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CHAPTER 4 – WHERE MONSTERS DWELL
Although most intensive training among the Balamb student body did not start until sixth year, regular physical fitness was part and parcel of the curriculum from the very beginning. For whatever memories Squall had lost courtesy of his GF, he could still remember many a rigorous session from his youth, whether in the Garden's fitness center, on the Alcaud Plains, or along the southern Rinauld Coast. Of utmost importance was swimming lessons; provided their small fleet of assault boats docked in town, it was imperative each and every student become accustomed from a young age. He couldn't imagine things changing in that area any time soon given the Garden's newly mobile status. Neither had he been more grateful for all those years of practice than at this very moment.
Arm over arm he continued to stroke towards the derelict facility. His life vest was his only assurance he wouldn't drown before making it there. Given the ongoing battle just behind however, myriad were the other possible ways he might die first. He didn't dare risk another glance back just yet; his curiosity could wait until he finally made it ashore. Just ahead, he could see Quistis and Selphie pulling themselves up on the nearest collapsed segment of scaffolding. Both just as quickly drew their whip and nunchaku respectively, and tied them together just as when they'd pulled Rinoa up the side of the Garden. The two of them lashed it out over the water to form a life-line. They reeled it back in moments later, along with Zell who'd taken hold of the other end. His T-Board was nowhere to be seen as they helped him up.
They threw the whip out again as Squall drew close enough. He grabbed hold of it, and allowed himself to be pulled along the rest of the way. As he clambered out of the water and onto the steel grating, his outfit thoroughly soaked through just as his teammates', he finally turned back to survey the scene. Even from a distance, the sight beggared belief. The dragon swooped down to avoid another energy blast, loosed from one of the many gleaming protrusions jutting out from the sea creature's massive dome. It returned fire whenever an opening presented itself. No matter its persistence however, the giant monster hardly seemed fazed; it took each fireball across its thick hide without giving an inch.
To his relief, the Garden had already begun shrinking away into the distance. He shuddered to imagine what might have happened had it been engulfed by the pillar of light. For whatever damage the dragon had done, it had inadvertently spared them from a much worse fate. Or had that been its intention all along? Perhaps its agitation had been more than territorial in nature. From the way it deftly evaded each and every blast, it looked plenty familiar with the other monster's means of attack. For the moment, he was just satisfied that it had provided them a sufficient diversion to make it ashore. As Irvine was finally pulled up out of the water, his focus returned to his team.
"What in the holy hell have we gotten ourselves into this time?!" Zell shouted.
"What is this place?" Selphie followed up as she helped Irvine to his feet.
"No idea," Squall answered them both. "Let's head on up and find whoever set off that flare. Maybe they'll be able to fill us in."
"You really think it could be them?" Quistis asked. She shot him a skeptical look as she untied her whip from Selphie's nunchaku. "That they'd really be willing to take a risk like that? Bringing Ellone here, I mean."
"Not by choice."
He desperately hoped to be proven wrong. That he'd yet to hear from Ellone again since departing Trabia had given him some measure of relief that all was well. He couldn't imagine she wouldn't have reached out to him for help under such dire circumstances.
"What I wanna know is how the heck we're getting off this hunk of junk," Irvine piped up. He gestured back to the ongoing battle scarcely a half mile from their position.
"We've got until morning to figure that out," Squall told him, not caring how little of reassurance the answer might be. "Come on, it's not safe down here. Let's get to higher ground."
Hunching himself over, he reached for the nearest bar in the scaffolding. He took the lead, clambering forward and up along the slope. Although not especially steep, he didn't dare let his grip falter; the dueling monsters could just as quickly start drifting their way.
As he continued to climb along, he wondered just how indeed they were going to get back aboard the Garden when the time came. He'd relayed his order for the nav crew to circle back for them the next morning without a clear overview of the situation; a few knocks against the hull and a scaly blur streaking past the window were all he'd had to go off of. With the Garden potentially in danger of sinking, there had been no time for him to properly formulate a plan of action. Thus, he'd gone with the first reasonable deadline that came to mind.
