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Uprising: The Beast Wars	By : Resting-Madness Category: Final Fantasy VIII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1109 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't make any money from this story. I do not own the fandom or rights of creation of anything involving Final Fantasy VIII and its world. I did make up original characters but eh.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
"I'm startin' to think these conjoined showering sessions" Irvine is saying as he walks about their bedroom brushing his newly dried hair out. "are actually un-productive towards the cause."
Slipping into a t-shirt, Squall can only cock a brow before replying. "You're the one who kept washing between my legs."
Seeing Irvine's long pause at the window, Squall walks over with a question falling from his mouth. "What are you looking at?"
He stepped aside from his lover's urgent exit from the bedroom. He gave one last look out the window at the dropped body on the soggy dirt, before dashing out of the bedroom as well. He can hear shots being fired at something; the bangs errupt through the air like a the sound of a pot being struck by a child, who believes its a drum. The sound is sudden and scattered without rhythm. Whatever Irvine's firing at, it must be moving all over the place.
By the time he'd made it outside, Irvine was already kneeling beside the body; a dead Blood Soul splattered on the dirt a few feet away from him.
"He's dead, darlin'." He shakes his head in dismay. "Looks like somethin' bit him.... the bite mark is damned small, though."
Kneeling as well; Squall can see that Irvine had retrieved one of his pistols from beneath the floorboards in the livingroom, and the Scomical, that's Scope-Monical in layman's terms; Irvine had helped Esthar researchers design it for marksmen like himself, who don't always use rifles but seek the sharpest vision. As for the name, Irvine was only kidding around but it stuck.
"Its the kid from the bait shop." Squall confirms to himself. "It must have just happened," Because the wound is still running with blood. "Do you think his uncle knows?"
"Dunno."
Spotting another monster, Irvine waits the seconds it takes for the orange-lensed single-goggle to lock in on the target; raising his arm, there are numbers flashing up the corner of his vision rushing from 0 to 100% with the movement, it flashes when the barrel of the gun is perfectly locked onto the target, then he fires!
The Blood Soul's natural, gas elevated, floating rocked off balance when the shot plugged him through the side of the head; fading out of vision like a chamelion blending in with its surroundings, it drifts a bit closer before reappearing to strike.
Seeing another of the same monster off in the very distance, and the movement of dirt a lot closer than he would have liked, Squall grabs a hold of Irvine's jeans to pat him down.
"Where's your phone?" He finally gave up and asked.
"Shirt pocket; can you get to the shed?" He asks while releasing the empty shells from the bullet compartment in his pistol. "I'm out of ammo."
"No. I have to check on Ellone," He speed dials her number, then heads into the house to grab a gun of his own from beneath the floorboard.
They keep them there for emergancies. Good thing too, the other weapons they bring out with them are in the shed beneath the floor in a sort of mini-basement beneath the shed that's on the other side of the house a ways back. They can't have civies finding them, now can they? If a boat is easily stolen, imagine what visiting teens would do with weapons.
And as for having them around... when you live in a world where mutated animals and monsters exist, you need protection for when they wander into town, and they're not something you can easily "shoo" back out into the wild.
But these monsters.... why're they coming into town? Its not like them. Is there a lack of food out there, and the starving creatures are coming into town for a meal? The Vysage isn't too much of a threat to humanity so long as its Lefty hands or the creatures' peeping face. But those Righty hands'll get you if you're not careful.
Tucking the gun into the waist of his pants, he then grabs two clips of shells for the pistol Irvine's using. Blood Soul... Is that what bit the young man? And it was recent. He must have been the person peeping at them! He was in trouble, and they just missed saving him. Damn it!
Dashing from the home, he calls out from the entrance of the home "Irvine!" before tossing him the clips. "I have to get Ellone!" He shouts over the howling wind that's kicked up. "She didn't pick up when I called her."
It would seem the storm from earlier is heading back their way.
"I'll get to the shed while I hold 'em off. Be careful!" He called back, while quickly shoving the roll of bullets into the gun, removing the backing from it with a twist.
He wasn't fast enough to avoid having his shoulder latched onto by one, of the many, drifting beast. He cried out in pain before slamming the hilt of the gun into its grinning insizers. He pitied himself suddenly for never sparring with Zell, in spite of being able to punch well, he can't exactly go in for death blows like the martial artist can. But the indenting of its gums at the base of its teeth was enough to knock the creature free to be blasted in the face with a couple rounds.
Renzo, mounted with his usual rider, went charging from the home's mini-stable at top speed. Squall fires off rounds at the monsters that felt the need to show up before his path. If Ellone is hurt whichever monster is the cause of it, will wish it was NEVER born.
He had to ignore the screams around the small town, in favor of saving his sister. She could have already been on her way to their home, and wound up trapped somewhere. He just has to believe that Irvine can neutralize the threat until he joins him.
The sharpshooter made his way to the back of the house where the shed stands. Going straight for the trap door where the short set of stairs is located, he bounds down them grabbing the first gunblade he can get his arm around, then straps on a couple of holsters, one for the hips and one for around the shoulders, he slips them around him with expert ease, buckling them in place.
Grabbing some costumized Desert Eagle magnums, 2 with barrels made out of blue-gold and he stuffs them into his hip holsters, the ones beneath his arms are also customized though they're in the normal fashion of silver barreled guns of the same 44 calibur. He doesn't have to worry about ammo, grabbing a long coat with special pockets poised to just have a gun handle jammed into it to load, he exits the shed.
