Chapter X: A loooooong Day

"Finally...We've waited so long for this encounter with Vinzer," Zone said. "It's amazing, what you guys did up there…"

"It's our job," Squall said, glancing at Zell and Selphie who stood far from him and scowled like a couple of broken-hearted children.

They stood in front of the president's cabin, waiting for Rinoa to come back with her weapon. The fact that she had a weapon itself surprised Squall, but not more than when she asked Squall to hand her a GF, so she could assist them with magic. After much hesitation, he handed her Siren. Rinoa wasn't happy to hold a silencing GF without much offensive magic, but she accepted it anyway.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" Rinoa showed up, a projectile weapon in one hand. "Let's go, shall we? Zone, Watts, open the door."

Zone and Watts looked at each other with alarmed expressions on their face. Then Watts raised one of his hands and said, "Leave the intelligence up to me, sir!" He ran away, leaving them as fast as he could.

Zone crouched down, holding his stomach. "…My stomach! Owowoooouuuch…" He ran off, tailing Watts with the same speed, which was amazing considering his stomach ache.

Rinoa looked up, exasperated. "Why do I even bother?" Shaking her head, she turned to Squall. "Let's go."

Squall nodded to Zell and Selphie. He held the door handle and slowly opened it. Peeking into the room, he saw someone sitting on the chair. The man turned his back to the door. Squall opened the door ajar. Rinoa walked in, stopping only a few feet away from the President.

"President Deling. As long as you... don't resist, you won't get hurt..." she faltered, clasping her hand on her back, her feet fidgeted, glancing at the President's chair.

Squall covered his eyes. Who would get scared of that kind of tone?

"And if I do resist..." the president said. " What would you do...? Young lady?"

Rinoa's eyes widened as the President rose up from his chair and turned to them. Squall rushed to her side and unsheathed his gunblade. Zell and Selphie drew out their weapons.

"Boo-hoo... Too bad..." The president laughed. "I'm not the president. I'm what they call...a body double."

He walked closer to Rinoa and Squall, as they staggered back.

"All these rumours about the many resistance groups in Timber... You pass along a little false information and they fall for it... How pathetic... Seems like there are only amateurs around here."

"Ama... teurs...?" Rinoa gritted her teeth.

The fake president swayed his body. "Ahh... My butt hurts from all this sitting... Young... LADY... Ahh... So what did you have in stORE for me had I resiSTED...?" He chuckled. "Why doN'T you teLL mE... QuiTE aMUsing thouGH... For beINg such amAtEurs...! HoW daRe YOU InSUlt tHe presIDent!"

He lunged forward to attack the couple. Rinoa shrieked and crouched down to avoid the attack as Squall blocked it.

Zell sprinted towards them to help his captain. Rinoa crawled to the door. The fake president didn't care about the rest of them as he, once again, crooked his body forward to snap at Rinoa. Selphie who was standing nearby lifted her foot and lashed out at his face. When the fake president stumbled back, Zell thumped his neck with the edge of his palm. The President collapsed to the ground as Rinoa opened the door and scampered away.

Squall took a step back when the body of the fake president emitted black smoke. Selphie and Zell lurched back, watching the carcass engulfed in the dark fog.

"What the—" The captain narrowed his eyes when the smoke rose up.

Zell raised his fists in battle stance as Selphie held up her Nunchaku to the smoke. When the smoke disappeared, they saw a revolting looking monster.

"Eeeeeewww…." Selphie grimaced as the monster twisted his body to attack her. She rolled to her side. "Ifrit! Hell Fire!"

Very well—

I'm going out! Me! Me!

"Waah!" Selphie fell down when Diablos emerged in Ifrit's stead. The conceited GF raised his claws and ripped the monster with both of his hands. Zell mumbled, "Scan!" when Squall sliced the monster with his gunblade. Diablos raised his claws to the ceiling and shaped a dark ball of mist, tossing it to the monster before returning to his host.

We will need to have a LONG TALK about this, Dio.

The monster screeched to the inflicted injuries and tottered forward to Selphie. The girl moved aside, leaving the monster's assault breached empty air. The monster was persisting on battering the girl, causing the Nunchaku-wielder to sprint all over the room.

"No faaaaair!" Selphie complained, rolling forward to avoid the nasty spew.

"It's Gerogero!" Zell said to Squall. "Weak to curatives and fire!"

