I've been thinking of coming up with a week by week schedule, what do you guys think about that?
Enjoy!
Elise ducked as a lightning bolt flew over her head, striking four bandits who had been sneaking up behind her.
"Nice aim, Steph." She said sarcastically. Steph rolled her eyes as she walked over to her.
"I got them, didn't I?" She demanded, looking around at the few fights that were still going on. "Looks like we've nearly gotten them all. Good thing too, I'm hungry as hell." Elise could agree with that. Over the few days that they'd been captured they hadn't exactly been feeding them well. After looking around the battlefield, Elise made a face.
"Have you seen Quinn recently?" She asked. "I haven't seen her since we got out."
"Neither have I," Steph replied, looking around. "I hope she's not in danger, we're so close to getting out of this." Elise nodded, a thought occurring to her. Hadn't they been captured with a massive attack force? Where had those man disappeared too? That must have been where Quinn had gone, to find them and save them. Sniffing around, Elise found the Lieutenant's scent.
"Follow me," she said to Steph, taking off for the tunnels. "We need to help Quinn."
"Do you know where she is?" Steph asked. Elise shook her head as they once again descended into the tunnels.
"No, but I've got a pretty good idea."
Ultear could do nothing but watch from the ground as Simon launched himself at Zindo, the strike the two caused creating a shock wave in the cave. Through the sound of the cave collapsing, Ultear could hear Zindo laughing.
"My my, we've got a strong one here!" He said. "Who're you, her boyfriend?"
"Shut your mouth!" Simon shouted, pushing even harder on Zindo's blade. "She's not your enemy, I am!" Zindo only laughed again.
"I don't give a shit about you, kid!" He snarled. "I want her dead!"
"Then you'll have to kill me first!" With this Simon summoned a scimitar into his free right hand and swung it at Zindo, who backed up to dodge it. Simon didn't give him any room to think, pressing the attack as hard as he could. Ultear watched as Simon fluidly spun and slashed, keeping Zindo from forming any sort of counterattack. He looked like a completely different battler than before. She watched as Zindo stumbled and fell, and Simon jumped towards him, aiming to impale him. Zindo rolled out of the way and swung at Simon to create distance, but it didn't do much. Simon disarmed Zindo, forcing him back again. Zindo growled as he came to a stop.
"You're something else, kid." He said. "I've never seen someone battle like you do."
"I'm not sparing you if you compliment me," Simon replied as he whirled his blades around. "Stop talking and fight. This isn't over until you die."
"Of course, of course." Zindo replied, eyes drifting over to Ultear. "Because we both want the Fullbuster, don't we?" Mentioning Ultear seemed to piss Simon off, who jumped and swung at Zindo. He was easily blocked and Zindo laughed. "Oh he's got a temper, does he? Shame, you were such a proficient swordsman until just now."
"Just shut up!" Simon roared angrily, repeating this process over and over, not gaining anymore ground. "I'll kill you!"
"Simon!" Ultear shouted. "You're losing focus! It's what he wants!"
"Ah ah ah, no outside tips!" Zindo shouted, a sword materialising from his inventory and soared for Ultear.
"Ultear!" Simon shouted, turning his head. Out of instinct Ultear raised her hands, and an icy barrier stopped the blade mere inches from her face.
"I'm fine!" She shouted. Zindo laughed at this.
"Yeah, but your boyfriends not!" Ultear watched as Zindo disarmed Simon, his blades clattering to the ground once he'd been distracted by the attack on her. Simon whirled and began to summon another blade from his inventory, but he didn't manage it before Zindo grabbed his hand. An explosion went off, and Simon cried out in pain as he reared backwards.
"What the hell was that?" He demanded, regaining his composure. Zindo grinned as he whirled his blade around in his hand.
"You kids haven't seen me for a while, so I suppose you forgot about my Impact magic huh?" Impact magic. Now Ultear remembered. He'd used it against her and Nashi back when they'd first fought almost two years ago. And he'd connected pretty well with Simon just now.
"Simon, are you okay?" Ultear asked, trying to get up before she remembered her leg had been stabbed. "Do you need my help?" Simon gritted his teeth at this, massaging his hurt hand.
"I'm fine," he hissed. "Stay where you are."
"But Simon-"
"Stay put, Ultear!" He roared, whirling on her. His eyes were alight with anger, but it didn't seem to have any particular target. "I'm finishing this!"
