"What in the BLOODY HELL HAPPENED OUT THERE?" Watts yelled, causing Gina and Tonya to flinch. Their personal injuries were nothing compared to the bite his voice had when they reappeared at their base. Stragglers from the unexpected brawl were slowly trickling in, many of them with broken bones or similar ailments like the ones Tonya sported. One of them was even unfortunate enough to get nicked by what looked like a Firaga spell. The Timber Wolves that didn't participate in the fight were running around digging up all sorts of Potions and other healing agents to mend what they could, but their supplies weren't the best and there were still some things a specialized healer or doctor would have to touch up.

"Uh, well... you see..." Gina stammered, then cleared her throat. Staring off an explanation with "you see what had happened was" is never good, although Sharon always seemed to go for that approach, anyway. "Let's take this to your office so we can sort this out?"

Without another word, Watts turned and stormed up the stairs to his office that he shared with Zone, leaving the two females to follow him. Zone was somehow doing a relatively good job doing his part to help tend to the injured masses, despite pausing to nurse random stomach spasms. Gina made a sideways glance to him in pity, really wishing she had a roll of Tums to give to him like she did last time.

Once the three were safely behind a closed door, Tonya plopped herself down in a nearby chair, one that Zone would normally occupy. She hadn't bothered to heal her injuries, and was pretty much functioning as if they didn't exist.

"Don't blame her. It's my fault, since I technically started it," the blue-haired girl sighed. "She got my ass out of there as it was."

"Well, actually, it's no one's fault... well, not any of the Timber Wolves, I don't think," Gina opted. "From what I saw, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and wound up in the middle of a brawl. It could have been anybody."

Watts just face palmed, muttering something under his breath. "Hyne, I knew this was a bad idea. I knew it..." He removed his hand and looked at Gina. "Where's your friend?"

"We split up, since the Galbadians had a sharpshooter in hiding and she thought she knew where he'd be hiding. The way those bullets were being fired, all you'd need is some kid being hit by mistake."

Watts nodded and sighed, regarding Tonya with something like a bit of exasperation. "I hope you realize just how lucky you are to be alive right now."

Tonya shrugged. "Whatever. If it was just me, then I wouldn't care. I just feel bad because we got outsiders involved."

"Some outsiders." Tonya looked at Watts with a puzzled expression at his last statement, but the office door opening distracted both of them and Sharon walking in, looking a bit winded but relatively untouched.

"Hey guys!" She chirped, in stark contrast to the situation at hand. "The sharpshooter's taken care of. It really wasn't that hard, really. She was so busy focusing on her targets in front of her that she didn't expect someone like me to sneak up on her and knock her unconscious." She held up her staff and caressed it. "Didn't know these babies could crack guns like a twig, for real! I will totally have to praise Jenkins for this when we get back."

Gina smiled, happy to see that her best friend wasn't in the condition the rest of the group was. "Well, good to have you back, Sharii-chan." Her expression turned serious. "What's the status?"

"What, of the Jerry Springer shit that just went down? Show's over, for the most part. The civilians running around like chickens with their heads cut off along with the Timber Wolves being there kind of foiled whatever the Galbadians were planning to trap the Trabians in, because during it all it seems like they escaped. That, and when they find out their sharpshooter's out of commission, I don't think they'd want to stick around here long enough to find out where the Trabians went. They're both one man down at this point in time. Thankfully, outside of the people who were directly involved, no one seems to be hurt outside of minor scratches and bruises from trying to get through it all. However," Sharon paused and looked at Tonya. "I wouldn't be surprised if you got a larger audience for any future protests the Wolves might make. This certainly has the masses rattled; I'll assume shit like this doesn't happen very often."

"It's never happened." Watts emphasized. "Even when we were toe to toe with the Army those four years ago, we didn't have outbreaks like this. The most we ever did was that mission that would have all gone down the drain if it wasn't for you guys and how the chain of events went going."

"Wait a minute, what?" Tonya asked, looking from Watts to Gina and Sharon. "They were with you back then? I thought they were just friends!"

Realizing they all had gotten a bit too comfortable and had said too much, the three of them did a quick mental head desk. "Well, you see... we kinda lied. Sorry," Sharon bluntly put.

Watts spoke up then. "Tonya, meet Gina and Sharon, otherwise known as two of the group of SeeDs who stopped Ultimecia four years ago. They've returned from whatever hole in the ground they were in all this time because they're on a mission to find Squall and a couple of others who happened to help us out awhile back."

Tonya just looked at them, a blank stare that wasn't because of lack of comprehension, but because she couldn't figure out which emotion of all of the ones she felt she should pick to be at the forefront. "SeeD..."

