Staring down the scorched, ugly beast, the SOLDIERs already found themselves losing strength; the purple haze was all about the room, and despite Hybria's desperate attempts to keep up a constant stream of antidotal magic, the effect was overpowering her restorative spells. Soon, her Materia went dim, and Hybria slouched. Despite the urge to breathe, she kept her breaths short and deliberate.
"Don't breathe," Apatet pleaded with her teammates. "Just hang on a little longer. It'll happen soon, I know it’l-" Lioke's hand suddenly surged out, grasping the redhead by her collar and reeling her in close for a private chat.
"Do you have any magic left?" Lioke looked around, pointing nearest wall. "If you do,
make it happen. Blow up the wall and get us out of here." Practical to the end, Lioke was still considering methods of escape.
"If we abort the test by force, they'll brand us deserters! They'll kill us!" Apatet pulled away from Lioke, who lost her grip on the fabric of Apatet's uniform. "Besides, I don't have the strength. I tested it; those walls are meant to withstand spells from First Class SOLDIERs. I wouldn't even dent it. Not even the doors are vulnerable enough."
Lioke grimaced. That was her only idea. "...So, this is the end, huh?" Swallowing, Lioke just focused on keeping her breathing light.
"If it's the end, then who cares, right?"
Alken, gripping his weapon tight, narrowed his eyes on the Malboro. The creature had moved only five feet from the door since it arrived. "...We nuked most of its eyes, so it won't notice an attack from above, right?" The SOLDIERs weren't listening to Alken's words; they were busy assessing the blue-green mist dissolving off his skin. Alken's eyes glowed powerfully as he choked up on his sword, clenching it so hard the handle bent slightly, the leather fraying.
“…Alky, you’re leaking.” Kydomis stepped back. Despite Hybria unconsciously achieving the dissolution of her limits mere minutes ago, none of the SOLDIERs had seen. This was the first time they’d witnessed such a phenomenon; it seemed Alken was exuding pure power and killing intent as he prepared to attack.
Lioke, getting ahold of herself, realized what Alken was saying. “Wait! Don’t do anything stupi-“ Alken dove into the fray before she could finish. All he was aware of was the fight; if he didn’t succeed, he and his teammates were forfeit.
The clomping of bootheels shocked the technicians back into work. A pair of SOLDIERs, clad in black fatigues, stepped into the room. It was almost pure chance that they’d arrived today. A young woman and a massive, black bearded man, they both possessed the commanding presence and tight, professional air of career killers.
“Don’t mind us, boyos. We’re here to look in on the next generation of SOLDIER.” The massive man had eyes as cold and sharp as ice, but the friendly, jolly glow of a town craftsman. “This is the situation room of Group Seven, right?”
One of the technicians stood, saluting. “Sir. We’re actually overseeing a training exercise for Group Eight.”
“Ah. The Ghost Group.” The huge SOLDIER strode forward to look at the monitor. The smaller woman with him remained in the doorway. The massive sheet of iron on her back nearly blocked the entrance to the room.
The technician nodded. “Professor Amechanio stepped out for coffee, but the test is winding down. We only had one monster left to throw at them.”
“…One more? Surely a cadet group in the single digits only warrants one, period. They should be in standard fitness training this close to graduation.” The SOLDIER torqued his jaw as he looked at the screen. It was an old, chunky monitor with a grainy resolution, and he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. “…Is that a Malboro? Fully grown? In an enclosed space?” The SOLDIER’s eyebrows arched up, his mouth falling open for a moment. “Why aren’t they fighting it in an off-site, open air facility? What the hell is it doing in Midgar at all?”
Alerted by her colleague’s tone, the SOLDIER in the doorway looked up, folding her arms and stepping nearer to get a look for herself at the developing situation. The laboratory techs, dropping their recording equipment, hastily stood to defend themselves, terrified that the SOLDIER before them was on the verge of going berserk. “What are these readings? Is this not a combat test?” With a rugged snarl, the bearded man yanked some of the papers off the table. After making a three second effort to read them, he tore them apart in his callused hands, staring at the screen counter. “…Have they been fighting that Malboro for two and a half hours?” The counter told no lies; the experiment had been going on for two hours and twenty-eight minutes.