"But..." Ultear wasn't a fool. She knew that after Mt. Olympus, Simon had wicked hand pain. He'd brought it on himself breaking both hands attacking a wall, but now Zindo had gotten in a good hit on his main tool of attack. Would he even be able to wield a sword now? Zindo didn't waste time talking, going on the offensive. Ultear thoughts were confirmed as Simon didn't use his right hand to swing his blades, summoning them to his left hand instead. Sadly he wasn't as proficient in his hand, and he was swiftly disarmed again.
"My my, where did all that bravado go?" Zindo asked, swinging again. Simon rolled away from the man, landing closer to Ultear. "I was certain a second ago you said you'd kill me!"
"Give me a second," Simon replied. "And I'll get right on that!"
"Simon I know you're hurt!" Ultear shouted, still unable to stand given the pain she was in. "Please let me help you!"
"No!" Simon shouted back. "This isn't your fight!"
"That's my line! I'm here to finish this once and for all, stop butting in!"
"You came down here to die, don't fucking lie to me!" Ultear was stunned into silence as Simon glared angrily at her. Never in her life had she felt such vitriol rolling off of Simon. He'd reached a whole new level of anger.
"I...I did not!"
"Lies!" Simon shouted, growing even angrier. "Would you have stopped him if he tried to kill you?! Huh?!"
"..." Her silence only seemed to make him angrier, and he slammed his fist into the ground.
"How could you?!" He shouted, not able to look at her anymore he was so angry. "How could you come down here to die?! After everything?!"
"Simon..."
"Shut the fuck up!" Simon roared, standing up again. "I'll deal with you once this fucker is dead!" Picking up his free sword, Simon launched himself for Zindo. Sadly, the same result came out of it as before. Simon's temper was getting the better of him, and his focus was all off. Zindo easily beat him back and Simon hit the wall. Zindo came at him palm raised, but Simon was quick enough to dodge. Zindo's palm hit the wall, and the impact caused an explosion and the cave around them to shake violently.
"Careful kid!" Zindo shouted as Simon struggled to his feet as he dodged rocks falling from the roof. "I may cause a cave in if you don't take the hit!" Simon was panting from the pain he must have been in, and Ultear felt her stomach knotting up. He wasn't in a good way, both mentally and physically. His temper was causing him to be rash, and his injuries were making him slower and easier to fend off. At this, rate, Zindo would beat him.
"It's you're fault, isn't it?" Simon finally asked, making Ultear look up in confusion. Simon looked over at Zindo, and a shiver went down Ultear's spine. Somehow, despite what Ultear believed was the limit to the anger a human could feel, Simon's eyes were even angrier than before. "You're the reason she's like this, aren't you?"
"What the hell are you spewing kid?" Zindo demanded. Simon got to his feet and requipped into his Black Wing armour, brandishing the blade at Zindo.
"You did this," he hissed, bangs hiding his eyes. "You made her feel this way. Hopeless. Helpless. It's your fault, isn't it?"
"I'm not the reason she's such a mess," Zindo replied. "Maybe you need to look a bit deeper into the problem before you jump to such rash conclusions." Simon didn't reply to this, he simply rushed at Zindo again, hacking and slashing it anyway that he could in an attempt to cut Zindo down a peg. Sadly, it didn't seem to be working. Zindo parried every blow and forced Simon back, but this didn't stop him. He came at Zindo again and again, but there was no change in what happened. Simon took a chance to back off, clutching his sword tightly.
"I'll kill you," He hissed. "I'll kill you!" With this, he raised his hands over his head and rushed Zindo with a jump, bringing to down.
Ultear winced as the sound of steel cutting through flesh rang in her ears.
Elise signalled for Steph to stop, looking around the corner. Ahead of them was a cell with countless men inside of it. Off to the side, behind another wall, was Quinn watching the few bandits in front of it. Elise made a face as she watched Quinn signalling to a few of her men in the cell, and made a move to take out the men guarding the cell. Elise wanted to watch, but decided to take action herself. Raising her arms, Elise turned both into clubs and they rushed forwards, knocking out two of the four men standing there. Steph took action and electrocuted the other two, making quick work of them. Quinn looked back at them in shock, making a face.
"Where did you guys come from?" She asked. Elise laughed and walked towards her.
"Sorry Lieutenant, I wanted in on the action." She said. Elise walked up and severed the door from the cell, freeing all of them men inside.
