Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy Saga ❯ First Match - Gren versus Kaine ( Chapter 12 )

Final Fantasy Saga

Chapter XII: First Match - Gren versus Kaine

It had been decided that each round of the tournament would be held in a different location, each with a special arena built specifically for that battle. Gren looked around their arena and wondered what exactly had possessed Laguna to build such an unusual one for this round. The interior of the large dome was painted in a way so that it resembled the blue sky with clouds in it, and instead of a stone arena the bottom of the coliseum was filled with sand. Bleachers extended far backwards towards the exits, filled from edge to edge with people various students, teachers, and other staff. There was a lot of pressure for the students to put on a good show, but Gren didn't mind, he saw this as a great chance to test himself against the limits.

A Tonberry calmly made it's way to the center of the arena, holding a microphone in it's hand it suddenly began to speak to the crowd, "Welcome, ladies and gentleman, to the first round of the Mana Academy Tournament! We have a very special treat for you today, Team Blaze Wing will face off against Team Blitz! In Blaze Wing are the notorious Gren Ashforn and Ark d'Speare, accompanied by the lovely but lethal Tifa Lockhart!" As it said these words, the Tonberry gestured towards Gren and the rest of his team, then turning it's hand towards their opponents. "And here we have team Blitz! In this team we have Kaine, Red XIII, and Tidus!"

Gren's opponent in this round was supposed to be Kaine, and so Gren looked his enemy over and sized him up as best he could. The weapon which Kaine held in his hand was a large spear, well embroidered with various crests and runes. It was almost a certainty that Kaine was going to exploit his advantage of distance, but there was an easy enough way for Gren to get beyond that. Unless there was something more, this would be a rather short bout. Kaine wore rather decorative armor which would likely slow him down, but it also seemed authentic enough that Gren knew Kaine was protected. It was actually good, since Gren didn't really want to hurt the guy.

Stepped into the arena, swords in each of his hands, Gren smiled and awaited his match to do the same. When he did, Gren offered a brief bow of respect before he took a fighting stance. Kaine did not move, simply standing there with the tip of his spear hidden under the sand, his eyes peering at Gren with a very obvious look in them through that mask. Kaine was going to be tough to beat and Gren knew it from that look, it was absolute determination. "Ready?" the announcer asked, though the question was rhetorical, "Fight!"

Immediately after the match began, Kaine leapt into he air with an amazing amount of grace and fluid speed. Gren had thought that Kaine's armor would slow the man down, but this maneuver put doubt into Gren's evaluation of his speed. As Kaine began to fall, Gren quickly realized that the trajectory of his opponents descent was coming right towards him, spear first. As he rolled to the side and avoided the attack, Gren suddenly felt a cold sting along his chest. Kaine had twisted his slash and pivoted to the side, raking the blade of the spear across Gren's chest. Gren attempted to run in and close that gap between him and Kaine, slashing in crisscross pattern at his enemy. But Kaine jumped into the air once again and avoided the attack, his ability to leap was rather incredible. Gren knew better than to jump out of him, there was no way to evade in the air and Gren had a disadvantage of distance to compensate for. So instead of attempting to attack Kaine, Gren focused entirely on dodging the next attack that came at him. Bouncing backwards, it didn't take Gren long to notice how Kaine was achieving the skillful accuracy he had achieved in his movements.

In the air, Kaine was using his spear as a sort of pole vault, which guided him and gave him increased accuracy and distance above the ground. Observing this gave Gren a possible weakness in his opponents technique to be exploited. Kaine brought his spear down towards Gren, and Gren raised both of his swords to deflect the overhead attack. Moving in once again to counter against Kaine, Gren twirled both his swords around in an uncommon pattern exposing his back to his enemy. Kaine, as Gren predicted, tried to use his spear to push himself into the air, but for some reason fell over. Gren had slammed his back into the spear as Kaine was just barely leaving, knocking the dragoon off course. Seizing this opportunity, Gren moved in quickly and slammed the flat edge of his sword right into Kaine's helmet, shattering it in half.

Kaine fell to the ground and seemed to go limp, Gren panting a bit as he held one hand over the wound on his chest. It was only superficial, but it did sting a considerable amount. His vision began to blur, and Gren came to a sudden realization that the tip of Kaine's blade was coated in some kind of poison. His body started to feel numb, and Gren fell to his knees, Kaine slowly standing up, his now-visible face smiling wickedly. The poison on his blade was paralysis serum of some kind, leaving Gren at a painful disadvantage. Slowly, obviously shaken from Gren's attack, Kaine made his way towards Gren and raised his spear.

"Don't think you've won so easily," remarked Gren as he brought up a sword and cut along the shaft of the spears handle, knocking it out of Kaine's hand, and then he brought his other sword up to Kaine's neck and stopped. "I win, you lose. Or should I cut your head off?"

"No, no, I give up," Kaine admitted with a sigh, "You must be very strong to resist the serum long enough for this..."

"Why thank you," Gren took the compliment in stride, as he had won the first bout in the tournament. All that was left was one more victory and their team would advance to the next round.

To Be Continued

Author's Notes: I know, short chapter, I'm sorry! The chapters will be pretty short for the remainder of this plot arc, but don't worry since the fights will be getting longer and longer. Still not the common length, but consider it a nice break after the intensively character driven stuff so far. Not to mention after this point things are going to be harsher for our heroes, with the plot arc after this one especially. So relax and enjoy this, we'll be having lots of fun Final Fantasy cameos throughout the entire tournament! A few of which will become larger roles in future plots and chapters, too.

Kill Bill opens this weekend, and I encourage you all to go see it! Quentin Tarantino + Samurai stuff = Ubber Cool Sh*t! In case you haven;t noticed from my listing of favorite anime and that there, not to mention the accurate vocabulary used in kendo training in the stories first chapter, I'm a bit of a samurai nut. Have a great week and all that!

Next Time: Blaze Wing has gotten a major victory against Team Blitz, if Blitz wants to stay in the game then their next fighter must defeat the lovely Tifa Lockhart. Will Tifa manage to claim victory for the first round and bring Team Blaze Wing into the second rounds of the tournament? Wait and see in the next amazing chapter, Final Fantasy Saga Chapter 13: First Match - Tifa versus Red XIII!