I like writing this story, although many characters are not mine and are
borrowed from square.
Ainsley sat alone in her half of the suite. Almost all of the lights had been shut, and the Garden was highlighted by the soft spotlights that were only turned on in the very early hours of the morning. Had Ainsley been outside, she might have noticed how the lights gave the Garden an ethereal glowing appearance. However, Ainsley was curled up in her desk chair with her small reading lamp on, frantically trying to memorize any last bits of information. This had become a regular habit with her ever since she had gone with Xaria to see her score on the exam. Ainsley had possibly, never been this worried about a test before. Occasionally she had even wished for Instructor Trepe to come back from vacation so she could bombard her with various weaponry questions. Instructor Barak, although fairly nice, didn't have the depth of knowledge added with the perspective that Instructor Trepe had. Ainsley sighed. The perspective was most likely a result of fighting in the last Sorceress War. She wondered what is was like to be in a Sorceress War. Especially when the Sorceress was your mother of sorts. Ainsley shook her head free of excess thought and continued to study the page. It was describing to her the Flame Saber in perfect detail. Slowly her head began to fall towards the page, as if some force of gravity was trying to pull her through it. After another five minutes, her head fell on the page, and she finally began to sleep.
Ainsley woke up the next morning to the incessant prodding of Xaria.
"Ains! Wake up! You're going to miss your test!" Test? Test?!
"Shit!" Ainsley yelled. She quickly scrambled out of the desk chair and smoothed her wrinkled uniform. She briefly thought about changing from her uniform into her battle clothes, but one look at the clock told her that she couldn't spare the time. She closed her book and was about to run out of the room when she was stopped by Xaria, who gave her a brief hug.
"Good luck," Xaria told her. Ainsley shook her head at her sloppiness and then smiled at Xaria as she dashed out of the room. Ainsley ran through the hallways, occasionally bumping into other cadets, and walked into the room, hiding her breathlessness from the running. She calmly walked to her seat. There were a few students missing, so at least she wasn't the last one in the classroom. Instructor Barak gave her a look, as if to say that he would have expected her to be there earlier, but didn't say anything. Ainsley breathed a sigh of relief as she slid into her seat next to another girl, Pyri Alter. Ryo waved to Ainsley as she sat down, and Ainsley smiled and waved shyly back. She could see a large grin on Ryo's deskmate's face.
"Wow," Pyri said with a sigh. Ainsley turned to her. "It must be nice to have a stud like Ryo for a boyfriend." Ainsley shrugged. Ryo was good-looking she supposed, but she wasn't really dating him because he looked nice in a Garden uniform.
"Yeah," Ainsley simply replied.
"Although Moss is pretty cute too," Pyri said and gave an enthusiastic wave to Ryo's deskmate, who smiled and waved back. Ainsley shook her head and tried to clear her mind in order to prepare for the test.
"So how long have you and Ryo been going out?" Pyri asked, interrupting Ainsley's efforts of preparation.
"uhhh…a couple of months I guess," Ainsley replied. She really did know the answer but didn't feel like discussing her boyfriend immediately before a test. She closed her eyes and began to envision the page in the weaponry manual that she had been reading. Page one…gunblades. The elementary gunblade was the Revolver, then the Shear Trigger, then…
"You guess? You mean you don't know? How can you not know?" Pyri, apparently, was not to be deterred. Ainsley turned to her, annoyance was now visible on her face.
"I'm trying to review for a test, maybe I'll know after. Can you please talk to me after it's over?" Ainsley asked coolly. Pyri nodded and smiled.
"Yeah, I should have studied, probably."
"Yeah…" Ainsley replied to this latest remark, which had made her even more amused and disgusted with Pyri. As Ainsley turned back to her blank console to recall more weaponry before the test, Instructor Barak rose from his desk chair to stand and face the class.
"I usually tell my classes how well they have done in preparation for this exam. Although I am only covering for Instructor Trepe, I am sure she has imposed an even more rigorous training program than my own. Congratulations for making it this far. Keep in mind that you must score an 80% or above to pass and continue on to the field exam. You may now turn on your consoles. Good luck to all of you." Instructor Barak walked back to seat himself at his desk, while all of the students turned on their computer consoles. Ainsley closed her eyes as she pressed the switch and heard the soft beep of the computer turning on. She then took a deep breath and opened her eyes to begin taking the test.
[1. Name two spells you can draw from a T-Rexaur, and one item you can gain by defeating a T-Rexaur.]
Ainsley nodded and smiled. She liked these animal questions. Although, she reminded herself, she mustn't get too confident. Xaria had told her that the first ten or so questions had been very easy and the rest of the questions had been challenging. She typed in her answer:
[ Two spells you can draw from a T-Rexaur are Fire and Thunder, and you can gain a Dino Bone from defeating one.]
