The Sorceress
(ff8 fanfic)
By J2K

     It was a cold day in Balamb and the SeeDs were listening to their mission briefing with Headmaster Cid. It seemed that Seifer was up to no good again.
     “Your mission,” announced Cid “is to follow him and see what he’s up to. He should be currently heading towards the Esthar Sorceress memorial. Do not let him out of your sight. Use the Ragnarok to keep up with him and if he is up to anything, confront him.”
     Squall and the rest of the gang left the garden and boarded the Ragnarok and were on their way to the memorial. As they descended, they saw Seifer, Fujin and Raijin at the entrance and were ready to trail them. The three of them walked over to the sorceress’s freezing capsule and knelt down beside it. A small girl smashed the glass and jumped out of the capsule. She was wearing a blue dress and a projectile weapon was strapped to her arm.
     “Greetings Sorceress Rinoa” They all said.
     “Rinoa!?” gasped Zell in horror. “What’s she doing”
     “Nice to see you finally came back. Did you assassinate General Caraway as planned?”
     “No, we were…….”
     “You fools!” Rinoa raised her arm and cast ultima on them.
     In shock, the SeeDs returned to Balamb Garden.

*******

     “I can’t believe Rinoa would do such a thing!” Irvine exclaimed.
     “I didn’t believe it myself either.” Replied Cid. “Anyway, I’m glad you came back to tell me, from now on, continue to follow them and try to solve this mystery but if you find them going over the top, you will have no choice but to attack.”
     “I’m off to the cafeteria to grab a hot dog.” said Zell hastily “Let’s just put this out of our minds for now and think about it later.”
     “Zell’s right, we can’t let this put us down, this is just one of those old missions and will be done in a snap!” said Selphie.
     “That’s the spirit!” said Cid.

     When the gang reached the cafeteria, they were in for a surprise. There was a huge queue. There seemed to have hired a new cook and everyone seemed to like his cooking. When Zell had finally reached the front, he asked: “so, who are you?”
     “The name’s Jeff, Jeff the chef! And what about you?”
     “Yo, I’m Zell Dincht and just popped in to buy some hot dogs. Just a couple of regular sized ones, ya know!"
     “Erm, you realise that you need to be more specific in your choices than      just REGULAR!” He said in a sarcastic way.
     “Well, what do you mean?”
     “Well if you can’t make up your mind, then maybe I’ll let you try a couple of samples then!”
     “Huh? Don’t get it.”
     Jeff reached under the shelf and grabbed a huge plate full of tiny bite sized hot dog samples.
     “Well here’s a nachos hot dog, a stir-fry vegetables one, a meatballs one, a spaghetti bolognaise one, a salad one, a sweet ‘n’ sour chicken one, a supreme and a super supreme. All hot dogs are served with tomato ketchup, mustard, salsa and are also sprinkled with fresh chilli peppers and grated cheese. So what will it be?”
     Zell gobbled up the whole lot and said: “Whoa! This is great! I’ll have one each.”
     “That’s great!” Jeff replied. “Also, have a complimentary large nachos and cheese pizza and a huge box of fries!”
     Zell took the food and sat a table. “Geez Zell! You must be hungry.” Irvine said.
     “Not that hungry, its just that we got a great new selection, that guy also gave us a complimentary pizza and fries!”
     The gang sat down and munched away at the delicious food. However Squall looked a bit down. “What’s wrong?” asked Zell with a mouthful of fries. “Do you not like the new food?”
     No, it’s just, Rinoa, how could she……….

*******

     “All right guys! It’s time to continue the mission; I’ve heard news that they’re going to the town of Winhill. Try not to attack straight away. Who knows, maybe there just going on a vacation.”
     “I hope not.” Interrupted Zell “After that meal I we just had we can’t lose.”
     “Zell! This is Rinoa you’re talking about, we’d prefer it if we didn’t have to attack her, wouldn’t you.” Contradicted Quistis.
     “I guess you’re right, but I want to give that Seifer a ass-kickin’!!!!!”
     The gang once again boarded the Ragnarok and were off again-this time in the direction of Winhill. However, when they arrived, they were shocked that the town had been terrorised and the townspeople had been taken from their homes and in the town square there was a man in a grey cloak gripping a gunblade wearing a smirk on his face.
     “This is going over the top!” Remarked Irvine “I’m going in.”
     “I guess we have no choice.” Replied Squall. “It’s time to put an end to this.”
     Squall, Irvine and Zell walked in and confronted Seifer.
     “So, who’s this, the old gang eh?” he remarked
     “What are you guys up to? And what have you done with Rinoa.”
     “They haven’t done anything Squall, it’s just me.” Rinoa said walking out.
     “GRRR! You’re dead” screamed Zell running out. He was stopped dead in his feet and had break cast on him turning him to stone.
     “Esuna”
     Zell recovered and the three lined up in formation ready to battle as Fujin and Raijin lined up alongside Seifer.
     “TIME TO DIE!”
     “That’s right ya know!”
     A raging battle broke out as each side eyed the other in a loathing manner.
     Squall slashed away at Seifer dealing heavy damage.
     “Firaga!” Seifer shouted as a giant flame gushed out of his hand. Seifer was about to follow up with a slice to the body but Squall had fired a water attack right in his face.

