Ch 21 – A Cure Acquired??

Dr. Odine opened the machine just as Rinoa, Squall and Laguna walked through the door. He turned to see them walk in, immediately bowing to Laguna. "Mr. Prezident…" he said, performing the bow expertly.

Laguna looked down at him, allowing him to hold the painful position for just a little longer then necessary, before nodding. "Dr. Odine. How is the patient?"

"I have found something remarkable in zis boy…" Odine said excitedly, turning and tapping some commands into the screen of the machine, a little display coming up. "Do you zee thiz graph?" He asked, pointing to a small scale.

Colourful and wavy, it was punctuated by meaningless statistics and lines of data. Squall, Rinoa and Laguna all bent over to look at it, each with an equally confused look on their face. "Yeah, well whoop-dee shit." Laguna muttered, not bothering to tap dance around Odine's riddles. "What the hell does that mean?"

Odine pouted, before tapping a command into the screen, talking whilst working. "That waz the normal paramagical zcale for a normal human beingk, you , me, anybody, right?" He finally pressed a button, bringing up a different screen. "This is the boyz paramagical zcale."

The graph fluxuated randomly, the pretty colours more vivid then the first graph, the wavy lines almost taking up the entire screen. The graph seemed to move on it's own, as if it had a life of it's own. Rinoa looked at it with mild curiosity. "Pretty…"

"Don't you see vat this meanz?" Odine said excitedly, balling his withered fists and hopping from foot to foot. "This boy'z magical essence is feeding ze virus! In order for ze boy to survive, he needz to naturally increaze hiz magical output, and zat only feedz ze virus more! If ze girl who tranzmitted ze virus iz correct, then ze virus diez only ven it eatz zo much energy it simply cannot survive by itzelf!"

Squall rolled his eyes. "Meaning?"

"Meaning zat all you need to do iz take away his magical energiez, and ze virus ought to starve before ze end of tomorrow!!"

Squall narrowed his eyes. "The tournament will be tallying the separate fighter's points tomorrow…Zell will most probably need to be there in order to represent himself. Having someone else take his place wouldn't look good in the judge's eyes. Would he be able to be there?"

"Of courze!" Odine said, moving over to a small table. Lifting a gadget from it, he scuttled back to the small group. "Here, make him vear this!"

Squall took the invention from Odine's hands, turning it over in his own. He frowned. "It looks like a wristwatch…"

Rinoa's eyes widened. "I know what that is! That's a power compressor! Remember Squall! I tried to make Edea wear it back in Deling! Remember!?"

Squall narrowed his eyes, thinking back three years…before widening them. "Hey, that's right!"

"Yes…ze prototype of zat gadget was made a good few yearz ago…zat'z ze latest model."

"How does it work?" Laguna asked, taking it from Squall and holding it up to the light, as if it would make it more appealing of shed more light on what it did.

Odine smiled, placing his hands on his hips as he began to launch into a massive speech regarding the mechanics of the little machine. "Bazically, it takez ze person's magic and sqvashes it down into a little ball, and zen tranzportez it into zat device, vich zen…"

Squall grabbed it off Laguna and walked over to Zell. "Who cares how it works, as long as it works." Pulling the machine open, he looked down at Zell, who looked like he was sleeping.

"Hey! Zat's very dangerous, young man! Vatch vat you're doingk around zere!!" Odine protested meekly, but Rinoa simply tapped him on the shoulder, quickly stabbing some magic into him.

"Just shut up." She muttered, the Silence magic doing the trick.

As Odine ranted and raved silently, Squall placed his hand over Zell's chest, feeling his Dispel magic melt the Stop away, until Zell was breathing on his own accord. Zell opened his eyes painfully, feebly reaching up with a hand to claw at his chest.

The magic was attacking him already! Squall quickly grabbed Zell's left hand and slapped the device on. Turning it so the face faced him, he frowned. "How do I activate it?"

Everybody except for Zell turned to look at Odine, who looked at them silently.

Squall rolled his eyes and looked back down at Zell. His pitiful clawing was getting weaker and weaker. "Screw it…" he muttered, taking the watch-like device and simply pressing any button.

There was a small whir, and the device immediately clamped tight around Zell's wrist, before glowing a dull green. There was a noise like a vacuum cleaner, and Zell arched his back as light flashed form his eyes, nose and mouth, his body tensing to incredible extremes as every single magic spell and property was drawn from his body and stored in the tiny watch.