"Ooof!!"
Soaring backwards and into a wall that houses gardening tools and bird feed. Momentarily shaken, he looks through the path he's just sailed to see a Right hand waving its fingers suggestively, like it wanted him to 'put up his dukes'.
Scoffing at the likelihood of a fist fight with, literally, a fist. He takes his aim then fires off round after round with a blue gun that's got Blizzaga junctioned in its rounds. The hand was stunned by the blast, but it hardly seemed fazed, as it took retreat beneath the earth.
Exiting the shed, he listened for the nearest scream of a civilian then took off in that direction. The whole town was being infested with monsters! This shit is crazy! How did it go from quiet and peaceful to this, in a matter of an hour and ten?
Irvine watched as a glow of light swirled around his legs from a cure being cast on him. A brief scan with his eyes, and he finds the blind Lefty culprit just healing anything that bled. Its how the hands helped each other and the face of the monster, he supposed. They sense blood, they heal it. Whether its on their side is another matter. The thing can't battle, so as long as the face doesn't show up, or the Right hand, he could leave it alone- for now.
"I'm comin', sir!" He shouts to the screaming voice. Hopping a fence, he dashes behind two homes to the sound of screaming.
Renzo barely stopped running before Squall dismounts; charging into the home by shouldering the locked door open, it isn't long before he hears cries for help to bring him upstairs to where Ellone is.
"Sis!"
He could guess she's hiding in a dress cabinet, because there's a Vysage's Right hand about to put a hole through it. Repositioning himself at the thing's side, so the bullet doesn't go through one end and out the other into the cabinet, he fires at the hand until it retreats back a bit.
"Stay in there, I'll get you out in a minute."
Squaring up with the hand, he's taken off guard by the face of the beast slinking down the hall to watch the action. And that brief look away cost him a deck to the cheek, but when you're battling with something that's big enough to hold you like you're a doll, its a pretty nasty hit. So it made contact with more than a cheek, but Squall caught himself in the fling by locking his heels against the wooden floor hard enough to leave a four inch scuff mark in his slide.
Backed against the bed, he snags the blanket from it then hurls it over the nearly blind monster hand. Popping a few rounds into it, he stomps it into the floor when it collapses, to ensure that its dead. The dry bandages wither away into nothing, living, beneath the blanket; the Vysage itself gave a heavy Sigh attack at Squall, who got knocked to his knees by it. Its like having the breath sucked out of you so suddenly, it drags you down.
He wished he had a weapon that he's better used to. He uses the gun, sure, but mostly to blow a hole into a monster that's already being sliced open. He wouldn't just go around shooting things with his gunblade's gun on its own.
Shaking off the weird sensations coursing around under his skin, Squall aims the guns barrel between the mummy's eyes, shooting off two rounds before drawing some magic from it to cast back.
The monster groaned, mouth wide open, when feeling the same inner searing pain that his opponent felt from its Sigh, from the Curaga cast upon it. Squall drew a few extra cures, incase he needed to heal Ellone or himself, before he went after the monster with another three rounds. The Vysage dodged one of the three rounds, and tried to petrify the man with its Stare, but Squall rolled along the floor; changing clips as he does this, and the end of the trip gets him close enough to shoot its glowing yellow eyeballs out, and that finished it off.
"Sis," Tucking the gun back into the waist of his pants, he walks over to the dressing cabinet and pulls the doors open. "Are you ok?"
He offers his hand to her, shocked when she offered the other. It would seem her arm has been broken, she's got the jarred limb tucked to her. Stooping down, he grabs her around the waist to help her up from the kneel she'd taken to avoid any unneccesary bumps against her broken arm, should one of the combatants have bashed into the closet.
"I don't know what happened,"
She steps from the closet; the cure cast relieved her pains but it couldn't heal the break in the bone, and over the ruined blanket that's stained with monster blood and other various residues from the creature's death.
"I was getting dressed to head over to your house, when this monster's hand came bursting through the floor of my bedroom. It almost pulled me through the wall like it was on a rubberband... it was attached to an arm. But, I broke free then ran in here and hid, but this other hand came in and chased me... that's when you showed up."
He was relieved to know Ellone knows him well enough to inform him that she hadn't been in danger for long. Leading her carefully to the exit, he listens to her questions.
"I can hear screams coming from everywhere... is this happening all over town?"
The two exit the home. If the bedlum of screams didn't answer her question, the swarm of monsters bashing against the double-doors of the mansion nextdoor like a battering-ram sure did.
Squall decided he'd have to come back for the home's inhabitants, and assisted Ellone onto Renzo's saddle, climbing up behind her. Giving the bird a command to move by a simple sound of 'kikk kikk', the two head off to the Kinheart home. He can't gaurantee she'll be any safer there than in her own home, but it'd make him feel better.
"Sis, do you know how to use a gun?"
"Pull the trigger at the target?"
"Yeah, its easy. I'm gonna give you a gun, you sit in the bedroom, stay away from the windows and don't draw attention to yourself with too much movement. I think you'll be safe if they believe the house is empty."
He could have kissed Irvine when spotting his Twin Lance gunblade resting against the porch column. Helping Ellone dismount, he grabs up his weapon after seeing that she'd gone inside. Time to get down to business... the tips of the blade drag along the dirt road while he activates its Renzokuken.
