Summery of Chapter One: 20 years after the battle with Ultimecia, the kids of the original characters are SeeDs and are sent on a mission

Disclaimer: All original FF characters are not mine as much as I would love them to be. All characters that I have made up are mine exclusively, unless I give permission for them to be used.

FFVIII Dynasty

Chapter One: A new Era

"Storm Leonhart, please report to the Commander's office."

A black-haired young man paused in the corridor. He let out an audible sigh as he wondered whether he was in trouble for something. His dad didn't sound angry, but then when it came to deciphering Squall Leonhart's moods nobody could damn well tell. Except his mother anyway, she seemed to have the strange ability to always know what his father was thinking.

Storm grudgingly turned around and started back the way he had come. He did have plans today to hang out with his friends in the Quad, but that would have to wait. He couldn't keep his father waiting for long and besides, it might be about a mission. He hadn't been on a mission in ages and was getting bored.

Storm was a tall youth, and the way he dressed made him look taller. He wore a black tee-shirt underneath a short black leather jacket. On the back of his jacket was a silver stylised winged lion surrounded by lightning bolts, which was Storm's symbol. He also wore loose black jeans, comfortable for fighting in. People constantly thought that he dressed the way he did because his father dressed in a similar way when he was younger. Storm ignored what they said because he didn't give a damn what they thought. He dressed in what was comfortable to him, and so what if his father used to wear the same sort of clothes? It was cool, and Storm applauded his father on his good sense of style.

The sun shone down on the young man with the dark bangs of hair. He lifted his head, shading his brown eyes with a hand. He let out another sigh, he had been looking forward to enjoying the sun, but now he was going to be cooped up inside for goodness knows how long. On the plus side, his father was a man of few words, so hopefully he would be out soon.

He went through a pair of doors and headed out onto the circular walkway. He turned right to get to the elevator.

"Hey, yo, Storm!"

Storm turned to face the direction of the shout, grinning as he saw his friend, Jonathon Kinneas, pacing towards him, his two sets of nunchucks hanging around his neck and a light sheen of sweat on his face.

"Hey, Jon. You been training?"

"Yep, needed the practise. We haven't been on a mission in so long.. Oh, speaking of missions, I heard the announcement. I reckon we are due a mission, things have been quiet recently." Jon ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair.

"They haven't been quiet. Other teams have been on missions. Only reason we haven't been on one in ages is because after that Malboro fiasco, they've been too scared to send us. Luckily, all the other teams are out at the moment so looks like if it is a mission, they are gonna have to send us," Storm said as he chuckled.

"Well that's good then. You had better get up there then. Wouldn't like to keep 'Daddy' waiting, would you?" Jon laughed as he dodged a mock blow from Storm.

"Whatever. See you in a bit. Round up the gang if they aren't in the Quad already, will ya?"

"Sure, sure." Jon squinted his indigo eyes. "Oh, shit, there's your creepy sister. Bye!" And with that, Jon was away.

The tall youth looked in the direction Jon had looked in. He couldn't see her at first but then he saw her, standing behind a grouping of flowerpots somebody had left in one of the spokes leading off to different areas of the Garden. It was definitely her, he could tell by her long, lank, straight jet black hair. For some reason, even though she was his sister, he always felt uncomfortable around her. She looked at him balefully with her cold grey eyes. Suddenly, she smiled at him and gave a little sarcastic wave. He snorted and started walking up the stairs to the elevator. When he looked around, she was gone. He shrugged and got into the small elevator. He pressed the button for the third floor and the doors closed with a smooth whoosh. Storm tapped one foot on the floor as the lift made its way past the second floor and up to the third. The doors opened with a small 'ding'.

Storm stepped out into the area that used to be Cid's waiting room when he had been Headmaster at Balamb Garden. In those days Storm would have had to walk straight ahead into the office. But of course, that had been ruined by the giant pillar in the middle of the room that led up to the navigation deck. Balamb Garden still moved to different places in the world and besides, nobody had figured out how to get rid of the pillar. Not even Nida, not even after twenty years.

So instead of walking straight ahead, Storm instead walked around to the other side of the elevator shaft and knocked on the door there. This was his father's office. It used to be Cid's living room as part of a whole suit, but Squall had decided to turn it into a new study and office instead. Leading off from it were a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. Storm guessed that his parents didn't really need anything other than that, considering they had the whole Garden to live in.

"Come in!"

Storm opened the heavy door and walked in, careful not to let it slam behind him. He looked at his father, sitting behind the ornate desk. At thirty-eight years old, Squall Leonhart still looked young, as did Rinoa, Storm's mother. Squall still had bright piercing eyes, a strong body and could beat Storm's butt in a training session. In fact, he regularly did.

