Chapter Six
Kadowaki smiled gently and handed Rinoa some ointment. "Try to lie down or stand as much as you can, sitting will irritate it, and it could turn into a rash." Rinoa paled, and the doctor laughed. "I'm serious. However, you should be fine in a few days or so. Just give it time to heal."
The only thing that seemed wrong with that statement was that "it" was referring to her backside.
Rinoa scowled and walked painfully to her room to take a nap.
Mina handled the car quite skillfully through the long curve and then double-clutched while coming out onto a straightaway, moving from third to fourth gear while pressing the accelerator down to the floor. In the passenger seat, Zell hung on silently, as Mina was hitting speeds between one hundred and one hundred and ten miles per hour while down shifting expertly in lieu of braking, hurtling the large piece of machinery towards Timber at breakneck speeds. He didn't want to do anything to distract Mina from her life threatening endeavor.
Zell recognized they were going faster than he had ever ridden before, when they kept consistently passing the bullet trains that sometimes ran parallel to the highway they were traveling on.
Literally flying low into the outskirts of Timber, Zell breathed a sigh of relief when Mina begin to wind the speed down to match the slower speeds of the heavier traffic they were now merging with. In a very few minutes, they would be driving into Timber.
Irvine was in the process of buying tickets for him and Selphie, when she exclaimed, "Irvine! Buy two more."
Irvine, attempting to turn to look at her, asked, "Why the hell would I do that, Selphie?"
Selphie thumped Irvine on his right shoulder blade. "Why can't you trust me just one time and do what I say without asking me why? Because Zell and Mina are headed this way and I doubt they've come to go sightseeing at the Amphor Pub," she added.
"Two more tickets to Balamb, please," requested Irvine.
Quickly leaving the train as soon as it reached Balamb, the four of them piled into a Balamb City Yellow Cab and, bribing the driver with a big wad of gil, he drove them along the narrow winding road back to the Garden at a much higher rate of speed than ordinarily. Mina complained if they would have just rented a car and let her drive, they would already be talking with Cid.
Upon reaching the Garden, after paying the driver, they ran to the elevator and rode it up to Cid's office. Stepping off the elevator, Irvine and Selphie were astonished to observe Cid holding a compact mirror up to his face and attempting to remove his excessive makeup with cold cream. Zell glanced knowingly at Mina.
As Mina reported the result of the two teams, Selphie saw that beneath the heavy makeup, Cid was beginning to break out in a bad case of teenage acne. Since she realized he was far beyond that age, she knew he wasn't doing a good job with scrubbing his face at night to rid himself of all the makeup and she advised him of that fact, once Mina had finished her report.
"Why, thank you, Selphie," Cid said kindly. Turning to Mina, he ordered, "Tell Nida to lay a course to Esthar immediately!"
Snapping up the SeeD salute, Mina replied, "Yes, squid!"
"What did you say?" Cid asked, not quite believing his own ears.
Mina answered innocently, "I said, yes sir," while Zell turned his back to hide his laughter.
When Seifer returned to tie Laurie up, he came equipped with rope of considerable strength that he used to tie her tightly to the base of the toilet.
After a couple of hours had passed, the door opened and Raijin stepped through. Speaking to Seifer, he explained, "The Sorceress wants to see you, ya know."
Seifer nodded and threatened Raijin that he would have his head on a silver platter, if he messed this up and ordered him to not talk to the prisoner. As Seifer left the room, he realized he hated leaving Raijin in charge of anything, but it couldn't be helped. He had to leave Fujin in camp to watch his back. Seifer certainly couldn't afford a mutiny at this late date.
Seifer had barely left when Laurie began to make small talk with Raijin, hoping to be able to elicit some information that could help her to understand more clearly what was occurring. Unfortunately Laurie wasn't able to comprehend much of the babble that Raijin was conveying, although she discovered that apparently he and Fujin had gone to some club in Esthar a couple of weeks previously that held a Karaoke machine.
Suddenly Seifer stepped into the room and announced, "It's time."
Zell stroked Mina's fingers with the ball of his thumb as he walked her to the library. Her first real day back on the job. Until they reached Esthar, that was. Mina waved to a few fellow librarians and stepped behind the counter.