Gina immediately felt guilty for leading Tonya on all of that time. As it was, she didn't think she was a bad person, she just needed to fix her methods of accomplishing her goals. And after finding out from Watts that she was related to Martine, she couldn't imagine what kind of ill will the girl could be harboring that fueled her determination in helping the Timber Wolves. "Umm... yeah. We... gah," There wasn't much she could figure to say to make the situation any better. I just hope she takes into consideration that I DID save her life and not rip me a new one too badly.

Tonya suddenly burst out into laughter, but it was laced with bitterness and disbelief at the chain of events that had unfolded in front of her. "Isn't that just great. One of the biggest days in Timber Wolves history where we finally have the proof we need to show the people that our cause isn't all the hogwash they think it is, and there are infiltrates right under our roof."

Sharon looked dismayed. "Hey, not really! You see what just happened out there? That was a load of funky bullshit that is one of the main things we've been charged to try and stop! We're not these new kinds of SeeD you see running around in uniform and causing mayhem; I'd like to think we were raised with better home training. And so far, the only ones I personally know to have their heads on straight in this time and age are the people we're trying to hard to find."

"So, what you're telling me is that you only have time to show up to save the world. It would've been nice to try and stop this before it came down to this, but I guess that's not worth it since you don't get the added bonus of "savior" status," Tonya scoffed.

The pink and purple haired girl deadpanned her. "Actually, that's not what I was telling you. Could you please stop trying to find reasons to be angry with us and listen for once?"

"My hearing is fine, thank you. Hyne, all you SeeD are the same, no matter what colors you represent. You either spend too much time fighting amongst one another or you get like Squall and become too comfortable in a high position to do anything but benefit from the turmoil the rest of us have to go through at your expense."

Gina's eye twitched, and she took up the reins of the argument at this point, as much as she normally dreaded confrontation of this sort. "You don't know Squall enough to talk about him like that. He's not the person to do anything of what you just accused him of. I'll bet all my gil that you didn't know that he was on a important mission to stop outbreaks like the one you were just foolishly involved in. Someone who 'got too comfortable in his high position' wouldn't bother doing that, especially since the mission was secret so he couldn't 'benefit' from it, either. We're just here to get information so we can find him and probably make all of our lives easier at having a chance to stop this!"

Tonya just rolled her eyes, stubbornly set on her anger. "Well, he's not doing much a job on his 'mission', now is he?"

Sharon really wanted to pull her hair out in exasperation. This is like talking to a motherfucking wall. "Dude, hello, he's MISSING!"

"Then FINE! Let him stay missing! Everyone was better off without him anyway, especially Rinoa!" Tonya stood up then, glaring at both of them. "I was the one who had to hold her all the times he made her cry. I was the one who had to keep her resolve whenever she doubted her new goal for the Timber Wolves. If you want to bet something, I'd bet all my gil that the only thing he was good for was sleeping with her, because her friends did everything else that he was supposed to be doing for her! He never had the time to be there for her; Hyne, he couldn't even trust her enough to depend on her fully! I bet you don't know how much that killed her inside, knowing that she'd probably always love him more than what he'd ever give her. And if he's really our only hope to solving all of our problems, then I'll be the first one to accurately predict that we're all fucking screwed." With that, Tonya brushed past them all and stormed out of the office, slamming the door with so much force that it rattled the hinges and made a couple of stray papers flutter to the ground.

An awkward silence followed shortly thereafter, with Gina struggling to get her emotions under control, Sharon trying to figure out just where in the hell that outburst came from, and Watts wearily pouring himself a cup of coffee as if things like this happened daily.

"Uh... what the fuck was that?" Sharon finally spoke up.

"Tonya's temper," Watts answered, taking a sip from his mug before placing it down on one of the few clear spaces on the desk. "Believe it or not, give her a couple of hours, and she'll calm down about it. She's bit off everyone's head at least once for something or another; these days it's been rough on all of us with Rinoa missing and things outside escalating, so her nerves must be extra frazzled."

"Well... I don't care as long as she doesn't go and tell everyone that we're around," Gina said. "Our mission is made a lot easier without people recognizing us at every corner."

"I don't think she will. Other than spite, she nor the Timber Wolves have anything to gain from it. In any case, she will remember that you saved her behind out there, so that should be enough for her to keep her mouth shut." Watts looked absentmindedly out of the window, a thoughtful expression on his face. A few more moments of him inwardly contemplating something, he turned to face them. "I know it's not my place to ask this of you, but do you think you can do me a favor?"

"What is that?" Gina asked, but already knowing his plea before he said it.

