Disclaimer: I don't own any of this crap, I don't even acknowledge that it came out of my head………Squaresoft rocks!

Restocking


"Mommy! Mommy, where are you? Mama!!! Help me!" The small one pleaded desperately, having been forced into a small clearing, where his mother was nowhere to be found.

He walked in circles, thrashing the brush around him. He knew he was surrounded. He couldn't hear or see anyone, but he just knew. Suddenly his attackers swarmed, closed in on the little one. He screamed, for his mama, his dada, any of his extended family should have been nearby, but no one seemed to hear him. His black clothed captors rushed, forcing him into a small vehicle. He was captured.

On the ride, he looked out the window, he could see his home pass by, and he could hear screams of the rest of his family from within. He closed his eyes and said a small prayer for their souls. He could only hope they were only being captured, as he had been. He hoped they would all meet in the place where he was being taken. Of course, they could all be shot once they got there, but he was very little and did not think such things.

Just when he thought he could cry no more, the vehicle stopped. The place outside was a big, blue, shiny building. He didn't like it already. Someone opened the door and a few hands pulled him outside. "Get out." They said roughly, and it seemed that he didn't have a choice in the matter. Down the road, he saw what looked very similar to his home and thrashed wildly in the grip of his captors, but to no avail. He was poked and prodded and dragged along until they reached a place.

Inside the place, someone had made a very obvious effort to make it look like his home. However small he was, he wasn't that easily fooled. The black clothed ones finally left, shutting him inside the place. It was fairly small, but there was enough space for him to run freely if he so wished. He was getting slightly hungry, and he didn't know what to do for food; he had received all his food from his parents. Suddenly he heard some faint whimpering in his native language. "Why? Why me? I wanna go home!!" The little one went to see who it was. He came upon one of his cousins, a little girl he had always teased very much, but he didn't want to now, they were in the same boat.

"Xi! What are you doing here? Where is everybody?"

"I don't know! I want my momma and daddy! Why are you here Thenj?"

"I don't know. Some people came and took me and brought me here. I want my mommy and Daddy too!"

"Quiet children!" An older lady stepped from the shadows. "Hush. Do not cry, because you will never see them again. I wish I could tell you some thing else, but the truth is, you have come to a place of death and torture."

The young ones eyes widened at her words. They huddled together in order to better bear the weight of the lady's words.

"I can teach you how to stay alive, but some of my comrades argued that it is better to die early."

"What is this place, ma'am?" Thenj asked.

"Those humans who brought you here, they are called SeeDs. Here they train themselves to fight against all sorts of foes. They bring many of our people here because we are known for our great strength and courage. I try to believe that they find us worthy opponents, but that belief fades when I see them bring mere children like you here so their young can kill you. They fight us and while we defend ourselves, they slotter us. It's horrible!!!" The lady broke into tears and Xi and Thenj exchanged a look while they waited for her to compose herself.

"It's just that I have seen so many people die recently. Especially to this one male with a blue blade. He simply slashes across the neck and some one dies. He's merciless." The lady said these last words in a breathless whisper.

Xi timidly asked, "What should we call you ma'am?"

"My name is Clantilaf. But you may call me Hin Tinkhafmad." Xi gasped. Hin was easy enough, it was the respectful way you should address any older female. But the name Tinkhafmad was something she had heard in a story her mother had told her about Hyne and her guard, a female of their tribe called Tinkhafmad. The name meant 'avenger of Hyne' in their tongue.

"Yes, that is my new name because I will avenge every person who died by these evil one's deeds!" Her face hardened and became angry. "And especially that one with the blue blade! He felled a great warrior as well as his son in one day. I will have revenge upon him!"

Hin Tinkhafmad looked back at the two young ones staring at her in fear and awe. Her face softened. "Did you need to ask me something?"

Thenj looked embarassedly at the ground. " Ummm, ma'am ……It's just that we have always been fed by our mother's hand. Could you show us how to find food here?" Her face softened even more.

"Of course! Let's go show you two how to hunt!"

Under Hin Tinkhafmad's tutelage, the two cousins learned how to avoid battles and how to be victorious if one was imminent. If the one with the blue blade came upon them, they were to call immediately for her and run away. One day, Xi and Thenj were hunting a pair of grats to eat when they heard voices. They prepared to hide, since they weren't hungry enough to keep pursuing the grats. Let the grats fight the humans. Grats were so dumb, they even attacked the humans, not caring that it would bring their destruction.

"Look a T-Rexaur! I haven't been able to find one in days!"

"That's because we only have three right now."

Thenj looked at Xi; she was obviously whom they were talking about, since he was behind a few trees. Xi looked around for a way out, she was cornered. The one who had spoken first, a tall man with red hair, took out a silver thing and leveled it at Xi. She cried out to Thenj. He suddenly knew what it was, the people who had taken him had many of them. He crashed out of the brush and hit the male with his tail before the silver thing could hurt Xi. The other human, a female with pale coloring , cracked a whip at him. He knew what a whip was too. Legend was that his people used to wield them and were masters of the whip until an egregious sin had been committed and Hyne shrank their arms so they could no longer fight with honor, but instead had to bite and scratch like animals. Which is what Thenj began to do, until the two ran scared from the area.