Squall stepped back as Zell uttered a dry choking noise, the effects of the device winding down, until the watch emitted a loud beep and Zell relaxed, his body hitting the hard table with a thump.

Laguna, Squall and Rinoa ran to his side, all looking down at his for any sign of life. Laguna checked his pulse, pressing two fingers to Zell's throat. "He's…he's got a pulse…and it's strong!"

"He's not sweating anymore…" Rinoa whispered, clutching Squall's arm with breathless excitement. "He's completely relaxed…he's…"

"He's asleep." Squall stated, standing up straight and facing the little doctor. "It looks like your device worked, Odine. You'd better hope it keeps working." He placed a hand on Laguna's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Zell will most probably need to rest here for a while…is that ok?"

"Of course, Squall." Laguna said immediately, ignoring Odine tugging on his sleeve. "When he feels stronger we'll move him to the Presidential Suite."

"That's great…I suppose we'd better go get some rest too…" Squall said, taking Rinoa's hand. "We'll find Selphie and Irvine and return to the Ragnarok. Your soldiers ought to be unfrozen in another half-an-hour. We'll stay in the Ragnarok until Zell awakens, then move him back in there."

Laguna placed his hand in his pockets. "Well…you don't need to stay in the Ragnarok, you know…you can stay in the Presidential Suite too…"

Father and son locked eyes for a second, a battle of wills as one weighed up the options of the other. Squall, obviously, still had doubts about the relationship between them – Laguna wanted to open up more to his son. The opportunity to stay, basically, in the lap of luxury until the tournament came around was an opportunity too good to pass – but Squall's stubbornness was still a factor in his decision-making.

"Thanks for the offer, Laguna…" Squall said slowly. "…But we'll decline."

Rinoa looked up at him. "Why?"

Squall blinked and looked down at her. The brutal innocence of the single synonym assaulted his composure as much as it would have if Laguna had had the guts to ask. Squall had to fight for words. "Because…because we wouldn't want to be in Laguna's way…"

"Oh, come on! It'll be fun. I haven't been waited on hand and foot since I left Daddy."

Squall shrugged and sighed. "Well…I suppose we'll take up the offer after all, Laguna."

Laguna's smile could have blinded them with wattage if it was light bulb. "Excellent…I'll have rooms made up for all of you immediately." He reached down into his pocket and removed a small hand-held unit, pressing series of buttons and holding it up to his ear. "Sara? Hello? Can you hear me?"

He suddenly realised that everybody was still frozen, and blinked several times before slowly closing the unit and replacing it from where he pulled it. "…I suppose the rooms will be ready in a little while…how about we go for a walk instead?"

Squall shrugged. "Whatever."

Laguna frowned at the remark, a little confused, before shrugging. "…Ok then. Follow me."

*          *            *

Zell was in a world of hurt, frozen in time, his body stuck in perpetual hurt.

Suddenly, the frozen sting succumbed to a moving pain, which was an extreme relief – for a few minutes. Then the frozen hurt felt like a mild headache compared to the throbbing agony his chest began to emanate.

It was like each beat of his heart brought about it's own end – like a bubble being blown up too much, it felt like it could burst at any moment – and the pain was excruciating.

He tried to fight it like he normally would, by simply willing his heart to slow, reduce the shuddering pounds in his chest to an almost bearable throb – but you can only slow your heart down for so long, and he knew that he was losing the fight.

His fingers clawing at his shirt, he tried to fight the pain physically – he wanted to rip his heart out and throw it as far away from him as possible, anything to stop the maddening pain – but suddenly someone grabbed his arm and placed something on his wrist.

Then his heart pain was a mere scratch compared to the undeniable agony his body endured as every scrap of magic within him was rudely torn away and placed somewhere where he couldn't reach it.

Good part was, the original maddening, relentless pain was torn away as well – and his body screamed relief, every muscle seeming to relax simultaneously. Bad part was the rape of his soul, the rude tearing of his magical defences, made him feel less then safe.

It made him feel naked, cold, alone.

"Anybody! Ifrit? Siren! Answer me!!" he screamed mentally, trying to find the comfortable warmth of Ifrit, the duel-hijinx of the Brothers Sacred and Minotaur, the silent assurance of Siren, and even the sarcastic tones of the Gravity god, Diablos.

His wrist felt heavy, and he could only just faintly feel his symbiotic counterparts rudely locked away inside whatever had sucked the essence from his soul – and they were screaming.

