Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ A New Fantasy ❯ Saidin ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

I don't own Final Fantasy

"Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows."

A figure stood in an open field with his hands held in front of him, a ball of red energy forming in between his palms. On his wrists, and around his neck and waist, blue jewels were glowing with the magical energy he was putting out.

"Buried in the stream of time, is where your power grows."

He wore jeans and a blue shirt. His hair was short, black and spiked, he wore glasses and behind them he had his eyes closed in concentration.

"I pledge myself to conquer all the foes who stand before the mighty gift bestowed in my unworthy hands."

Before him stood an angry red dragon he was fighting. He stood before him stomping it's short stubby legs, wanting to get on with the fight.

"Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I posses."

Tired of just waiting, the red dragon charged forward. Hearing this, the spell chanter looked up at the charging dragon and smiled.

"DRAGON SLAVE!" He threw his arms forward and when he did a huge surge of red energy flew forward to hit the dragon. An explosion followed when the spell hit the dragon and when the smoke cleared, the red dragon was nowhere to be seen. The fighter stood in the field alone, looking at the flattened surrounding area.

'I didn't really need the Dragon Slave to kill that thing,' he thought 'But it felt good slaying a real live dragon with it!' He looked around to see if there were anymore dragons, but there were none. 'Hmmm, still have to go find Squall,' he thought to himself, then outloud he said, "But how about I go kill a couple more dragons for the fun of it! Ha Ha Ha!" and with that he took off in search of more dragons, never relizing that he was being watched.

"Idiot, we should be looking for Squall, not satifying his bloodlust for dragons. It's a good thing Goku sent me here to watch over him." Then this fighter took off, following the first.
*--------------------*
'Weak,' The Grendel attacked, flying at him with it's claws. 'To slow.' he dodged the attacked easily. The Grendel got up and tried it again. 'This is so boring, they are to weak.' It lunged at him, aiming to take off his head with it's attack, and this time instead of sidestepping it, he slashed it's chest open with a powerful attack. The Grendel hit the ground and slid, leaving a smear of blood in the grass. He rushed to it and, before it could get up, cut it's head off.

Squall watched as the head rolled in the grass, and as the Grendel's lifless body fell heavily to the ground, blood flowing freely from it's neck. 'Nothing here is strong enough anymore.' he thought sadly. 'It's been awhile since I've had a good long battle were I had to use my full power.' He walked over to the Grendel and wiped the blood off of the Lionheart and onto the Grendel, strapped it to his back he decided to head back to the Garden to see if Headmaster Cid had anything for him to do.

It's been five long years since they killed Ultimecia. Five years since Squall, Zell and Rinoa had taken out Omega Weapon. That was the best fight ever, Omega. Squall closed his eyes as he walked, remembering how many times he almost died in that one long battle. After the battle, Squall felt complete, as if killing Omega Weapon had done something to him or awakened something in him. Ever since that battle Squall has felt a power growing inside of him. It was weak at first but over the years it grew stronger as he grew stronger. He had been training for the last five years.

This new strength would come and go occasionaly. When it took hold of him Squall felt more alive than he ever had before, and when it left everything seemed dull to him. This strange power also brought a strange light, shining in his head. It was like having a beacon just at the corner of your eye, you don't see it but you know it's there. Once he tried to reach for this light, to harness his new power. The experience almost killed him.

The power went wild, it made him feel alive like it always did, but at the same time it felt like he was riding down crumbling, burning mountains of ice. The power flew through him threatening to burn his mind away while it went past, he was lossing conciousness and at the last moment was able to push the power away from him. That was three years ago, he never again tried to touch the power.

Big feet stomping brought him out of his trip down memory lane. He opened his eyes and saw a Blue Dragon heading straight for him. Bringing the Lionheart back out, he spun it in his hands and got ready for another pointless battle. The Blue Dragon watched him spin the gunblade then seemed to have second thoughts about it's planned attack. With a loud howl, it flew into the air and away from Squall. Squall looked up surprised, he had never seen a monster run away on the Island Closest to Hell.

Strapping his gunblade back, he headed for his airship. He reached his airship that he bought with his salary, set it on auto-pilot and headed for the Garden in Balamb. The ship flew for about an hour and when it got close to it's destination, it began beeping to wake up Squall who decided to take a nap. He steered the airship into the parking lot and jumped out it, when he got out someone was waiting for him.

"Hey," It was Zell. Leaning against a wall with his arms folded over his chest, he still looked the same with his trademark tattoo down the side of his face.

"What's up?" replied Squall.

"New mission," Zell pushed himself off the wall and started walking beside Squall as they left the parking lot. "Were supposed to go to the Centra Ruins. You remember the place, where we found Odin?"

"Yeah, I remember." He also remembered the Forbiddin's and the Tonberries that were there. They were no longer a threat to him. "Why are we supposed to go there for, and what are we supposed to do?"

"Remember the first time we went there, we rushed through because of Odin's test? Then the second time, we generally stayed in open area to fight all the tonberries that came at us? Well now Headmaster Cid wants us to throughly explore the ruins, to see if we missed anything."

"Did he tell you why?"

"No he didn't and I asked him. But he just said that the Seed's are to do as the Headmaster says." They continued walking and came to the circular path that went around the elevator.

"When are we supposed to leave?"

"As soon as you got back. He gave me this letter so we could go to Esthar and get the Ragnarok, that way it will be a lot faster." The walked until they reached the panel at he front gates. "Oh yeah, we will have a new trainee with us, this is going to be here mission. If she passes, she will be a Seed."

"Great, first the stupid mission and now some little girl to babysit. what's her name?"

"Her name is Amelia."

They both agreed to meet at the front gates in thirty minutes, so they went to their rooms to get ready. While he was taking his shower, Squall figured out how they were going to get to Esthar. First they would take the train from Balamb to Timber, get on a train from Timber and cross Fisherman's Horizen. Then get into Esthar and get to the research facility that held the Ragnarok, then take the Ragnarok to the ruins.

While he put on his clothes he realized that she would be in Timber, and after strapping the Lionheart to his back he guessed that this mission wouldn't be too bad. He went to the front gates and waited for Zell and Amelia to come. A couple of minutes later a girl came to him and she was beautiful. Soft, brown shoulder length hair, big brown eyes, a tanned, toned body with curves in all the right places, and a sword at her hip.

She moved with deadly grace, with seductive movements and to Squall it was easy to tell that she could have that katana out of it's scabbard in the blink of an eye. She swayed to a halt in front of him and looked up at him, and as Squall looked down he could see some of her cleavage at the top of her shirt. She watched his eyes for a moment then spoke,

"Are you Squall?" she had a pleasent voice and a quiet way of talking.

"Yes, and who are you?"

"I'm Amelia, Amelia Tanaka, the one who is supposed to accompany you on your mission to the ruins." Squall then saw that she was wearing the same clothes that Selphie had wore on their mission to Dollet and it showed of her shape even more. She looked at his eyes again, "You're cute."

"Thanks, where's Zell?" Her eyes widened at the obvious dismissal of her compliment and she whirled around and folded her arms and said in an icy tone, "Don't know."

"Well he needs to get here soon, he should be here in about two..."

"Here I am!" It was zell, shouting and running from the cafeteria with three hotdogs in his hands. He stopped in front of them then handed a hotdog to each of them. Squall took his and Amelia took hers and all three of them ate in silence, Zell looking Amelia up and down also taking in the katana she wore.

When they finished they introduced themselves, left the Garden, and were on their way to Balamb. Squall decided that he wanted to test out Amelia's skill, so they went into the forest and walked around a bit. When it finally came Squall and Zell told Amelia to do her best. She asked them what they were talking about when out of the forest behind her came a T-Rexar.

It roared when it saw Amelia and charged at her. She ran at it and drew her sword as she ran past it. She hit it's thigh with a quick attack and it crashed to the ground with a roar of pain. Amelia charged in again but this time the T-Rexar hit her with it's tail. She was sent flying into a tree, she hit the tree and slid down the trunk. Roaring again, the T-Rexar charged after it's fallen pray.

Squall and Zell were about to kill it but Amelia looked up at the dinosaur rushing toward her. She cast her hand out at it and when she did, Squall's skin began to goosebump. Fire consumed the T-Rexar and as it burned, Squall's power began to flow angrily, like it was mad at the magic that Amelia was using. The fire only lasted for about five seconds but in that short time the power in Squall almost took him over.

When the fire died out, there was only a pile of ash and the smell of burned meat in the air. Amelia stood up, panting, and sheath her katana back into the scabbard at her hip. Zell stood with his mouth wide open,

"What was that?"