"Well, it's been fun fighting crime with you, Zell Dincht."
Zell smiled, still holding hands from the other side of the desk. "Indeed it has, Mina Charleston. We must do that more often."
"Do what more often, or do I want to know?" Raine asked, walking up next to Zell with a grin.
Mina laughed. "Nothing special," she said.
Zell scoffed. "That's not what you said the other night," he joked.
They all laughed and Mina explained what they'd done in Deling.
"So...beating on motorcyclists. Why can't I ever come with you? You two have all the fun," Raine replied with a frown.
Zell grinned. "So, Mini, go check and see if there are any new Combat Kings, could you?"
Raine laughed. "All's back to normal, I see."
Something clicked in Raine's mind and she remembered what she'd been up to.
"I glued Rinoa to the toilet while you were gone," she announced. Mina stopped typing and Zell stopped talking to her.
"What??" they both asked in unison.
Raine nodded. "The students got a little restless, so we began with some pranks and went from there...Kazuya slimed the Trepies with his famous snot bombs."
"Oh, yeah, his famous Malboro...he's made quite the reputation from those things," Mina concluded.
Raine laughed again. "I'm going to have a real look around this library. I haven't had the chance yet." And she walked away leaving Mina to her typing and Zell to his conversation.
Xu and Laguna were waiting outside of Shumi Village in the frigid Winter Island weather. Besides already being one of the coldest places in their world, the artic wind blew in off the ocean in fifty or more miles per hour blasts causing the wind chill factor to drop into the area of thirty degrees below zero Fahrenheit.
Silently waiting for the Ragnarok, solely because they preferred to keep the icy blasts from entering their lungs, Xu felt somehow that she had missed some sort of an opportunity the previous evening, but was at a loss to explain what it could have been.
Suddenly Laguna pointed at the Ragnarok, which was coming into view against the high gray winter sky and he turned and grinned at Xu, who nodded and smiled. Five minutes later, they were gratefully in the warmth of the cockpit of the Ragnarok, as Xu directed the SeeD pilot to drop her off at the Garden before carrying Laguna on to Esthar.
The SeeD pilot, a young woman, who was gazing at Laguna, completely mesmerized at being this close to the legendary President of Esthar, who had trapped Sorceress Adel and was the father of Commander Leonhart, answered, "We have to stop by Trabia and pick up Instructor Trepe and Kasumi."
"Oh, alright," Xu muttered impatiently. She was in a hurry to return to the Garden, because she remembered the last time Cid had been left in charge without the benefit of guidance by Edea, who was still away on a spiritual retreat presently and how shocked she was, when she returned unexpectedly from her first real vacation in five years and discovered Cid attempting to pull Edea's narrow girdle up over her bra and panties, which he had already donned. That experience left a picture in her mind that she had never been able to completely forget, although she had tried.
"Well then, let's go," Xu ordered.
And less than a minute later, the Ragnarok lifted off the Winter Island snowfield and set course for Trabia Garden.
The Ragnarok set down outside Trabia Garden and next to one of the many clumps of forest scattered throughout the terrain. Quistis and Kasumi immediately came running out and quickly entered the plane in an effort to escape the cold air.
Quistis was delighted to discover Xu and Laguna aboard and quickly conferred with them regarding what she had learned. Xu sighed heavily, realizing now that Cid would be in charge of the Garden by himself for a little while longer. She could only hope he wasn't sexually acting out.
Stepping into the cockpit area, Xu ordered the young woman pilot to step down, so Quistis could set a course for Esthar double quick, chop, chop.
"Raine, you might want to get some rest before we arrive in Esthar. Go ahead and use my room if you want," Mina called to her from the desk.
Raine closed her book, a novel by someone who called herself Lily Chesterfeld, and shelved it where it had been before. She said her thanks to Mina and left the library with a yawn. Perhaps sleep was what she needed to get her worries of Laurie off her mind. She wondered what Laurie was doing in that precise moment, if she was alright...if she was alive..."No!" Raine cried out, shaking her head.
