[LOG] How Do You Solve A Problem Like Fon Fabre, Part 3
In Which Squall Discovers The Limits Of His Patience
WHO: Squall Leonhart, Jade Belmont, Luke Fon Fabre
WHERE: Fire Cave, Balamb Island
WHEN: 28th of November
WHAT: Luke wants his own GF! Who can guess how this turns out?
WATCH FOR: Code 12, Luke getting his just desserts, Squall getting fame and the people's ovation.
The day's worn on, remarkably uneventful, and after the scare with the t-rexaur, Luke's been nearly tolerable in his silence and compliance. He wouldn't be the first spoiled noble cowed into submission by terrifying monstrosities, after all, and it isn't too much to assume he might have learned some sense about the whole matter. Which means, for about an hour before he'd suddenly dissapeared, the heir to House Fabre has been carefully learning Triple Triad. It's a harmless passtime, and he had a knack for card games once he figured the rules out.
But it had also let him speak at length in quieter tones to a student intending to take one of his exams soon. The question of Guardian Forces had arisen eventually, and Luke was all too willing to wiggle as much information he could out of the pleasant but distracted by cardplaying young man, even if it cost him a few losses. Guardian Forces, how SeeDs trained with them, and most importantly, that they were known to occasionally be in the Fire Cavern, where if defeated they would work with and help the person who beat them.
After a few more rounds, Luke had taken his leave and quietly made himself scarce.
A little while after that, it finally sunk in to the poor student in question that Luke fon Fabre was /not/ in fact a transfer student from Galbadia and Trabia, and went looking for Squall.
But by then the young aristocrat was already gone. He could be incredibly stealthy when he absolutely had to, and slipping out of Garden mostly unnoticed (save by one disapproving faculty member displeased by his hair length, and the man at the turnstiles) took less trouble than he'd expected. From there it's just a matter of heading east. Fire Caverns couldn't be that hard to find, just lock onto the feel of fire on the wind and home in on it. Squall had mentioned before there were monsters on the island - but he doesn't have too much trouble with these, and those he does, well, running away is just fine!
It's more important that he find this cave, after all, which doesn't take long once he gets going in the right direction; the essence of fifth fonon was a distinct lure. Mieu used fire, but even Master Van would be impressed if he came home with one of these things!!
Squall, for his part, had been trying to get in contact with a tailor in Balamb, possibly about reinforcing his jacket to be prepared for T-Rexaurs.
And then a student comes and tells him about a certain redheaded card player who was not a student, but apparently a master interrogater and spy.
Abandoning the jacket for now, Squall dashes out of the dorm, pulling out his radio. "Jade. Our client is pulling a code twelve. Meet me at the gate to garden." It won't take him long to get to the scheduled meeting point, either.
(...I thought that code was a joke...)
For her part, Jade had mostly been kicking around the food court and the quad. Hey, any place is a good place to do stretches, and she'd gotten bored really quick with the card game Luke had been playing. In fact, she's doing lunges when Squall's voice comes in over the radio.
"He--what?!" Jade swears quite violently over the radio, before dashing out of the quad and running for the entrance to the Garden. Dammit, of all the damned stupid damned things that kid coulda pulled...!
Hardly a spy or master interrogator. Those would require a measure of forethought that Luke is simply -incapable- of. His goals were a little less... polished. Or intelligent, for that matter. Which means instead of reporting back to his country with secret SeeD techniques, he's eeling his way cautiously past a group of too-large bugs and then padding on determinedly.
He knows he has to be careful. He's alone, and his mastery of the seventh fonon is practically unexistant; he won't be able to heal himself if he gets hurt. But it'll be worth it if he can bring one back. When, not if; he's certain he'll be able to manage quite well.
The cave is noticeable by virtue of being a geological feature among the flat grasslands that seemed to be everywhere around small clusters of trees. That has to be his goal. Trees he'll avoid, those had giant caterpillars and Score knew what else, and he's not quite that stupid to go wandering around in thick foliage again. A cave is clearly a much better idea.
Even as they make it for the entrance, Squall is waving Jade towards where they have to go. "He's heading for the Fire Cavern!" He yells, as he runs. There's not time to waste here. "It's through the forest!" Hopefully, their choice to go the direct route will mean they catch up to Luke before he wakes up some embodiment of pure, angry fire.
Jade doesn't stop, or at least, doesn't stop any longer than to take a moment's breather and utter in disbelief, "He's /what/? The fire /what?/" before chasing after Squall. She's not sure what's going on, or what's the problem here, but her mind can only guess. Cave full of lava. Curtiss'd be pissed if Luke got himself killed. Or--maybe they had a dragon! Hell, they had a T-Rex!
This is in fact the first time Luke's ever been anywhere -near- something like this. Baticul enjoyed being far from a volcano, and lava is something he's never encountered before. But he knows heat when he's near it, and his cautious sidle into the cave means taking a stick with him and being impressed when it's engulfed in flames upon contact with the lava. Satisfied that the ground is solid at least, the young nobleman does his best to filter out the overwhelming fire energy here.. he wouldn't even -need- a field of fonons to make use of it! But .. he's sure anything that lives near fire is probably immune to being burned.
So, he'll worry about that later. Or play with it later.
Bombs are not fun. Luke discovers awfully quickly that they /explode/ when they're hit enough, and he's forced to suddenly spend a whole lot of time ducking around solid chunks of too-warm rock to avoid being caught in the detonation. Oh, those are unpleasant. And are added to his list of monsters to run away from REALLY fast. Unlike Jade and Squall, he -has- to take his time.
And the fiery denizens of this cave are slowing him down incredibly. The bats aren't too bad, but the bombs...
