Chapter 4: On the Way Back to Balamb Garden

[ST]

Ohhh yeah >D New thread...this is better than trimming WEEDS! >)
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All of you stood there. The sight of the one who had just come in was overwhelming. He had a sinister aura around him that screamed bad vibes for those who dare try to mess with him. Indeed there was no mistaking, he was definitely the leader of DotNA. He was eyeing everyone of you with undervalue, his smirk belittling (sp -_-). There were two more figures who appeared behind him from the bushes.

"Master," a girl, probably around the age of 13, stood near him, bowing her head.

Seeing this, Governor Arland was surprised. That same girl was supposed to be working as one of his bodyguards. "What the is she doing?" he mumbled.

"O-odendria! There you are." He smiled and walked towards the girl. "I was wondering where you are. L-let me take care of this mess." Arland told the leader with an ugly grin. "Now, Odendria! I order you to kill those SeeDs and rip the ruby out from them!" he demanded and pointed to all of you.

"What for...?" the leader spoke up, cocking his eyebrow. "So that Mistress Adel will be pleased with you once you present her Rhirawen's ruby?"

Governor Arland gulped. "Weiss, don't you act big now that you've got her favor. Remember I'm a friend of your late father who helped you get to where you are--"

It didn't take a second before the young girl behind Weiss dashed before the Governor with lightning speed, slitting his throat with nothing but her barehands. The girl's blank face was soon sprayed with blood as Arland dropped to his knees coughing and oozing with blood.

"I don't have any need for you, Arland. Thank you for your service....if you want to call it that." Weiss brushed back his sleek black hair and watched with fascination as the governor drown in his own blood and die.

"B-brother..." Waverly was glued to her spot as she looked at him. She could see that Reaver was with her brother too. She would figure just as much that he wouldn't let someone like him go.

"So...these are the infamous SeeDs of Garden," the DotNA leader drawled. "Sad to say, this is a dead-end for all of you." His lips smiled. "Give me the ruby and maybe I'll give you a painless death." With a stroke of his hand, the air around you changed and you found yourselves bound by an unusual status effect. You couldn't cast magic or communicate with your guardian force!

"Now...who wants to die next?" Every enemy you spot around you all braced themselves in attack position. That was when you know that the situation might be a little tricky.

[Polaris Lyn]

"Now...who wants to die next?"

Polaris glanced around, her frown deepening. They were completely surrounded and unlike his airheaded sister Waverly, this man looked steady, calm, and truly powerful. He was eyeing them with amusement, his lips quirked into a smirk. They had about as much chance fighting through this horde of soliders as a snowball had a chance in hell.

There was a time to go completely nuts and hack your way through dozens of bodies, and then there was a time to lay down your weapon and stall.

She met Weiss's eyes squarely. "That's a little unfair, isn't it, taking away our abilities to cast and summon right before a big brawl?" she remarked offhandedly.

[stardust]

Stardust clenched her fist. The DotNA leader who was going by the name Weiss wasn't someone they shouldn't be taking lightly. Talk about being in a major pinch. She couldn't feel Diwata even if she hadn't unjunctioned her yet. What kind of spell is this..? It was like a high level silence magic. Certainly, she hadn't run into something like this before.

Even so, this wouldn't keep them from going back with the ruby.

"That's a little unfair, isn't it, taking away our abilities to cast and summon right before a big brawl?" Stardust looked at Polaris.

The expression on Weiss's face didn't change. "Unfair?" The tip of his gunblade touched the dirt. "Oh, pardon me. What was I thinking..." He almost sounded like he was sorry. Touching his forehead, he cast his palm forward to summon his guardian force.

"Bahamut." The sound of a dragon was heard approaching from a distance and pretty soon, a very familiar dragon bearing silver scales descended down the heavens with a loud roar.

"Something we got from the research center," he said, shrugging. "I'll ask one more time, SeeDs. Give us the ruby."

Stardust moved her hand forward and aimed Ciceronian at the leader's head. It was now or never. "Not without a fight, we won't!" She let go of the arrow.

Once she shot the arrow, Stardust had lost track whether her arrow had hit the leader or not. The only thing she heard were the dozens of gunshots being fired at them.