Hin Tinkhafmad found them and looked at Thenj's injuries. She went to the nearest aloe plant and chewed some up. She then began to lick Thenj's whip marks with her now soothing saliva. "I saw. There was nothing you could do. You simply didn't have time to hide. Next time, call me."

Days later, Thenj was drinking from the stream which ran through the area when she saw a human walk through the door. He didn't move; single humans were no threat, they usually avoided him like the plague. This one was different, Thenj could see it in the way he walked. He scowled and his stride was purposeful. He moved to hide, but he ended up facing the male. He pulled a blue blade from his hip. Now Thenj was starting to panic, he wanted to run, but there was only water and wall to two sides of him and the human occupied the third. In his desperation he began to call Hin Tinkhafmad. She appeared behind the human and screamed a challenge to him.

"You dishonorable murderer! Face me for what you have done to the many great ones you have felled!"

Squall wondered why there were two T-Rexaurs and why the second one was so darn angry. 'Oh well, they are monsters,' he thought. He moved around so the first one couldn't attack him from behind. The second seemed to bark an order to the first and it moved away, to peek through bushes at the other end of the training center. 'Now that was odd! I'll have to tell Quistis about that one.' He thought before fully immersing himself in the battle.

Hin Tinkhafmad roared again and hit the man with her tail, almost sending him flying in to the stream. He righted himself and slashed her across the shoulder. She bit the pain down and concentrated on casting a fire spell on him. It worked, he leapt about trying to put the fire on his jacket out. Thenj giggled a bit at the sight. While he was incapacitated, she slashed with her foot and moved to pick him up with her jaws. He dodged and gave her another good slash across her thigh this time. She actually managed to bite him that time, but he cast an ice spell on her, causing splinters of ice to fill her wound. Hin Tinkhafmad was not worried. Once the ice began to melt, the cool water would feel good on the wound. She slashed at him with her tail again, sending him to the ground. She loomed over, ready to step on him if necessary. Suddenly the man stood up, his eyes were glowing the same blue as the blade and he screamed a single word.

"Lionheart!!"

Hin Tinkhafmad knew this was her end. She looked over at Thenj; the two young ones were the children she'd never had.

A blue and black blur swept across Thenj's field of vision, slashing and striking Hin Tinkhafmad more times than he could count. Finally, she fell to the ground, broken and bleeding. The man cured himself and walked away, leaving her body to whatever else was in the Training Center. As he left, Thenj could hear him say, "Boy, that was a workout." Thenj felt intense hatred toward someone who could dismiss such a great warrior so casually.

Grats swarmed immediately to her body; Thenj cleared them away with a roar. The roar also brought Xi form her hiding place. They wept, because she had become their mother. It occurred to them to avenge her death, but realized it would only lead to the same end.

Four days later………

Squall strode into the cafeteria, a stricken look on his face. Rinoa was immediately troubled and rushed to his side.

"What happened Squall? Did you hurt your self in the training center?"

"Not exactly. The T-Rexaurs are behaving strangely."

Irvine looked up from his coffee. "You can say that again. Me and Quistis were almost toast when they decided to double team us a couple weeks ago."

Quistis nodded. "I found it extremely odd. So what was your experience in there?"

"Well……." Squall was reluctant to tell his story. Contrary to popular opinion, Squall did talk sometimes, and in fact quite a lot at those times. But only when he felt he had something worthwhile to say. And that was very rarely.

"There were these two T-Rex's, the new ones, and they were kind of standing guard over the body of the one I killed a couple days ago. None of the Grats had started eating it yet. It smelled awful. Well, anyway, they both came at me at once and I got beat up pretty bad. I had to cast Death on both of them, there was no way I would have gotten out of there alive." Squall's face went from stricken to a little sad. "They were both fighting like there was no tomorrow. I wonder what was wrong." The whole gang sat in silence for a little while.

After a minute, Zell spoke up. "Well, even so, that means we'll have to go get some more."

Squall broke from his episode and his face was back in its normal, everyday scowl. "Quistis, can I trust you to make the necessary arrangements for the capture squads?"

"Sure thing boss!"

"Well, I got work to do, see you." Squall rose from his seat and was going to walk away. Rinoa caught his arm and swung him back around for a kiss. Then he walked back to his office, thinking about why the T-Rex's were so angry. He was also a little mad. Restocking cost quite a bit of money.



-Fin-




Author's Note: Tee hee! So what did you think? I've been told that it isn't complete crap. If you want that see my previous fics. And yes, I am an animal rights activist. But that doesn't mean they can't taste good! Ja ne, minna-san.