Taejin Mission 035: Small Steps towards Bigger Dreams.

The afternoon sun blazed as Basch stepped out onto the training field. A small group, maybe 20 recruits, stood before him. “Tch, thanks Faris”, he muttered to himself. She assigned him to training duties, something he wasn’t looking forward to, but here he was anyway. Most of the recruits were ill-disciplined, he could tell from the way they stood there, and he wasn’t happy with it. Taking his coat off, his armour shone in the sun.

“Stand up straight maggots, show some respect!” he roared. The recruits straightened up almost instantly, clearly in shock. “My name is Basch fon Ronsenburg, but on this training field you will address me as Captain, do I make myself clear? Form up in ranks, we have a lot of work to do” Surveying the troops in front of him, he was walking up and down the ranks when movement near the door caught his eye. “Nice of you to join us. What’s your name soldier?”

Taejin Mission 031: Petal in the Wind

queentaejin:

When Cloud was situated directly above the Behemoth, she released her Blizzara spell at the same time that he released his fire magic; perfect teamwork on their part. As the Behemoth came charging at them, the ice on the ground made it too difficult for it to get its grip, and dashing out of its path she watched as it slid over the edge. The cliff edge crumbled, and the subsequent cries of anger could be heard beneath them.

Rejoining Cloud, her breaths were shallow, the adrenaline slowing leaving her system. She knew that the monster hadn’t been defeated; they had only managed to stall it for time while they transported Basch out of the area.

“Perfect… I expected nothing less from you, Mr. Strife,” Queen murmured, falling shortly to her knees afterwards. Her longsword slipped from her grasp, dematerialising from view. She hadn’t realised how much energy that fight had taken out of her, and it was only now she was feeling the effects of said battle. However, she knew there was no time to rest just yet.

Rising slowly to her feet, she gave a nod to Cloud to indicate that she was okay; merely exhausted was all. Following him to the cave where he had hid Basch, she collapsed against the wall, regaining her breath. Unfortunately, her stamina didn’t compare to that of Cloud or Basch, who both far excelled her in physical combat.

Crawling over to join the two, now that they were out of immediate danger she could more carefully tend to the wounds of both Basch and Cloud. Taking her pouch from around her waist, she began pulling out various ingredients to prepare a small medicine for them. It would have to do as a temporary treatment until she had full access to the clinic back at headquarters.

The dark ocean heaved and swirled around Basch, and he felt it’s every ebb and flow. The light in the distance was getting closer and closer,  but Basch was starting to get annoyed by it. “If you’re going to do something, do it. I’m tired of waiting.” Closing his eyes, his body burnt at him while his mind attempted in vain to dull the pain. “That’s no way to talk to me Basch,” someone said, “Didn’t your mother ever teach you manners?” Opening his eyes, a tear rolled down his cheek, “Is… is it really you?”

The darkness swelled, getting more violent. “You’ve seen what happened when you left once… Don’t put me through it again” But the light had dissipated, and he was alone again. The ocean became dangerous, waves began to form and he was getting thrown around. He screamed in pain, his body was being thrown around like a rag doll. In a final effort, he let out a terrifying roar, and opened his eyes.

His whole body screamed at him, but he was no longer in the darkness. Someone was crouched over his slumped body, but he couldn’t determine who it was. He coughed, and managed to croak “Don’t you have better things to do?” 

(Source: baschtaejin)

Physical Therapy | Basch and Faris

faristaejin:

It wasn’t surprising to Faris, this stranger’s gruffness. After all, everything about his exchange with those guards had blatant rudeness and hostility written all over it. Still, she was a little surprised that he’d singled her out in the crowd.

She glanced at the guards that were still following him and adjusted her grip on the two axes, flashing a confident grin.

“Nah, just curious about what all the fuss was goin’ on over here,” she eyed the guards again, and raised her eyebrows at them. A whole handful of guards for one guy?

“Y’look like you’ve gotten yourself into some trouble though. Anything I can help you with?”

Basch looked down at the grinning woman in front of him and followed her eyes. “You admiring my entourage or something?” he grunted. She’s arrogant, he thought to himself, either that, or stupidly brave. With a shrug, he nodded in the direction of the guards and laughed, “Feel free to take them off my hands if you like them that much kid, I don’t need them.” 

