirked and cast Protect on Hunter and herself before lashing out with her whip to hit the soldier, knocking him out in one hit. Then she cast Protect and Shell on me, and I cast two Thundaras on the Elite guard, knocking him out as well.
Once that was done, we raced to the gate, only to see that it had closed during the battle.
I felt my jaw drop. ...Are we locked in? I thought in shock. I looked around quickly and ran towards the fence where the missiles had been launched from, seeing no other way out. Then I collapsed to my knees in defeat, barely noticing that Hunter and Tori did the same with resigned looks on their faces. Shane will take care of the rest, right?
I imagined the Garden Festival I was in charge of, and sighed deeply. I wonder if he'll organize the Garden Festival? Shaking my head slowly, I smiled bitterly. Nah, can't count on Shane for that... He agreed, but it's SO not his thing... I sighed. It's all over...
"It came quite quietly." Tori mused out loud with a sad smile. "I thought the end would've been more dramatic."
Hunter sighed with a frown. "Shane... He didn't trust me. That's probably why he put me on this team."
I frowned at that. That wasn't right. ...What are you all saying??! ...Shane chose us because he believed in us... I stood up, glaring at the ground. And we were about to just give up!?! I shook my head. "No. He trusted us! I'm sure of it!" I said firmly. We can do it. That's what he thought when he made this team. Isn't that right, Shane?
Shaking my head again, I groaned and looked around. "We can't just give up!" Then my eyes landed on the broken machine we'd fought and I got an idea.
Explosions began to reign around the base, and I looked at my watch, blinking as I noticed the blinking 0:00 on it. Our time was up. We had to move... now!
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Ok, so that's the end of their part. Next we move onto the other team. Wonder how they're fairing?
Hope you like it
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"Are you with the Headmaster, or the Garden Master? Do you swear allegience with Garden Master Lothor?!"
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Ooooooh... Lothor's making an appearance?!?! Wonder how Kapri'll act about this...?
R+R please.
Thank you everyone.
Tenshi.