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Seeds of Spira (Broomhandle45 and Candira)

Lucy made her way through the various rooms, looking for Van and calling his name as she went. No wonder parents got so panicked when kids ran off--finding them was no easy task. And there was a very real possibility that a syndicate member had picked him off. She felt sick just thinking about it. Where was the little guy?

Finally, she began to feel warmth resonating through her as she walked. It was a dormant sphere--she was close! Cheered by the possibility that she was going to find the boy soon, she hurried on, looking around her and calling his name. Finally, she entered a room with two kids looking at a dress sphere--one of them was Van, looking all too proud of himself, and the other must have been a friend who was clearly in awe. What a little shit!

Lucy crossed her arms and cleared her throat, gaining both boys' attention. "Van?"

The little boy stepped forth, obviously impressed with the guardian before him. He looked at her, his eyes going from head to toe before he grinned. "Hey, you're a guardian like Reese!"

"Yes, I am. And he's in a lot of trouble thanks to your sticky fingers, bud."

Instantly, the boy looked contrite. "I'm sorry. I didn't think he'd get into trouble. I really didn't think those bad people would come after it, either. I just wanted to show it to my friends...that's all."

Lucy sighed, feeling a little bad that she'd been so harsh in her head just now. "Alright. We need to get you home and get the dress sphere and garment grid back to the academy. But first, we need to find my partner." Van looked on the verge of tears so she knelt down and put her hand on his shoulder. "It'll be okay. Don't worry, okay?" She smiled and watched in surprise as the little one gave her hug, his head resting on her chest. She gave him one back, missing the part where he gave a thumbs up sign to his little friend.

She let him go and then took the dress sphere and grid, putting them away safely. "Right. Let's go find Garen." She took Van's hand and hurried along with him until she realized that his little legs couldn't go very fast. So she picked him up and ran with him, heading toward the back of the stadium. Please be okay.
 
"Should have known there'd be more of you sniffing around, I could smell it a mile away." Garen replied dryly, tapping his forehead. "So look, you can either be good little goons and surrender...or this will get ugly." Eddie tilted his head in genuine amusement, surely Garen wasn't being that serious? Fighting fiends was one thing, fighting people was another. But he was serious, he could sense it radiating off him in waves.

"Oh that's real bold, kid." The warrior grinned widely. "But I think we're going to try the ugly, if you don't mind. Get his dressphere! We don't have a lot of time!" he ordered sharply as two goons stepped forward. It was the epitome of a fast draw, the goons almost stopped midway before a round each slammed into their chest and made them hit the ground with a pitiful groan. The warrior's expression was immediately feral.

"GET HIM!" he roared, and Garen smoothly drew his second pistol as the warrior lunged at him, Garen cursed his luck as he hit the ground, claws scraping across his pistols. Like usual, Eddie was nowhere to be found except in front of the rest of the goons, wagging his finger in displeasure.

"Now now," Eddie smiled easily. "You wouldn't want to interrupt them, would you?"

"Pycdynt!" Garen spat, arms shaking under the weight of the heavy claws before he shifted his feet and slammed his boots into his gut, rolling and tossing him off. Garen pivoted around as fast as he could, his thumbs flicking a selector switch on his pistols as he opened fire. Merchandise and marble shattered and crashed under the heavy roar of automatic gunfire as Garen raked his pistols in front of him. The warrior cackled like a hyena, darting and rolling as bullets pinged off his armor and he advanced up the side of the wall and lunged yet again.

"Not this time!" Garen growled, his right pistol roaring hell and brimstone. The warrior rose up one of the claws to defend his face, which made it hard for him to see the other pistol aiming low and firing twice. The warrior's eyes widened as he hit the ground with a pained snarl, rolling and rising in a horrible fury. Garen ejected the magazines from his pistols and smoothly slammed in another pair, the slides snapping forward.

Little freaking animal, is what he was. And Eddie was...holding the other goons off? He hadn't even done anything and they're hesitant? Guess he really was a hero after all...that didn't help his current predicament any, however.
 
