The First Battlefield
As Squall and his partner made it back to the brightly-lit garden, Quistis stopped him and said, "That was great work out there today. Go to your dorm, get some rest. Prepare for the field exam. And most importantly, stay out of trouble."
Squall knew right away what, or whom, she was referring to when she said the word 'trouble'. Don't worry, instructor, I won't bother Seifer unless he bothers me. Squall walked away towards his dorm.
Once he reached his dorm, he noticed what looked like the same glass of orange juice that he was drinking that morning standing next to the Timber Maniacs comic. His roommate didn't even bother to clean up. Not like he ever does…
Squall didn't care much for his roommate or the fact that he didn't clean much. He was tired and wanted to go to sleep. He reached his bed and tiredly collapsed into it. In a few moments, Squall was asleep and nothing in the world could bother him.
* * *
"Attention, attention! All students taking today's field exam proceed to the main lobby. Attention! All students taking today's field exam proceed to the main lobby immediately."
Squall woke up to the sound of the loudspeaker ringing in his ears. He got out of bed and looked at the clock hanging from the wall in front of him. To his dismay, it was only 5:23. It seemed like I was sleeping forever. The most surprising thing that Squall noticed was that his anxiety-related dreams, or so it seems, have ended. This was the first time he fell asleep and didn't have any nightmares for a long time.
Squall, fully dressed since he fell asleep fully dressed, walked out of his dormitory room and began his walk towards the main lobby. Halfway there he remembered that he had to change into the cadet uniform for the Field Exam. Damn…
Squall rushed back to his dorm and changed into the cadet uniform; a tasteless, grey cotton costume with gold designs on both of the shoulders and matching pants. He tried to admire the uniform in his mirror or figure out some way in which it looked good but his efforts were in vain. To hell with it… He walked out and proceeded to the main lobby again.
When he finally got there, he saw Quistis, Headmaster Cid, and Xu already there. Xu was the Headmaster's secretary. She was also in charge of training new SeeDs and sending veteran SeeDs into battle.
He saw that she and Quistis were wearing the SeeD uniform. If only I could wear that instead of this crappy cadet one…
"Ah, good to see you again, Squall. I don't believe you've ever met the Garden's secretary, Xu. You are to refer to her as Secretary Xu for the duration of the mission, and indefinitely after the mission as well," said Quistis introducing the two strangers.
"I'm pleased to meet you…Secretary Xu," Squall replied hesitantly.
"Ah, I have heard much about you, Squall. Quistis tells me that you are a perfect student."
…Whatever… "Let's get down to business please? Why did you call me down here?"
"I believe you know why you were called down here. We will be sending you onto your Field Exam, which will determine whether you become a SeeD or not. You shall be a part of a three-person team. The team will consist of you, Seifer, and Zell."
Zell? Seifer?! "Can I change my team please? I doubt that being paired up with Seifer is the best way to go about this thing…"
"Sorry," said Quistis, "The teams were set way before today, and there is nothing you, or anyone else for that matter, can do. But look at the bright side. At least you don't have a problem with this 'Zell' character. I heard him described as 'lively'. Maybe you can start a friendship."
"I wouldn't really call it a problem. And I wouldn't call him lively. He's just…loud," answered Squall.
When Squall finished talking, Quistis quietly laughed and called across the main hall, "Dincht! Zell Dincht!"
"Yeah, coming, coming!"
Squall looked over in the direction the response came from and saw a 5'5" male with a crude tattoo spreading out on the left side of his face. It vaguely reminded Squall of the gold patterns on the shoulders of the cadet uniforms, one of which Zell was also wearing.
Not to his surprise, Zell was practicing his karate skills. He punched at the air multiple times with his clenched fists and then somersaulted over to where Squall was standing. "Hey, Squall. Heard a lot about you," said Zell, wiping his hand against his pant leg and stretching it out towards Squall for a handshake.
Squall looked from Zell's face to his outstretched hand and back. There was an awkward silence which was broken when Squall finally decided on a course of action. He crossed his arms, looked back at Quistis and asked, "When do we get started?"
Zell's hand was left in the air. Squall 'left him hanging.' Zell frowned and turned around to continue sparring with his shadow.
Quistis replied, "As soon as we find Seifer, we will be off."
"…I'll find him," Squall volunteered, since he knew that no-one else was planning on going to look for him.
Squall headed away from the main lobby toward one of the hallways that branch from it. Not here… Seifer was nowhere to be found. He proceeded to search. After a while he found Seifer sitting on a bench staring into space. "Seifer, come on. The test's starting." Squall noticed that Seifer wasn't wearing his cadet uniform like he was supposed to. Disobedient as always, are we?