With the combined power of their Guardian Forces, he'd thought it feasible to neutralize the threat, scout the facility, and secure the stranded party for evac in that time. The possibility of them going without food for the evening ought to have been the most difficult hurdle. The giant jellyfish-like monster had immediately laid those prospects to waste; it was just too big for them to handle. Having lost the lifeboat and Zell's T-Board to the tidal wave only complicated matters further.
He turned his head to either side as he progressed upwards, taking stock of the wreckage all around. Just as he'd seen from the command deck, a ruined loading dock replete with upended scaffolding and collapsed cargo cranes circled the base all along the eastern side. Clearly, whatever purpose it once served had been part of a large-scale operation. He could see no vessels left moored below to clue him in on its architects, nor the identity of whoever might be aboard now. As he turned his focus back to the climb however, he suddenly noticed three figures step into his line of sight. They stood waiting for him and his teammates at the top, where the scaffolding had smashed through a thick metal railing. Unfamiliar though they were at a glance, their outfits were anything but; he never could have imagined being so overjoyed to see those gaudy beige uniforms again.
"Are you alright?!" the head of the three called out to them.
Squall squinted up at him as he continued to make his approach. He was tall with unruly dark hair, his forehead absent the cream headband shared by his two comrades behind. On his left was a young woman with red hair trailing down to her shoulders. It was the man to his right however whom Squall recognized right away; while his cropped cut was no longer spiked up as it had been, now visibly dampened, his stern face was every bit as familiar. He'd been one of Ellone's handlers aboard the Garden, the very one who'd seized him by the wrist in the training center that day.
"A bit shaken up, but I think we're all okay," Squall replied as he finally cleared the scaffolding and touched down next to them. He immediately flashed them a salute. "Commandant Squall Leonhart, at your service. What's going on here? Where's Ellone?"
"Let's get inside first," the head White SeeD suggested. "Those two will be going at it for a while yet."
He momentarily considered asking how exactly he knew, but set the matter aside. He was right; they were still in danger so long as they stayed lingering out in the open. As the rest of his team finished ascending to stand with them, the female White SeeD began trailing away towards a gaping hole in the facility's side.
"This way!" she waved them over.
Her two comrades swiftly pivoted back across the platform after her. Even as his own followed their lead, removing their life-vests as they did, Squall remained standing in place. He turned around once more to face the water, wiping his sopping fringe from his eyes. In the distance, far beyond the warring monsters, he could just barely see Balamb Garden, now a speck, about to dip below the horizon. If nothing else, he was content to see it sail away still intact; had he ordered the nav crew to continue straight ahead even a little more, it would now be at the bottom of the ocean. Whether it would remain safe by tomorrow morning was now up to them.
"Coming, Squall?" Quistis broke him from his trance.
At her insistence, he turned away to follow after the group. Through the hole in the wall was what appeared to be a destroyed diagnostics center for the base. A multitude of terminals and screens lined the walls, most ruined beyond repair. If the lights set into the ceiling were any indication however, the electrical circuits had long since been severed; the fading daylight streaming in was all they had. Twisted metal and shattered glass littered the steel plated floor, a continual hazard with every step. By contrast, the pipes running high up along the far wall were largely intact. There was truly no telling how long it had all been abandoned for.
"Lieutenant Reiner," the leader introduced himself with a salute of his own before motioning to his subordinates. "This is Brent and Liza. You have no idea how glad we were to see you coming in. We've been stranded here for two days now, and weren't sure how much longer we could hold out for."
"Where's Ellone?" Squall repeated as he unbuckled his life-vest and let it fall to the floor; despite everything, there was still no more pressing concern on his mind.
"Not here. Don't worry, she's safe… at least, safer than she'd be with us right now."
"What's that supposed to mean? Where is she? Where's the rest of your crew?"
"It's a long story," Brent interrupted. "The short version is that we believe she's en route to Esthar. As for our crew… we're all that's left."
For the first time, Squall held his tongue. For how surprised he was to learn of her whereabouts, the gravity of the White SeeDs' tragedy was not lost on him. He'd anticipated as much with their ship nowhere to be seen outside; Balamb Garden had only narrowly avoided the same fate. An awkward pause lingered between both parties. To his surprise, it was Quistis who finally saw fit to break it.