Lucy hurried along, holding Van as she headed toward the back entrance to the stadium. Where was he? It wasn't long before she saw a crowd of people gathered around something. Suddenly, she got a sick feeling in her stomach that she knew exactly what it was. As they got closer, Lucy and van could hear the tell-tale signs of battle. "Uh oh. Garen's in trouble." She pushed her way through the crowd and saw that she was right. And Eddie wasn't really helping.

She set the boy down and held his shoulders. "Do me a favor. See that man over there?" she asked, pointing to Eddie. "He's our instructor. Go stand with him while I help my partner," she said. With that, she stood up and turned toward her partner and his opponent. A little chanting and some concentration later, and Lucy cast a spell on the opponent. "Slow!"

As soon as it hit, the enemy's movements were physically delayed, as though they were pushing through water. Lucy was thrilled that she had actually pulled it off, but she tried to keep herself in the moment. More important things were happening here. "Doing alright, there, Garen?"
 
It was quite a sight to be sure, some people with no real chance or ability to run away simply mashed against the wall to watch. Eddie had noted that Garen's throw earlier in the fight had distanced them away from everyone, which left the awkward proposition of the remaining goons being the only real risk to the general populace. Although 'risk' was a term he'd use lightly, it did complicate matters when Van needed a babysitter.

He scratched his chin idly, glancing down at the boy who looked at him in awe. Oh, he knew...even if Eddie was dressed down and trying to look like someone else, you couldn't hide the Lightning forever. It wasn't exactly a secret that Eddie Lightning was at the Concourse Academy, but it wasn't like everyone saw him all the time there either. To imagine him in this kind of situation was probably quite the little treat.

"...You like music, kid?" he asked easily with a smile, and you'd have thought he'd never speak again.

"Y...Yeah! I love your music Mr.Lightning! You're...you're the coolest! I have all your spheres!" Van said excitedly.

"W...Wait," one of the goons mumbled. "You're Eddie Lightning!? THE Eddie Lightning?" Half the nervous, terrified crowd perked up at that. Everyone knew Eddie, they knew him as a singer...as a star. It seemed to relax much of the crowd, and Eddie was quite good at playing that to an advantage.

"Well," he laughed, rubbing his neck. "I didn't exactly want to give that away! You guys are making me blush!"

"Wow! It's an honor!" one of them said in awe. "I...I wanted to be a musician because of you! I love your work!" Celebrities could impress, regardless of the location it seemed. But it served it's task well enough, especially to give his wayward students. Speaking of, actually...

"Say, could you guys do me a favor?" Eddie asked easily, arm around one of them. That made them tense up, perhaps the harsh reality of just what was going on was sinking in...or maybe they just realized that Eddie Lightning was more than just a singer. Either way, they seemed open...if a little terrified.

"Uh...sure!" the Goon said happily, the hesitation in his voice evident. "What uh...what exactly do you want us to do?"

"Well, looks like your boss over there is in quite a bind...and I'm not such a cruel man as to leave you to watch your boss to his fate...so why don't you give my students a good fight? I'll even prepare a specially made song, just for the occasion! And if you do..." Eddie said, glancing around as if it was a big secret before leaning in a little. "I know a few people who are looking for some musicians, and some band mates...if you guys are interested." he said, leaning back out subtly.

"...Wow, really?" he mumbled in surprise. "You'd...you'd do that for us?"

"Hey, anything for a starving musician and his band. So, what do you say? We got a deal?" he smiled, patting his back as the goons looked at each other curiously before nodding in enthusiastic agreement. Eddie grinned easily at that, patting his back before his body settled in a bright glow.

"Ooh! He's doing it!" One of the crowd squealed excitedly. "He's going into his dressphere!" and sure enough, Eddie Lightning the Songstress -Bard, if anyone actually asked him, not that anyone did- appeared in a white suit with a bright yellow jacket.

"Alright!" The apparent leader goon said with conviction. "Let's go! Let's do it for Mr. Lightning!...and our boss."
--
"Yeah," Garen mumbled, grateful for the breather as he exhaled. Truth be told, he was doing pretty well he thought...but it never hurt to have some help as he grinned at Lucy easily. Like usual, she did the work and he did the fun stuff...he was okay with that. And admittedly, he wasn't exactly doing a whole lot on his own...guess this was where the partner thing was.