"Oh the fire?" she asked in a sweet voice, "that was just a spell that my father taught me. He also gave me these things that boosted my magic power. That's way it seemed so strong."

Squall was only barely listening, even though the fire had died down he still had goosebumps. Amelia looked at his eyes again and frowned when Squall began rubbing his arms in order to get rid of the goosebumps. When she frowned the goosebumps went away and he stopped rubbing his arms. She was still looking at him and then suddenly his arms started goosebumping again. Before he could start rubbing his arms again, the feeling went away. It was all very strange.

"Are we ready to go now?" asked Squall.

"Yeah...sure. Let's get going, I want to finish this mission so I can become a Seed." said Amelia.

"Okay, let's go." said Zell.

They got into Balamb and had to hurry because the next train would be leaving in ten minutes. They got their tickets and jumped on the train before it had a chance to leave them. In the private Seed car, Amelia told them she was going to get some sleep. Squall and Zell left the car and went into the hallway, Zell went farther into the train while Squall stood near the door looking out the window.

After about thirty minutes of looking out the window,the intercom beeped announcing that they were now in Timber. Amelia came out of the room and Zell came back from wherever he had went. They got out of the train and into the station then continued on to go out of the city. While they were walking, Squall decided to take a little detour.

As Zell and Amelia started heading to the train station that would take them to and across Fisherman's Horizen, Squall slipped away and headed to where she was waiting. He rushed to the former home base of Timber's resistance, former because Timber had finally been liberated. He knocked three times and when no one answered opened the door and slipped in. Quietly he slipped upstairs so he wouldn't make a sound. When he got to her door he silently pushed it open and found her sleeping on the bed.

He gently sat on the bed so he wouldn't wake her, then slowly and carefully brushed her raven, black hair out of her beautiful face. His hands slowly went to her sides, they stayed there for a minute then...he tickled her. She woke with a start, tried to say something but couldn't, then she was laughing. Squall loved the way she laughed, it was one of the most wonderful sounds in the world.

He continued tickling her while she writhed on the bed under his arms. She was still trying to talk and eventually began to lose control and start kicking her feet. One of her kicks got Squall right in the chest, and he was knocked backwards off of the bed. Squall got up groaning with a hand on his chest, she had fallen asleep with her shoes on, and then looked at her.

When she was finally able to breath, Rinoa jumped off the bed and rushed to Squall. When she saw that he was okay, except for the kick, she threw her arms around him and pulled him in for the tightest hug she could give him. Squall drew her to him for an equally tight embrace.

They stayed there for a few minutes before she pulled away. Looking into his eyes with a smile on her face she asked, "What are you doing here? First Irvine and Selphie show up now you. Is this a mission or did you just come to visit me?"

'Irvine and Selphie? Maybe they could come along as well.' Then to Rinoa, "It's a mission..." Squall told her the mission objective and their plans. Then at the end of the explanation asked her, "So do you want to come with us?"

"Ofcourse! What kind of question is that? It's so boring around here now, I could use some excitment."

Squall barely heard the last part, because when she agreed the power came roaring to life again. It almost seemed to make him stronger so he could protect Rinoa. When the power died down again, Squall turned to Rinoa,"You said Irvine and Selphie were here, right?" She nodded, "Where?"

"They're at the inn."

"Good." Squall went to the window and looked down. When he did he saw Zell and Amelia coming out of the back of the pub.

"ZELL!" Zell and Amelia looked up. "Meet us in at the inn in ten minutes."

"Okay!" said Zell

Squall turned from the window and found that Rinoa had gone. He went downstairs and found her, petting Angelo. When Squall had come downstairs and Angelo saw him, he started barking at him and waging his tail. Squall bent down to give him a scratch behind the ears, "It looks like your not the only one happy to see me Rinoa"

She was writing something on a piece of paper and when Squall asked what it was, she told him it was a note telling everyone where she had gone. She grabbed her weapon, undid Angelo's leash so he could walk beside them, and they were on their way to the inn.

They reached the inn before Zell and Amelia and when they got there, Rinoa went inside to get Irvine and Selphie. Before she came back out though, Zell and Amelia had caught up. Zell was about to ask something, but Amelia got there first.

"What's the big idea leaving us alone like that?" she snapped at him. "I could have gotten lost you know, and you call yourself an S-rank Seed."

"How could you have gotten lost if Zell is there with you?"

"That dosen't matter, you still aren't..."

"It does matter. You are not supposed to question the actions of your superiors. Doing so could get you expelled from the Garden and then you'll never become a Seed. Is that what you want?"

"No." she said in a silent, hurt voice. Squall looked at her and thought that he was to hard. "Okay, next time I'll tell you when I'm about to go somewhere, but when I leave remeber that Zell is in command, alright?"

"Okay!" she was much happier. A few seconds later, Rinoa came back out, with Irvine and Selphie behind her. There were greetings and introductions. Selphie and Rinoa didn't seem to like the way Amelia was dressed, but Irvine rushed up and took her hand, "My name is Irvine, how may I help you?" he planted a kiss on her hand and when he did Selphie shoved him away from Amelia.

Irvine and Selphie were given the same briefing and choice as Rinoa and they also agreed. They got on the next train to Fisherman's Horizon and it also took them across it. They got to the border of Esthar the next day and climbed through the hole in the hologram. In the main city, they rented a car and drove to where the Ragnarok was being held. Told them there reason for wanting it and were on their way to the Centra Ruins.

The flight took about forty-five minutes and during that time, Amelia explored the ship. Selphie announced that they were there and landed as close as she could to the ruins. They disembarked and entered the gloomy ruins.
*--------------------*
Rico flew to the ground when the Ragnarok landed. He had been following it ever since he saw it take off. He also noticed that as the ship was flying, the taint of the Dark One slowly began to enter the ship. If felt like about one-hundred Trollocs were in the ship now. Or maybe fifty and about five Mryddraal.

He moved closer to the ship and went to the entrance, and was about to open the door before he felt a presence behind him. Moving as fast as he could, Rico moved away from the door and stood in the open area that the ship landed in. He looked around for the presence but saw no one.

"Come on out, I know you're out there. You can't hide from me." he shouted.

"It's about time you sensed me, I was standing behind you for about thirty seconds. I could have easily killed you."

Rico spun around and found standing behind him, "Tenchi!"

His mentor stood there looking at him, Tenchi was the one who had trained Rico when he first went to earth. Right now, Tenchi was in his brown jurai battle suit, standing to the side with his sword off at the moment. Tenchi looked at Rico then shook his head, "We sent you on this mission to find Squall, not run around blowing dragons up with your Dragon Slave. Did you know that there is a Dreadlord around here somewhere?"

"A Dreadlord?! I didn't know, but how was I supposed to know, the only way to know if a person is a Dreadlord or not you have to be able to channel. I'm a sorcerer not a channeler. Well anyway let's do something about all the Trollocs in the ship before they break out and chase down Squall."

"Okay, stand back." Tenchi began to powerup, building his ki energy just like Goku had taught him to. Tenchi threw his right and out toward the Ragnarok and a blast of golden energy erupted from Tenchi's outstrecthed hand. The energy flew forward and hit the Ragnarok with an earthshaking explosion.

A shockwave followed the explosion that blew dust and rocks away from the ship, but Rico and Tenchi both stood looking at where the Ragnarok was. "I could have done that." said Rico.

"Well, we wouldn't have had to do that if you had just found Squall and took him back, instead of running around blowing up thirty dragons with your Dragon Slave. You're lucky one of the Forsaken aren't here."

"..."

They both continued to look at the Ragnarok but there was a big cloud of dust. Soon the cloud of dust began to disperse and when it did, they saw a shield of ki energy.

"Shoot." said Tenchi.

"Turkey." said Rico.

"What?" said Tenchi, looking at Rico confused.

Rico looked back at him, "When I'm surprised or if you get on my nerves telling me something I already know, I just blurt stuff out. I never did it around you because whenever I was around you it was during training or in the middle of a battle. But ask Vegeta, it gets him annoyed when I do it around him."

Inside the shield were about seventy Trollocs and two dark figures standing side by side, they were the ones who put up the sheild saving themselves and the Trollocs, but allowed the ship to be destroyed.

"Seanchan Officers." they said at the same time.

"Rico, we've been expecting you." It spoke in a deep and grating voice. "Ever since you used your Dragon Slave attack, we've been preparing for you. And Tenchi, we didn't know you were coming but we'll gladly kill you as well." The two Seanchan officers were identical, both were big, tall, and muscular. They wore dark armor and had helmets that looked like giant grasshopper heads, and they both had a two-handed sword strapped to their back.

