"DUCK!" Simultaneously, three figures managed to narrowly avoid the swing of a T-Rexaur's mighty tail as it whooshed over their heads and crashed into one of the once-beautiful fish-like water fountains surrounding the center of Balamb Garden. It broke in half and crumbled in the previously untainted aquamarine water, splashing some on the tiled walkways.

Squall seethed and ran at the dinosaur again, this time aiming for the tail that it had almost succeeded in crushing him with. He cut deep gashes all along the base of it, but it only succeeded in angering the monster more. The T-Rexaur growled down to Squall's level to take a bite out of him, just in time to catch a flurry of kicks and punches from the equally irate Zell. The last kick offset the dinosaur's balance, and it careened to the side and thumped to the ground heavily.

"Damn. I really hope for sure that it's down for good THIS time," The martial artist groaned.

"I don't think that this is the same one you're referring to." Gina pushed some loose strands of hair off of her forehead. "All the monsters from the Training Center are loose in here, so there could be more. Not that I'm looking forward to any more of these encounters, either."

Amongst all of the commotion running one way, a familiar figure was quickly approaching them, with a moomba in tow. "You guys, I found Xu!" Quistis called out. "After explaining to her the possible missile attack, she told me that the Headmaster is in his office, safe and sound. Everything else is just a diversion for those who wish harm upon him."

"Man, I don't get all of this! Who the hell is this NORG dude, anyway? I've never heard of him, but already I'm getting ticked off if he's claiming that he's the true owner of this garden! Turning all those Garden Faculty against us... well, they took my T-board, so it's not like I have any problem beating them down."

Squall shook his head. "Maybe the Headmaster knows something, but until we tell him about the missiles, then..." He looked up suddenly to see a very aggressive Bomb barreling its way towards them, its first target to possibly be the back of Quistis' head. "LOOK OUT!"

Acting fast, Gina concentrated a Blizzard spell on the moving target, actually freezing it solid in midair. Quistis turned and snapped her whip at her frozen attacker, bursting it into thousands of little ice shards. Ravi jumped in innocent glee, dancing around in the falling pieces as if it was snowing.

"You know, I think you just might be more adept at using magic than you are at your sword." Quistis mentioned with a smile, then tuned her gaze on Squall. "I hope this is not because you half-trained her, Squall."

Before he could open his mouth, Zell, Quistis, and Gina both called out in unison: "Whatever." Squall sighed and walked past them all, wordlessly signaling his intent to get to the Headmaster's office as quickly as possible. They all piled in the elevator and rode it to the 3rd floor, where they found themselves in a lushly decorated lobby that led to a pair of mahogany doors. Pushing them open, they all lined up and saluted Headmaster Cid.

Unfortunately, the Headmaster wasn't really facing their group at the moment. His eyes were trained to the windows in the back of his office, and for a moment Squall wondered if he even knew they were there. "Sir..."

Cid turned around then, and everyone was surprised to see that their beloved headmaster appeared years older. His usually cheerful eyes that were lit up by the fatherly smile he always seemed to possess were drained, and there were slight dark circles underlining them. "Xu has told me about the missiles. Because the intercom is down, she, Raijin and Fujin are assisting in the order to evacuate."

"But I have a lot to report," Squall protested, not really wanting to leave the headmaster in a state like this.

"You can tell me later. I plan to stay here, and see all of this through to the end. This place is like my home, and I cannot just abandon it so easily." Cid started, then noticed the young SeeD's hesitation. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"But... but, you're gonna die here!" Zell belted out desperately. "How are we supposed to accept something like that!"

"Don't be so sure about that, Zell," Headmaster Cid replied, a trace of a smile on his face. "There might be a way to save the Garden. I'm staying here to try it out."

Quistis shot a troubled glance at Squall, as if expecting him to do something to stop this madness. For once, Squall was too preoccupied to be annoyed at the fact that someone was once again depending on him to do something. Against missiles? How? "Sir, I would like to handle whatever it is you're planning."

"And why is that?"

Squall hesitated once again, the headmaster's question sending him back into his flurry of thoughts and possible reasons for him even volunteering to do something that he didn't even know before jumping into it. Of course, he wasn't about to pour his heart out to him, or to anybody else standing in that office. They'd think he'd went crazy and start to judge him, more than what they possibly were already doing.

