::The Last Avatar::

Gamer Edition

BOOK ONE
LEVIATHAN

1.4

First Blood

She was going to kill Godo. She was seriously going to fucking murder him. If she lived through this intense stupidity, of course.

Gun fire went off in the distance, though much closer than the last volley she'd heard as she ran headlong through the trees. Rue's bag bounced against her side while her bow and quiver were slung over her shoulders. Her knees hurt, and palms stung as, to her annoyance, she'd tripped repeatedly on rocks and tree roots that just seemed to appear out of nowhere just to trip her. At least that was what it seemed like from her perspective.

"Map," Rue wheezed breathlessly as she paused to catch her breath against a tree. That was one of the few good things about this whole thing, she had access to a real-time electronic map whenever she pleased. The zoomed in map of the area she was racing through popped up in front of her face, thankfully for agreeing to this missions slash Story Quest she'd been given access to the map's filters. Little red dots and little green dots were scattered around the area, many in tight little knots, likely fighting each other. A single blue dot indicated her own location and a red flag she assumed was the camp they were supposed to clear out was somewhere to the south-east of her. Rue frowned at the map, there were a few red dots nearby and they were headed her way. Not good. Taking in a few fear filled deep gulps of air Rue dismissed the map and took off as quickly and, she hoped, as quietly as she could manage.

She was really going to murder that man.

!*~*~*FLASHBACK*~*~*!

The Wusheng were waiting for them in what Rue figured to be a 'War Room' or something like one, they did not appear too pleased to see her with Godo. The man in question ignored his General's frowns and led Rue to the large table in the centre of the room. The table itself wasn't just large, but, upon closer examination, Rue realised that it was carved into the shape of the Island Continent of Wutai. There were all manner of charts, maps and red and green wooden place-holders that she assumed meant more to them than they did her.

"I have a proposition for you little Avatar," Godo began slowly. He was studying her carefully, as though taking her appearance in for the first time since he'd had her dragged before him. Rue raised an eyebrow at him as she tried to play it cool, though she wasn't entirely sure how well she managed this.

"A proposition?" she crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at him. Somehow she knew this was going to end badly for her.

"Indeed, the Shinra have a new camp set up in one of the valleys," Godo explained.

"And they are a little too close for comfort," added the older of the two male members of the Wusheng. Gorkii, if her memory was right, and he turned into some demon thing that kinda looked like the aliens from the movie Alien only with wings. Or something.

"Yes," Godo sent Gorkii a look before continuing, "we have intelligence suggesting they are surveying for Mako deposits despite it being Wutain territory," one of the women snorted in disgust and shook her head. She did not interrupt like Gorkii had though."We would like you to go with a contingent of men and clear them out," Godo finished quickly. It seemed that he thought that if he talked faster she would agree. Yeah. No.

"I'm sorry, what?" Rue asked blinking at him. He thought she could fight? Was he not watching her run around like a chicken with it's head cut off the night he kidnapped her?

"If you do this, we will aid you in your Avatar Training," Godo added the carrot. Ah. That was it then.

"So you're bribing me with training after I help you drive Shinra soldiers, who are equipped with guns I might add, from some valley, and you expect me to do this how?" she asked him. Her eyes were squinty again, she knew that, but no matter how Rue looked at it, what he was asking her didn't make much sense.

"You're the Avatar, I'm sure you'll manage," the short female Wusheng said dryly. Rue frowned at the woman, it wasn't often she met someone shorter than her, but she suspected the woman; Shake? Was older than her child-like appearance suggested.

"I've never fought in a battle in my life," Rue objected.

"And yet, you managed to destroy our strongest weapon against SOLDIER with little trouble," Shake was smirking at her. Rue just glared, this was not turning out like she thought it would.

"I-That-You-It-It nearly crushed me repeatedly I wouldn't call that 'little trouble'," Rue tried again to point out what she thought was obvious. She was no fighter. She just wished they would see it.

"Perhaps, yet you still managed it," the other female member of the Wusheng sniffed. This one Rue could not remember the name of, but she was sure it would either come to her later or they'd say it or something.

"To stop myself from being ki-"

"Enough!" Godo interrupted the quickly growing argument before it could escalate any further. "You were found with a weapon, I doubt the Avatar would carry something around that she didn't know how to use," he raised one of his bushy eyebrows at her challengingly. Rue's frown only grew at his words, it was almost a dare now. They wanted her to prove that she was worth their time training her, which meant going along with this insanity and surviving.