The path to the cave is relatively easy for Squall. Part because he knows the way, part because Caterchipillars don't react well to being stabbed in their ugly buglike faces. So when they near the fire cavern, Squall pauses outside, and laments the lack of a guard. "...Be careful. A majority of the monsters are harmless, but some you have to make sure you can drop in one strike." As Luke has probably well found out. Junctioning ice magic to his blade, a frost covering it, Squall enters the cave, cautiously, but with the advantage that he knows what he's doing. "If we're lucky, he isn't dead yet."
Jade's close on his heels. "...So what's in there, anyway?" she asks, taking a few steps forwar to the cave mouth. "I mean..." Squall gets a sidelong glance, as frost covers his blade. "...Man, I'm gonna have to do this the old fashioned way, huh..." she murmurs, slipping her switchblade from her pocket. For now, she'll hold off on messing with any more Boons.
Walking alongside Squall as he enters the cave, Jade cups a hand around her mouth, and hollers, "LUKE, WHERE ARE YOU?!" It might be loud enough to get aggro.
Guards are only present when SeeDlings are around! Who would be stupid enough to come out here on their own otherwise? ..Oh wait.
Luke's not dead yet. A little scorched, and with a firm hatred of bombs, a little bloodier than he'd like too, but not dead. And definitely slowed down. He'd gotten used to having a healer around to help out, and with that gone, without any kind of support at all gone, it's tougher.
He hasn't seen any of these GFs yet, and that's dissapointing. Maybe nobody's home besides the monsters. It's while cautiously sidling around some other wierd winged beast-thing that he hears Jade's shout echo through the area, and winces. This is going to totally ruin his plans. ... But maybe they don't know he's actually here yet! With that thought in mind, Luke doesn't /answer/, he just picks his way carefully onwards. Hate monsters...
Unfortunately, wearing /white/ does not make him all that unvisible, in a dark cave full of equally dark things lit by /lava/ of all things.
The lack of response is not, in fact, what we call enouraging. Squall almost swears. "We've got to hurry."
You can almost feel the timer, floating in the air to the top left of the screen. You know, if you had timers. Squall is on the move already. Thankfully, the area is very, very simple. It won't be too hard to follow him. The bat corpses on the ground help in this regard, as they haven't yet been destroyed by the heat quite yet. Convenient!
Pausing briefly as she follows after Squall through the cave, Jade pokes at a bat corpse with her foot. "I guess he's been over here." Pause. "Or something has." Picking up the pace, the athlete cries out, "HEY, LUKE, IF YOU'RE STILL ALIVE, COME OUT, YOU IDIOT!" The echo in here's pretty good; he should have no problem hearing her. Of course, anything else still alive probably can, too.
Around a corner he goes, skirting a lava pool and avoiding a fat, dozing Bomb as carefully as he can and coming to a ... dead end. With another pool of lava. This he eyes balefully before turning around, crossing his arms over his chest and thinking hard. Okay, there's nothing here but stupid monsters, maybe it's the wrong cave.
This was going to cause even MORE delays. How was he supposed to find one and bring it back for Master Van to see if there aren't any around?!
He could really do without the sulphur smell though. Luke's really not liking the way it made his sinuses bur-- "Shut the hell up!" He knows what he's doing! "Why the hell would I be dead, anyway?!" He doesn't have to raise his voice too much, the walls do a lot of echoing. "There's not a damn thing here!!" Just a whole lot of fire fonons. Well, not /fonons/, what did Squall call it? Para-magic?
(....definitely a code twelve.)
With Luke's survival confirmed, Squall relaxes a bit. Still, he's going to have to confirm that he's not horribly dead and actually a zombie made of fire.
...Yes, SeeD have some weird protocols.
This done, he sighs. "We're leaving."
"You could fall in the lava, you dumbass!!" Jade yells, continuing to hunt for the wayward noble. "Come the hell out already! Or--I'll hunt you down and drag you out--by your hair!!" It sounds like she means it.
This is until Squall speaks up. "...Huh? Leaving? Why?" She stares at him, confused and sounding a little betrayed, too.
"I'm not gonna fall in the lava!" Luke /scowls/. It might actually be a fierce expression if there wasn't the edge of sulk behind it. "Touch my hair and you'll draw back a STUMP!" Well, probably not. Luke really isn't keen on actually hurting people, and drew the line very firmly at humanity. That didn't mean he couldn't threaten.
And be thoroughly displeased that Squall's going to drag them off again. "Oh lighten up, there's not a damn thing here except some bats, those pinwheel things and the exploding monsters." All of which could be avoided or beaten by -Luke- so it's not like they're a real threat to anyone else here.
Tempting fate is never wise. Luke mutters something under his breath and starts for Squall and Jade's position, the lava pool behind him boiling briefly before one massive clawed hand reaches out to grasp the edge of the rock, a pair of vaguely reptilian heads following shortly later to regard the interlopers to its realm - now that Ifrit was gone - with something very much like distaste. It probably wouldn't have done anything more than lever itself up and watch them, braced on heavy forelimbs with a smaller pair tucked against its chest, except for two small problems.
It's bad enough Squall brought /ice/ magic into the Fire Cavern, a very logical thing to do but highly insulting to a fire-creature, but what's worse is he brought Shiva /and/ a thing that registered closer to its kind than human, no matter what its shape was. This was clearly a challenge, although it's odd that there'd be so -many- for those little humans' tests.
Agni levers itself up higher and roars, the sound echoing off the walls in double-voiced cacophony.
Squall was not expecting that. Squall was not expecting that at all. In fact, this is something that he has never heard of at Garden. Damn. Damn damn damn!
Squall drops straight into a defensive stance, as he focuses. Ice magic. Ice is clearly the best option here. "...Get ready to run."
Whether he has time to get the spell off or not is another matter.
As Luke finally starts making his way over, he might notice that the athlete, hands on her hips, is regarding him with a very very frowny face. At least, until something starts rising from the lava.
