concoursec | Training.

Character(s): Squall and Maria.
Location: Training Center.
Rating: PG
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed
Summary: Maria's first training session with Squall.

Maria had a private message waiting for her on BBS:

Meet me in front of the Training Center at 1900 hours. No GFs. Be ready for combat.

-- SL

Squall was waiting in the hallway that led to the Training Center, leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest. He didn't have the Lion Heart with him, instead opting for a simple Revolver, but he had some decent magic equipped, along with Shiva and the Brothers: Aura, Curaga, Double, Thundaga, and Haste were among his arsenal for the day. The Commander also had a few Remedies and Potions, for the rare chance that something should go wrong. He didn't want Maria or himself to end up as T-Rexaur food -- that would be a terrible first tutoring session.

Locked in his own thoughts, his brow furrowed heavily. Truth be told, he was a little nervous. He had no idea what had possessed him to offer to teach Maria, but now that he had, he didn't want to do a bad job at it. Squall sighed and leaned his head back until it bumped softly against the wall. He hoped he wouldn't screw up.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Squall stayed to the side of the fray and watched as Maria downed the first grat. Distracted by the flurry of steel, Squall didn't notice that something was approaching them until a sudden crash forced him to turn around where he saw...

A T-Rexaur.

Well, that was just great. He looked over his shoulder at Maria, who was handling herself well with the remaining two grats, then looked back at the new enemy that was getting closer. He needed to get the T-Rexaur away where he could fight it without worrying about Maria. Squall concentrated on his para-magic, able to call it forth with ease after becoming so familiar with it through a myriad of battles. He waited for the giant beast to get closer before letting the magic fly.

A bright flash of light illuminated the air and the hair on the back of Squall's neck stood up as the Thundaga spell raced down, zapping the enemy with enough force to stun it for a few seconds. That was all the time he needed. Unsheathing his gunblade, Squall charged forward, ready to strike and keep it from getting any closer to Maria's battle.

Honestly? He didn't really need to worry about Maria. Hasted and with upgraded gunblades, which as everyone knows are overpowered weapons, she didn't need GFs and Junctions to cut through the grats. She had plenty of her own muscle that she'd earned the hard way.

Not that she was unscathed, mind; the grats had laid open several stripes on her forearms, which she seemed inclined to block with if she couldn't parry with her blades in time. She hadn't taken any wounds to the chest or head, so call it a victory as far as it went.

Trusting the Commander to do his thing with the T-Rexaur, she flipped lightly over one grat, nailed it to the ground with both gunblades, then chain-pulled the triggers like she was being offered a prize for most twitches of an index finger in ten seconds. Needless to say, when she yanked her weapons free of the ground, the grat didn't move much any more.

After taking on and defeating a near all-powerful sorceress, fighting against a T-Rexaur was more like child's play. He exploded with pent-up energy, blade slicing through the air and landing deep in dinosaur muscle. The T-Rexaur roared, wrenching itself free to turn and swing its heavy tail, which landed hard against Squall's side. The GFs and junctioned magic enabled him to withstand the worst of the blow, and he brought down his gunblade again, cleaving through most of the tail until it only hung by a few tendons.

Squall remained on the offensive, quickly retrieving his weapon and dancing away from rows of razor sharp teeth that gnashed at him in desperation. His feet were light and steady, bringing him back into range so he could take his gunblade and leap up, embedding the steel into the T-Rexaur's neck. It gave one final roar and began to fall, its weight actually causing the gunblade to be wrenched from Squall's hands. It landed with a booming thud, struggling to breathe as its life seeped away. He climbed on top of the creature and grabbed hold of the Revolver; not wanting the beast to lie there suffering, he drove the blade down deep into the monster's chest, piercing its heart. It gave a shuddering gasp and then finally died.

He slid back down to the ground, his gunblade dripping with blood and gore. His side was throbbing, and he was pretty sure he'd be sore in the morning, but it wouldn't even rank on his list of memorable injuries. Squall realized that Maria had finished off the grats while he was busy, and he arched a brow.

"Are you okay?"

"Not unharmed, but not unreasonably harmed, sir," she said quite truthfully. Pain from this sort of wound was nothing to her, a minor annoyance at best. "It may seem arrogant to say this after only a few months of training, but I kind of feel like grats are old hat."

She spun her weapons back into place, then dug out a roll of linen bandages from a small pouch on the strap for the holster to start wrapping her forearms.

Furrowing his brow, he watched Maria tend to her wounds. "Make sure you wash those cuts," he said, deadpan. "Grats are infested with bacteria."

So grats were too easy for her. He could sympathize. The Training Center really needed some variety, but it was too difficult to maintain sufficient population levels whenever different monsters were introduced to the habitat.

He took out a cloth from the back pocket of his pants and started wiping off his blade. He'd clean it properly once he got back to his dorm. "How much fighting experience do you have outside of the Center?"

No need to worry. She will drop by the Infirmary once she's been dismissed, to get proper care. They're... very used to her there.

"Sir, I have fought many of the creatures near Balamb. Though it was more for the purpose of stocking my paramagic than actual fighting experience. Prior to Garden I trained extensively in Dollet, but no actual combat was involved."

Training.

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