Turning to face the guards, he jerked his thumb over his shoulder and said “You hear that gentleman? You have an admirer. Why don’t you guys stalk her and give me a break.” Turning back to face her, he glanced down at the axes in the woman’s hands and his curiosity was piqued, “Two axes? Don’t you think that’s a little bit much for you kid? What were you planning on doing with them?”

(Source: baschtaejin)

Taejin Mission 031: Petal in the Wind

queentaejin:

Queen was growing increasingly impatient with Basch and his behaviour towards the situation. Could he not see that he was putting everyone in danger with his actions? And though she could understand his distress towards Aerith’s disappearance, she still thought he was overreacting just a bit.

“I may not have known her, but one thing I know for certain is that she would not want this to continue any longer,” she retorted, releasing his collar. “Come home, Mr. Fon Ronsenburg; enough is enough.”

He continued to ignore her, and despite his body reaching its limits he was still pushing himself, almost becoming painful for her to watch. He looked ready to fight the behemoth to the death if it came to that, and she simply couldn’t allow that. Neither would Cloud.

Said partner saw Basch making his way towards the behemoth and launched some Blizzard spells in his path, attempting to block or at least stall him. But for someone whose body had taken a great deal of damage, he still had a lot of fight left in him. He swung his blade, shattering the spell to pieces and leaving nothing but broken chunks of ice scattered around.

Queen could see the pain it caused him to execute that attack just now. Preparing a Cure spell at the tip of her sword, she tried to focus her magic on Basch but it was more difficult trying to heal a moving target. There had to be a way to stop him, or at least slow him down, she thought. As if on cue, Cloud called her name and threw a small item towards her, one that looked much like a syringe of some sort. Being careful not to poke herself as she caught it, she sniffed the end of the needle and immediately knew what it was.

Cloud had prepared a backup plan just in case. Though she had to wonder when he had visited the clinic and helped himself to a sample of their sleeping medicine. Rearing her head, she saw Basch limping towards the behemoth and knew what had to be done.

Gripping the syringe tightly in one hand, she held her sword in the other and broke into a run, rushing straight towards him. She had the advantage with her speed and the fact that he wasn’t up to his full strength at the moment. Utilising her Dash ability, Queen caught up to him and thrust the needle towards his neck; one of the few places of his body not covered by armour.

Pain. Pain was all Basch could feel. Every inch of his body burned, but he knew he had to keep going. His limbs screamed at him to stop, to just give in and surrender, but he couldn’t, he had to keep going. He looked up and, through haze and blood, saw Cloud casting a barrage of Blizzard spells at him. With tremendous effort, Basch lifted the Chaos Blade and sliced through them, but the force of the spells caused him to stumble and fall to the ground, his face hitting the dusty earth with a thud.

He rolled onto his back and roared, I have to keep going! he thought, I have to. He pushed himself up onto knees and forced himself to stand up. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the Behemoth swipe it’s tremendous claws at Cloud, and he winced as the memory it brought back came rushing into his mind. In his mind’s eye he saw his brother’s crumpled body in front of him. In a fit of rage, his body screamed at him and to stand up, to continue walking. “I can’t let Cloud die,” he grunted softly “I can’t let these monsters take another from me.” 

Out of nowhere, Basch felt a small gust of wind from behind him, but before he could turn around Queen’s needle pierced his skin. Basch fell forward, his mind screamed at him to bring his arms up to slow his fall, but his body didn’t listen and he hit the ground. His vision began to blur and the pain in his limbs began to numb. His body was shutting down and he couldn’t do anything about it. Turning to face Queen, he managed ”What…-“ but he passed out before he could finish his sentence.

(Source: baschtaejin)

Physical Therapy | Basch and Faris.

This is stupid, Basch thought to himself, pacing the length of his room. If I want to leave, I’m going to leave. Ever since he left Oerba and had been brought back by Cloud and Queen, he had been placed under duress by the Army. He peered out the window and counted 5 armed soldiers outside his room. With a sigh he turned around and retrieved his leathers from the trunk at the base of his bed. Getting dressed, he cursed and muttered under his breath, irritated that the army had confiscated his weapons, having labelled him as a liability. His mind raced with the events that had befallen him lately, ever since joining the Army at Oerba. “I need to clear my head” he muttered to himself, and headed to the door.