"Duck if you don't wanna die!!" she shouted and began dashing to evade the rain of bullets as best as she could, shooting the nearest soldier she could aim at with her next arrow.

We're not going to die like this! Atleast she wouldn't.

[Bun]

"Duck if you don't wanna die!!" Stardust shouted, before embedding an arrow into the throat of the nearest soldier. Despite her crankiness and overall bad personality, Sho almost blew a kiss in her direction.

<I think I just fell in love with her.>

There was no time for amorous intentions, however, as the shooting began. Obediently, Sho ducked as bullets rained above their heads, and shouting told him that the DotNA had begun shooting each other in their panic. He grinned and ran in a crouch, quickly and silently, before bursting from his group in a streak of white and blue, uttering a short "ki-yaa!" before leaping up and kicking a soldier straight in the face. Blood exploded in a bright scarlet spray as the nose shattered, and the soldier's head snapped back to an almost 90-degree angle, effectively breaking the windpipe and leaving him suffocating on the ground. It would take a while for him to die.

Sho landed neatly and just as quickly jumped back as the shooting began anew. He stepped back and almost fell forward as a figure clad in black barreled past him, shorter by about a foot and hefting a gleaming silver war axe, low to the ground in an offensive hold. Polaris swung, hard and fast, and a soldier went down, head rolling away from his body. She let the momentum carry her all the way around and pivoted slightly, shifting her weight, and ended up standing right in Waverly's line of fire. Before Waverly could even react, Polaris shouted something---Sho clearly heard the word "bitch!"---and swung back a slim fist, before it snapped forward, catching Waverly full in the mouth.

[Diego Stanton]

Deo was shot twice in the arm before he had the sense to listen to Stardust and duck. The pain of being shot barely fazed him, he was so overwhelmed by the swift massacre of his friends that he had lost his sense of what was going on.

Seeing Polaris and Sho immediately jump into attacking, Deo followed suit. He tossed a protect stone to Jaime and Vanesse and activated one for himself. Right now he couldn't really give a shit about how the seeDs were doing.

Drake! Deo yelled as he felt the blue barrier shield itself aorund him. Damn, I could really use him right now

There was one bomb left from the pile that Deo had spilt by the statues. He lit it with a snap of his fingers and threw it at Weiss with his uninjured hand.

The dotNA leader spun around and sliced off the wick with ease. The bomb fell to the floor harmlessly. Deo looked up at Weiss with a look on his face that said '..crap.'

That wasn't good...

[ST]

Waverly growled and spat out a wad of blood. She grabbed for Polaris and in their struggles, both of them went tumbling violently to the floor. Since she wasn't a combat fighter, Waverly was madly shooting all over the place in hopes of hitting Polaris, but all she succeeded in doing was shooting off one of the straps of Polaris's corset.

---

Mitch struck out a foot and rammed it into Stardust's ankles, making her fall to the floor on her back. He strode around to the front of her and looked down.

"So you're Stardie, huh?" he mocked, "you should thank me. If Waverly hadn't cheated on Reese for me, you two probably would have never gotten together. Of course, I was also the one who put him into your ICU but that's beside the point."

Mitch leaned down, "Let me just take that choker," he said and reached for Stardust's weapon.

---

"I remember you two," the freakish girl said, standing in front of Jaime and Vanesse. She tried to wipe the blood off of her face with the back of her hand, but it only smeared down her cheeks. Stepping over the body of Governor Arland, she walked closer and closer towards the two girls with a chesire cat grin on her face. She raised her palms upwards and a familiar tube protruded from the slits in her wrists.

---

Just as Sho was about to kill his fifth soldier, Reaver shot him through the leg.

"You taking good care of Tomoe?" he smirked at Sho, "I never knew her to be one to hang out with freaks."

---

Blaze, Hadrian, Jun, Deo, and Rayden faced Weiss and his dragon GF. Bahamut was slowly gathering a huge energy blast in his mouth.

"Don't mind him. It takes him a while to power up," Weiss pointed his gunblade in the air, "Come. I can take all of you on."

---

yaaay fighting time XD and Polaris was just dying to be like Kelly Hu and have no clothing on. youu bet XD heehee

You can write the fight scenes/actions of who you are fighting with as long as your character is losing. mwahaha have fun losing XD

[Bun]

*spoons at Weiss' utter coolness*

---

"I never knew her to be one to hang out with freaks."

