Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Whoops, wrong story.
A/N: After weeks of waiting I am finally getting the next chapter out. My thanks to everyone who reviewed.
Rinoa was the last to speak up, "Cant we do something?"
Quistis was the one who responded. In a defeated voice she said, "All we can do it ride the storm out and pray for Squall's safety."
Somewhere near Shumi Village:
Squall looked outside the cave entrance. After two days of waiting and healing, the storm was dying down, along with the pain in his leg. He had always been a fast healer after all and the injury had been relatively minor compared to some of the others he had gotten on his adventures.
He looked upon the sleeping form of Shiva and thought back to their conversation last night.
'Just when I thought it was over something new comes up to threaten the world again.' Thought Squall bitterly, 'Oh well, maybe I wont be so bored now.'
Squall couldn't help but chuckle to himself, 'I must be going crazy. My life is on the line, the world is in danger and here I am laughing to myself, again.'
FLASHBACK
"So all we have to do is kill Omega Weapon right?" inquired Squall.
Shiva sighed, "I wish it were that simple."
Squall looked at her, "So what's stopping us?"
"Frankly put? If you take on Omega Weapon right now, you'll loose, no questions asked."
"What if I got my friends to help?" asked Squall.
"You mean the guys that saved the world last time? I'm sorry but their combined strength, even with their GF's, would be about the equivalent of shooting a BB gun at a freight train."
Squall was silent, "So what can we do?"
"Simple. I want you to help me free the other GF's from their prisons."
"Why do you need my help?"
"Several reasons, few of which you want to know, and even less that you would understand."
'God damn mysteries,' thought Squall angrily, 'Oh hell what do I have to loose?'
"…Alright I'll do it."
Shiva enveloped him in a surprisingly warm hug, making him stiffen in surprise, "Thanks Squall."
END FLASHBACK
Shiva kept her eyes closed as she sensed around for Squall. He was by the cave entrance, staring out at the snow-covered ground. She too thought about the conversation last night.
When Squall had said that he still had her junctioned to him he was correct, but there were some things she had not told him. Ever since her spirit had been set free the junction began to work two ways. It wasn't even considered a junction now, more of a link.
The end result was a type of bond that connected them to eachother. If one of the people involved concentrated hard enough, he or she could sense where the other was and what they were feeling.
However Shiva had gotten the feeling that if Squall had found out about the connection he would sever it, rending her helpless. While it was true most of her power were recovered when her spirit was set free there was still something missing, an anchor. Unfortunately she couldn't pinpoint where, or what, it was.
Until then she had to use Squall as her anchor to this world. This was also why she needed him to come along.
'Of course I have my own 'personal' reasons…' she thought quietly to herself.
Squall watched as Shiva awoke from her sleep, only to quickly look away as her stretching threatened to degrade his thoughts into NC-17.
'Damnit,' he thought angrily, 'Why the hell am I reacting like this?'
Shiva felt a stab of frustration come from Squall. Concentrating for a bit she searched very deep into his emotions, past the self imposed barriers of ice, and smiled at what she found, 'He's probably not used to feeling that…particular emotion.'
Speaking to Shiva without turning Squall spoke, "I need to get back to the ship and report. If I'm gone for four days I'll be MIA and I don't need to deal with that.
Starting to walk away, he was abruptly stopped as he found he couldn't move his bad leg.
"And just how do you think your going to get anywhere with that bandage on?" asked Shiva smugly as she shattered the ice that had trapped Squall's foot.
"It's nothing," muttered Squall as he tried to walk again.
"Really?" reaching out, Shiva gently poked Squall's leg in the place where the ice spear had penetrated. Squall nearly toppled over from the pain that shot up his leg and throughout his body.
"Don't try to act macho Squall," chided the ice queen, "You don't need to show off to anyone."
Squall felt another stab of annoyance at her words but conceded to let her support him.
The landscape, so unlike yesterday's blizzard, gave a calm and serene feeling. The sun was shining on the newly fallen snow that had slowed down to a mere sprinkle. There were no footprints anywhere; even the monsters had not come out yet.
"So, Shiva?"
"Hmm?"
"Who are we going to free first?"
"The only guardian I can sense right now is the Siren, and that's only because she's my cousin."
"Your cousin." Squall said incredulously.
"I know, and I've been trying to hide it for so long." She said wistfully.
"What's wrong with her?"
"Well, let's just say that she's not all…up there. If you know what I mean." She finished.
Squall knew exactly what she meant. He had encountered those kinds of people several times. His face almost broke into a full out grin when he remembered a particular pair…
FLASHBACK
"You're not getting away this time!" shouted Wedge.
"Yeah! We'll stop you!" added Biggs.
Squall acted immediately and casted confuse on Wedge. The officer staggered for a few seconds before attacking Biggs.
"Hey! What the hell was that for?"
Biggs retaliated and punched Wedge in the stomach, knocking him out of his confusion.
