I'm sorry that this chapter took so long. I toyed with ideas as for how to progress, turned around and scrapped it...repeat ad nauseum for about 2 weeks. Finals coming up are not helping matters, either. (Going for my Associate's in Science...yippee!) Once I finally got something solid to work with, however, I wrote the chapter in two days. Anyway...read on and enjoy.

Book I, Part I: Mortal Conflict - A Hero's Challenge

Chapter XIII: Exploration And Experiences

[March 17, 2152 | Trabia Garden, First Floor, Revolver DeValle's Shop | 6:27 PM]

It's easily been an hour since we split up to explore Trabia Garden, and truthfully, I'm not even close to done exploring all that I want to see. I've explored most of the rest of the unoccupied classrooms, as well as lots of other things inside Trabia Garden. Outside, I've seen a food court with nearly any kind of food you could imagine, as well as an enormous training area. Now, I'm in some sort of series of shops. Gunsmithing, item stores, potion shops, all sorts of shops covering nearly anything you could want.

Curious, I step into a blacksmithing shop, instantly having a metallic smell assault my nose. Swords, knives, axes, maces, and other weaponry line the walls, everything in order and place. Slowly, I turn a circle around the room, examining all of the weaponry adorning the walls.

"Are you going to buy something, or are you just going to stand there?" a gruff voice says from the back part of the room. Turning, I find myself staring at an older teenager, with long bluish-white hair that flows down to his waist. His outfit is long and flowing; both pants and shirt are white with touches of black, the sleeves covering his hands from view. A white length of some kind of fur also seems to be draped over his right shoulder. A yellow sash is tied around his waist, and a pair of swords are belted to his left side, one sheath over the other.

"Calm down...I was just looking around. You don't have to get snappy," I retort.

"Well, it's hard not to, what with you lower-class peasants acting like you have no sense," he replies, sarcastically.

"Lower-class?" I reply, a bit harshly. "Just who are you, anyhow?"

"Might as well introduce myself," he grumbles, shaking his head. "My name is Revolver DeValle, and I'm the head blacksmith here at Trabia Garden. Now, if you aren't going to buy anything, I suggest you leave. I'm a busy person here, and I don't have time to deal with people like you."

"Fine," I say, stepping out quickly and letting the door swing shut behind me, before heading farther down the rows of shops.

"Somehow, I think I've explored enough," I mutter, turning around and heading back for the main gates of Trabia.

[March 17, 2152 | Trabia, Plains | 6:35 PM]

Soon, I find myself walking not back to the Celsius, but out onto the snow-covered plains of Trabia, looking for monsters to train against. I can immediately see several Bite Bugs flitting around, but I want more of a challenge than that. Slowly, I begin to jog farther out, eyes open and actively scanning the area around me for trouble. I don't have to look far.

A duo of Mesmerizes and a Gayla suddenly seem to decide that I'm intruding on their territory, the Mesmerize nearest to me flinging its razor sharp blade towards my neck. Spinning away, I watch as the blade boomerangs back and reconnects with the creature's forehead. Dashing up quickly, I blast a Firaga at the ground to cover my advance with an explosion of snow and melted ice, before leaping high into the air. My blade flashes down, and the Mesmerize's horn falls off neatly, severed near the base. Another flash, and the creature's head goes with it. The second Mesmerize is outraged, and immediately charges at me, as I see the Gayla charging a spell. Timing it carefully, I begin to run at the Gayla, the Mesmerize following me in a full run. As the Gayla releases a powerful Meltdown spell, I leap to the side. The creature behind me, however, is not so lucky, and is engulfed by the magic.

"Rough Divide!"

Charging back up to the Gayla, I leap for the sky with my blade beside me, cutting deeply into the Gayla and nearly splitting the fiend in two with one attack. As I land, I can see the remnants of the other Mesmerize, broken and burned on the ground. Slowly, I walk over to the creature's corpse, cutting off a piece of the horn and putting it away. I do the same with the other severed horn, and walk off, in search of another fight.

After walking for several more minutes, I come upon four Glacial Eyes. Weak monsters, compared to some of the things out here, but I'm not complaining.

"Firaga!"

