Chapter 7
Another year passes as Zack, Kunsel, and Zen continued their training and were sent on even more field missions. They witnessed much death and despair on the battlefield as many of their comrades fell to their enemies, memories of lands littered with bodies filling the innermost sectors of their minds. But still they push on, their dream of making it into SOLDIER keeping them going despite the horrors of battle. If not for their undying determination, they would've deserted a long time ago like any sane person would. Which then raised questions of whether or not they were still sane to begin with.
But why think of such things when there are more important matters to attend to?
"Porcupine! Which sushi do you want?"
"Eh?" Zack looks up from a protocol book he was reading and steps out of the study towards the common room.
There, he sees Zen still dressed in her trooper uniform and holding a plastic bag that seems to contain some sort of square-like container. She places it on the table and takes off her helmet to relieve her mussed up bangs, which seem to have clung to her face due to static.
About that time, Kunsel saunters out of the bedroom in his casual outfit of a dark blue t-shirt and a pair of khaki pants. Zack was still in his uniform pants, though he wore a white undershirt since his uniform top was left on his bed after he had come back from training.
"Did you say slushie?" wonders Kunsel curiously.
"Sushi," Zen corrects him as she places her helmet on the table. "You've never heard of it?"
"Nope," replies Kunsel and Zack in unison.
"Good grief, you really are country bumpkins, aren't ya?" sighs Zen as she scratches her head.
Taking the Styrofoam container out of the plastic bag, Zen flips open the attached lid to show a colorful array of small circular and oval slices of rice mixed with bits and pieces of unfamiliar food items.
"So what is it?" asks Zack, leaning over the table to get a better look.
"Try it first and then I'll tell you," answers Zen, curling her lips up into a pouty smile.
The two boys shoot each other a glance before each grabbing one of the rice ovals covered in pink. Zen watches eagerly as they chew the finger food up while curiosity adorn their faces. She smiles when they finally swallow the mysterious bites.
"That was… interesting," asserts Kunsel.
"Not much for the texture, but I sort of like the taste," admits Zack.
"Okay, now that you've tried it plain, try it with soy sauce!" exclaims the teenage girl as she whips up a small bowl of blackish brown liquid.
Once again, Zack and Kunsel look at one another before each picking up another pink-covered rice oval and dip it into the questionable sauce before repeating the same cycle of thorough chewing and swallowing.
"Hmm, that was a little better," says Kunsel.
"I think I got too much of the sauce on mine," adds Zack, making a face. "But it's not so bad."
"Allright, we did what you asked so what is this stuff?" wonders Kunsel, turning to Zen.
"What you guys just ate…" begins Zen with an unsettling grin plastered on her face. "…was basically raw fish."
Suddenly, a dark shadow fell over both boys' heads as they drop their jaws in utter shock.
"You gave us what?" they yell out.
"Hey, you said you liked it," Zen points out.
"Raw fish?" exclaims Zack, who grabs his throat and sticks out his tongue. "I ate raw fish?"
"E-everything's getting blurry…" stutters Kunsel, doubling over his knees after witnessing Zack's reaction. "I… I think I'm dying."
"Oh my goodness, you guys are such drama queens!" exclaims Zen, throwing up her arms in exasperation and rolling her eyes. "As long as the fish is fresh and handled properly, raw fish can be as safe as cooked fish, for cryin' out loud."
"I can't believe I ate raw fish," winces Kunsel.
"I just figured we should train our stomachs as well as our muscles," utters Zen, crossing her arms in disappointment. "But I guess that's too much of an expectation of you guys."
She glances over to see both boys lying on the floor, clutching their stomachs.
"Would you just get up already?" she yells at them and slams a hand on the table, her cheeks flushed warm with anger. "I figured you guys would react this way so I bought some with cooked seafood! Yeesh!"
Slowly and steadily, one black spiked head rises up and peeks over the table's edge at the container.