A student or two looked at her and she blushed with embarrassment. She continued to keep any bad thoughts of Laurie's situation from her mind.
Upon reaching Mina's room, Raine sighed with relief. The bed was beautiful, and it was waiting for her to lie on it. Indulge in sleep, Raine, she told herself. "You owe it to your body..." she replied, glaring at her tired reflection in Mina's dresser mirror. Hanging around Kazuya would tire anyone out.
Lying down on the incredibly comfortable mattress and curling herself into a ball, Raine sighed happily. So this was what heaven feels like, she concluded.
It was as she closed her eyes that she realized she'd seen Mina's diary lying open on the desk. Snapping her eyes open, she glanced up to see it innocently on the desk next to her. Raine shook her head. She wouldn't invade Mina's privacy..would she?
It was when she glanced at the purple-tinted page that she saw her own name. It's about me, she told herself. What harm could it bring? "It's cruel and dishonest," Raine's conscience told her.
Even as her conscience taunted her with discipline, she ended up picking up the diary. The first page it was opened to appeared interesting enough, so Raine began to read.
"I returned home from Deling today. Zell and I were sent there on a mission to find out more about this Sorceress who's apparently kidnapped Laurie and Ellone. I hope we find them soon. Laurie means a lot to Raine, and Elle....Squall's totally weird without her. Though they didn't speak much before, we all know that it's eating him up inside to not be able to talk with her. Squall's father is being a total idiot over this, as are many others. There's been no sign of Seifer...Zell's acting strangely...it's so weird. Things began to happen when he told me Raine fell through his wall one morning. Laurie fell through Irvine's closet, and Raine fell through Zell's wall. Is this supposed to mean anything?"
Raine stopped reading. She let her conscience be her guide.....and flipped backwards a few pages.
"May 3rd,
Dance class was cancelled today. I was terribly disappointed. Zell flew the Ragnarok there fast to get me there on time. So I arrive and Helen and Janika are all leaving, muttering something about the instructor being sick. When I asked them what was going on, they mentioned something about Balamb and weird things screwing everything up. I don't know what's going on."
"May 7th,
Zell brought me flowers today. It was a really odd thing for him of all people to do, but sweet nonetheless."
"May 25th,
I collapsed today. I wonder what's wrong with me. Dr. Kadowaki says it's just my excessive dancing and being tired all the time, but Zell thinks something's wrong. I don't know what to think. I can't breathe properly. I'm tired all the time. I'm running out of strength and I'm no longer hungry. I don't know what's wrong with me, and I'll admit, it's terrifying. I hope it's not some huge disease and I'll have to stop dancing or something. Haha! That would really suck!"
Raine paled. She had to read on now. Was Mina sick? Disease? Possibly. She never said anything about actually having a disease. Now she had to read on to see if Mina was alright.
"May 30th,
The doctor lied about the results coming next week. I got them this morning. I'm okay. Well, not really...I have mono. This really sucks. Because now I can't kiss Zell. :( Hehe. I'm so silly. Either way, he's taking care of me really well. I really really appreciate his company. He comes and visits me every day, even if I'm sleeping. I know, it's just mono, but the doctor said I'll be sleeping for a month. I'm not even sure what this sickness does to you. It just makes you extremely tired, that's all I know."
"June 2nd,
I did a little research on mono this afternoon. I'm really tired, so I'll have to make this quick. I might even full asleep while I write..hah, that'd look funny to a reader. :)"
Raine paled and blushed in shame.
"Mono is a disease, which scared me when I first read it...but it's just a little disease. A germ that attacks your throat and makes you really tired and stuff...speaking of tired, I could use a nap. Goodnight!"
Raine closed the diary and placed it back on the desk. So, Mina had mono. Grinning, Raine wondered where she'd gotten it from. Not from Zell, because she hadn't mentioned him having it. Though, Raine hadn't read the entire part before she explained her illness.
Raine sighed, feeling horribly shameful. She lay back on Mina's bed, resting her head on the soft pillow, and turned her head to see the small, stuffed Carbuncle next to the pillow. Smiling gently as she picked it up, she held it to her chest and fell asleep with it in her arms.