“No, sir. The Malboro entered the room five minutes ago. Before now, they’ve been fighting an assortment of monsters hand picked by-“ Before the technician could continue, the bearded SOLDIER stared him down, shutting the man up with a look before speaking.
“Send in the support teams and extract those cadets. On the authority of the Shinra Electric Power Company, I’m aborting this farce immediately.”
“The Professor ordered us to wait, sir. The support teams are on standby for an incoming test with Cadet Group Nine, more than ten minutes from this wing of the facility.” The technician, guilt in his voice, shook his head. “My hands are tied, sir. If I get in trouble with Amechanio again, I’ll lose my job or worse, even if a pair of First Class SOLDIERS come to my rescue.” The technician mistakenly expected pity from the giant SOLDIER, who simply glowered at him, disgusted.
“…A grown man concerned with rescue, while teenagers fight to the death as you look on. Why waste time rescuing a lot of gutless wastes?” Both SOLDIERs glowered at the screen. Without preamble, the duo stepped into the hall. For a moment, it seemed they were satisfied with just taking their leave.
“DOUBLE TIME, ETECHNIA!” The man barked the words to his ally, and the two rushed off. The floor, where their boot-soles had been, was torn as they sprinted off to stop the experiment personally.
Alken charged forward, rushing straight at the Malboro. His teammates pleaded with him to stop, but he dared on, moving at top speed despite the cramping in his muscles. As he neared the Malboro, its poison was thicker in the air. Soon, Alken decided to hold his breath entirely and work with the lungful of murky air he had; breathing would only debilitate him further.
The Malboro, with Alken in range, was not idle. Its forward tendrils, mainly used for locomotion and capturing prey, lashed out to grasp him. Alken jumped over them, and they floundered dumbly with no eyes to guide them. Taking to the air with a powerful leap, Alken prepared to strike, allocating his remaining fury and frustration into one arm.
The Malboro’s last eye stalk snaked around and found him in mid-air. In a blur of green and red, the creature swatted Alken with a single, metal crushing blow. The SOLDIER’s blade was snapped in half, his left wrist broken and his pauldron dented to hell. Unarmed and injured, it seemed Alken’s attack was canceled.
Fortunately, he wasn’t planning on using his sword. Alken came down on the Malboro with a punch that dented the floor beneath it. Bones popped, one of the creature’s fangs breaking off as purple gas piddled out of its mouth in pathetic wisps, rather than mighty gouts. For a moment, it appeared Alken had won out.
However, the Malboro was only stunned by the blow; though it was severely injured and writhed in agony at the impact, the beast was alive, and wide awake.
Another lash of its tendril folded in Alken’s ribcage. He hacked up blood as the tendril snaked around his chest like an anachonda. Though the Malboro could have squeezed him to death then and there, it instead opened its mouth, lowering Alken towards it.
In a flash of silver, Lioke hurled her sword in a well-timed throw. The blade hewed through the tendril holding Alken. The SOLDIER fell to the floor, his helmet popping off as he landed. Unmoving, it appeared Alken had finally retired from the fight.
“NO!!!” Lioke’s protestation meant little; the Malboro opened its mouth, its eye-stalk still locked on Alken. Hungry and in utter agony, it needed to eat, and the SOLDIER was the nearest, easiest target.
Apatet, despite the agonizing fear of seeing one of her friends on the cusp of death, found her gaze magnetically pulled North. There were cracks in the wall. The other SOLDIERS failed to notice, but there were deep, resonating thumps against the metal, faults appearing with each blow.
When the wall burst, accompanied by a gout of blinding flame and deafening noise, Apatet spent her remaining second in prayer before a rock the size of a softball caught her on the scalp; her helmet did it’s job, protecting her skull, but the visor was broken, cutting her forehead and knocking her unconscious instantly.
As her back hit the floor, the remaining SOLDIERs turned to see the cause of the commotion. Two figures strode through the broken wall. The youths found their eyes drawn to the largest.
Every cadet knew of this giant. Towering over his SOLDIER kin, this First Class warrior was a legend, even to the most stoic of recruits. He was Alalonn, the Dragon Slayer. Gripping his customized longsword, he assessed the situation before taking a single step towards the Malboro.