*          *            *

Selphie looked down on Zell as he slept fitfully in his comfortable bed in the Presidential Suite. The Estharian medics who had deposited him bowed to her and departed, but she didn't hear them leave as they walked out.

She sat down and placed a hand on his forehead, checking it's temperature. What had been a burning brow just last afternoon was now only a normal feeling forehead. His fever had reduced greatly, and the rock-hard tension within his muscles that had been there almost constantly had all but vanished. He simply slept the sleep of one who deserved a good rest, and boy did he deserve it.

She looked up to see Irvine and Quistis walk into the room, the door sliding shut silently behind them. The Garden had just gotten to Esthar, the patent Garden Ramp that FH had built on the west side of the Esthar continent making access to the cliff surrounded more easy.

"Hiya Quistis!" Selphie said, standing up. "I haven't seen you in a couple of days."

Quistis smiled. "From what I hear, you've been busy!" She looked down on Zell, still sleeping, even though they were talking at normal volume. "How's he been?"

"He had some 'touch and go' time this morning…" Irvine said. "…But with that doohickey on his wrist, he ought to be alright by about midday."

"Hmmph…" Quistis grunted, nodding and crossing her arms. Even though she didn't like to admit it, she had always tried to be the 'sister' figure to the others, ever since Ellone left the orphanage. Helping with homework, playing with them when they were lonely, helping them out with personal issues, that kind of thing. With her recent upgrade to Sub-Commander, however, her sisterly duties had taken a back seat as she burrowed into her work, not letting any social activities affect her running of the Garden whenever Squall was on a mission.

"So how've you been?" Irvine asked, placing a hand on his hip, resting his shotgun on his shoulder. "The Garden running ok?"

Quistis smiled. "It's harder then you think, running the Garden. I still have no idea how Squall can do it and still have time to train, instruct and have a relationship with Rinoa."

Selphie shrugged. "Meh…maybe he's better with handling the stress then you…" She quickly shut her mouth as Quistis got the 'kiss my ass' look on her face.

Irvine quickly jumped in to save his girl. "What she meant to say was that Squall is most probably more used to the job then you. It's big responsibility to run the entire Garden, almost all by yourself."

"Yeah…I suppose it is…" Quistis muttered, her ego slightly taking over, before looking down at Zell once more. She crouched next to him and ran hand caringly over his forehead. "Get well soon, Zell…" She whispered, before standing and leaving the room.

Selphie and Irvine watched her go – before Selphie almost collapsed with embarrassment, sitting on the side of Zell's bed and holding her hands to her mouth. "Oh my Hyne, that was so rude of me…Quisits must think I'm a real bitch now…" she whispered to herself, horrified at her remark.

Irvine crouched before her and took her hands away from her face, holding them up to his and kissing them gently. "She knows you didn't mean what you said…and anyways, it's most probably right. She does need to loosen up on the working…or she'll wind up like Squall did…attacking everybody who cares about her, either physically or verbally."

"Maybe…" Selphie whispered. "…Btu I cant feel a bit sad for her. I mean, she doesn't even try to get a boyfriend, and apart from the Trepies and us she has no friends…she just seems so lonely…"

"It's not our concern, baby. She's a big girl. She'll figure it out sooner or later." He shuffled a little closer, grasping the back of her head. "I've been waiting all morning to do this, you know…"

He pressed his lips to hers, their tongues flicking together as they kissed passionately. Selphie shifted a little forward, beginning to take control – and like most things, she began to shift into overdrive, scrabbling at Irvine's silk shirt with one hand, grasping his other with her other hand and pushing it up –

"Hyne…get a room, will you guys?"

They both jumped at the sound of Zell's voice as he opened his eyes and took in the scene before him. Selphie blushed a white-hot and scuttled out of the room as fast as her little legs could carry her, but Irvine managed to compose himself a little. "Uh…sorry about that, dude."

"No worries. Just make sure you give her one for me." Zell said as he winked up at the tall Galbadian.

Irvine looked down at his friend – before pulling a face. "Dude, gross…" he muttered, before leaving the room.

Zell chuckled and placed his hands behind his head, the fact that he was feeling a hell of a lot better then he had just a few hours ago feeling more relieving then anything.