"To Esthar?" she repeated. "How? With who?"
"As Brent said, it's a long story," Reiner reiterated. "But if you don't mind, I'd like to know how you intend to bring us aboard your Garden. It is coming back for us, isn't it?"
"Tomorrow," Squall assured him. "At least, that was the plan."
"What the hell kind of place is this, anyway?" Irvine cut in.
Squall turned back to see him leaning beside the hole in the wall. His eyes were trained outside, still watching the dragon and jellyfish exchange fire.
"We're not sure ourselves," Brent spoke again. "Best we can tell, it seems like it used to be some kind of Galbadian research center."
"Galbadian?" Squall asked curiously. "How do you know?"
"We've given this place a thorough going over these last couple of days. Pretty much anywhere that isn't flooded or caved in. Hard to tell exactly what kind of tests they were running here, but we came across something very interesting. Show them, Liza."
All eyes turned to the lone female White SeeD, who'd remained absent thus far from the conversation. Both her hands shot to the pouch on her waist. After a moment of rummaging around inside, she withdrew a pair of balls, one in each hand. Squall's eyes bulged as she held them out for all to see. He recognized the spheres even before she turned them over to reveal the Galbadian crest etched on their casing; the bronze color scheme was enough. As she depressed the switches on each however, he was surprised to see not an inkling of energy contained within either. Both were completely hollow.
"Look familiar?" Reiner rhetorically asked, entirely oblivious to just how much so.
"Where… where did you find those?" Selphie stammered.
Squall pivoted back around to see her standing there open-mouthed, her face white as a sheet.
"They were just lying on the floor in one of the labs," Liza finally spoke. "A whole bunch of them, scattered around. We couldn't believe it either, but it looks like they were trying to-"
Selphie was off before she could finish. She frantically bounded over what debris stood in her way to the door. To say she had a newfound spring in her step would be missing the mark entirely; every movement resounded with a fierce determination Squall had never before seen in her.
"Wait!" Reiner shouted after her. "It's too dangerous to go alone!"
She'd already turned the corner by the time he'd gotten the words out. Squall didn't even bother; he understood what it meant to her. After so many years, the promise of closure was surely too overwhelming to resist. It had been no different for Edea. Just as she'd been prepared to face whatever awaited her at the orphanage, so did he expect Selphie had found the resolve to make her peace.
"I'll watch her back," Irvine volunteered. He stepped forward to stand at Squall's side, his assault rifle held at the ready.
There was no consideration to be had of whether he were the right man for the job. The look in his eyes told Squall all he needed to know.
"Take care of her," he replied. "Make sure she has all the support she needs."
"Yes, sir."
He was off after her just as quickly. As he trotted out the door, Reiner swiveled back to Squall, shooting him a quizzical look.
"What was that all about?" he bluntly asked.
"It's complicated," Squall answered. "Suffice to say, those spheres aren't the first we've seen. Now I'd really like to know what went on here."
He turned his attention back outside, for the first time wondering whether the dueling monsters had been products of nature or science. The jellyfish creature at the very least was a species unlike any he'd ever seen.
"They must've had some info stored on these systems," Zell commented. He waved his hand to the array of abandoned workstations around the diagnostics center. "Or maybe on a shared local network."
"We did find the server room mostly intact," Brent revealed. "Not that it'll do us any good with the power cut."
"What about auxiliary?" Quistis suggested. "A place like this has got to have a back-up generator somewhere."
"That's… true."
The three White SeeDs all shared a look with one another. Though none said a word, Squall could easily read the embarrassment on their faces.
"We did manage to find something like that down on the lower levels," Reiner finally spoke. "But it doesn't appear to be functional, and none of us would have any clue how to service it. Our ship's all we've ever known."
Squall barely held back a snort. To think, SeeD's utmost secret regiment, who'd exuded such posturing to him both times before could lack such basic technical expertise. He could sympathize nevertheless; clearly, Ellone's sheltered life spent in hiding had extended to them all in turn.
"Hey, no worries," Zell laughed as he cracked his knuckles. "That kind of stuff's right up my alley. I'll see what I can do. Just lead the way."
