Authors Note: This is an idea I had a while back and I've finally got round to write it. This is just the introduction so bear with it, there will be some great scenes later on...not that I'm saying this chapter is bad. Hehe. Just read it, eh?

Disclaimer: I own nothing from the game Final Fantasy VIII, nothing, zip, nada. Get it? It all belongs to Square-Enix...so really it is their fault if you don't like this story. :P

Survival Training

Squall sat in the waiting room outside Headmaster Cid's office. Alongside him was the rest of the gang. Rinoa had taken a seat beside Squall, since defeating Ultimecia the two had grown closer and some people were even noticing that Squall was talking a little more, although he had a long way to go.

Beside them Selphie and Irvine were sat. Squall wasn't really listening to their conversation but he could hear that it was about Irvine's lack of control when it came to his roaming eye and women.

On the other side of Squall sat Quistis. Her golden hair was tied back and she sat quietly, in thought over something, waiting patiently for the Headmaster to greet them into the office.

Zell, on the other hand, paced up and down the room, his footsteps leading him to the Headmaster's door and back to the lift. Every so often he would stop to take a few swipes at the air. Squall could see no reason for the actions, apart from Zell's hyperactive behaviour, and had always wondered why he did it.

Since the defeat of Ultimecia, much of the world had fallen into a peace. Even Galbadia and Esthar were managing to withhold hostilities between each other, even if it wasn't the greatest harmony. However whilst the break was relaxing it was causing several problems with Garden's income. Without these conflicts no one was hiring SeeD and that meant money was running out fast.

Squall had found the months particularly boring, choosing to spend much of his time at the Training Centre, despite the complaints of Rinoa and the others. Luckily they had managed to get him out of there a few times. Squall gritted his teeth as he remembered the incident when he finally agreed to go to Esthar's theme park. Why had he let Zell and Quistis force him to go on the Tunnel of Love with Rinoa? Squall Leonhart, Commander of SeeD gunblade specialist, sat in a small wooden boat travelling through the dark with small plastic hearts and naked babies all around them. Needless to say Zell hadn't wasted any time telling everyone about it after they had got back to Balamb. He had been a laughing stock; he had even seen Nida sniggering. Squall wouldn't have minded if Cupid had some lethal arrows and a large stock of Death spells.

Squall turned to see Rinoa looking at him. "What are you thinking about?" she asked.

Squall sat in silence for a moment. "Nothing much," he said quietly. He wasn't quite sure how Rinoa would take it if he said he was thinking about naked babies with magic.

"You had your military face on," she smiled. "You weren't planning on going to the Training Centre after this again were you?"

"Maybe," Squall replied. It was a better answer than what he would have had to say otherwise.

Before Rinoa could reply a voice flew through the room. They looked up to see Headmaster Cid, stood at the doorway, glasses resting on the end of his nose. "Please come in now."

The six stood up and entered the room, standing in front of Cid's desk. Ever since the deck for steering Garden had burst through his office he had found the need to rearrange his office, especially since his old desk had been launched into the sky above Balamb after the deck rocketed it out the roof of Garden. It had been an emotional time for Cid; it had been his first desk. And now it was gone.

Cid held his hands together and looked at the six before him. These were his finest warriors, the only reason everyone was all still here was because of them. "As you know Garden has been quiet recently and missions for SeeD have been low. In fact, the only mission this month has been rescuing a cat from a tree in Timber. Most of the cadets are becoming lazy; all they do these days is sit around playing Triple Triad and eating hotdogs. So I have a plan."

"What sort of plan?" Quistis asked. She knew that times had been quiet but that was good, there shouldn't be wars all the time.

"Survival training," Cid said with a smile. "And I want you six to be the first to experience it."

Squall found himself slip into Commander mode. "But how are we going to fund this? Money is low, I don't think we can afford to send SeeD's on survival training courses."

"Nonsense," Cid said standing up. "This isn't any normal survival training. Not only will we be making you mighty fighters once more but we also have a method of making Garden profitable again."

"Which is?" Zell asked leaning closer, not because he couldn't hear, but because he felt he needed to increase the tension.

"I can't say," Cid chuckled. "I don't want to ruin any of the surprises we have in store for you."

"Who is we?" Rinoa asked.

"An old friend," Cid smiled.

Irvine swung a hand into the air. "Just a question. Where is this Survival Training going to happen?"

"The only place where Survival Training could happen. The Island Closest to Hell."

They gulped as they remember last time they had ended up there. Selphie had taken a wrong turn on the way to Esthar and as they left Ragnarok found a T-Rexaur with an unhealthy appetite for metal trying to take a chunk out of their ship. They soon defeated the large dinosaur but as the killing blow landed they watched on as it fell on top of Ragnarok. Twelve hours later, they had managed to finally get the overgrown lizard off using copious amount of Float and Aero spells to blow it away and into the sea.

"Erm...are you sure that is safe?" Selphie asked chewing her bottom lip.

"Of course it's not safe!" Cid laughed. "It wouldn't be survival training if it was safe, would it? The most dangerous creatures are there and you will be stuck there with no contact from the outside world. It'll make heroes of you all. It's brilliant!"

The six didn't share Cid's enthusiasm. It sounded like tempting death to them.

"I don't think I should go," Rinoa stated, hoping to get out of it. "I mean...I'm not a SeeD. I don't think I should be going training where the other people who could use the experience."

"Nonsense," Cid shouted. "I wouldn't dream of making you miss out. You are a fine fighter, and a Sorceress. It would be inhuman of me to stop you."

"I guess so," she mumbled. And I suppose it's not inhuman to stick people on an island with a load of monsters?

