I was trying to catch the favor of the Garden Academy, from a day to day. Please R&R.

Updates as soon as I get them written. I try to publish only quality work. In the words of George Lucas. "Stories are never truly completed, only abandoned."

FYI: This is the second draft, the original is in a notebook in my bedroom.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8. Only my characters and my plot.

Thinking

SPELLS

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Chapter 1: The Garden

"Jay Heartily, what was I talking about?" The teacher asked a boy in the back row.

"I haven't the foggiest clue, Instructor Trepe." The boy replied as he woke up. The boy was tall for being seventeen, almost six feet tall. Lightly built, but what he lacked in strength, he made up with brains, speed and magic. He wore a black leather biker jacket, a black tee-shirt, black denim pants, and a pair of leather boots. He was well-kept with a black headband accenting his mysteriously captivating brown eyes and his short brown hair.

"Then I would advise you to pay attention, to your teachers, then." The teacher said with a hint of venom in her voice.

"Yes, ma'am. It won't happen again." Jay exclaimed.

"See that it don't, Jay." She turned her attention back towards the class. "Now class, what are the advantages of using magic in battle?"

A girl in the back row raised her hand. The instructor called on her.

"Miss Ballek, do you know the answer to the question?"

"Yes Instructor Trepe, I do." The girl answered.

"Then tell us the answer."

"Yes ma'am. It allows us to defeat our opposition at a longer range then with most conventional weapons." The girl replied. Jay turned to look at the girl, he saw a brunette girl of about 16, dressed in a black short sleeved body suit that was covered by a pair of red denim cover-off shorts and a red denim vest. She appeared very tomboyish and he assumed that she could probably hold her own in a fight.

"Excellent answer, but in some cases you'd be wrong." The Instructor said, and then she looked at Jay before continuing, "Jay Heartily, maybe you can enlighten us."

"As you wish, the use of magic in battle can do many things that modern technology cannot. Magic can heal, boost our abilities, inflict disabilities on our enemies, and cause destruction. Magic is in most cases more reliable than any machine." Jay stated.

"An excellent answer, you have been studying. Haven't you." The Instructor said, before looking down at her watch, "Oh look at the time. Class is dismissed."

With that all the students filed out of the classroom. As Jay got up out of his seat and headed towards the door when a large man with blonde spiked hair wearing a black jumpsuit, an armored shoulder pad, and a pair of combat boots walked over to him.

"Jay, I've been looking all over for you." The man said.

"For what, Ramathorn?" Jay asked the man.

"I want a battle with you two-on-two. In the Training Center after dark." Ramathorn said.

"Why not one-on-one?" Jay asked, "Or are you chicken."

"I just want a challenge. You in?"

"I never back down from a challenge, and you know it Ramathorn." Jay said with a fearless look in his eye. Ramathorn reared his head and laughed.

"I knew you'd go with the challenge, find a partner for tonight." Ramathorn ordered before turning and walking off to the training center.

"Yeah sure, like I can find a partner by tonight." Jay muttered to himself.

Then he went to the elevator so that he could go downstairs to his dorm to retrieve his weapons before heading to his next class, Advanced Close-Combat.

When he got to the class, the Instructor, Zell Dincht, was standing there pairing students for sparring. The teacher looked at him and said, "Jay Heartily?"

"Yes sir…" Jay replied. I still need to find a battle partner for tonight.

"Okay, class. Today we will be sparring. The line-up will be Kristina against Argon, Cherea against John, Ramathorn versus Heather, Sara versus Sora and Vortex versus Jay. You may begin when you are ready." The instructor exclaimed.

Jay walked over to the fighting ring where Vortex was. Jay looked his opponent up and down to determine any weakness. Vortex was a built man of seventeen, he had platinum hair and glowing emerald eyes. He wore a black leather trenchcoat, black leather pants, black leather boots, and around his neck he wore a steel necklace of a wolf. Jay knew all about Vortex, because Vortex was the leader of the Wolf Pack, a group of the most powerful SeeD cadets.

"Are you ready Vortex?" Jay said as he drew one of his Katanas out of the scabbard.

"You can't beat me but I'll humor you." The platinum-haired warrior said as he drew his own weapon, the powerful Naginata.

"We shall see. I am one of best swordsman in this school." Jay said as he swung a powerful falling slash, which Vortex caught with the shaft of his Naginata, Vortex turned his Naginata and delivered an accurate side kick, which sent Jay reeling back.

"I know you're good but you still make amateur mistakes. Try to handle this, Blood Line!" Vortex said as he activated his most diabolical technique. The blade of his Naginata started to glow an emerald green color, Vortex's Speed increased greatly and he swung a falling slash at his downed opponent. Luckily, Jay brought up his katana and deflected the attack.

"Damn your strong, Hayate." Jay said as he used a technique to make him more accurate and faster as he stood up.

"That won't save you. You're just delaying the inevitable." Vortex taunted before attacking his opponent. He swung the blade in a tight circle, slashing and knocking Jay's Katana out of his hands. "Accept defeat, Jay." He continued.

"I never give up!" Jay retorted by bringing both of his arms back and adopting a crouching tiger stance.

"I have already won, Jay." Vortex exclaimed by laughing.

"Then finish the battle, you know the rules; you have to deliver a finishing move to win, or make me surrender, which will never happen. And anyway I'm much more dangerous unarmed than armed…" Jay taunted his hands glowed a faint yellow-color.

"Fine!" He said as he leapt into the air, to execute a move that could cut through armor.

"Checkmate." Jay said as he punched both hand towards Vortex, "Light Pillar!"