It was only after he managed to successfully erase the image of Selphie and Irvine beginning to make out did he realise that his surroundings had changed considerably. Gone was the deserted Esthar roads, or the inside of Dr. Odine's laboratory. The walls were a gentle blue, much like the one in the Balamb Hotel – but the Balamb Hotel didn't have such good stuff inside it. The drawer beside the bed looked like it would have cost Zell a few billion years and a trillion successful missions to acquire, and he didn't even want to know how much the sheets cost. Sitting up in bed, he looked around. "…Where the hell am I…?" he muttered to himself.

He suddenly realised that his mouth felt dryer then an Abyss Worm, and he threw the expensive bed sheets off his body and swung his legs over the side, standing confidently…before falling to the floor in a heap.

"Ow…I guess I have a little more resting…" he muttered to the carpet, before pulling himself up into a sitting position.

He had no idea why, but he felt really, really empty inside, like someone had pulled out his lungs and most of his internal organs. I'm hungry…that's it. The virus must've made me really, really hungry. Whichever hotel this place is, I hope they have room service.

But, for the moment, he would fend for himself. He wasn't invalid…yet.

Pulling himself to his feet once more, he gripped the wall, using it as a support in order to make his way to a delicately carved wooden door, one that actually swung, as opposed to the ones which slid open.

Fumbling with the doorknob, he realised it took almost all his power to twist the round knob, which shocked him a little. I managed to bust down Dr. Odine's door…but a door knob defeats me? What's going on…?

Shaking his head, he opened the door and walked into a bathroom. "Oh, thank Hyne a million times…" he muttered to himself as he spied the toilet.

After doing his business, he managed to move to the basin and wash his hands, before cupping them and sipping the water slowly, swilling it in his mouth before swallowing small amounts. He didn't want to strain himself. He had no idea how long he had been out.

Looking up he caught his reflection in the mirror, and saw the five-o-clock shadow that had grown. It startled him a bit, as he usually was clean-shaven. The bristles around the bottom of his face made him feel somehow dirty. Squinting, he looked at himself in the reflection. Nope…nothing out of the ordinary… He opened his mouth. Teeth seem fine…so does tongue…I suppose I'll have to shave after I find my shaving kit…I wonder how long I've been out for…

Suddenly he heard the door open and close outside, a small gasp coming from outside the bathroom. "Zell!!" Angel cried in a terrified voice.

"In here…" he called meekly.

Angel was at the door in an instant, swinging it open to see Zell, still wearing the cloths he had on at Trabia, smiling at her. "Hiya honey. How ya been?" he said evenly, as if his life hadn't been severely threaten only yesterday.

It was all he got out before she threw herself at him, tears in her eyes as she hugged him as hard as she dared. He grunted with pain, and she let go quickly. "What? What is it? The virus?" she babbled, looking up at him with shocked concern in her eyes.

"Nah, baby, it's just that I'm not at my max right now, ya know…"

Tears formed in her eyes and she began to cry softly, placing her head on his chest and weeping, the relief that he was ok overwhelming.

Zell smiled and place a weak arm around her, rubbing her softly on the back. "There, there, I'm ok now…" he whispered into her hair.

I think. He thought to himself.

*          *            *

He walked out of the bathroom feeling cleaner in years. A good hot shower and a shave felt like a thousand Curagas to him, and the fresh clothes he wore were also a godsend. He closed the door and smiled over at Angel, who had waited on the bed.

"How are you feeling now?" She asked.

He walked over to the bed cautiously, as if each step was a threat. "I feel like someone tied me to the wall and tenderised me with a large, blunt object." Finally reaching the bed, he sat down gingerly, Angel moving to wrap her arms around him, pressing her chest to his back. "But…it's more then that…" he muttered, savouring her smell. "It's like…someone's also grabbed my guts and ripped them out…"

"Eww…"

"No, I'm serious! I feel really…empty inside. And the funny thing is…I think I've felt this way before…"

Angel released him and smiled. "You're just hungry. I'll order us some food."

She crawled over to the other side of the bed and grabbed the phone, ordering some room service. Zell allowed himself to fall limp, falling back on the bed gratefully.

His weakness was beginning to worry him…what had happened in the couple of hours that he was asleep? Or had it been a couple of days? And what the hell was this thing on his wrist? It looked a lot like a wristwatch, but seemed to glow with magical light.

"Hon…"

"Yes?"

"How long was I asleep for?"

"Selphie told me that you got this virus thing yesterday around midday, and that Dr. Odine stopped it at about three o'clock…you've been sleeping since."

"What time is it now?"

"…It's just about to turn ten."