     Zell was bashed away at Raijin mercilessly with rhythm and compassion, he followed up with a round of Meteor causing serious pain. Raijin had attempted to hit Zell with his club but instead, he had a holed drilled through his stomach as Zell unleashed ‘Meteor Barret’. His lifeless body was crushed and tossed into the air only to have another hole punched through it.

     Fujin found herself in serious peril as her pinwheel had been blown to pieces by a few blocks of demolition ammo out of the Irvine’s Exeter. She was finished off as Irvine shot a couple of rounds of pulse ammo through her heart (not that she ever had one anyway!).

     Now all that stood between Squall and Rinoa was Seifer. He was determined to win and continued to hack at Squall only to be countered. Finally, Squall cast ‘meltdown’ followed and ‘aura’ and finished off with ‘Renzokuken’. He struck Seifer several times pulling the trigger of his gunblade at the correct times. He dealt the finishing blow (lion heart) to Seifer leaving him lying unconscious on the ground. Rinoa walked out, all ready for battle.
     “We demand an explanation Rinoa! What’s this all about?”
     “Nothing much,……”Rinoa replied “Hyah!” Her pinwheel came flying off her arm and hit all three of them in the face.
     “Why you!!!!” Zell cried. He rushed forward and struck Rinoa several times.
     Rinoa fell back as she got up again, she cast Ultima.
     “REFLECT!” The all shouted and the spell rebounded onto Rinoa.
     “Time to get serious! Counter Rockets!” Cerberus emerged and cast double and triple on all of them.”
     “Aura x3!” A yellow light shone on top of Squall, Zell and Irvine giving them a sudden boost of power.
     “Hyper Shot!” Irvine stepped forward and unloaded many rounds of pulse ammo into Rinoa’s body but surprisingly, she was still standing.
     “Duel!” Zell rushed forward ready to unleash a big load of combos onto Rinoa.
     “Booya”
     “Punch Rush”
     “Dolphin Blow”
     “Meteor Strike”
     “Heel Drop”
     “Mach Kick”
     He powered up and then:
     “Final Heaven!”

     Squall was the next to step forward. “Renzokuken!” He swiftly slashed away at Rinoa pulling the trigger as he impaled her body. After about 15 slashes, he powered up, hesitated but then followed off with ‘Lion Heart’.

     Rinoa fell to the ground stunned. “I’ll ask you one more time Rinoa! What are you up to?!”
     “I….I…” Rinoa then fell down and fainted. The group took her back to Balamb Garden and straight to the infirmary. “What’s this?” Dr Kadowaki asked as she saw Rinoa in Squall’s arms.
     “Rinoa………. She’s unconscious, can you please treat her?” Squall asked.
     “Don’t tell me you overdid your attack, this injury seems pretty serious. Nevertheless, I’ll take care of her for now.

     After a while, Rinoa woke up and explained what had happened.      “Ultimecia….
     She’s returned to power, she’s seeking revenge……”
     “So she possessed you again huh?”
     “I think so, but I don’t think I was the one she was after.”
     “I think it might be your dad. When you were possessed, I think you gave out an order for Fujin, Raijin and Seifer to assassinate him.”
     “I think you’re right because recently, I think Ultimecia tried to make some sort of deal with him but he refused………”
     “I think it’s best if we visit your father first in Deiling City. He should know something about this.”

