Chapter Four
In which some Interaction occurs between characters, and at least one Friendship is forged

Marlene pulled into the Galbadia Garden Parking Lot, rain dripping off her bike and motorcycle leathers. She walked it over to an empty parking space and pulled off her helmet, shaking her hair free. She suddenly became aware of a presence behind her. She had trained with an old sensei in Deling City, and was very adept at sensing auras. This made it very hard for anything to sneak up on her. She turned towards the presence, only to confront a blur that sped around the room at an astonishing rate. She used her training and reflexes to keep herself oriented on the person. She dropped into a defensive pose out of habit. When you're faced by something very fast, there is a definite chance it could be hostile.

August dashed around the parking lot a few times to dissipate excess heat, then relaxed his glands, slowed, and returned his senses to normal time. He noticed the girl had stayed facing him at all times. One eyebrow arched in admiration of her reflexes. He strode forward slowly, holding up his hands to show he was currently unarmed. "Hi there. I saw you race by me and figured you were probably heading someplace dry. So I followed you." He glanced at the bike, then took a double take. "Hey! Is that a Makari MK 4? It's obviously been modified, but the underlying chassis is the same. Those don't normally come factory-equipped with nitro rockets. That baby's probably got all sorts of nice features, right?"

Marlene smiled. Now that she had a good look at him, she realized he wasn't too likely to attack her. Plus, he apparently knew a great deal about engines and other mechanics. His aura showed as a murky orange, with a small dark vortex around the throat area. She wondered what dark secrets his past harbored. His hair, no, that was fur! Covered his entire face and head in a fine layer of orange tabby that reminded her of her cat at home. The handle of a katana stuck up above his right shoulderblade. A slight thickening at the back of his hand, between the knuckles, indicated where either some implantation or genetic adaptation had gone on. The fur ended at the back of his hand, circling down under his wrist. She noted that at least his chest, back, arms and legs were covered in fur, since almost all he wore was a pair of blue cutoff sweat pants. A light cloak served to keep the rain off. A pair of slightly pointed ears, striped tail, and slitted eyes completed the entire gestalt. She realized he had asked a question. "Oh, um, yes, it does have some rather interesting special features I installed."

August stroked the machine softly and studied Marlene. Dark hair, shoulder-length. Face kindly, but the gunarm said otherwise. Her mind was closed to him just now. Something in her eyes said she had seen her share of death and destruction. Motorcycle leathers covered a tasteful pink outfit. He stepped forward, holding out his hand. "I'm August. As I said before, I'm just looking to stay dry. You think the headmaster would let me stay here for a while?"

Marlene took the proffered hand. "Marlene Wallace. I was just about to go see the headmaster to see about my own room. I'm a new SeeD here. Have you been here before? Maybe you could show me around."

August nodded. "Yes, I have. I think it might have changed a bit in the conversion to mobile, though."

Marlene smiled. "That's okay. Do you know where the headmaster's office is?"

"Yeah. I think we just head straight across the main hall, then head upstairs and take the elevator. Shall we go?" He made a bow and offered his arm to Marlene. She giggled. First time here at Garden, and she had already made a friend. She took the arm and together they strode into the Garden proper.

As they entered the main hall, they were confronted by a scene of mass confusion. SeeDs and SeeD trainees rushed everywhere, responding to calls over the intercom of monster infestations. "Four Geezards and a Belhelmel in 2F Auditorium... Three Creeps in 1F West Hall... Two T-Rexaurs in 2F Elevator Hall..."

Marlene pulled on August's arm. "Come on! We have to help! Let's try for those two T-Rexaurs." August nodded, and they ran for the stairs, taking them two at a time, August hurdling a Geezard that slithered into his path. They skidded to a stop in the Elevator Hall, watching one brave SeeD try and take on both at once. He got smashed by a tail and flew back, skidding towards them on the floor. He started to rise, but Marlene stopped him. "Just relax. We'll take care of them." She checked her gunarm, making sure it was fully loaded, then dashed towards one of them. August drew his katana and headed for the other.