Upon opening the door, he was immediately surrounded by six soldiers, must’ve miscounted he thought to himself, with a grunt. One of the soldiers squeaked at him, his voice cracking, “I’m sorry sir, but we must ask you to return to your room. If you do not comply we will force you to return.” Basch glared down at the young man and sighed. “You can try kid, I don’t really want to hurt you. I’m going for a walk. You’re welcome to follow if you want, but you aren’t going to stop me from just taking a walk” and Basch started off towards the water.

Taejin Mission 031 : Petal in the Wind

His heart was pumping so loudly it felt like it was in his ears. He was panting, exhausted from the never-ending tide of combat it had been since he left Oerba. Blood stained his armour and he could barely see out of his helmet any more. He saw Aerith in his mind’s eye, her soft smile would quell the wildest storm. But a deep howl from a pair of nearby Uridimmu roused him from his stupor.

The pair charged at Basch, both lunging at him in an attempt to bring him to the ground. With a roar, Basch brought his shield up to block the beast, which connected with a resounding thud and it fell to the ground dazed. The other Uridimmu met it’s end on his sword, which Basch put in the path of the beast to. He watched the creature vainly attempted to return to it’s feet but it collapsed with a whimper. Turning to the other Uridimmu, he knelt down and forced his knee squarely onto it’s stomach, pinning it to the ground. With a roar, he broke the beast’s neck, which crumbled with a sickening crack.

Tossing the pair of creatures aside, he removed his helmet and surveyed the area around him. Lifeless corpses surrounded him; spooks, goblins, stalkers and wolves. The ground was red with blood, and his armour had blood caking on it as well, drying in the dying sun of the afternoon. “Why?” He shouted to the mountains, “Why am I still alive?!” Pointing his sword to the clouds, another wave of tears overcame him, “Is this what you wanted Gabranth?! For me to live and suffer like this? Why does everyone I care about die?!” A loud roar answered him, resounding from the distance, and Basch froze with fear. ”Is that… what I think it is?”

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A Daunting Encounter | Basch and Rikku

rikkutaejin:

After enjoying some of the entertainment, she wanted to be a part of it herself, thus joining the fun competition for the fun of it. She saw the other names but didn’t recognize any, so Rikku could only judge them based on their names, at least for now. Some didn’t seem so threatening, but the others are what left her to only question. Plenty of time has past since she signed up, as well as many others, and by now they were in the Town Square, finding out who was facing who.

In all honestly, Rikku didn’t expect her first match to be with someone like that. Maybe another figure similar to herself, or a bit bulkier.At first she was slightly intimidated, and it was visible on her features. Armor meant usually had honor, pride but most importantly the individual knew what they were doing- at least in her eyes. Though, it also worked in her favor; it was heavy, decreasing their speed. Their stats on that were completely different, and that’s would be her greatest weapon. This was only by a first look, though she out of all people knew one should never judge another by their cover- and hopefully he wouldn’t underestimate her as many others had.

Her peachy lips curved up into a smile at her final thoughts, content with her improvised plan. The two soldiers were up, and before the Commando had a chance to speak up, Rikku beat him to the punch. Keeping up her friendly yet determined exterior, she bounced up infront of him holding up holding up a finger to further her suggestion. ”We aint goin’ to fight to the death, so first hit wins, kay?” 

The crowd went silent as his name was called. Whispers went up around the square “Why him? Why pit her against him?” Frankly Basch didn’t care, he could barely see straight. Bleary eyed, he stood up and put his helmet on, but the armour felt incredibly heavy on him right now. Stepping forward, he sighed heavily and scanned the young woman standing in front of him. Pft. This is going to be easy. She wasn’t exactly built, didn’t look like she could take a single solid hit, plenty of which Basch would be able to deal.