Jade's first reaction is to stare, and point past the noble. "What's that?!" It /does not look good at all/. Thankfully, her wits are with her, and nodding at Squall, she jerks her head over at Luke. "Gonna grab him, and get outta here!"
Rushing him, Jade will attempt to grab and drag Luke, figuring that getting him out first is best.
Much like killing the alpha wolf in a pack, sooner or later another wolf is going to come out on top. That it's this two-headed reptilian monstrosity instead of something else was merely the luck of the draw. When Jade /points/, and the roar echoes, Luke tilts slowly to stare up at the lava-drooling /thing/ dragging itself out of its boiling hole in the ground that is watching them with /far/ too much intelligence to simply be a random monster. Nevermind that it's huge. "Oh wow."
Self preservation: it happens to other people. Especially since as soon as it registers in Luke's ill-used brain that this is infact a GF of some kind (which did explain why he couldn't sense any other kind of element here), he turns right around and heads the OTHER way, up until he's grabbed by Jade. He's easily dragged, at the moment. "Hey!"
Agni still isn't entirely sure what's going on, but this isn't the first time it's seen something /like/ this. "Don't run," the thing grates in a voice like grinding gears as it finally levers the rest of itself up onto the ledge, "Why die tired?" Although it's more tempting to go after the one using hated ice magic, Luke and Jade are /right there/, so it's them that are swatted at with one taloned hand, flames sizzling in the wake of the movement. Don't..stay still.
The ice magic goes off, attempting to freeze bits of the agni.
Unfortunately, it's not what we call 'High Powered'. And Squall doesn't have the means. Nor, it seems, are they intending to let them escape. As it swipes at Luke and Jade, the SeeD does what he's damn well paid to do. His eyes close, and the ice starts to rurround him. Much, MUCH more noticeably in here. Squall becomes so cold that the air around him turns to steam. It's just like with the T-Rexaur.
"C'mon, we've gotta move it!" Jade hisses, hauling at the young man. Running while pulling someone along isn't easy, though, and Jade, while strong for a girl, isn't /divinely/ strong. Thus, she doesn't get far as the thing raises its hand.
She shoves Luke forward hard, trying to knock him far enough out of the way so that he's at least clear of the thing's talons. Jade, of course, isn't as lucky. The wickedly bladed claws gouge deep into her flesh, the young woman tumbling to the ground with a shrill scream, smoldering from the heat and flame.
Gritting her teeth against the pain, Jade hauls herself to all fours, trying to crawl away. It's tough getting her body to cooperate, though. She's had worse injuries than this, but she's also had more backup before. Squall better be quick...!
This wasn't how this was supposed to go! They're ruining everything! Luke's thoroughly unwilling to be dragged, /further/ slowing them down when Jade does her best to save both their asses, but it begins to sink in that maybe they're actually in danger when he's shoved hard enough to get him out of Agni's immediate reach - and for the second time he gets to watch a girl bleed for him. But Tear hadn't screamed when she'd gotten hurt.
Maybe .... maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.
Agni roars again when struck with ice, the stuff almost immediately melting away, but it -hurts-, and dims the fire it wreaths itself in, and is a flawless distraction to keep it from going for Jade again now that she's seemingly helpless. "Insolent--!" The thing actually steps /over/ Jade with intention to get at Squall instead, ignoring the wounded /and/ the rapid buildup of ice in favor of lashing out at the Seed with claws still red from the young Scion's blood, two sets of shark-teeth bared in a snarl of anger.
Luke.. Luke's edging quietly backwards again, and away. No, he's really sure this wasn't a good idea.
This time, Squall isn't so lucky. He's stuck in the summoning ritual. The claws descend. And once again, Shiva, the blue woman appears to try to stop the strike. It does not, however, work as planned. As she extends her arms to catch the claws, she can't hold them at bay. She is sent flying, and dissipates, as it her body seemingly melts from the heat.
Massive gouges appear in Squall's chest, as he's launched into a pillar across the room.
(...damn...)
That hurt. That really, really hurt. A creature like that has a WHOLE lot of punch, even if it may not be as tough. As it stands, Squall still isn't standing, lying against the pillar. What's worse, right now, is that his eyes sure as hell aren't open.
Finally managing to crawl her way over to an outcropping of rock, Jade leans heavily against it for a moment, only able to watch at the thing knocks Squall back. Dammit, if she weren't hurt like this, maybe there'd be something she could do... Taking a deep and shaky breath, she leans her head back against the rock, at a loss for options.
Well, the Aztlanti Scion figures, placing both hands against the rock to help herself stand on legs that don't want to work right, at least she can die on her feet. "Whatta way to go," she murmurs to herself, smiling bitterly.
It's a shock, then, when her wounds begin to knit closed, her body drawing upon her inner Legend to repair itself.
"I..." Jade staggers forwards a step, staring down at herself in disbelief. "--!" There's no time to stand around and gawk, though, as she spots Squall lying there very still. "Hey! Squall!" Bursting into a run, the athlete dashes off, perhaps surprising Luke, to try and save the SeeD before it's too late.
Agni is not entirely displeased with all of this. In spite of having to deal with Shiva's bitter cold and the pain of the earlier ice spell, it's still maintaning its clear dominance in its domain. Even Shiva wasn't enough protection to save them! With Squall now seemingly a crumpled heap and no longer a concern at all, Agni straightens up and flexes its claws, grinning. SeeD is not so impressive after all.
Luke quietly tucks himself behind a rock, willing himself to not be noticed. The sheer dismissiveness when one of Agni's heads swings in his direction and then reorients on more interesting targets is a bit rankling thou-- how the hell is Jade standing up after a hit like that?!
