"A New Face"
Squall was walking back to his dorm to finish up his work, when he saw Irvine talking to a female as usual. Squall watched as Irvine whispered something in the girl's ear and was promptly slapped across the face.
"Get away from me you pervert!" the girl yelled at him as she walked away from him.
'Ouch. I bet that had to hurt. When will that guy ever learn?' Squall thought.
Irvine was still trying to regain his bearings when he noticed Squall was standing there with a bemused look upon his face. "Oh, uh, hey Squall how's it going," Irvine stammered obviously embarrassed that Squall had just seen what had transpired.
"I can see your ability to make women swoon remains intact," Squall joked.
"Hey what can you do? You win some you lose some," Irvine replied. "Anyway I just saw Rinoa storm past me a little while ago, so don't go thinking that I am the only one with women trouble around here. What happened with you two anyway?"
"It's nothing. Did you hear about Cid's announcement concerning the SeeD Exam?" Squall asked.
"Hey, no changing the subject. Answer my question first," Irvine chided.
"Fine, whatever. She was just mad at me because I wouldn't tell her which squad she was in for the Exam. Now, did you hear about it, or not?'' Squall asked.
"Yeah I heard about it Selphie told me about it when we were, uh, studying, yeah when we were studying this morning," Irvine answered. "The whole thing sounds mighty strange if you ask me. You know, I haven't been around here as long as the rest of you and I don't know Cid very well, but I think there is something different about him since he returned to Garden."
Squall was surprised by this. 'Hey maybe this guy does have a brain that functions' "You know what Irvine, I think you may be right about that. I can't put my finger on it, but you are right, something has changed about the Headmaster."
"You know if I were you, I might pull rank on him and ask him what is going on," Irvine suggested.
"I don't think that would be such a good idea. We could be worrying about nothing, I mean maybe Cid just wants to insure that nothing goes wrong with this exam like it did last year. On the other hand if he does have something in store for us during the exam, it would be better to act like we don't know anything. That would allow us to have one up on him to know more than he thinks we know. Either way I think that it would be better to keep silent," Squall explained.
"Alright man, you're the boss," Irvine replied as he turned to leave.
"Oh, Irvine I forgot to tell you. I'm holding a meeting for all the squad leaders about the SeeD Exam tomorrow at 0900 hours, but don't tell anyone about it. I don't want this to go all over Garden and then have Cid catch wind of this. I just want to keep this between all the squad leaders," Squall added.
Irvine nodded and tipped his hat, as he walked away.
'Okay, so I still have to tell Xu, Selphie, Zell, and Nida about the meeting,' Squall thought. 'And then maybe I can actually get some work done.'
Few hours later…
'Uh oh, this isn't good,' Squall thought as he rubbed his eyes. He had been at this for a couple of hours now and the words were beginning to blur together. He had been trying to read the same sentence for about five minutes. 'I think I need to get some exercise, hopefully that will wake me up.'
Squall yawned as he got up and stretched. He opened his door and walked over to the Training Center. Squall drew his gunblade and was immediately met by a pair of Grats. Squall quickly leapt at the nearest one, ducked underneath the Grat's vines and gave it a slash that split its body. The other Grat tried to attack Squall from behind, but he quickly dodged its attack and unleashed a fira spell that quickly killed the Grat.
Suddenly Squall heard a loud roar. It was the roar of a T-Rexaur. 'Good,' Squall thought. 'This will really give me some good exercise.'
Squall rushed over to where the roar had come from, but he was surprised to find that someone had beaten him to it. It was a young man, no more than seventeen or eighteen; he had black hair, was taller than Squall was, and he wielded a gunblade. That last part puzzled Squall. 'Funny, I don't remember there being another gunblade specialist here at Garden. Then again I haven't gotten through all my papers yet, I probably just haven't gotten to his papers yet,' Squall thought as he watched the young man intently ready to step in and help if needed.
The man was expertly dodging the swiping attacks of the T-Rexaur while, getting in some swipes with his gunblade at the creature. The T-Rexaur managed to nick the young man on the shoulder with a glancing blow, but instead of wincing in pain he gave the monster a slight smile. "So you want to get serious huh? Fine by me," he said. With that he shouted, "Final Slash." His gunblade began to glow a mysterious green color as he leapt at the creature and slashed the T-Rexaur right across the neck severing its head from its body.