Before he had a chance to speak, the girl spoke up, “We ain’t goin’ to fight to the death, so first hit wins, kay?” He was rather taken aback by her forwardness, and the rules she proposed. “Excuse me, first hit wins? I don’t think so Dollface. 5 hits. That would make it fair for both of us.” With a deep sigh, he just looked at her again through his helmet. She’s wielding daggers, two of them. I can’t parry two weapons at once…

Before she could reply, Basch turned around and walked to the other end of the combat area. Turning to face her, he went over a strategy in his head, attempting to figure a way he could beat her. If I can throw her off guard from the start, I’ll have the advantage. The best defence is a good offence. Smiling to himself, he loosened the arm-straps on his shield and threw it to the ground behind him. Assuming a two-handed stance with his blade, he said “Unrelenting Assault”.

Mission 024: Sampling Escort | Basch and Yeul

yeultaejin:

Yeul said nothing the entire time, but had nodded or shook her head accordingly a few times in silent response to questions, statements, etc. She had gone into the briefing room, looking up at Basch before going ahead in front of him at his mannered gesture. Finding an empty seat easily, the slight girl slipped into the chair, back straight, hands folded in her lap, seating herself at the very back of the chair so she could get some sort of support from the seat back even with her upright posture. This, however, rendered her feet incapable of touching the ground; these briefing seats were made for adults, after all, something that Yeul was not.

She listened intently throughout the entire meeting, and slowly stood as Basch made his way over to her. “Well, kiddo… This should be easy. Let’s find these scientists and get moving, shall we?”

Yeul nodded. “They are… waiting at the chocobo stables.”

With a sigh, Basch headed to the stables with Yeul in tow. He slowed down his pace to allow her to keep up as well, she was much younger than him. Stretching his arms out he put his hands behind his head as he walked. “The sun feels nice… It’s warming up now.” He removed his coat and put it on his arm, knowing he wouldn’t need it, but he had no time to return it to his room.

Reaching the stables with Yeul, he nodded in acknowledgement towards the scientists waiting for him. They were dressed fairly lightly, obviously not prepared for combat. With a grunt, Basch just said “We’re you’re escort’s for the day. Mount up, we’ve got a long day ahead of us.” Turning to face Yeul, he helped her up onto a chocobo, then sighed heavily, “You ready for this kid? It’s going to be a long day…” 

(Source: baschtaejin)

Unusual Gratitude | Squall and Basch

squalltaejin:

Squall was caught off-guard by the sudden change in attitude of the older male. He had seemed so…grumpy earlier, and here he was now, attempting to joke around with the brunet. Still, that comment about how he used to duel with his brother all the time…that sudden remorse before he had perked up again. Squall couldn’t help but wonder…

But he wouldn’t ask. The Squall at this point would never do something like ask someone a question so personal, even if he thought his suspicions might be right.

He shrugged a little, keeping his face even, although there was a glint of challenge in his eye. “We’ll see, won’t we? Hey, old man. If I outdrink you, you’d better stop calling me sunshine.”

Basch pushed open the door to the tavern, “That’s a pretty big if kid… and remember that I’ve just got out of the infirmary yesterday.” Pushing the tavern door open, Basch found a spot at the bar and sat down with Squall. With a nod towards the bartender, a glass of scotch came his way. 

Picking up the glass, Basch just said “What are you gonna order Sunshine?”

(Source: baschtaejin)

Moonlit Confession | Aerith & Basch

aerithtaejin:

Her brows raised in slight surprise. Perhaps it was a little narrow-minded, but she didn’t expect an intimidating figure like Basch to be uneasy around the large birds. It brought an endeared smile across her face.

“Let’s go.”

Aerith nodded in agreement, and as she allowed the other to help her mount her chocobo, the medic couldn’t help but noticing Basch’s slightly beset expression. “Right. You look like you could use a good run tonight.” She smiled and nudged her chocobo into a comfortable trot. “Something troubling you tonight, Basch?”

Keeping up with her, Basch sighed heavily. “I’m… just thinking about my brother Aerith. Nothing to worry about.” He looked over to the horizon, the sun had already gone down and twilight had started setting in. “It’s beautiful…” he said to himself. “Me and my brother would sit on a cliff near our home and watch the sun go down before going home. I miss him Aerith.” Basch was rather surprised at himself, being so open about his feelings with her.

With a shrug, Basch continued to say “Don’t worry about me Aerith. It’ll be okay. How are you? I haven’t seen much of you lately.“ Changing the subject, he didn’t bring up the festival yet, with luck it wouldn’t be brought up at all.

(Source: baschtaejin)