"Thanks for the assist, Luce." But, juding by the rush of footsteps behind them...they weren't finished just yet! Dammit!
 
Lucy smiled back at Garen, glad to see that he hadn't been hurt. Wouldn't it just suck to have to heal her partner already? hopefully, he hadn't been fighting for too long. The leader was no slouch when it came to fighting, but he was moving pretty slowly after Lucy's spell. Garen should be able to handle him without much of a problem. Even if the guy's hits landed, it would take him a long time to get to that point.

"Alright, let's take him out then," she said. She was just thinking about what to do next when she heard the footsteps behind them. She turned around to face the two of them and frowned. "Vilg! Alright. Focus on the leader. You have more attack strength than me. I'll see what I can do about slowing these guys down." They were coming quickly. Casting slow would take some time, but it would undoubtedly help her out here. She'd just have to do her best to dodge while she was getting ready to cast it. She began to concentrate, chanting the spell, crouching to make herself into a smaller target.
 
Garen considered his options but he immediately turned around to aim his pistols at the rushing goons, immediately they scattered. But one took a blast to the leg and he went stumbling with a soft yelp of pain before he scrabbled back up. He couldn't believe it, of all the people to do something stupid like this...it was her?

"Are you stupid, Loose!?" Garren snapped in annoyance. "Does it LOOK like you have enough time!?" and sure enough, they really didn't. He was already taking a left hook across his cheek with a pained grunt. Son of..dammit! How did this get harder with someone else!?

Well, help was coming regardless...the fast paced tempo of Eddie's voice was catchy and rythmic...and Garen felt like he hit the ground a lot faster than that punch actually warranted. Whoa...he had never had Haste on him before, and it was a crazy rush!
 
Of course she'd known that she hadn't had enough time--it was a calculated risk. She could take the hits and dodge before using some potions or casting "heal." It wasn't like she was going to be down and out forever. She'd said that she could handle it, damn it. As the enemies were shot, however, she couldn't help but be grateful that he actually had jumped in. They had been outnumbered, and she'd done the thing she'd thought best to give them something of an advantage. Even if she'd dodged or attacked, she would have been overcome and so would have Garen. At least with her method, they stayed pretty well in tact.

"Of course not, jackass!" But far be it for her to be a bigger person in the midst of battle. "But it's not as though we had a lot of options, is it?" Or help, for that matter. Until Eddie started singing. The crowd got excited as Eddie used his abilities to cast haste on his two students. Lucy finished charging up and loosed the spell on the four men who'd been attacking earlier. She took a second to breathe and glanced at her partner who'd just taken one for her. She did feel bad about that, but she was sure he'd give her shit for it later.
 
"Nah," Garen smirked, spitting out blood. "But c'mon, I figured someone as smart as you wouldn't be doing something so stupid...but I like it when you do something stupid, it's kinda cute." he said, weapons raised at the goons. The pressing issue was them being outnumbered, and the little hyena was starting to move a little quicker. Not a bad thing considering Eddie was singing one of his hit songs and for once, Garen was really feeling the beat...literally.
 
Haste had given them both a bit of an advantage, so without wasting more time talking to Garen, she cast a heal spell on him and then dodged another attack, coming a little closer to him. "I don't have time to explain my strategies at the moment. You'll just have to get over it," she said, taking all her foes into consideration. At her level, she didn't have any super powerful spells, but she could do a decent amount of damage with what she had. She began concentrating again and got ready to cast again.
 
"Ooh, so spicy," Garen smirked, ducking under a claw swipe from one of the goons to shove him and put a bullet in the back of his head that sent him tumbling and groaning in misery. Good thing about being so agile? He got a beautiful feel of a particularly tight and athletic rear in passing...ooh boy, it hugged ever so nicely against his palm.
 
It was a good thing Lucy was otherwise engaged in battle or he might have lost that hand. As it was, she merely stepped aside and cast another spell. Hopefully, it would help them win a little bit faster. Rather than responding to Garen's smart remark, she focused on the battle at hand.

"Fire!" All four of her opponents burst into flame, doing a decent amount of damage.
 
