Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Resurrection - Rebirth of a Foe ❯ Old Haunts ( Chapter 9 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Chapter Nine - Old Haunts
The deep sea research facility had not remained secret for much longer, when Squall and his group discovered the now abandoned place a year ago during their discovery of the rest of the world, before the showdown with Ultimecia in her castle. It was the exact same place, that Squall and his group fought the numerous Ruby Red dragons and then eventually the legendary Guardian Force: Bahamut. Zell, with his considerable knowledge of machinery had been with Squall, as well as Selphie when they attempted to gain another GF, this time Eden. It was Zell who knew about the existence of the deep-sea research facility and what sort of work was being conducted there.
The six of them, before disembarking the Ragnorak organised themselves into two groups before heading pit of the ship and entering the depths of what used to be the deep sea research facility. All had junctioned their magic, Guardian Forces and abilities according to his/her own preferences. This time Squall did not junction the Enc-none ability and instead junctioned 'Revive' in its place. Although there would be random encounters of whatever beasts and monsters that lurked within the wrecked research facility, Squall did however, did not want to take the chance of losing a team member against a high levelled, or difficult to beat monster.
Because of the majority of boys in the current team of six, Squall against his own will - grouped Seifer with Irvine and Selphie. He knew Seifer's capability and vigour to fight as a mercenary, and Seifer knew his. If Squall had gone with his own wishes he was sure that the second group would be at the greatest disadvantage, should they come up against a strong foe.
Zell and Quistis followed directly behind him, as Squall took the lead. No other source of provided them with light to guide them on their way, except for the streak of sunlight that crept inside through a crevice in the ceiling. Finding a discarded piece of wood, Squall used the lowest fire magic and cast it on the slightly damp piece of wood - from the growth of moss - and used it as a temporal torch to aide them in their decent deeper into the research facility.
Echoed shouts halted Squall and his team in their tracks. Seifer and his group had dwindled slightly behind - a few metres back - and because the light Squall was holding was not as good he hoped it would be - the three of them had to peer into the gloom to locate where they were.
"Irvine, have you got first strike?" Seifer's voice said in the darkness, while Squall shone the torch in the right direction to see Seifer's tall figure clad in the long grey trench coat.
"Yeah-"
"Have you got Aura on your magic list?"
"Yeah-"
"Cast it on me,"
"What?! No, we have to strike at it first before it gets a swipe at us." Irvine protested, raising his Exeter - he had wheedled the two screws needed for the upgrade from Quistis - to aim and fire.
"Just do as I say and cast Aura on me now!" Seifer said impatiently.
Muttering under his breath, the student originally from Galbadia Garden used an Aura spell and cast it onto Seifer - the magic creating a glow to the place with blazing blue and white hues. It was Selphie's turn in combat and aimed her weapon at the unseen monster - the visibility was not that good despite Squall's good attempt to shed some light. Deciding to use Scan as her next move, Selphie backed down for now until it was her turn again.
The orange/yellow aura that engulfed Seifer told Squall that much that he was eagerly anticipating the chance to use his Limit Break. Squall knew what it was like to face the brunt of Seifer's special attacks, Squall knew all too well - as it was him that Seifer envied and had a grudge against. Just like a Tonberry, Squall thought, thinking of the 'Everyone's Grudge' attack that the weird little knife wielding and lantern carrying thing was known to use. Finally getting his chance, Seifer slashed at the beast and from the way he plunged the blade of his weapon into it, Squall knew that he was looking at Seifer's Demon Slice attack - and quite an impressive attack it was too. When his assault was through, Seifer, his blond hair ruffled and small fringe at the front of his forehead moved gently form the heaving of his chest turned and glared back at Squall with blue eyes that had a dangerous gleam of an appetite that had just been satisfied.
The creature, slumped on the floor with a steady flow of blood pouring out, gave one more shudder of release before finally dying.
"Piece o' cake," Seifer said with a smug grin in Squall's direction, dusting his trench coat before sheathing his gunblade back in place.
"What a waste," Irvine said in disgust. "Squall, hand me your torch." Taking the lighted piece of wood, Irvine crouched down onto the floor and held the shining light against the dead beast. "What a waste," the cowboy repeated with even more disgust in his voice. "It wasn't even a Ruby Red, or anything higher than that."
"What was it?" Quistis asked, coming to stand next to Irvine to have a look see. "Oh my, not a Ruby Red at all."
"Ah, stop whining Kinneas!" Seifer said irritably. Performing the Demon Slice had been exhilarating, and had given him that extra boost in confidence and his ability to fight extremely well. Right now, Irvine and Instructor Trepe were extinguishing his burning flame.