"Guess the captain isn't the only one without a sense of humor," chuckles Zack.
Before the boy could blink, his face met head-on with the business end of Zen's helmet, causing him to cry out and fall back in pain. As Zack lies on the floor with his hands on his face and wincing, the teenage girl angrily stomps towards the bedroom, the door sliding swiftly open and shut in her wrath.
Meanwhile, Kunsel looks over at Zack with a surprised look on his face after realizing he doesn't actually feel sick.
"Wait, so sushi really is safe to eat?" he asks innocently.
One week later, the three of them found themselves on a ship to Costa del Sol on yet another field mission. Accompanying them was 23-year-old Angeal, a First Class SOLDIER who discovers first-hand just how much of a handful the three of them were going to be. Well, Zack and Zen anyways.
"So what's our mission today?" wonders Kunsel, looking up at Angeal.
"There seems to be a large influx of Beachplugs to the south of Costa del Sol," briefs the SOLDIER member. "Our mission is basically population control."
"So we're basically fighting seafood?" Zack asks playfully.
The only response he gets was a punch on the arm from Zen, who frowns at him for reminding her of that day.
Angeal looks on curiously and turns to Kunsel. "Is this normal?"
"Pretty much," responds the brunette, laughing nervously.
"I said I was sorry!" returned Zack, rubbing his arm. "Geez, have you been sneaking in extra hours at the training center?"
Angeal simply sighs and rubs his temple with a hand. "This is going to be a long day."
Once they land at Costa del Sol, the four of them are driven down to their destination via a Shin-Ra-built 5-seat car with the help of a Turk by the name of Cicero. Angeal didn't take much notice of the blonde man whereas Zack was talking up a storm.
"So, what do the Turks do?" wonders Zack.
"We do investigations for Shin-Ra," explains Circero, trying to remain as vague as possible. He didn't want to let on that Turks recruit members of SOLDIER, as he didn't want to have to deal with the typical song-and-dance many a trooper has done in order to impress their way into SOLDIER. Not that they would get in even if they tried, anyhow.
"And then troopers and SOLDIER members are sent in if something requires more force, correct?" assumes Kunsel.
"Pretty much," affirms Cicero.
"Oh, you work together with SOLDIER, too?" says Zack, lifting the tip of his helmet eagerly with one hand. "So do you know what it takes to get into SOLDIER?"
Cicero glances at Zack for a moment and turns his eyes back on the road. He doesn't quite know what to make of the boy. He behaves as eager as the other Shin-Ra troopers who seek to become members of SOLDIER, but something about him gives off the feeling that he could actually be a decent candidate. He wonders to himself why.
"I wouldn't know," Cicero says at last, which is partially the truth since each member of SOLDIER was recruited on different circumstances, though similar standards. "Just because we work together, doesn't mean we know how the other works. Isn't that right, Sir Angeal?"
"I know about as much as you when it comes to the Turks," the First Class SOLDIER remarks to Zack, still keeping his gaze towards the passing scenery outside.
"So much for that," sighs Zack, slumping back in his seat in disappointment.
Cicero turns his attention to the female trooper sitting next to him on the passenger side, who hasn't spoken a word since he met the four of them at the docks. He could sense there was some sort of dissonance between her and the one named Zack. He recalls the two were previously on friendly terms so he was quite curious as to what had transpired between them to cause this.
But any questions he had would have to wait as they finally reached their destination. Peering outside, the three troopers and Angeal could see the numerous shellfish armed with tentacles crawling all over the sandy shore.
"That's… a lot of seafood to go through," exclaims Zack, his eyes wide with shock at the sheer number of Beachplugs.
"There's got to be at least 100 out there," adds Kunsel as the vehicle came to a full stop.
Zen plops on her helmet and glances over towards the boys. "What's the matter? Scared?"
"Pfft, not me," asserts Zack, putting on his helmet as well.