Eighteen hours. He had slept for eighteen hours. That was almost a full day. No wonder he felt so wasted. "Do you know how they stopped the virus?"

Angel finally put down the phone and crawled back over the large bed to him, sitting just above him and placing his head in her lap. "Ummm…Squall said he needed to talk to you about that. I called him while you were in the shower. He'll be here in a few minutes."

"Hmfph…" Zell grunted, looking up at her. "I hope I'm alright."

"You'll be fine hon…you just need rest for now."

Zell nodded absently…before looking up at her again. "Listen…I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For leaving you and Ma at Balamb like that…I…I wasn't thinking right…I was so angry, I felt like grabbing the guy who did it and punching him through a wall…"

Angel looked away, out the window. "Who did do it, Zell?" She asked quietly.

Zell paused once more. Who's she gonna tell? I suppose it couldn't hurt…but if I do tell her, what would happen if the guy finds out? Would he try to use it against me? He's already tried to kill them once before…I suppose it might be alright…I should ask Squall. Yeah, he'll know what to do.

"All I can tell you, Angel, is that this guy is very dangerous and very sadistic."

"Do you know who it is?"

"Not yet…but I'm so close…" Hey…before all this happened, Squall was about to tell me who he thought it was…I suppose I'd better ask him…

The door opened and Squall walked into the room. Zell cocked an eyebrow as he saw what his commander was wearing – Estharian clothing, the long robes draping over Squall's body. He neglected to wear a hood, however, allowing his brown hair to be seen. He bright greens and blues, however, didn't match his steely grey eyes.

He smiled as he walked over to them. "Laguna's way of introducing me to the Estharians. He thought that if I dressed like them, they would open up to me more." He sat down on the bed. "It works…to a degree. How are you feeling, Zell?"

"Like I've been run over by a convoy of trucks…but I'm alright, I guess."

"Good…"

"So, what's up? What's been happening?"

Squall took in a breath and began to tell Zell and Angel what had been happening ever since Zell contracted the disease off Emily Strange. He told them about the discussion on the Ragnarok – about the point tally, about how they managed to arrest the virus with the Stop magic, the talk Squall had with Laguna – he told them everything.

After, Zell looked down at his Odine wristlet with muted shock. "So…I have no magic within me?"

"None at all."

Zell looked up at Squall with horror in his eyes. "But…I might need to cast magic at the tally ceremony. What happens if I cant?"

"You explain your situation and hope that your score is good enough for them to overlook it."

"But Squall…you don't understand." He looked down at the wristlet again. "Telling the judges…in front of the remaining fighters…would be telling them that I'm blind, deaf and dumb. The next round is a crucial round, and I'll be needing all the magic I can handle in order to win."

Squall smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "You'll be fine. You've been training for almost a full year against monsters without any magic, remember? How hard will it be?"

"Squall, T-Rexaurs and Grats don't cast much magic. Physically, I'd probably be able to beat anybody – but these guys will have magic. Powerful magic."

Squall's smiled melted into a frown. "Well, it's either have no magic for the rest of the day, or death. Which would you prefer?"

"What do you mean?" Angel asked, quiet up till now.

"If he takes in any magic from the Odine wristlet, there's a good chance that it might be contaminated by the virus, and he'll be infected once more. And we can't risk giving him any magic, because there might be some dormant virus still in his system. Giving him any magic might wake the dormant infection – so no magic." He took Zell's wrist in his hand and pointed at the wristlet. "See the green glow? When it's completely red, it will beep. This will mean that the virus is dead, and you can take your magic and GFs back. But until then, you're on your own. Now, Zell, listen to me. When, and only when, the watch beeps can you take your magic back in. Don't try to draw any magic from anybody until then – got it?"

"Draw magic, die horrible death. Check."

"And for Hynes sake, try to stay alive until then. You have the knack for getting yourself in trouble at the worst times."

"Lose the knack. Check." Zell took back his hand and looked down at the magical device, before looking back up at Squall. "When's the ceremony begin?"

"It ought to begin in about five hours – which, thankfully, is supposed to be the time when the virus kills itself. So, with a bit of luck, it ought to be alright for you to use magic at the ceremony."

"Ok…thanks Squall."

"It's alright. What are you going to do until then?"

"I think I'd better catch up on some more sleep…what do you think, hon?"

Angel smiled at him, punching him in the shoulder. "I think you've slept enough! But he's not going to be going anywhere very soon, Squall."

