| “ | You got a problem with me spending the afternoon drinking? This is my room and this is my beer. I'm not seeing the problem!
— Sara Valestein
|
” |
Sara Valestein, also known as the Purple Lightning, is a 27-year-old A-Rank Bracer. She lost her parents at a young age due to the effects of the North Ambrian Disaster, where a majority of the state of North Ambria was turned into salt. She was taken in by Colonel Valestein of the North Ambrian army, which was later reconstituted into a jaeger corps - essentially Zemuria's name for a unified mercenary corps - known as the Northern Jaegers.
Sara, idealizing her adoptive father, joined the Junior Jaeger Squad at the age of ten. Three years later, she was considered fit to join the main corps. She quickly earned the epithet "Purple Lightning" for her skill and abilities, and by the age of 18 was promoted to a company commander. At the age of 21, the Northern Jaegers were hired to fight a proxy war in Erebonia. Sara and her adoptive father were assigned to fight in the war, along with the soldiers they led. As they were attempting to ensure the safety of some civilians, the Nidhoggr jaeger corps attacked them. Sara was heavily wounded in the ensuing battle, and her adoptive father lost his life in her arms; his last words were asking her if she truly wanted to continue working as a jaeger.
She was nursed back to health in an Erebonian military hospital, though she snuck out and returned to North Ambria. While the corps mourned their leader, they were also relieved that the job was complete; with the mira earned, their families wouldn't go hungry in the winter. Sara ultimately decided that the life of a jaeger wasn't for her, and fled to Erebonia to join the Bracer Guild shortly after. She rapidly rose through the ranks, becoming the youngest Bracer to achieve A-rank at the age of 23.
A year later, after an attack on the Erebonian Bracer Guild by Ouroboros, the Erebonian government starts to pressure the Bracers and prevent their operations within the Empire. Prince Olivert Reise Arnor, having grown to appreciate the Bracers during his time in Liberl, recruits Sara to become an instructor at Thors Military Academy. She accepts, becoming the resident Combat Tactics instructor. She then takes in Fie Clausell as her ward, seeing a lot of her past self in the girl and wanting her to have a better life. She is then assigned the experimental Class VII, which would break the school's strict separation of social classes.
She teaches and supports them, using her experience as a Bracer to assign them tasks to force them to confront the various issues in the Empire. Despite her hard-drinking antics and general disinterest in paperwork, she earns the respect of her students through both her skill in combat and her curriculum. She continues acting as their instructor during the Erebonian Civil War, which was kicked off by a student in Class VII. She primarily operates as support, using her massive network of contacts to keep them informed, but also joins in combat should they be facing a major threat.
After the Civil War, a majority of Class VII are given special dispensation to graduate early. Sara retires from teaching, returning to her Bracer duties so as to continue to mentor Fie Clausell. She fulfills her duties as a Bracer, eventually reuniting with some members of Class VII in Erebonia's Lamare Province, which includes Rean Schwarzer, who has taken a post as an instructor with a new Class VII. The members of Old and New Class VII work together to investigate the jaegers active in the area, finding one of them to be the remnants of Sara's old comrades, the Northern Jaegers, who have been hired by the Ouroboros Society. After foiling Ouroboros' plans, Sara realizes that the remnants of the Northern Jaegers were seeking a place to die, with their former home now annexed by Erebonia and most of their comrades folded into the Erebonian military. She yells at them to not be suicidal assholes, which gets through to the corps. She then assists the fully reunited Old and New Class VII in preventing a vampire dragon under the capital from reawakening, and after Rean is captured assists his students and her former students in searching for him. She is instrumental in stopping the Curse of Erebonia, known as the Great Twilight, from ending the world.
Battle vs Paine (by Leolab)[]
Three women crouch behind a rock formation in a wide, open cavern. Yuna and Paine carefully check around it, making sure their pursuers aren’t in the area, while Rikku grumbles and looks out in front, checking for the same. Satisfied that their pursuers had yet to catch them, but still hearing approaching footsteps, the trio gather around, discussing what to do. Yuna holsters her gun and reaches into the pocket of her shorts, pulling out the one object able to fit inside. A sparkling, crimson-colored sphere.
“Whoever gave us our info needs to get hurt,” Paine says, “This isn’t like our usual Spheres, and the ‘long abandoned’ town had visitors.”
“Yeah. They didn’t need to get so mad when I knocked over that sword thing, though!” Riku grumbles.
“It was clearly some sort of memorial. They probably think we’re grave robbers,” Yuna says, looking at the sphere sadly.
“But remember the Sphere Hunters’ creed, Yuna,” Riku says.
“Yep. ‘Finders keepers,’ right?”
“HEY! TOMB RAIDERS!” a loud voice rings out, “WE KNOW YOU’RE THERE! COME OUT SO I CAN HIT YOU!”
“Yeah, good luck explaining that to them,” Paine says, “Yuna, take the sphere. Time for Plan S.”
“What was that again?” Riku asks.
“Split up and run like hell.”
Yuna rolls out, drawing her pistol and firing at the brown-haired woman with twintails as Riku dashes to the other side, throwing one of her circular daggers at the black-haired boy. Estelle spins her staff, blocking the bullets as Joshua parries the spinning blade, which returns to its owner. They look at the red-haired woman behind them, who nods. They split up, each chasing one of the fleeing pair.
“Oi, goth chick, I know you’re there,” Sara Valestein says, and Paine sighs. She hoists her sword, walking out to face the other woman. She flips the sword into a reverse grip and turns, her back facing her foe as she glares over her shoulder.
“And what of it?”
“Guess you’re not returning that gem peacefully.”