Leaping into the air, gunblade over his shoulder, he draws in energy from the charged atmosphere then swings his blade down fast enough to cause himself to whirl in a twist with the glowing blade, and he dropped back to the earth with the poise of an elegant dancer. All beasts within a 10 mile radius got a taste of an airblade, moving at the speed of light from his Fated Circle slicing through the air bursting them into flame in the passing of the wind. It was almost like the effects of re-entering the Earth's orbit.
Blood Soul and Vysage alike shrieked and shriveled in the frying. Removing some fire magic from the weapon, he cast it out at an oncoming attack of dripping fangs and very bad breath. The fire attack hit its mark, but Squall got hit by the gust of breath that appears like a cloud of the monster it-self.
Choking on the fumes and slight inhail, he rubbed the blinding mist from his eyes; his double blades are in the air just in time to avoid his being bitten, and the monster instead takes a bite into the impenatrable metal. Squall removed the gun from his waistband, shooting the Blood Soul point blank. The gastious monster spun and twirled into ashes blowing in the wind.
Squall took one last look at the house before hurrying to the sounds of fear around the area.
Irvine leaped upon a young girl who looked to be fighting off something that wasn't there, in order to avoid being attacked at all. Not that monsters obey kid-law. Using his foot to stop the Righty's smack down, he's careful of his foot while showering a scatter of bullets into the things manic wriggling fingers. Bringing his leg in a bit, he shoves it outward to launch the monster back away from himself and the weeping child, while the junctioned Blizzaga cast itself around the creature.
The block of ice fell from the small distance the hand floated above the grass, and it shattered enough to split the frozen hand in four ways, killing it.
"Where's your family, huh, kid?" He asks the crying child huddled beneath his cover.
"They're..." She began to cry even harder.
Figuring she must live somewhere nearby, he scoops her up and runs to the nearest home where he sees a face peeking from the window. It could be her parents. It could be nosy neighbors too afraid to help out, he wasn't sure. But he does know that he can't be out in this mess dragging a kid with him.
Not bothering to knock, he kicks the door open to gain entrance. "Can y'all wat-.." His words cut off when the man at the window turns to face him, and half his head is missing.
It was as if being undisturbed had kept him on his feet, because the moment the pair appeared in the doorway, he collapsed to the floor... dead. That sent the girl into a screaming fit, as she clawwed at Irvine's hip burying her face into the side of his leg to hide her eyes from a gruesome sight that she surely has embedded in her mind forever. Scooping the girl up with one arm, he copes with the weight of a ten year old as he moves her to another house.
He wondered if Squall had gotten to Ellone yet? Maybe he could drop the girl off there with her. Going into the house next to the one he'd just been in, he calls out for anyone who might be inside, but no one hollared back.
"You're gonna have to stay here," He sets her down. "I don't know where your house is, but you gotta stay safe while I clear the area. Okay?"
In spite of her tear sogged face, she nods and runs to hide inside of a cabinet after removing the pots and pans from inside. Irvine hoped she'd be safe, but he had to check the place out to be sure that it was empty before leaving. There was a mess, but no monster hiding around. For now, she'd have to hope for the best.
The wind had become tornado-ish in its velocity, and the sudden gust knocked Irvine over onto his butt; the recover never got to happen, because a left hand came up from underground grabbing him around his midsection, and his arms are pinned rendering his guns useless. The right hand joined its partner-in-crime grabbing onto the man's legs.
Irvine bucked like a fish stuffed into a waterless bucket to get free; indian-burns hurt like a bitch, so imagine one for your spine! Or possibly they'll squeeze him like they're ringing out a sponge, whatever the assault it was gonna hurt severly.
"Rrrraaa!!!"
Irvine opened his pain-anticipating eyes to see an older man, possibly early 40s drawing back a masamune sword that he'd plunged into the monsters' wrists, one than the other. They dropped Irvine fast, to shake off the pain caused, then came in for the man with vengance. Irvine rubbed sore, bruise-heavied, arms but he aided the man with some well aimed shots.
One hand died, and the other was well on its way with the fancy ribbons the man is making of the undead decapitation. His blade whirled like that of a whip, it moved so fluidly and so quickly, though its very much a solid.
"Figures something like this would happen." He says while curing Irvine. "I'd quit Garden life long ago, late teens, dammit. But somehow, this fighting lifestyle catches up to you."
"Do you know what's going on?"
"Not a clue... I do know one thing, this's a lot of friggin monsters."
Sensing that the man is not the least bit interested in battling, he asks. "There's a little girl hiding inside, can you guard her?"
Looking at the front door of the home, the man nods then heads into the house. Hearing the ruckus behind him in the distance, he changes clips in the guns in the upper holsters, junctions Flare into the rounds by slapping his hand to a Garden insignia carved on the back of the barrel then he charged off to battle across the bricked streets.
Squall seemed pretty monsterous himself, slicing and slashing his way through the Chocobo field with Renzokuken; a few Blood Souls and one Lefty are pulling meat off a, not long ago lounging, bird. Limit Break triggered, he adjusts his stance with legs parted, raising the Twin Lance's tip to the sky. A huge partical beam shoots from its blade into the sky and up through even the ozone layer, and the drop of the beam not only freed the field from the problem but it removed the remains of the chocobo and any flowers laying on the ground. It was like a giant scar.
But it wasn't the marring of Earth that bothered Squall, but what lay beyond it...
"Is anybody alive in here!?" Called Irvine going into another home.
He'd eliminated the monsters reeking havoc on the barred closed mansion, then hurried to another home to look for inhabitants. He'd swung back to the home where the young girl and swordsman were and he instructed them to the mansion full of most of the townspeople. He didn't question why they were all there, but he appreciated knowing that most of them were.