My spell catches the Glacial Eyes off guard, as one of them erupts into flames, causing the others to scatter. Two run off, as the third turns to me, a retaliatory Blizzaga spell flying at me even as the other fiend sinks to the ground. I duck under the spell, but that seems to be what the Glacial Eye wanted. Now, it's point-blank to me, and it slams the bottom part of its body into my chest, knocking the wind out of me and sending me rolling head over heels. Wiping the snow from my face, I try and catch my breath before attacking again, a horizontal cleave that keeps the Glacial Eye away from me long enough to stand up again.

"Alright, that's enough outta you," I mutter, clenching a fist as time seems to slow down for me. "Renzokuken!"

My first slash is decidedly short, forcing the Glacial Eye away more than doing any damage, but the second is spot on. A piece of one of the creature's tentacles falls to the ground, shortly followed by a piece of the other as I slash in again. The next slash misses, going just over the creature's head, but the fifth finishes it, cutting down from where the creature's left shoulder would be to its right hip and effectively bisecting it. Looking around quickly, I look for any trace of the other two Glacial Eyes, and smile as I see them some distance away, moving towards some kind of rock formation.

Silently - well, as silently as you can move in snow, anyway - I begin to run towards the Glacial Eyes, noticing that most of the other fiends seem to have left the area. Just makes it simpler for me to hunt down the two that got away from me, at any rate. The Glacial Eyes turn around the rock formation, to a point where I can't see them any more, and I frown. As I finally begin to catch up with them, I turn around the rock formation to reveal...nothing. The Glacial Eyes are gone. Walking out in front of the formation, I soon see why. The entire front of the rock formation is actually the entrance to some kind of cave. Staring at me from the entrance of said cave are the two Glacial Eyes I've been chasing, along with about three other Glacial Eyes. None of them look very happy, and I have to take a quick defensive position as spikes of Blizzard magic begin raining at me from all five fiends. Running to the side to take a breather, I call up Fire magic before running back into range of the monsters.

"Doublecast: Firaga!"

My first spell explodes in the midst of the enemies, destroying one of the Glacial Eyes where it floats and scattering the rest. That gives me enough time to leap in and cleave one of the remaining four in half, cutting the numbers down to three. Quickly, I call up a Shell spell around me just in case, before heading towards another of the Glacial Eyes.

"Crescent Strike!"

Swinging my blade through the air, I watch as the energy wave slices through two of the remaining enemies, leaving one Glacial Eye floating there, very alone and very outmatched.

"Firaga!"

That Glacial Eye barely gets the chance to turn before it gets incinerated by the spell, and I smile in satisfaction before turning back to the cave.

"To go inside, or not," I muse, looking inside. "Well...I don't think it can hurt. They're probably all still inside Trabia right now." Carefully, I step inside the icy cave, taking care not to slip on the patches of ice that litter the floor. The area reminds me a lot of the inside of Gagazet, with stalactites and stalagmites everywhere. I can see several ice-based fiends such as Ice Flans and Glacial Eyes around, and even some other fiends such as Snow Lions.

"Looks like it's exploring time," I say, keeping one of my swords out and beginning to advance into the cave. A few of the Ice Flans and Glacial Eyes in front of me scatter, leaving a clear path for me to take into the next area of the cave. "Great. When I want to train, the fiends run away. Just great." Shaking my head in disdain at my seeming bad luck, I simply head for the next area of the cave, walking along a twisted corridor of ice. A few bat-like fiends are hanging from the ceiling, but they make no move to attack as I walk past.

The cave, apparently, is rather short. I can see what appears to be the end of the cave already, opening up into a somewhat large chamber with a ring of stalagmites around the area. Other than that, it's empty. Taking a careful look around, I step inside, walking to the center of the room and turning in a circle once.

"Nothing."

Shrugging, I turn around, beginning to step out of the room, when a voice seems to float into my ears, as soft as the snow itself.

"Who steps into my domain..."

That makes me stop in my tracks, looking around for the source of the voice.

"Hello...?"

"I ask again...who enters the domain of Shiva, the ice goddess?"

Shiva? For a moment, I pause, looking around, and then I realize - I'm standing in the middle of the GF Shiva's chamber. I start to leave, thinking that if I'm fast enough, I can get away, before stopping. I came all the way out here to train, hopefully to get stronger. What better way to get stronger than by beating and acquiring the use of a GF's power?

"Benji Powell."

"Have you come to challenge me, mortal?"

"I have."