Squall didn't wear the same sort of clothes as he used to. He'd had to tone it down to make the right impression on visiting dignitaries. So now he wore dark suits chosen by Rinoa. But when he could get away with it he wore black tee-shirts and black slacks, mostly when he was training. Storm knew that his Dad still kept his old fur lined jacket though. He had seen it hanging up in Squall's closet once.

"Sit down, Storm. And stop fidgeting." Squall smiled slightly.

Storm took a chair in front of the desk. He gripped the arms of the wooden chair so he wouldn't fidget. His father hated people who fidgeted.

"'Sup Dad?"

Squall sighed and looked intently at his son. Storm, who was only seventeen years old and was already a great fighter rapidly climbing the ranks of SeeD. He was just a year younger than Squall himself had been when Ultimecia was defeated. (At least Storm is outgoing, not like me at his age. Not like Kaela)

"Against my better judgement, I have decided to place your team on this mission," Squall handed over some papers to Storm. Actually, it had been Rinoa who had made him do it. She had quite rightly pointed out that all the other teams were out already. At first Squall had been up for doing it himself but then Rinoa had pulled her trademark bottom lip wobble. He couldn't stand it when she did that. It got him every time.

"And Storm?"

"Yeah, Dad?"

"Don't you dare pull a stunt like you did with that Malboro. We had to give them a discount it was so bad."

"Daaaaad, that was because of all the tentacles. I bet a… pack of Grendels? Yikes, anyway, these Grendels won't have tentacles. Ergo, no problem." Storm folded his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"Whatever. Go on, get your team sorted. Your train leaves soon. The tickets are in this envelope." Squall tossed over an envelope and Storm grabbed it before it could fall off of the desk.

"See ya later, Dad." Storm stood up and gave a lazy salute before turning around and leaving.

Outside he bumped into his mother. He opened his mouth to say hi but his mother cut him off.

"You have a mission to attend, so no standing around jawing to your dear old mum." She said, wiggling a finger at him.

Storm sighed and walked on.

"Your not old!" He yelled over his shoulder whilst smiling.

"Go, shoo!" His mother yelled back.

He walked around to where the elevator doors were and got in.

…

His friends were waiting downstairs with their weapons and backpacks.

Kaijin stepped forward. Kai took after her mother, Fujin. When it came to looks anyway. With her shoulder length silver hair, slim build and her sparkling blue eyes, Kai was easily one of the prettiest girls in Garden. She held her silver staff, Starsteel, at her side. Storm couldn't stop himself thinking how pretty she looked in her white strap top and black leggings.

"Xu told us to prepare. See, we have your things too." She beckoned her brother forward.

At nineteen years old, Rheo was the eldest of the group. A full two years lay between he and Storm and yet he knew he could never be leader. He, unlike his sister, took after his father, Raijin in appearance with his brown hair and muscular physique but he had his mother's blue eyes. He rarely spoke. His two wicked Dao knives were strapped to his hips and he carried Storm's gun blade, Penalty, in one hand and a backpack in the other. He handed both over to Storm.

"Thanks guys." He looked over the rest of his team. There was Jon, the newest addition to the team, but not his friends. Jon carried his nunchuks, Oracle and Perception, around his neck still. Apparently it was convenient.

Then there was Nina, Jon's older sister. She was eighteen years old and pretty to boot. Her brown pixie haircut emphasised her brown doe eyes. She was really shy and spent a lot of time in the library. But she knew how to fight. She had inherited all her father's talents with a gun. Her gun, Reality, was strapped to her back, ready for action.

"Lets head out."

On their way through the exit, they saw Angela, Storm's younger sister. With her honey brown hair and bluish grey eyes, everybody agreed that she was a young beauty. With her was Flight, her dog, one of the great Angelo's descendants. She waved at them cheerfully as they left.

…

The journey to Balamb town was peaceful. They chatted among themselves as they walked along the curving path. They could have driven but they had the time to spare.

Storm found himself walking with Kai, his friends just ahead. He was grateful but at the same time was annoyed with his friends for manouvering themselves that way. Luckily she hadn't seemed to notice.

He took a swipe at a bite bug as it buzzed lazily past. It dropped to the ground dead and Storm felt a tiny surge within himself as he got a little stronger.

"I can't believe you still bother with bite bugs," Kai said softly.

"They're annoying."

"So are a lot of things but I don't go around whacking them."

"You're on their side now are you?"

Kai turned to him and he saw that she was smiling. She'd been pulling his leg. Storm grinned.