"Fine," she said with a sigh of defeat, "I'll go, but this training you're offering had better be good," she warned them. However the threat was empty and they all knew it. Empty for now anyway. Once she knew how to Bend competently it would be another story altogether; something else they all knew.

"It will be," he assured her.

Story Quest Discovered!

*Survive Your First Mission for Wutai*

…

Godo has made you a deal, help with the war and he'll help you with your Bending Training.

Your first mission is to help Wutian Troops clear out a Shinra camp that is encroaching on Wutian territory.

You will receive bonus' for:

1. Defeating the Camp's Leader

2. Keeping the Wutian Troops alive

3. Completing the mission with more than 50% health remaining

…

It's about fucking time brat!

Finally some action to eat that popcorn to.

…

Oh.

You can now use the Map Filters cause you reached this quest.

Good for you shorty.

Rue closed her eyes and took a deep nose-breath to stop herself from swearing profusely at the screen that had just exploded in front of her face. Any reaction here in front of Godo and the Wusheng would have complicated consequences to say the least. Opening them she noted that, thankfully, that no one had noticed anything and they were still discussing how many soldiers to send as 'support for the Avatar'. Surreptitiously she dismissed the screen before 'B' could write any more distracting things at her. At least she had the filters now. Rue just hoped they'd be enough of a help to get her through this.

!*~*~*~*~*!

Her breathing was more laboured now, it wasn't like she was used to running around in a forest, or at all if Rue was honest with herself. She checked the map again and almost swore loudly. The red dots she'd been trying to avoid were even closer than they had been ten minutes ago. She was too slow. She was too afraid.

"I swear, I saw someone come this way," a male voice somewhere to her right spoke. Rue swallowed and ducked behind a nearby tree, maybe she could sneak around them?

"If we've come this far out of our usual route so you can chase shadows I'm going to bloody shoot you myself," said another voice. This one sounded more than irritated. "All the fighting is the other way, there won't be any Wutai out here," he continued to grumble.

Rue peeked around the tree hesitantly, she did not want to get shot, only to spy four Shinra Infantrymen walking towards her tree. Pulling her head back quickly before she was spotted Rue mouthed the word 'fuck' vehemently. If she tried to run they'd spot her and likely shoot first and ask questions later, if they asked questions at all.

"I'm telling you I saw someone running this way, why can't you just believe me for once?" the first voice complained. She could hear their footsteps on the other side of her tree, causing Rue to pressing herself against the tree trunk in hopes they wouldn't see her should they walk past. She also wished that her clothes were a little darker, and that she were an actual ninja or had had some actual training before they'd thrown her into the deep end.

"Sure it wasn't a bunny wabbit, Rhys?" one of the others asked him with a laugh. The other two joined in while the first assured his companions that he did, in fact, know what a person running looked like. Rue on the other hand continued swearing silently at the universe for letting this happen.

"Oi!" Rue sighed as one of the uniformed men finally noticed her as they walked by the tree. "Well Rhys looks like you weren't seeing things after all," she watched the four of them raise their weapons towards her.

"Crap!" Rue squealed as she moved further behind the tree before they could open fire on her. Their automatic weapons tearing the bark of the tree apart where she'd been standing moments before. Breathing hard Rue knew she only had a moment or two before they cornered her in a, very likely, pincer attack, or whatever it was called. She had to do something, but what?

Tutorial

Battle

…

Well fuck. Look at you all ready for battle.

Or not.

So you've entered your first actual battle and here we are.

I suggest you get your mother fucking bow out and shoot one of them in the face.

You like head shots.

You're good at head shots.

So get the bow out, pull out an arrow and shoot the bastards.

Or we could visit the Game Over screen again?

Remember this?

"You miss, then you don't. Is it that hard to see when it's wrong?"

NOW MOVE

Rue didn't even have to dismiss this screen, it vanished on it's own much to her relief as her arm automatically reached around to pull her bow over her head and grabbed an arrow at the same time. Whether or not she could actually hit someone while they were shooting at her remained to be seen, but to hell with it if she wouldn't at least try.

She could hear them moving, getting ready to kill her. Rue closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, before nocking her first arrow clumsily and carefully glancing out to where two of the troopers were stalking towards her. Some more deep breaths, they were closing in and it was now or never. God, she was about to kill someone. No, she wouldn't think about it, not now. She could throw up later. Think Lara Fucking Croft, I can do this.