"Now," Cid rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "You better get packed quickly. You leave this afternoon."

"What!?"

The six sat on a small plane looking uncomfortably from one to another. When they had boarded the old pilot had told them the plane was the best money could buy, but looking at the rusting paint on the side made each say a silent prayer to Hyne that they would get off alive.

The inside of the plane was worse. There was little room for them all to fit in, and when the plane turned to the right Zell found his seat leaning the same way. A strange rattling came from below their feet as if something was about to fall apart but the pilot just said it showed 'the character of the plane'.

"We're coming up the Island Closest to Hell now," the pilot shouted back to them, his voice having to stretch over the growl of the plane.

The six leaned towards the porthole windows to see an island fast approaching them. It was covered in a thick layer of shrubbery that cast dark shadows over what land could be seen. "Erm...are you sure this is the right island? I thought the Island Closest to Hell was an empty plain where nothing could grow," Zell recalled previous visits to this place.

"Cid was in charge of the changes," the pilot yelled in reply. "He paid the Shumi to come here and plant the trees. There large hands come in handy when it comes to digging and planting."

"Oh right," Zell said in thought as he looked down to their new home for the next few days.

A large growl ripped through the air as they circled closer to the island.

"What was that?" Selphie looked nervous.

"Sounded like a T-Rexaur to me," Squall said, recalling his 'Naming Monsters By Sounds' lessons.

"And not your usual Garden-variety T-Rexaur," the pilot laughed. "No these have been specially breed to be the worst T-Rexaurs you will ever see, yes siree!"

"Great," Rinoa sighed. She was still upset she had to come along. "I miss my hair appointment for this..."

Quistis shook her head. "Look at the bright side, no one will see your hair here. And if any monsters laugh at it, you can teach them a lesson with your Sorceress powers."

"I suppose," she said quietly, now getting paranoid about monsters laughing at her hair. "Irvine, do you have a mirror?"

Irvine looked around shifty eyed. "Why would I have a mirror? I'm a guy; I'm not bothered about minor details of my looks. Besides I know I'm gorgeous."

Selphie sighed placing a hand on his shoulder. "I accidentally told them all that it takes you an hour to do your hair and you carry a mirror everywhere."

"How could you?" Irvine asked looking hurt. "Don't you love me anymore?"

"Of course I love you," she said smiling sweetly. "You'll always be my Love Cowboy."

Squall had to block out the conversation at the cuteness of it all. Irvine smiled back. "And you'll always be my Cowgirl. And at least you didn't tell them about how I wear make-up...I mean...erm...women's underwear...ahh...I mean...socks!"

Zell frowned. "But Irvine, we all know you wear socks," he said confused. He really couldn't see how he had managed to get make-up and socks confused.

"Really? Damn!" Irvine said, silently breathing a sigh of relief of Zell's lack of intelligent.

"There's the landing strip!" the pilot interrupted. A small straight of land could be seen between two sides of trees just big enough for a plane to go down. "Brace yourself for the landing."

The plane straightened up and began to descend quickly towards the island. "100...75...50...25" the pilot spoke to himself.

The plane scraped over some trees that were just before the runway. The plane approached closer and the wheels bounced off the ground beneath them, sending the six passengers bouncing up from their seats. It bounced twice more before finally running along the earth. The aircraft quickly slowed down and came to a stop, just metres before the end of the runway.

"Woo!" the pilot shouted excitedly. "What a ride!"

The six looked nervously around, each one glad they had made it. Finally Squall stood up and opened the plane door. "I suppose we should look around," he said before stepping on to the ground. The island seemed to be a complete forest now, just metres from the landing strip was tall, dark trees that seemed to stretch around in every direction.

As the last person exited the plane smoke began to appear from the ground. "They're trying to poison us," Zell yelled diving to the ground trying to avoid the thick grey smoke appearing.

"Don't be stupid," a voice said from the other side of the smoke. "Get up."

Zell obediently got up.

"Oh great, now you've ruined the introduction. Wait there," the voice cleared his throat.

"Welcome to the Island Closest to Hell, a land of hellish demise where you must fight to survive or end up dead. Welcome to Survival Training, where you will have to fight some of the strongest monsters in the world to prove your worth. And now here's your host. The one, the only...Seifer Almasy!"

"What?" they all said in unison.

"I said: And now here's your host. The one, the only...Seifer Almasy!"

"Yeah, we heard you the first time," Squall muttered.

"Ruin my introduction again then. Some people just can't appreciate talent," the voice whined. "I come out here, even bring my smoke machine, and make a great speech and you just throw it back in my face. Well, guess what, I quit!"

The smoke began to clear and they saw Seifer stood looking back to the woods. "Come back! It was a good introduction, they just can't appreciate talent."

"No," they heard the voice through the trees. "I'll find a place where everyone will love me...but it's not here. Goodbye!"

Seifer turned around shaking his head. "Now look what you've done, Puberty Boy. How could you upset the voice over guy? You realise now it's going to be impossible to do dramatic speeches, don't you? I'm going to make sure Cid knows it was you and then I will become Commander of SeeD." Seifer began to cackle like a mad man.

"What are you doing here?" Zell asked.

"Isn't that obvious Chicken Wuss?" he sneered. "I'm your instructor."

"Nooooo!"

Authors Note: Well that is Chapter 1 done. Tell me what you thought about it. Next time they must venture into the woods to face their fears...or something like that. I'll try to update as soon as possible but I'm starting a new job on Monday and I suffer from laziness so you might have to wait a while. But until then you leave a nice review!