"Selphie!" Squall grasped inside his pocket, looking for a Potion. "Call Ifrit!"

"Easy for you to say!" Selphie bawled and scuttled to the edge of the room, near Zell who punched the monster. His fist inflicted no real damage. Gerogero moaned and spit at him.

"Aagh!" Zell crouched down; the putrid spew covered his face. "Yuck! Agh! I can't see anything!" Selphie pulled her friend just in time before Gerogero managed to beat him. "Fuck!"

"Stop cursing like someone we know," Squall said, pulling out his Potion and snapping the cap open. He tossed the vial to Gerogero, shouting to Selphie when the monster trembling in pain, "If you want to call Ifrit, this is the right time, Selphie!"

Selphie glowered to her captain. "Ifrit! Hell Fire!"

Ifrit surfaced, wasting no time in calling forth his famous ball of fire. He soared up and hurled his fiery ball to Gerogero, making an effort to tramp on the ball and compressing the monster to its death. The fire GF fluttered back to Selphie when Squall placed a vial of Remedy to Zell's palm. The blinded Zell attempted to drink the vial and frowned when he tasted nothing.

"What…?"

"It's not open yet, Zell." Selphie reached to the cap and snapped the vial open. Zell pouted, swallowing the liquid.

Squall gazed down to the remains of Gerogero and sighed.

We wasted our time on nothing.

He watched as Zell slowly regained his sight. "Come on, let's get back to them."

-x—

Zone glowered when the SeeDs entered their train. "Man, I can't believe the president was a fake!"

Rinoa had the same opinion. "I can't believe we fell for it!"

You guys fell for it, Squall thought when Selphie and Zell searching for a place to sit. You guys didn't plan about this carefully.

"New info!" Watts ran in. "I found out the real reason why the president's here, sir! The president's going to the TV Station tomorrow! Security's super tight, sir!"

Rinoa leaned her head back to the wall. "...The TV Station? Why in Timber? They can broadcast just as easily from Galbadia."

Selphie said to Zell, "Do you think the Dollet communication tower has anything to do with this?"

"What's that?" Zone looked to them.

"Dollet has a communication tower that can transmit and receive radio waves," Squall said. "It had been abandoned for a long time, but the Galbadian Army got it up and running a few days ago."

"Oh, I get it." The Timber Owl leader nodded. "The only TV station that can handle broadcasts over the air is in Timber. Other stations use HD cable, which only supports online broadcasting."

Rinoa crossed her hands. "What I want to know is what's the president going to broadcast? Why use radio waves? They must want to say something to the whole world. What can it be?"

Selphie stood from her sitting position and waved her hand happily. "Everybody! Love! And peace!"

Everyone stared at her.

Squall rolled his eyes. Not going to happen.

Rinoa put her index finger to her lips as she murmured, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if the first broadcast could be the declaration of Timber's independence?"

Zone pointed his finger to her. "Hey! That might be possible!"

Yet another dreamer. Squall cast his eyes on a blank spot, wondering if he got such a bad luck when he was chosen for the mission.

Rinoa smiled. "Let's come up with a plan then!" Zone, she and Watts huddled together on the floor.

The SeeDs stared in disbelief.

If this is what they called forming a plan, I'm afraid to know what they did when they planned to kidnap the President. Squall said, "Before we get into that, can I see your contract with our Garden?"

See if we can find a loophole out of this mess…

"Oh, sure." Rinoa reached inside her blue duster pocket, pulled out a paper and handed it to him.

Zell and Selphie strolled to him. Zell peeked at the form from Squall's shoulder. "What's it say?"

"... 'Balamb Garden hereafter referred to as 'Party A' acknowledges 'The Forest Owls' hereafter referred to as 'Party B' as the hiring party. SeeD hereafter referred to as 'Party C' shall be dispatched upon signing of this contract. Party C shall operate under the supervision...'"

Zell stared. "The hell...?"

Selphie shook her head. "I don't get it."

Rinoa shrugged. "Oh yeah, that one's pretty confusing. When I told him I don't understand, he gave me a different one." She gave Squall another leaf of paper. "Cid is such a nice man."

Selphie peeked to the form. "What's it say this time?"

"… To the Forest Owls," Squall read. "This SeeD deployment contract will last until Timber achieves independence. Please understand that this contract is an exception, and no replacement of any SeeD members can be made."