Seifer glanced at Squall and said absolutely nothing. Whatever… Squall walked away, heading back towards the main lobby.
When he got there, he told the group that he couldn't find Seifer even though he did. Headmaster Cid volunteered to make an encouraging speech before the group departed to the Field Exam destination. "Squall, Zell, and Seifer, wherever he may be…this is going to be your first real battle. You must remember – do not be scared. Don't lose your cool and I have every confidence that you will make it back and pass with flying colors. Now…are you nervous?" He looked at Zell.
Zell responded, "A little, but I'll get over it by the time we get there…"
Cid then asked, "Squall? What about you…?"
Squall slowly shook his head no and turned to Quistis. "Who is going to be the captain of the team?"
"What does it matter? You are all on the same team, and you are all to function as one entity…why do you care who the captain is?"
The group turned and started pacing towards the garage, and Squall repeated slowly, "…Who is the captain of our team?"
"Seifer…", said Quistis in a whisper as she sped up pace towards the car.
* * *
The group paced quietly through the garage toward the car headed to Balamb, the county right next to their garden; a county in which they would board a boat headed towards their final destination. Seifer caught up to the group and they all sat in the 70's style car with a light blue tail and a dark brown nose. One of the garden staff drove the vehicle while Seifer, Squall, Zell, Quistis, and Xu sat in the back.
Xu noticed Seifer as they opened the back door of the car, "Ah, Seifer. How many times has it been now…?" A thin smile spreads across her face.
"You know me, I just love these exams."
The car started and began to move. The group rode on in silence until Zell got bored. "Squall, lemme see your gunblade."
Squall didn't answer. The anxiety has returned.
"Come on man!!! Just for one second!" He was relentless in his effort to eye Squall's weapon.
Squall still didn't answer. He proceeded to stare at the floor and keep himself calm.
"Tch…fine. You be that way," said Zell, a little annoyed.
In a few minutes' time, Zell got up from his seat and started sparring his shadow in the spacious back of the car. Seifer got annoyed from his karate which, to him, looked like a severe case of muscle spasm.
"Zell, sit down. You killed all of the flies in here just with the way you smell. No point in swatting them now…chicken-wuss," said Seifer, amused at his own originality.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?!" He was enraged at Seifer's comment.
"What are you going to do about it? Sit…down."
"Shut up! Seifer, you're all talk. Get up, I dare you…"
Seifer looked into Zell's eyes and let out a tormenting laugh. He combed his hair back and proceeded to get up slowly with a smirk on his face, removing his gunblade from its holster.
Quistis saw this. Dear god, they're going to slaughter each other before we get to the boat.
"Seifer, leave Zell alone. Zell, sit down please."
"Tch…fine"
Seifer eased back into his seat, and Zell plopped down. They looked at each other and Zell let his eyes drop.
As thoughts raced through his head and his heart pumped ever faster the closer to Dollet they came, Squall played back the images of the day that had passed so quickly today; the duel with Seifer, the scar, the infirmary, the girl with the green shawl, Ifrit, Shiva.
The girl with the green shawl. He remembered the girl he saw while he was laying in the infirmary and decided to see if someone else knew who she was, "Instructor, who was that woman in a blue dress and green shawl that was at the infirmary this afternoon?"
"Hmm, that's funny…I don't recall seeing anyone except Dr. Kadowaki at the infirmary. Why? Is there something wrong?"
Quistis refused to believe that Squall was showing interest in a girl.
"No. Nevermind."
Seifer threw some more mud around, "Oh great, I have a chicken-wuss and a guy who just reached puberty on my team," and he chuckled.
* * *
Once the bright yellow vehicle got to Balamb, the pack exited and began to walk toward the dock. Zell whispered something in Xu's ear, and Xu nodded him off. Zell strayed and entered a house on the left side of the road.
Squall asked Xu, "Where is he going? Aren't we supposed to stick together?"
"He is going to say good-bye to his mom. It'll only take around three minutes. Relax," replied Xu.
"Zell's parents live here?"
"Zell's parent. He never met his father. Come to think of it…no-one has. He lives with his mom right now. No-one knows her real name, so we just call her Ma Dincht."
Squall realized that Xu didn't notice that Squall didn't call her secretary Xu. But, she didn't do anything about it, so it wasn't too important. He continued to walk.