Kunsel simply lets out a sigh as he puts his helmet on and gets out of the car along with his friends. Zack and Zen have been on a rather competitive mood lately, trying to outdo each other when it came to feats of strength and fighting prowess. It wasn't like Kunsel couldn't hold his own when it came to fighting; he's come quite a long way and has managed to step up a notch in terms of offensive power. He could very well hold up against Zack or Zen, if he wanted to. But as strong as he has gotten, Kunsel was still of the mind to be more on the passive side of things when it came down to it. Though he has noted that Zack and Zen were starting to even out in terms of personality: Zack was becoming a lot more brazen than he did before, while Zen is significantly more tame than in days past. It was like they are two opposite halves of the same soul and gradually reaching equilibrium. It was certainly a strange change, but a change that Kunsel kind of liked a little. It did make the two much easier to deal with.
Cicero decides to stand near the car, fully prepared to move out of the way should it become necessary. Angeal, on the other hand, joins up with the three troopers standing near the edge of the bed of Beachplugs.
"So, uh, how should we go about doing this?" wonders Zack when Angeal came near. He draws his sword and waits for his superior's orders.
"Well, if each of us take on about twenty-five to thirty of these guys, we should have most of them cleared out," suggests the First Class SOLDIER. "That's not a problem, is it?"
"Twenty-five to thirty, huh?" spoke up Zen with a smirk, taking out her sword and gripping handle with both hands. "And here I thought we were going to get a challenge."
Angeal raises an eyebrow as he watches both Zen and Zack race into the midst of the Beachplug bed and began hacking away at the shellfish. Taking out his own Shin-Ra standard sword, Angeal begins fighting alongside the troopers. He turns to see Kunsel was already making short work of ten Beachplugs. No move was wasted as each of the young troopers fiercely lowered the number of shellfish. The First Class SOLDIER was somewhat surprised by the overall atmosphere of confidence as he slices three Beachplugs in one swipe. Many of the infantrymen he worked with in the past would shiver in their boots at the mere sight of five monsters, let alone a whole group like this. His mind thought the 16-year-olds were simply trying to show off, but deep down he could tell that they were really putting their spirit into their fighting. He was especially keen on Zack, whose fighting conduct left much to be desire despite his great strength.
With the proper training, he could be the one who could help me achieve my dream, thought Angeal.
Angeal wasn't the only one paying attention to what was going on as Cicero was taking careful note of each of the teenage troopers as well. The Turk had his eyes on Zen, who was of special interest to him as she fought with a unique style he recognized as very Wutai in origin. His research on the girl lead to him to believe that she may have traitorous intentions due to the fact that she was trained by a warrior from Wutai. But she has yet to do anything suspicious to warrant an arrest. If it is in fact not the case that Zen is a Wutai spy, then she could be good use to Shin-Ra in more ways than one.
Just as the beach was getting quite empty of Beachplugs, the ground beneath began to quake roughly and violently. Zack, Kunsel, and Zen all try to maintain their footing while Angeal tries to make sense of what was going on.
Only a certain area of earth is moving… he thought. Which means…
Before anyone could say a word, the ground underneath the teenagers began rising up. Angeal watches in shock as what looked like a very big sandy bubble made itself known as a giant turtle. A giant turtle that was very unhappy having three Shin-Ra troopers seemingly dancing around on its back.
Impossible! thought Angeal as he races towards his subordinates.
"Wha-what's an Adamantoise doing here?" Kunsel cries out in surprise. "They usually reside around the Wutai area."
"Well, it looks like this one got bored and went on a vacation!" responds Zack, using his sword to keep himself from falling over.
"That must explain why so many Beachplugs appeared here!" affirms Zen. "They were feeding on the Adamantoise's leftovers!"
"Well, we'd better be careful or else we'll be the monster's next batch of leftovers!" warns Kunsel.