"Aa," Sho retorted angrily as he put his weight on his uninjured right leg, "she doesn't. That's why she's not with you!"

He threw himself forward at the final word, managing to hit Reaver in the cheek with a glancing blow. But his leg didn't hold; Reaver had shot him in the knee, right on target---he had shot above Sho's protective shin guards and the bullet had lodged itself between the kneecap and the cartilage, causing almost unbearable pain with each movement. Sho's punch startled Reaver, but it wasn't enough to take him down. Instead, Reaver spun his gun and swung it, the butt of the pistol catching Sho in the temple. A bright flash of pain, and the feeling of wet dripping down his cheek, told Sho that Reaver had managed not only to break skin, but crack his skull. The world blurred for a moment, and Reaver was moving, swinging his pistol again to hit Sho under the chin. Sho nearly flew back, landing hard on his back, knocking the breath from his lungs. He blinked and Reaver had a knee in his gut, the weight painful, and the barrel of his gun was right between Sho's eyes. Sho glared angrily at his opponent.

"It is filth like you that keeps my sister from realizing the truth," Reaver hissed. "SeeD lies and false promises of nonexistent freedom tore her away from her family. She's better than any of you could ever hope to be." A click, and the hammer was cocked back. "She belongs to us."

"Aa, last time I checked, a crazy girl like that doesn't belong to anyone, or even need anyone taking care of her. She'd hack you to pieces if you tried." Sho matched Reaver, fury for fury. "If anything, it's probably her stupid, power-hungry family that drove her to join SeeD!!"

It was the wrong thing to say. Reaver hit him with a backhand, still holding the gun, and Sho felt his mind slip into a near-unconscious state.

He felt the barrel of the gun against his forehead, and dimly realized that he was going to die.

***

Polaris felt the bullet slice through the strap of her corset, and she laughed, right in Waverly's madeup face.

"Hey, princess, my face is right here." Polaris punched Waverly again and the girl screamed in pain, tumbling to one side. "Work on your aim!" She rolled to her feet and dragged Waverly up before shoving her into a soldier. Waverly shrieked in renewed fury, pointing her gun, and Polaris tackled her, straddling the DotNA princess and slapping her in the face. Polaris didn't have her axe; when Waverly had leapt at her she had lost grip on her weapon. Wherever it was, it was too far away to reach.

Waverly swung her gun, and Polaris felt it connect with her jaw. Her body tilted sideways and Waverly used the opening to push her off and scramble to her feet, aiming the gun at Polaris, her eyes gleaming with triumph. "You're dead!" Waverly screamed. "Your darling brother isn't around to save you!"

Polaris' eyes narrowed and she rolled to her feet. "Don't confuse honor with affection, princess," she spat venomously. "Judging from the loving relationship you and your older brother share, he wouldn't give a rat's ass if I shoved my axe in your throat."

Waverly's face was contorted with fury, and she fired once---twice---three times.

Polaris felt the first bullet graze her cheek, leaving a shallow, thin line just beneath her right eye. But the second and third bullets found their mark. The second bit just above her left elbow, exploding in a spary of red, and the third bullet burrowed into her left thigh. Polaris felt the pain, felt herself falling back onto the ground.

<Damn,> she thought dimly, as her body met the dirt, <she's a pretty good shot.>

Waverly stood over her, looking victorious. "I don't care if Reaver cries bloody murder on me, you stupid bitch. You're dying here and now."

Polaris blinked up at her, before her lips twisted into a smirk. She remembered.

"You walk out that door, Tomoe, and the next time I see you I will shoot you." His voice was neutral, not cruel or callous. It was the way they were raised. Her leaving the family, her self-imposed exile, made her a target. Traitors die. And she was a traitor.

"Don't worry," she replied, meeting Reaver's eyes squarely. "I won't let anyone else kill me but you. But it goes both ways, big bro. I won't let anyone kill you but me."

"Sorry, princess," Polaris said softly to Waverly. "But you couldn't kill me if you tried."

Waverly's eyes narrowed. "Let's find out," she muttered, and pulled the trigger.

