This piece of work is copyright of myself, Andrew Venables and is not availible for copy, sale or any activity that may adjust the content of this work that in any way that may threaten the reputation of myself and any publisher. Trademarks are properties of their repective owners. This fic may be placed on any websites provided you tell me first. If you claim this -my- work as your own I'll be pissed off and there's probably some law preventing this so don't. There will be people somewhere with copyrights to all of this. No infringement intended. Sorry about the scary stuff, like to get it out of the way at the start. Worth noting that I spent ages setting this up so it fits the width about right, there is nothing wider than the edge of your page ________________________________________________________________________________________________ CONNECTIONS - By Andrew Venables (a.k.a. Carrot) Chapter 6 - An Answer "At this point you make the mistake. You bet your life on the him being unarmed. He wasn't. Even so you could have killed him. He didn't notice you until you saw the weapon and told him to drop it. He summoned Eden and you were lucky to be rescued. And in the confusion he killed your partner. If he hadn't mistaken you for dead you would be. And if we hadn't come out you would still be there. This isn't a game anymore. You were supposed to kill Squall Leonhart. You failed. Now, as you know, we always say in a mission failed, those who escape get the same treatment as those who don't. Thus you are to be executed tommorrow. Sleep well." * * * * * Squall strode over into the elevator and pushed the button for Cid's office. There was a dull ping as the two glass doors slid together and shut. The lift started to move upwards, Squall idly watching the hall below him. The lift went straight past a group waiting to decend from 1st floor. Suddenly, a warning light flicked on in the lift. Squall stepped over, and looked at it dubiously. Unconcerned, he jabbed his finger into the lift intercom. "Cid, the lift's stopped again. Get me out" Squall glanced down, to see the ground floor heading past him. "The cable's snapped. I'm goin' down" Squall looked directly between his feet to see the MD level heading staight for him. Blue light surrounded he as he felt himself being pulled out of proportion. A curious feeling of detachment entered him as he saw himself float above the lift. Squall's conciousness blanked out. Squall felt as if he was being inflated back to normal. He looked to his left, and straight at Cloud. Cloud stared back, and inclined his head to tell Squall to look behind him. Squall turned and saw Zidane staring back at him. "Oh great, the narsisist from Lindblum" Squall sighed, turning back to Cloud "Why is he here?" "Why are we here?" muttered Cloud "This is no time for philosphical questions" snapped back Zidane, "Can we just go please?" "Where to?" retorted Cloud The sound of Squall's footsteps answered this enquiry. Cloud and Zidane turned and set off after Squall. There was a loud yell. They started to sprint. Squall was backed into a wall trying to fight off three monsters at the same time. Griever was flashing in his hand, and there had been two deaths already. Cloud and Zidane pulled out their ultima weapons and dashed into the fray. Within a second they had taken down the remaining monsters. A screaming groaning sound came to their ears from back up the passage, that sounded vaugely human. They sprinted back up the tunnel to find Rinoa, Tifa and Dagger all penned in by a large dragon. The assult began. Zidane, Squall and Cloud just attacked, they had no inclination to do not attack, but every time there was an opening they all went for it and foiled themselves. The girls hung back and mainly cured any injuries, but the odd pinwheel from Rinoa caused a small opening. They weren't going to win like this, just get tired and beaten. "Ultimate End" "Eternal Breath" yelled Cloud and Squall simultaneously. The fighters vanished and the summoned monsters launched their attack. Within seconds the monster had hit the floor. It was dead. * * * * * "This is getting real sociable" remarked Tifa. "So which way now?" asked Dagger. "What was with that monster?" inquired Cloud. "What are we doing here?" questioned Rinoa "I hope that was the worst" muttered Zidane Squall turned his back to the group and looked at the floor. It should have been obvious to anyone where to go next, and that the monster was no accident - it had been the welcoming party. Squall began to wander. He turned back to the group. "For god's sake. This way, that wasn't the worst, we are trying to get out, and that monster was sent down to deal with the intruders - us" Squall