Jade daring to get back up simply means she's going to be under attack again. This time the reptilian creature leans back, inhaling deeply before spitting flames at her - this isn't very /directed/ but usually it didn't have to be; the downside of fighting in a fire cave against a fire beast is they tend to use a lot of flames.
People are going to die for him again. Luke .. doesn't .. like this. Never has. But interfering himself would mean probably getting killed and he didn't want to die. He didn't want to..
It eventually dawns on Jade, as the thing draws back and inhales, that her reflexive action to run to Squall's aid was a poor one. Epic Intelligence this wasn't. The Scion does the only thing she can do: she drops into a crouch as it exhales flame, turning away and covering her head with her arms.
This is where something goes weird. As the flames fire, there is a flash of magic as Squall's eyes open again.
And that's when something else, walks into the flames, landing before they impact with Squall and Jade. It's powerful. It's angry. And it's on fire.
Ifrit moves through the flames, it's massive fist moving to slam rather solidly into the one of the Agni's heads, as it moves to drive it back. Heavy blow after heavy blow goes for the fire monster, as the cave's master makes it's presence known.
And then ifrit jumps, tearing a chunk of solidified magma out of the top of the cave. The Fire GF hurls it towards the Agni, at speed.
And, as quickly as it arrived, the Ifrit vanishes, and Squall, while nto standing, does appear to be something resembling alive.
While the cat's away, the mice will play. But when the cat comes back--
The reptilian creature is NOT happy to see what it's faced with suddenly, its flames kept from roasting the little humans alive. Shiva was a loathed spirit of ice, but Ifrit was another deck of cards entirely, and nothing living in the Fire Caverns has yet to forget who used to live here.
Agni retreats, immediately. The hail of blows only hastens the retreat, and while using fire against fire isn't really /damaging/ in this case, fighting back simply wasn't an option - and the sudden crush of having a chunk of /rock/ pitched at it is enough of an impact to send even the flaming beast crashing backwards with an ear-splitting shriek of pain ... and then it vanishes entirely. Whether it's dead or simply missing is a mystery.
And not one Luke's willing to puzzle out. He's very hesitant to leave his chosen hiding spot, especially now that there were /two/ of those things around for a moment, but he does, eventually, inch in Jade and Squall's direction. When neither Agni nor Ifrit reappear, he manages to get ahold of his frayed nerves with remarkable swiftness. "Are you two okay?"
Squall attempts to pull himself to his feet, but it doesn't quite go as planned, After all, Squall is exhausted. Two guardian forces and getting rather heavily wounded, standing is somewhat beyond what can be done easily at this point. "...No."
Jade does in fact get singed. However, Ifrit's timely arrival probably saved her from getting completely torched. Only when the heat finally passes, though, does the Scion drop her arms, and slowly rise from her crouch.
Luke's question is met with a look that says 'are you kidding me', as the athlete's upper lip twitches a moment in disgust. Then, "...At least /you're/ okay." Jade glances over at Squall. "Hey, you need a hand there? We should get the hell outta here..."
The smell of blood is in no way better than the smell of melted rock, and Luke almost feels guilty about it. Maybe if he'd said something ahead of time they could have come a little better prepared, but.. chances were better they'd have made sure he didn't come here at all. The young aristocrat shifts slightly at Squall's terse response, but it's Jade's expression that sets his response. Guilt is immediately overwritten by sheer irritation. "Don't look at /me/ like that, this isn't -my- fault. If you hadn't come charging in here you'd have been *fine*!" Nevermind that they were only there because he had.
Squall takes the offered hand. But at Luke's comment, Squall doesn't even dignify his whining with a response. "Out." He says, pulling himself up with help. "Something else will come up if we stay here." Luke, count yourself lucky he's still getting paid.
Angry's too gentle. Try enraged, or furious to describe the Scion right now. Jade's hands ball into fists, and she straightens herself up, almost looking like she's about to deck Luke...
But Squall's words do have a certain degree of logic even she can appreciate. "We're /leavin'/" she snaps, moving ahead of them as if to lead the way.
"I can't believe I have to put up with this crap," Luke mutters as Squall continues to be terse and Jade stalks away. He really didn't feel like dealing with these people right now. It's not his fault they were stupid enough to get in the way of a huge monster! There's absolutely no denying that he's unhappy to have to go anywhere at all, but at least the sulking isn't audiable. Yet.
The exit is much less eventful. Thankfully. The summoning of Ifrit cleared the way back.
And then they are outside, in the sun, and Squall speaks. "Jade. I'm going to need you to prop me up after this." And that is when Squall in one swift movement, turns...
And punches Luke in the face. Hard. Squall may not be an unarmed specialist like Zell, but he knows how to do damage. If Luke's unlucky, he'll end up with a broken nose, or maybe a dislocated jaw.
Unfortunately, after that, Squall promptly falls to one knee. It could be possible, in fact, that Squall was saving his energy for that.
"Woah." Squall normally seems so unflappable to Jade. It's... something else to see him beat her--to have reserved energy--to something she had wanted to do so badly herself. Luke's ignored for the moment. He'll live. Instead, the Scion lends Squall a hand up. "You gonna be okay?"
Uneventful and relatively quiet, most of Luke's griping internalized for the time being. He still wanted to go back and see if he could catch that thing, but it's pretty apparent that if he was going to try he'd better bring someone with healing artes at least. Or Master Van. Either way! Now that he knew where it was..
Sunshine again. The redhead tales a moment to make a low unhappy noise at the sorry state his clothes are in, glancing up when Squall speaks.
Just in time to be on the recieving end of a vicious punch. Luke staggers backwards several steps and probably would have fallen over if he didn't back into the stone at the entrance to the cave, both hands immediately rising, eyes watering. Dear god that /hurts/. It hurts and he's /bleeding/ and oh god OW..
(...that... was so very worth it...)
"I will be when we get back to Garden." He says, as he's pulled up again. He casts a look towards Luke, and then back to Jade. "I'm ready to start moving when you are."