[2. Name two tricks you can teach your dog by reading Pet Pals.]
Ainsley quickly typed in:
[ Two tricks you can teach your dog by reading Pet Pals magazine are Angelo Strike and Invincible Moon.]
Ainsley breezed through questions 3 through 20. She had to pause on 21:
[21. List the Gardens in the order that they were established, starting for the first established to the most recently established. List their respective and current Headmasters.]
[ Balamb Garden- Headmaster Cid, Galbaldia Garden- Headmaster Martine, Trabia Garden- Headmaster Faylinn, Centra Garden- Headmaster Squall.]
Ainsley sighed and continued with the test. She wasn't sure if Centra belonged on the list because the last she heard of it, the building wasn't complete and Headmaster Squall hadn't started to recruit cadets. She shrugged. It was one wrong question out of many, she thought to herself. A calm had now come over Ainsley and she finished the test rather quickly, in a little bit more than an hour.
Ainsley walked down the second floor hallway before hearing someone call out her name.
"Ainsley! Wait!" Ainsley turned around to see a breathless Pyri running after her down the hallway. Pyri caught up to her and bent over to put her hands on her knees as she attempted to catch her breath. Ainsley looked at her oddly as she pressed the button for the elevator. Most of her confusion was because Pyri was put through the rigorous physical training of a SeeD and was obviously out of breath from running down the hallway, and some of it was the apparent speed that the petite girl had finished her test in. From all of Ainsley's impressions of Pyri, she hadn't appeared that smart. Then again, thought Ainsley, the speed in which you finished a test didn't necessarily attribute itself to intelligence. Ainsley shrugged. Pyri seemed nice enough. She was cheerful and friendly, possibly a bit boy-crazy but…
"Hunh?" Pyri called. Ainsley was snapped out of her reverie. She shook her head.
"I'm sorry, did you say something, I'm kind of tired." Pyri shook her head.
"I was just wondering why you shrugged," Pyri asked.
"Just thinking, I guess," Ainsley replied.
"Yuck!" Pyri said vehemently, and Ainsley couldn't help but smile. "How can you be thinking after a test like that?" Pyri finished. "Come on, the elevator's here. Lets go get lunch or something." With this, Pyri grabbed Ainsley's hand and dragged her into the elevator.
Ainsley sat alone in her half of the suite. Almost all of the lights had been shut, and the Garden was highlighted by the soft spotlights that were only turned on in the very early hours of the morning. Had Ainsley been outside, she might have noticed how the lights gave the Garden an ethereal glowing appearance. However, Ainsley was curled up in her desk chair with her small reading lamp on, frantically trying to memorize any last bits of information. This had become a regular habit with her ever since she had gone with Xaria to see her score on the exam. Ainsley had possibly, never been this worried about a test before. Occasionally she had even wished for Instructor Trepe to come back from vacation so she could bombard her with various weaponry questions. Instructor Barak, although fairly nice, didn't have the depth of knowledge added with the perspective that Instructor Trepe had. Ainsley sighed. The perspective was most likely a result of fighting in the last Sorceress War. She wondered what is was like to be in a Sorceress War. Especially when the Sorceress was your mother of sorts. Ainsley shook her head free of excess thought and continued to study the page. It was describing to her the Flame Saber in perfect detail. Slowly her head began to fall towards the page, as if some force of gravity was trying to pull her through it. After another five minutes, her head fell on the page, and she finally began to sleep.
Ainsley woke up the next morning to the incessant prodding of Xaria.
"Ains! Wake up! You're going to miss your test!" Test? Test?!
"Shit!" Ainsley yelled. She quickly scrambled out of the desk chair and smoothed her wrinkled uniform. She briefly thought about changing from her uniform into her battle clothes, but one look at the clock told her that she couldn't spare the time. She closed her book and was about to run out of the room when she was stopped by Xaria, who gave her a brief hug.
"Good luck," Xaria told her. Ainsley shook her head at her sloppiness and then smiled at Xaria as she dashed out of the room. Ainsley ran through the hallways, occasionally bumping into other cadets, and walked into the room, hiding her breathlessness from the running. She calmly walked to her seat. There were a few students missing, so at least she wasn't the last one in the classroom. Instructor Barak gave her a look, as if to say that he would have expected her to be there earlier, but didn't say anything. Ainsley breathed a sigh of relief as she slid into her seat next to another girl, Pyri Alter. Ryo waved to Ainsley as she sat down, and Ainsley smiled and waved shyly back. She could see a large grin on Ryo's deskmate's face.