"Damnit Biggs! That hurt!" and Wedge retaliated with a punch to the face.
"Why you…"
The two rolled on the ground, weapons forgotten, punching and kicking eachother. Squall and his friends merely walked by, ignoring the two soldiers.
END FLASHBACK
"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean."
Due to the injury Squall had received the progress was slow but steady. The temperature was cool but not to the point of freezing. Squall had a suspicion that Shiva had something to do with it.
They finally reached the Ragnarock after a good 2 hours of walking. Squall stifled the urge to yell in frustration as he saw that ship was buried under a mound of snow so large that only the tail end was visible.
"So how are we going to get this thing out?" asked Squall, "Can you use your powers to move the snow away?"
Shiva shook her head, "Sorry, my powers only let me create ice, not remove it."
"Guess we'll just have to do this the hard way then." Said Squall with a grimace.
Concentrating on his gunblade, Squall junctioned the fire magic he had into the blade. Estimating where the air lock on the ship was Squall leaped into the air and performed a dive straight into the snow. The fire magic combined with the force of his attack easily made a hole straight through the snow and right to the airlock.
Unfortunately his leg wound combined with the stress the attack put on his leg made Squall fall over in agony.
Shiva jumped down the hole and landed gently next to Squall's prone figure.
She grabbed Squall by his jacket and easily pulled him to his feet, "Probably not the best solution but it worked. And if you try to play hero again make sure that your fully healed."
They made their way through the ship and towards the cockpit. The Ragnarock was a mess. Many things were lying broken on the floor and there were several cracks running along the hull.
"Assuming that this thing can actually get off the ground," said Squall, "I'd give us about 2 hours flight time before the thing crashes."
"Any place we can repair it?" asked Shiva.
Squall thought for a minute, 'I don't think Zell could restore this flying death trap from the states it in so that only leaves one place…'
"…We'll have to go to Esthar."
Shiva felt his words bare a trace of distaste though he hid it well. She decided not to press him for details.
Flipping the necessary switches Squall started up the Ragnarock, the whole ship seeming to groan in protest at the action. Trying to ignore the feeling of dread that was creeping up on him Squall hit the engine boost button and held it down.
The ship shook under them, straining to get free of its snowy prison. After 10 seconds of struggling the snow began to melt and the Ragnarock shot off like a bullet.
"SQUALL! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE DRIVING"
The driver immediately turned the ship sideways almost causing Shiva to fall over had she not grabbed onto Squall's seat. The Ragnarock missed the mountain range directly in front of them by mere inches.
"PULL UP SQUALL!"
"I'M TRYING!"
Squall jerked the ship to the right, barely skimming another mountain range.
"GET YOUR HAND OFF THE BOOST BUTTON!"
"I CAN'T! IT'S STUCK!"
They were zipping through the mountain ranges, the Ragnarock a blur. The boost button had gotten stuck in the down position so the engines were on full throttle. Squall was jerking the steering wheel left and right trying to avoid the mountains.
He was trying to pull up but the steering functions had also been jammed, making it almost impossible to move upwards.
Both of them breathed a sigh of relief as they entered a bare plain except for one object…
"Hey Squall, what is that place?"
"That's…TRABIA GARDEN!"
Cid's Office:
Cid looked over the people gathered in his office. All of Squall's friends including Seifer were there.
"Everyone, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the storm has finally died down."
"So we can go and get Squall right?" asked Selphie eagerly.
"Well… that brings us to the second part. The bad news is the Ragnarock has also been found. Heading straight towards Trabia Garden. They contacted us when they saw the ship."
"What's so bad about that?" asked Quistis.
"You misunderstand me. The Ragnarock is going full power towards Trabia Garden without any indication of stopping."
"Is the communicator back online?" asked Selphie suddenly.
"Yes I believe it is." Selphie's image suddenly disappeared and reappeared by the communications device.
"Squall? Squall? Can you hear me?"
All of a sudden a feminine voice came over the communicator.
"We're sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please hand up and try again."
Selphie brought out her Nunchaku and hit the machine several times, finally getting an answer.
"Squall can you hear me?"
A masculine voice answered this time, "What?"
Selphie fiddled with some dials, "Can you hear me now?"
"I can't hear what your saying!" the voice shouted back.
Making a few more adjustments Selphie tried again, "Can you hear me now?"
"Yes."
"Good. Now what the hell are you doing?" she shouted, "We just rebuilt that place don't wreck it again!"
There was some fumbling and a female voice came over the system, "Look, I'm really sorry but we're gonna have to cut this short. Were trying not to get killed at the moment, so we gotta go."
The communicator went dead.
Everyone in the room was silent for a few seconds, "Who was that?" asked Rinoa.
No one had an answer for her.
A/N: Short chapter with not much happening but it's the holidays so cut me some slack. In the next chapter we find out if Squall and Shiva survive (stupid question really) their ride and Squall confronts his father.
Please drop a review on the way out to tell me what you think.
Cheers.