August stood ready in front of the great tyrant lizard. He sized it up. He'd taken on a few T-Rexaurs, and walked away from each fight. They hadn't. Granted, on some occasions, he had more crawled away, but you should have seen the other guy. The T-Rexaur roared and swung its tail towards August. He easily hopped over it, but he was sent sprawling by its return sweep. He leaped to his feet with a quick backflip, then lunged at the lizard, striking at it. He slashed at its legs and jumped back towards a wall. The great malodorous beast lowered its head and charged at him. August waited for a moment, then jumped backwards, flipping off the wall and landing on the dino's back. He slashed at its neck as he passed, then jumped off as it crashed into the wall. The beast sprawled on the ground, stunned. August sheathed his sword and leaped at the beast, biting and clawing wildly. Scoring and chewing at its neck, August felt hot blood squirt into his mouth. He ripped his head back, hauling a portion of lizard trachea with him. The dinosaur gave a burbling cry and collapsed. August stood, wiped the blood from his mouth, and turned towards Marlene's battle.

As the T-Rexaur she was facing turned around, Marlene stole a glance at August. August had just delivered the killing blow to his T-Rexaur's throat. As his T-Rexaur hit the ground, Marlene's T-Rexaur lunged at her and she dodged out of the way. She rolled over towards August.

"Want any help?" asked August, as he turned to face Marlene's monster.

"No thanks honey..." Marlene replied , "I'm just getting warmed up." With that, Marlene leapt into battle with the T-Rexaur. Delivering blow after blow, with a flurry of both kicks and punches, Marlene fought back in earnest. Her gunarm remained dormant. The T-Rexaur was big, ugly and stupid. Although it was starting to bleed internally from the punishment Marlene was inflicting on it, it still fought back through the pain. Marlene managed to dodge a few snaps of the mighty saurian's sharp jaws. But she wasn't quite so lucky with the beast's claws. One claw slashed at her, and she thought she had managed to dodge it, until a shooting pain ran through her left arm. A large gash appeared on her upper arm, through which blood started to ooze. Now Marlene was mad. When she got mad, she got even. She activated her gunarm. "Program 7!" A three pronged blade shot out of the barrel of her gunarm. Marlene leapt into the air, her three blades gleaming in the artificial light of the Garden. As she came down at the T-Rexaur, the blades began to glow with laser energy and started to vibrate. The blades cut into the T-Rexaur, as laser beams shot out from her gunarm. After a few more swipes, Marlene landed facing the T-Rexaur. The T-Rexaur began to roar, as if it was about to attack Marlene again. "Stupid creature," Marlene whispered under her breath. Within an instant, the creature realized that it was dead. The beast fell into a thousand bloody pieces.

Marlene turned and faced August. "So, what shall we do now?"

August glanced appreciatively at the small bloody cubes of lizard meat that was all that remained after Marlene's onslaught. This would be an interesting friendship. Several thoughts ran through his head in response to her question, but what finally came out his mouth was, "Umm, There are probably some areas that are still experiencing monster problems. Maybe we should go help out."

* * *

Pandora sat feeding Kocho out of the eyedropper. A noise downstairs caused her to sit up in alarm. The villagers always knocked before they entered, and monsters usually made more noise. She carefully set Kocho down and moved silently to the stairs. A man sat at a table in the corner, slumped and crying. Pandora came down into the bar. "Um... Can I help you?"

Laguna looked up. Standing on the stairs... "Raine?" No, it couldn't be. Looking over her again, he realized there were a few differences, but this woman could have been Raine's twin!

Pandora stopped, taken aback. "Raine? Um, no. My name's Pandora. Did you know Raine? People here say I look like her."

Laguna stood. "I'm sorry. You do look a lot like her. I... used to live here."

Pandora stepped forward and shook his hand. "Well, I guess I'm glad to meet you. Most of the villagers never come over here unless they're sick. I'm kind of the resident healer here. Would you like to come upstairs? You're probably soaked, and it's warmer up there."

Laguna followed Pandora up the stairs. "Thank you for your kindness."

Pandora headed over to the stove, rummaging through some boxes and canisters. "Would you like some tea? Oh, don't sit on the chicobo." Laguna leaped up from the chair he was about to sit in, then removed the towel-wrapped bundle. He chuckled, then cradled the tiny bird in his lap as he sat down. Kocho seemed to have fallen asleep, occasionally emitting tiny "kweh"s from within the bundle. Pandora moved to a shelf and reached up for a canister. As she pulled it off the shelf, an envelope fluttered down. She picked it up and looked it over. The name "Laguna" was written on it in flowing feminine script. She glanced up at her vivsitor, then down at the letter. She suddenly connected the name and face, and realized she was making tea for the President of Esthar. She handed the letter to him. "I believe this is for you..."