Zell shook his head. "Until Timber's independence?"

"That is soooo vague!" Selphie said.

Rinoa pouted. "Hey, you're paid professionals. No complaining! Okay, we form the plan." She stood up, hands on her hips. "Three of us are going to the station tomorrow; one will stay in the city and be the backup for the main team." She shrugged. "I'm going, so prepare two of you to come with me. We're going at seven tomorrow, the broadcast is at nine. Rest well, guys."

Squall stared at his squad while the rest of the Timber Owl crew decided to stop for the day. Zell and Selphie returned the stare with their puppy dog eyes.

"Do not go into town tonight," their captain said. "I repeat. Don't go out to town. We can't expose ourselves to Galbadian solder." He glared to Zell. "Do you understand, Zell?"

"Hey, no fair!" Zell scowled. "Selphie can sneak out too!"

Selphie tilted her head and set up her most innocent look.

Squall snorted. "Zell, I hope you understand. This is not a picnic. Do not go out tonight. Understand?"

"Hey!"

-x—

When they reached the centre of the island, Quistis's group had walked for ten hours. Watching Seifer and Nida's depressing faces after unending battles with monsters and among themselves, she knew it was time for a rest.

"Okay," she said. The two men stared at her; they had been too tired to mock each other anymore. "Let's sleep here tonight. We won't reach Deling today." Not even tomorrow, if you guys keep that miserable face. "Nida, open up the tent. I'll go look for—" She put her bag on the ground. "Food, wood… anything. Whatever." She stretched her stiff body and walked away.

Nida and Seifer glanced at each other, and, without any excitement for anything thrown at them right now, placed their bag to the ground. Nida drew out the tent as Seifer plopped down. He had been beaten, bit, punched, hacked and descended to the lowest low of energy today. He set his elbow on his knees and crossed his arms, burying his face.

"…Where are we…?" he said, losing his battle against the sleep fairy.

Nida observed their surroundings, planting the tent frame and nails on the ground. "We're… near Galbadia Garden." He groaned. "East Academy station is nearby; you only need one hour or so to Timber."

Seifer snapped his head up. "…Train?" He rose up and rushed to pull out the tent frame Nida planted. "Go call Quistis!"

"Hey!" Nida shouted, angry. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Seifer tossed the tent frame away. "Are you really that beaten up?" he shouted back. "If we're near the station, we can take a ride to Deling City!"

Nida stood, baffled and then turned to call their team leader. Seifer shoved the tent frame back to Nida's bag. Unable to arrange the frames, he scowled when there was no space left. He took the rest of the frame and walked to Quistis's bag, zipping the bag open and shoving the rest in. That was when he saw a folded paper peeking from the left pocket. Being a curious man that he was, Seifer opened and read it.

His face was expressionless when he folded the paper and pocketed it. He zipped the bag close and went to his own bag when his squad appeared.

-x—

"Clear?" Zell crouched; walking tiptoed to the train door. "Any sign of chief?"

Selphie was tiptoeing behind him, head turned left and right, and sometimes to the back of the cabin. "Clear…" she whispered through her giggles. " Chief is down!"

Together, the partner-in-naught escaped from the train and took their first step of freedom in Timber Station.

"Heheheheh…." Zell sneered as they walked to the train platform, away from their cold captain. "If Squall thinks we're going to follow his orders during our free time, he is so wrong…"

"Heheeeee…" Selphie sneered. "Squally Wally can be all locked up if that's what he wants, but we won't!"

The night was young; the sun had just been down. Zell and Selphie were checking out the Pet shop just near the train. Selphie held on the top of display counter with her hands as the shopkeeper appeared from the back of the shop.

"Hello!" Selphie greeted the shopkeeper, who nodded back. "Where's the cat and dog on display?"

The shopkeeper waved his hand. "We don't have any. They have pet displays on Deling; we only sell pet stuff here."

Selphie pouted. Zell looked down to the display case. "Is that small doghouse can fit any pets?"

The shopkeeper saw what he was referring. The miniature doghouse was petite; it could fit into Zell's palm. "It's GF pet house, you can house your unused GF there, sort of like transfer stone. This one can house up to five GF and heal them as well. The effect took only two hours."

"How much is it?"

"Five thousand Gil."