"Here! I'm up here.." A man called down the stairs.
"Mr Pontier, if you're not alone.. or alone, there's a house just a ways down the street... the mansion in th culdasac. Take yourself down there, you'll be safe."
"Y-yes... but my son, he's been attacked. I don't know if he can be moved."
Not really wanting to linger, Irvine glanced over his shoulder in wonder of Squall's progress before running to the staircase where the man is standing in wait.
"He's right this way."
Going down the hall, Pontier moves aside so Irvine can enter the room. Kneeling beside the bleeding lad, he's glad that the bite hadn't gone all the way through... but its still pretty nasty. Good thing he drew some cure before that hand died.
"This is gonna sting... like a lot." Casting a level 2 cure on the child, he winced himself when the boy began to shriek in pain. "I'm sorry."
His cries didn't last long, and before the bite could finish scarring over, he was off the bed and into his Father's arms.
Standing, Irvine grabs the man by the shoulder. "So like, there's a guy waiting inside, he'll keep you safe" He hoped. "I'll see you on your way, but I can't stay with you."
Nodding, Pontier is ushered down the stairs and out of his home into the chaos.
"A few doors down!" He called over the boom of the wind.
Yelping when his lover grabbed his arm, surprising him, Irvine questioned the situation with an arched brow.
"There's a Gargantuan Vysage just outside of town, he's moving in..." Squall reports. "I'll stop him, but you've gotta take out this guy on the cliff."
The two start moving for the shed, ducking and dodging debris on the way. The howling wind is ripping apart everything! Small tree branches, fences, cars, wagons, wooden crates, even the smaller animals have gone flying!
"Is Ellone all right?"
"She's in the house, I told her to stay there."
"A man is housing a few people up the street. He's a former SeeD, still sharp... considering when he quit."
"No. She stays with us.."
Going down into the sub-storage room, he grabs a rifle with a smirk on his face over the fact that Squall can be such a gaurdian. Feeling a gurgle in his throat, Irvine coughs into his fist, excusing the exhausted feeling rushing to him by waving his hand at the concerned glance.
Squall saw that as reason to believe he was right in asking Irvine to pick off the spectator while he handled the larger threat. He hadn't been feeling too good himself, but Irvine's the one who blacked out for hours back home. His sick could be choosing this time of high adrenaline to show itself.
Removing the Scomical from his face, Irvine let it rest around his neck; he doesn't need it since his rifle already has a scope. Squall grabbed his Lionheart blade and stormed out of the place on a mission. That monster could be in town by now, and he doesn't want anyone- namely Ellone- getting caught in the fray.
"What is goin' on with this wind?" Irvine wonders, while tipping his head to it. "Gonna be hard to make a good shot, but not impossible." Brushing Squall on the shoulder, he shouts. "Lemme know if you need backup!"
"I won't."
He charged into battle.
'Sis broke her arm trying to get away from one of these damned beasts.'
And recalling her words of the hand being attached to an arm, there was a very good chance that this big mother fucker was the culprit. He'll be sure to pay it back for it.
The Vysage met Squall half way, its mummified existance sprang up from the Earth like it weren't about to hide from some pathetic human. Apperantly this thing doesn't know its about to face a Lion.
The blue and white gunblade activitated in his grasp, and Squall dove in with steel blazing.
"What the Hell is that guy doin'?" Wondered Irvine watching from a spot he's laying in beneath the porch of their home.
He looks to just be tapping a staff to the ground, while looking down into the little town. He's such a tiny little spec through the his normal vision, but through the scope, he watches one of the Sorceresses worshippers waving around a stick that's got a glowing rock on its top. It appeared he's watching Squall's battle. Turning the gun to face the direction his lover had moved to, he sees Squall lob off the creature's arm in the finishing of his ultimate Limit Break's sequence, but like magic it started to reform. He's never seen a monster do THAT before! Better take him out while he can.
Pulling a band from his jeans pocket, Irvine snatches his loose blowing hair into a bundle, tying it off into a ragged bun on the back of his head. Can't risk the wind blowing his hair into his view at a crucial time like this.
Squall sneered at the monster, unimpressed with its trick of bringing itself back together, when a moment ago it was a bundle of ribbon and aged bone. Slicing at the beast, he's landing every hit efficiantly... but it seems to be doing little in the killing department. Its wounds just continue to heal!
Time to try a new tactic. Thrusting Lionheart into the oversized Mummy's exposed ribcage, he launches himself into the air by leaping onto the flat of his weapon, and once above the beast, he cast Blizzara. Using the tip of the ice shard to deep throat the onlooking monster, he readjusts his dive so that his weight falls on the flat end to shove it down farther until it pinned the thing in place in an awkward arch.
Hopping off, he removes his gunblade and with it succeeds in removing the Vysage's head from its body. Satisfied at the Earth shaking drop of its removed appendage. Going after the body with the dispatch of his limit, he doesn't get to the Limit Break when the, once removed, hand laying in a sizzling heap had a resourection and grabbed him midway!
The ice in the monster's torso shattered away; slicing Squall's face as he watched it rebuild itself. Bellowing in his face, as if to declare that the beheading hurt, it slammed the male around with finess. Squall was a simple rag doll in the things massive hand, still detached from its whole body; and once it was done swinging him, it stood him still before the fully healed beast so the two hands attached to it could beat upon him like he were a human boxing bag.