And then she was sliding out from her cover, pulling the arrow and bow string back against her cheek, it was harder than she thought it would be, and aimed for just below her targets helmet, the neck was her best shot at this point. When Rue released the arrow she knew it was off just a bit, he was moving and so was she; instead the arrow struck his shoulder, between the joints on the protective gear he wore, but he did go down and that was enough.

"Shit! She's armed!" his partner shouted and fired at her. Rue barely got out of the way, scrambling to another tree and cover. She was breathing hard, but stayed focused and took another arrow from her quiver and nocked it. She could hear the men shouting, but all Rue could really hear was her blood rushing in her ears and heart thumping in her chest at an alarming rate. She took another deep breath and glanced around at the nearest trees she could use as cover, she made a decision and rolled around her current hiding place and pulled the bow string and arrow back against her cheek and aimed at one of the other men before they could shoot her and released. This one missed entirely and buried itself in the first tree she'd hidden behind. Again Rue dodged a hail of bullets and hid herself behind the tree once more.

"Okay, I don't think you've got many more tries at this," she told herself quietly through deep breaths. "Just shoot the bastards and keep moving, you can think about everything else after you're safe," was also added for good measure. Lara Fucking Croft, man.

Again she rolled around the tree trunk, the opposite side this time, an arrow ready for her target. They had barely moved this time, she knew where they were and when she released her third arrow it hit it's intended target. The knee this time, but it hit and he went down, that was all that mattered. No more adventuring for him. Rue mentally slapped herself for that wayward thought. It was just bad.

She didn't duck for cover this time, she kept moving as she nocked another arrow and took aim. The two remaining troopers also took aim, but Rue had remembered one thing about troopers; they missed more than they hit and she had a Restore Materia on hand. True she was taking a risk, but if she was going to do this she wasn't going to do it half assed. Rue released her arrow before they fired on her, she ducked as the bullets flew around her and turned on her heel, drawing another arrow as she did. Then she was kneeling on one knee and aiming at the last standing trooper, Rue was dimly aware of him crying out as his companion fell and him aiming at her with more anger than before. They fired at the same time and pain bloomed in Rue's arm, making her cry out and almost fell herself, she heard something break, like glass shattering, and looked up to see the last trooper drop like a stone. Her arrow embedded in his helmet through the shattered visor.

The other two men were shouting, groaning in pain and trying to get up. Suddenly the two of them being merely injured didn't quite seem good enough any more. Rue looked down at the bow on the ground and her shaking hand that was covering her wound, there was no way she was going to be able to shoot them before she healed the hole in her left arm.

One of them had reached his weapon where it had fallen when she'd dropped him and aimed at her as she knelt on the forest floor. Rue glared at him, she hadn't wanted this any more than they had, but they had followed her. She didn't want to kill or hurt anyone, but the troopers had left her little choice.

A growl behind her stopped all thought, she knew that growl. Closing her eyes for a moment in hope that she was saved, she felt a rush of air as something streaked past her and the trooper that was aiming at her yelled in fright. When Rue opened her eyes Tera the Coeurl was tearing the throat out of the trooper, if his gurgling was anything to go by, and his companion was watching on in horror, seemingly paralysed from the shock of seeing a Coeurl in Wutai. Let alone what it was doing to one of his comrades. When Tera was done with the felled trooper she turned to the remaining man who seemed to try to edge back, away from the bloodstained beast. Tera growled at him and shifted her back legs slightly, but Rue knew what the slight movement meant. The Coeurl was going to pounce.

"Tera!" she called sharply. The Coeurl stopped and looked at her mistress, then back to the trooper as if unsure what to do. "Come, Tera, he can't reach his gun before one of us can kill him," she assured her friend. This seemed to placate the creature and she slowly padded over to Rue to check her mistress' damage. Rue however gave the remaining trooper a very dark look. "If you'd left me alone, this wouldn't have happened, I didn't want to hurt anyone if I could help it," she told him angrily. It was funny, now the battle was over for the most part, all she could feel was anger. The whole thing was stupid. Senseless and stupid.

"You attacked us," he threw back at her. Rue just snorted at him and looked down at her leather bracer that wound around her right arm. Her Restore Materia was settled into one of it's slots snugly and after a moment of concentration she felt the very manufactured, very cold, healing wave as it washed away the bullet hole in her arm. With a sigh of relief Rue flexed her arm gingerly, testing to see if she'd made any mistakes. Thankfully it seemed Materia were thorough, even the scraps and bruising from her race through the trees were gone now.