WHO: Squall Leonhart, Jade Belmont, Luke Fon Fabre
WHERE: Fire Cave, Balamb Island
WHEN: 28th of November
WHAT: Luke wants his own GF! Who can guess how this turns out?
WATCH FOR: Code 12, Luke getting his just desserts, Squall getting fame and the people's ovation.
The day's worn on, remarkably uneventful, and after the scare with the t-rexaur, Luke's been nearly tolerable in his silence and compliance. He wouldn't be the first spoiled noble cowed into submission by terrifying monstrosities, after all, and it isn't too much to assume he might have learned some sense about the whole matter. Which means, for about an hour before he'd suddenly dissapeared, the heir to House Fabre has been carefully learning Triple Triad. It's a harmless passtime, and he had a knack for card games once he figured the rules out.
But it had also let him speak at length in quieter tones to a student intending to take one of his exams soon. The question of Guardian Forces had arisen eventually, and Luke was all too willing to wiggle as much information he could out of the pleasant but distracted by cardplaying young man, even if it cost him a few losses. Guardian Forces, how SeeDs trained with them, and most importantly, that they were known to occasionally be in the Fire Cavern, where if defeated they would work with and help the person who beat them.
After a few more rounds, Luke had taken his leave and quietly made himself scarce.
A little while after that, it finally sunk in to the poor student in question that Luke fon Fabre was /not/ in fact a transfer student from Galbadia and Trabia, and went looking for Squall.
But by then the young aristocrat was already gone. He could be incredibly stealthy when he absolutely had to, and slipping out of Garden mostly unnoticed (save by one disapproving faculty member displeased by his hair length, and the man at the turnstiles) took less trouble than he'd expected. From there it's just a matter of heading east. Fire Caverns couldn't be that hard to find, just lock onto the feel of fire on the wind and home in on it. Squall had mentioned before there were monsters on the island - but he doesn't have too much trouble with these, and those he does, well, running away is just fine!
It's more important that he find this cave, after all, which doesn't take long once he gets going in the right direction; the essence of fifth fonon was a distinct lure. Mieu used fire, but even Master Van would be impressed if he came home with one of these things!!
Squall, for his part, had been trying to get in contact with a tailor in Balamb, possibly about reinforcing his jacket to be prepared for T-Rexaurs.
And then a student comes and tells him about a certain redheaded card player who was not a student, but apparently a master interrogater and spy.
Abandoning the jacket for now, Squall dashes out of the dorm, pulling out his radio. "Jade. Our client is pulling a code twelve. Meet me at the gate to garden." It won't take him long to get to the scheduled meeting point, either.
(...I thought that code was a joke...)
For her part, Jade had mostly been kicking around the food court and the quad. Hey, any place is a good place to do stretches, and she'd gotten bored really quick with the card game Luke had been playing. In fact, she's doing lunges when Squall's voice comes in over the radio.
"He--what?!" Jade swears quite violently over the radio, before dashing out of the quad and running for the entrance to the Garden. Dammit, of all the damned stupid damned things that kid coulda pulled...!
Hardly a spy or master interrogator. Those would require a measure of forethought that Luke is simply -incapable- of. His goals were a little less... polished. Or intelligent, for that matter. Which means instead of reporting back to his country with secret SeeD techniques, he's eeling his way cautiously past a group of too-large bugs and then padding on determinedly.
He knows he has to be careful. He's alone, and his mastery of the seventh fonon is practically unexistant; he won't be able to heal himself if he gets hurt. But it'll be worth it if he can bring one back. When, not if; he's certain he'll be able to manage quite well.
The cave is noticeable by virtue of being a geological feature among the flat grasslands that seemed to be everywhere around small clusters of trees. That has to be his goal. Trees he'll avoid, those had giant caterpillars and Score knew what else, and he's not quite that stupid to go wandering around in thick foliage again. A cave is clearly a much better idea.
Even as they make it for the entrance, Squall is waving Jade towards where they have to go. "He's heading for the Fire Cavern!" He yells, as he runs. There's not time to waste here. "It's through the forest!" Hopefully, their choice to go the direct route will mean they catch up to Luke before he wakes up some embodiment of pure, angry fire.
Jade doesn't stop, or at least, doesn't stop any longer than to take a moment's breather and utter in disbelief, "He's /what/? The fire /what?/" before chasing after Squall. She's not sure what's going on, or what's the problem here, but her mind can only guess. Cave full of lava. Curtiss'd be pissed if Luke got himself killed. Or--maybe they had a dragon! Hell, they had a T-Rex!
This is in fact the first time Luke's ever been anywhere -near- something like this. Baticul enjoyed being far from a volcano, and lava is something he's never encountered before. But he knows heat when he's near it, and his cautious sidle into the cave means taking a stick with him and being impressed when it's engulfed in flames upon contact with the lava. Satisfied that the ground is solid at least, the young nobleman does his best to filter out the overwhelming fire energy here.. he wouldn't even -need- a field of fonons to make use of it! But .. he's sure anything that lives near fire is probably immune to being burned.
So, he'll worry about that later. Or play with it later.
Bombs are not fun. Luke discovers awfully quickly that they /explode/ when they're hit enough, and he's forced to suddenly spend a whole lot of time ducking around solid chunks of too-warm rock to avoid being caught in the detonation. Oh, those are unpleasant. And are added to his list of monsters to run away from REALLY fast. Unlike Jade and Squall, he -has- to take his time.
And the fiery denizens of this cave are slowing him down incredibly. The bats aren't too bad, but the bombs...
