Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII it is copyrighted by Square Enix and all other associates.

Thanks RadiantKeybladeFantasy for your review. I know it's been….forever since I wrote anything. Hopefully now I can try to keep it more regular than before, no promises.

AN: I always hated how confusing this part was, with all the running around and having to talk to certain people. Anyways I tried to include a longer fight scene. Sorry it's kinda short I didn't want to jump into the next plot scene and try to find a place to end it awkwardly.


Chapter XXIX – Comrade Loyalties and Destination Plans

The group headed towards their next destination, the train station, hoping to find the commander. They were unfortunately turned away by the soldiers there because they were busy packing the train with supplies, when asked about the commander they supplied no answers about his whereabouts; this left the group feeling dejected as what to do next.

"We've looked everywhere for this guy…" Zell said running a hand through his short spikey hair, irritation clearly written on his face.

"Maybe we missed something?" Quistis suggested shrugging her shoulders and placing a hand on her chin thoughtfully. "Let's re-check the places we've already been. Maybe he went to do more fishing? After all the fish he cooked in Zell's kitchen smelt…well it smelt just completely awful…it would probably make someone sick if they ate it."

"I don't think my house will get rid of the dreadful stench…" Zell moaned hanging his head.

"Pier it is then." Squall said hoping this would get them back on task, instead of thinking of the terrible fish odour from earlier.

They began to make their way back towards the pier; the situation at the hotel seemed unchanged as the two soldiers still blocked the doors. Once they reached the pier there was only one soldier left in the location, he was standing next to a large brown dog.

"Let's ask this guy." Squall offered and walked over to the soldier.

"Nice dog." Zell commented in the soldier's direction.

"I've been told to use this dog to find Ellone. But without her scent to go by, what can we do?" he said sadly.

The dog walked over to the group and smelt their clothing; he then whimpered and ran ahead, he turned and barked three times at the group before running off towards the hotel.

"Hey! Come back!" the soldier called after the dog, "How am I going to find Ellone without even a dog…"

"We should follow after the dog." Squall said to the others and they quickly jogged in the direction it went, "It is probably using the scent of the fish, might lead us to the commander."

They ran after the dog that was heading towards the train station, they ran up the stairs and onto the platform. Once on the platform there was a ticket attendant and two soldiers there, one was lying face down on the ground and another was kneeling on the ground and clutching his stomach. The dog howled and jumped over the guy on the ground and entered the train, there was loud clashing and clanging coming from inside the train compartments. Then suddenly a tall man with tan skin jumped out of the train compartment from one of the side doors and ran down the stairs leaving the train platform, the dog was following close behind.

"It's Raijin!" Squall shouted to his companions.

"…Heeheehee…Grandmaaa…!" The one soldier that was clutching his stomach called out randomly in a delirious voice.

"Really! Inside the train, eh!? So what's where he was hiding!" the ticket attendant announced, "It was terrible! The soldiers fell flat on the floor after eating the fish that man brought."

"F-Flower fields…." the other soldier lying on the ground moaned.

"See, I said they would get sick." Quistis said shaking her head.

"…Come on! We gotta catch up to Raijin." Squall said.

They followed after Raijin in the direction of the hotel; once they arrived there the scene was different from before. The two people had left and the doors of the hotel stood open and the two soldiers were no longer guarding them. Once the teens approached the soldiers turned to the group to issue them a warning.

"Hey, you! Stand back. This could be dangerous! The commander's just about to…"

"YEOW!" Raijin howled in pain as he was sent flying through the open door and landing on his back just in front of Squall. He sat up and rubbed the back of his neck, "Ouuuch…."

Raijin stood up and took a step towards the door and called inside to the person that had just booted him outside. "F-Fujin… C-Control your temper, ya know? I was patrollin', just like ya told me. I even woke up that search dog, sleepin' on the job, ya know?" Raijin then turned and looked at the two soldiers, "You guys help me out here! We've gotta calm Fujin down, ya know!?"

Zell sighed and walked closer to Raijin before calling his name. "RAIJIN!"

Raijin turned around and looked at the group before him, surprise written on his face. "Wooooow! What are you guys doin' here!?"

"We're here to liberate Balamab, ya know!? …I mean…uhh… We're here to liberate Balamb!" Zell answered trying to correct himself after accidently using Raijin's speech mannerisms.

"Seifer told us to give you a whoppin' if we saw you, ya know!" Raijin turned to the two soldiers beside him, "You soldiers help me out, too!" he then drew his staff for a fight.

"You'll pay for this, Raijin!" Zell said getting into a fighting stance and then charged one of the soldiers and gave them a three-hit combo with his fists, causing them to drop to the ground holding their stomach in pain.

Quistis then used her whip to disarm the other soldier's saber from his hands, once disarmed Squall ran up and used the butt of his revolver hilt to knock him unconscious. Zell then charged at Raijin and took a swing at him, but he raised his staff and blocked Zell's incoming blows, he then swung his staff at Zell who ducked. Quistis flicked her whip at Raijin's legs, she successfully landed a hit to which he winced; but this only causing him to leave Zell alone and come after her next. Squall then charged at Raijin and managed to inflict a wound on his left shoulder, a large amount of blood started to trickle its way down Raijin's muscled arm.