Seifer held the flap open to his large, semi-permanent, floored tent as the Sorceress Kayano swept inside and sat in Seifer's canvas back chair. They had just arrived from Esthar where she had been residing, ironically enough, hidden in plain sight a few blocks away from the Presidential Palace.
The Sorceress was planning on addressing Seifer's troops, before they, with her added power, attacked Esthar. Sorceress Kayano considered Esthar to be the linchpin of the entire fight, even more so than Deling City and Galbadia. The attacks in the other areas were to begin one hour, after Esthar fell to the Sorceress's force.
Raijin rounded out the party pushing Laurie into the tent ahead of him. She had remained tied, her binds were tight and her arms and legs were already beginning to grow numb and chafe in complaint. Because of the manner in which she was bound, she was unable to sit and Raijin placed her standing in the corner of the tent, cautioning her to be silent.
Sorceress Kayano had insisted Laurie be present, because she had remained uncertain what role Laurie played in all this, but only realized that it was to be an important one in some manner.
Fujin stepped into the tent a moment later and nodded to Seifer that all was in readiness. The Sorceress stood up and slipped her hood up over her head. She stepped out of the tent, not waiting for Seifer to open the way for her.
Seifer ordered, "Come on, everybody. Let's go." And he quickly exited the tent, followed by Fujin with Raijin and Laurie lagging behind.
Quistis had relieved the rookie SeeD pilot in order to facilitate their arrival in Esthar in a more timely manner leaving her to pout in the passenger lounge and commiserate with Kasumi, who didn't figure to have any further duty at this point either. In fact, Kasumi was anxious to return to the Garden and learn if the incredible rumors she had heard about Headmaster Cid could possible be true.
After landing at the Esthar Air Base, Xu, Quistis and Laguna hurried to the Presidential Palace leaving the SeeD pilot and Kasumi to look after the Ragnarok and grouse to their heart's content in private.
As they stepped into Laguna's huge private office, Laguna noticed, with a distinct sinking in his heart, that Dr. Odine was standing and talking to Kiros and Ward.
Oh, no! Laguna thought. Not that wacky crackpot!
Kiros never thought he would be overjoyed to see Laguna enter a room, but in this case he certainly was. Seizing his opportunity to break away from Dr. Odine, who was babbling some nonsense about Ellone and a new Sorceress, Kiros stepped forward and welcomed, "Laguna! Good timing. We've got all hell breaking out here!"
"Why, what is it?" Laguna asked, while stepping up to his desk where Kiros was standing. Quistis and Xu followed in Laguna's wake. Before Kiros could respond, Dr. Odine interrupted, "Vhen did Ellone begin to act strangely?"
Laguna stood and scratched his head absentmindedly wondering what Dr. Odine was blathering about now.
"Vhen?" Dr. Odine exclaimed, stamping his tiny foot in frustration.
"Oh, Ellone!" Laguna replied. "She began acting withdrawn and distant from everyone almost immediately after Squall and they returned from time compression."
"Aha! I knew it!" Doctor Odine exclaimed, "I, Doctor Odine, am a genius!"
"What are you talking about, Doctor?" Kiros inquired, suddenly inexplicably developing an interest in the conversation.
"Ellone has been taken over by a Sorceress!" declared Dr. Odine.
"You mean Ellone has been kidnapped by a Sorceress?" asked Laguna.
"No, no, you big oaf! Ellone iz ze Sorceress!" retorted Doctor Odine.
"What?" Quistis asked, incredulous. "Ellone is a Sorceress?"
"Yes," Doctor Odine replied, happily nodding his head. "In fact, Ellone is ze Sorceress who is threatening Esthar with her private army, as ve speak."
"What?" Laguna exclaimed.
"That's what I've been attempting to tell you," Kiros insisted.
"Doctor Odine, is there anything you can do to help Ellone regain her consciousness?" Xu asked.
"Surely, surely," he repeated. "I have just ze thing to exorcise ze Sorceress from Ellone, but it's in my laboratory."
"Well, did you call out the First Regiment?" Laguna demanded.