"I was hiding from a bunch of men with guns, and when you saw me, you shot at me," Rue emphasised the last bit, "so I defended myself," she finished with a long look at him as she stood, her bow in hand. Looking down at Tera's worried face, Rue found herself wincing, the Coeurl had blood all over her face and down the front of her chest. Stomach rolling Rue forced herself to remain calm, it wouldn't do to loose her shit now. "I've never even used this bow, and-and now-I-" she couldn't finish, the words wouldn't come. Her eyes had just landed on the last two she'd downed, both of her last arrows had hit true it seemed. She'd hit the first in the neck, like she'd tried with her first shot, she hadn't even been trying to, just the shoulder, that was all she'd wanted. Just the shoulder. She walked closer, making herself see what she'd done, she would not hide from this. Could not. Not from this. She had just killed two men, yes, they were trying to kill her, but this was something she had to face. This was important.

Every step towards the dead troopers felt like walking through knee deep mud, her feet just didn't want to move in that direction. Her breathing hitched and became far more erratic the closer she got to the troopers' prone forms. Rue swallowed down the rising bile in her throat, she would avoid throwing up if she could, she decided, but when she stopped in front of the trooper with an arrow sticking out of his neck Rue felt herself begin to shake. She forced her eyes to look to the other trooper next to the first, seeing the arrow sticking out of the visor of his helmet did it.

The next thing Rue was aware of was crouching in the grass and loosing her breakfast on the forest floor while she cried almost hysterically. She had ended two lives and her pet had ended another to protect her. Three lives. Gone and it was her fault. Her stomach heaved again, but there was nothing left to come out, leaving her dry heaving and miserable. She had to force herself up, wiping her mouth on her glove with a grimace and a shaky arm. Her legs wanted to give way again, but Rue gritted her teeth and walked back over to the one remaining trooper. She was still crying a little, but there was little Rue could do to stop that, any more than she could stop herself feeling guilty for killing the troopers.

"Why did you-?" the trooper seemed confused to say the least, but he left his question unfinished.

"Because I'm not a soldier, because I just killed people, because that was the most terrifying moment of my life and I hate it," her voice shook as she spoke. Rue took a deep breath to try and calm herself, though she doubted it would work, as he digested her answer. "What were their names?" she asked after a moment.

"Liam-Liam McFadyen, Mathias Kauper and Randal Simons," he told her with a shake in his own voice. Maybe he thought she was going to kill him too.

"And you are Rhys, right?" she asked after a moment. The name had floated back to her after a moment. He was the one who'd spotted her running through the forest initially. He nodded uncertainly, maybe he thought she would kill him now.

"Yeah," he shifted and grunted when doing so irritated the arrow in his knee. "Rhys Robin," he leaned back against the tree he'd fallen against. He watched Rue carefully when she crouched down in front of him though, no matter how much pain he was in.

"Well, Rhys Robin," she began slowly. "I need to know a few things, and while I won't torture you or kill you now I'm not fighting for my life, I will leave you here without so much as a potion if you refuse to tell me anything, and throw your gun somewhere into the darkness so you can't defend yourself from whoever or whatever finds you next," she warned him tersely. Her voice still shook, as did her hands, but Rue was going to finish this damnable mission and that was that. Then she would murder Godo for sending her out there with no training to speak of.

"What-what do you want to know?" Rhys asked her warily.

"The main camp, the one a little ways south-east from here," she watched him tense as she spoke.

"What about it?" his voice was tight and uncertain. He probably didn't believe her about the whole, not-killing-or-torturing-him deal.

"How heavily guarded is it right now? Who's in charge and what do I have to do to make sure your lot don't come back to this area again?" she asked him quickly. Whatever he'd been expecting it seemed that hadn't been it and Rhys relaxed a little.

"That's it?" he asked her after a moment. Rue nodded and he shifted again, trying to get comfortable. "There's only a few troopers guarding the camp, we didn't know the Wutians knew where we were camped," he frowned at her under his helmet. "Commander Hewley is supposed to be in charge here, but he was called away two days ago and headquarters sent Captain Barclay to fill in for him today," Rhys grunted and shook his head. "The man doesn't have anything on the Commander, but he's tough as nails and not likely to go down as easy as we did," he took a deep breath and leaned his head back against the tree. "If it were me, I'd say take out the troops and the Captain at the camp then blow the place sky high or something, anything that sends a message, but it would have to be big," at this Rhys raised his arms and let them drop to show he had nothing else to say.

Rue was relieved that Angeal was not present at the camp, as awesome as he was, coming face to face with him now would not have gone well for her. Barclay, well, he wasn't a known character so he shouldn't be too hard to beat. Hopefully. She was ready to thank Rhys for his cooperation after, well, killing his friends and all, but was stopped as a bunch of words exploded in front of her nose which had her falling back on her ass from surprise.