[vanesse]

Running away from the line of fire and from the freaky girl, Vanesse was indeed crying like a baby. She was fully aware of that, but she couldn't stop shaking and bawling. Those fond memories they had when they were all together at Opps deeply crushed her the moment she realized that everything was going to change. She never expected that it was her friends' turn to go. Everything was just flowing fine two days ago, who would've thought that they were nearing their end.

Is this it... she asked herself, barely noticing the protect stone Deo put around her and Jaime. We're all going to...die? In a split-second, she felt like she didn't care. But then, looking back at what they had accomplished...Her puffy eyes travelled to Deo as she saw him try to retaliate. He was fighting. She couldn't feel any anger for the DotNA right now, atleast not yet, all she could do was mourn. She was always like this.

Vanesse spotted a protuding rock near the bushes and quickly dragged Jaime towards it without second thought. There was no telling when a random bullet would hit. She ran out of time to get Deo's hand. "Deo take cover! This way!" she shouted in her hoarse voice and hid behind the rock, still hearing herself sniff.

[Diego Stanton]

Deo ran with Vanesse and Jaime to escape from all the fighting, all the bloodshed. He didn't care that he was running away, none of the three were in a condition to fight anyway. He wasn't a soldier. He hadn't been trained to face the death of loved ones and continue to fight with a solder's attitude.

"Hey!! Where do you think you'r-- UGHHH" Blaze huffed in irritation when she saw Deo retreat from the fight.

Tears were pouring down Vanesse's face. Deo crouched down behind the rock and silently hugged her and Jaime, trying to comfort them. He knew they had only a couple seconds before somebody found them.

The seeDs didn't know, didn't understand what had happened to the Opps. They didn't even care.

[stardust]

Despite her crankiness and overall bad personality, Sho almost blew a kiss in her direction.

<I think I just fell in love with her.>

Ahhhhh!!! The world is ending!!!!!!! ROFL *wheezes*
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If there was anything Stardust loathed more than anything, that would be a BS-ing moron that had the guts to make herself kiss the ground. It was like everytime someone crosses the lines, a wave of fury always boosts her meter and she ends up exploding. Her eyes crawled up to Mitch's face as she pushed herself off the ground. It was amazing how he blatantly confessed everything to her. Now, she wouldn't have to search around for a wild goose chase. Mitch's statements were just enough for Stardust to know what kind of people Waverly and him are.

Mitch leaned down, "Let me just take that choker," he said and reached for Stardust's weapon. It was the wrong thing to do. Once the pinkhead had caught sight of his hand, she quickly reached for it and broke three of his fingers, pushing the digits until their nails were almost parallel to the back of his palm. "DotNA scum, you talk too much," she spat as she heard Mitch cry in agony. His free hand flew to hit her but she quickly blocked it with her wrist. "You're dead, you're all dead!" She was shaking in anger. Her boot flew to the guy's jaw, followed by her fists, and then another square kick--back and forth, back and forth, in the head. The guy was pushed backwards in each blow and was heard cursing every now and then. Delivering a full blow punch, Stardust didn't want to see the guy breathe any longer and quickly summoned Ciceronian, aiming it on Mitch's forehead several inches away from it. Right now, nothing else mattered but the death of this man in front of her. It was all she could worry about. He was going down!

"Urgh!" She heard a gunshot being fired from behind her. She blinked, and wasn't able to move. Her Ciceronian seemed to almost fade away. What? It took a split second for the pain to spread all over her nerves and into her brain. Stardust slowly looked down on her belly and saw blood gushing over it. She clutched her side. Random bullet...!

"You b*tch!!" Mitch spat the tooth out of his mouth and quickly went for Stardust when he got his chance. The DotNA's strength was incredible. Stardust was quickly thrown back at the first punch. She quivered at the pain, clenching her teeth. In a blurry vision, she could see Mitch walking right at her.

[Hadrian D'arcell]

Hadrian had to rip his eyes off the enormity of Bahamut to focus on what was going on between them and the leader. He would admit, without CQ to aid him, his firepower in the battlefield wasn't as promising as he was in front of a terminal. There was no way he could take on someone with this caliber. Hey, wait a damn minute... Since when did he get afraid of DotNA?