"We've been waiting for you to return," Kiros explained. "You know the Generals don't pay any attention to me. They think I dress funny."
When Ward nudged Kiros in the ribs with his elbow, Kiros turned and riposted, "Very funny - not!"
"Come on," Quistis suggested to Dr. Odine. "Xu and I will escort you to the lab ourselves."
"Zat vill be vonderful," Doctor Odine replied.
The three of them quickly hurried from Laguna's office.
Picking up the telephone from the top of his desk, Laguna barked into it. "Get me General Lee immediately. This is an emergency...I don't care if it is his quiet time!"
Kiros turned to Ward and asked, "Now where are they going?"
Ward shrugged his shoulders.
Squall had continued to lay several hundred yards outside of Seifer's camp for a matter of hours. Squall had kept his binoculars trained on the camp continuously the entire time and watched, while the sleeping camp eventually transformed into its daytime schedule. He had grown sleepy in the hot Estharian sun and was fighting off nodding with some difficulty, when suddenly he observed a Deling City Motor Car vehicle in the guise of a long, black stretch limousine pull up to the camp's perimeter and then be waved through by the on-duty sentry.
Observing Seifer step out of the front passenger side, Squall mused to himself, He always did know how to travel in style.
Seifer opened the back door on the passenger side and Sorceress Kayano stepped out with her back toward Squall, followed by Laurie, still bound and tied, followed by Raijin. Squall watched as they all entered what he took to be Seifer's quarters. Completely mystified as to what was occurring, Squall continued to watch.
A few minutes later, Squall espied the Sorceress now wearing a hood, come striding out of Seifer's quarters and step forword in front of the troops, who had been assembled since Seifer's arrival in camp. He also observed Seifer step out, followed by Raijin, Fujin and Laurie. As the Sorceress stepped closer to the troops, Squall noticed that the young woman, who he assumed to be Laurie, was being held about a hundred and fifty feet behind and guarded by Raijin.
Squall wondered, What in Hyne's name am I gonna do now? I can hardly take on thousands of men and a Sorceress all my myself!
When the Garden finally reached the general vicinity of Esthar, Nida had requested Cid come to the bridge, because he was in need of more specific orders regarding what to do next. As the Garden flew slowly over the plains just outside of the Sollet Mountains and Cid stood beside him at the helm, Nida greatly wished that Xu had returned, because Cid was dressed only in a bra and panties.
"What's that over there?" Cid questioned.
"Over where?" Nida asked, hardly able to tear his eyes away from the bizarre sight of Cid standing beside him.
"You have to look, Nida," Cid directed, in a resigned tone.
Glancing over in the direction Cid was pointing, Nida observed Seifer's camp and, after picking up his binoculars and looking through them, Nida also espied the solitary figure of Squall several hundred yards away from the camp.
"That's Squall down there," Nida answered.
Cid leaned down and pressed the intercom button. "Selphie, Irvine, Mina and Zell, please report to my office immediately. I repeat...Selphie, Irvine, Mina and Zell, please report to my office immediately. That is all."
Cid turned the intercom off, straightened up and ordered, "Maintain your present position, until I notify you otherwise."
"Aye, aye, ma'am...I mean, sir," stammered Nida.
As Cid turned to take the elevator down to his third floor office, Nida wondered bemusedly what the four SeeDs were going to think of Cid's new attire.
Cid stood attired in his bra and panties at the head of the long conference table in his office, while Selphie and Irvine sat on one side of the table and Mina and Zell on the other. As Cid explained why he had called the emergency meeting, Mina cut her eyes to Zell, who sat to her left and arched her eyebrow at him expressively. Zell quickly covered his mouth with his hand to stifle his laughter. Selphie sat with her mouth agape, while Irvine grinned out loud.
Once Cid had finished his explanation of their present situation, Selphie discovered her voice and demanded, "What the hell is going on here, Cid?"
"I just told you, Selphie," Cid replied in an impatient tone. "Squall is located several hundred yards outside of some sort of an armed camp and we are going to provide support for him."
"No, I don't mean that," Selphie explained. "I mean what's up here with you wearing a bra-." Irvine leaned over quickly and covered Selphie's mouth with his hand.