Squall looked at them, before rolling his eyes and standing. "Whatever. Just make sure you're ready to go at about two-thirty. I'll come back to get you." He smiled at them, before leaving the room.

Zell sighed. The knowledge that his magic and GFs had been locked away once more was an even more scary thought then having to face off against a fully functioning opponent. However, he was pretty sure that his bone-weariness was from his oversleeping and the virus's effects – all he needed was some food and a little TLC.

His strength was returning, however, and he rolled over as Squall closed the door, looking Angel square in the eye. She smiled at him slowly. "What?"

He began to crawl towards her on all fours, like an animal, not pulling his sight from her eyes for one second. She began to back away from him, crawling to the end of the bed. "What? What are you doing? Zell!"

She squealed in protest as he pounced, making the two of them fall off the bed and onto the soft carpeted floor, Zell twisting his body so he took most of the fall, giggling as he landed. Angel looked down at him with a mock-angry look. "Oh. I see. Well, don't get any thoughts, Zell Dincht."

"What? Like this?" he asked innocently, standing and picking her up in one go, easily placing him over his shoulder. His strength was returning.

"Zell!! Put me down! You shouldn't carry me around in your condition!!" She squealed as he moved towards the bathroom. "What…what are you doing?"

"I'm going to have another shower." He replied simply, the librarian unable to see the big grin on his face.

"But you just had one."

"Not with you."

"Zell!"

*          *            *

There was a soft knock on the door, and it slid open to let Squall walk in.

The lights were dimmed, and Squall saw Zell standing just next to the bed, looking down at someone sleeping in it.

He moved into the room, letting the door slide shut behind him, and walked up to Zell. Zell was dressed in his fighting gear – black track-pants with a black sweatshirt, his Uber Ehrgiez gauntlets glinting in the dull light. He looked down at Angel, sleeping, with a look on his face that Squall couldn't interpret.

Squall placed a hand on his shoulder. "We have to go."

Zell nodded, heaving a huge sigh. Raising a hand, he kissed the cold metal and pressed them ever so gently on Angel's lips.

She frowned slightly in her sleep and rolled over.

Zell sighed once more and turned to Squall. "Lets rock."

*          *            *

The ceremony was being held just on the outskirts of Esthar in the middle of the Great Plains. Red rock surrounded them all, as well as the great stands erected for the audience, made in a gigantic circle. Zell and the others rode with Laguna in the Presidential air-ship, the comfy seats and beverages served the only things portraying Laguna's taste. The outside of the air-ship held two rail-guns and a Bomb thrower, the defences of the elite.

They landed with minimal fuss, stepping off the air-ship's steps to only be accosted by dozens of fans. Laguna had allowed a red carpet to be unfurled for the ship, and railings set up to stop the masses from spilling onto the carpet.

Laguna and Rinoa went first, Rinoa feeling a little queasy from all the rich food she had been eating that day. As soon as Zell stepped off the ship, however, the crowd seemed to erupt, the cheers blowing out into an assault on the senses. Zell smiled, finding the whole scene rather funny.

He lifted his fist in the air, and the crowd cheered once more. Taking a few steps back, he back flipped off the steps to the ground, landing perfectly to the delight of the crowd.

Squall walked off the air-ship shaking his head, moving down the steps slowly and walking up to Zell with a look of disappointment on his face.

"What?" Zell said indignantly, but Squall simply walked past him with a frown on his face, moving fast to catch up with his father and girlfriend.

Irvine and Selphie stepped off the ship and looked out at the crowd. "Wow…I never knew Zell had so many fans…" Selphie whispered.

The group made their way to the ceremony stage, the travel through the crowd only helping to boost Zell's moral to hither-known heights. By the time they reached the stage, Zell was as giddy as Selphie on a train.

The stage looked just like it had in Centra and Obel Lake – red floors, with large scaffolding framing the back. A large curtain seemed to have been drawn over the vid-screen of this one, however. Looking across the stage as he mounted the stairs up, he saw where the other fighters had been placed. He turned to the others. "Well, guys, wish me luck."

Squall placed a hand on Zell's shoulder. "Remember, man, don't draw or use magic."

"Hyne, Squall, stop mothering me will ya?"

Laguna stepped forward and shook Zell's hand. "I wish you the best of luck, Zell. I'm sure you'll do fine, anyways."

Zell nodded, returning the handshake carefully, lest he broke Laguna's hand with the Uber Ehrgiez, and turned away, moving towards his four competitors.