Laguna grinned as he took the letter. "So, you know who I am..." He carefully opened the envelope. A whiff of perfume rose out of it, causing a tear to come to his eye. Raine had worn that same perfume the day he proposed. He glanced at the letter.

"Laguna,

I knew you would come back here, since I never could get you to leave. If you are reading this, I have moved on or have passed. I had a few secrets about my past that you have no idea about. Do not worry, it is merely about my heritage. I am sure by now you have met the young lady Pandora. She has the answers, although she might not know it. I must leave you with that. I leave this as my last will and testament. Goodbye, Laguna. I wish for you to live on without me.

Love, Raine.

P.S.: look in the steel box behind the bar downstairs."

Laguna took the cup of tea that Pandora offered him. Pandora sat on the couch across from Laguna, looking at the tears he tried to hide. What had this man gone through in the name of love? He looked up. "Is there a steel box behind the bar?"

Pandora started. Not what she had been expecting to hear. "Uh, yeah. I saw it there, just never tried to open it."

"Well, it looks like now is the time." He headed downstairs, returning with a strongbox about the size of a loaf of bread. He set it on the table. They both looked it over. Laguna finally reached out and tried the latch. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. Inside was about 500 gil, a small book, and a velvet pouch. Laguna picked up the book. There was no title, it was just bound in red leather. He opened it to a page at random.

"I have set the stranger's bones and bound his wounds. The rest is up to the Fates and Hyne..."

He frowned and flipped to the last page with writing on it.

"Laguna still hasn't come. I wish he could come see our baby before I die. Our precious Squall... If I never see Laguna again, I shall name the boy Leonhart after his father's courage."

Laguna closed the book and sighed. There would be plenty of time to go over Raine's diary later. He then turned his attention to the pouch. Inside lay a fragment of a sphere. The sphere, when put together, would have been about half the size of his fist. Swirls of black and white permeated the sphere. He laid it on the table.

Pandora gasped. "That looks like!..."

"What?"

"A fragment of Materia."

"Materia?"

"Yes. It's an ancient system of using magic and Summons without Junctioning. Unfortunately, the system was hindered by the amount of space one had in their equipment..." She rose and went to a cupboard. "I have one." She came back with a red sphere. "This is a Summon Materia. I've heard of Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple Materia along with this Red one, plus the legendary Black Materia and White Materia, but never a Black-and-White one." She set the Summon Materia on the table next to the hemisphere, and the two pulsed with a gentle light. "Yes, it's definitely Materia. What its function is, or where the rest of it is..."

Laguna checked the pouch again. "Hold on, there's something else in here." He pulled out a piece of paper. "It's a poem." He read:

"Materia of Black and White
Save the world from endless night.
Broken now, it shall be whole
If you choose to fill this role.
Find the pieces 'round the globe
Before the world in darkness robe.

Three lost shards, one in hand
To thwart the darkness o'er land.
One to craftsmen, deep in stone
Who work all day, and live alone.
One to riddler, deep in sand
Who accepts answers by deed of hand.

Let this riddle be the key,
to thwart the riddler and find me.
'If it dies, its soul dies too.
But if it lives, the same be true.'"

"Huh?"

Pandora read the poem. "It's obviously a clue. This is obviously part of something very powerful, and we have to find the other piece or pieces. Look. There are three pieces. One in hand, that's the one we have now. One to craftsmen, deep in stone... I have no idea about that one. Nor the one about the riddler in the sand. And just what does that riddle mean? What soul dies whether its object lives or dies? Well. I guess this was just what I was looking for..."

Laguna looked puzzled. "Huh?"

Pandora chuckled. "You already said that. But I've been looking for an excuse to get out of here since this storm started. Now you come along, and we find this piece of Materia. This has "legendary quest" written all over it. We'd be fools to pass this up."

Laguna pondered for a moment. "I'm not really the legendary quest type..."

"Are you kidding me? You had adventures that would have scared the pants off most people! By the law of averages, you should have been dead at least twice."

"Who says I wasn't scared out of my pants?"

"You have a point. Of course, your articles in Timber Maniacs didn't really convey any fear..." She gestured to a small stack of magazines on the coffee table. Glancing at the stack, Laguna noted they were mostly old, worn issues of Timber Maniacs and new issues of Chemist Monthly (The Magazine for the Home Potion Brewer). He yawned. Pandora looked at him. "You must be tired. You're welcome to stay here if you like. The house next door leaks pretty badly, so you'd get wet if you stayed there. I'm afraid all you can sleep on here is the couch..."