Deo was out, prolly backed out, so it was up to them. Hadrian smirked in attempt to irk the DotNA leader. "Ahh, so you're Mr. Incredible now? Rockin. You DotNA idiots are full of damn hot air." He chucked a meaningful look on his teammates. Suddenly, he took out the couple last of his bombs and slung them at Weiss.

"Guys!"


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Ahhh, it's Blaze, Jun, and Rayden's turn to attack now XD and then they all lose! HAHAH Losing is fun! We should do this often! XD j/k

[waterlily43]

Without the somewhat comforting presence of Sapphy's snide remarks or just plain grunting, Jun vaguely felt a sense of something amiss. She would never admit it but she had grown to depend on the dragon for moral and spiritual support. But however bad she felt, Jun had no choice but to force it all back.

A SeeD's gotta do what a SeeD's gotta do. She steeled herself, glad that she had gotten Tien Nu back earlier. Throwing a quick glance around, she noticed that none of the Opps were around--probably going into hiding-- she barely had time to deduce, before having her breath caught in the chest at the sight of the gigantimous GF that Weiss had summoned.

She jolted back to reality at Weiss' challenge. She had seen plenty of self-assured guys, Make that pompous asses... but this one seemed like the Great Grampa of them all.

"So, Mr. Dotna. Person like you probably doesn't like to swallow your words." Jun said lightly, her eyes casually catching Hadrian's glance at her and the others before flitting back to the Dotna leader. "But you will have your face pushed into humble pie today if it's the last thing I do!" She growled, but before Weiss could reply, Hadrian threw a sudden slew of bombs at Weiss.

Taking the curtain of few seconds the bombs bought her, Jun swung Tien Nu in a wide arc aiming for his arm, deciding that taking out his attacking power should be on the top of her priorities. Weiss anticipated her move, grabbing her by the wrist and twisting it abruptly at an awkward angle. Jun thought she could hear a sickening crack, letting out a short cry as her eyes teared involuntarily at the pain surging from her wrist. It was definitely broken, she knew, but she wasn't going to back down just because of that! She made a highly unstable lunge at Weiss, jabbing the point of her elbow towards his face while willing it to mash it (or at least some part of it) into a pulpy, unrecognisable mess. He merely side-stepped her before ramming the butt of his gunblade heavily into her abdomen.

Shit. Jun coughed up red-tinged phlegm, her intestines twisting mercilessly with each hack but helpless to stop the coughing.

"Looks like you SeeDs eat humble pie for a living." Weiss mocked with a cold smile, sending another hard kick into her side.Crack Her ribs screamed in unison with her wrist and intestines. "Like I said. The ruby, or you get a free trip to Roller-coaster-o-pain." He smirked sadistically,

"In your effing dreams!" Jun yelled, picking up Tien Nu with her uninjured arm. With an almost suicidal effort and maniacal gleam in her eyes she tried to stab it into his right upper thigh.

Please, Hyne, if I can't cause him grevious hurt this time, let Blaze do it...

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ahh >.< Ani I didn't put the outcome of Hadrian's bombs cos I dunno how you wanted it to be, but I can edit anytime haha.

[Blaze Sanaku]

Before Blaze could even get close to Weiss, Jun was at his throat, fighting her hardest. Blaze rushed to her aid, but Weiss was somehow able to block both Tien Nu and both of Blaze's claws with a swift stroke of his dark gunblade.

Metal clashed upon metal as Weiss roughly shoved back Jun with the butt of his handle.

"If you weren't a coward, you'd give us back our magic," Blaze said fiercely, glancing up at Bahamut who was ready to strike at any moment.

"Does it look like I need magic to win?" Weiss asked. He pulled the trigger of his gunblade and Blaze felt a bullet lodge into her stomach. She fell foward into Weiss's arms, gasping.

"I guess not," Weiss answered himself. He grabbed the back of Blaze's collar and threw her roughly into the dirt.

[ST]

It's okay, Mama G!! Nice post! And ta-da!! WELCOME AL AND MYACU!!!!
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Opps

"You think you will get away just like that?" asked the little girl who had just found the Opps hiding behind the rock. "Game over." Her expressionless faced was tainted by a sick smile. She brought up her hand for a quick slash.