"Go ahead and try, I haven't had a good fight in a while." responded Tenchi, then turned to Rico, "You take care of the Trollocs and keep them from going after Squall and his friends. I know you're weird but I also know that in battle you are deadly serious. Show me that side now and don't let any of the Trollocs pass."

"Wasabi!" replied Rico.

'Weird' thought Tenchi.

"ATTACK!!" shouted both of the Seanchan officers. The seventy Trollocs roared and charged at the two fighters, the two Seanchan also flew into the air at Tenchi and Rico. Tenchi flew into the air to take on both the Seanchan at the same time, while Rico set himself and faced the seventy Trollocs.
*//////////*
Rico strecthed his arms out to his sides and put his palms facing up. Two balls of roaring flame appeared in both hands, "FIRE!" he threw the first one, "BALL!" then he threw the second one. The two fireballs streaked through the air and hit two of the Trollocs that were in front.

The Trollocs caught fire and then exploded, sending a shockwave of heat that knocked some of the other Trollocs to the ground. 'This is fun.' thought Rico. This time he put his arms in front of him, like he was holding a bow with an arrow nocked. He drew his arm back, "FLARE ARROW!" Four fire arrows appeared and he loosed them, like the fireballs before them, the arrows hit four Trollocs and took them to the ground.

Meanwhile in the air, Tenchi was being attacked by both of the Seanchan officers. He decided to use the Master Key instead of using the Light Hawk Wings to fight the two officers. The first one attacked and Tenchi met his attack. The officer drew his sword back and struck at Tenchi's middle with lightning speed, but Tenchi spun around the attack.

Dodging the attack had put Tenchi behind the officer, but before he could take advantage the second one dropped in from above with an attack to cut Tenchi in half. Tenchi brought the Master Key up in a flash, stopping the attack. With their weapons locked, Tenchi came face to face with the Seanchan officer. The first one had recovered and when he saw that Tenchi's back was turned, he struck out with his sword.

On the ground, Rico was still using spells. He put his arms up over his head then thrust them forward, "ELMEKIA LANCE!" a lance or bar of white magic flew forward from his hands. It hit one Trolloc then kept going, and by the time it was finished the spell had pierced ten Trollocs. 'Sixteen down, fifty-six to go.'

"Lord of Darkness of the four worlds," the talismens that he wore started to glow with blue light, "I call upon you. Grant me all the power you posses." He looked up at the Trollocs who were still a good distance away, "BLAST ASH!" A burst of darkness enveloped twenty of the Trollocs, they howled and screamed while they were trapped inside of the swirling darkness and when it dispersed, only ash remained where twenty Trollocs once stood. "Let's end this, Trollocs!" Rico shouted at them, he put his arms over his head,

"Darkness beyond twilight," The Trollocs started roaring, "Crimson beyond blood that flows," The roaring got louder and Rico began to get angry. "Buried in the stream of time is where your power..." With a deafening roar the Trollocs charged at Rico, screaming their heads off. Finally giving up trying to cast the Dragon Slave, Rico put his arms back down and said, "Ah screw it, I'm attacking head on." and rushed the remaining Trollocs.

Tenchi sensed the attack from behind and was able to dodge it, but he did get a slight cut on his side. 'At least it wasn't a Myrddraal.' Instead of blocking, Tenchi now went on the attack. He charged the first one and attacked him on his left side, the Seanchan's blade came to meet the attack, but Tenchi shifted the Master Key and instead attacked the arm of the officer.

The Seanchan moved his arm out of the way, but not before the top of the Master Key cut through it's armor and cut it's skin as well. Before he had time to recover, Tenchi rushed in to finish his attack. The officer tried to keep Tenchi away by swinging his sword but Tenchi easily dodged under it. He threw his fist forward and delivered a bone-crushing blow to the officer's chest, it sent the officer flying backward.
Tenchi flew after him and when he got past him Tenchi turned around and stopped the flying officer with a kick. Then with another kick sent the officer flying sky-high, with a burst of speed Tenchi flew after the Seanchan and when he got above him, started to decend, blade first, directly at the officer. The officer was able to stop himself but in the end it didn't matter. He turned and at the last instant saw Tenchi but couldn't do a thing as the Master Key cut him in half.

Rico reached the remaining Trollocs, who were still charging despite having lost almost half of their number. Rico met the first one and sent it flying with a kick to it's jaw, and while it flew into the air he sent a blast of ki into the air after it, enough to kill it. Another came and this one Rico elbowed in the stomach, when it started to bend over Rico gave it a hard punch to it's head. The blow flattened the Trollocs head and also sent a spray of blood into the air.

The third that came Rico tripped it and it fell face first and hit the ground hard, before it could get back up a dagger had appeared in Rico's hand and he stabbed the Trolloc in the back of the head with it. He knew it was dead so he turned back to the others who drew their weapons, everything from swords to flails were pointed at Rico but he stood calm watching them.

"So you want to play like that?" Two swords appeared in his hands, three foot long swords sharp on one edge, slightly curved and they both had blue hilts, he spun both of them at the same time while facing the Trollocs. "Bring it." With a roar the remaining Trollocs attacked as one and Rico rushed in to finish them off.

The first officer went down with a spray of blood and a death scream, and Tenchi turned and faced the second one, who still wasn't afraid even though his companion had fallen. He faced Tenchi with a look of determination showing through his face guard. "You'll soon find that fighting me is very different than fighting against my partner." said the officer.

He threw his sword at Tenchi and at the same time fired two purple ki blasts. Tenchi dodged the sword as it went spinning by and knocked the two ki blasts away. When he knocked away the second blast, Tenchi relized to late that the officer was gone and, before he could react, the officer appeared before him. The officer hit Tenchi in the stomach with a hard punch, Tenchi doubled over in pain and when he did the officer brought his knee up and hit Tenchi on the forehead and sent him flying skyward.

The officer dissappeared, then reappeard in Tenchi's flight path, and when Tenchi got close the Seanchan hit Tenchi in the back with his elbow, brought his knee up into Tenchi's stomach and then sent him to the ground with a double-handed smash to the back of the head. Tenchi flew to the ground, to fast for him to catch himself and when he hit, the ground trembled and dust came up around the point of impact. When it resettled a huge crater was in the ground, and in the middle of the sunken earth lay Tenchi's motionless form.

Three Trollocs came at Rico with their swords raised, they each swung in from a different direction. Rico jumped back to dodge their attacks, then rushed forward and hit them with his attacks. Rico attacked the one on the right, when he got to it, the Trolloc tried to punch Rico but Rico ducked under the punch and severed the Trolloc's arm at the elbow with the sword in his left hand, then he brought the other sword up and cut the Trolloc in half from bottom to top.

Five spears came at him from different sides at the same time. Rico jumped out of the way and into the air and looked up in time to see five huge arrows flying at him. He quickly moved out of the way and saw that it was Trollocs who shot them and they were getting ready to shot more. Rico rushed them with his sword in front of him. Five more arrows flew toward him and Rico brought his swords up and cut each of them in half length-wise and continued to rush down to the archers.

They tried to grab swords strapped to their backs but were to slow, Rico landed in front of them and started to swing his sword. One of the swords disappeared and the one that was left morphed into a sword that was three feet wide and ten feet long. Swinging with all his might, Rico swung the sword around in a wide circle, cleaving the archer Trollocs in half and the Trollocs that had tried to sneak up behind him. The blood and death howls of ten Trollocs filled the air and hurt Rico's ears while the blood splashed all over him.

He turned to the remaining twenty Trollocs and put the huge sword on his shoulder, holding it with one hand, "Still want to fight?" They answered with a united scream and charged forward, Rico raised his free hand and a ball of blue ki energy appeared in his palm, "Are you sure?" They continued to charge, "Okay." A brilliant flash of blue light came out of his hand and flew to the Trollocs, illuminating them in bright light. They stopped their charge and tried to turn around but before they could even stop the beam of energy incinerated them. With the Trollocs now dead, Rico looked at his blood covered self and grimaced. 'Gotta clean this.' Then he turned to look at his mentor's fight.

The officer looked at the fallen Tenchi, then brought his arms out to his sides and two balls of purple energy appeared. He put his arms in front of him and shot a large beam of purple energy straight at the formless Tenchi. It hit the ground with a ground-splitting explosion, a purple ball of energy forming from where the energy beam hit.

The officer floated waiting for the energy to disappear so he could get a clear shot at Tenchi. He brought one of his hands above his head, palm up, and a ball of purple energy began to form. It began to grow getting bigger and bigger every second and when it got to the size of a car he got ready to toss it. "Good attacks, but they were'nt strong enough to finish me off." As soon as it heard the first word, the officer threw the ball of energy at Tenchi.