"Very well. But know this - I will not render my aid easily. Prove that you are worthy to use my power!"

A bright flash of whitish-blue light suddenly comes from the center of the chamber, clearing to reveal the GF Shiva in all her glory. Quickly, I take the other sword off my back, twirling them both before dropping into an offensive stance.

(Play: Force Your Way - Nobuo Uematsu, Final Fantasy VIII)

Before I can blink, three spears of ice are flying at my face, Shiva having simply manipulated the latent air around us to create and throw them, not a spell of any kind. I duck and roll, the spears smashing to bits on the wall around me as I spring back to my feet, sword lunging for Shiva...who gracefully moves out of the way, kicking me squarely in the face as she does so and sending me flying back.

Rolling with the kick, I slide across the icy floor, coming into a kneeling position and stabbing both swords into the ground before blasting a Doublecasted Firaga spell at Shiva. The GF flips around both attacks, a Blizzaga spell erupting around me in retribution and chilling me to the bone.

'If I'm going to win, I'm going to have to work harder than this...'

"Overdrive Reels!"

Concentrating, I watch mentally as the attack runs its course, and I suddenly spring from my position, heading towards Shiva and leaping into the air, bouncing off of her shoulder and into the air as my sword glows with light. Swinging the sword down, multiple energy beams fly from the blade and sink into the ground, which explodes underneath Shiva and cuts her with icy pieces of earth. As I land, I can see the numerous cuts that I just inflicted vanish, the wounds sealing themselves over like they were never there.

Shiva just smiles, the same icy smile on her face turning into a look of apathy a moment later as blue energy begins to gather in her hands. Immediately, I put up both Shell and Protect spells, hoping to lessen the brunt of the attack that I know is coming. Both the blue energy barrier and the reddish-pink energy wall appear in front of me as Shiva releases the energy, a torrent of ice and snow assaulting me and forcing me to put both swords in front of me to defend. The ice freezes any and everything around it solid, including me, before Shiva calmly snaps, a storm of ice exploding around the entire arena and slicing into me and my defensive spells. My clothes now look like they were attacked by razor blades, many small cuts tearing through the fabric of my shirt, pants, and even my chain mail armor. Shiva seems to take a breather now, and I take my chance to attack.

"Fated Circle!"

Spinning in place, I send the energy wave towards Shiva, following the attack in a sprint towards the GF. Shiva leaps over the wave, which slams into the wall, and I jump into the air to meet her, already anticipating the evasion.

"Flare!"

Holding my palm nearly to her chest, I let the energy beam fly, exploding into Shiva and throwing her back into the wall as an explosion of dirt and ice covers everything around her.

'That had to cause some damage...she can't have taken a Flare to the chest and be perfectly fine.'

Indeed, when the dust clears, Shiva is wounded. Numerous burns seem to dot her skin, and several bad cuts from the rocky wall of the room cut across her arms and chest. Even as I watch, however, the wounds are vanishing.

"Not bad...for a mortal like yourself," Shiva says, icy energy beginning to gather in the air around me. As I look up, eyes skimming the air, I can see an entire ring of ice spears around me, all angled down. Casting Haste on myself, I leap out of the way of the first with barely an inch to spare as it crashes to the earth, sticking up from the ground like a makeshift stalagmite as the others begin to rain down. Spike after spike hits the ground, but the Haste spell allows me to keep ahead of them, if only by mere inches. Finally, as two of them crash to the dirt in front of me, I jump, leaping off of the ice spears and into the air directly above Shiva before letting my attack fly.

"Ultima!"

The dark energy ball appears around Shiva, expanding slowly, before exploding, engulfing Shiva and sending me into the wall of the room back-first, a crack sounding as I slump to the ground, dazed from the impact and unable to get my bearings for the moment. The world around me is buzzing, my ears are ringing from the explosion and my sight is blurry from hitting the wall, but I can make out Shiva's form, crouched in the center of the room without a mark on her.

"You've shown me that you are worthy, mortal. For that, I will join you," Shiva says, and blue light gathers around her, forming into a small stone and floating over to me, before dropping into my hand.

(End: Force Your Way - Nobuo Uematsu, Final Fantasy VIII)

Slowly, painfully, I get back to my feet, looking at the small, blue stone in my hand.