"Oh, it's just an Anacondeur," Selphie said, disappointment in her normally cheerful voice. "Yeah, what a big waste."
"OK!" Seifer snapped. "No need to rub it in, geez! It was one aura spell, why you buggin' over that for, Irvine?"
Irvine shrugged and handed the torch back to Squall, "All I'm pointing out is, don't blame me if we run out short on aura magic, and we come up against Ultima Weapon's twin brother.
"Ultima has a twin bro?!" Zell said, suddenly looking up. Irvine sighed and placed a hand over his face, shaking his head.
"Figure of speech, Zell." Squall said, patting his friend on the shoulder. "Come on, let's find Odine and set the record straight."
"So Ultima has a twin bro?!" Zell asked Quistis with a slightly worried look. When they had gone to gain the GF Eden, they had to 'draw' it out of the massive beast. They had gone with the same strategy that was used when trying to gain the Guardian Force: Catuar, on Catuar Island, but still Ultima put on a difficult fight. Not only did it have a tremendous amount of hit-points to be hacked off; it also had fierce attacks that took an equable amount of hit-points off members on Squall's party and himself. That was the hardest battle they had come up against - that was until Squall and co. were introduced to Omega Weapon, the ultimate GF - by Squall's reckoning - Griever, and of course Ultimecia and her other forms.
The 'pish' sound from the small puddles of water on the floor told Squall that they were descending further and further down the research facility. He heard Zell curse under his breath when dripping water from over head, landed on his straw-blond, plumed hair. The air had become noticeably dank and musty, with Selphie letting out a squeal of protest about how unhygienic it was to work in such conditions.
All complaints ceased when Squall ordered for silence, and stopped in front of a door with a security lock that required a code to gain access inside, and whatever laid within. . . Odine has to be in there, Squall reasoned to himself quietly. Security lock on a new looking door. . . it has to be where Rinoa and Matron are being held, and Ultimecia. . . So far, Ultimecia had no clear reason through which accusations could be made against her, but no doubt a more subtle and ulterior motive. The fact that Odine had been researching on time and compression did not lighten the guilt that Ultimecia was trying to succeed in her second attempt to destroy their world - using Odine as her puppet.
The only think that stopped Squall and his team from busting Odine's ass, and possibly Ultimecia's once more, was the damn code needed to break the security look. Seifer saw the dejected look on Squall's face and impatiently pointed his gun-blade at the computerised lock - a bullet from the gun-blade was sure to let the door give way for them. Selphie's cry to 'stop' was what halted Seifer from squeezing the trigger. He gave an exasperated sigh and glared at the girl, originally from Trabia Garden, with raised eyebrows.
"What now?!" he said rather rudely.
"There's a warning notice on the wall," Selphie said, signalling for Squall to come where she was so she could read what the notice said.
Warning: the correct code for the security lock must be inputted to gain entry.
Physical or magical force will activate the self-destruct mechanism.
"Ah, brilliant!" Seifer snapped, kicking the wall in annoyance.
"Guess that idea's gone out of the window," Quistis said glumly.
"What do we do now, Squall?" Selphie said in imploring tones.
I dunno! Does it look like I have all the answers??! It was really beginning to be ridiculous, tedious and annoying. The number if times they had to zip across the world, to different continents and places - it was costing them big time for the Ragnorak's fuel. Not only that, there was the minor - yet frustrating - obstacles to over come too. It felt like to Squall that they were being led on some wild Chocobo chase. In front of them was an obstacle now, it would be simple enough if only the code - the correct code - was known!"
Patting the sides on his long blue shorts, Zell came up with a hand-held device and beamed. "Hey, look what I found," he said, showing Squall.
"A scrambler, eh?" Seifer said, nodding at the gadget Zell had and the flashing green and red lights from the light emitting diodes. "Impressive Dincht, where did you filch it from?"
The martial arts experts coloured slightly, but made no response. "Where did you get it, Zell?" Quistis said with a spark of curiosity.
"I, uh," Zell stuttered, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish look that everyone recognised. "Hey, Rinoa and Matron need us!" he said. Hastily Zell attached the scrambling device onto the security lock, and pressed the button that would decode the secret code. "Bingo!" Zell said triumphantly. "The code's: 3N100," Detaching the scrambler, Zell pocketed the very handy device and cleared the way for Squall. Tightening his grip around the piece of blazing wood that was holding well because of its dampness. Swallowing, Squall nudged open the door, gaped and fell back slightly.