Tenchi's hand came up and stopped the ball, instead of staring the officer shot another big beam of energy at Tenchi. Tenchi threw the ball up into the air and before the beam hit him, vanished into thin air. The officer prepared another energy attack and after awhile started looking around for Tenchi. After two seconds of looking, the officer felt the blade pierce him from behind.

He lost his energy and looked down and saw the Master Key sticking out from under his chest, then he looked behind him and caught a glimpse of Tenchi, "How...?" he managed to get out before he coughed up blood. "Instant Transmission, ya gotta love it." He brought the Master Key up and split the officer in half, and while the body fell to the ground, Tenchi shot it with a ki blast destroying the body.


Tenchi floated down to where Rico was standing covered in Trolloc blood. "You stink Rico."

"Well you don't smell so nice either." snapped Rico.

"I'd rather smell like this than like a Trolloc."

"Whatever. Anyway don't we have to go find Squall?"

"Ofcourse, now we have to hurry. No doubt the Dreadlord felt our fight, if she didn't then she's blind, deaf or can't sense ki."

"Then let's stop talking and go find Squall."

Instead of flying into the ruins, they both charged in running at full speed to find Squall and his friends.
*--------------------*
The party continued their journey through the crumbling ruins, broken staircases and towers were all around them. Here and there a Tonberry would pop out but because of Diablos' speacial ability, they stayed away from the party. Squall had no idea what Headmaster Cid wanted them to find but he figured that they would explore everything and then report back ASAP. It was nice having Irvine and Selphie along, but what he really wanted was some alone time with Rinoa.

They were all looking around for anything that might not have been there their first time through, Angelo was in the lead followed by Squall and Rinoa, with Irvine and Selphie right behind them and Zell and Amelia taking up the rear. Zell appeared bored, he was walking with his hands behind his head, but Amelia appeared deep in thought. Squall had no idea what was worring her but decided to leave her alone. They walked for a few more minutes then a huge explosion shook the earth under them. Some of the already broken staircases crumbled and the party all fell down.

"What the hell was that?!" exclaimed Zell.

"It can't be!" shouted Amelia. Squall looked in the direction she was looking in and saw a huge plume of smoke coming from where the Ragnarok was. "I was only expecting Rico, now there's another?" Squall looked at Amelia with a confused look on his face, 'Rico? Who the hell is that?' Amelia saw him staring at her then suddenly Squall's skin began to tingle.

Angelo started barking like mad, and then ran off into the ruins alone. "Angelo! Get back here!" Rinoa screamed at him and when he didn't listen she started after him. Irvine, Selphie and Zell also started chasing the dog and Squall and Amelia followed as well. They were screaming at Angelo, telling him to stop but he was to fast and soon was out of sight, the only thing they had to go by was his mad barking. Angelo's barking soon turned into a growl and when the party caught up, they found out why.

In front of them was a huge beast that had human eyes and lion claws instead of hands. It stood ten feet tall covered in black, spiked chainmail. In it's huge fist it clutched a massive battle axe. Angelo stood growling at the beast and then the beast let out a lion's roar and swung down with it's massive axe.

"ANGELO!!" Rinoa screamed. Angelo jumped out of the way and rushed at the beast with a growl. He grabbed the beast by it's leg and it growled, then Angelo jumped into the air with the demon and spun himself and the demon around a few times and landed with a bone-crushing impact. Angelo jumped back, still growling, and the beast stood up roaring in pain at Angelo. Angelo rushed in for another attack and hit the beast with his rush attack, the demon was sent flying backwards until it hit a wall, the sound of bone breaking could be heard in the air.

The beast roared when it's arm broke and started to back away from Angelo, clucthing it's useless arm. When it got a good distance away from the still growling Angelo it threw it's head back and roared. It continued to roar into the night holding it's arm and still clucthing it's axe. Rinoa rushed up to Angelo and started to drag him away from the demon, but Angelo didn't seem to notice because he was still growling at the roaring demon.

"What the hell is that thing?" asked Irvine who had his gun pointed at it.

"I don't know, but Angelo sure beat the crap out of it." replied Selphie.

It continued to roar, "Why is it doing that?" asked Zell.

"I don't know but we should probably get out of here. Come on." he turned around and looked at everyone, then he noticed, "Where's Amelia?"

Everyone looked around for the new trainee but she was nowhere to be seen. "Wait. What's that noise?" What sounded like feet running was coming from all around them, they also noticed that the beast had stopped it's roaring. It brought it's head back down then looked at the confused party, "Brother Trollocs come." And when he finished fifteen more came from the ruins behind it and, when they saw the party, roared and attack.

Without thought, Squall spun his Lionheart into his hands and held it in attack position. The fifteen broke off and attack the humans, three on one. The first one to reach Squall had a spear in it's fist and thrust it at Squall's chest, Squall spun away from the attack and was about to counter when the other one appeared, this one with a sword. It attack with a downward slash and Squall put the Lionheart up over his head, blocking the attack, but the Trolloc was to strong and the attack drove him to his knees.

The first one with the spear came and the third, also with a sword, came at the same time. Squall pushed the first one's sword away from him, then jumped into the air and did a backflip as the other two tried to stab him. While he was in the air Squall used this time to use one of his attacks, he held the sword on his shoulder and started to glow with the energy he was about to unleash. Then, "Fated Circle!" he spun around and let loose the wave of energy that travelled along the ground and cut the beasts in half and before they had time to even blink, the ground erupted under them and fire consumed their bodies.

Squall landed and the three burned bodies hit the ground with three loud thuds, smoke still coming off of them. Squall hurried up and glanced around to see if his friends needed any help. Zedd was panting and covered in the blood of the beasts, Rinoa was petting Angelo, Irvine had his gun on his shoulder and had blood splatters all over his face and clothes and Selphie was on the ground panting, the ends of her Strange Vision dripping blood, but what mattered was that everyone was okay.

Squall rushed to Rinoa to stand beside her then turned to the rest of the party. "I think it's time we get out of here. As anyone found Amelia yet?" They all shook their heads, "Well let's head back to the Ragnarok, maybe we'll find here on the way or she might have gone back when she got lost."

They started back the way they came looking around for any sign of Amelia or anymore of the beasts. They walked for about five minutes then Angelo started barking again. Everyone stopped then formed a circle so that they could not be surprised by an attack from anyside.

"Oh man, this is not good." moaned Zell, trying to look everywhere at once.

"I don't hear anything, do you guys?" asked Selphie.

"No not yet, but I don't think we want to go against Angelo's judgment. He obviously smells somthing." said Zell.

Angelo continued his frenzied barking, then soon the party heard the cry and footsteps of a countless number of demons. Everyone held their ground waiting for the attack to come. Squall suddenly had an idea that he should have thought of before, "As soon as they start thier attack, summon the strongest attack GF you are junctioned to, alright?" Everyone nodded and when Squall turned around he saw movement in the ruins before him, "Here they come!"

They came out of the ruins roaring and brandishing thier weapons, trying to scare the five humans before them. Then they quieted down and out from the mass of the beasts came a blackclad figure riding a midnight dark horse. He scanned the party and when his gaze fell on Squall, a tinge of fear raced through his body. It lifted a gloved hand and then said, "Trollocs, kill them all except the one." Then threw his arm down and the Trollocs rushed forward. "NOW!!" shouted Squall. Power flared up around everyone and at the same time they summoned thier GFs. "BAHAMUT!" "ALEXANDER!" "DIABLOS!" "BROTHERS!" "PANDAMONIUM!" The summoned GFs hit the ground in thier own special way and attacked the Trollocs and, with a battle cry of thier own, the party rushed into the attack.
*//////////*
Bahamut jumped into the attack headfirst and grabbed two Trollocs right off the bat. His claws went through thier armor like it wasn't even there then tossed them into the air. He looked down at the others then roared at them, but they weren't phased by it. He spun and hit them with his tail and sent five of them flying away from him then ten of them jumped on him from behind, stabbing him with thier weapons drawing blood. With a howl of rage and pain Bahamut reached up and grabbed them off of his back and tossed them into the other Trollocs around him.

Irvine decided he would back up Selphie as she jumped head-first into the battle. She swung her Strange Vision in irregular patterns so the Trollocs thought she was open but the nunchaku would come up and intercept thier attacks. One came rushing at her and dodged the Strange Vision, Irvine saw this and shot the Trolloc in it's head as fast as he could. It went down in a heap and Selphie almost tripped over the dead body. Two came at the same time and swung thier swords at her. They were big, slow and clumsy so Selphie was able to dodge thier attacks easily. She moved behind them and then with two quick attacks to the head, killed them both.