The path to the cave is relatively easy for Squall. Part because he knows the way, part because Caterchipillars don't react well to being stabbed in their ugly buglike faces. So when they near the fire cavern, Squall pauses outside, and laments the lack of a guard. "...Be careful. A majority of the monsters are harmless, but some you have to make sure you can drop in one strike." As Luke has probably well found out. Junctioning ice magic to his blade, a frost covering it, Squall enters the cave, cautiously, but with the advantage that he knows what he's doing. "If we're lucky, he isn't dead yet."
Jade's close on his heels. "...So what's in there, anyway?" she asks, taking a few steps forwar to the cave mouth. "I mean..." Squall gets a sidelong glance, as frost covers his blade. "...Man, I'm gonna have to do this the old fashioned way, huh..." she murmurs, slipping her switchblade from her pocket. For now, she'll hold off on messing with any more Boons.
Walking alongside Squall as he enters the cave, Jade cups a hand around her mouth, and hollers, "LUKE, WHERE ARE YOU?!" It might be loud enough to get aggro.
Guards are only present when SeeDlings are around! Who would be stupid enough to come out here on their own otherwise? ..Oh wait.
Luke's not dead yet. A little scorched, and with a firm hatred of bombs, a little bloodier than he'd like too, but not dead. And definitely slowed down. He'd gotten used to having a healer around to help out, and with that gone, without any kind of support at all gone, it's tougher.
He hasn't seen any of these GFs yet, and that's dissapointing. Maybe nobody's home besides the monsters. It's while cautiously sidling around some other wierd winged beast-thing that he hears Jade's shout echo through the area, and winces. This is going to totally ruin his plans. ... But maybe they don't know he's actually here yet! With that thought in mind, Luke doesn't /answer/, he just picks his way carefully onwards. Hate monsters...
Unfortunately, wearing /white/ does not make him all that unvisible, in a dark cave full of equally dark things lit by /lava/ of all things.
The lack of response is not, in fact, what we call enouraging. Squall almost swears. "We've got to hurry."
You can almost feel the timer, floating in the air to the top left of the screen. You know, if you had timers. Squall is on the move already. Thankfully, the area is very, very simple. It won't be too hard to follow him. The bat corpses on the ground help in this regard, as they haven't yet been destroyed by the heat quite yet. Convenient!
Pausing briefly as she follows after Squall through the cave, Jade pokes at a bat corpse with her foot. "I guess he's been over here." Pause. "Or something has." Picking up the pace, the athlete cries out, "HEY, LUKE, IF YOU'RE STILL ALIVE, COME OUT, YOU IDIOT!" The echo in here's pretty good; he should have no problem hearing her. Of course, anything else still alive probably can, too.
Around a corner he goes, skirting a lava pool and avoiding a fat, dozing Bomb as carefully as he can and coming to a ... dead end. With another pool of lava. This he eyes balefully before turning around, crossing his arms over his chest and thinking hard. Okay, there's nothing here but stupid monsters, maybe it's the wrong cave.
This was going to cause even MORE delays. How was he supposed to find one and bring it back for Master Van to see if there aren't any around?!
He could really do without the sulphur smell though. Luke's really not liking the way it made his sinuses bur-- "Shut the hell up!" He knows what he's doing! "Why the hell would I be dead, anyway?!" He doesn't have to raise his voice too much, the walls do a lot of echoing. "There's not a damn thing here!!" Just a whole lot of fire fonons. Well, not /fonons/, what did Squall call it? Para-magic?
(....definitely a code twelve.)
With Luke's survival confirmed, Squall relaxes a bit. Still, he's going to have to confirm that he's not horribly dead and actually a zombie made of fire.
...Yes, SeeD have some weird protocols.
This done, he sighs. "We're leaving."
"You could fall in the lava, you dumbass!!" Jade yells, continuing to hunt for the wayward noble. "Come the hell out already! Or--I'll hunt you down and drag you out--by your hair!!" It sounds like she means it.
This is until Squall speaks up. "...Huh? Leaving? Why?" She stares at him, confused and sounding a little betrayed, too.
"I'm not gonna fall in the lava!" Luke /scowls/. It might actually be a fierce expression if there wasn't the edge of sulk behind it. "Touch my hair and you'll draw back a STUMP!" Well, probably not. Luke really isn't keen on actually hurting people, and drew the line very firmly at humanity. That didn't mean he couldn't threaten.
And be thoroughly displeased that Squall's going to drag them off again. "Oh lighten up, there's not a damn thing here except some bats, those pinwheel things and the exploding monsters." All of which could be avoided or beaten by -Luke- so it's not like they're a real threat to anyone else here.
Tempting fate is never wise. Luke mutters something under his breath and starts for Squall and Jade's position, the lava pool behind him boiling briefly before one massive clawed hand reaches out to grasp the edge of the rock, a pair of vaguely reptilian heads following shortly later to regard the interlopers to its realm - now that Ifrit was gone - with something very much like distaste. It probably wouldn't have done anything more than lever itself up and watch them, braced on heavy forelimbs with a smaller pair tucked against its chest, except for two small problems.
It's bad enough Squall brought /ice/ magic into the Fire Cavern, a very logical thing to do but highly insulting to a fire-creature, but what's worse is he brought Shiva /and/ a thing that registered closer to its kind than human, no matter what its shape was. This was clearly a challenge, although it's odd that there'd be so -many- for those little humans' tests.
Agni levers itself up higher and roars, the sound echoing off the walls in double-voiced cacophony.
Squall was not expecting that. Squall was not expecting that at all. In fact, this is something that he has never heard of at Garden. Damn. Damn damn damn!
Squall drops straight into a defensive stance, as he focuses. Ice magic. Ice is clearly the best option here. "...Get ready to run."
Whether he has time to get the spell off or not is another matter.
As Luke finally starts making his way over, he might notice that the athlete, hands on her hips, is regarding him with a very very frowny face. At least, until something starts rising from the lava.