"If you find anything on Rinoa, could you let us know? I can only imagine how much your hands are full trying to find Squall and the others, but if you stumble upon anything..." He trailed off, a glint of hopelessness in his gaze as if he was expecting Gina and Sharon to reject him due to everything that transpired that day.

"We'll see what we can do," Gina replied. "There aren't any guarantees, though. We do have a lot on our plate as it is, and if luck is with you, she'll turn up before we're even done doing what we've been charged to do."

That answer seemed to be enough to put his worries at ease, as Watts immediately relaxed and let out a breath of relief. "Thank you. You know... maybe it's foolish of me, but I've always trusted you guys. Even when I heard that Rinoa and Squall were having some issues, I never really lost faith in him. Couldn't tell that to either of those ladies though, because it probably would have gotten me nothing but a dirty glare and kick to the balls. I still stand by our cause, since it's better than just sitting around and watching everything fall apart. But... I did go overboard earlier when I said I didn't care about your mission. Things have just been... not so good. Sometimes I don't see how we hold it together."

"Sounds like both you and Headmaster Cid are having the same kinds of problems," Sharon said, patting Watts on the shoulder. "The only thing I can say is that I hope things get better for you guys, honestly. I won't even hold Tonya to her words; we can say some mean shit in our anger, let me tell you. I think one of the first times I encountered Squall at Balamb Garden I chewed him out over something similar about being on a 'SeeD given high horse', but I think all I was trying to do was provoke him. That... and Tonya is Martine's niece. You can't be mad for long at someone with a history like that."

Watts cracked a small smile. "You must really dislike the guy, huh?"
"Heh heh, that's putting it lightly." Sharon withdrew her hand and turned to Gina. "Well... I don't think that we're gonna find anything else out sticking around here, as interesting as this stop has been. I think we should head for Esthar, next."

Gina made a face. "Esthar? Isn't that place shut down to the public?"

"... oh. Yeah. Shit. Umm... there has to be a way in there, or something. But, first things first," she turned back to Watts. "Do you think after that little mishap in the square today that they shut down the trains?"

He shrugged. "I don't think so. If you're going off of what happened last time there was action like that here, they only shut down the trains because they knew we used them to attack the President. I don't see what they'd have to gain by closing off Timber; it'd draw more negative attention towards the SeeD situation, and that's still something the media and Timber is trying to ignore. The people might be more receptive now after today's events, but that says nothing about the government. From their point of view, nobody was hurt outside of a little resistance group that mouths off about things they probably shouldn't be talking about, so I doubt they'll pay us any mind."

Gina tsked. "That's a bit messed up. I don't like to see SeeD in this state, but to just ignore it? People could have been killed!"

"It's the world we live in, unfortunately. You guys must have really been out in Hyne knows where to not know all of this. I'm kind of curious just to know where you've been all this time, but I guess that'll have to wait when times aren't so urgent, right?"

"Yeah. And even then, I think you'd have to be a little loony to believe us if we told you, anyway," Sharon wrapped up. "But... thanks for the hospitality. We're gonna get out of here and pray to Hyne that we don't run into any more mishaps on the way to the train station. Hang in there, Watts, okay? And tell Zone to stop stressing so much and to spend more time playing with Angelo; I think it'd help both of them out."

Gina and Sharon left the office then, trudging down the stairs and going out through the front door. Thankfully, they didn't run into Tonya on the way out; they didn't know if she was cooled down yet or still had some choice words for them or SeeD, and it wasn't something that they looked upon favorably to be on the receiving end. Still rather adamant on getting to Esthar, Sharon booked two tickets for the next closest destination, which happened to be Fisherman's Horizon. She kept muttering about how if they had to walk to Esthar, then they'd do it. Gina, however, wasn't really keen on walking that much of a distance; it was at least three miles from the shore of the Great Salt Lake to where Fisherman's Horizon was stationed, and even though they did it before years ago it didn't seem all that long due to the fact that they were a group and had loads of entertainment. Sharon might have had the foresight to bring her iPod, but Gina didn't think following an endless line of railroad tracks spanning large bodies of water was a good idea.

"Sharii-chan," Gina waited until they were in their cabin to broach the subject. "I understand now why you wanted to get to Timber so badly, and I'm sorry that it didn't work out like it should have. But... why Esthar? Have you even worked it all out in your head how we're even going to get there, let alone get in?"

Sharon stood in the middle of the room, a bit too caught up to want to sit down at the moment. "Well... kind of. It's along the lines what I had hoped to do in Timber in the first place. Think about it; who do we know in Esthar? Well... a certifiably hot president, for one. And we also know an insane doctor, who I want to ask a few questions."

"... I don't see how this has anything to do with finding Squall."