Zell rushed into the heat of battle and barely noticed that Diablos was flying right next to him. He dodged the first one and hit it in the stomach with his strongest attack, then he kicked it's feet out from under it and it crashed to the ground. Another came at him with a barbed flail and was swinging it at Zell, it's mouth open in a silent roar. Zell waited and when the flail had gone by rushed in and kicked it out of it's hand. "Mach Kick!" His kick hit the Trolloc in the chest and sent it flying backwards. Diablos flew straight past Zell and attacked a Trolloc that tried to sneak up behind him, his clawed hand going straight through it's chest. Four came at Diablos at once and he used his powers of gravity to lift them in the air and tossed them away.

The two brothers stood in the middle of a large number of Trollocs, swinging thier massive spiked maces, smashing any of the Trollocs that came to close. Rinoa and Angelo were also in the middle of a large group, Rinoa casting magic and Angelo attacking like a mad dog. Alexander couldn't shoot his energy because it had such a long range so he was reduced to stomping any of the Trollocs who came to close, but most of them relized they couldn't pierce Alexander's metal body so they ran from him to attack the others. Pandamonium was using his master of wind to generate a constant tornado around hisself, picking up Trollocs, spinning them violently, and tossing them, hitting walls and the ground with bone-breaking results.

Squall was moving amoung the Trollocs like death itself, his five years of training made him to fast for the Trollocs to keep up with him. He would slash one then take out another, block an attack and then take out two Trollocs with one slash. He was loving it, he may have not found the fight he was looking for, but these things were easily stronger that a Red Dragon or a Behemoth. Each slash of his Lionheart made the power within him pulse like it was trying to fill him again like it did when Rinoa accepted his offer to come on the mission, but this time he tried to fight it off, he still didn't trust it after what happened three years ago. The battle had been going on for about five minutes, Squall had killed at least twenty of these things but there seemed to be no end to them. If they kept coming like they were then Squall knew his strength would give out sooner or later.

The battle continued for well over a half hour, neither side gaining the advantage. The humans to strong for the Trollocs to kill and the huge number of Trollocs were to much for the humans to kill. As they became tired the human fighters defenses started to slack, letting attacks get to close, and in some cases even letting the Trollocs'weapons get close enough to draw blood. The GFs were still holding thier own but they were starting to get really tired. The bodies of the dead covered the battlefield, and the air reeked of blood.
*//////////*
The Lionheart felt like a lead wieght in his arms, swinging it to attack and using it to defend soon became a chore but he knew if he messed up then it was all over. Twin bellows filled the air and Squall looked over to where they came from, the Brothers had been trying to fight the figure on the horse and managed to unseat it from it's horse. But Squall saw black streaks all over thier bodies and when he saw the man's sword he knew that it was the sword that caused them. The Brothers hit the ground then disappeared from this plane. Squall had to quickly dodge an attack from a Trolloc and started to back away from the Trollocs in front of him, careful not to trip over a dead body.

Squall then saw Bahamut leap into the air and with a shrill cry, began to power up for his Mega Flare attack. The lethal energy began to build in his mouth then, the instant before it was ready to be released, the black figure appeared in front of Bahamut, floating in mid-air! This surprised Squall, but not as much as it surprised Bahamut and before he could overcome his surprise, the figure cut Bahamut with his black as night sword. Letting out another scream as he began to fall to the ground, and disappeared like the Brothers before he hit the ground.

Squall was getting really angry at this guy but apparently not as mad as Selphie. "You bastard! What are you even doing here?! And why have you allied yourself with these ruthless, bloodthirsty demons?!" The dark figure slowly turned to face Selphie, "Yeah I'm talking to you! Get down here and prepare to die!" Squall looked back up at the man, and then he suddenly vanished, then...

Irvine had heard Selphie's little speech but was to busy keeping the Trollocs from getting to close to him so he hadn't bothered to look. But when he heard the sickening sound of a sword going through a body and Selphie's gasp, he was compelled beyond his will to turn around and what he saw made him scream out in pain and horror.

"SELPHIE!!" He relized he was running, "NOOOOOO!!" Two Trollocs jumped into his path but he dispatched of them with two head shots. He watched as the man pulled his sword out of Selphie's body and then push her away from him then disappeared again. Her body hit the ground with a small thud and was still. Irvine got to her body and picked her up into his arms, that's when he relized he was crying.

"Selphie, no... you can't die, you aren't meant to die yet... because... because..." He cluthced her harder to himself and began crying in earnest.

"I need you Selphie... I... I... I LOVE YOU!" He felt the presence of Trollocs coming up behind him but he wanted nothing so much as to die along with his love. He heard bone-crushing blows and quick slashes of a sword and then hands helping him up away from Selphie. He let her drop from his hands and then saw that his hands were covered in blood, Selphie's blood, his heart felt like it broke all over again. Then he heard the other's voices talking to him.

"You have to snap out of it!" Zell. He let his head hang down, his body limp in thier grip.

"Come Irvine, we need you now." Squall. 'Selphie needed me, but was I there for her?' They dropped him and he sank to his knees, it kind of hurt, but not as much as the pain in his heart.

"Listen to us, if you die then there will be to many for us to take on. And when we die, who will be left to avenge Selphie?"

His eyes came up from his blood soaked hands and looked into Rinoa's wide eyes, she looked scared and worried and there were tears in her eyes, just like his.

"I'm hurting to, I loved Selphie to but this is no time to break down and lose it, we have to pull ourselves together so we can get out of this. We're going to kill everyone of these things for killing Selphie then when it's all said and done, then we'll greave but not before then."

Irvine looked around and saw Squall and Zell fighting harder than when the battle started, taking out Trollocs twice as fast as before. He could tell that they were also hurting from Selphie's death but they were using that pain to fight on instead of succumbing to it and breaking down.

He got to his feet, waving away Rinoa's offer to help, and wiped the tears away from his eyes. Squall and Zell saw that he was back to his feet and rushed over to him, then turned thier backs on him so they could watch the remaining Trollocs.

"So any bright ideas anyone? I'm open to anything you know." said Zell.

"I have one. First we..." began Squall, but Irvine had plans of his own.

"No." They turned to look at him, "You guys go on ahead, take the Ragnarok and go get help. I'll stay here and wipe the rest of them out."

"WHAT! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" shouted Zell.

"No way am I leaving a comrade here alone. No, we are going with my plan." said Squall.

"You seem to forget that I'm not a Seed, so that means you can't give me any orders." stated Irvine.

"I know that, but as someone who's gone through this kind of thing, I'm telling you that you'll only get yourself killed this way."

"And I'm telling you that I won't be defeated." 'At least not until I avenge Selphie.' but he didn't say that out loud, or there would have been no way to get them to leave.

Squall looked at him with that piercing stare that was one of his trademarks and seemed to appraise his soul. Zell and Rinoa stood to the sides making sure the Trollocs don't take him by surprise. After a few more moments, Squall said...

"Okay."

"WHAT?! ARE YOU SERIOUS!?" shouted Zell. "YOU'RE JUST GOING TO LEAVE HIM HERE?! YOU'RE JUST..."

"Would you just shut up Zell!" snapped Squall.

Zell became quiet but still mumbled.

"There's obviously no way of talking you out of this is there?" Irvine shook his head and Squall sighed, "Well then good luck, if you're not at the Ragnarok in fifteen minutes, we're leaving without you."

Irvine cracked a smile, "Make it ten and you've got yourself a deal." He stuck his arm out at Squall.

Squall looked at Irvine's outstreatched hand, then grasped it in a handshake, "Deal."

"Hey, how come you shake his hand but not mine?!" said Zell.

"Oh be quiet Zell." said Rinoa.

Irvine watched as his friends ran off in the direction of the Ragnarok, taking out the Trollocs that tried to stop them while the rest turned toward Irvine. His hand grasped the Exeter in a tight grip, both his hands seemed to be covered in red gloves of Selphie's dried blood. He put the Exeter on his shoulder and then shouted, "Are you all ready to die!?" The Trollocs all growled and began roaring at him. Then Irvine turned to the GF that he had summoned.

"Yo, Alexander." The massive, mecha GF turned it's head toward him. "I want you to fire everything you have into the air, straight up into the air, okay?" Alexander made a noise, "I take that as a yes?" It made the noise again, "Okay, on the count of three, one... two... THREE!!"

The guns in Alexander's back opened up and then pointed up and began to shoot all of Alexander's light ammo into the air. The Trollocs stopped thier advance and watched, spellbound, as millions of ligths flew into the air before thier eyes. Soon Alexander was done and Irvine saw the shots disappear and a few seconds later they became dots in the sky. 'Okay, now!' "Protect! Shell!" The two magics surrounded Irvine protecting him, he just hoped it would be enough to sustain the damage from Holy Judgement.

