Chapter Five – Problems
Chapter Five – Problems, and a new arrival

"We have problems."

Squall almost jumped when Sarah appeared next to him out of nowhere. "What kind of problems?" he asked.

"I just killed a Shadow Claw demon called Kataba in your training center," Sarah replied. "I don't think we have too much time before the rest of them arrive and start destroying everything."

Squall froze in place. "What?" he asked. "But how…?"

Sarah shook her head. "I have no idea," she said. "I can usually see if the Shadow Claw has started its invasion."

"How?"

"The skies turn back and the moon becomes eclipsed."

Squall seemed to think for a moment. "How much time do we have?"

"Two months at the most," Sarah said. "When Kataba fails to report back to his masters, they'll get suspicious and mobilise their forces."

"Then we start to train today," Squall said. Sarah nodded.

"All right," she said. "I want you to gather your best SeeDs and students in the quad so that I can brief them, and then we'll start training."

Squall nodded. "I'll get started now," he said. "What will you do?"

"I need to find strong monsters and train," she said. "Do you know of a place on this world where I can find such a place?"

Squall nodded and handed her a world map. "This island is called the Island Closest to Hell," he said. "Dragon-type monsters inhabit that island. You can train there, but how are you going to get there?"

"Simple," said Sarah. "The astral plains."

Squall gave her a puzzled look, and she just disappeared.

"Odd girl," he said quietly.

Shenand Hill

The air became electrified, as a portal appeared two feet above the ground. This portal was white in colour with even whiter bolts striking the ground as somebody stepped from the portal onto the ground and looked around. She was young and beautiful with earth-brown hair and sea-blue eyes and an angelic face. She wore a green tank top, black jeans, and a blue denim jacket, black steel-tipped boots and fighting gloves on her hands. She looked around and nodded. This was the place where the reckoning was to take place. This was the planet on which the fate of thousands upon thousands of people was going to be decided by one person. The girl sighed and steeled herself for what was to come, the War of Destiny.

"Prepare yourself, Eve," she thought. "This is going to be one huge battle."

She made her way towards Timber City to find a way to get to the country called Balamb, and to Sarah Phoenix…

The Island Closest to Hell

Sarah reeled back from the shock of the Ruby Dragon's Breath attack. This was the fifth Ruby Dragon that she had run into since she arrived on this wretched island. She held her sword in attack position and charged at the dragon, cutting a deep gash in its neck. She closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Spirits of Ice, envelope this creature in your icy grip!" she said. The Ruby Dragon was instantly frozen and shattered without so much of a death-spasm. Sarah let out a deep sigh of relief and checked her body for wounds. Nothing serious, just a few cuts and bruises that would be gone tomorrow. Sarah nodded…and froze. Somebody powerful had just arrived on the planet, although Sarah couldn't tell who or what it was, yet. All that she could tell was that it was powerful and possibly dangerous.

"I have to get back to Garden and warn them!" she thought. She turned and walked into astral space.

Seifer was in the infirmary getting his wounds checked on by Dr Kadawoki. She applied some Elixir to the wounds and nodded.

"You should be OK," she said. "What attacked you in there? Two T-Rexuars?"

Seifer sneered. "A huge black T-Rexuar with skeletal wings," he said. "I was handling it fine until some girl came and killed the damn thing. She called it a demon."

"Oh my," said Dr Kadawoki. "Sounds serious."

"Yeah, yeah," Seifer said. "Can I go now? I've got classes to get to."

Dr Kadawoki nodded. "Go ahead," she said.

Seifer put his trench coat back on, picked up his gunblade and left.

"Squall!"

Squall looked up to see Sarah standing in front of his desk. "Now what?" he asked.

"I felt a very powerful presence," Sarah said. "I don't know if it is good or evil, but I do know that it is dangerous. We have to be careful!"

Squall sighed. "Another danger? Can't they call first?" he said.

"This is no time for jokes, Squall," Sarah said. Squall let out a deep breath.

"Oh, and I've got the files you wanted."

He handed her a pile of at least fifty files. Sarah looked at them and sighed.

"I take it you have called them all to the quad?" she asked. Squall nodded.

"You can talk to them whenever you're ready. Oh, and how did the training go?" he said.

"Fine, until I was attacked by five large ruby-coloured dragon's one-by-one," Sarah replied. Squall chuckled.

"I guess I should've warned you about the Ruby Dragons," he said. "They're tough opponents."

Sarah glared at him. "Have you ever taken one on by yourself?" she asked. Squall shook his head. "I didn't think so."

With that, she left.

Balamb Train Station

Eve stepped off the train and looked around at the station. There was nobody in here that could help her, really, so she left the station and town. She saw Balamb Garden in the distance.

"That has to be it," she thought. "Hopefully, Sarah will be here already."

Eve used the road to walk toward Garden.

It took her about an hour to reach the front Gate, and when she got there, she found Sarah waiting for her, Destiny drawn and ready for combat.

"Uh-oh," she thought.

Author's Notes: Nooo! A cliffhanger…! You'll just have to wait for the next chapter to see what happens next!