"Ughhh, you got me, ya know…" Raijin said dropping to one knee and looking at the wound Squall had caused.

"OHHHH YEAHHHH! The commander's gonna get a whoppin', too!" Zell declared and ran inside the hotel. Squall and Quistis quickly ran past Raijin and entered the hotel after Zell, who was inside talking to Fujin.

"So I guess you're the commander! Pack your bags and get the hell outta Balamb!"

"…RAIJIN, DEFEATED?" Fujin questioned.

"That's right, BABY! Now, where's Seifer and the sorceress!?" Zell asked raising his fists and bouncing on the balls of his feet. "You're all goin' DOWN!"

"Zell, calm down." Squall suggested turning to look at his fired up companion, he then turned to the gray haired woman in front of them, "Fujin, looks like you're on your own. Are you still willing to fight?"

Fujin put a hand on her hip and glared at the three SeeDs in front of her. "RAGE!"

"BWAHA HA HA HA! She's not alone!"

"W-who's there!?" Zell demanded turning around, Squall and Quistis followed suit and also turned to see who the voice was coming from.

Raijin came running in and stood beside Fujin. "Major come-back, ya know! Actually, I feel a lot betta, ya know!" the wound was no longer bleeding. "I feel invincible, ya know!"

Zell threw his hands in the air. "How the…!? I thought we defeated you!"

"Guess not. Get ready for a fight." Squall ordered raising his gunblade.

"Aren't we always ready for a fight?" Quistis asked rhetorically smacking her whip onto the ground.

"Time to get serious, ya know!" Raijin replied while getting into an attack stance.

Fujin raised her blue chakram and cast a Tornado spell; it hit all three of SeeDs causing them to be knocked back onto the floor of the hotel lobby. Quistis began to cast some shell spells from her stocked para-magic to protect everyone from Fujin's strong elemental wind spells. Squall focused on Fujin and noticed that her Tornado seemed to have some extra force behind it, probably signaling a GF that she was junctioned to. Squall quickly and drew Pandemona from her. Meanwhile Zell was hammering away at Raijin who had his staff raised as a shield to block Zell's incoming strikes, Raijin swung his staff aiming at Zell's head he quickly ducked, missing the blow and landed a solid strike into Raijin's stomach. The taller man quickly recovered and managed to strike Zell with his staff in his temple sending him sprawling onto the floor, blood began to trickle down from his hairline. Squall charged at Raijin to prevent him from laying another blow on Zell who was defenceless from the blow he received to the head. Raijin raised his staff and his weapon made contact with Squall's blade, they began to push against each other for dominance.

Quistis quickly rushed over to Zell and began to cast a Cure spell; she slowly helped him to his feet. Fujin on the other hand took advantage of the fact nobody was engaging her in battle, she noticed that Raijin was struggling against Squall. To help her friend she raised her weapon and was about to throw it at Squall, when suddenly a thick, black leather cord wrapped itself around her wrist. Fujin turned and looked at the blonde woman who had stopped her from throwing her chakram, Fujin readied a Tornado spell to be used in Quistis' direction but she was suddenly interrupted when Quistis tugged on her whip, which was still attached to Fujin's wrist; the force that Quistis was using caused the gray haired woman to tumble to the floor. Quistis released her whip as she tried to dodge Fujin's counter attack of another wind spell, the wind threw her backwards and into a wall; she felt the hard smack of her head making full contact with the wall.

Squall and Raijin were still struggling for dominance; Raijin was bigger than Squall so with one final effort he managed to cause the brunette to skid backwards across the floor. Raijin quickly used his special attack and hit Squall once in the side of his head and jabbed him in his chest with the butt of his staff, Squall dropped to one knee; he felt the wind being knocked out of him and also the beginning of a deep bruise on the side of his face.

Zell quickly moved to now engage Fujin because Quistis was still trying to clear her head from it impacting against the wall; he raised his fists and began to throw punches trying to land one on the woman in front of him. He managed to clip her in her chin and finished it with a swift upper cut into her diaphragm; there was a partial crunch of bone as one of her ribs cracked.

Fujin dropped to the ground holding her side and breathing heavily. "I…WITHDRAW. RAIJIN, GO."

Quistis climbed to her feet after having her head knocked around from Fujin's elemental para-magic, she quickly recovered and went to Squall's aid. She wrapped her whip around Raijin's free hand and began tugging, hoping to cause him to lose his balance and give Squall a chance to strike. Squall lifted his gunblade and slashed at Raijin's legs, blood began to blot the cloth of his dark pants. Squall quickly moved away from Raijin and regrouped with Quistis and Zell, they were all panting with some sustained injuries.

"Ouuuch. Not bad, ya know." Raijin quickly brought out an X-potion and drank the contents of the bottle, allowing him to keep fighting.