"That was easier than I thought it would be," Steph said, making a face. "Where are all the bandits?"
"Getting their ass kicked up above, remember?" Elise asked. "They don't exactly have a lot of men to spare."
"Lieutenant!" Elise looked over as the real Idek rushed out of the cell and hugged Quinn, laughed.
"Easy there Idek," she said. "It's okay now, we'll get out of here."
"I can't thank you enough," Idek said, smiling despite the dirt and grime on his face. "But we need to get out of here, now."
"Why?" Quinn asked.
"Have you not seen the tremors?" One of the soldiers asked. "These caverns are about to come down on top of us if there are anymore explosions. Hell, it might be coming down anyway." As if to prove his point the mountain shook once more, rocks falling from the roof.
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Steph said. "Let's hurry before we;re buried alive.
"Wait," Elise said, stopping her before she ran off after the soldiers as they fled. "We need to find Ultear!"
"Simon said he was doing that," Steph replied. "We don't have time!"
"Yes, we do!" Elise replied, standing her ground. "I'm not going to stand around and do nothing as a mountain collapses on my friends again! We're finding her, now!" This comparison seemed to strike a chord in Steph, and she nodded. Inhaling, Elise caught a faint trace of Ultear's smell, and tracked it down a nearby tunnel.
She didn't care if she had to tunnel out of the collapsed mountain, she wasn't going to wait around again.
Ultear looked up after the horrible sound, and her eyes widened.
Before Simon had been able to bring the blade down on Zindo, he'd been impaled through the shoulder by his opponent. Zindo had used such force that it had driven it's way through Simon's armour and through the other side, forcing him to hold the blade above his head to prevent anymore damage being down to him. Simon looked to be in pain, and Zindo was calm.
"Just how foolish are you?" Zindo demanded. "Your anger is blinding you. You rush headlong into a scenario where there is danger and get caught out because you're not paying attention." Simon didn't reply to this, he just gritted his teeth.
"Are you okay, Simon?" Ultear asked weakly. Again she got no response, which only worried her more. Zindo tilted his head slightly as Simon squirmed.
"I'll let you in on a secret, kid." Zindo said. "The way your girlfriend feels? That ain't something that just comes along one day. It isn't something you just end up as. It's a gradual, painful process. And yet, you have the balls to stand here and accuse me of being the reason. Honestly, maybe if you were a better friend and paid more attention to her than you'd have seen it sooner. Cause I'm more than willing to bet the built up as clear as day."
"...You're right," Simon replied, finally speaking up. "It was a build up." Zindo made a face at this, but Simon didn't stop. "I remember how she changed after defeating you before. How she always put on that bullshit smile and said it was okay..." Ultear widened her eyes at this. He had known? Seriously? "But it wasn't and I knew that. But if she wanted to keep it to herself, she could keep it to herself. But it's eclipsed just her now." Ultear watched as Simon released his own sword to grab the end of Zindo's blade, gripping it tightly. "She's gone and involved us all now by being here. And I know she hates that. But she should of thought of that before she came down here willing to die!" With this, Simon pulled the blade, causing it to rip out of his shoulder and caused Zindo to stumble. In this brief instance of weakness, Simon completed his downward swing.
Ultear watched as Zindo's left arm was severed in one clean blow, the man roaring in pain as it fell to the ground.
"By coming down here to die, Ultear ensured she was safe," Simon said, ignoring his wound and raising his blade once again as Zindo stumbled. "Because it doesn't matter if she cares about herself, I do! And so do the others!" With this, Simon drove his sword right through Zindo's chest, causing blood to spurt from the mans mouth. "And I'll never allow one of my friends to toss their life away! Not again! NEVER AGAIN!" Simon put so much force into his attack that it drove Zindo back into the wall of the cave, and the sword embedded itself in the wall, keeping him upright as he bled from his wounds and his mouth.
"Bastard..." Zindo hissed. "You got me..." Simon approached him and angrily glared at him.
" You tried to kill someone I love," he said. "Death is too good for you." Simon didn't even bother retrieving his blade before he walked up to Ultear. He stared down at her, and Ultear could only silently return his gaze.
"Ultear! Simon!" Ultear looked over her shoulder as Elise and Steph ran into the cave, looking worried.
"Are you guys okay?" Steph asked. "I'm so glad we found you!"
"Jeez Ultear, what happened to you?" Elise asked, kneeling down to inspect Ultear's wound in her leg. "You're not looking so hot."