"In hindsight...Ultima wasn't the best spell I could've used right there..." I mutter, casting Curaga on myself and feeling the ache in my back and head go away slowly. As I start to walk out of the room, another thought hits me, a painfully obvious one now that I take a moment to stop and think about it.

"I'd go ahead and junction Shiva, but...it would probably be nice if I knew how to junction, first." Sighing, I walk out of the room, intent on heading back to Trabia and learning about junctioning.

[March 17, 2152 | Trabia Garden, Front Gates | 7:02 PM]

About fifteen minutes later, I find myself stepping back inside the front gates of Trabia Garden. If I had to guess, I'd say that Katanas would be the most knowledgeable - and nicest - person I could ask about junctioning, and so I've decided to ask him. The problem is that I have no idea where to find him.

"Can I help you?" one of the front receptionists asks. I had thought my confusion wasn't obvious, but apparently I was mistaken.

"I'm looking for Katanas DeValle. Would you happen to know where he is?" I ask, and the receptionist nods.

"Go through this door," she says, pointing to her right, "take the elevator to the third floor, and his office is the door at the end of the hall. I'll let him know that someone's here to see him. Your name?"

"Benji Powell," I reply, nodding. "Thanks." Quickly, I step through the door and into the elevator beyond, pressing the button for the third floor. The elevator quickly ascends, slowing to a stop at the third floor as the doors open to let me exit. Silently, I step out, seeing a long hallway with a large door at the end. I head for that door, walking up and stopping in front of it, before knocking quickly three times.

"Enter," the voice on the other side says, and I push the large door open, stepping inside Katanas' office. The office is very neat, with bookshelves lining the walls as well as a sword rack on one side of the room, several elegant looking swords and sheathes adorning it. An oaken desk sits at the back of the room, Katanas sitting quietly there and writing on a paper. As I approach, he looks up, motioning to one of the two chairs in front of the desk.

"Sit," he says, and I do, taking a seat as he continues. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yeah," I say, pulling the GF stone from my pocket. "I'm pretty sure you know what this is."

"A GF stone...Shiva, it would appear. I am correct in assuming that you earned it earlier today?" he asks, and I nod.

"I just got back, really," I reply. "But...I've got a small problem. I have no idea how to junction...anything."

"Most people, except for SeeDs, have little to no experience with junctioning things such as Guardian Forces," Katanas says, "though most people do have experience with para-magic. I would also be correct in assuming you wish for me to explain junctioning to you, then?"

"If it's not too much to ask," I say. "I'd really like to know how to use junctioning to help me in battle."

"I'll show you the basics of junctioning," Katanas explains, "but I'll leave it up to you to experiment." Placing the papers aside, Katanas holds a hand out, white light gathering in his hand and forming into a similar stone to the one that I have, except a milk-white in color. "Now, the first thing to know about junctioning is how to sense the power. This is needed more for Drawing energy rather than junctioning itself, but is important just the same. Just holding the GF stone you have in your hand, you can feel the power, right?"

"Yeah," I say, "I can feel it." The energy feels warm, almost like it's flowing out of the stone, into my hand, and all through my body before going back to the stone.

"Good. Now, place the stone on the desk, and close your eyes." Nodding, I do as instructed, putting the stone down and shutting my eyes tightly. "Can you sense the magical power inside you? It will be faint at first, but focus hard. You'll be able to feel the power, and 'see' it inside your mind."

At first, I'm not sure just what Katanas is talking about, but I begin to feel a glimmer of warmth, and start to almost see the colors representing the different magic spells that I know inside my mind. It's fuzzy, however, and I have a hard time keeping 'sight' of the spells in my mind.

"Okay, I've got it," I reply.

"Good. You can open your eyes now. What you've just done was access the magic needed for junctioning. The GF will make it easier for you to do that, but you can learn to do it on your own."

"Oh..." I murmur, looking at the stone.

"Now, take the GF stone there and hold it in your hand," Katanas instructs, and I do so, picking up the blue stone and feeling the power run through me again. "This time, I want you to focus on the power inside the stone. Once you can feel it, you need to will it to come inside you, join it with the energy that's already inside your body."

"I'll try," I say, looking intently at the stone. I can easily feel the power running through the stone, but trying to draw it inside of you is a whole other story. Unblinking, I try to pull the power from the stone inside of me, bit by bit, but the energy doesn't seem to move. "It's not working..."