"Well, if there are no other questions, I suggest you all prepare to leave as quickly as possible. I'll have Nida set you down as close to Squall as possible without alerting the camp."
As Selphie continued to struggle with Irvine in an attempt to speak, the elevator doors opened and Edea stepped out.
"Cid!" Edea cried out. "What are you doing? Have you completely lost your mind?"
Cid flushed heavily. "W - When did you get back, Edea?" he stammered.
"I've been back, Cid" Edea declared. "I've been in the chapel praying to Hyne, as part of completing my spiritual retreat for the last two days, when somebody had to interrupt me because of the disturbance you are causing."
Edea crossed to Cid and grasped him by the right ear lobe and pulled him to the elevator.
"Ow!" Cid complained.
When the elevator doors opened, Edea expressed, "Please excuse me for interrupting your meeting. Plan on continuing without Cid."
And then she pulled Cid on to the elevator and rode it down to the first floor, where she planned on interning Cid in the clinic for the time being.
There was complete silence for a moment or two, after Edea left with Cid. And then Selphie filled the autority vacuum, as was her wont, by standing up and exclaiming, "Well, lets get going!"
Quickly standing also, Zell protested, "Wait a minute, Selphie. We haven't made our plans yet."
"Aw, so what? We're all experienced. Let's just go...it'll come to us as we go along. What do you think, Mina?" Selphie asked.
Mina stood up, smiled at Selphie and kissed Zell on the cheek, causing him to relax and smile to himself.
Irvine looked on enviously.
Nida landed the Garden as gently as possible considering he had cut the engines, when they were still in the air in an attempt to decrease the noise the Garden made. Selphie, Irvine, Mina and Zell exited the Garden through the front gates as soon as they were opened after landing.
"It looks as if we're about a half of mile from Squall," Selphie pointed out. "Let's get going," she directed, while beginning to jog away. Mina and Zell ran easily up on their toes, while Irvine clunked along behind them attempting to keep up in his heavy cowbody boots.
As she and Zell ran very closely to Selphie, Mina couldn't help but notice that Selphie's short yellow dress was flying up at every step, fully displaying her cotton panties to Zell.
That girl, Mina thought ruefully and mentally shook her head. She insists on wearing that short dress, but goes crazy if Irvine as much as attempts to lay a finger on her.
Mina glanced at Zell as they ran along, and Zell turned and winked at her. Mina grinned in answer.
Upon reaching Squall still laying on the ground, Selphie realized she needed to be careful in announcing her presence, as all of his attention appeared to be focused on what was occurring in front of him.
Slowing down to a walk, Selphie stepped up beside him and softly said, Squall?"
"Selphie, please get down," Squall replied calmly.
Selphie immediately dropped by bending her knees and resting on them in a manner that only an extremely flexible person could do.
"I've been watching you all since the Garden landed," Squall explained. "Warn the others to stay low too. I wouldn't want them to spot us at this point."
As Mina, Zell and finally Irvine arrived, Selphie waved them down and then returned her attention to Squall. "What's going on?" she questioned.
"I'm not sure," Squall admitted. "It appears that the Sorceress is addressing Seifer's troops for some reason. By the way," Squall continued, "I haven't seen Ellone, but I think Laurie's here."
"Laurie's here?!" Selphie cried out.
"Selphie, keep your voice down," Mina cautioned, saving Squall the trouble.
Squall glanced back and slightly grinned his gratitude.
Mina nodded her acknowledgment, never knowing how to take Squall.
"I think she's here," Squall explained. "I really don't know what she looks like. Here," he said removing his binoculars from around his neck and handing them to Selphie. "You take a look. She's standing tied with rope back behind the Sorceress."
Selphie took a moment to readjust the binoculars to her eyes and then lifted them up to her eyes.
"It's her!" Selphie related excitedly. "It's Laurie."
"Okay," Squall decided. "We're gonna move in closer. We'll go one at a time and low crawl about a hundred yards and then wait for everyone to catch up. Irvine, you go last, so you can cover everyone with that buffalo gun of yours."