"That'll be fine."

A scream from outside brought them both out of their seats. Laguna grabbed his gun and sprinted down the stairs. Pandora paused for a moment to put on her robe, then grabbed the Materia off the table.She then dashed down the stairs after Laguna.

Laguna burst into the rain to see a dead body on the ground and a Caterchipillar scooting towards it. Laguna lifted his gun to his shoulder and fired off a burst at it. The bug screamed in a range almost too high for humans to hear as the bullets riped through its body. Pandora, dashing through the door after Laguna, finished the insect off with a bolt from her hand. She then ran over to the body, kneeled, and examined it.

"No pulse. Pupils... unreactive. He's dead. Wait a minute..." She examined the wounds on the body. "Come take a look at this." Laguna crouched next to the body and looked where Pandora was pointing. "These are not Caterchipillar wounds. Caterchips leave bruises and abrasions. These are abrasions and small holes. This indicates a Bite Bug attack, but a few Bite Bugs aren't enough to kill..." She paused and compared the wounds. "These holes are all different diameters. Uh oh..."

"What? What is it?"

"I've only read about these things happening once or twice. It's said that Bite Bugs can swarm. These swarms are caused by a lack of food, or a large climate change..."

"Like a long rain." The two finished together.

Suddenly, a low buzz was heard from the grass about ten feet away. This was joined by another and another, then the chittering of Bite Bugs. the swarm lifted from the grass and swooped towards the pair.

* * *

Ace leaned against a tree, cooling down from the Grat fight. Suddenly, a voice cried out for help from nearby. Ace walked in that direction to see Rinoa fighting the T-Rexaur. He watced as she fel to the ground. Her dog charged up and blasted through the beast. Then the Invincible Moon took effect, and Rinoa turned transparent. The beast lunged, teeth scraping off her shield. Ace realized she would be in trouble when that wore off. "Well, we can't have a pretty girl getting chomped by a monster, now can we?" He unlimbered his sword and dashed towards the great saurian. The beast growled and lowered its head. Ace leaped into the air and delivered a cleaving blow to the T-Rexaur's head. The beast groaned and stumbled backwards, bleeding from the slash on its head.

Rinoa gaped at the man in the trenchcoat who flew at the beast. The resemblance was ucanny. He looked almost completely like Seifer! She came back to herself enough to begin casting spells. Ace was enveloped in the blue glow of a Protect spell as the T-Rexaur swung its tail into him. He stumbled back as the shield absorbed most of the blow. His guns came up, blasting holes in the beast's thick hide. The beast roared and retreated a short distance, then charged twards Ace, sending him flying into a tree. The shield absorbed the initial impact, but the strain of impacting the tree was too much for it. Ace screamed as he felt his ribs crunch. Rinoa yelled at him, "Limit Break! I'll cast Blizzaga on your sword! You whack the thing!"

Ace nodded and struggled to his feet. "Hyaahh! RISING FURY!!" Energy gathered around his arms and sword. He charged forward and knocked the beast into the air. Leaping after it, his guns blazed as he pounded the T-Rexaur into the earth with heavy slugs. Landing, both Ace and the T-Rexaur crumpled. The beast, however, failed to rise. Rinoa glanced at Ace.

"You'll be okay. Can you help me to the Infirmary?" Ace nodded and lifted Rinoa's arm onto his shoulder. They staggered off toward the Infirmary.

"Great. I can't even kill a monster without help," Rinoa thought to herself. "Maybe Squall's right about me..."

"How do I get myself into these things?" Ace grumbled in his mind. "Women are bad news. I shouldn't have gotten involved. She is pretty, though..."

The two straggled into the Infirmary, where Dr. Kadowaki clucked over them like an old mother hen. "Well, Rinoa, you've most certainly done yourself proud this time. That leg is broken. You'll have to spend a while recovering. I'll call Squall and tell him what happened."

"Oh, please, don't tell Squall, Dr. Kadowaki. I was just trying to do something on my own..."

"Well, you certainly succeeded with that. You broke your leg all by yourself." She turned to Ace. "Now then, what have we here? Hmm, Fractured ribs, bruises and punctures, and acid burns. You must have had quite a day, my lad." Ace grunted. "Hmm, a little ointment and a few bandages should fix you right up! Just try and avoid stenuous exercise. You could reinjure those ribs."