CONGRATULATIONS!

LEVEL UP!

You are now Level 06!

When you level up you are awarded three stat points to add to your current stats.

…

Alert!

…

Because of your Player Perk Stubborn Will you are awarded an extra two stat points upon leveling up.

…

Current Stats

Strength: 7

Dexterity: 10

Vitality: 8

Magic: 9

Intelligence: 12

Luck: 4

…

Stat Points to Spend: 5

Rue took in a few deep breaths to stop herself from screaming, whether in surprise, joy or something else entirely she wasn't sure, but she held it in nonetheless. No need for Rhys to think she were completely mental now. Carefully she stood and walked a few paces away from the trooper, she wasn't concerned with turning her back on him, Tera was watching him like a hawk.

Now all she had to do was decide what to spend the points on and how she was to do that. Rue was a little worried about poking at the screen when all that usually did was dismiss the screens.

"Um, luck?" she said quietly. Mercifully the Luck stat on the screen was highlighted and it seemed to be waiting for her to say how many points she wanted to add to that stat. Considering for a moment a sort-of plan formed in her mind, something she could, hopefully follow through with. "Two," she stated and watched as her luck stat jumped two points. With a nod to herself the dishevelled teen continued adding her remaining points to her stats.

New Stats

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 11

Vitality: 9

Magic: 9

Intelligence: 12

Luck: 6

…

Confirm?

"Confirm," Rue agreed with a sigh. At least now maybe her luck would get better if she kept adding her two extra points to that one stat every few levels. Not every level, that would be stupid and she had other stats that needed them, but every once and a while, she would and that was enough.

Good work kiddo

Though I could have done without the upchuck

…

Here's the rewards from the battle

…

126EXP

12AP

216GIL

Grenade x1

…

You already got the EXP of course, leveling up and all.

Oh yeah

…

Here

Rue almost swallowed her tongue when a grenade was lobbed at her out of the screen, she juggled it like it was burning hot for a few moments until she managed to bring herself down to the almost-calm she was in before 'B' had thrown the thing at her. Carefully she put the thing in her bag with a quiet 'Holy fuck nuggets' for good measure. The clinking of metal on metal told her that the Gil had once again been deposited in the little purse thing she'd received initially.

With a sigh Rue dismissed the screen and turned back to her 'captive' trooper, who was watching her with barely masked interest. She walked back over to Rhys and couched down in front of him again. "Okay, here's the deal, I will give you a potion and give you back your gun, if, and only if, you promise not to try and kill me or Tera again," she told him seriously. He seemed surprised by this shifted again, the grimace on his face said it all. He needed the potion.

"And?" he asked after a moment to get his breathing under control.

"And we both live," she told him dryly. "You shoot either me or Tera and the one you don't shoot will undoubtedly kill you, we're quite attached to each other, you understand," Tera growled at the trooper for effect as Rue spoke. Rhys nodded in understanding.

"Okay, no shooting anyone, everyone lives, got it," he said quickly. "I won't even tell them where I am until I see your 'message'," he added after a moment. Rue raised her eyebrow at this and was doubtful, but nodded all the same. She pulled one of the small vials of Potion from her bag and placed it on the ground next to Rhys' leg before standing and slowly grabbing his gun, placing it in arms reach of the injured man. Rue then quickly backed away from him with her hands out to show her lack of malicious intent, he nodded at her once more before she turned and ran into the trees with her Coeurl on her heels.

She had a Captain to, well, kill, Rue supposed with a grimace.

AN: Well daaamn, this chapter just exploded on me. 4700 odd words for this chapter and we're only half way through Rue's first mission? That was unexpected. As it is I decided to cut the mission in half other wise it would be another week or so before you got the chapter! This is, however, our longest chapter so far. Woop!
I'm not sure how well I handled her first battle, and for the record on that last move she pulled, Rue has no idea what the hell she did or how she did it. It's unlikely that she'd be able to do the move again if she actually thought about it, if she did try, well, a face plant would be more likely.
For now she's just trying to stay alive so she can kill Godo later.
Rhys will probably appear again at a later date, whether he has to quit adventuring because of that arrow to his knee is yet to be seen.

The next chapter will be Rue's 'Boss Battle' with the Captain and her last tutorial! FINALLY!

Thanks for the faves, alerts and reviews guys, they make me happy!

Till next time!
RLK