Squall looked on in awe. He couldn't believe the skill that the student had. It was at least equal to his own if not superior. 'Who the hell is this guy?' Squall thought as he walked over to him.
The young man was busy wiping off his gunblade when he heard Squall's footsteps. He turned around to see the Commander walking towards him. "Sir," he said as he saluted Squall.
"At ease," Squall said.
The young man then continued to clean his gunblade. "May I ask who you are?" Squall asked.
"My name is Clark Arcan sir," he replied.
"You can call me Squall. Are you participating in the SeeD Exam?"
"Yes sir, I mean Squall, I am. I really hope I will pass. It's always been a dream of mine to become a SeeD," Clark answered.
"Are you new here because I don't ever remember seeing you around Garden," Squall asked.
"Yeah I am. I just transferred here from Galbadia Garden mainly cause I wanted to be able to study under you. I have heard all about how you defeated the sorceress. I hope one day I might be able to be as good as you are." Clark replied.
'With skill like that you might be better than me already,' Squall thought. "How long have you been training with that gunblade?"
"Ever since I was ten and first went to Galbadia Garden. I'm seventeen now, so I guess that would make it seven years. I chose the gunblade because it's the mystical weapon of heroes. Only the best warriors can wield the gunblade and I wanted to be one of them," Clark explained. "Do you think, maybe, that you could spar with me a little bit right now?"
Squall was curious to learn the full extent of the young man's abilities, but he decided against it. "Not now, you should be focusing on the Exam. It's only a few days away. We will have plenty of time to spar after you pass and become a SeeD."
"Do you really think that I will become a SeeD?" Clark asked excitedly.
"Yes I do. From just what I have seen here I believe that you should have no trouble becoming a SeeD. Well I am going to head to bed now, I would suggest that you do the same," Squall said as he turned to leave the Training Center.
"Okay, sir, oops I mean Squall. I'll see you later," Clark said.
Squall just waved to indicate that he heard him and left.
Chapter 4 is coming up. Please R/R.
Squall was walking back to his dorm to finish up his work, when he saw Irvine talking to a female as usual. Squall watched as Irvine whispered something in the girl's ear and was promptly slapped across the face.
"Get away from me you pervert!" the girl yelled at him as she walked away from him.
'Ouch. I bet that had to hurt. When will that guy ever learn?' Squall thought.
Irvine was still trying to regain his bearings when he noticed Squall was standing there with a bemused look upon his face. "Oh, uh, hey Squall how's it going," Irvine stammered obviously embarrassed that Squall had just seen what had transpired.
"I can see your ability to make women swoon remains intact," Squall joked.
"Hey what can you do? You win some you lose some," Irvine replied. "Anyway I just saw Rinoa storm past me a little while ago, so don't go thinking that I am the only one with women trouble around here. What happened with you two anyway?"
"It's nothing. Did you hear about Cid's announcement concerning the SeeD Exam?" Squall asked.
"Hey, no changing the subject. Answer my question first," Irvine chided.
"Fine, whatever. She was just mad at me because I wouldn't tell her which squad she was in for the Exam. Now, did you hear about it, or not?'' Squall asked.
"Yeah I heard about it Selphie told me about it when we were, uh, studying, yeah when we were studying this morning," Irvine answered. "The whole thing sounds mighty strange if you ask me. You know, I haven't been around here as long as the rest of you and I don't know Cid very well, but I think there is something different about him since he returned to Garden."
Squall was surprised by this. 'Hey maybe this guy does have a brain that functions' "You know what Irvine, I think you may be right about that. I can't put my finger on it, but you are right, something has changed about the Headmaster."
"You know if I were you, I might pull rank on him and ask him what is going on," Irvine suggested.
"I don't think that would be such a good idea. We could be worrying about nothing, I mean maybe Cid just wants to insure that nothing goes wrong with this exam like it did last year. On the other hand if he does have something in store for us during the exam, it would be better to act like we don't know anything. That would allow us to have one up on him to know more than he thinks we know. Either way I think that it would be better to keep silent," Squall explained.
"Alright man, you're the boss," Irvine replied as he turned to leave.