With the new speed in hand, Garen was eager to move toward the crazy Hyena bastard who was shaking off the effects of slow. Not a problem, It'd mean an easier chance to-clawcomingtowardshisface. He was there, and he was gone in a second as he ducked and weaved out of the way with a panicked breath. Now that was the worst kind of cheating he had ever seen!

"I'm supposed to be FASTER than you, you know!" Garen huffed, trying not to show the fact that he almost wet himself and failing miserably. What the hell was with this guy?!

"You're quick...even without that little spell," he grinned, claws raking across the stone. "You're also arrogant, kid...why don't you and your little girlfriend give up? We were working on that dressphere fair and square."

"I somehow doubt that," Garen grinned, holstering one of the pistols as he racked the slide back on his remaining one. Oh, he wasn't done just yet...

"Round three, you little freak." he growled, pressing a cartridge down and letting the slide snap forward with a sharp click. Hyena narrowed his eyes curiously at that, but reared up and rushed him again as Garen moved forward, thankfully...Eddie's jaunty little tune allowed him to keep pace-barely- with the vicious swipes of his claws. Garen grit his teeth in annoyance, raising his arm up to block a long swing and bring the pistol directly to his face. He didn't hesitate, however...and Hyena soon took another swipe and Garen ducked, pistol blindly pointed in front of him as he pulled the trigger.

What Hyena felt so smug about was wrong the second he registered just exactly what was going on, there was no...sound of a bullet when there should have been. He didn't feel anything go past him, but his eyes widened when he saw why. The bullet wasn't a bullet...it was some kind of spread of pellets, like a shotshell! That minor second of delay had given him all opening he needed, and Hyena wasn't prepared to block as it slammed into him with a pained howl, tumbling and rolling before he righted himself with his claws, snarling in fury. Now...NOW He was angry.

"Luce! Zap him! Fry him! SOMETHING!" Garen ordered sharply, drawing his other pistol in annoying. Aw, jeez...couldn't the bastard just stay down!?
 
Lucy was a little busy. After her fire burst, her enemies were certainly less willing to charge at her, but they could still stand, and she wasn't sure she liked that. Hand-to-hand was really not her strong suit and Garen was having issues of his own. No time to count on him for his help. She managed to get a little further away from them while Slow was still working, and she had Haste on her side. She saw her partner in trouble and figured some gunplay from him would put the others down.

So she started to chant, concentrating on her spells so she could help take the hyena down. When he called out for her, she was ready and she let loose with, "Lightning!" A powerful bolt crashed into him for a nice amount of damage and a healthy scream from the man. She immediately began casting again and said, "Please shoot them. They're almost done!"
 
"Nag, Nag..." Garen muttered, but in two steps? He was right behind her, back facing her own as he put the four of them down with a shot to their chests as they slumped to the ground in pitiful defeat, groaning. There was nothing less but twitching, horrible pain and growling from the Hyena...but he was getting up slowly.

"How'd...how'd we do, Mr. Lightning, sir?" One of the goons groaned.

"Excellent, boys!" Eddie said easily, his clothes changing back into his casual suit as the crowd exploded into his applause. "You make for very convincing opponents! I was shaking the entire time in anticipation! Marvelous work! Oh...and you two, Garen, Lucy! Excellent!" Garen showed remarkable combat potential, far more than he had honestly expected. Lucy settled far too heavily on her spells...what an interesting pair.

"...You have got to be kidding," Garen sighed, scratching his forehead. They got second string to a bunch of ass kissing fans...?
 
Lucy broke her concentration so that the spell could dissipate without hitting her intended target again and sighed as their teacher's song came to an end and the goon squad stood down. After getting a pat on the back. What the hell? Seriously, Eddie? The redhead sighed and leaned back a little against Garen. She only stayed there for a second, but it was good to know that in that one, she had someone to look out for her. Even if he was kind of an ass king.

"Excellent work, huh? Well, I guess it's all we can really hope for right now...but do we have to share the glory with these guys?" she wondered, frowning at them. She supposed it was a good thing Eddie had them wrapped around his finger, but he had told the men to really have at them. But then, how tough could they have been if two new guardian candidates had beaten them?