"Because we want to save this place just as much as you do, Headmaster," Gina spoke up. "As SeeDs, weren't we trained to do more than just run away from a pressure situation? Although Xu and the others are most probably giving everyone the order to evacuate, I'd bet all my money that half of them are being stubborn and aren't leaving, either. They have too much here to lose, and if it means their destruction in the process, then they're more than prepared to take that risk. You'd better believe the same goes for all of us standing right here." Gina took a deep breath and let out a grin. "And besides, didn't anyone ever tell you that letting out half-information only causes the recipients a want to know more?"

Squall looked over at her, trying to keep his expression as neutral as possible despite the fact that he was shocked as hell that she'd had the balls to say mostly all that he couldn't. Cid didn't do much to hide his shock either, then let out a chuckle that reminded everyone of how their headmaster used to be before all of the commotion came about. "Very well said, Regina. I do believe you've sold me on your speech. I'm getting too old for this, anyway." He reached over to a desk and picked up a key, which he tossed over to Squall.

"This building used to be a shelter, long before it was remodeled into the Garden that we know today. That key can be used in the elevator to unlock the entry in the MD levels of this complex. Down there, it is said that there is a control panel that was used when this was a shelter, so whatever it may do... if it's actually down there... might prove beneficial."

Squall nodded and saluted once more. "I understand. We'll find the control system and check it out."

"Good luck to all of you." Cid nodded in return, and Zell, Quistis, and Squall walked out of the office. Gina stayed behind, and cleared her throat. "Umm... sir? Can I ask you a small favor?"

The headmaster tilted his head, and Gina smiled down at Ravi. "I picked up my little moomba friend back at the D-District prison we all sorta broke out of. I'm sure when Squall gets the chance, he'll fill you in on how we all ended up in there if you don't already know. It was gonna break my heart to leave him there, so I took him with us. However, I don't think that Ravi should be running around with us while we investigate the MD levels."

"And you want me to look after him for you, correct?" Cid finished for her. "Ravi... that's an interesting name. I must say, you do have a good head on your shoulders, with a big heart to match." He scratched the back of his head. "I'll do my best, but I don't know the first thing about moomba care."

Gina waved it off. "Ravi's a low-maintenance moomba, anyway, so you should be fine until we get back." She bent down to Ravi and gave the moomba a hug. "You be good now. Gina's gonna be back soon, and she wants you to keep an eye on Headmaster Cid." Ravi squealed and hopped to stand at Cid's feet, looking mighty determined to complete the task he was given. Gina gave a final wave to both moomba and headmaster, then turned to hurry to the elevator where everyone was already waiting.

"I wonder if the others are okay?" Quistis mused as the elevator began its decent. "If the missiles really are on their way here, then does that mean..."

"They're fine," Gina interrupted, a determined look upon her face. "I'm sure of it. You'll see for yourself soon enough."

Quistis raised an eyebrow. "Another psychic twinge?"

Gina just grinned, a knowing sparkle in her eyes. "Naw. This time, I just know. Trust me on this. Besides, it'll keep our minds clear to our mission ahead."

"And she really is psychic." Zell said stubbornly, folding his arms across his chest. "It's only you and Squall who don't believe it. I swear, out all of the things Gina's got us out of, you'd think by now you'd-WHOA!" He cut himself off as the elevator gave a lurch and stopped abruptly. "Aww MAN! Now what?"

Squall pressed the buttons on the elevator repeatedly. "It's not responding." He looked around, and then down to find an outline of a small hatch. Reaching down, he pulled up the stiff metal door and looked out to see that it led to a rusted steel ladder leading further down. "Everyone be careful. No one's been down here for awhile."

"And it would help to hurry once we're on the ladder." Gina clenched her teeth as she waited for Squall to go down first. She didn't want to risk turning her ankle, but anything was better than getting smashed in an elevator shaft once the thing miraculously started moving again. After they had all safely made it into the first tunnel, Gina let out a sigh of relief and followed everyone further down into the complex. Unlike the game, there weren't any monsters there to fight, which made the whole trek relatively easier. A few more rusted ladders and valves later, the group found themselves in a core like place with the said control panel in front of it.