“I don’t even have it. Should have run after Rikku.”
“Eh, I can’t tell if you’re bluffing or not. So I’ll just kick your ass and help the kids if they need it.”
A burst of purple lightning explodes around Sara, who leaps in right after, planting her sword in the ground as Paine rolls out of the way, getting just out of range of a blast of lightning. She charges her blade with water and leaps in, missing her foe as Sara jumps back, freeing her blade and firing a volley from her gun. Paine grimaces as the air around her ignites, and she lets the water on her blade burst around her to prevent burns.
She wastes no time leaping after her opponent, wrapping her blade in fire this time. The strike misses again as Sara twists out of the way, taking a snap shot that grazes Paine’s arm. Sara spins and swings, her sword blocked by Paine’s. The black-clad woman twists, circling her sword around her foe’s and directly towards the teacher’s face. Sara leans back to dodge, but the tight space leaves her only one route to riposte. Paine leans out of the only path the pistol could take, the shot passing mere centimeters in front of her nose.
Sara throws her pistol upwards, distracting Paine long enough to be grabbed by the silver cross on her chest. Sara spins, throwing her foe back and spinning again before slashing her sword, leaping up to catch her pistol as she does. The slash turns into a purple ring of lightning, swiftly expanding outwards as Paine tries and fails to block the surge. It sucks her into its center, staggering her slightly. She recovers and looks up, seeing Sara standing on a high rock formation, slipping a rectangular device between her breasts.
Paine hears a rumbling overhead and looks up, seeing the ceiling of the cavern covered in dark clouds. She feels her hair stand and leaps back as lightning strikes where she had been standing. A series of quick steps and jumps allow her to dodge several more, finding herself grateful for the first time that Yuna and Rikku had taken her lightning dodging on the Thunder Plains. Banishing the image of their dead eyes and muttering of sharing pain from her mind, she throws her sword up and forward, watching as it redirects the strikes meant to hit her.
She leaps into the air, catching the glowing sword as a massive lightning strike resounds behind her, the pressure from it driving her forward. She levels her sword at her foe’s heart, only for her momentum to be halted and knocked into a backflip by a flurry of gunshots hitting the steel. She lands on her feet, glaring at the teacher standing on the high ground.
“That the best you got?” she taunts.
“Wanna see me do it again?” Sara asks, winking as another set of storm clouds gather above Paine’s head.
“Oh fuck this,” she mutters, triggering a Spherechange as the lightning rains down on her again, this time doing nothing but obscuring her as her outfit and sword disappear in a flash of light, before a new set of clothes and a gun materialize on her. As the final strike of the spell resounds once again, she grabs the gun and fires off a few shots at her foe. Sara leaps off the outcrop, firing back as Paine runs into the tunnel behind her.
The two exchange gunshots as the path splits, a chasm yawning between them. Their footsteps stop and start as the columns and stalagmites along the paths provide alternating cover and openings as they move, the slight changes in angle sometimes leading to unexpected shots. The two women duck and weave as the rocks turn glassy, the heat in the tunnel rising slightly. Their surroundings splinter and chip at missed shots, some reflecting the lava far below as they fall.
Paine leaps back instead of forward, opening a line of sight to fire off Quarter Pounder. The shot glows as it travels, hitting Sara in the arm. The teacher stumbles and rolls into cover, bleeding profusely. Paine notices a green glow as she runs forward, seeking a new vantage point. She finds one, aiming around where her foe should exit the rock formation between them.
Sara crouches, having healed the worst of her wounds with Holy Breath. The rocks here were somewhat reflective, so if she focused a little she could make out a heavily distorted vision of her quarry. She breathes out, holstering her gun and fishing out her ARCUS II. She concentrates on it, letting the power flow through the purple gem within.
Paine gasps in surprise as a massive armored figure appears in the chasm, delaying her trigger by a fraction of a second as Sara runs out and leaps on its shoulder as it forms a massive sword above its head. The goth gal rolls away as a blast of lightning arcs through the rock she was standing on, as Sara stows her orbment again and draws her gun. Several potshots cause Paine to scramble for cover as the sword swings down, with Sara leaping and running on its blade as it descends, surrounding herself in an aura of purple lightning once again.
She lands, only for a rumbling sound to spread from under her feet. The tremor reaches Paine, and the two women look at each other before scrambling to run. The armored figure disappears, the massive sword having cleaved through the now-cracking ledge as they sprint towards safer ground. Paine reaches safety first, jumping over the crumbled ground and landing on her stomach. She rolls over as Sara leaps and bounds off the wall, landing on top of her and driving her sword next to her foe’s neck.
Paine, for her part, gasps, feeling her heart pounding and not entirely sure why. It could have been from the exertion of battle, or from fear of the blade at her throat. Or it could be because the way Sara had fallen has brought her quite pretty face close enough for Paine to feel the other woman’s panting breath on her lips, and the heaving of the teacher’s ample bust on hers as she caught her breath. She tenses slightly as Sara’s hands pat her clothes, before pulling herself up.
“Looks like you really don’t have the jewel,” Sara frowns, as a mixture of relief, disappointment, and an inexplicable sense of inferiority flashes across Paine’s face. Sara takes out her orbment again, letting a stream of lightning flow from her hands and knock the other woman out. She then handcuffs her hands and legs, freeing her sword and slinging the Sphere Hunter over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes before moving further in, hoping to find a way out. And that her juniors had recovered the stolen jewel.
Expert's Opinion[]
Sara had the right combination of skill, experience, and power to claim victory here. The main deciding factor was her ability to access all of her abilities without needing to switch forms, and that she could use her strongest moves with much less buildup time.