Just as the head began chanting a spell to petrify Squall for the breaking, its roaring in pain from a bullet in the eye. Fallen, Squall rolled for cover casting Curaga that he stole previously from a lesser Vysage.
Returning his attention to the worshipper on the cliff, Irvine fired off another two rounds. The wind was something to mind, because it seemed to never let up! He has to time this perfectly, because so far all he did was clip the man alerting him to hide, but he doesn't hide well enough since he needs to be able to see Squall's battle.
A slowing wooden crate, that soon tumbled to a stand still, told Irvine he'd better get firing or he'd miss out on this shot. Literally.
Winking an eye, he zooms the scope to the finest pinpoint.... then pulls the trigger.
The man's head shattered like a gumball machine, and his brain matter, skull, and skin fell about like the prize. The glowing rock atop his stick shattered against the rocky cliff, twisted in the wind like glitter falling from the sky.
Squall, who'd been summoning Shiva at the time, got covered in the burnt dust of the Giant Vysage departing from the world. He'd killed it a while back, but it seemed the worshipper was keeping it alive. And with his mad-scientist healer dead, the wounds caught up to it.
But what bothered Squall, was not the fact that he'd been beating death over and over again into something that should have already died... but the fact that Shiva never came.
8 8 8
It's raining out. An hour has passed since the defeat of the Gargantuan and his helper on the cliff.
Most of the stupified monsters have been cleared out, but mainly to search for the townspeople who remained alive. Once every frightened shiverer was found, they locked themselves away in the mansion resting in the mouth of the culd-a-sac.
Some mantrad prayers to Hyne, other's cried, some consoled the crying, some gossiped about what was going on, the children unaffected by the drone of action and dangers reinacted what little they saw of Squall, Irvine, and Jasper- the swordsmen- who'd gone outside to assist in the survivor hunt. That was the main ruckus of the large, beautiful, home.
The homeowner's staff made themselves busy with helping the sudden guest to bathrooms, bedrooms to rest, or to the kitchen for a meal. Hammer hit upon nails to board up the homes entrances and exits a while back, so they can move freely about the home without alerting the hungry visitors.
Squall and Irvine are peeking out of the window through a space in the boarding; speaking quietly to each other.
"You mean like how Siren left?" Irvine asks, after hearing Squall explain what happened.
"No. I didn't have her junctioned. It was an after thought to use her for damage advantage...." Looking over at Ellone, who's about to start a fourman patty-cake with a trio of little girls, he crosses his arms in an attempt to remove his pissed mood. "I wanna get Elle out of here, and we can't leave these people either."
"What? We're gonna bring 'em to Garden?" He looks around. "It doesn't usually sit well with people to be hanging out in a military base."
"Tough. We don't know if this is the end of that, and..."
"Squall?" Ellone walks over after leaving the young girls to their own devices. "I meant to tell you, Kiros called your phone while you were searching earlier; he says Uncle Laguna never returned any of his calls since... five days ago. He thinks he might be in trouble. Have you been able to reach him?"
"No, and I've been trying too." He took his phone back from Ellone, stuffing it into his pocket. "Garden is coming to pick us up tomorrow, but we need to call that submarine to take us out there."
"To Dollet? He could really be in trouble, we need something faster."
"I already called the police in Timber, they said they'd check it out.... but," She quieted.
"What?" Squall pressed.
"Timber said they couldn't contact the department in Dollet... they suspect that the powerlines are down."
"I think we can get an Air Tram to take us out there, it should be faster than the submarine- at least by a day." Irvine suggests.
"Call them; in the meantime, I'll get a hold of Garden."
"Why're you calling them?" Ellone wonders.
"Because I need to make sure that you're safe." Squall took her hand into his. "What happened here is too random, I can't risk your life if it happens again. You'll be safer in Garden."
Nodding, Ellone gives the back of his hand a reassuring pat with her free-hand.
"The Trane is coming."
An Air Tram is a transportation module, it looks like a large flying bus with four bench seats and one for the pilot. On top of the contraption are the means of making it fly, which are four sets of blades placed in the corners that chop around through the air. Its the pride of Fisherman's Horizons artisans and builders. And nothing in the air is faster except, of course, for the Ragnorok. That's docked in Esthar's airstation.
Where the vessel is fast enough to have them there and back again, it really hasn't been used in a long time since the Air Trams have been invented, so maintainance is a wonder.
"Darlin' you oughta go it alone, I can stay here and wait for Garden to pick up the villagers."
"Are you sure?"
"I've got a shed full of arsenal and ammo, I think I'll do just fine."
"Turn that up..." Jasper asks the elderly man who's listening to the radio.
Radio: A monster earthquake is laying seige to the beautiful bouyant town of Fisherman's Horizon; the cause of the activity is not man-made-
Random Person: Its one of those damned monsters! Its like a sea critter, only bigger! It just came out of nowhere and started bashing our beams... We're liable to sink at this rate!
Moving closer to the radio, the two SeeDs glance at each other in curiosity. It couldn't be a Gaurdian Force... could it?
Radio: We've currently got the police trying to remove the townspeople... but if anyone can hear us out there, we nee- aaahhh!!!
"I'll watch Winhill, don't worry. You two get to F.H." Irvine looks to Squall and Jasper.
Shaking his head, Squall asks the swordsman. "Can you handle it? I'll send some of Galbadia's cadets as back-up, since they're closer right now, and some Trabians for medical aid."
"Sure. No problem." Was his reply, but with the grump in his voice, it sure sounded like the man would rather curl up and die than go back into military life.
