Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Problems in the Mirror ❯ 2: Because Heat Seeking Missiles Are Fun ( Chapter 2 )

COMMENTS: Yes, I know, I'm giving the Ragnarok a few toys the game never mentioned, but you just don't put guns in a ship without giving it SOMETHING to know when it's being fired on or is about to hit something. To do so would be plain irresponsible!

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Problems in the Mirror

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2: Because Heat Seeking Missiles Are Fun

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Intro

"Can you say how much damage?" Nida asked the leader of the squad the mayor had designed to help care for the Garden.

The man (Old Thom) shook his head, his blue eyes a little concerned. "Not quite as bad as when you crashed into FH, but close." He then began to list the parts of the Garden that the high seas hit-and-run had damaged, half of which Nida had never heard of and half of which Nida knew that Squall had just paid to have waxed.

"How much are we going to have to pay?" Xu interjected

A slow grin spread across Old Thom's face. "If you get rid of whatever you ran over, nothing. It's been troubling our fishing boats. Very annoying little problem. Can't survive in FH without fish."

"I see," Xu said. "Fine, we'll get rid of your monster."

"Better ask Squall first," Nida told her. It wasn't that Nida was a by-the-book person- he just thought Squall scary when angry.

Xu gave him a dry look. "I have a feeling that Squall's ready to kill it too."

1

"STUPID!"

Kick.

"MONSTER!" Squall kicked the metal of the Ragnarok, ignoring the flashes of pain it jolting through his foot and up his leg.

It easily damaged the strong metal of Cid's Garden… and I have to pay for it, Squall thought bitterly. Cid had made it abundantly clear that any damage Garden took would come out of his paycheck. Which meant Rinoa wouldn't get the ring she thought she was getting for her birthday anytime in the next twenty years. Damn.

He groaned and pressed his forehead to the cool metal of the wall.

"Squall!" Zell suddenly shouted from the cockpit.

"Yeah?" He shouted back, not lifting his head from the wall.

"Message from Xu and Nida. About the Garden."

"Coming." He shrugged and strolled into the cockpit of the Ragnarok, inwardly impressed as always by the manufacturing.

Xu and Nida's faces filled a screen on the control panel.

"Commander Squall," Xu and Nida said, saluting. Squall returned the salute and nodded for them to give their message.

"Commander, I have a list of the parts the hit damaged… and it's a long list."

"How long?" Squall asked, his voice quiet but deadly.

"Very long," Nida said, to which Xu added, "Ten pages long."

"The cost?" Squall asked.

"Well, if we kill the monster that did it, then the repairs are free. They say it's troubling the fishing boats."

"Well," Zell said as he seated himself at the controls, "the plan was to go back and figure out what we hit."

"Then we go," Squall said.

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The two vehicles zipped along at about the same speed. Nida's ability to gun it as high as he could and keep the Garden steady impressed Squall, just as much as Zell's ability to rein in the Ragnarok's speed.

"Zell, is it coming up?"

"Well, we got a big something that ain't the Garden just east. It's right in our way."

"That's it," Quistis said. "We do have a plan of action, right?"

"O' course we do!" Zell scoffed. "Kill it!"

Squall smiled a mirthless smile. "Zell, fire on it once it's in range."

"Right!"

They soon approached it, but Zell (amazingly) held fire until the dot was large and there was no chance of missing the beast. Squall stared at the silver-purple tentacles that waved above the water. He could vaguely make out a large eye from above, and below the eye, in the roiling water lurked sharp, pointed shapes- teeth.

"Wait a second! Is that a girl?" Zell suddenly cried, pointing down.

Squall blinked and stared at the figure that appeared to be standing on an island that hadn't been there before.

The sea monster chose this moment to prove itself sentient by speaking. It spoke with a deep, booming voice that echoed over the water.

"Talia…" The monster rumbled. Squall barely recognized the language as language spoken in Centra when Centra was green. "…You have dealt falsely with me…"

"Your ring is in the depths of the ocean, as we promised," the figure replied. "We sank a ship full of all the rings of Lea Monde."

Squall recognized the word 'Lea Monde'. It was the name the Centra peoples used for 'the world'.

"Do not lie to me, Undine spirit! As I am of the water, so are you! Let not one water creature lie to another!" This loud, angry rumbling was terrible to hear.

"Hold your fire, Zell," Squall said. "This Talia person may just rid us of our problem. If she lives long enough."

"Gotcha," Zell replied.

"I speak the truth!" The girl insisted. "We sank the ship just a little ways out from the city walls!"

"Liar! I shall have your ring, Undine spirit!"

The girl's body shifted into something entirely different from anything he had ever seen before. She bore a suspicious resemblance to Shiva, except without the aura that screamed "cold."

"Then have it!" Talia cried. "But first, Kraken, you must promise to never trouble these fair seas again!"

"Agreed," rumbled the Kraken as Talia tossed something into the water. He disappeared slowly under the waves.

Interlude

An hour or so later found Squall and company drinking coffee on the Ragnarok, discussing the Kraken and the mysterious girl- Talia. Well, all members but Selphie and Irvine, who were in the cockpit. Selphie was flying the ship and Irvine was 'keeping her company.'

"Selphie?" Irvine suddenly asked, placing his hat on Selphie's head.

"Yeah, Irvie?"

"Is that thing still on the radar?"

"Um…" She paused to look for the telltale blip on the radar. Finding it, she replied, "Yeah."

"Want to make it blow up?"

"Whoo-hoo! Oh yeah!"

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A sudden sound (rather like an explosion, Rinoa thought, though she quickly dismissed the notion) rocked the ship. "What was that?" She cried.

"That was just Selphie firing our guns," Zell replied casually, chancing a look up at the cockpit.

"From the sound of it, the heat seekers blasted off at particularly high speed," Quistis commented.

"HEAT SEEKERS? SHIT!!" The blonde martial artist cried suddenly, his electric blue eyes widening in shock and horror.

"What's wrong with Zell?" Rinoa asked sweetly to no one in particular as Zell dashed off to the cockpit, screaming about water and height and tsunamis.

2

Irvine turned at the sound of the lift ascending and the sound of fast footsteps ringing against the metal floors. The door opened and Irvine's second least favorite blonde staggered in, electric blues eyes wide with horror, crying "SELPHIE! TAKE THE RAGNAROK UP! TAKE IT UP!"

"Zell, speak sense!" Selphie asked.

"Increase our altitude! NOW!" The martial artist replied.

Selphie did so, knowing better than to ignore Zell when concerning the Ragnarok. She had only one question, but before she could ask, It happened.

A muffled "BOOM!!!" and water splashed up into the air, reaching almost to the top of the Garden. Zell cried out in awe of the underwater explosion they'd caused and screamed in fear for Garden.

"Selphie! Garden's gotta get outta here!" Zell cried, unsure of why he was screaming.

"They're already on it!" Irvine pointed. Sure enough, Garden was speeding away. Behind them, however, something faintly purplish struggled to surface. Zell's mouth opened wide.

"What is that?!" Selphie screamed, her voice having lost all its cheer.

"Some girl called it Kraken," Zell replied.

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COMMENTS:

The girl is Talia, an Undine- a sea spirit from Vagrant Story who got no actual screen time, much like Mullenkamp. Trust me, there are NO original characters here. VS fans, do you remember Talian Ring? Its item description gives a certain amount of back-story into the Kiltian religion and mythology system. According to the item description Talian Ring is "the ring the sea spirit Talia used to pacify the Kraken." Yes, I'm that much of a geek.

((Green eyed cat + Seifer skin))