A huge, wide, sickly yellow chi blast shot out of his palms, completely engulfing Vortex in its devastating power. The force of the blast hit him like a freight train, sending him across the room and crashing him hard against the wall at the other side. Immediately after the chi blast dissipatated, Vortex fell from the ceiling to the floor. He then stood up and shook off the dirt and dust from his jacket. The look on Jay's face said it all, oh shit, that was my best technique.

"Draw your sword, Jay. And then get your other one. I will admit that Chi blast hurt like a bitch, but it still wasn't enough to beat me." Vortex shouted from the other end of the training grounds.

Jay complied, as he reached for his blades he thought, I can't beat him with my usual techniques, I'll have to try something new. He twirled his Katanas around trying to think of something as Vortex walked back to the ring. He's stronger and much faster than me; as long as I stick with one-handed weapons he'll easily beat me. Jay looked at his weapons, he had been given those swords from the Weapon shop owner in Balamb for Christmas, they featured interlocking end caps so that he could hold them both while he used magic in battle. That's it, if I link them together, it will catch Vortex off guard and then I can beat him. But I never mastered the techniques for it. Oh well, it's the best plan that I've got. With that, Jay reversed his grip on the blades so that both of the blades appeared out of the bottom of his hands, he brought the two end caps together and rotated the handles so that they locked. He had just finished linking the two swords, when Vortex entered the ring.

"Getting desperate?" Vortex inquired. He adopted his usual stance, which basically appeared like he didn't care about this match. His Naginata was across his shoulders like he wasn't even going to use it.

"I've still got a couple of tricks left up my sleeve." Jay countered as he adopted a middle half-guard. The rest of his classmates had already finished their matches, so they were forming a circle around to watch the most exciting battle of the class. Jay charged forward his blade spinning in every direction. Vortex performed an infinity loop, his blade hit Jay's shaft, disrupting Jay's attack and stunning him temporarily. A powerful rising slash to the center of Jay's interconnected swords sent it spiraling upward out of Jay's grasp and the roundhouse kick following the slash knocked Jay over. Vortex left hand rose up and caught the linked swords and as Jay got up, Vortex brought both Jay's double sword and his Naginata inches from Jay's neck, symbolizing a finishing move.

"Nice try. Keep practicing, Jay." Vortex said as he removed the blades from his neck. Vortex then walked away to join the rest of the Wolf Pack to celebrate their victories. John, Sara, and Ramathorn patted Vortex on his back.

Three of his fellow classmates walked over to Jay to tell him that he did an awesome job against Vortex. Jay stood up; He then separated the halves of his sword, and sheathed them. He looked towards them; he recognized them as Argon Reinharht, the paladin; Heather Ballek, the monk; and her twin sister Cherea Ballek, the Martial artist mage.

"Well done, Heartily. I doubt that I could've done any better against Venters." Argon said, giving off the appearance of the wise, powerful man.

Argon was a tall man about six and a half feet tall. His blond hair was spiked, and in the sunlight coming down from the ceiling, it glittered like golden fire. He wore his usual adamantine battle armor that was given to him from his deceased father, on the armor's left breast and right shoulder pad was an unreflective black Sword cross, probably made of darksteel. The armor plates covered only his chest and abdomen area, while an indestructible black fabric body suit covered the rest of his body. His head was protected by an adamantine face mask that reminded Jay of the ninjas of ancient times. There was only one thing on his person that looked out of place and that was the large earring dangling from his left earlobe, it was of some indiscernible religious symbol. At his side was his custom gunblade, a modified Lionheart model, the blade was made of pure adamantine with a darksteel cross embedded in the blade, the blade itself was unique in that it ended with a sort of fork at the end, rumor had it that the sword was called the Relinquished. The story went that the wielder's soul would always reside in the blade, and could never be relinquished so long as the wielder had a quest to complete. Of course that is only a rumor. He was the oldest member of the group, eighteen to be in fact.

"Jay, of the entire class, you are the only one he has respect for." Heather said, with a something that resembled, someone trying to cheer them up.

Heather Ballek and her twin were both shorter than Jay but only by a couple of inches. Heather was the anti-social one where as her twin, Cherea, was extremely sociable. Heather wore her favorite black short sleeved bodysuit with the red denim cut-off shorts and matching denim vest, she also wore a pair of brown knee-high leather boots. Her collapsible metal quarterstaff was in sheath on her back, conveniently located for easy access when she needed it. She wore her long light brown hair in a simple ponytail, which further added to her tomboyish appearance. Each of her vest pockets, contained medicinal herbs to heal injured people that she met. Both of the Ballek twin were about a year younger than both of the boys. Her jade eyes appeared to shine from an unearthly power held within.

"After the Field Exam, a bunch of us are celebrating in the hotel at Balamb. Do you want to come?" Cherea inquired, her excitement and adulation brought a smile to his face.

Where Heather was simple and plain, her twin was not. She wore a snow white renaissance style shirt with very large sleeves, probably to conceal her Sais, Jay thought, over which she wore a blue low-cut body suit that laced up the front. A pair of dark blue renaissance velvet boots styled after a fencer's or princess' boots completed her medieval attire. She wore her long blond hair pulled back and tied off at the bottom of her by a dark blue ribbon. Her sapphire eyes glowed with admiration for Jay.

Jay turned to face them, to ask them to join him for his battle with Ramathorn, but he decided against it. Instead he said: "Thanks for cheering me up, you guys, but I've got to run." That should do it, I'd much rather be thought of the guy who never backs down from a challenge, then the one who asks for help all the time.

"Ok, Jay, We'll talk to you later. Good luck tonight." Heather said. "We will be cheering for you."

Color drained from Jay's face. They knew about the challenge this whole time, why didn't they say something about it. Oh well, there's nothing that I can do about that now. He started walking towards his dorm when his stomach made an angry growl. Damn, I forgot that I missed breakfast this morning. Better head to the cafeteria. He thought.