"Don't feel it either..." Ultear responded, laughing weakly. "Bastard really wanted me dead."
"You got hurt to Simon," Steph said, walking over to Simon and inspecting his wound carefully.
"Get off me," Simon said. "I'm fine."
"That went clean through, you aren't okay!" Steph exclaimed, sounding exasperated. "We need to get you guys out of here before you get infected or some-!"
A cold laugh punctured the air as Steph spoke, making Ultear look over at Zindo. The man was still stuck in the wall, but the wall behind him was glowing.
His palm was touching it.
"You kids are so blind," he hissed through a mouthful of blood. "I'm going to die here, but if I am, I'm bringing this whole fucking mountain down with me!"
And with this, an explosion sounded off behind the man, and the entire mountain began to crumble around them.
"Bastard!" Simon shouted, running over to him. "Are you insane?"
"Is that a trick question?" Zindo asked.
"Let's get the hell out of here!" Elise said, picking Ultear up. "We don't have time to argue with him!"
"No," Simon replied. "Not yet."
"What do you mean not yet?!" Steph shouted as boulders fell from the ceiling. "We're going to die down here!" Simon didn't reply to her. Instead he walked back over to Ultear, and equipped a sword from his inventory.
He handed it over to her, looking expectant.
"Finish it," He said. "It's your story, not mine." The two stared at each other for a moment, but Simon didn't back down. Swallowing hard, Ultear grabbed the sword and limped over to Zindo, watching the man weakly. Despite the chaos around her, Ultear became focused on the task at hand. Zindo just eyed her back carefully, not saying a word to defend himself. Slowly, Ultear raised the blade.
"This is for Keiko," she said weakly. Zindo smiled darkly.
"She died like a dog." He replied.
"Drake we have to go!" Drake ignored his father, and continued a sweep of the mountain looking for the others. He wasn't leaving until he was sure they were okay. It was pretty hard to focus with the mountain coming down around him, but he needed to find them.
Soon, he did just that. They were in the tunnels near the base of the mountain. Nearby to them was an exit, but Drake didn't focus on that. He listened intently for a moment, before he smiled to himself.
"Good for you, Ultear." He said. With this, he turned and jumped up into the open bay of the airship, pushing past Quinn and the rescued soldiers to get on board. With this Erigor peeled the airship away from the collapsing mountain. Drake turned and watched as the entire thing began to collapse in on itself, creating a massive wave of dust and debris.
"Where are the others?!" Jellal demanded over the roaring collapse.
"Pilot over to the edge of the lake!" Drake replied. "Their exit comes out over there!" Nodding, Jellal left to relay to information. Drake stayed near his window and watched as they began to circle the edge of the lake, and he watched as four people left the escape he'd found with his hearing. As soon as the airship was near enough to the ground he jumped out and ran towards them, smiling wide.
"Thank God you guys got out!" He said. "I was worried there for a second."
"So was I," Elise said, dusting herself off. "But thankfully we made it out." Drake spared a look past her, and saw Ultear holding a bloody blade. He knew what she'd done with it, and he didn't want to bring it up right now. He watched as Simon walked over to where she was kneeling, watching her.
"What gives you the right?" He demanded. Ultear didn't look up at this, and Simon grit his teeth. "What gives you the right to talk the way you did down there, huh? What the hell where you thinking?!" Drake's eyes widened as Simon hoisted Ultear to her feet, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt. "Answer me, Ultear! Who do you think you are?!"
"Simon!" He shouted, pushing past Elise to the pair and separated them. "Knock it off man! What the hell is your problem?!"
"Me?!" Simon demanded. "I'm not the one with the problem! After everything we've been through, she has the nerve to talk the way she did! I'm pissed off!"
"Take a breather man, holy hell!" He said, pushing Simon away. He watched as his friend stormed off, looking angry even from behind. Once he was gone Drake turned to Ultear, growing soft at her weak and upset look.
"Thanks..." She murmured, barely audible.
"No problem," Drake replied, making sure he sounded calm. "What was he talking about? What's got him so mad?" Ultear didn't reply to this, she simply stared at her feet. After a few seconds, she started to shake.
"I'm tired, Drake. I'm so tired of this."
Another chapter down! Where will the next one go? And don't talk to harshly about my man Simon, things will be explained! Next time on 2nd Generation Ball Z!
Chapter 299: Quick To Anger