BRAGGING RIGHTS

By Ronin-ai

Disclaimer: No, these are not my creations; I'm just borrowing them. Only the story itself is original.

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BANG!!

Echoes, fading into the breathless heat of the Galbadian desert, were absorbed by the ochre sand. A tall, lanky figure, dressed in a tan canvas duster, brown leather chaps over jeans and cowboy boots, came into view through the heat haze; black felt cowboy hat pulled low over his eyes. He held a long, black gun case that swung with every long legged stride. Dust kicked up by his boots swirled around his ankles as a searing hot breeze picked it up, whirling it away behind him.

Tugging his hat down lower against the blinding sun, Irvine Kinneas squinted his blue eyes against the glare, looking for his ride. A slender figure, clad in bright yellow, waved and started running down the scrub-covered berm toward him.

"Hey Irvy! Hi! Are you done? How'd you do this time?" Selphie Tilmitt scrambled down the slope, skipping over to Irvine, grinning.

"Highest score yet." He said smugly. Selphie squealed happily and jumped into his arms, planting a big, wet kiss firmly on his mouth. Irvine, caught off guard, nearly dropped his precious gun case and quickly set it down, wrapping both arms around Selphie and kissing her back.

Breathless and laughing, Selphie asked, "So, you qualified, right? For the games?"

Irvine snorted, "Hell yes I qualified, was there ever any doubt?" Selphie wrinkled her nose, squinting up at him, and shook her head.

"Not from me." Grabbing Irvine's hand, Selphie tugged him toward the hill she'd just descended, and Irvine obligingly picked up his case and followed her up the hill and out of Galbadia Garden's desert gun range.

He could have practiced at Balamb Garden's shooting range; they had a very nice one, out in the hills behind the fire caverns. But he was more familiar with the one he'd learned on in Galbadia. He'd trained there from the moment he'd picked firearms as his specialty. Plus, it was the ONLY place that he could truly test his sharp-shooting skill. Balamb's range simply wasn't big enough; their shooting range only went up to 1,000 meters. Galbadia's had a maximum distance of 1,500 meters for extreme long range shooting. It also was one of the official venues for the SeeD Games.

Every five years, all of the various Garden academies sent their best SeeDs to compete in the SeeD Games, mostly for bragging rights and the recognition of being the best in any given skill. Any active SeeD who wished to participate had to pass a series of qualifying events before being sent on to the Games to represent their home academy. In addition, some of the winners had the option to represent their home countries in the International Games, also held at five-year intervals.

The last time the Games were held was two years before Irvine had been assigned to Squall's team in an effort to assassinate the Sorceress Edea. He hadn't been a full SeeD yet then. This time though, he was a full SeeD, had been one for three years and nobody, but nobody, had beaten his shooting scores.

Irvine knew he was the best sharpshooter in all the Gardens. He just wanted to prove it to the rest of the world.

Cresting the top of the berm, Irvine caught sight of an SUV covered in tan dust. There were no paved roads out to the shooting range, so a sturdy vehicle was required to get there.

Selphie dashed ahead, yelling, "I'm driving!" She hopped into the car and obligingly popped open the back door for Irvine as he approached the vehicle.

Irvine grinned as he loaded his gun case and the satchel carrying his extra ammo into the back of the SUV, saying "darlin' you can drive me anywhere."

Selphie giggled at that, and suggested, "How 'bout Deling City? We can be there in time for dinner." Irvine shut the back door and came around to the passenger side, angling his body into the seat and moving it back several inches to accommodate his long legs.

"Ahhhh…" He sighed, flipping the AC to high as Selphie started the engine. Leaning the seat back a bit, Irvine took his hat off and started to place it over his face, in preparation for a nap, when Selphie stopped him.

"Well?" She prompted.

"What?" He asked, looking over at her, hat still in his hands.

"Deling city? Dinner?" She reminded him.

"Oh! Yeah, that's a good idea. I know this great place just off the strip. We can rent a room at the Galbadian Hotel and head back to Balamb in the morning." Yawning, he settled back into his seat and placed his hat over his eyes. It was a long ride to Deling City from the gun range, and Irvine had been up since dawn.

Unfortunately, Selphie was unsympathetic to his desire for snooze time.

"Gosh, it was hot out there today, wasn't it? I don't understand why you aren't sweating like crazy under that duster." She commented, handily negotiating the rough dirt road and sending up plumes of yellow-brown dust in her wake.

Irvine sighed. Okay, so maybe he wouldn't get that nap after all.

"I'm used to the heat." He drawled. "Besides, this duster ain't as heavy as it looks. Keeps the sun off me. There's nothing I hate more than a sunburn."

"Yeah, me too." Selphie said.

Then she switched gears, both literally and figuratively, and launched into a recitation of current Garden gossip. Irvine did his best to at least look like he was paying attention, but most of it bored him silly. He couldn't help yawning again.

Selphie, catching sight of it, laughed, "I'm sorry, I know gossip bores you. But hey, guess what I heard?"

Irvine, tipping his hat up and catching sight of her sparkling green eyes, couldn't help smiling at her and responding, "what?"

"Zell qualified to compete in the hand-to-hand tournament." She answered.

Irvine nodded, "figured he would. Good. Another one for our team. Anyone else qualify?"

"Yeah. And you aren't going to believe who." Selphie replied. Irvine waited, but Selphie seemed willing to let the suspense draw out.

Finally, he prompted, "Okay, I'll bite. Who else?"

"Who's got the longest standing rivalry in all of the Gardens?" Selphie asked him.

Irvine shrugged, wondering what that had to do with who qualified for what, saying, "Well, that's easy. Seifer and Squall. They've been at it since they were kids."

"Well, apparently they've got some kind of one-upmanship contest going or something, because they both qualified to compete, and they're both doing the A-level combine." Selphie said.

Irvine stared at her. "The A-level? That's still even an event? Are they nuts? I thought the Garden masters had decided to remove it from the SeeD games after half the participants died the last time they ran it."

"Apparently they changed their minds." Selphie shook her head.

"Wow." Irvine leaned back onto the seat again, saying, "well, this takes the classic "pissing contest" to a whole new level."

"What's really nuts is that's not the only event Squall's competing in. He's also doing the marathon and gunblade fencing." Selphie wrinkled her nose as the dust from the dirt road snuck in and tickled it. She sneezed and rubbed at her nose.

"What is he trying to do? Kill himself? Or just make the rest of us look bad?" Irvine complained.

"I dunno, but not even Seifer would go that far. He stopped short of signing up for the marathon, but he and Squall are going to be competing against each other in every other event they're in." Selphie observed.

"Unbelievable." Irvine shook his head. The A-level combine was the most difficult and dangerous obstacle course ever invented. Designed to test the endurance and survival skills of the SeeD that undertook it, it was five miles long and fully fenced with free-ranging, dangerous monsters throughout. Through thick forest, swamp, and right up into the Guarg mountains, it included 3 climbing walls, each higher than the other, a rock-climbing section and a glacier climb, complete with snowlions. It had to be completed while fully armed and in battle dress. And it was timed.

Every SeeD had to complete the course at least once upon passing their field exams. But if they survived it, they were never asked to do so again.

Squall Leonhart, the redoubtable SeeD commander that had saved the world from the evil sorceress Ultimecia, had done it twice. For fun.