And after a half hour of waiting for his Tram, Squall gave his love a kiss on the cheek, and told Ellone to be safe, before he took off for Dollet. Jaspers shuttle came 10 minutes after Squall's, taking him to Fisherman's Horizon.
"Dinner!" Announced a very tall butler.
Meanwhile, in another part of the world.
The hired team of Kait, Vola, Amada, and Sorin arrived on the West Coast of Esthar's continent. The ride over was something a little different than the band of four had expected. For one, Kait was behaving like a caged animal instead of laughing and carrying on with his best friend, as he normally would; most guys would kill to have missions with their best friends so they can goof off before anything serious happens, the two of them do it all the time, since they are on the same squad. But not today.
Then there's Vola, who's decided that he needs to ignore the jittery team captain by going into a deep state of 'ommmmm' meditation. Sorin was surprised the loud intone wasn't bugging the already aggitated little bum. Girly-girl Amada has decided to do her nails in the glow of one of the subs sconce light fixutres, leaving Sorin to polish his boomerang in sulking contemplation.
By the time the submarine docked through the thick sand of the Esthar West coast's beach, the four of them were racing to get away from each other and into a more open environment- if thousands of thick trees is an open area, that is.
If it weren't for the sun's ability to leap into any open space given to it, you'd swear they'd arrived at night, or even that they're stuck in a box with simulation abilities that have been programmed to project trees. But there are those beams of sun, reaching down to the thick forest floor like it clawwed its way down to the litter of pine needles and cones, old broken leaves from a fall that's come and gone probably years ago.
It even smells thick and dark, with tree bark and branch dust sparkling in the rays... pollen from the flowers that are larger than they should be.
They've been wandering for an hour, and haven't found any sign of the third generation of wild Chocobo swindlers. Just a lot of plants, and a few animals scurrying about.
"1200 gil for this mission... sweeeet!" Sorin declared while following their squad commander into deeper reaches of the thick forest.
"Yeah, to split" Kait informs. "that's a pitiful 300."
"Aa, details, details.... what we need to do is get you out of that sour mood." Slinging an arm around his best friend's shoulders, he marches along side of him happily smiling to try lightening his mood. "We can finish this mission up lickety-split, then find our way to the capital where we can have a couple drinks, listen to some music, dance with a couple babes- hope for a dance of the horizontal kind with them- then get to Garden by the time anyone knows that we finished early and side-tripped to the capital. Think about it."
And he does. "......That would be cool." Smiling, he shifts their hold, to give his friend a noogy. "You always know just how to make me feel better."
"Thank you."
"I..." She pauses her comment to hop over a thick tree root. "had better not chip my nail polish. I just put this on, y'know."
Looking over his shoulder at the only female on the team, he lets out an exaggerated huff. "Why'd it have to be her? All the skirts in school, and we get stuck with a priss."
"What happened to 'S'long as its female, you'll hit that tail'?" He questions by throwing his friend's motto back at him.
"Yeah well... that one is a little too Fifi for my taste." He swats a firefly from his path. He hates bugs. "Can you imagine it-"
"No."
Having not heard him, or ignored his reply, Sorin went on. "You'd get down to plowing that, only to find out she moans like a kid with an injury.... that's just not cool."
"I know what you mean."
Grabbing the front of his shirt, Kait tugs it like he's fluffing a blanket. Its so hot out. And inspite of popping Shumi's marketed herbal Winter Island Ice throat drops, like no one's business, his throat still feels pretty raw. Maybe they can finish up quickly and head out. He'd like nothing more than to take a good hard sleep in a hotel bed, and forget about his troubles.
Number one on the list, being touched by the pony-tailed playboy of a best friend. He can feel his warmth... his pulse... and damn it all, he wants to stop it. It actually began making him twitch when they were on the submarine, any time they would casually touch. And Amada, hugging him, rubbing her cheek to his in a nuzzle while calling him Kaitie like they're besties, to try cheering him up. Vola is the only one not plucking his nerves. Bless him, the giant, silent bastard.
"Joel!?" He freed himself from the palsy hold, to run ahead of the squad and shout for the child's response. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he calls again. "Jooooel!?"
"We've been searching for an hour- seriously!" Amada. "And all we've done is call Forbidons to us. And frankly, killing those undead skeletons is freaking me out... they cast Death, y'know... how are we gonna go up against that, if we run out of Life spells."
'Stupidity in battle can cast Death as well, Amada.' Thinks Vola while looking left then right for oncoming assault.
"I've got twenty nine spells, we should be fine." Kait assures her.
"I drew some too." Sorin beams proudly.
Vola merely nods to affirm that he's got spells as well.
"I just wish we could move some of these trees." Kait looks up through the thick forest, spotting the most microscopic spec of sunlight at the very top. That ray must have given up hope of reaching the forest floor, because its not even trying. "Joooooel!?"
"Joel!" Sorin joined in.
Shaking her head, brown hair swinging past her forehead, she stands beside Vola and asks. "Can you believe those two, I mean, what did I just get through saying about the noise?" Shrugging a hand, she adds. "Its a wonder we're not competing in body count, because honestly I think we've got a shot at becoming Masters."
".....Do you hear that?" Ear poised to the left of them all, Kait points off to an aimless direction. "It sounds like someone's counting... a kid's voice."
"Really?" At his side, Amada cast her bright green eyes in the direction he's pointing to get a look. Then she pricked her ear. "I don't hear anything...."