Soon Irvine was able to hear the shots begin to fall and, for added protection, decided to stay under Alexander. The light hit the ground and exploded in a burst of holy energy. The Trollocs roared as the energy tore thier bodies apart and Irvine could hear the slight sound of sizziling and knew that thier bodies were being burned by the heat of the energy. He suddenly relized that he forgot to bring Selphie's body under Alexander with him but figured it was to late by now.

As Alexander's attack finally ceased, and the last Trolloc scream was heard, Irvine came from under Alexander's huge body and surveyed the area. Everything in a twenty meter radius was completly destroyed, around him was nothing but flat open area. He looked to where Selphie's body was and found that it too was gone. "At the very least, I was able to avenge you...my love." Then he turned to Alexander, "Let's go my huge friend." He was about to dismiss him when he saw the blackclad fighter, appear out of nowhere, standing on Alexander's back.

"What the...?" He drew his midnight, black sword from it's scabbard and, with blinding speed, severed Alexander's neck at it's base, cutting through his hard metal covering. Alexander roared and began to fall disappearing as he hit the ground and the swordsman jumped off of his back, and landed without a sound.

"Who the hell are you?" Irvine asked, his blood boiling.

He removed his hood and Irvine saw that he had no eyes only skin stretched over where the eyes should be. "I'm a Myrddraal, servant of the Great Lord of the Dark, and you are not the one."

"What are you talking about, the one?"

"The one we came to this dimension to find, Squall."

Irvine was surprised but didn't let it show, "Why do you want Squall?"

"I don't want him, The Great Lord wants him."

"Why?"

"I don't have to tell you that."

"So, you killed Selphie because you wanted Squall, is that right?"

"NO, I killed her for the pleasure."

Now Irvine was really pissed, 'Killed for pleasure? Sick bastard!'

"Now I'm going to kill you." He pointed his gun at the Mryddraal.

"Really?" It said.

"Really." answered Irvine and he shot.

The pinging of a bullet being deflected sounded and then the Mryddraal vanished. Irvine quickly changed to the scatter bullets, turned to the direction he barely saw the Mryddraal head in, and fired again. This time he heard four pings and then the Mrydraal was right before him. "Die."

It swung it's sword but Irvine ducked under it and quickly shot again, point-blank. The Mrydraal vanished again and Irvine felt it's presence behind him so rolled quickly out of the way and heard the sword hit the stone where he had been. During his roll Irvine quickly changed his ammo into the Demolition ammo, 'Let's see him block this.' and when he righted aimed at where the Mryddraal was, but it was gone again.

'Where did it...?' "Foolish human." To late Irvine relized that it was behind him again and tried to get out of the way but was kicked in the side and was sent skidding along the ground a few feet. When he stood up again, the Mryddraal was behind him again and kicked him in his lower back causing Irvine to cry out in pain and was sent flying again.

This time when he got up he spun around and shot as fast as he could. When he spun around, a split second later the Mryddraal appeared and was already moving it's sword to intercept the bullet. "Gottcha." said Irvine as the Demolition bullet came out of his bullet and hit the Mryddraal's blade, there was a split second of silence and then a massive explosion blew both of them away from each other.

Irvine felt as if his arms were being ripped out of thier sockets as the heat and power from the explosion blew him backwards and burned him in the process. He hit the ground and laid there for a few moments before he came shakily to his feet, wiping blood from his eyes and looked for the Mryddraal, he knew if he survived it that the Mryddraal also survived it.

His arms hurt and his legs felt like they were going to fall off. He stood panting and looking at where the Mryddraal was before the explosion. The smoke began to clear and it showed the Mryddraal, it's clothes as tattered as Irvine's were. 'Only one option left.' He changed his ammo and waited.

"Foolish human. You can't defeat me. Prepare to die."

"Sure, I'm ready." He had more to say, but he needed to save his energy for this final shot. 'For Selphie.'

The Mryddraal stood silently for awhile and vanished and time seemed to slow for Irvine. The Mryddraal brought it's sword up and struck with a thrusting motion, directly at Irvine's heart and at the same time Irvine brought his gun up to Mryddraal's chest. "Die now." The blade pushed through Irvine's chest and he felt the unbearable pain of being run through with a sword, his body started to seize up, he couldn't feel anything and knew that soon he would be dead.

'Have...to...pull...the...trigger..." A sort of power started to rush through him and seemed to shut down his body as it went through him. 'NOW!!' His finger closed convulsivly on the trigger and with immense energy the power of his Hyper Shot, shot point-blank, exploded out of his gun, "Gottcha." The Mryddraal screamed as the blast ripped through it's body and blew it to pieces and Irvine fell to the ground, face first, dead.

Squall ran as fast as he could, he could hear Rinoa and Zell running behind him, Angelo running slowly so he could stay next to Rinoa. 'Irvine you idiot, my plan would have worked and you would be alive right now.' Squall knew from the start that Irvine's intention had been to die but die with a bang, and just hearing that big explosion it seemed he got his wish. Irvine dead and Selphie too and maybe even Amelia, Headmaster Cid had some explaining to do.

They were near to where they entered and where about to leave the ruins when someone stepped out from behind a building to their right. It was...

"Amelia! Where have you been?! Don't you know that there have been demons running around here? You could have been killed." said Squall.

"I know about the demons." she said quietly.

"How do you know about them?" asked Rinoa.

"Because, I summoned them." she said.

"What? You summoned them?" asked Zell.

"Yes, and now I'm afraid I have to kill you." and she lifted her arm to Zell.

Squall's skin suddenly tingled and then Zell fell back, clutching his chest and sounded like he was suffocating.

"Zell!" Squall ran to his friend but before he got to him, Zell was quiet and his chest wasn't moving, he was dead.

"What...How...?" Rinoa seemed to be at a lost for words but she quickly overcame that and turned to Amelia, anger painted all over her face. "You bitch!" She raised her projectile weapon and prepared to fire. "Rinoa! NO!"

Amelia turned her arm toward Rinoa and Rinoa died the same way Zell did, falling on her back. Squall was stunned. He didn't know what was happening anymore, then he heard Angelo yelp as he to was killed. Then she turned to Squall but didn't raise her hand toward him.

"What? Not going to kill me?" he said. His power was roaring around him, and even seemed to be singing to him. The song was promising him the power to get his revenge.

"No," The air solidified around him and lifted him off of the ground. "I'm taking you with me, for the Great Lord of the Dark."

She began to float into the air and then turned around and began to fly, Squall was struggling to break the binds that held him but he couldn't move anything but his head and that just jerked from side to side.

"There's no use in struggling, there is no way you can break the power that I have on you and soon you too will be serving the Great Lord of the Dark."

Squall continued struggling and then the air around him tightend until he couldn't take a breath. "Stop, I said there is no use. Don't make me have to hurt you."

The air loosened a bit and then Squall was hanging limply in his bonds that he couldn't feel. Squall looked around and saw Rinoa's dead body, he saw Zell's too but it was Rinoa's that drew his eyes.

'Rinoa.' She was lying on her back with one of her arms across her stomach and her legs were straight out. She looked just like she did when Squall had come to her room in Timber not to long ago, except that her eyes were open and her chest wasn't moving. Laying just like he found her, just like he found her. If he hadn't decided to go to her house and bring her on this stupid mission she would probably still be sleep right now. It was all his fault.

"It's all my fault. Irvine, Selphie, Angelo, Zell,...Rinoa. It's all my fault that they're dead." he said under his breath.

"Be quiet or you'll make me knock you out." said Amelia.

Squall glared at her back, 'No, it's not my fault. It's her, Amelia. She was the one who summoned the demons that killed Irvine and Selphie. She was the one who killed Zell, Angelo and Rinoa herself with her strange magic. It's all her fault.'

The power sang to him and this time instead of ignoring it, he grasped it. Like three years before life filled him, made him more aware of himself and his surroundings. Also like three years before it felt like the power was trying to burn away his mind and like he was riding down burning mountains of ice, but instead of floundering he rode the crumbling ice and wrestled with the power to bring it under his control. It took a few moments and in that short time Squall knew that his very being could have been burned out of him, but in the end he brought the power under his control and then unleashed his rage.

When he brought the power under control Squall was now able to feel the power that Amelia had on him. Not having any idea what he was doing Squall lashed out with his power and attempted to cut the power that held him. It worked, the power around Squall disappeared and Squall began to fall to the ground and he also heared Amelia shout. He hit the ground with a thud and quickly got to his feet, bringing the Lionheart into his hands and also getting ready to use the power that he brought under control.

