It was the next morning from the Warriors most tiring day yet, and it was going to be even worse; they awoke, went downstairs to see that the Warrior of Light had prepared breakfast: an assortment of cereal and for the older warriors: eggs and bacon.
"Wow, you went all out, huh?" Asked Bartz.
"Don't thank me, comrades." The Warrior of Light spoke. "Thank Cloud, he was the one who found the area that delivers these food. I merely cooked them." Cloud was next door in the living room, lazily lying on the sofa and quietly watching TV. The remaining Warriors sat down to a nice breakfast before they set off to school or work.
"With the money we have now, we should probably find some provisions for the coming days." Cecil said. "Terra and Cloud's money won't come in until soon and we can't live off of Zidane forever."
"Cecil's right." Squall said, eating a plate of bacon. "Plus pizza's getting old."
"We could get Cloud to go back to the place where he found the food and buy a lot more." Luneth offered.
"It wouldn't be right, sending him back when he just got back." Terra said with a little care for the self-inflicted loner.
"He's the one with the car!" Zidane piped, through half-eaten cereal.
"Terra's right." The Warrior of Light spoke. "I say those who are not on school duties fill Cloud's spot."
"Another adventure, you say?" Asked Shanttoto.
"I don't think it's an adventure, young one." Firion laughed. Just then, Cloud joined in.
"I'll take you guys there." He said. "It's quite a distance, and getting to it on foot isn't wise."
"Thanks, Cloud." Bartz smiled.
"I'm sure we'll do fine by walking." Terra said with a smile. Soon the meals were eaten, the uniforms were put on and the school kids were ready, but not before Terra was writing down a list of what the grocery shoppers needed to get. Eventually, after explaining to the Warrior of Light what the difference between dish washer detergent and soap powder were, the eleven Warriors set off.
School was just as lively as ever for the four school children. They arrived at their home room class with all the other kids in the class chatting merrily. When Squall entered the classroom, however, Sakui instantly joined Squall.
"Can I help you with something?" He asked carelessly.
"Yes. Class Vice-Presidents and Presidents must be together at all times during class and break times." Sakui explained. Squall fumed at this.
"Well as President, I say ignore that rule, alright?" He said selfishly.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, President Squall." Sakui persisted, only irritating Squall further. So Squall took his seat, but with Sakui sitting next to him, only ignoring the sniggers from the other three. The sniggering of Zidane stopped however when he spotted the blonde haired girl Hiyo, or in Zidane's eyes the mysterious thief; she took her place next to Zidane without saying a word. Just when Zidane was about to say something to her, Terra walked in and was ready to begin the class.
"Alright, everyone, settle down!" Terra said with a sweet voice, hushing the chatting students of class 1-A. Even while Terra spoke, Zidane didn't listen, only trying to figure out what was with Hiyo. Was she the thief he knew she was? Or was she just acting funny the night before just a coincidence. It wasn't until Terra was calling his name that he was sent back into reality. "Zidane? You're here, aren't you?" Terra was taking the register, and coming to Zidane's zoned out state proved quite embarrassing.
"Oh umm, yeah, here." Zidane replied.
"Thank goodness, I thought you were dead." Terra giggled to herself.
At the same time, however, the remaining Warriors made it to the place Cloud called the supermarket to get more food and provisions for the coming days. They arrived in Cloud's car, still not used to Cloud's liking for extreme driving.
"Do you think...you can slow down every now and then?" Asked Bartz, keeping his balance to assure himself he was out of the dreaded car.
"Sorry, I just hate driving slowly." Cloud said. "Now, give me a call on this." He gave, a still shaken Warrior of Light, a cellphone. "When your ready to leave."
"I will." The Warrior of Light replied. And with this, Cloud sped away in his car back to the house.
"He sure likes a car drive, huh?" Bartz laughed.
"Let's stay focussed on why we're here." Firion said, looking to the collosal-sized supermarket.
"It is quite large for a place that supplies one with basic nesessities." Cecil commented.
"I don't think it supplies just that." Bartz said.
"In any case..." Spoke Shantotto. "Shall we press ahead?" She walked to the main entrance.
"Hold on a moment." The Warrior of Light said, halting Shantotto. "Cloud mentioned something about taking a carrier trolley."
"Could it be those things over there?" Asked Cecil pointing to a collection of shopping trolleys collected in a small roofed area a small distance away from the main entrance. The five approached it, but when Firion tried to take the one nearest him, it wouldn't budge, seeing as there was a chain attached to the next trolley.
"Why would someone chain these up for?" Asked Firion with a little anger.
"Maybe you should do this." The Warrior of Light suggested, taking a coin given by Cloud and pushed it into the trolley, releasing it from the chain it was locked to.
"This world sure is strange." Bartz said. They now took the trolley (With Shantotto sitting on the baby seat installed into it) and made their way inside. It certainly was a sight to behold, as all five warriors gasped at the size of the amazing supermarket. Many aisles were in place with different sections of food, cleaning material, toys and much more to choose from.
"Wow!" Whispered Bartz.
"Truly amazing." Said Cecil in awe.
"Come, comrades." The Warrior of Light said. "There is much to explore." They walked in, still getting used to their environment. Their search began at the fruit and vegetable section. Firion scanned the list.
"It says we need assorted fruits and vegetables in a small box." Firion reported. The warriors looked around briefly, before Bartz pointed to something.
"Aha!" He exclaimed. Then he picked up a small box of apples, bananas and grapes. "This should be it, right?"