And it was beginning to sink in now, just how much her powers could actually do to someone. After all, the hyena could barely get up. She really had the potential to...

And all of a sudden, her knees were weak and her hands were shaking. Now was so not the time to lose her composure, but it was hard to keep herself together after fully realizing what she could have potentially done to the people she'd just defeated. She'd always known, but actually experiencing it first hand was a shock to the system.
 
"...You alright?" Garen asked in concern, glancing back at her curiously. It wasn't hard to see it, no matter how small it was...all the adrenaline rush out of her system, did it? Well, she did pretty good for a snobby Miss Boring Perfect. But he should...probably find a way to say that without sounding so obnoxious...baby steps, Garen. As baby as they would be, a partner was still a good partner. But he did, silently agree...the hell did they do that was so amazing?
 
Lucy looked back at her partner, not really sure why she couldn't handle this. She had always known she would really be hurting someone. Why was it such a big deal? Maybe that was why she'd stuck to her spells instead of using her sword--she hadn't wanted to realize the kind of damage she was really doing while she was actually in battle. Of course, she couldn't keep relying on her spells to get the job done. As all of this worry flickered through her head she shook her head.

"I'll get over it, but..." She glanced back at the men on the ground who were slowly getting up to praise Eddie. "I did...most of that to them. It's a little hard to wrap my head around right now." Well this was going to be a problem. If she let this get in the way of her fighting, she was in for some losses--and in their positions, a loss meant something awful was going to happen.
 
"Yeah, so?" Garen murmured. "It's them or us, Luce. I guess me growing up fighting fiends in Bikanel makes things a little different...but c'mon, you did fine." He grinned. "You need to use that sword on your hip a little bit more, otherwise you and I are going to have a long talk about what exactly a 'Red Mage' is supposed to be."
 
Lucy took a deep breath, and straightened back up. He was right about all of that, despite the less than appealing way he went about conveying it. She needed to concentrate less on the opponents and more on the results of the battle. "I'll work on that. You should work your tact," she said with a little smirk. "Thank you, Garen." She smiled and then turned to the little boy they'd been sent to find.

"C'mon, hun. We need to get you home. And you need to give the dress sphere back so your brother can stay in the program."
 
"Kay," he grinned widely, more than happy to take her hand. "Reese won't get in trouble, right?"

"...Right," Garen sighed. "So give us the dressphere, alright?"

"I'll give it to her," he decided snobbishly, handing Lucy the glowing orb. "Cause she's really pretty! And she's got nice boobs!"

Oh, that just made Garen's day so wonderfully...he couldn't help but laugh. Ahh, mission accomplished!
 
Lucy was just about to smile at Van for his choice to give her the sphere, but then that mouth. She bit her lips and took a moment to consider. A compliment was a compliment, after all. On the other hand, it was totally inappropriate. She sighed in defeat and took the sphere. "Thank you, but you shouldn't talk about things like that, Van." As a point of pride, however, she kept holding the boy's hand as she tucked Reese's sphere away.
 
"Not his fault you have nice boobs, Luce," Garen grinned widely, arms crossed. "We can't blame the boy for his honesty, can we?" Well, of course Lucy of all people would...buzzkill.
 
Lucy shot him a warning look. "We'll talk about this later, partner." Her voice was so sweet and cheerful that she was actually a little frightening. At least several onlookers seemed to think so. She smiled and then kept walking, guiding them toward Van's parents.
 
Garen was either ignorant, or great at playing the fool as he followed after merrily. Van's parents were overjoyed, his mother embracing him tightly as Eddie gave his students a thumbs up.

"Nice work!" he grinned. "Exceptional work from both of you!" Garen had the combat down, but Lucy didn't...however, Lucy found Van. An interesting way to cover their weaknesses and strengths. But it was a resounding success.

"And I got a band from it! This is wonderful news!"
 
Lucy frowned and shook her head. She had a feeling she'd have a headache later after all of the yelling. It was already starting to build behind her eyes. At least she could look forward to a chocobo ride on the way home. Assuming, of course, she could drown out Garen's teasing. With a little slump to her shoulders, she resigned herself to the fact that she wasn't proud of the way this day had gone and started trying to figure out how to make sure it didn't happen again.
 
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