Reiner's interest had clearly been piqued. Rather than offering Zell any thanks however, his attention flitted right back to Squall. Evidently, he still recognized who had the final say in the matter. Squall stifled the impulse to chide his comrade for stepping out of line, just as Xu had when he'd done the same in front of the Trabia Garden headmaster. Now as then, there was no time to be hung up on formalities. He instead simply motioned to the door, to say 'after you'.
"Someone ought to stay here in case Selphie and Irvine come back," Quistis hinted.
"Would you?" Squall asked. Until he received a full, thorough explanation of what had happened to Ellone, he did not intend to leave Reiner's side.
Quistis did not respond, instead silently staring him down. The meaning in her eyes was clear: once again, his determination as commandant was faltering. It couldn't be helped; she'd been his own superior until very recently, and his instructor besides. The prospect of relaying orders to her of all people was bound to make him uncomfortable.
"Hold position here," he immediately followed up.
"You too, Liza," Reiner ordered his comrade. "Monitor the battle while we're gone, and keep your eyes peeled for the other one."
"Rodger," she saluted him.
'Other one'?
"Well, let's get going," he said to Squall. Both he and Brent started trailing to the door, putting far more care into each step over the debris than Selphie and Irvine had.
Squall motioned for Zell to follow after. As he reached the door, he turned again for one last look out the giant hole in the wall. The creatures' positioning had changed but little, nor had the battle's momentum appeared to have swayed one way or the other. The dragon and jellyfish continued to exchange fire, locked in a stalemate which looked as if it might last for all eternity. As Quistis and Liza took position to observe, he turned back and followed the White SeeDs out into the hallway.
Just when you think you've seen it all…
Selphie charged down the research center's shadowy, dilapidated halls with reckless abandon. Occasional gaping divots in the ceiling provided the only light to guide her forward. She'd preemptively drawn her nunchaku in lieu of the resulting darkness, ready to bash aside whatever obstacle might stand in her way. Doors left ajar flew by on either side. She spared none of them more than a glimpse of their interiors; most were far too dark for her to properly identify, regardless. More to the point however, she simply didn't care. Beyond whatever research Galbadia had been conducting here, or even SeeD's fight against Ultimecia, her father's fate was all that concerned her now. After five and a half years, she was now closer than ever to finally uncovering the truth.
Dad… what happened to you?
With another turn at the current corridor's end, a wide open doorway to a spacious chamber lay just ahead. She raced through, stumbling to a halt as her eyes began to adjust. An ample amount of fading daylight streamed inside from another torn out section of the far wall. In the center, surrounded on all sides by a cluster of destroyed consoles, stood what looked like a test chamber. Thick shards of shattered glass lay strewn all over the floor by its side, the remnants of the giant capsule's dividing window.
She reeled in disgust as she suddenly noticed the corpses spread all around the room. All were outfitted in white lab coats, awkwardly strewn about on the floor at random intervals. As she steeled herself to draw near the closest one, she could see its flesh had long since decomposed, leaving nothing behind but skeletal remains. Although its coat was tattered and torn, there were no significant chunks missing to indicate it had been fed upon. At the very least, she could be thankful for the room's abundant ventilation, which had doubtless helped drive away the stench of putrefaction.
She uneasily prodded the skeleton with her nunchaku, forcing it to clatter over on its back. The scientist's laminated ID card was still clipped to his left chest. Unsurprisingly, the name and picture printed on it were not her father's. She hadn't expected them to be; he'd long worked as a data analyst, from the time they'd lived in Galbadia until his disappearance. What he could possibly have been doing at a top secret government research center in the middle of the ocean was beyond her.
"Selphie!"
She wobbled unsteadily as she turned back around. Irvine stood at the laboratory entrance with his assault rifle drawn. She could recognize the concern written on his face; she ought not to have barged off so rashly.
"Sorry," she apologized, returning her nunchaku to her back. "I just… I have to know."
"I get it," the sharpshooter replied as he ambled over. "Believe me, I'm not here to get in your way. But you've got to be more sensible about it. Running off on your own around here is just asking for trouble."
He suddenly grabbed her hand in his own before she could respond. She jolted in place, before turning her downcast eyes up to his own. They stared back at her fiercely, each of his piercing blue pupils alight with determination. And perhaps something more.