"I'll run point," Squall volunteered, as he began to crawl forward.
Sorceress Kayano stepped out in front of the perfectly silent crowd of Seifer's hand picked troops. As Seifer stepped forward from behind the Sorceress to exhort his men to welcome her, she lay her hand on his arm saying, "It's alright. They're not rude. They're in awe and a little frightened." Seifer nodded and stepped back to his former position.
Sorceress Kayano began to speak. "Men, I have not come here this morning to offer you anything as mundane as a pep talk. No, I have come here to assure you of victory."
The troops began to stir in some excitement.
"Yes, assure you of victory," the Sorceress continued. "How can I do that, you might ask? How can I assure you of victory over Esthar...the strongest, most important nation on Earth? The answer is quite simple...because of my personal power."
A few of the men among the lines of soldiers began to cheer.
"Yes, my personal power," Kayano repeated. "There is no one, no army and no other sorceress who can stand up to my power!" she shouted out.
More of the troops began to grow excited and to cry out in affirmation of what the Sorceress was saying.
"Now you men," Soceress Kayano continued more calmly, "are the cream of the crop. You were handpicked by General Almasy to serve under him."
Over half the men were now cheering or applauding everything Kayano shouted out.
"You are the linchpin of our entire endeavor!" the Sorceress cried out. "None of our other armies will attack until we have subdued the power of Esthar. It is all up to you. The world is there for the plucking! Are you men enough to take it?!" Kayano shouted out.
As the entire army to a man screamed out its approval of Sorceress Kayano, she stepped back silently smiling to herself.
Raine knocked on Rinoa's dorm room door loudly, smiling to herself with amusement when she heard Rinoa mutter curses.
"What?" the raven-haired beauty demanded, when she ripped the door open.
Raine smiled innocently. "It's time to go. Garden's landed."
"Go? Go where?"
Raine grinned and tugged Rinoa out of her dorm room. "Go to save Laurie."
"Again with Laurie...you know, I care for the girl's safety and all, but I was just unglued from a toilet. I can't sit down, I can't fight, I can't..."
"You can't shut up," Raine finished for her, tugging her harder. "Now come on!"
Rinoa followed reluctantly, complaining the entire way. "But...Raine! I forgot my shuriken!"
Raine's smile fell and she glared at Rinoa in impatience. "Well, go and get it! And hurry back!"
Rinoa grinned and took off, returning to a distraught Raine around fifteen minutes later. "I had to go to the bathroom," was Rinoa's poor excuse. In her left hand, she held her weapon.
"I thought you couldn't sit down," Raine replied, raising an eyebrow in questioning.
Rinoa grinned innocently. "Well, even though I'm still deathly afraid of toilets, I found a way!"
Raine sighed and rubbed her temples in agony. "I don't believe this.....Hyne or God, whichever you people believe in on this twisted planet.....help me."
Rinoa grinned happily. "Well, shall we get going?"
Raine groaned and nodded. "Yes, Rinoa. We should get going. I've said that for the past twenty minutes."
"Well, I think that we should get going, then!" Rinoa replied happily, taking Raine by the hand and leading her to the front exit of the Garden.
Laguna was pacing in his office, while Kiros and Ward stood by his desk. Laguna momentarily stopped pacing.
"Who do we have stationed by the wall?" he asked.
"The 1st, 3rd and 5th battalions, as I've already told you four times, Laguana," Kiros answered dryly.
Laguna began pacing again, back and forth and then paused again.
"There's a new Sorceress out there, you know," Laguna declared.
"Yeah, I know, Laguna," Kiros answered, nodding his head. "You've already told me that four times, you know," he added dryly.
Ward elbowed Kiros sharply in the ribs.
"Ow!" KIros protested, shooting a nasty look at Ward.
"I forgot to tell you," Kiros confessed. "One of our advanced scouts reported that Squall is out there on the plains with a small force of personnel."
"Squall's out there?! By the Sorceress' camp?!" Laguana questioned excitedly.
"That's what I just said," Kiros replied sardonically.
"The Sorceress has Ellone, you know that?" Laguna inquired.