Squall looked down at it uncertainly. What the hell am I supposed to do? Even the headmaster doesn't know. He touched a switch, and paused for a minute. Does this thing even work?

"Give it one more go." Gina said reassuringly. Squall looked skeptically at her, but instead of questioning just how she was supposed to know how to work whatever he was trying to get going, he just obeyed and pushed the switch again.

"What was that noise?" Quistis looked up and ahead of all of them, where the core started to resonate and pulse blue. "Did it work?!"

"Everyone hold on to something!" Gina reached for the railing, and the platform that they were all standing on glowed a blinding white, then shot upwards at alarming speed. Gina honestly thought she was going to be sick, since it reminded her of those thrill park rides that Sharon loved so much. She opened her eyes she never remembered squeezing shut, and found them all in a raised portion of Cid's office, with the headmaster and Ravi looking around in a similar dazed manner. The floating ring that once circled the tall spire of the Garden slowly enlarged and spun itself down to the ground, causing the entire place to change appearance as it did so.

"HEY! THOSE ARE MISSLES!" Zell pointed out of the large window encircling the office now. Everyone watched in horror as the missiles raced towards the Garden and shot straight upward before heading down. Narrowly, but by enough, each missile missed its target and burrowed into the earthen ground, causing clouds of dirt to spray out every which way. The Garden detached itself from the ground at that moment, and slowly hummed its way across the plains, away from the debris the attack and the transformation left.

"WHOO-HOO!" Zell jumped up. "THIS IS TOTALLY AWESOME!" Ravi joined the martial artist in his celebration, as anything dealing with jumping around made the moomba happy. Quistis took a deep breath of relief, and Squall was standing in the middle of it all, half wondering if everything he saw really just happened.

"Uh, before we start celebrating prematurely," Gina spoke up calmly. "Maybe we should do something about us crashing into the town of Balamb."

Everyone shot her a terrified look, half wondering how in the world could she be so docile about announcing a thing like that. Cid went over and started messing with the controls frantically. "It's not responding... I don't know what to do!" He looked to Squall with a panicked look. "Can you think of something?"

Oh no. Not this crap again. Just what in the heck do they expect me to do!? Rushing to the control panel, he just pushed random buttons, some even at the same time, until the Garden gave a vibration and slowly began turning away from its previous course.

Cid gave a big smile. "Well, we're turning! Whatever you did Squall, we sure are grateful!"

"Yeah. Until we crash into the sea, that is," Gina told them nonchalantly, and tried her hardest not to burst out laughing as everyone expression once again face faulted as they confirmed that what she said was true. Man, I know I shouldn't be messing with them, but even I can't pass up something like this.

After a semi-rough landing into the deep waters of the sea, the headmaster wiped his brow. "Well, a job well done to everyone. I believe the worst is behind us for now..." He paused as everyone looked over at Gina, expecting her to broadcast something else unfortunate.

"Hmm?" Gina smiled angelically, and envisioned Sharon scolding her for once again playing the part of the innocent.

"Where are we headed?" Squall asked.

"We'll just take it easy and drift along until we can figure out how to maneuver the Garden. We can finally relax until then, and consider what to do next. However," The headmaster gave a slightly troubled look around. "So much for my room. Where am I going to change now?"

Everyone looked at him incredulously, then burst out laughing, something that they all desperately needed after going through all that they have. Squall, however, was still wondering how the hell the rest of them could laugh when they didn't know what was ahead of them. Gina brushed off her hoodie and held her hand out to Ravi. "Well, I'm gonna go check out what's going on outside with Ravi. I could use the fresh air. Anyone wanna come with?"

Zell pumped a fist in the air. "ME!" He rushed forward to the lift, and picked up Ravi and put him on his shoulders as they all rode the lift down. Quistis gave a smile, and stood up as well. "I believe I'll join them." She looked at Squall for a moment, but didn't say anything more as she got on the lift and went below.

Squall put a hand to his forehead and sighed. He almost jumped as he felt a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and turned to see Headmaster Cid smiling at him. "Go, Squall. You deserve a break. I'll take care of things best I can here."

Nodding and giving another salute, Squall left the bridge and made his way to the elevator, fully contemplating to stretch out and take a much needed nap on his comfy bed. But, after a moment's consideration, he found himself on the way to the 2nd floor deck where he knew everyone was waiting.