"Promise me you won't do it again," he said, his stare unwavering. "And I'll promise to have your back, every step of the way."
Despite the late afternoon ocean breeze wafting in through the hole in the wall, Selphie could feel her face becoming uncomfortably flush. She could tell he meant what he'd said; his eyes continued to speak volumes where his words had given out. It was clear he was prepared to stick with her through it all, no matter what she might find at the end. What's more, she knew there was no one else she would rather have by her side.
"I promise," she embarrassingly smiled. "Thanks, Irvine. Sorry for making you worry."
"It's no big deal," he brushed it off, finally letting go of her hand. "Kinda brings me back to those days at Matron's, playing hide and seek."
Her shame just as quickly melted away. The memories were hazy, but still vaguely there.
"The more things change, huh?" she agreed.
"Pretty much. This though… this is a new one for me."
He gestured to the skeleton she'd just been examining. Selphie silently nodded; of every possible place the search for her father could have led her, she never would have expected to find a scene so macabre. As she glanced past it, her attention was suddenly drawn to the laboratory floor just along the outer rim. There, a collection of gleaming bronze spheres lay scattered on the floor like marbles. A pair of hefty metal storage cabinets had toppled over from the wall just behind, both every bit as dilapidated as the lab's control consoles.
She immediately strode across the room, maneuvering around several other bodies in her way, and knelt down beside. As she reached for the nearest sphere, her eyes fell on one of the cabinets' blown out exterior. Inside were yet more, jumbled together from the fall. All were exactly as she remembered hers, with the Galbadian crest emblazoned on their casing. And yet, as she picked one up and pressed its switches to open it, there was no trace of gleaming energy contained within. It was but an empty shell, just as the pair the White SeeDs had shown her. She promptly reached for another one to check. Again, nothing.
"Looks like they were all set to start cranking them out," Irvine commented from behind. "Wonder what went wrong?"
"It's pretty obvious something got loose," Selphie nodded towards the destroyed test chamber.
"The dragon, you think? Whatever the hell that other thing was sure couldn't fit in there."
She silently agreed, though wasn't prepared to start jumping to conclusions. The giant jellyfish-looking monster had to have come from somewhere. She let both spheres fall from her hands to the floor, stood back up straight, and made her way to the center of the room for a closer look.
Inside the chamber, a hole nearly as big as the one in the wall had been bored straight down through the facility. There was no telling just how far it stretched into the depths. Shattered glass crinkled underfoot as she maneuvered over the threshold. As she peeked her head further in, she could see down at least two levels before the opening met the water's surface; any other floors below had clearly suffered a hull breach.
She had no idea what could have caused it. That the hole went down rather than up was enough to cast doubt on the part of the dragon. As Irvine had deduced however, it was far too small for the other monster to have possibly fit through. Perhaps it had even been caused by something entirely different, some other bizarre creature they'd yet to run across. All she could tell for certain was that Galbadia had clearly overstepped some kind of boundary in their research. In any case, venturing further below deck would be a risky move. Until she found the closure she sought however, she was prepared to comb over every solitary inch of the facility.
"Let's take a look around," she suggested.
"Right now?" Irvine asked skeptically. "It's getting late, you know, and I sure as hell don't want to end up stumbling around in the dark."
"We've probably got at least an hour before the sun goes down," she insisted. "Come on, just a little scouting run. It doesn't have to be long."
"Well… as long as we're quick about it."
With no time to waste, Selphie backed out of the test chamber and headed for another skeleton lying around the laboratory. Pushing her apprehension aside, she made it around to each one in turn, taking stock of their respective ID cards and searching their lab coats' pockets for whatever she could find. Several had keycards on them among other personal effects. Before long, any sense of squeamishness had left her, to be replaced by puzzlement. The fact that there even were bodies left to be scavenged was a mystery; provided the dragon or some other beast had killed them all, why hadn't it gobbled them up whole long ago?
