Author's Comment:
YAY! The first battle scene since the prologue! I imagine you guys have been waiting patiently for this. And with good reason, too! I hope it meets your standards. If there's anything you thought would have been cool, or any suggestions, complaints, or criticisms, don't be afraid to tell me about it.
Monday, June 4, 2007
"My job is to support you in battle. Everything else is up to you," Quistis said in a cold way that didn't suit her.
"Fine," Squall answered, equally cold. Maybe it'll actually help cool me off. Less than a minute ago, they had walked through the entrance to what Squall now believed to be the hottest most humid cave in existence. The pathway was wide enough to walk on, but the fact that the only thing separating Squall and Quistis from a lake of blistering magma was a wall of jagged stalagmites, was enough to put a shake in even Squall's step. Of course, he endowed none of this to Quistis.
She must have noticed something in his face, deciding to break the increasingly awkward silence between the two of them. "You know, the boy's often choke when I go on this test with them," she said, in a coy tone. You've got to be kidding me! "Guess my charm just makes them nervous."
Whatever, Squall thought, electing silence as his newfound voice. And here I thought it was awkward before she opened her mouth. A fluttering noise from above made Squall reach for the hilt of his gunblade.
"Just trying to keep you relaxed, that's all."
"Well, don’t," Squall shot at her, irritated at her persistence in trying to connect with her students.
As they walked on, the trail gave way to a much narrower walkway and the jagged spires grew increasingly sparse. Smoke rose from the Squall's soles. The smell of burning rubber almost overpowered the brimstone.
Quistis screamed from behind him. Whirling around, he spotted a large winged creature, about the size of a large cat, clawing at Quistis' face, with another circling above. Her hands were too busy trying to fend it off to be able to pull out her whip. Squall didn't waste one second. His gunblade was out, arms in full swing, before he could even register the action. He struck the bat-like creature off of Quistis, hitting it into the magma. It screeched, deafeningly, as it sank in, its flesh melting. The second creature had descended on Quistis, but by this time she was ready. Using her whip, she snagged one of its claws and flung it towards Squall, who then struck it downwards with calculated force, pulling the trigger on his blade and shredding the screeching mess into the ground. Quistis sighed, exasperatedly, putting her whip away. "I hate bats."
A common misconception about the gunblade (as there were so few people left who had taken up this dying art), was that it could be used for long, or even mid-range firing. In order to be used as a revolver, one would have to remove the ten pound blade accompanying it, which incidentally was incredibly light, considering its size. The blade itself was a composite of several low-density yet durable metals, some of which were the results of mining in well known meteor fields. Curiously enough, a small percentage of these metals were of several ores, only ever seen on the moon. The gun itself was not used as a projectile weapon (as many believed), but instead as an impact modifier. The force of the bullet striking the end of the blade, combined with the impact of the strike itself was devastatingly effective. Essentially, it was a gyroblade.
They said nothing more for a while. The path became too narrow and uneven for them to walk at a decent pace. They half walked, half crawled along the pathway, mere feet away from the dizzying source of heat. Ahead of them, squall spotted a circular plateau of rock, with spikes reaching up and curving inwards like the gaping maw of some long forgotten beast. "That's it isn't it?" Squall asked without turning around to face his instructor.
"What?"
"That's where I have to fight it," he half asked, half declared.
"Do you know what it is?" Quistis asked, her voice suggesting that his statement came as a blow to her.
Well it should, Squall thought. It is supposed to be a surprise, after all. He suppressed a smirk. "It's a GF. Isn't it?"
Her silence spoke worlds. Squall thought about the possibilities as they pressed onward, growing closer to the plateau. A new GF? The implications were incredible. Squall had never had access to any GF other than... Other than her. He shivered: An incredible feat, in itself, considering where they presently were.
Squall snapped back to reality as something darted out from behind one of the spires. Engulfed in flames, floating volantly towards them, not making a noise. It was spherical, and only slightly bigger than a blitzball. It bore 2 rows of sharp teeth, arranged in a lurid grin, and two black, empty hollows which might have been eyes. Squall recognized it instantly.
"How about that?" Quistis inquired. "You know what that is?"
At first Squall was taken aback, wondering if he had just correctly heard Quistis, admitting to even the slightest hint of a lack of knowledge. He then realized, as a smile crossed her lips, that she was quizzing him. "A fire elemental," Squall responded, resisting the urge to call it a bomb. Quistis, as an academic mind in nature, reserved a certain disdain for nicknaming creatures, when their scientific name proved much more specific and informative. He'd only ever seen one in textbooks, but he knew exactly what he had to do. The only problem was doing it. They could not be defeated with mere physical attacks. Anyone who was stupid, or at least uneducated, enough to try it would quickly find out how they had earned their nickname. The very internal gas that proved to simultaneously be their greatest strength and weakness, was also what kept them afloat.
Quistis stepped back, letting Squall decide how to deal with it. It's all part of the test. He knew from the beginning he was going to have to do this, but was secretly hoping, that something would come up to save him from it. If there was one way he didn't like to fight a battle, this was it. Hands on work was his forte. While on the one hand, Squall did find the entire experience empowering, the fact remained that it terrified him. No choice, though. I'll just mess up if I try a magic spell, Squall thought, resenting the fact that magic was the one area in combat where Seifer had somehow managed to deftly surpass him. Closing his eyes and leaning his head forward, Squall crossed his arms over his chest. He pictured her, focusing his energy as he had done countless times before. You can't think to hard about it, or it won't work. Just relax, and focus on her energy. He could no longer feel the blistering heat rising from below. His body grew numb, as a boundless energy pulsed through him, and a feeling that he knew all too well engulfed him. He felt as though he were two. He outstretched his arms, as if to project this energy in front of him. The smell of setting frost displaced the previously dominant scent of brimstone. Squall opened his eyes.
Her unclad skin discharged an icy blue glow, permeating into the air; her tresses, shining with an ethereal yet blinding whiteness, hung down, flowing around her ankles. The ground frosted under her bare feet, and from her, radiated a haunting and disturbingly powerful aura. Beautiful, yet somehow terrifying in the rawest sense of the word. Like a powerful force in a dream that seizes your ability to move, betrays your will to look away, and arrests your command to breathe. Squall could not tell if he was looking at her, or through her eyes. There's something to let Balamb's so called philosophy club argue over. At least his sarcasm remained in tact. Almost every other function of his brain was set on permafrost... Except for one. The word hypothalamus echoed through Squall's mind. Something to do with a science class, he thought distantly as he swallowed back a healthy dose of 'fight or flight' response.
She walked silently and gracefully towards the elemental, taking an eternity, yet less than a second. Everything was silent and still, as if the very air was frozen with fear. Squall could not see her face, for her back was turned, but he could feel her eyes open. As much as Squall fancied himself someone who would take the harshest conditions and not flinch, he was now filled with a cold hard fear. He could feel her icy gaze cutting deep into the elemental, and he thanked whoever was up there that he wasn't on the receiving end. Holding out her hand, she caressed the bomb in some twisted perversion of what might pass as motherly care. It then fell to the ground, frozen solid. A hailstone for the record books.
And then she was gone. He didn't see her disappear, yet he never looked away. Whether she had disappeared so gradually he hadn't noticed, or if she was never actually there in the first place, Squall couldn't tell. Then again, he never could. A chill ran down his spine. Pun intended.
"You and Seifer really are in a league of your own," Quistis said breathlessly.
Squall said nothing, but exhaled, watching his breath dissolve into the air, and waiting for the feeling to return to his limbs.
"Come on," she said. "We're almost there."
Right, Squall thought. That was only the appetizer.