"I hope so." Firion replied. "If it's gonna be this exciting for every trip, I'd love to see how it's gonna play out every time."
During the same time, Zidane was going through torture. He was sitting in science, looking at his rather skinny teacher give lessons on atoms; that was the easiest part, the hardest part was that Hiyo was sitting next to him, and was his lab partner. All the while, he kept looking at her, paying attention to her somewhat dazed out expression. After around five minutes of looking, Hiyo finally looked over and caught him looking.
"What?" She asked. Zidane snapped out of it and looked away.
"Ummm, nothing..." Zidane said, pretending to write notes at the teacher's lesson. Hiyo furrowed her eyebrow in rage at Zidane's behaviour. She immediately stood up.
"Teacher! I think Zidane here may be ill." Hiyo prepped up.
"What?" Zidane mentally screamed.
"Ill?" Thought Squall, who was on the other side of the class. "Zidane? They don't belong on the same sentence." Hiyo's outburst caught the attention of the teacher.
"Is this true, Zidane?" He asked.
"Ummm...I..." Zidane stammered. He looked to Hiyo, who gave a look that said 'Say no, and I'll make you sick!', so Zidane played along. "Yeah, I'm feeling a little light-headed, teach'." Squall rose up.
"As Classroom President, I'd like to do the honours of escorting him to the nurse's office." Squall said. This got the girls squealing in delight, thinking up whatever romance scenarios between him and Zidane may happen in this trip.
"No, I insist, President Squall, I'll take him." Hiyo said, yanking Zidane from his chair and literally dragging him outside. Squall growled, not being able to save Zidane from an unknown fate, and more to it, skip having sit next to Vice-President Sakui any longer.
Zidane and Hiyo walked for a moment before Hiyo pinned Zidane up to the wall, full force.
"Alright, you! Cards on the table! What is it that you find fascinating about me?" Hiyo growled angrily. Zidane, taken aback by this attack, quickly side-stepped to escape Hiyo's grip. He jumped back to keep his distance.
"I want to know what you were doing last night that made you stay in school last night!" Zidane barked.
"Like I told you, I had to see our homeroom teacher on something important!" Hiyo replied just as loudly.
"If that were the case, then why didn't you see her when she came out?" Zidane questioned. Hiyo was put into a difficult position.
"I...I..." Hiyo stammered, trying desperately to find a solution.
"You want to know the truth? Fine, her it comes." Zidane said, and with all his might, he summoned his courage to speak to her the first time they encountered. "You were here two days ago, going through Ms. Branford's desk, weren't you?" Hiyo's eyes widened as far as they could.
"H-How did you-!" Hiyo whispered in shock. Grabbing his shirt, she was now seriously mad. "Did you follow me here?" Then it finally sunk in about how Zidane knew. "It was you...you were that guy that found me that night! Weren't you?" Zidane knew she would find out the moment he gave his position away, but he was prepared.
"You guessed right." Zidane said. "So now, back to questions, why were you going through Ms. Branford's desk?" Hiyo grew an immediate smile and loosened her grip on Zidane.
"I think the main question here is: What were you doing at the school?" Hiyo asked confidently. This caught Zidane off-balance.
"I...I saw you coming in and decided to follow!" Zidane replied hastily. Hiyo grew closer to Zidane's face.
"I don't believe that for a second." Hiyo whispered with confidence. Zidane gave a growl.
"I want to know what you were doing here that night!" Zidane replied.
"So if I tell you my secret, will you tell me yours?" Hiyo said, now smiling devilishly.
"Never..." Zidane now said with malice.
"Hmph, your right. Doing that would be pretty boring." Hiyo said. "Alright then. We were both crafty little thieves that night. How about a deal?"
"A...deal?" Zidane asked. Zidane grew nervous at the sound of the word, and even more nervous at Hiyo's evil expression.
Meanwhile in the supermarket, it was half an hour into their shoping expidition, and it was already growing tiring.
"Alright, we'll need milk and eggs." The Warrior of Light said. "I'll go get them, so everyone stay here." The Warrior headed over to the other aisle. Shantotto growled.
"Ughh! This is getting us nowhere!" She barked. "At this rate, we'll be here all day!"
"There's no other way around it." Firion said.
"Hmph! How naive!" Shantotto replied. "I say, a flock of birds that scatter in all directions shall gather more ground!"
"You mean we should split up?" Asked Bartz.
"Precisely." Shantotto said. "If you split up and gather the material needed, we'll be done in quarter the time!"
"I can't disagree to that." Cecil said. "Very well, Firion, go and collect all the necessary detergents, soap, bleach, whatever we need. Bartz, you go and collect the remaining food. I'll go and collect anything we may need also that Cloud may have missed."
"Alright." The two others said and went down separate paths.
"Shantotto, you stay with the trolley and relay the information to the Warrior of Light." Cecil said.
"As you wish." Shantotto said. Cecil waved goodbye, and set down another path. Two minutes later, the Warrior of Light returned with the milk and eggs.
"Wait, where is everyone?" Asked the Warrior.
"I set them off to find our remaining material." Shantotto told.
"That was a bad mistake." The Warrior said.
"And why is that?" Asked Shantotto.
"None of us have been in this place before. We may as well wander into a dungeon full of monsters." He replied.
"Good point." Shantotto replied. The Warrior took the trolley and immediately ran to locate his lost comrades. What he didn't know, was that Bartz had returned with his remaining food, to see that the trolley was gone.
"Errr...Shantotto?" Bartz meekly called out. It was at that moment, that when the Warrior of Light took the trolley, that all the Warriors were considered lost.