"Just hush, and you'll hear it." He instructs.
The four of them look like poster children for a hearing-aid ad. They'd be the before going "Say that again".
"I hear it." Sorin nods.
"Me too! Joel! Joel!" She hurries off in that direction.
"Amada, wait!" Sorin takes off after her.
It was stupid to go running off without any real knowledge of what they're running to. There have been stories told about a moving forest, passed down from generation to generation but none have actually seen it. And any who have... were never heard from again, so you could never pin down any of the many rumors and stories told about the place as true to experience.
Some say it turns day to night within entrance; others say it has the reverse effect as well. Some have said it grabs you up, and spits you out of the forest and back down onto the beach, which wouldn't be so bad out of all the other options to fall prey to of this moving growth of nature. Some say its alive, and makes all your dreams come true which causes you to never want to leave, which is why any who have entered always remain. And some say, its a drifting spirit disguised as a forest to trick people into its gut. With too many rumors to describe, one thing was for sure...
Vola went forward six paces with Kait next to him, and four paces later... he was alone in the dark.
.................
Weeding his way through the thick roots and pine needles, Vola looks from left to right for where his missing teammate might make some sort of sound or indication that he's there. He would have called for him, but he doesn't want to alert a monster, singular or plural, to attack him. When they're all this deadly, its better to be stealth, unseen and heard.
His eyes flash a brilliant green when he's done casting Scan. His vision grids the forest out before him, and highlights monsters and animals as he looks around for his friends. There are four monsters roaming boredly about the area; their literal bony bodies walk casually about like undead pirate remains, what with the swords pointed ominously in the air while they stalk about, he's ok with letting them mind their own business while he does the same.
"What. On. Earth?"
The scanner highlights a large beast, it looks like a Gaurdian Force Diablo, but the coloring is different than the usual spread of the monster. Its red, white, and black which means it isn't the dominant of the Devil species. The coloring kind of reminds him of Kait's clothing.
The scan can't even name it, its showing question marks on all points, except that it uses Demi. Alarmed, Vola makes his way to a large tree to hide while he takes the beast in.
'Can I draw it in?' He wonders over the distance that the ability will work.
Focusing his vision again, when hearing loud squelching sounds, he takes notice that its eating something. The scan took a moment to identify the mutated animal, and what it read off stopped Vola's blood cold: Sorin Holiday.
"It can't be..." He whispered, then clamped his usually silent mouth shut when the monster whipped its head around in his direction. 'Hyne... Don't let it see me.'
"Joooooel!!" Amada called from somewhere in the distance.
Head snapping over in the direction of the girl's voice, it growled low in its throat; blood and drool dripped from its mouth and teeth in anticipated hunger, and it stalked off on all fours, looking like a feral cat in its movement.
Flabberghasted, Vola quietly moves over to Sorin's mutilated body. He looked like a sudden cold front has gripped him, the way his body shook and dropped him to his knees beside the male... or what's left of him. The jolly playboy's spinal cord is exposed to him like a chicken bone plucked clean.... even bits of the male's hip bone.
He looks more stunned than terrified, his eyes are wide open from the panic washing over him. Trembling hands pull the male's eyes closed. Sorin is far beyond magics reach now. He has to stop that thing, before it gets to Kait and Amada, whom its already gone after!
"I will avenge you, my friend."
................
"You guuuuys!" Amada screams. "Joooooelllll! Jo- ah!" She flopped down onto the dirt to avoid being smashed into by some large thing, that just leapt past her and into a tree. "What the Hell was that?" Looking over her shoulder up into the tree, she gasped.
Two red eyes peer down at her; their glowing so intensely there may as well be a light shining on them. A glutteral growl filled her ears; she froze in absolute terror, she couldn't even reach for her tonfa blasters, too frightened to move.
"Mmmm.... Hhruunnnn..." The beast ground out in a rasp breath.
Amada yelped before scrambling to her feet. Running as fast as she could, didn't seem to be fast enough; imagine being in a garbage disposal that's turned on, and you've shruken down to the size of a detatchable pencil eraser, and on top of being small the blades are moving around!
This thing is diving and leaping at her with giant claws swiping just close enough to knick her clothing, but not serious enough to just grab her outright. It's playing with its food!
Falling to her stomach, she covers her head to protect it from damage on the next dive. "Hhha!!" She cried out when the back of her hand began to sting from being knicked. Chanting Hyne's name over and over in a panic; she removes her tonfa from their holsters, then rolls over. "Eat plasma, pal!!"
Her aim was at anything moving, whether it were beast or bird... she was going to shoot it. The pink balls of light went slamming into the trees at top speed, breaking through whatever it touched. She heard no indication of the monster being hit, though there was plenty of fallen dubris from where it took off to avoid being hit.
Spreading her arms, she fires in the East and West direction then the North and South.
"Where the fuck are you?!" She screamed.
There was the strangest sound, like someone blowing into the hole of a bottle, or a seashell horn. She looked left then right for where the attack was going to come from, but what she saw were oversized balls.
"Bubbles?" She wondered to herself.
But they're darker than bubbles. It was more like...
"Demi! Oh my God."
One ball began to spin, slow and languidly. Scared, she hurries away from the terrifying feeling of her blood trying to pull from her skin, while her bones get crushed; but there are so many spinning orbs to watch out for. It reminded her of when she was a child, and her Father got that bubble machine for her birthday party; she loved that beautiful sea of thousands of rainbow illusioned balls, giggling when they'd burst against her bare arms in the summertime.