Just then, out of a nearby forest, a rampant T-Rexaur came charging at them. They quickly got into battle stance only to have to dive out of the way. They had just reformed when it came charging at them again. Nina quickly pulled out her gun and aimed at the creature. SLAM, it's kneecap shattered as a pulse round hit it. That stopped it charging, but it still managed to stand and it was still dangerous as it lashed its tail and tried to bite them.

Storm ran alongside it, dodging the tail as he left a trailing gash along its side. Midway he pulled the trigger and a huge shockwave reverberated into the T-Rexaur. It screamed in agony and tried to reach around to bite Storm but he flipped out of the way.

Meanwhile, Jon, Kai and Rheo were smashing their weapons into the T-Rexaur at every available opportunity whilst Nina was busy making pot shots at the beast.

The T-Rexaur wasn't going down without a fight and managed to use its tail on Storm, sending him smashing into a tree. He groaned as he got up, but then felt a power welling up inside him.

"Everybody, out of the way!" he cried as he ran towards the monster. "Renzokuken!" he yelled, and jumped into the air. He started smashing blow after blow into the T-Rexaur. After about six hits he jumped to the floor to take a breath before charging up his final attack. When he was ready he screamed, "Impending Infinity!" and jumped into the air. He started spinning in the air until he was a whirlwind, picking up stones and other debris from the floor. He was now a sandstorm. He collided with the monster and let the whirlwind do its job as he smashed more blows into the beast. Eventually the sandstorm died down, and Storm and the T-Rexaur fell to the floor. Storm was a bit out of breath but the T-Rexaur was a bloody, broken mess.

Jon grinned. "Remind me never to make you angry."

…

Balamb town was quiet as usual. As they walked up the station stairs Nina gave a nod and a smile to the Card Queen who was standing there. The Queen smiled back.

On the train, which was heading to Timber, Jon begged to be let into the SeeD carriage so Storm let him. Nina grabbed Rheo's arm and pulled him in too. Which left him alone with Kai again. A silence descended.

Storm was looking out of the window when Kai suddenly said; "I have noticed it, you know."

Storm jumped. "What?!" He looked at Kai, who was faintly smiling.

"The way they tend to 'accidentally' leave us on our own."

"Oh!" He scratched the back of his neck. "Right.." (damn them, why do they do this to me?)

Kai laughed. "Silly aren't they?" she said as she walked into the next compartment.

Storm just stood there and sighed. "Dunno about that.." he said softly and followed her.

…

The nest of Grendels turned out to be quite big, but they were mostly separated from each other as they hunted singly or in pairs during the night. So it was just a question of hunting them.

They split into two teams to hunt them down. Nina and Rheo on one team and Jon and Kai on the other. Storm split his time between the two teams, making sure they were ok.

The Grendels had infested a large sawmill just outside Timber. They were under obligation to get rid of all the Grendels before they went home as part of their contract. That meant searching every nook and cranny of the complex time and time again as they did not know just how many monsters there were. Turned out to be around fifteen of them in total.

When they were finished, Storm called his friends together and told them that because they were all exhausted, they would stay in Timber for the night. Everyone smiled at that. No way would they have managed to stay awake on the train ride back to Balamb.

…

Nina woke up midmorning in her and Kai's hotel room. After stretching out her aches and pains she went over to Kai's bed and shook Kai's shoulder. "Hey, wake up sleepyhead!"

Kai groaned but started stretching anyway. "Arrgh, my ribs!" she moaned, holding on to her left side.

"Ah. That would be from when that last Grendel smashed into your side." Nina said sympathetically.

"Feels more like a train did it." However, she got out of bed and yawned. "Have we got time for a shower?"

"Yeah, should do. I doubt the boys are up yet, the lazybones' so we should have a bit of time. Hows about you get one first. Get some nice warm water on that bruise, yeah?"

"Sure."

Nina watched as Kai walked painfully off to the shower." She got out her triple triad deck and started shuffling them to pass the time. But before she could get into it, she heard a knock on the door.

"You up girls?" It was Jon.

"Yes but Kai's in the shower at the mo and I'm getting one afterwards."

She heard him snort so she said, "Yeah well, you boys might be comfortable with your own reek but us girls aren't disgusting blobra's like you."

She listened carefully and heard him walking off. She heard something like "…blobra's… actually… clean." She smiled and put her cards away. Kai had turned the shower off, which meant she would be out soon.

…

They were waiting for their train to arrive when they heard a familiar voice shouting their names.

Storm turned to face the direction in which it had come from and gaped. "Sykes?!!"

So what do you think? Let me know! Chapter Two coming soon!