“I’ll tend to the cadets. Etechnia, the rest is yours.” His teammate, Etechnia, stood in his literal shadow, but wore a weapon fit for a giant; a thick five foot slab of sharpened iron. The Buster Sword was an uncommon but brutally effective implement in the hands of a SOLDIER, and it was about to be put through its paces.
As Etechnia slowly started towards the Malboro, Alalonn set to work. He fished his prized Materia off of his waist, channeling the power within it. Leaning forward, Alalonn gave forth a breath of his own that dwarfed the Malboro's in power. The room suddenly grew hazy with heat, the air warping.
“What’s he doing?” Hybria looked around as the purple mist slowly dissipated. She felt her strength returning; Alalonn, through his exhalation alone, burned every particle of the Malboro’s toxin from the air and purged the room’s purple tint. “Whoa…” Hybria, impressed and relieved, stood to attack the Malboro and protect Alken. “C’mon! Let’s sav-“
“
STAND DOWN! We’ll handle this from here, cadets!” Alalonn’s order froze the cadets in place as he set to work. Channeling another form of magic altogether, the SOLDIER reached a hand towards the unconscious, mostly broken Alken.
He lives. Excellent. Alalonn smiled, before glancing down at Apatet, his grin fading.
She’s down, but breathing. It looks like debris did her in. I suppose I was overzealous, breaking the wall so violently. Well, no casualties regardless.Alalonn’s gesture towards Alken bore immediate results. For a moment, Alken hovered as the gravity spell affected him. Before the Malboro could bite down, the young man was yanked away from it, directly towards Alalonn. The bearded SOLDIER caught the cadet in one hand by the base of the neck, carefully lowering him down. “Cadets, give me a Restoration Materia, immediately. Your teammate is still alive, and he's been brave long enough. Time to ease his burden.”
Lioke snatched Hybria’s healing Materia and threw it over. The bearded warrior caught it, setting to work the instant it was in his hand. Alken, still unconscious, took a breath of fresh air. His eyes were dark; oxygen deprivation had nearly killed him even without the Malboro's help. He'd breathed so much of the toxin, Alalonn was impressed he could still be saved.
With Alken and the other cadets out of the way, Etechnia was clear to strike.
Clearing the distance instantly, the woman grasped her sword tightly, holding it forward. The Malboro stared her down with its remaining, baleful, agonized eye. With no words or preamble, Etechnia jumped forward and swung.
The first slash tore upwards through the creature’s lip, goring deeply into its facial tissue. The Malboro, in panicked retaliation, swung every available forward tendril it had. Stepping back, Etechnia countered. To the conscious SOLDIER cadets, it appeared she’d simply spun in a circle. Alalonn saw the truth; it was a tight series of defensive slashes in multiple directions.
A fine cut. Every tendril that had set upon her was severed, and she was completely unharmed.
Stepping in once again, Etechnia raised her weapon high, and swung down. The second blow killed the creature, nearly chopping it in half. Flicking the blood from her sword, Etechnia put the weapon on her back, turning and briskly walking back to Alalonn, who had already finished repairs on Alken’s skeleton. He was still asleep, but he was stable and healthy again.
“Does this mean we won?” Kydomis asked.
“Not really. But
them winning was almost the same thing.” Hybria grinned, sitting down on the floor as Alalonn healed the unconscious Apatet’s scalp.
“If you have the strength, rise, and carry your siblings.” Alalonn glanced around the room, his keen eye observing the carnage before him. Not a single fallen SOLDIER, but piles of monster corpses. “…Such savagery,” he muttered.
“We started makin’ piles, but eventually we were too exhausted to bother, and let ‘em be where they were. Alken tripped over one though, so we started making piles
again, but then we decided to stop because Alken was embarrassed that Lioke was making a big deal about moving the bodies so
he wouldn’t trip…she gets weird about him, but we try not to talk about it while they’re here.”
“Half of them are here. Kydomis.” Gaeira pointed to the conscious, listening Lioke, who was staring daggers at him. “
Idiot,” Gaeira added for good measure. Kydomis was notable for his complete and utter lack of tact, and his haste in addressing personal issues with relevant parties in the room.
“…I don’t regret bringing it up. Someone has to.” Kydomis stood by his statement, folding his arms.