yelled. "Now, please - this way" Squall set off down the tunnel, the others followed. After a few hundred yards they came to a split. "Well then, Mr Guide, which way now?" gushed Cloud sarcastically. "Anyone got any Fire spells?" asked Dagger. "Yeah, why?" replied Tifa. "Logs. We can breathe, so air is coming into here. If we set fire to a log we can see where the air is coming from." responded Dagger "Nice idea. Shall I?" requested Tifa concentrating on her materia. The log caught fire. "Coming from the left fork" observed Zidane. "Let's go" said Rinoa. The group set off down the tunnel. Chapter 7 - Unpleasent Surprises "Where's Squall?" asked Cid "Nobody knows" replied Quistis "We know he fell to presumably his death in the elavator, but this doesn't tell us where his body is. Also, Rinoa dissappeared with him. All we can do is send out a search party." "Do it" ordered Cid "Take Zell with you" "You think two is enough?" exclaimed Quistis "No, but the elavator cable has only just been repaired. I'll send you down two at a time" * * * * * "Where's Cloud" asked Cid "Nobody knows" replied Barret "He was in his villa in the Costa when he was last seen. Also, Tifa has disappeared with him. We need an ariel search, we should spot the Highwind easily from the air." "Do it" said Cid "See if you can get Reeve to lend you a couple of Shinra jets." "You think two is enough?" exclaimed Barret "No, but after the attack from the guy in the aircraft, Reeve'll only give you two. I'll pilot one" * * * * * "Where's Zidane" asked Regent Cid "Nobody knows" replied Steiner "He was in Alexandria with Dagger, but, after that there is nothing. They're both gone. All we can do is search" "Do it" ordered Cid "Split the group up into twos. Comb the globe." "You think two is enough for a city?" exclaimed Steiner "No, but we know they aren't in Lindblum, Alexandria, Treno, Dali or Burmicia. It won't be easy, but it won't be impossible" * * * * * "Whoa what the hell was that" exclaimed Rinoa "Sounded like trouble" relpied Squall "Weapons" They rounded the corner carefully to come face to face with a humanoid like robot. "Blast them" croaked the leader "Roger Roger" For the first time ever they came into contact with machine guns like Laguna's. They fired a volley to find it met by Squall's Protect magic. "Get back" The party jumped back behind the tunnel wall. "We need a plan" hissed Cloud "You can't protect us forever" "They're mechanical - why not use Bolt magic" replied Tifa. "How many of us can fire a volley of bolt magic?" Only Tifa and Rinoa could. "I'll try to protect you while you cast" said Squall. "Let's do it" Squall cast protect as the girls jumped round the corner. Several of the monsters were felled before the spell wore out and they had to return. "There's too many of them - this ain't gonna work" They thought for a few seconds "I have an idea, but it's risky" whispered Rinoa. "Squall, do you have Quezacotl" "Yeah, why?" asked Squall "Ahhh, you want me to summon him" "You go it" "One problem, I need to be round the corner when I summon him" pointed out Squall. "Why not do it while protected?" asked Zidane, feeling he was being left out. "Why not. I'll give it a go. But it had better be good - it may take a while." Rinoa cast as Squall lept round the corner and called Quezacotl. The firing restarted as Squall just stood there. Squall felt the power build up inside himand he prepared for the final call. He also noticed that some bullets were penetrating the barrier, even if they were slowed. He found himself willing the GF to appear faster, even though this would just slow the process. He didn't know how well the GF could take being shot at but if it was killed he woudl be left out in the open. Just a second before Squall was ready to summon the barrier failed. Chapter 8 - Gaia Steiner chinked down the street, Vivi scurrying after him. "Slow down" "Master Vivi, we are on an important errand, we must hurry" "Slow down" "Master Vivi, why don't you go meet your friends while I finish the search. You can ask them if they saw Zidane too. Meet by the mill in one hour sharp". Steiner clinked off faster. Vivi just sighed and turned off to the more residential area of the black Mage city, curiously called Shumi. Spirits had picked up in this area with the discovery by the genomes of Terra that the back Mages could have their lives extended. People wanted to come out to live here as it was a very relaxed enviroment similar to that of Conde Petite. For the following hour Vivi wandered from house to house, finding no black mages. Perplexed, he headed off to the water mill at a run. "Master Vivi, I find your timekeeping a little out. You're nearly five minutes late." "Steiner, did you see any black mages?" Vivi gasped, a little short on breath. "None of them were at home." "Come to think of it, master Vivi, I didn't. Let us see if Bobby Corwen is home." They pushed the door open and peered in. It was deserted. They poked around to find a note. 