"You have to keep trying. The first time junctioning is always the most difficult," Katanas replies. "It's just like calling up the magic inside you to use a spell. But this time, instead of pushing the magic out, you're bringing it into you. Imagine the magic flowing into you, becoming one with you."

Nodding slowly, I look down at the stone again, trying to will the energy to join with me. Slowly, the stone picks up a blue glow, and suddenly it seems to melt into my hand, startling me.

"There. You've successfully junctioned your first Guardian Force," Katanas says, smiling slightly. "How does it feel?"

"Hello."

"She's...talking to me," I say, blinking.

'Hi,' I reply, a bit distracted at having someone talking, essentially, inside my head yet again.

"It seems this is the first time you have junctioned a Guardian Force such as myself," Shiva says, her voice warm and soothing. "It is a different experience, is it not?"

'Very...' I say mentally, the outside world seeming to disappear as I speak. I can feel Shiva's power everywhere at once, seeming to flow through my very body and mind.

"Rest assured, you will grow used to it in time. My power will aid you both in and out of battle, as long as that power is not misused."

'Thanks,' I say, not sure of what else to say to the Guardian Force. I can feel her presence grow silent in my mind, and I snap back to reality, finding Katanas watching me with an almost amused look.

"I assume you were talking to Shiva, then?" he asks, and I nod.

"Yeah...it's a bit...strange to have someone talking inside your head with you...well, something, really. Something that powerful, at least," I say, deciding to leave out my prior experience with this type of situation. "It's almost like she's sharing my mind with me."

"Guardian Forces, essentially, do share a mind with the one that junctions them," he explains. "They take up a place of residence in the person's mind in exchange for using their power. Think of it as a tradeoff. They must have a way for you to access their power, after all." Clasping his hands in front of him, Katanas continues. "Now then, you wished to know how to junction magic?"

"Yes," I reply.

"Very well. Now, remember what I told you about bringing up the energy of your magic? Do that again, but don't let it go this time," Katanas says, and I nod. Concentrating, I close my eyes again, feeling the magic come back to my mind once again. This time, however, it's more defined and clear, and easier to hold on to.

"It seems easier this time," I comment, opening my eyes but keeping a hold on the magic. Katanas just nods.

"Shiva is helping you see your magic," he replies. "In essence, she's training your sight to notice the magical essence itself, even when you can't really see."

"I get it," I say, closing my eyes again. "Now what?"

"Focus on a specific type of magic. Let's use Fire magic for now. Single out the Fire magic in your mind, and focus on it alone."

Calmly, I push away all the other magic types, bringing my full focus onto the Fire magic.

"Now, this will be tricky. You have to focus the magic in a way that deals with what you want to boost. For instance, focus it more in your arms and legs if you want to increase physical strength, or over your whole body to help your defense or magic defense. Shiva will help you, as long as you know what you want to do with the magic."

"Okay," I say slowly, turning my attention back to the junctioning. Concentrating hard, I imagine the magic spreading all over my body, in my arms, my legs, my chest. The magic seems to fade away from my mind, until it appears to be gone completely. As I open my eyes, I notice that my body feels stronger, able to take more damage than before.

"I think it worked," I say, looking over my body carefully. It doesn't seem any different, but I'm not sure if it's supposed to in the first place.

"Try junctioning another magic to your strength," Katanas says, and I nod, picking out Blizzard magic in my mind and focusing on it. In my mind, I imagine the magic flowing into my arms and legs, strengthening my punches and kicks. The magic slowly fades away, and I open my eyes. This time, I can definitely feel the change.

"I'm pretty sure that worked," I tell Katanas, standing up. "I can feel it..."

"It works the same for helping defend or increase things like elemental defense, or status spells. You can change how susceptible you are to a certain magic, by junctioning it to your defense. Practice junctioning your magic to different attributes, and you'll eventually find it easy enough that your needed focus will be significantly less." Nodding, I bow to Katanas as a sign of respect.

"Thank you, Katanas. I really appreciate it."

"I've had lots of people ask me to explain the junctioning methods to them. Think nothing of it," Katanas replies, and I nod again before stepping out the door, shutting it behind me and beginning to head back to the elevator.

I had a lot of fun writing the junctioning explanation. That's probably my favorite part of this chapter. Maybe it's just my love of writing technical things. Anyway. Until next chapter, please read and review!