SeeDs

Though your opponents are different, the outcome of your every battle is way similar to each other. The DotNA is winning, you are in a pinch. Waverly preparing to fire the gun, Reaver getting the upperhand, Mitch advancing as he took out his magnum, and Bahamut charging his lethal beam in full force for the final blow, there is no way for all of you could get out of this alive. Or is it?

All of a sudden, a thick mist starts to envelope the area, so thick that you can't even see what's in front of you. Then you hear gunshots, hundreds of them, like a rain of bullets followed by a cry of agony from the DotNA soldiers scattered like termites all over the place. From the looks of it, you know it's not from another enemy.

You hear the sound of an engine getting closer to the ground where you stand. A female voice calls out to all of you, holding a bright flare, signaling for you to come her way. She's inside an airship, has a short-hair and a round face. The bulletshowers doesn't stop and you take it as your cue to drag yourselves towards the airship for a desperate rendezvous. The Opps sees this chance and manages to sneak inside the airship as well.

Their great escape doesn't happen in a snap, but eventually, the pilot successfully fly out of the area with everyone on board, fortunately, still in one piece.

~*~

Inside, there was a short moment of silence. The SeeDs were definitely in a mess, there were sto-aways, which would be the Opps, and the three unfamiliar faces stood opposite from the SeeDs--two women and a pilot.

Hadrian had to catch his breath before managing to say anything. "Thanks for the help," he started, leaning his head on the interior. He didn't have any fatal wound, but the others sure did. "Are you the rescue team? We really need some medical attention over here. You have first-aid kits, right?"

[Polaris Lyn]

"You have first-aid kits, right?"

Polaris barely heard what Hadrian was saying, instead focusing her somewhat blurred vision to the three people who had saved them. Two women, both brunettes, one hefting a pair of gleaming pistols and the other a set of flails. The sharpshooter looked worldly, calm and calculated, while the girl with the flails looked vaguely familiar, but Polaris was unsure of why.

The pilot had left his seat, placing the airship on autopilot, and was standing beside the two women. He, too, had brown hair, and his piercing honey-brown eyes were intent upon them. Polaris realized how they must look, especially with the three Opps members huddled together looking miserable. Polaris didn't know what the three strangers were thinking, but that wasn't her problem---her bullet wounds took precedence, and away from Weiss, the DotNA leader, the status effect he had cast upon them was slowly ebbing; Polaris could feel the surge of magic in her bloodstream, and Obsidian's presence hung heavily in her mind. She could cast Regen quickly enough on her teammates, but there was the chance that they still had bullets in them---Polaris winced when she felt the muscles in her leg jump, squeezing around the nugget of hot lead that Waverly had managed to fire into her. At least the other bullet that hit her arm went through cleanly.

Polaris leaned against the wall of the airship and managed to push herself up into a half-standing position. She saw that Blaze had been hit by a bullet, and so had Stardust---they were both clutching their abdomens, and more likely than not the bullet hadn't passed through. She needed to take care of them. Hadrian, although looking worn out, looked fine, as did Sho, who was sporting a nasty bruise on his jaw. Jun was cradling what was obviously a broken wrist. Polaris turned her head, looking over at the Opps, who were sitting together. Van and Jaime looked alright, but Deo...

Polaris frowned, then summoned forth what energy she had left to begin casting. People needed help.

Regen.

The glow of magic that suffused her palms was weak, and Polaris almost fell at the strength it took to summon magic. Her leg was bleeding out, and casting magic wasn't making things better. Gritting her teeth, Polaris leaned back against the wall of the airship for support and began casting Regen, one at a time.

<One for Hadrian...Sho...Jun...and Deo...>

She could not heal Blaze or Stardust, not while they might still have bullets inside them. Those needed to be removed, and quickly.

Polaris finished casting, and was not prepared for the intense weariness. She was simply too weak to cast any further. She felt her legs give out beneath her, and she collapsed upon her wounded leg, too out of it to even yell in pain.

<It fucking hurts...>

<It'll be alright.> Obsidian was in her head now, fully returned, his voice soft and soothing and just slightly worried. <Don't you worry, Chick, I'm here.>

Polaris looked around through half-closed eyes. "Is...is everyone...is everyone alright?" she managed to whisper breathlessly.