Jade's first reaction is to stare, and point past the noble. "What's that?!" It /does not look good at all/. Thankfully, her wits are with her, and nodding at Squall, she jerks her head over at Luke. "Gonna grab him, and get outta here!"
Rushing him, Jade will attempt to grab and drag Luke, figuring that getting him out first is best.
Much like killing the alpha wolf in a pack, sooner or later another wolf is going to come out on top. That it's this two-headed reptilian monstrosity instead of something else was merely the luck of the draw. When Jade /points/, and the roar echoes, Luke tilts slowly to stare up at the lava-drooling /thing/ dragging itself out of its boiling hole in the ground that is watching them with /far/ too much intelligence to simply be a random monster. Nevermind that it's huge. "Oh wow."
Self preservation: it happens to other people. Especially since as soon as it registers in Luke's ill-used brain that this is infact a GF of some kind (which did explain why he couldn't sense any other kind of element here), he turns right around and heads the OTHER way, up until he's grabbed by Jade. He's easily dragged, at the moment. "Hey!"
Agni still isn't entirely sure what's going on, but this isn't the first time it's seen something /like/ this. "Don't run," the thing grates in a voice like grinding gears as it finally levers the rest of itself up onto the ledge, "Why die tired?" Although it's more tempting to go after the one using hated ice magic, Luke and Jade are /right there/, so it's them that are swatted at with one taloned hand, flames sizzling in the wake of the movement. Don't..stay still.
The ice magic goes off, attempting to freeze bits of the agni.
Unfortunately, it's not what we call 'High Powered'. And Squall doesn't have the means. Nor, it seems, are they intending to let them escape. As it swipes at Luke and Jade, the SeeD does what he's damn well paid to do. His eyes close, and the ice starts to rurround him. Much, MUCH more noticeably in here. Squall becomes so cold that the air around him turns to steam. It's just like with the T-Rexaur.
"C'mon, we've gotta move it!" Jade hisses, hauling at the young man. Running while pulling someone along isn't easy, though, and Jade, while strong for a girl, isn't /divinely/ strong. Thus, she doesn't get far as the thing raises its hand.
She shoves Luke forward hard, trying to knock him far enough out of the way so that he's at least clear of the thing's talons. Jade, of course, isn't as lucky. The wickedly bladed claws gouge deep into her flesh, the young woman tumbling to the ground with a shrill scream, smoldering from the heat and flame.
Gritting her teeth against the pain, Jade hauls herself to all fours, trying to crawl away. It's tough getting her body to cooperate, though. She's had worse injuries than this, but she's also had more backup before. Squall better be quick...!
This wasn't how this was supposed to go! They're ruining everything! Luke's thoroughly unwilling to be dragged, /further/ slowing them down when Jade does her best to save both their asses, but it begins to sink in that maybe they're actually in danger when he's shoved hard enough to get him out of Agni's immediate reach - and for the second time he gets to watch a girl bleed for him. But Tear hadn't screamed when she'd gotten hurt.
Maybe .... maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.
Agni roars again when struck with ice, the stuff almost immediately melting away, but it -hurts-, and dims the fire it wreaths itself in, and is a flawless distraction to keep it from going for Jade again now that she's seemingly helpless. "Insolent--!" The thing actually steps /over/ Jade with intention to get at Squall instead, ignoring the wounded /and/ the rapid buildup of ice in favor of lashing out at the Seed with claws still red from the young Scion's blood, two sets of shark-teeth bared in a snarl of anger.
Luke.. Luke's edging quietly backwards again, and away. No, he's really sure this wasn't a good idea.
This time, Squall isn't so lucky. He's stuck in the summoning ritual. The claws descend. And once again, Shiva, the blue woman appears to try to stop the strike. It does not, however, work as planned. As she extends her arms to catch the claws, she can't hold them at bay. She is sent flying, and dissipates, as it her body seemingly melts from the heat.
Massive gouges appear in Squall's chest, as he's launched into a pillar across the room.
(...damn...)
That hurt. That really, really hurt. A creature like that has a WHOLE lot of punch, even if it may not be as tough. As it stands, Squall still isn't standing, lying against the pillar. What's worse, right now, is that his eyes sure as hell aren't open.
Finally managing to crawl her way over to an outcropping of rock, Jade leans heavily against it for a moment, only able to watch at the thing knocks Squall back. Dammit, if she weren't hurt like this, maybe there'd be something she could do... Taking a deep and shaky breath, she leans her head back against the rock, at a loss for options.
Well, the Aztlanti Scion figures, placing both hands against the rock to help herself stand on legs that don't want to work right, at least she can die on her feet. "Whatta way to go," she murmurs to herself, smiling bitterly.
It's a shock, then, when her wounds begin to knit closed, her body drawing upon her inner Legend to repair itself.
"I..." Jade staggers forwards a step, staring down at herself in disbelief. "--!" There's no time to stand around and gawk, though, as she spots Squall lying there very still. "Hey! Squall!" Bursting into a run, the athlete dashes off, perhaps surprising Luke, to try and save the SeeD before it's too late.
Agni is not entirely displeased with all of this. In spite of having to deal with Shiva's bitter cold and the pain of the earlier ice spell, it's still maintaning its clear dominance in its domain. Even Shiva wasn't enough protection to save them! With Squall now seemingly a crumpled heap and no longer a concern at all, Agni straightens up and flexes its claws, grinning. SeeD is not so impressive after all.
Luke quietly tucks himself behind a rock, willing himself to not be noticed. The sheer dismissiveness when one of Agni's heads swings in his direction and then reorients on more interesting targets is a bit rankling thou-- how the hell is Jade standing up after a hit like that?!
Jade daring to get back up simply means she's going to be under attack again. This time the reptilian creature leans back, inhaling deeply before spitting flames at her - this isn't very /directed/ but usually it didn't have to be; the downside of fighting in a fire cave against a fire beast is they tend to use a lot of flames.