Quistis decided to strike first, swinging her whip in a large arch; she caused red welts to appear on Raijin's exposed arms and chest. Zell attacked next, he swung his fists towards Raijin's abdomen; but the large man swung his staff and Zell quickly back stepped into a back flip and avoided taking any more damage. Squall used this as an opportunity to raise his blade and land a strike; he ran at Raijin and impaled his sword into the man's shoulder. Blood erupted from the wound and dripped down his arm and onto the floor, Squall removed his blade and Raijin leaned forward he was breathing hard from exertion.

"Fujin, I lost too, ya know…" Raijin said tiredly while looking over at Fujin who was still sitting on the ground.

"Are the two of you taking orders from the sorceress?" Squall asked holstering his sword and taking a step towards the two defeated warriors.

"NEGATIVE!"

"The sorceress has nothin' to do with us, ya know!? We're actin' on our own!" Raijin answered truthfully.

"Own plan…?" Squall questioned.

Seifer?

Both Raijin and Fujin nodded in unison, but it was Raijin that spoke first. "We're on Seifer's side, ya know!"

"…That's up to you, but…" Squall replied trailing off slowly before deciding what to do with the two in front of him. "Enough is enough. This isn't an internal Garden conflict."

"We can't back out, ya know…."

"…NEGATIVE."

Raijin looked down at the ground. "Seifer has a lot of followers, but we're his only friends… We're a posse, ya know…?" he then looked up at the group before him, "The Galbadian soldiers are only listening to Seifer 'cause they fear the sorceress. Without us, Seifer wouldn't have a posse, ya know…?"

Zell sighed. "If you guys stand behind him that much…" Zell then swung his fists in the air, anger clearly written on his features, "Tell frickin' Seifer to stop this nonsense!"

the only two who can reach him are his posse. They've always had each other's backs.

Fujin casted a glance in Raijin's direction, then she turned and addressed Zell's request of stopping Seifer. "AFFIRMATIVE!"

"We ain't no sell-outs! We're behind Seifer all the way, ya know!?" Raijin added disagreeing with what Fujin had agreed to.

Such loyal friends…I understand what to do.

Squall sighed and looked down at the ground. "Okay… Understood. So you want nothing to do with Garden now?" Squall asked looking up to meet Raijin and Fujin's eyes, to which the two of them nodded their heads; they always would have Seifer's back no matter what they gave up. "…From now on. We're not gonna hold back."

The two nodded, understanding that they also could no longer hold back. They were doing all of this for Seifer after all, they put more value into their friendship than anything else. Squall turned his back and began to walk away from Seifer's posse.

I guess that's how it goes. That's what comrades are all about…

"Wait a minute!" Quistis called after Squall's retreating figure, at the sound of her voice Squall paused but did not turn around until Raijin started talking.

"Don't wanna…talk anymore, ya know… Kinda painful…ya know." Raijin replied still breathing heavily from the fight.

"WIMP!" Fujin mocked and kicked Raijin in his shin, he held his damaged limb hobbling slightly from the pain. "RUN!" They both turned and ran out the door.

Quistis sighed and crossed her arms; she looked down at the ground. "…It's too bad."

Squall turned back around and turned his stormy eyes towards the ground. "Friend or foe… It all comes down to circumstance. That's how we were raised. It's…nothing special."

Nothing special… Is that true? Then… What is this I'm feeling?

"Let's go." Squall said nodding towards the doors of the hotel.


They left the now liberated town of Balamb and headed back inside the Garden, Squall followed Quistis up to the bridge where both Xu and Nida were waiting to decide what to do next. They needed to find out what the sorceress was planning, but they didn't know where to start even looking for her. Once they left Balamb Galbadia Garden had also disappeared from where it was docked, as to where it disappeared to; they had no clue.

"Where are we going next?" Quistis asked Squall.

...I don't know.

He didn't get a chance to answer because suddenly the lift behind them went down as someone summoned it, once it arrived back up it was carrying a short girl in a yellow jumper; Selphie.

"Hello, s'cuse me!" she called cheerfully waving at everyone at the bridge.

"What is it?" Squall asked.

"Have you decided on a destination?" Selphie replied, she was looking down at the ground.

No...

Squall put a hand on his hip. "Still thinking."

"Um…" Selphie began to fidget, anxious about what she was going to ask. "Can we maybe go to Trabia Garden? It's like…in the mountains, so maybe the sorceress will leave it alone… But maybe… You know?" she said hopeful, trying not to think of what actually happened.

But I thought it was destroyed by missiles... Oh, I see… That's why. Of course she'd want to go. Selphie is originally from Trabia, she wants to see if her friends are okay...

"I'll keep that in mind." Squall answered not giving a definite reply to the short brunette girl.

Selphie smiled at the commander regardless, at least he would consider her request to visit her old Garden. She only transferred to Balamb so she could complete the SeeD exam, both Garden's were important places to her. "Thanks." she then waved and went back down the lift and left the bridge.

I hope you're prepared to see the destruction of your old home...

Squall turned around to look at Nida. "Set a course for Trabia Garden…"

"Aye, aye Commander. Setting a course for Trabia Garden." Nida then saluted and turned around to begin navigating the Garden towards the snowy mountainous plains where Trabia was located.

I hope it's not as bad as it seems...