"Yeah well, I don't see how agreeing to help find a bipolar Timber princess has anything to do with finding him, either," Sharon scoffed, plopping down on the seat finally. "I don't hate the girl... not really, anyway... and it is kinda fucked up that she's gone missing along with the rest of the folks we're trying to find. But I swear, if we keep adding people to our roster, I might just invest in 'Have you seen me?' ads on the sides of milk cartons."

Gina just blinked at her best friend for a minute, and Sharon actually thought she was seriously considering her joke idea. "Sharii-chan... why are you rattling?"

Now it was Sharon's turn to turn her lip up in confusion. "Um... I dunno, my brain certainly has been stable in its cocoon for a bit, so I don't think it's that... OH!" She remembered the bottle of pills she swiped from Rinoa's room then, and dished them out of her jeans pocket. "Get a load of this. I knew I had a good reason for going to Esthar." She tossed them to Gina, who caught it easily and turned it around in her hand.

"What is this for?" Gina puzzled. "And how did you come by it?"

"I clepto'd it from Rinoa's room while Zone was busy taking Angelo outside. I know, it's wrong to steal, and I probably don't give black folks any more credit where stereotypes are involved, but I'd like to think that it's for a better cause. And it's not like Rinoa'll be back to use them any time soon anyway, so I figured there's no harm in it. I'm just curious to exactly what it is, and why she thinks it's a good idea to ingest anything Odine makes."

"Hmm... maybe allergies? Either way, now I'm curious myself. Although I can't help but think that we're going way off track, here," Gina handed the white container back to Sharon.

"I don't blame you. To be honest, I have no idea what the fuck we're doing. But that's nothing new, is it?" She sprawled out in her seat, letting the constant slow chugging motion of the train lull her into a contemplative state. "I'm really glad it wasn't him, G-fuu," she said quietly, almost too low for Gina to catch.

"Hmm?"

"The sharpshooter today. I was... kind of afraid of who I'd find up there. When I found out it wasn't him... I was relieved, yes. It made doing what I had to do easier, and I will still remember the 'o shi-' look on her face as I knocked her upside her head. That was actually pretty funny. But I was also disappointed, since it would have been one less person to find. But if it really happened to be Irvine? I don't know what I would have done, looking back on it all. Probably would have froze in my tracks, stuck between cursing him out, dragging him back to Balamb Garden, or probably all of the above. Either way, I would have been pretty shocked."

Gina got up from her place and sat down next to Sharon. "Sharii-chan... Irvine may be stuck in Martine's clutches right now, but he's still the same old cowboy. I don't think he'd stoop to be a part of any of this that is going on right now."

"But how do we know that for sure? Shit's already been happening that we never thought would go down. Love life drama? Disappearing persons? SeeD wars? It makes anything possible."

"But you have to have faith in the few things that we can actually count on," Gina pressed. "If you think of things too relative like that... what do we have left? Why are we even here? What are we working for? You're the one that told me not to judge Squall just based on what I read from his blog, and this is going along the same lines. We really don't know what's going on where he's concerned, but we just have to hope for the best. That goes for our mission, too. We have to stop thinking in terms of 'this is freaking impossible'. Even if it's in a joking manner, it'll start to affect us majorly sooner or later. And the last thing I want to do is give up. If we have to comb this entire globe, then we'll do it. It didn't take too long to do in FFVIII, especially with the Ragnarok," she joked, hoping to get a smile out of her best friend.

Sharon's eyes snapped wide and she sat bolt upright, giving Gina start. "The Ragnarok! Fuck, why didn't we think of that before? It'd make traveling a whole lot easier, that's for sure!"

Gina took a moment to calm her heart down from the pace it had risen up to at Sharon's sudden exclamation. "That is true, but if it was readily accessible, then I think maybe Cid would have given it to us prior to our departure? It's probably at the airstation in Esthar."

"Then we really need to find a way to break into that city, then. I'm sure they'll cut us some slack as soon as we let them know that we personally know Laguna." Sharon scratched her forehead. "You don't think the 'back entrance' we used last time is still open, do you?"

"I don't know. If Esthar became as popular as Cid said it did, you'd think they would have fixed that patch up by now. But nevertheless, it's probably our best bet at trying to get in there. So... would that make our next key destination the Great Salt Lake?"

"I guess so. If we can't find some kind of train to hitchhike to the borders of the city when we get to FH, then maybe Mayor Dobe and his, uh, wife Flo will let us cash in on a favor. I mean... we did save their asses from Galbadian Army trash."

"Of which we were kind of responsible for leading there in the first place. But, you know, it has been four years. Maybe he's forgotten all about that."