As the group reached the dock, they heard the pounding footsteps of Zell as he forced himself to run faster until he caught up. A veteran SeeD at the docks waved the students, the instructor and Xu through into their boat. As the male SeeD was closing the door, Zell stumbled inside the boat and they all sat down to listen to the mission plan.
Xu walked next to everyone and gave out maps of their current destination, Dollet. She then started her speech. "Good evening, everyone. Our client for this mission-slash-exam is the Dollet Dukedom Parliament. In just a few minutes, we will be approaching their county, Dollet – a harbor town on the East continent. The G-force, or the Galbadia Force, began the invasion of Dollet four hours ago. Dollet called in for assistance approximately 3 hours after the beginning of the invasion, and Balamb Garden answered." The map zoomed in on the space behind the city of Dollet. "Anyway, the Dollet soldiers have lost control of the actual city shortly after the invasion has started and they retreated into the mountains behind the city boundaries to regroup.
"That is the current status. This is the objective: we shall be dispatching four teams into Dollet to liberate it from the Galbadia Force. One of those four teams is you. You mustn't worry about the other teams, for two of those teams are veteran SeeDs whom will be supporting you. The other team is also composed of students. You are to enter Dollet and secure the Town Square."
Zell was really excited by Xu's speech, "Wow, 'liberate Dollet'…sure sounds important."
"Important? I, for one, am being overwhelmed by boredom," Seifer pitched in.
Xu finished off her speech, "Seifer, you are the captain of this unit. If anything goes wrong, retreat. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, I understand. I understood this the first time I took this exam, which was…3 years ago."
"Well then, Seifer," said Quistis, "I wish you luck again."
"Please, instructor, save those words for a poor student who deserves 'em," said Seifer coolly.
"Ok," Quistis quieted down and then once again said, "I wish you luck Seifer."
Everyone except Squall broke into a round of laughter and Seifer's cheeks turned a pinkish color.
After a few minutes of racing across the ocean, Seifer commanded Squall to go see what was going on outside.
What a captain my unit has… Squall thought sarcastically, but went up top to check anyway. When on top of the boat, he was able to see that after undocking, a set of other boats caught up to theirs composing a team of four boats and one boat manned with artillery in case anything was to go wrong. He stared into the distance with squinted eyes, already seeing the shores of Dollet – his first battlefield. He could here the faint sound of gunfire and explosions somewhere along the shoreline. He took out a map that was handed to him by Xu inside the boat. He lined it up to match the background and observed key structures and exits. After he was satisfied, Squall rolled up the papers and shoved them in his right pant pocket. In a couple of seconds, we are going to be fighting on those shores…I hope we're prepared…
Squall climbed the ladder back down into the boat and awaited landing. As the boat skidded onto the rocky beach, all of its passengers were lurched forward and then back like on a chain. The front of the boat opened exposing its metallic innards and the team of SeeDs-in-training. They ran out with Seifer at the front.
Seifer yelled, "Let's move out!", in a dramatic tone. When Squall and Zell moved closer, he said, "I always wanted to say that," with a chuckle.
The group ran off into the city, hearing the faint voice of Quistis wishing them luck. As the squad ran through the paved streets of Dollet surrounded by tall, red-brick buildings, they encountered several Galbadian soldiers dressed in blue uniforms. Squall, Zell, and Seifer easily brought them down one-by-one and proceeded towards the Town Square.
"Come on, you wimps. The Central Square is up ahead." Then, at the top of his lungs, he screamed, "Hey! All you Galbadian cowards out there! Come out and show your faces! Don't leave me hangin' now!"
Zell stared at Seifer Almasy as he ran off towards the town square. He raised his eyebrow and said, "What an idiot…"
Once they reached the Central Square, a small prestigious square as the name implies, with a large fountain in the center, they fought off another Galbadian soldier, bringing him to his knees. Seifer came up to him and grabbed him by the hair. "Is there any more of your scum hiding here?!"
When the soldier didn't answer, Seifer brought his gunblade over eye-level and got ready to strike. Squall and Zell turned away in time to avoid seeing anything that they didn't want to see. When they turned back, they saw the soldier lying on the floor lifeless, and Seifer standing close by looking down at him.
Seifer turned, wiped off some blood that squirted onto his cape and said, "There may be more of them…scout the area!"
Squall and Zell proceeded to check around the Square until they found three G-force soldiers hiding behind a car pile-up. They disposed of the soldiers and headed back to report to their captain. "I think that's all of them, captain," said Squall.