"Wow," Pyri said with a sigh. Ainsley turned to her. "It must be nice to have a stud like Ryo for a boyfriend." Ainsley shrugged. Ryo was good-looking she supposed, but she wasn't really dating him because he looked nice in a Garden uniform.
"Yeah," Ainsley simply replied.
"Although Moss is pretty cute too," Pyri said and gave an enthusiastic wave to Ryo's deskmate, who smiled and waved back. Ainsley shook her head and tried to clear her mind in order to prepare for the test.
"So how long have you and Ryo been going out?" Pyri asked, interrupting Ainsley's efforts of preparation.
"uhhh…a couple of months I guess," Ainsley replied. She really did know the answer but didn't feel like discussing her boyfriend immediately before a test. She closed her eyes and began to envision the page in the weaponry manual that she had been reading. Page one…gunblades. The elementary gunblade was the Revolver, then the Shear Trigger, then…
"You guess? You mean you don't know? How can you not know?" Pyri, apparently, was not to be deterred. Ainsley turned to her, annoyance was now visible on her face.
"I'm trying to review for a test, maybe I'll know after. Can you please talk to me after it's over?" Ainsley asked coolly. Pyri nodded and smiled.
"Yeah, I should have studied, probably."
"Yeah…" Ainsley replied to this latest remark, which had made her even more amused and disgusted with Pyri. As Ainsley turned back to her blank console to recall more weaponry before the test, Instructor Barak rose from his desk chair to stand and face the class.
"I usually tell my classes how well they have done in preparation for this exam. Although I am only covering for Instructor Trepe, I am sure she has imposed an even more rigorous training program than my own. Congratulations for making it this far. Keep in mind that you must score an 80% or above to pass and continue on to the field exam. You may now turn on your consoles. Good luck to all of you." Instructor Barak walked back to seat himself at his desk, while all of the students turned on their computer consoles. Ainsley closed her eyes as she pressed the switch and heard the soft beep of the computer turning on. She then took a deep breath and opened her eyes to begin taking the test.
[1. Name two spells you can draw from a T-Rexaur, and one item you can gain by defeating a T-Rexaur.]
Ainsley nodded and smiled. She liked these animal questions. Although, she reminded herself, she mustn't get too confident. Xaria had told her that the first ten or so questions had been very easy and the rest of the questions had been challenging. She typed in her answer:
[ Two spells you can draw from a T-Rexaur are Fire and Thunder, and you can gain a Dino Bone from defeating one.]
[2. Name two tricks you can teach your dog by reading Pet Pals.]
Ainsley quickly typed in:
[ Two tricks you can teach your dog by reading Pet Pals magazine are Angelo Strike and Invincible Moon.]
Ainsley breezed through questions 3 through 20. She had to pause on 21:
[21. List the Gardens in the order that they were established, starting for the first established to the most recently established. List their respective and current Headmasters.]
[ Balamb Garden- Headmaster Cid, Galbaldia Garden- Headmaster Martine, Trabia Garden- Headmaster Faylinn, Centra Garden- Headmaster Squall.]
Ainsley sighed and continued with the test. She wasn't sure if Centra belonged on the list because the last she heard of it, the building wasn't complete and Headmaster Squall hadn't started to recruit cadets. She shrugged. It was one wrong question out of many, she thought to herself. A calm had now come over Ainsley and she finished the test rather quickly, in a little bit more than an hour.
Ainsley walked down the second floor hallway before hearing someone call out her name.
"Ainsley! Wait!" Ainsley turned around to see a breathless Pyri running after her down the hallway. Pyri caught up to her and bent over to put her hands on her knees as she attempted to catch her breath. Ainsley looked at her oddly as she pressed the button for the elevator. Most of her confusion was because Pyri was put through the rigorous physical training of a SeeD and was obviously out of breath from running down the hallway, and some of it was the apparent speed that the petite girl had finished her test in. From all of Ainsley's impressions of Pyri, she hadn't appeared that smart. Then again, thought Ainsley, the speed in which you finished a test didn't necessarily attribute itself to intelligence. Ainsley shrugged. Pyri seemed nice enough. She was cheerful and friendly, possibly a bit boy-crazy but…
"Hunh?" Pyri called. Ainsley was snapped out of her reverie. She shook her head.
"I'm sorry, did you say something, I'm kind of tired." Pyri shook her head.
"I was just wondering why you shrugged," Pyri asked.
"Just thinking, I guess," Ainsley replied.
"Yuck!" Pyri said vehemently, and Ainsley couldn't help but smile. "How can you be thinking after a test like that?" Pyri finished. "Come on, the elevator's here. Lets go get lunch or something." With this, Pyri grabbed Ainsley's hand and dragged her into the elevator.