"How the hell did you do that?" Amelia landed in front of him and comprehension dawned on her face, "You can channel? Now? But they told me you shouldn't be able to yet." She looked worried about something, but Squall didn't care, nor did he know what she was talking about, all he knew was that she had caused the death of five of his best friends and now he wanted revenge.

He started toward her, his power raging in him trying to break free of the hold he had on it but Squall wouldn't allow it to run wild again, he needed it to kill Amelia. He struck out again, a ball of fire erupting from him flying toward Amelia with surprising speed but before it reached her, the ball of fire disappeared into thin air.

"I know a lot more about channeling than you do Squall, I can stop your attacks before they even hit me." she told him.

Squall didn't care, he struck out again and three balls of fire flew toward her at the same time. They disappeared just like the first but Squall looked up and this time lightning fell from the cloud free sky. This also disappeared but Squall didn't stop, he threw four more fireballs at her and at the same time let his power flow into the ground around her. This caused the ground to explode in fire around her as the four fireballs streaked through the air toward her. She staggered when the ground erupted and this was the opening Squall was looking for, she may be better with magic but there was no way she could beat him when it came to close-range combat, so while she was still recovering Squall rushed forward with the Lionheart out to his side.
*//////////*
Amelia was able to stop Squall's channeling and when she was able to see again, saw him rushing toward her. She waited for him to get close enough then attacked him with a fast draw that would wound him but not kill him. She could kill him easily but the Great Lord wanted him alive. Squall blocked her attack and struck out with an attack of his own. Amelia dodged his attack easily and tried to wrap him in air again, but Squall was able to stop her attack like she had been doing his.

He attacked again and she blocked it, he swung at her middle but she dodged that too. Squall aimed a thrust at her stomach but she was able to turn his attack and then gave him a clean cut along his arm. Squall stopped himself from screaming out but could feel the blood trickle down his arm. He saw Amelia raise her arm again but the power he felt wasn't like the power that she tried to bind him with, it was an attack. He felt something hit his chest with amazing force and it pushed him back, then he felt another blow in the same spot and was pushed back further.

Amelia shifted her power and channeled it into a wall of air and cast it out at Squall, Squall felt this coming but wasn't able to stop it. The power hit him full force like a brick wall and he was pushed back away from Amelia. He used his power and stopped the power that she was using on him and when the wall disappeared, Squall fell forward and stopped on his hands and knees. 'Damn! I thought she would be easier up close.' He sat there panting, still keeping his grip on the power that was still trying to wrench away from him.

"Squall there is no way for you to defeat me. Just give up now and I won't have to harm you anymore." She was right, he relized, but he came to his feet and held the Lionheart out in front of him, waited a second then charged Amelia as fast as he could.

'Fool.' Amelia channeled and two fireballs erupted from her outstrecthed arms and at the same time twin lightning bolts fell from the sky. Squall slashed the two balls of fire away from him and used his power to stop the lightning bolts before they hit him, still charging at Amelia. She set herself with her katana drawn and then also charged forward, sending a wave of solid air before her to take Squall in the chest.

Squall stopped the solid air before it got to him, Amelia attacked him and then Squall jumped into the air over her head to avoid the attack. He landed and spun around as fast as he could, Amelia was just starting to turn around, and used, "RENZOKUKEN!!" He rushed toward her, his body glowing a red color that showed his battle aura, and began his attack. Amelia heard his shout so when she turned around she was expecting an attack.

She blocked his first high attack, then his side attack and his thrust. He kept attacking dispite having all of his attacks blocked by Amelia. He kept swinging and swinging but was careful not to leave himself open again, lest he get another cut on his arm. His final attack was a downward slash but she blocked that as well so he jumped back out of her katana's range. "You can't beat me Squall, I'm much stronger than you." Squall barely heard her because he was charging up for his final attack. Amelia advanced toward him, shooting a fireball from her hand. Squall used his power and stopped the attack and waited for her to get closer.

"I can feel your power growing and I don't know what you're planning, but whatever it is in the end, I will take you back to the Great Lord of the Dark." He stood there waiting for her to get closer but she advanced slowly, seeming to wait for him to make the first move, she was strong but not stupid. When Amelia got a little bit closer to Squall, she suddenly vanished and reappeared behind Squall. He had expected that and her fast draw, so when she vanished he spun around and ducked under her attack finally leaving her wide open for..."LIONHEART!" he shouted as he brought the Lionheart up and sent her into the air.

Amelia was surprised with the strength of his attack and tried to catch herself to prevent her from flying to far. Before she could though she then relized that Squall had jumped up into the air after her and was prepared to deliver a killing blow. She straightened herself out in the air and attacked him with her katana but Squall hit it so hard out of the way that it almost flew from her hand.

Amelia decided she would go on the defensive, but after blocking his first strike she relized that her choice might have been a mistake. His first blow came and she blocked it with her blade, when the two blades hit it sent a loud ringing in the air and Amelia's grip on her katana loosened. Before she could get a firmer grip, Squall's second attack was coming straight for her so she had to dodge out of the way. When she did, his gunblade came again but this time she didn't move fast enough and got a clean slice under her rib cage.

His attacks kept coming, pressing her, pushing her back further and further each attack coming a little to close for Amelia's comfort. She blocked two more attacks then decided to launch into an attack of her own, so with a shout she began to attack Squall as fruiously as he was attacking her. Soon every attack of Squall's was met with an attack of Amelia's, thier blades hitting each other's but neither of them letting the other gain any ground on them.

Squall kept up his attack powered by his Lionheart and was barely holding his own against Amelia. "Damn, if this keeps up she's going to kill me. I have to get in one good hit.' and he kept up the attacks. His burst of energy was starting to wane so he needed to end the fight, 'She's attacking wildly but not leaving herself open for any kind of counterattack.' After her next three attacks Amelia made a mistake, she attacked him low and then drew back to attack him high, bringing her blade overhead to strike him leaving herself wideopen for an attack.

Before her blade began it's decent, Squall charged forward and attacked her midsection. Amelia couldn't bring her katana down fast enough and was cut along her stomach. She began to float backwards because Squall's attack had finally ended and he was falling back down to the ground, but Squall hit her hard over the head and sent her sprialing down toward the ground and then fell down after her. Amelia hit the ground in a bad position, on her left elbow. It didn't break but her harm hurt like hell. She looked up and saw Squall land right in front of her with a murderous look on his face.

Amelia channeled and cast out air to push him from her but Squall stopped her attack and hit her with air instead. The attack hit her right across the face and sent her sprawling along the ground. She got back up but Squall was marching toward her with a snarl set in his face. Amelia channeled fire and sent it at Squall but he knocked it out of the way, she channeled lightning but he stopped that before it got to him. She tried one last time to bring him under control with fear so she channeled the Mirror of Mists.

Squall watched as Amelia grew into a huge giant, at least twenty feet tall, and continued to grow until one of her fingers was bigger than Squall's entire body. Then she spoke in a voice to match her size, "Squall." the booming voice hurt his ears, "You have pushed me to my limits and have given me no choice. Surrender now or I will crush you." Squall didn't answer her he just stood and stared at her, he could feel her power coming off in waves, his skin was tingling like mad, and was thinking of a way to cut the power she was using. 'Just cut right...there.' and he lashed out with his power.

Amelia felt her power get severed and then her Mirror of Mists shattered, 'How did he know it was just an illusion?'. But she had to get over her surprise because Squall rushed in after her illusion was destroyed. He threw his hand out and channeled fire and lightning at her at the same time. She stopped the lightning first and then jumped out of the way of the fire he threw at her, he kept coming and channeled air to trap her, Amelia wasn't expecting him to do this and was caught up in his air trap.

'Dammit, he's really starting to piss me off.' Amelia watched Squall advance slowly his eyes wild and his muscles tense, he looked rabid, out of his mind, one that couldn't be controlled. 'My mission was to bring him to Be'lal and then turn him to the Shadow, and to use extreme measures if neccessary.' He continued advancing. 'And if it turns out that he can't be controlled, I am to eliminate him.' He began to rush forward and Amelia knew that she had to kill Squall. And because of the pain he caused her, she was going to wipe him from existence.

Squall was close to Amelia and was about to unleash more of his power, so far he knew how to cast fire, make ligthning, hard air and make the ground explode, the bonding thing he did on accident and wasn't sure it would hold her very long so he had been cautious. He was about to shoot more fire when Amelia finally spoke up in a loud and angry voice, "That's it Squall, I've been patient and have given you more than enough chances to join us. But no instead you resist us like those other fools, so now it's time for you to be gone." Squall felt his power around her get cut and then Amelia jumped into the air and had both her arms out in front of her, palms facing Squall. "Be gone from existence!"
*//////////*
"Be gone from existence!" Tenchi heard the Dreadlord's voice shout out in the desolate ruins and then rushed toward the source. 'She better not mean...she couldn't! It's been banned on both sides! Each side agreed not to use it!' "Rico, she's going to use balefire on Squall."