Without any further leads, Selphie started down a corridor on the opposite end of the room from which they'd entered. Several rooms along the way lay bare their interiors, presumably having already been looked over by the White SeeDs. Others were still locked. After trying out the keycards she'd accumulated on the first few to no avail, she finally relegated the set to her pocket. Precious time was ticking away the longer she dawdled. And so, preferring to conduct as thorough an initial scouting run as possible, she set the matter aside. It could wait until the next morning.
Eyeing a stairway leading down, she considered whether to deviate or stay the course. There was no guarantee they would have ample enough lighting below to make much progress, unless they were to double back towards the giant hole in the laboratory. The thought was tempting; if there were any lingering clues as to what had happened to the facility, she expected to find them closer to the apparent epicenter. Ultimately, her curiosity got the better of her, and she started down the steps. She held tight to the railing as she descended into mounting darkness. Irvine continued to follow her lead all the while; if he had any reservations, he didn't speak a word of them.
Predictably, she could hardly see a thing by the time she reached the next landing. Things became more manageable as she turned to peek around the corner; the darkness began to thin further back in the direction of the lab. Still, she knew the hallway there could potentially be treacherous, littered with unseen rubble, bodies, or outright holes in the floor.
With nothing else for it, she fumbled through her uniform for her GF, and activated it. It had been weeks since she'd last given it a try; surely she could manage a small flicker of flame to guide them forward. She focused her mind, willing the energy to flow through her. And yet, once again, nothing materialized in her palm. She could feel it but faintly, the power ebbing and flowing of its own accord as it seeped out from the sphere. No matter her efforts however, still she remained unable to properly channel it. There it idled in her pocket, so agonizingly close, and yet somehow just out of reach.
"What's the call?" Irvine asked from behind.
She pushed her frustrations aside; whatever the reason, she couldn't allow one little inconvenience to deter her from the answers she sought. Down the hall she slowly traipsed, pulling her nunchaku off her back again to help her forward. She extended it out, tapping it against the ground in front of her like a blind woman with her cane. But for the occasional cluster of debris, she couldn't deduce anything along the way to trip them up. She ceased clanging the bar about as the dimness subsided, and they drew near the entrance to another spacious room.
Its dimensions were virtually identical to the laboratory above. A glance up to the ceiling revealed the very same hole she'd seen bored through the center, with another just below through the floor. That was where the similarities ended. Broken, rusted cages of various shapes and sizes circled the ravaged chamber. Most had been utterly demolished, reduced to heaps of jagged, intertwined metal swathed in eerie shadows from the faint lighting. Selphie strained her eyes to make sense of it all. She didn't have to look far to guess what might have been contained in them.
An equally wide assortment of animal carcasses littered the room, of a multitude of shapes, sizes, and species. Some were sprawled out across the floor, others in what remained of their cages. All were long dead, just as the scientists before. And yet, there was one very distinct discrepancy; her nose had picked up on it well before her eyes. As opposed to their human counterparts, whose bodies had long since rotted away, many of the creatures had yet to turn completely skeletal, particularly the larger ones. Most of their flesh had been stripped away from them all the same, leaving behind a flimsy base layer of tissue to fester.
"Ugh!" she winced in disgust, pinching her nose. "Gross!"
"Looks like we found that thing's table scraps," Irvine muttered.
The wealth of captive wildlife indeed looked to have been food for the dragon, or whatever else aboard the research center. Selphie could hardly identify most of the species with how torn and mutilated their bodies were. As she carefully weaved her way through the devastation, her eyes were drawn to another gaping indent smashed clean through the southern wall. Yet more ruined cages with as many carcasses lay on the other side, all picked clean. Evidently, the food supply had long since run out.
"Should we head back up?"
"Let's… keep heading this way," Selphie suggested, gesturing to the hole. "Might as well see where it leads."
"Probably right into the dragon's den!" Irvine protested.
"Then there's no better time to check it out, while it's still preoccupied with that jellyfish thing."
With one hand still plugging up her nose, she started around the room's outer rim. Her eyes stayed fixed to the floor as she cautiously sidestepped all manner of wreckage and animal corpses. With a glimpse to the center, she noticed another, smaller cluster of workstations arrayed around hole. She could only guess they'd been the controls for a now destroyed lift system to raise subjects up into the laboratory test chamber.