This... totally not cool! These bubbles are evil, and will leave boils in your skin if they touch you, and Hyne forbid one lands on you, it'll lay you flat like a pancake. As if they overheard her thoughts, the balls of magic began bouncing like rubber balls, now chasing her through the trees.
Amada screamed when her face hit the ground; it wasn't Demi that hit her, it was Vola. He shoved her aside, before hurling his pike at the lunging beast. It arched in pain as the tip of the blade traced the curve of its spine on the way by. And its tosser had to leave his weapon for dead in a tree trunk that it pierced after landing its hit, and he began casting Thundara.
The forest lit up over and over again with blue lights flashing each bolt. Cables of lightning danced through the air, some hitting its mark while others just slapped into the dirt from missing a moving target.
"We have to go!" Vola grabbed up Amada, running with her to a hopefully safer location.
He'd hurt the monster, the sharp point of his trident sliced through the monster's skin, opening a gaping wound right along his spine, exposing bone and muscle to the dirt it just landed on. He'll be out of commition, at least long enough for them to escape.
"Is it chasing us?" Amada wondered looking over her shoulder.
"Just keep moving."
They slipped down a small drop, and ducked into an opening inside of a tree trunk.
"What the Hell is that thing?" Amada asks.
Vola shakes his head. "It killed Sorin.... I can't find Kait, have you seen him?"
"No." She looks down beside her hand where the moss just moved on its own.
"C-... Can you guys help me?" Asks a young voice tucked up into the back of the hole in the tree.
The two cadets spun their heads around, looking over to the voice.
"I have a light." She turns on the light attached to her tonfa, shining it in the direction the voice had come from. "Joel?"
The young boy nods, slipping lower from the tuck he'd stuffed himself into. "I can't believe someone found me.... how did you know where I was?"
"Iiii.... Well, we were kind of chased in here." Touching the boy's dirty face, she grabbed his chin to turn his head back and forth. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, it was so weird... I was heading home, and then I got turned around. Something chased me in here, and gave up when I didn't come out." Frowning he asks. "Does anyone have anything to eat? I've been living off of bugs and rain water..."
The two shake their heads. They lost their bags a while ago when they got separated.
"We'll get you home..." Vola looks at his comrad. "Amada, you get him to the beach and call the submarine. I'll lead that thing away from you, and look for Kait."
"Okay." She nods.
"Just leave, don't come back for me... don't try to stick around for back up. We finish this mission. That's top priority."
Nodding, she can't help but listen. Vola is never this chatty, so when he talks... you listen.
"Wait three minutes, then move... We may be in the moving forest, so be mindful of similarities."
"We will, and good luck.... Don't let that thing get you too."
Nodding, he leaves the tree in search of Kait and the monster.
...............
"Curaga..." He screams when the large slice of his back begins mending.
It was the third time he'd cured himself, and the pain is still like burning knives. What happened?! One minute he was racing beside Vola for some calling child, then he blacked out. Waking up naked, and badly injured down his back, to a point where he can barely move; there's blood everywhere... and he knows its his own.
He groaned miserably over the blades plunging into his exposed spinal cord; trying to crawl, one forearm over the other was doing more harm than good at this point, but he couldn't lay still there forever.
Casting another level 3 cure, he screams out the healing effects, sobbing in the relief that's finally beginning to happen. Something was collapsed in the distance, it looked like a pile of mutilated animal; he wouldn't care, normally, things like that are natural when you're in monster inhabited nature.... its the fact that it disappears then reappears, like some unseen force is playing with it like its a magic trick.
"Cura..." He whispered over a hoarse throat.
It tingled like mad, but not as bad as when it was bleeding. He's even able to crawl on all fours now; he'll need a hospital if he becomes self conscious of scars, but aside from the uprisen trench, his back now feels fine enough for him to walk; and he would have, if he weren't trying to stay modest.
"Oh... no..." His heart began to pound in his ears as he got closer to the dead animal.
Its head isn't facing him, but that telltale crewcut and ponytail spoke louder than flat-out seeing his face ever could. "Sori... Sorin..." He shakes the lifeless body. "Sorin!" He drops his forehead to the monster's leftovers that used to be his best friend's life. "How the fuck did this happen?"
His hand hovers over the corpse, not wanting to touch him and cause him more pain; not that he could feel pain anymore, but Kait's reasoning is gone. He honestly felt like everything was gone. Sorin was his best friend, they did everything together... he met him when they were 13 years old, and since then they've been double trouble. It'd be like losing Raul back in Balamb Town.
Did a monster do this? Looking around for his weapons, and clothes; he decides to remove his friend from these woods. He can't leave him out here. Sorin needs to have a proper funeral, whether there's a pretty corpse or not. But when he looked to where the body lay... there wasn't even a drop of blood in the empty spot.
'The moving forest....' He wonders.
"Help me... somebody, please help me.."
Called a quiet voice.
"I'm com'... I'm coming!"
Walking on shaking legs, he looks over his shoulder one last time; a rock moved within the blink of an eye, Sorin's body returned and was gone in an instant once again. And once again, he heard the voice calling.
'Sorin... I'll get you out of here.' Turning back to the calling child, he walks carefully to him.
He can't lose where he is, so he's walking carefully... and taking notice of everything that stands out.
..............
Author's Note: Happy New Year readers! I'll start lovin' it on the 3rd. But today... mmm nah. First update of the New Year woo woo!!!
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Uprising: The Beast Wars