The great black iron train came to a screeching halt with a cloud of steam. Three guards in Shab-Ra uniforms stepped forward to open the doors for the passengers, but the heavy metal panals were thrown aside as a handful of rag-tag warriors fought their way free. The leader, a tall man with long dark hair and a ratty looking hat, sliced a gunman down with a single stroke, then turned to find the newest rookie in the DRAGONWRATH's ranks doing the same to twice as many opponents.
Damn showoff. Hee thought bitterly, then shouted, "Hey, kid, c'mon! This way!" He hauled butt down the alley, ducking out of sight as three more Shab-Ra soldiers attacked the new guy. He briefly considered giving the kid a hand, then remembered how he had been shown up.
"Nah..." He shrugged, racing to meet the others at the gate to the Majik Reactor that was sucking the life out of the World.
"Hey, sorry I'm late." The newbie grinned as he came jogging up behind him, not having even broken a sweat.
"What the... How the Hell did you finish 'em off that fast?" The leader's ratty hat flopped over one eye as he gaped.
"I dunno." The rookie shrugged, still smiling.
"What's your name, MERC?" He growled in reference to the kid's former employement, Shab-Ra's private army, the MERCs: Mercenary Echelon and Rebellion Containment.
"I'm Gourry Strife." The blonde ex-MERC put his hand out, expecting him to shake it.
"I'm Zangulas Wallace." DRAGONWRATH's leader batted away the friendly gesture and turned to the other two members of the team. "You know the drill, let's go!"
"Um... Zanlagdu?" Gourry scratched his head.
"It's Zangulas." The dark hared man snarled. "Whaddaya want?"
"What's the drill again?"
"Go in. Set the bomb. Get out. Bomb goes off." He sighed. How many times was he going to have to repeat it?!
"Oh yeah!" Gourry beamed. One of the hackers gave the signal that he had gotten the lock undone.
"Move out!"
The path to the Majik Reactor was full of Shab-Ra's guards and mechanical monstrosities. Zangulas, out of concern for the rest of his team, kept Gourry at his side, despite the ex-MERC's aggrivating idiocy. He just wanted to kick the blonde's ass all the way to the Golden Plate...
"Uh... Zangulos?" Gourry tapped him on the shoulder as he finished the arming sequence.
Close enough. He grumbled at the former MERC's butchering of his name. "What is it now?" The blonde grabbed his shoulder and spun him around to see the large red machine that was scanning them in 'lock on target' mode.
"That!" Gourry whipped out his Buster no Ken.
"Yahhhh!" Zangulas screamed, flailing to free himself from the position of living shield. "Strife, you dumbass m@th~# f@&%ing b@$t@rd! Lemme go!" He was quickly dropped on his rear as Gourry charged the machine, doing minimal damage and getting hit twice for his effort.
"I see stars..." The blonde gurgled as he floated close to unconsciousness, his limit nearing completion. The dark hared swordsman wondered what he had done to piss off the powers that be, then used a potion to heal Gourry's wounds.
"Limit Level One!" The ex-MERC roared, showing the fighting fury that his former association was know for throughout the world. "HIKARI BRAVER!" The metal of his huge sword became pure energy as he jumped into the air and brought it straight down, doing an extreme amount of damage, but not destroying it. Suddenly, the tail-like gun of the monster raised up and shot a powerful beam of of energy at them. It missed Gourry, but Zangulas went down.
Despite popular belief, Gourry was not a complete moron. He grabbed a potiioni and used it on his leader, then went to distract the Guard Scorpion while Zangulas prepared his limit break.
"Limit Level One!" He shouted, firing a blast of black/purple plasma from his sword. "HOWL BURST!" Unable to fight any longer, the mechanical monstrosity disappeared in a haze of red dust.
"We gotta book!" Zangulas snatched his hat, which had been blown off during his Limit attack.
"Book? What book?" Gourry picked up the two items amides the crimson dust that caught his attention. One he recognized as an iron armlet, the other was a strange green orb that glowed with an unusual power.
"Hey, Zangizmo, what's this?" He asked as he ran to catch up with the very exhasperated DRAGONWRATH leader.
"Gimme that." Zangulas grumbled, stuffing it into his pocket as they rolled out from under a low bar. Not too far behind, the Majik Reactor began to overheat...
"But I found it!" Gourry pouted as the sprinted onto the train a moment before it pulled out of the station. Zangulas collapsed on the cushioned seat, tilting his hat down to cover his face.
"Do you even know how to use Restore Materia?" He asked muffledly.
"No... what's Materia?"
"G@dd@mm@t, you are SUCH A F@&%ING MORON!" He punted the blonde three cars up, where he skidded on his face for another car and a half.
"Oh my, are you all right?" A woman's voice graced his ears, which were still suffering from Zangulas' verbal onslaught.
"Yeah, this kind of thing happens all the time." Gourry shrugged as he stood up and dusted off his blue uniform.