As she neared the hole in the wall, she could see practically nothing beyond the nearest cages and carcasses. A faint glimmer from further ahead was all she had to go by. She brought her nunchaku out again to make her way forward, and warily started along. Although far wider than the last corridor, the damage done seemed to be significantly more widespread. With every few steps came another divot liable to trip her up. She shouldn't have been surprised; the feeding ground had clearly been well traversed for as long as the stock had lasted. For all she knew, it could have been a full-blown warzone for the various captured wildlife after whatever had gone wrong. The dragon at the very least had the ability to fly; it could just as easily scavenge its food from the continent.
Closer she crept towards the glimmer, now identifiable as some kind of machinery. By the time she'd reached a point where she no longer had to use her nunchaku to fumble her way forward, she could see it was another lift system stretching up into the ceiling. Instantly, she was reminded of the cargo elevator from the Dollet communication tower; the room's tall, cylindrical layout did nothing to keep parallels from being drawn. Portions of the ceiling had fallen away, with the resultant rubble piled up all around. The rest had come either from other punctures in the hull, or the blown out opening they'd emerged from.
"Where are we now?" she wondered aloud.
"Not sure," Irvine hummed. "Didn't get a good look at this place coming in, but… it did have that control tower, right?"
Selphie nodded. Though she'd been distracted by the dragon's attack on the Garden, she'd remembered that much of its design. She walked across to the base of the lift, to find its platform missing from the indent set into the floor. Hopeless as it was, she still hit the down button on the nearby console. Predictably, there was no response.
"Not gonna do us any good without power," Irvine stated the obvious. "Who knows if it isn't busted, anyway? Look, I think we've gone as far as we can. Let's head back and regroup with the oth-"
A sudden metal clank cut him off. Selphie's eyes shot to the far corner of the room from whence it came. Irvine just as quickly spun around, bringing his rifle up to scan over the perimeter. His aim darted back and forth as he sought to deduce what had caused it. Several tense moments passed before Selphie took another two steps forward. The rustling kicked up again as she did so. She squinted her eyes through the dimness, finally noticing movement amid a nearby pile of rubble. And then, it shot out from cover.
The tiny green creature stood on two crooked, stubby legs. Its arms were no different, each ending in a rounded off stump. The rest of its body was perfectly oblong, and prickly all over like a cactus. As Selphie continued to look it over, she realized it in fact was one. A pair of beady black eyes stared back at her from beneath three significantly larger red quills on the top of its head. Irvine opened fire before she could properly react; the roar of gunfire tore through the chamber as he unloaded a controlled burst of rounds. The little cactus bolted out of the way with tremendous speed. Whether Irvine's aim had been slightly off, or the creature too nimble, it seemed to have sustained no injuries. It scurried off just as quickly, the sharpshooter tracking its movement until it had fully disappeared into the darkness.
"Easy!" Selphie told him as she put her hand on his shoulder. "No reason to get worked up over a little thing like that!"
"If it's anything like the kind we get in the desert back in Galbadia, then you'd better believe there is," he insisted. "Those little buggers are a lot more deadly than they look."
His voice was plenty serious for Selphie to take him at his word. She wouldn't have known; prior to their journey to the missile base months ago, the concept of a desert had practically been foreign to her, much less its wildlife. Before she could respond, another much louder disturbance met her ears. She tilted her head up; she could have sworn it had come from above this time. Again the rumble sounded, much closer now. She held her breath, readying herself to bolt should the rest of the ruined ceiling come crumbling down. And then, it swooped in through the hole.
The dragon spread its wings wide as it descended into the fray with a screech. Selphie could barely hear Irvine yell from right beside her to move, but understood the sentiment. She raced for the opposite wall to avoid being crushed underfoot, hearing the assault rifle sputter to life right behind her. The beast touched down with a mighty thud moments later, letting out a ferocious roar in Irvine's direction. It was clearly agitated, but appeared no worse for wear. Its blue and silver armored scales looked too thick for the bullets to pierce.