"Whoa…" Zell stopped his hand from reaching his wallet. "It's expensive!"

"Well, SeeDs took it to battle with them, and having a high energy GF is a matter of life or death." The shopkeeper scratched his head. "…I think. It's what they said anyway."

Selphie pointed to the Pet Pals magazine. "I take those two! Volume three and four!" She snickered to Zell. "To bribe Rinoa."

Zell snickered back. "Okay… I took five GF potions, and those two magazines." He drew out his wallet as Selphie smiled to him.

"Thanks, Zell!" she said.

The shopkeeper put their items in a plastic bag. "That will be three thousand Gil."

Zell looked in his wallet. He had five thousand Gil inside. He should've taken more from his accounts…

As Zell paid for the items, Selphie accepted the bag and turned her head around. She pointed to the junk shop. "I'll check if we can have any weapon upgrade!"

As she left the pet shop, Zell asked the shopkeeper, "Yo… any good place to date here?"

The shopkeeper smiled. "…Well, there are a pub and a small bridge if you follow that path." He pointed to the street near a big building with a sign 'Timber Maniacs'. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Zell was hoping that today was his lucky day, as he left the pet shop and tailed Selphie, entering the junk shop.

"Zell!" Selphie waved to him as he entered the store. "They have our weapon upgrades!" She set her hand on the display counter, browsing a weapon catalogue. "… I soooo want the upgrade!"

"Is it?" Zell looked to the shopkeeper who stood on the other side of the counter. The female shopkeeper shrugged.

"Yeah. Look at this." Selphie pointed to the catalogue. "They have Maverick and Flail. It's your weapon and mine. And they even have Shear Trigger for Squall." She laughed. "…Of course, he has to be present for them to upgrade his gunblade."

Zell observed his own iron gloves. He never upgraded his weapon since… well, forever. Now, he might need it as a SeeD, it seemed like they would fight in their mission.

"We can give you bill orders," the shopkeeper said. "So the client could use the bill to upgrade the weapon the next time he's here. To upgrade weapons, you also need to bring us the item. We will work on it in just two hours, so you can pick it up in the same day."

Selphie tilted her head. "…What sort of items?"

"Monster items… SeeD called it junk material." The shopkeeper pointed to the flail in the catalogue. "Like this one, it needs two magic stones and two bomb fragments."

The bouncy girl looked dejected. "Uh, we don't have those items…" she said.

"We also accept item conversion from Card." The shopkeeper motioned to the room in the back of the shop. "We need the Card; it only costs ten Gil per Card to change them into the item. Do you collect any Card?"

Selphie brightened up. "I have Diablos Card!"

"Whoa!" Zell stopped her. "That's a rare Card! Don't be crazy!"

"But I need weapon upgrade! Card won't make me strong!"

You want to turn my Card just for your flail? Diablos shouted inside her head.

I think she will give YOU away for one satisfying meal. Ifrit taunted the other GF.

Shut up!

Zell scratched the back of his head. He collected monster cards, since he used to train with GF that owned Carding ability. He never played it, but bringing a simple set of cards was easy. So he pulled out his card box and spread the cards on the counter. "Which one do I have to turn to items if we want upgrades for our weapons?"

Selphie stared at the cards in awe. Zell had Fish Fins, Grendel, Bitebugs, Bomb, Elnoyle, Shumi Tribe (he won it by beating T-Rexaur and card it), T-Rexaur, Jumbo Cactuar (carding Glacial Eyes), and Krysta (carding Buels in Fire Cavern). She didn't collect cards and she was a horrible player so she only played for fun. Sometimes she did collect cute looking monster cards, but her set was not as expansive as Zell's.

The shopkeeper nodded. "Okay. I will take… "The shopkeeper chose the cards for item converting. "These fourteen cards." Taking the cards, she held up her hand waiting for the money. "That will be one hundred and forty Gil. Along with the three weapon upgrades, it will be six hundred and forty Gil."

Selphie looked at Zell who was drawing his wallet once again. "You want me to pay for this one?"

"Nah, I get it." Zell gave the money and removed his gloves, giving his weapon to her. Selphie did the same.

"Go back here later." The shopkeeper took all the needed tools and walked inside the room in the back, leaving Zell fourteen cards and six hundred forty Gil poorer.

"Where to go next, Zell?"

To be continued…