********

“Yes, I know what this is all about” General Caraway explained. “Ultemecia’s been after my neck since I refused to lend her control the Galbadian Army.
     “What does she want them for?” Squall asked.
     “She wants to conquer the nation of Esthar and relocate the Lunatic Pandora.”
     “That’s right you worthless fools.” Said a cold voice out of nowhere.
     “Who’s there?!”
     “No one but me.” It said again. Suddenly, the roof of Caraways mansion caved in and appeared a dark figure in red and black garments. It was Ultimecia.
     “You!” Rinoa cried.
     “Ugh” cried Zell in dismay and disgust.
She stretched out her palm and the ground caved in. The team went though a porthole and found themselves inside the doomed time compressed world.
     “This place look familiar? Welcome back to the Time Compressed World. And without your help I still managed to resurface the Lunatic Pandora and soon I shall blow up Esthar myself. Hahahahaha!!!” Ultimecia then disappeared.
     “I’m heading for Ultimecia’s castle! Anyone else coming?” Asked Zell triumphantly
     “It’s like we have any choice.” Squall said.

********

     The team reached Ultimecia’s castle and walked up the metal chain. They met the rest of the team at the top. It seemed that the others had also been zapped into time compression.
     “This time, we shall stick together and barge our way through!” Ordered Squall As they entered, like their last visit, all their abilities had been sealed off. However, instead of taking this peacefully and looking for Ultimecia’s servants, they moved destroying anything in sight. By doing this, they would be able to destroy the castle and unlock their commands at the same time. Apparently, Ultimecia’s servants didn’t take kindly to this and attacked the party uncovering their hiding places. It was all the old servants-all revived and in line ready to attack the party 2 by 2. First up was Trauma and Tri-point. The team hacked away at each of them destroying them easily. They reclaimed magic and limit break. Sphinxaur was the next to step forward. ‘Meltdown’ ‘Aura’
     Then Squall stepped forward. ‘Renzokuken!’ ‘Lion Heart!’ Sphinxaur was destroyed before he had the chance to transform into Sphinxara. Catoblepas and the Red Giant approached but were stopped in their tracks by a ‘shockwave pulsar’ from Quistis.
     “Nice one Quisty!” Remarked Irvine as he finished off the enemy with ‘Armour Shot’.
     “This is no time for Jokes!” said Squall as he begun to strike away at Krysta.
     “Watch this!” said Zell “Final Heaven!” Zell powered up his fist in rage and charged right past Krysta and round the world he went and when he reached his previous position, he let out a burning fist of rage straight into the creature’s chest. Then suddenly, before the gang had a chance to get ready-
     “DARK FLARE!”
     The team fell down in pain and thinking it would be over, Angelo came to the team’s aid casting Angelo Recover on the party. “Good boy!” Rinoa said giving Angelo a doggy biscuit. “The End!” Selphie cried out cheerfully. Tiamat fell to the ground.
     “So, you’ve defeated my servants huh?
     “Ultimecia.” Quistis said with a tone of fear.
     “Get them Griever!” The Ultimate GF rushed forward ready for action.
     “Counter rockets!”
     “Shell x3”
     “Protect x3”
     “Aura x3”
     “Meltdown x3”
     “Renzokuken! Lion Heart!”
     Griever fell to the ground in pieces. “Kurse you!” “Transform!”
Ultimecia suddenly changed into her second form releasing her true power. “Hell Judgement!” The group were badly weakened by the attack.
     “Ugh!” Squall cried in pain.
     “It’s not over yet!” said a familiar voice.
     “That’s right!” said two more familiar voices and a silent, crushed voice.
     Kiros, Laguna, Ward and Seifer charged at Ultimecia.
     “Fire Cross!”
     “Heavy Anchor”
     “Blood Pain”
     “Desperado!”

     “That’s right Ultimecia! You ain’t gonna come back this time!” Said Laguna’s enraged voice.
     “Seifer…… looks like he’s decided to turn over a new leaf.” said Quistis
     “ Renzokuken!” “Lion Heart!”
Ultimecia fell to the ground, dead.
     Suddenly, the ground had caved in again and the gang were at the shore of Edea’s house. Time compression was over and Ultimecia was now gone.

*********

     The gang returned to Balamb Garden where the Jeff the Chef was preparing a giant party to celebrate the end of the evil Sorceress Ultimecia. The lobby was full of colourful decorations and tables full of great food. Special hot dogs, pizzas, fries, nachos and tons of other stuff. After diner the lights went out and was replaced by flashing disco lights. The students of Balamb partied all night and they all had a great time. At midnight, Squall and Rinoa went to the secret area in the training ground where they had their own private time together. They sat down by the balcony and kissed in the moonlight.

THE END