With its attention drawn away from her, Selphie began focusing her senses. She desperately needed to harness the GFs power, now more than ever. Just as she began, a sudden explosion broke her concentration. The grenade detonated right in the dragon's face, finally halting it in its tracks. Smoldering shrapnel flew every which way, prompting Selphie to duck for cover. The beast roared again, this time in clear anguish. It fell to all fours. As the smoke cleared, she could tell a significant chunk of scales had been blown clear off its face, revealing the dark red tissue beneath.
Irvine scrambled to load another grenade into his rifle's launcher attachment. Before he could however, a torrent of flames spewed forth from the dragon's maw. He frantically tossed the explosive round away before it could go off, and booked it out of the way as quickly as he could. Ultimately, the flamethrower's radius was too wide for him to completely evade; his outfit swiftly caught alight. He just as quickly dropped his weapon, fell to the ground, and proceeded to roll about to smother the flames.
Selphie watched on in horror. Even were she able to use her sphere's power, water was an element she'd yet to branch out into. If only Rinoa were there with them. And yet, as the dragon loomed over him, she knew she had to try something. She charged in with her nunchaku held in both hands, and swung it at the beast's face as soon as she was close enough. The crescent moon fixed on the end of the bar sliced across its newly exposed flesh.
Apparently, it was enough to draw its attention. The dragon threw out one of its claws in retaliation, its talons whooshing through the air as she just barely sidestepped out of the way. As its swipe completed its arc, it suddenly pulled its opposite wing back and just as quickly thrust it out. It knocked Selphie clear off her feet, sending her tumbling over. She dropped her nunchaku as she rolled on the floor, coming to a stop on her back. As she fought to lift herself up, she instinctively shrieked as the dragon began encroaching on her position.
She frantically scooted herself backwards on her behind. As she finally hit a wall, she raised her hand up in front of her. It was no longer a matter of if she could summon the GF's power. She had to. To her utter despair however, as the snarling dragon continued to creep closer, stomp by stomp, nothing was coming to her.
"Selphie!"
Her eyes darted to Irvine as he screamed her name from across the room. He'd pushed himself up from the floor to one knee, his clothes noticeably singed, but no longer smoldering.
"Just run! Get out of here, and get back to the others!"
She remained frozen in place; whether it were out of fear, stubbornness, or unwavering loyalty to her oldest and dearest friend, even she couldn't tell. There in the dragon's shadow she lay, pinned to the wall, completely at its mercy. It lowered its snout, the humid breath from its toothy maw washing over her. She closed her eyes and turned her head away. She was prepared.
Guess I'll see you soon, dad…
She anxiously counted the seconds as they passed, awaiting the one in which she would be incinerated. After five, she realized something was amiss; the dragon's suffocating breath was no longer in her face. She cracked open an eyelid to peer up at it. There it stood, still looming over her, but with its head raised to the ceiling. It abruptly spread its wings out. With a mighty flap of both, it took flight, generating a gust that swept through the ruined chamber. Selphie watched with awe as it climbed higher and higher up towards the hole from whence it came, and eventually disappeared through. Even after it was gone, she continued staring up after it for several moments more, until Irvine finally came up beside her.
"Are you alright?!" he asked, offering his hand to her. His eyes, usually so calm and collected, looked positively shaken.
"Y-Yeah," she stuttered.
She took his hand, and rose to her feet. She immediately slumped over into him for support; her legs were still wobbling.
"W-What about you? Did you get burned at all?"
"I'm fine," he assured her. "It only got my clothes."
Selphie exhaled in relief over his shoulder. She knew full well that as things stood, she wouldn't be able to heal him.
"Let's get out of here, okay?" he insisted, carefully releasing her.
She nodded. After a few ginger steps to be sure she wouldn't topple right over, she crossed the room to retrieve her nunchaku, just as Irvine his assault rifle. By some miraculous stroke of luck, they'd been spared. All the same, the anxious knot in Selphie's stomach refused to come undone. Not since her first days of basic training at Trabia Garden had she felt so useless. Her sudden inability to conjure spellcraft clearly went beyond a simple case of exhaustion or stress. So long as it persisted, the more she would end up being a burden to Irvine and the others. And worse still, without the means to brave whatever other dangers awaited her in the bowels of the research center, would she ever uncover the truth behind her father's disappearance? She had come too far, and given too much to stop now.
I can't give up… there's got to be something I'm missing here…