Due to the giant turtle's rather smooth shell, the teenagers were unable to get a proper footing and ended up sliding off in different directions. Unfortunately for Kunsel, he slides off towards the turtle's horned head, which was less than pleased to have some extra weight sitting upon it.
With a mightily irritated roar, the turtle flings the young man high into the air, his helmet flying off in another direction. As it did so, Zen makes a dash for it with her sword, but only manages to scratch the surface of its shell as the turtle plows right into her. The girl falls back but lands gracefully on her feet as she catches a second wind, her helmet landing elsewhere. Meanwhile, Zack makes his move and catches his sword into the side of the turtle's exposed body underneath the shell. The Adamantoise screeched out in pain as Zack digs his sword deeper into the reptile's leathery flesh and then runs the blade along its body, finishing off his Sidhazzard Limit Break near the tail end of the beast.
The turtle turns its head towards the young man and prepares to gore him into the ground when Zen unleashes her Whirlwind Limit Break upon the creature, becoming a veritable shredder as she slices up the turtle this way and that. As soon as she was done, Kunsel drops down from above and delivers the final blow upon the creature with his Cosmic Spearhead Limit Break.
The Adamantoise lets out one last bellow and falls to the ground with a massive thud, shaking the earth around it. Not long after, its body is engulfed by trails of glowing green as the Lifestream takes the creature into its embrace. Zack, Kunsel, and Zen all watch in awe as the giant turtle's body faded away, leaving behind nothing but a shallow crater in the midst of the beach where it fell.
"So," Zack breathes heavily, turning to Zen. "Was that challenging enough?"
"I guess," Zen breathes back, withdrawing her sword.
"I think I might need a chiropractor," groans Kunsel, cracking his back as he straightens up.
"Yeah, you got tossed up pretty high," chuckles Zen, rubbing her nose with one finger. "Thought you were going to land in the Corel desert or something."
"I'm glad that didn't happen," spoke up Zack as he takes off his helmet, painfully recalling a previous mission they were on in which they got lost in the Corel Desert for over a week and actually contemplated cannibalism.
The sound of footsteps approaching causes them to turn to see Angeal coming up to them with a rather interested look on his face. If they didn't know any better, they'd think the First Class SOLDIER seemed to actually be impressed by what they've done.
"You guys did a pretty good job on that Adamantoise," praises Angeal, crossing his arms.
"Really?" exclaims Kunsel with a look of utter disbelief on his face. "You think we did a good job?"
"Not just good," adds Angeal. "I'd say it's the best teamwork I've seen from troopers yet. You managed to destroy it before it could cast its barrier spells."
"That thing has barrier spells?" exclaims Zen in shock.
"Wait a minute," says Angeal upon hearing the girl's outburst. He raises an eyebrow in confusion. "You mean you didn't kill it quickly with the intent to prevent it from casting spells?"
"No idea," says Zack, shrugging his shoulders along with Zen.
"I mean, I knew what the creature was," spoke up Kunsel. "But I didn't read up on what spells it casts."
Now Angeal was looking more perplexed than before. "So you three attacked that thing without an actual battle plan?"
"Nope," answers Zen, crossing her hands behind her head. "When we got lost in the Corel Desert one time, we ran into a Land Worm, which wasn't a very pleasant experience, let me tell ya. We defeated it by going all out on it so from that day forward, our usual solution for fighting insanely huge monsters was just to attack the crap out of it until it dies."
Both Zack and Kunsel chuckle nervously in agreement.
Angeal simply lays the palm of his hand over his face as he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You've got to be kidding me…"
Nearby, Cicero lets out a big smile as he watches the scene unfold before him.
"These kids are really something," he admits, shaking his head.
A/N: Can you say dumb luck? XD What a silly trio.
Oh, and none of the Limit Breaks featured here are actually in any of the Final Fantasy VII compilations. Although, Zack's Sidhazzard is supposed to be based on Cloud's Climhazzard, except Sidhazzard goes sideways whereas Climhazzard goes upwards.