“I hate to interrupt this…whatever this is,” Alalonn interrupted the dispute. Hybria dragged Apatet over, while Anai and Lioke pulled Alken into the crowd by his ankles. “I wasn’t admonishing your brutality, I was complimenting it. Your skill is superb. To have slain so many foes in the space of two hours, and to endure Malboro poison for so long…” While Alalonn hated to think how exhausted the cadets must have been, and how hard they fought, their skill was indeed remarkable. “I’ll be perusing the recordings myself, but if you all withstood as long as you did, you’ve exceeded the skill of Third Rank SOLDIERs. You’re easily Rank Two, and in good standing.”
“Holy wow.” Kydomis flinched back at the compliment. “I-I mean, thank you, sir. Holy crap. Holy fuck. Sorry, sir. I’m just…you’re my hero, and I’m kinda freaking out right now.” Hybria interviened, patting Kydomis on the back.
“It’s okay. You already impressed the guy, bud.” Hybria grinned.
Etechnia, having cleaned her blade and latched it to her back, approached. “Sir. Something of note; the Malboro’s skull was unusually fragile. There was likely a spiderweb crack in its forehead. One of these SOLDIERS managed to crack four inch thick bone with a training saber.”
“Actually, he used his fist.” Gaeira pointed to the downed Alken, who laid comatose on his back. “He wears out gloves rather quickly.”
“
“I’m sold,” Alalonn stated simply. “I will be taking over your training from this point forward, SOLDIERs. As a First Rank, I can, at my discretion, personally train up to ten cadets. You have no say in the matter. I will be no harder, nor softer on you than necessary to beat you into useful and productive subordinates. Be the best of yourselves, and expect nothing less than victory at all times. Etechnia will relocate you to your new quarters in the Fourth Sector, so pack for a train ride.”
Etechnia reeled, sputtering for a moment at Alalonn’s sudden and major commitment to training these youngsters. She yanked off her helmet emphatically, tucking it under her arm and marching towards Alalon.
To Hybria’s shock, the girl wasn’t much older than the cadets.
Her rags are solid black. Is she a First Rank? How the hell’s she a First Rank? She’s barely seventeen. Jealousy barely registered; Hybria was merely impressed. If anything, she was in awe; the girl had put down a Malboro with total confidence, while the seven of them only barely managed to survive by luck. However Etechnia became this strong, Hybria resolved to follow in her footsteps.
“Sir, isn’t this decision rather hasty?” Etechnia furrowed her brow, stepping toe to toe with Alalonn. “You’d probably be rubbing Amechanio the wrong way. You’re already stealing the tapes of his research, and you damaged the staging area. Now you’re going to steal an entire Cadet Group?”
“Who cares?” Lioke asked. “There’s just seven of us, and he said he wanted to do it. I don’t want any more of this sealed bunker meat-grinder bullshit. I want to go with the bearded guy.”
“I concur.” Anai leaned down next to Apatet, patting her on the cheek in an attempt to wake her. “Psst. C’mon. Get up.”
“It’ll work itself out, Etechnia. Pack up, we’re going back to Sector Four,” the bearded SOLDIER said. Etechnia’s brow reddened with anger; rubbing her temples, she turned away from him. What was done was done; no point tormenting her blood pressure. “SOLDIERs, return to your quarters, regain your stamina, wake your allies, and get ready for a new day.”
“Yaaaay” came a voice from Alken. Flinging his arms skyward from his laying position, he cheered on Alalonn’s speech. “New day! We’re number one!” His arms fell limp to his sides as he sat up, half awake. “Wait…what are we talking about? Did I lose time? Where the fuck am I?”
Author's Note.
Fun facts about the group.
Lioke is designated "the odd but practical one."
Hybria killed a man before joining the superSOLDIER program.
Alken tends to say "right?" a lot like a white girl before doing something suicidally dumb.
Kydomis is the best one.
Anaideian's name is hard to type, so I gave her a nickname mid chapter.
Gaeira is the worst fighter, but he holds a power so great that no mortal can resist it; he can cheat insanely effectively.
Apatet can see a bunch of different futures. They appear at random when she's sleeping, daydreaming, or meditating. She can take steps to make possible the ones she prefers, but like any mortal effort, it won't always work out. One day, it might even land her with buyers remorse.
Stay tuned for next time.