"Oh, Irvine I forgot to tell you. I'm holding a meeting for all the squad leaders about the SeeD Exam tomorrow at 0900 hours, but don't tell anyone about it. I don't want this to go all over Garden and then have Cid catch wind of this. I just want to keep this between all the squad leaders," Squall added.
Irvine nodded and tipped his hat, as he walked away.
'Okay, so I still have to tell Xu, Selphie, Zell, and Nida about the meeting,' Squall thought. 'And then maybe I can actually get some work done.'
Few hours later…
'Uh oh, this isn't good,' Squall thought as he rubbed his eyes. He had been at this for a couple of hours now and the words were beginning to blur together. He had been trying to read the same sentence for about five minutes. 'I think I need to get some exercise, hopefully that will wake me up.'
Squall yawned as he got up and stretched. He opened his door and walked over to the Training Center. Squall drew his gunblade and was immediately met by a pair of Grats. Squall quickly leapt at the nearest one, ducked underneath the Grat's vines and gave it a slash that split its body. The other Grat tried to attack Squall from behind, but he quickly dodged its attack and unleashed a fira spell that quickly killed the Grat.
Suddenly Squall heard a loud roar. It was the roar of a T-Rexaur. 'Good,' Squall thought. 'This will really give me some good exercise.'
Squall rushed over to where the roar had come from, but he was surprised to find that someone had beaten him to it. It was a young man, no more than seventeen or eighteen; he had black hair, was taller than Squall was, and he wielded a gunblade. That last part puzzled Squall. 'Funny, I don't remember there being another gunblade specialist here at Garden. Then again I haven't gotten through all my papers yet, I probably just haven't gotten to his papers yet,' Squall thought as he watched the young man intently ready to step in and help if needed.
The man was expertly dodging the swiping attacks of the T-Rexaur while, getting in some swipes with his gunblade at the creature. The T-Rexaur managed to nick the young man on the shoulder with a glancing blow, but instead of wincing in pain he gave the monster a slight smile. "So you want to get serious huh? Fine by me," he said. With that he shouted, "Final Slash." His gunblade began to glow a mysterious green color as he leapt at the creature and slashed the T-Rexaur right across the neck severing its head from its body.
Squall looked on in awe. He couldn't believe the skill that the student had. It was at least equal to his own if not superior. 'Who the hell is this guy?' Squall thought as he walked over to him.
The young man was busy wiping off his gunblade when he heard Squall's footsteps. He turned around to see the Commander walking towards him. "Sir," he said as he saluted Squall.
"At ease," Squall said.
The young man then continued to clean his gunblade. "May I ask who you are?" Squall asked.
"My name is Clark Arcan sir," he replied.
"You can call me Squall. Are you participating in the SeeD Exam?"
"Yes sir, I mean Squall, I am. I really hope I will pass. It's always been a dream of mine to become a SeeD," Clark answered.
"Are you new here because I don't ever remember seeing you around Garden," Squall asked.
"Yeah I am. I just transferred here from Galbadia Garden mainly cause I wanted to be able to study under you. I have heard all about how you defeated the sorceress. I hope one day I might be able to be as good as you are." Clark replied.
'With skill like that you might be better than me already,' Squall thought. "How long have you been training with that gunblade?"
"Ever since I was ten and first went to Galbadia Garden. I'm seventeen now, so I guess that would make it seven years. I chose the gunblade because it's the mystical weapon of heroes. Only the best warriors can wield the gunblade and I wanted to be one of them," Clark explained. "Do you think, maybe, that you could spar with me a little bit right now?"
Squall was curious to learn the full extent of the young man's abilities, but he decided against it. "Not now, you should be focusing on the Exam. It's only a few days away. We will have plenty of time to spar after you pass and become a SeeD."
"Do you really think that I will become a SeeD?" Clark asked excitedly.
"Yes I do. From just what I have seen here I believe that you should have no trouble becoming a SeeD. Well I am going to head to bed now, I would suggest that you do the same," Squall said as he turned to leave the Training Center.
"Okay, sir, oops I mean Squall. I'll see you later," Clark said.
Squall just waved to indicate that he heard him and left.
Chapter 4 is coming up. Please R/R.