Laguna obviously preferred to disbelieve Dr. Odine. He discovered it to be much more distressing to consider little Elle had become a Sorceress, rather then a kidnap victim.
"Yes, Laguna," Kiros answered patiently. "You've already told me that eight times."
"Laguna, where are you going?" Kirpos called out, with some alarum.
Laguna paused in his doorway and glanced back.
"I'm going to the battlefield, come on, will ya?"
And then he turned and started down the wide corridor leading to the transporter that would carry him to the city outside of the Palace doors.
Kiros look at Ward for a few seconds and then replied, "No, we'll stay here."
Xu, Quistis and Dr. Odine hurried through the streets of Esthar on their way to the lab, while the rest of the population of Esthar appeared to be running amuck in the streets. The general populace of Esthar had been particularly prone to panic, since the second Lunar Cry had fallen on their city some months before and now they understood they were under attack once again by another Sorceress.
The few military personnel and police officers that could be spared from guarding the city's entrances appeared to not be having any impact at all on the fleeing Estharians. After one man stumbled into Dr. Odine knocking him rudely to the street, Quistis reached down and helped him up.
"Zank you," he replied. "Vat iz wrong vit zese peoples?" Dr. Odine inquired, puzzled.
"They're frightened, Dr. Odine," Xu explained.
"Of me?" the doctor responded. "They have no need to be frightened of me. I am a genius!"
"No, no," Quistis replied impatiently. "They are frightened of the Sorceress."
"Ze Sorceress?" Dr. Odine exclaimed incredulously. "Ze Sorceress iz Ellone. Zhere is no need of them to be frightened of Ellone."
Xu responded, "But they don't know that! They think...oh, never mind. We're just wasting time, let's just go."
Once Quistis, Xu and Dr. Odine reached the relative safety of his lab, he began scurrying from here to there to back again like a random electron.
Stopping at one of his many work benches, he pulled open a deep bottom drawer and plunged his tiny hands into it, throwing various objects over his back as he mnuttered to himself.
"Ah, here it is," he proclaimed, pulling out something closely resembling a syringe.
"Kom over here, please," Dr. Odine directed Xu and Quistis.
After Xu and Quistis reached his side, Dr. Odine explained, "Now zis iz vat ve use to exorcize ze Sorceress from Ellone."
"What...that little thing?" Quistis questioned. "It looks like an ordinary syringe."
Dr. Odine appeared to take a much closer look at the object in his hand and explained, "It is an ordinary syringe. Vat am I thinking?"
Throwing the small syringe back into the deep drawer and then literally diving in after it, Dr. Odine emerged with something that resembled a syringe, although it was three feet long and had a deadly looking tip attached to it.
Quistis inquired, "Dr. Odine, are you sure this is safe...that it won't harm Ellone?"
"Of course it's safe! It iz Odine guaranteed," he assured her.
"Whatever that means," Quistis muttered.
"Let's just go," Xu directed, anxious to be on her way.
"Go?!" echoed Dr. Odine. "Go where?"
"Why, to the front of course," Quistis explained.
"Odine refuses to go to the front!" reposted the little man, stamping his foot in frustration.
"But you've got to go! Ellone's there!" exclaimed Xu.
"Oh, zat's different," Dr. Odine replied. "Zhen I vill go."
Xu and Quistis glanced at each other and rolled their eyes at the good Doctor's capriciousness.
In the time it took Sorceress Kayano to win over Seifer's troops, the slight force from Garden had traveled efficiently to within a hundred yards of the camp via low crawling.
"Booyaka!" Selphie softly exclaimed. "That low crawling was really hard on my knees and elbows."
Glancing over at her, even Squall was forced to feel a shred of sympathy for Selphie, when he observed the mass of raw bloody flesh that now represented her knees and elbows. Immediately crawling over to her, Mina cast cures on both areas.
"Ah," Selphie sighed in relief. "Thank you so much, Mina. I'm running low on healing magic and thought I'd better save it, if it came to a fight."
Mina smiled in return.
"What are we gonna do, Squall?" Zell asked anxiously.
"Something massive," was his laconic reply.