People are going to die for him again. Luke .. doesn't .. like this. Never has. But interfering himself would mean probably getting killed and he didn't want to die. He didn't want to..
It eventually dawns on Jade, as the thing draws back and inhales, that her reflexive action to run to Squall's aid was a poor one. Epic Intelligence this wasn't. The Scion does the only thing she can do: she drops into a crouch as it exhales flame, turning away and covering her head with her arms.
This is where something goes weird. As the flames fire, there is a flash of magic as Squall's eyes open again.
And that's when something else, walks into the flames, landing before they impact with Squall and Jade. It's powerful. It's angry. And it's on fire.
Ifrit moves through the flames, it's massive fist moving to slam rather solidly into the one of the Agni's heads, as it moves to drive it back. Heavy blow after heavy blow goes for the fire monster, as the cave's master makes it's presence known.
And then ifrit jumps, tearing a chunk of solidified magma out of the top of the cave. The Fire GF hurls it towards the Agni, at speed.
And, as quickly as it arrived, the Ifrit vanishes, and Squall, while nto standing, does appear to be something resembling alive.
While the cat's away, the mice will play. But when the cat comes back--
The reptilian creature is NOT happy to see what it's faced with suddenly, its flames kept from roasting the little humans alive. Shiva was a loathed spirit of ice, but Ifrit was another deck of cards entirely, and nothing living in the Fire Caverns has yet to forget who used to live here.
Agni retreats, immediately. The hail of blows only hastens the retreat, and while using fire against fire isn't really /damaging/ in this case, fighting back simply wasn't an option - and the sudden crush of having a chunk of /rock/ pitched at it is enough of an impact to send even the flaming beast crashing backwards with an ear-splitting shriek of pain ... and then it vanishes entirely. Whether it's dead or simply missing is a mystery.
And not one Luke's willing to puzzle out. He's very hesitant to leave his chosen hiding spot, especially now that there were /two/ of those things around for a moment, but he does, eventually, inch in Jade and Squall's direction. When neither Agni nor Ifrit reappear, he manages to get ahold of his frayed nerves with remarkable swiftness. "Are you two okay?"
Squall attempts to pull himself to his feet, but it doesn't quite go as planned, After all, Squall is exhausted. Two guardian forces and getting rather heavily wounded, standing is somewhat beyond what can be done easily at this point. "...No."
Jade does in fact get singed. However, Ifrit's timely arrival probably saved her from getting completely torched. Only when the heat finally passes, though, does the Scion drop her arms, and slowly rise from her crouch.
Luke's question is met with a look that says 'are you kidding me', as the athlete's upper lip twitches a moment in disgust. Then, "...At least /you're/ okay." Jade glances over at Squall. "Hey, you need a hand there? We should get the hell outta here..."
The smell of blood is in no way better than the smell of melted rock, and Luke almost feels guilty about it. Maybe if he'd said something ahead of time they could have come a little better prepared, but.. chances were better they'd have made sure he didn't come here at all. The young aristocrat shifts slightly at Squall's terse response, but it's Jade's expression that sets his response. Guilt is immediately overwritten by sheer irritation. "Don't look at /me/ like that, this isn't -my- fault. If you hadn't come charging in here you'd have been *fine*!" Nevermind that they were only there because he had.
Squall takes the offered hand. But at Luke's comment, Squall doesn't even dignify his whining with a response. "Out." He says, pulling himself up with help. "Something else will come up if we stay here." Luke, count yourself lucky he's still getting paid.
Angry's too gentle. Try enraged, or furious to describe the Scion right now. Jade's hands ball into fists, and she straightens herself up, almost looking like she's about to deck Luke...
But Squall's words do have a certain degree of logic even she can appreciate. "We're /leavin'/" she snaps, moving ahead of them as if to lead the way.
"I can't believe I have to put up with this crap," Luke mutters as Squall continues to be terse and Jade stalks away. He really didn't feel like dealing with these people right now. It's not his fault they were stupid enough to get in the way of a huge monster! There's absolutely no denying that he's unhappy to have to go anywhere at all, but at least the sulking isn't audiable. Yet.
The exit is much less eventful. Thankfully. The summoning of Ifrit cleared the way back.
And then they are outside, in the sun, and Squall speaks. "Jade. I'm going to need you to prop me up after this." And that is when Squall in one swift movement, turns...
And punches Luke in the face. Hard. Squall may not be an unarmed specialist like Zell, but he knows how to do damage. If Luke's unlucky, he'll end up with a broken nose, or maybe a dislocated jaw.
Unfortunately, after that, Squall promptly falls to one knee. It could be possible, in fact, that Squall was saving his energy for that.
"Woah." Squall normally seems so unflappable to Jade. It's... something else to see him beat her--to have reserved energy--to something she had wanted to do so badly herself. Luke's ignored for the moment. He'll live. Instead, the Scion lends Squall a hand up. "You gonna be okay?"
Uneventful and relatively quiet, most of Luke's griping internalized for the time being. He still wanted to go back and see if he could catch that thing, but it's pretty apparent that if he was going to try he'd better bring someone with healing artes at least. Or Master Van. Either way! Now that he knew where it was..
Sunshine again. The redhead tales a moment to make a low unhappy noise at the sorry state his clothes are in, glancing up when Squall speaks.
Just in time to be on the recieving end of a vicious punch. Luke staggers backwards several steps and probably would have fallen over if he didn't back into the stone at the entrance to the cave, both hands immediately rising, eyes watering. Dear god that /hurts/. It hurts and he's /bleeding/ and oh god OW..
(...that... was so very worth it...)
"I will be when we get back to Garden." He says, as he's pulled up again. He casts a look towards Luke, and then back to Jade. "I'm ready to start moving when you are."