'We have left this city. We are facing much adversity and one of our number was killed. We and the genomes headed south. No doubt if you are reading this you are a friend, but, we decided not to reveal where we were headed in case of a persuit. One of the people at the Conde Petite knows where we are going, but they will only reveal this information to a black mage, or any of Zidane's party. We hope some day that we will be able to recaim the city we worked hard to build. If you are a friend, and are armed, please pay a visit to the mayor and ask him why. If you are an enemy I hope you all are proud of what you have done - but we are mages and we will fight for what is ours when the time comes. Until then, FAREWELL' Steiner barged through the doors of the mayors office, clutching the note. "EXPLAIN" he bellowed. The council merely laughed. Vivi walked in and the laughing ceased. "EXPLAIN" Steiner repeated. "Lies, pure lies" simpered the mayor. "Hear, hear" muttered the council. Vivi hit the nearest three with a Silence spell. "Anything else to add" asked Vivi, in a sarcastic tone which provoked a glace from Steiner. "WELL" added Steiner to the mayor. "I...ummm...errr...SECURITY" floundered the mayor. Security rushed in to get slashed down by a combination a magical attacks and Ecallibur II. Vivi felt his anger build up, and then he burst. Sparks of light flew as Vivi went into trance. He pointed his mace at the mayor. "The truth!" he yelled as he slammed his staff down on the desk, setting a pile of papers alight. "We merely found their way of life conflicted ours - and encouraged them to leave" whimpered the mayor "we didn't condone the violence" "Who killed Number 24 then" Vivi continued "An unusual name don't you find, another source...." sniggered the mayor The mayor lept back as Vivi hit his desk with a fire spell "Seize him" cried a vioce A fight decended on the hall while Vivi and Steiner defened as well as they could. Steiner hadn't fought for ages, but found himself felling six of the councilors with one Shock. For every one he felled he found two new enemies. "Master Vivi, we must retreat" he shouted, making a break for the door, Vivi on his heels. They slammed the doors shut, and began to run. Vivi turned. "Fire" he yelled. Steiner looked back to see Vivi standing in front of two flaming doors. "I think we can stroll..." TO BE CONTINUED......................... ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Though this fic took a while, I'm gonna try to get the next one out quite quick (within the next month) I kinda ran short on ideas as I cound't expand on Cloud, Squall ects. personalities - I don't want to piss people off by giving their favorite character a personality they feel didn't suit their character in the games. I think I might of pushed it by giving Vivi a sarcastic element, but I think everyone gets angry sometime, and I think anger would make Vivi quite sarcastic. I'll probably write only two more episodes concerning all six main characters then concentrate on the FF8 world for the final two (with some possible involvent of the others in the concluding chapter). No doubt many people would have wanted to see the likes of Vincent, Yuffie, Eiko, Quistis or any others, but I realised that I couldn't work a story with twenty -two main characters + evil people - imagine trying to co-ordinate fights, or conversations, really six is too many for one party in fights, or any group situation, I tend to end up overlooking Zidane and Dagger, mainly because I have only read FF7 & FF8 fiction, and have less ideas on them. I'll stop 'cos no-one's gonna read this anyway. Comments or ideas to : carrot_veggiepatch@hotmail.com Finally, I figure if you got down this far, you might be interested in this. A group of people (who I have no connection to) are trying to build a game which they plan to submit to Square as a future FF sequel. I get the impression they need all the help they can get to pull this off, so, if you are interested or know anyone who might be, visit their website at : www.geocities.com/ice_darkrose/ Having recieved their e-mail I gave their site a visit and was impressed - they are for real and do need help - so at least visit their website and maybe give them a hand. I only mentioned their site 'cos I these people have a true dream - not a dream for money but something they really want to do 'cos they love it. Hell, it nearly inspired me.