"What!? That's against the agreement!" shouted Rico.

"I know, that's why we have to hurry."

They both powered up and flew toward the Dreadlord. When Tenchi found her she was in the air with her arms outstrecthed pointing at Squall who was on the ground.

"Nooo! Stooop!" The words were barely out of his mouth when a bright white bar of liquid fire erupted from the Dreadlord's hands. The bar of liquid fire blazed and made the noon-day sun look like a dieing candle. It travelled toward Squall and Tenchi knew what would happen if it hit him, he had seen the effects of balefire and had it explained to him. Before he could react though, Rico rushed toward Squall and looked like he was about to push him out of the way. Instead Rico sent out a blast of ki energy from his hand and knocked Squall away, hard, Squall flew and hit a structure and smashed through it.

Rico backed away, not wanting to be to close to the balefire when it hit the ground. The Dreadlord saw Squall hit the structure and stopped channelling balefire and then turned to Tenchi and Rico, anger written all over her face. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?" she shouted.

"I could ask you the same thing, Dreadlord! You know as well as I do that channelling balefire is outlawed by an agreement on both the side of the Light and the Shadow. What are you thinking using balefire?" shouted Tenchi.

The Dreadlord's face turned extremely red as she stared at Tenchi, then answered, "None of your business, Tenchi. In fact if you two don't get out of here now, I'll use balefire on you both."

"I'd like to see you try." said Rico.

The Dreadlord pointed her hands toward Rico, "Don't tempt me."

Tenchi was about to make his move when he heard a loud scream. He turned his head and saw that Squall was back up and looking at the Dreadlord with murderous intent. Then Squall threw his hands up at the Dreadlord and balefire streaked from his outstrecthed hands, flying straight at the Dreadlord.

"Noooo!" She pointed her arms at Squall instead of Rico and balefire also came from her hands flying straight at Squall. The two bars of liquid fire met in mid-air and when they did thier colors seem to shift from white to black then back to white then they vanished. Squall fell to the ground moaning and holding his head and the Dreadlord fell from the sky doing the same as Squall. Squall quickly recovered however and jumped back up to his feet, still groaning slightly, and then threw his arms out again at the Dreadlord.

This time when the balefire streaked toward the Dreadlord she couldn't do anything to stop it and then it hit her. A scream of mortal pain ripped through the air as the balefire hit the Dreadlord, then as quick as a blink she was gone...erased from existence. When she was destroyed, Squall stopped his attack and then fell back down onto the ground and laid there. Tenchi rushed toward him as fast as he could and so did Rico who already had a healing capsule out.

He lay on his back breathing hard, his side ached and so did his arms and legs and just about every other part of his body. She was dead, Amelia was dead. He had avenged Irvine, Selphie, Zell, Angelo...Rinoa, he had avenged them all by killing Amelia. He had no idea what that bar of fire was but he didn't care, it killed Amelia and that was all that mattered. Dimly he saw two shapes above him and thought they were Trollocs but he couldn't grab hold of the power in him again so he waited for one of those sick weapons to kill him.

One of their hands dipped down and he heard something snap over him and then it felt like he was plunged head first into an icy river that soaked through his body down to his bones, his soul and then he felt everything heal itself. All the cuts and brusies he had gotten from his fights that day were healed and he opened his eyes and sat up looking at the two over him. One was of average height with spikey black hair and was covered in blood, and the other had strange markings on his face and was wearing a brown suit and he also had spikey black hair.

Right then he didn't care who they were but he was able to figure out that they were the ones who healed him. He got to his feet, murmured a thanks and then started toward the Ragnarok. He heard one of them speak,

"Where are you going?"

Squall looked back and then started walking again, "Back home."

"What about your friends?"

Squall stopped for a second, the pain to much to bare, "They're dead. Amelia killed them."

"Who's Amelia?"

"That girl I just killed back there, she was the one who summoned the Trollocs and that guy in black and killed Zell, Angelo and Rinoa." Squall started walking again, hoping he wouldn't have to answer anymore questions.

"When did they die?"

"Today."

"How long ago?"

Squall suddenly turned around extremely angry, "What does it matter?! They're dead and they're not coming back so just shut up and leave me alone." He turned around again and started off.

"Just answer this last question and then we'll leave you alone. How long ago did your friends die."

Squall stopped and looked at the ground with the Lionheart cluthced in his fist, "About twenty minutes ago." Then he started walking off again.

"Your friends might be alive."

Squall stopped again and this time was angry again and turned to the two standing there, "How could you saw that? I saw them die myself, I heard them. I've seen death before and I know, they're dead so would you just shut up with your sick jokes and leave me alone before I use my bar of light on you two."

"Balefire."

"What?" said Squall.

"That bar of light, it's called balefire and it's a very amazing weapon. Amazing and unbelievably dangerous."

"How do you know about it?" Squall asked.

"We come from an alternate dimension and are here to ask you to come back with us Squall. We think that your powers would be very useful in our war against the Shadow."

"So why do you want me?"

"Two reasons. One your metioned in prophecy and two you can channel, very strongly I might add. That attack you used, balefire, is the strongest attack a channeler has. If a person is hit by balefire they are wiped from existence, completely. And depending on the amount of power used to make the balefire determines how far back you erase that person."

"What?" asked Squall, very confused. (Note: For all of you who don't know about balefire I'll try my best to explain it and if that dosen't work, e-mail me with any questions you might have about it.)

"For example, say I killed my friend Rico over here, by the way my name is Tenchi. But say I kill Rico and then you hit me with balefire, it will erase me from existence so it would be like I was never here to kill Rico. You would still remember talking to me but anything I did in the past few seconds wouldn't have happened. Now say that you hit me with a really powerful balefire, one that erased me back a few hours instead of a few seconds. Then anything I did in those few hours would have never happened."

"So your saying that it can be used to save people?"

"Right but it could also be used wrongly and really screw things up. Like say a man saved a hundred people from a burning building and then a Dreadlord hit him with balefire then that means he didn't exist for that time so those hundred people die. Get it now?"

"I think I do, so what your saying is that since I hit Amelia, the Dreadlord, with balefire that might have erased her far enough to where she never killed my friends?" asked Squall, hope growing inside of him.

"Yes, I doubt that it was strong enough to erase her from summoning the Trollocs but I seriously believe your friends are alive." said Tenchi.

Squall ran back to where he saw then last, hoping and praying inside that they would be alive and that those two weren't playing with his emotions. He ran and ran but didn't see them anywhere. He got to the place where he last saw them but didn't see anything, the weird thing was that he didn't see thier footsteps going to that spot either. He continued down the path that they took when they were running from where Irvine was and kept going for about a few more feet when...

"Rinoa!!"

Tenchi watched as Squall rushed to the girl in the blue dress and pulled her into a tight hug and a kiss. His friend with the tattoo down the side of his face turned his head but had a smile on his lips. They stood thier embracing for a few minutes then Squall pulled back and they started talking. Tenchi listened as Squall explained everything that happened and also introduced Rico and Tenchi. Tenchi explained why they were there and told Rinoa and Zell that they could come as well with Squall if they wanted to and they agreed.

A few minutes after Washu got the message the purple time portal opened up and the party leapt into it travelling back to Tenchi and Rico's dimension.

He opened a gateway to where he felt the fighting and stepped out of his doorway. Be'lal watched as the portal closed and a smile grew on his face, 'Amelia, poor girl. She never knew that I meant for her to die so that Squall would learn to harness Saidin. Now it will be easier to turn him and once I get Cloud and Zidane the Great Lord will name me Nae'blis instead of that fool Moridin.'

He turned back toward his gateway and it closed behind him in a vertical slash of light.




Chapter 2 comeplete! Whew! That was long. It was fun too. I seriously didn't expect it to be this long, in fact I had to cut Amelia's and Squall's duel in half because the whole chapter was getting to long. Saidin, it is the part of the One power that men can channel, as mentioned in the chapter above women channel Saidar and if you read A Feudal Fairy Tale you can see you different the two powers are (Kagome channels Saidar at the end and the way she harnesses it is completely different than the way Squall does.)

If you couldn't figure it out you should know that the third world will be Final Fantasy 9 which happens to be my personal favorite and Zidane's new power makes him able to stand up to Squall and Cloud instead of them being so much stronger than he was. If you want to know his power you'll have to have played a game called Shadow Hearts and that's all I'm going to say. See ya later!!"