"Do you know what all the comotion's about?" She shifted the basket on her lap, tossing her golden braid over her shoulder. "It sounds like a riot."
"I haven't got a clue."
"Oh. Well then, would you like to buy a flower? Only one bronze piece."
"Uh... okay." He smiled and dug a coin out of his pocket, then waved as he headed back to his original car with his purchase tucked safely away.
Zangulas muttered several curses as Gourry sat down next to him.
"What'd you say, Zangulas?" Gourry asked, but the only answer her recieved was the rebel leader's shocked silence.
An hour later, they all sauntered into the Slain Heaven bar, secret hideout of the DRAGONWRATHs. Zangulas was immediately bowled over by his beloved wife, Martina, who smothered him with the usual mushy love.
"I'm so glad you're back all safe and sound!" She promptly dragged him off to a back room, where unmentionable activities transpired for a long while.
Gourry sat down at the bar and took a look at the drink list.
"Hey Gourry." A slim red-headed girl in a goldenrod halter top and brown overall-shorts nodded to him.
"Hey, Lina." He nodded back. Lina Lockheart, the spirited young woman from his hometwon of Nibelhiem, who had been his childhood friend, and was the one who constantly beat sense into his head. Moreso than anyone else, at least.
"What will it be this time?" She had already preped an economy sized glass; whatever he got would be ready in under five seconds.
"Ummm... milk." He decided. Three point six seconds later, there was a jug of the white beverage in front of him. "Wow, you even remembered the little paper umbrellas!" Just the way he liked it.
"Naturally." She grinned, sitting on the counter. "You going to stick around for a while?"
"Nah." He gave her a blank look as he set down the now empty container. "I just wanna get paid, then hightail it outta here." He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, then remembered abourt the flower. "Oh, here, I got you something." He fished the flower out of his pocket, looking mighty proud that he had remembered about it's existance.
"Gourry." Her eyes sparkled with tears, and he began to panic.
"What? What? What?" he stood, prepared to bolt if she started using her Fire Materia. One thing Lina always carried on her was a Level 3 Fire Materia. She had gotten it up to the point where she could cast Flare Arrow and Fireball, but for some reason the mastered level and Valv Flare were just a bit too distant. Mayhaps it was because all Midgar-born monsters and punks knew to flee from Lina Lockheart if they valued their lives?
"Don't you remember the promise, jellyfish for brains?!" She yelled, beaning him with a plate.
"Promise?" He rubbed his sore head, only to be promptly smashed with a chair.
"Yeah, promise!" She glared dagger eyes at him. "You promised you'd stick with me, and come to my aid when I... you know, need it for... YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!"
"Really? I guess in that case, I'll stick around. "He shrugged, then facefaulted when Lina tried to convinve him that he had also promised to give her his Buster no Ken.
"C'mon, we've got a meeting to start!" Zangulas snarled as he stormed by, his attire extremely askew. Gourry yelped as the other swordsman grabbed him by the collar and dragged him down the secret stairs that led to the hideout of the gang.
"Have fun honey!" Martina giggled from the doorway of the back room. Zangulas was red for the rest of the meeting.
"Okay, we've taken out Reactor one, now we've got to hit some more of them to keep the World going. Next up is number five - "
"Why is it keeeping the World going?" Gourry raised his hand. The frustrated rebel leader slammed his fist down on the table, causing it to shake.
"Because Majik is the planet's blood, ya' f@&%ing idiot!" He yelled. "Shab-Ra is sucking the blanet's blood out so they can power their damn company!"
"Oh." The blonde winced. Zangulas' fist had left a dent in the table. Again. "Hey, Zangitas, when do I get paid?"
Zangulas was starting to see red, and lots of it.
"GET THE F@&%ING HELL OUTTA HERE, YA NUMBSKULL!"
"Sheesh, touchy, touchy." Gourry shook his head and climbed back up to the main bar, where Lina was waiting for him.
"So... How did it go?" She asked.
"Not too good." He sat down. "I asked him for my money, and he nearly blew up again."
"Ah." She nodded sagely. "Well, you can always try again. Look, here he comes now. "She pointed out as Zangulas tried to sneak past, stepping on his shoelace so that he tripped and fell over.
"Oh, hey Zangulack." Gourry smiled at the hat wearing sword slinger, who was fuming quietly. "How about my money?"
"D@mn f@&%ing @$$hole can't remember anything with $h%t, but he remembers his f@&%ing money..." The dark hared man threw him a medium sized bag full of coins.
"I'll get reactor five for fifty gold." He added.
"Fifty?" Zangulas looked about ready to pop a blood vessal.
"Just say yes." Lina whispered.
"But that money's for Martina's anniversary gift!" he hissed.
"Just do it!" She hissed, kicking him in the shin."
"Fine, fine. " He grumbled. "Get some sleep, 'cause we head out first thing in the morning."
Episode 2 | Fanfiction