"Well, then…we're on standby till the enemy shows its face," he sighed and continued, "Standby…how boring…"
* * *
"What the hell?! Why is nothing happening?!" Zell was pacing back and forth with boredom. He couldn't keep still anymore. It wasn't in his nature to stay in one stop.
The group was spread out on and around the fountain, bored beyond belief. Half and hour passed before they came, and they were standing all this time.
As the team stood there doing nothing but waiting, the silence was broken by an eerie sound from up on top of a cliff behind the Square. The sound resembled that of a ghost taken from a horror movie – a moan. The only difference was that this moan was obviously accomplished by metal scraping against metal. "Sounds like something's happening," said Squall.
"Stupid Galbadian Soldiers…bring it on!!!" Seifer yelled for Galbadian Soldiers. "Hey, Galbadian Soldiers," he said in a sing-song voice, "Come out and show me what you got!!! What are you waiting for?!" Seifer swung his gunblade, as if intimidating an imaginary opponent.
The whole group listened for a response but there is only silence. "Nothing…", said Squall.
"Wow…this is so boring…" said Zell in a tone like he just woke up.
"Still keeping us waiting, eh? I can't handle this anymore…" said Seifer.
Then Squall barely grabbed Seifer's jacket and pulled him down behind the fountain just in time to avoid being seen by a Galbadian patrol. It consisted of around a dozen soldiers, way too many for the three cadets to handle.
"The enemy…", murmured Squall.
The patrol, consisting of people all dressed in blue uniforms with devices on their heads that look like night-vision goggles, walked by surveying its surroundings, but somehow not managing to see Seifer, Squall, and Zell.
"Hey, where the hell are they goin'? And what's that building up there?!", asked Zell, pointing to a tower maybe 50 to 60 feet high, just outside the boundaries of the actual town of Dollet.
Seifer replied, "…Our next destination…"
"Wait a second, that's against orders!", said Zell.
"Weren't you just complaining about how bored you are?"
"Squall?", asked Zell for support.
Squall didn't turn from the tower. He thought about how lack of activity might affect his grade. If he were to go up there, it might actually improve his grade. It was worth a try. "I respect the captain's decision…", answered Squall.
Zell was thrown back by this surprise remark. "So you're saying that you want to go up there?"
"If the captain wants to leave the post and disobey orders, then there is nothing I can do about it…Besides, with Seifer yapping his mouth so much, I feel sort of invincible…like I could take anybody on. This would be a perfect opportunity to test my skills."
Seifer was also surprised, "…Captain's decision?", he laid his hand on Squall's shoulder and chuckled, "You want to wreak some havoc too, don't you?"
Squall brushed Seifer's hand away, "Like I said, thanks to you, I feel invincible – like I can take anyone on, even if they do fight dirty - like you…"
Seifer grinned. "That's the spirit. Trust me, some day you'll thank me!"
Zell observed the behavior between the two rivals, "What the hell? I thought you two didn't get along. What happened, now you're all buddy-buddy…anyway, we have to stick to orders. We can't just…leave whenever we want to."
"Then you stay here. I don't need any girl scouts on my team."
"What did you say?!?!", Zell jabbed at Seifer but Seifer brushed him away with ease and chuckled.
"Zell, if you don't want to come along then just stay here," said Seifer with all seriousness. He then ran off toward the road leading to the tall building up ahead…and Squall followed. Zell dropped his hands, took a quick look around, and followed.
* * *
Half-way up the dirt path towards the summit of the building, the squad ran into an injured Dollet soldier lying on the ground. "Ahh! Who are you?! Are you Galbadian Soldiers?!"
Squall tried to calm him down and said, "Take it easy, sir. We are SeeDs dispatched from Balamb Garden sent to liberate Dollet from the G-Force."
"Oh, thank God! The Galbadians took over the communication tower not that long ago, killing many in the process, and they're holding it for all this time. They don't even know the danger that lives in that tower. That was a monster's layer for as long as I can remember…"
"We were sent here to liberate Dollet and we'll fulfill that objective no matter what. We're going to go liberate that tower from the G-force, have no doubt. Then, we will come back for you." A communication tower? What could they want with a communication tower? Did they invade Dollet just for that?
Squall found that hard to believe since radio signals have been jammed for seventeen years and counting. No one knew why but a couple of days after the Sorceress War had ended, radios and televisions everywhere turned snowy and then completely went out.
The Sorceress War was a war that took place twenty years ago. It all started because of a power-hungry woman named Adel. She fought the entire world including Balamb, Galbadia, and another country called Esthar, virtually dragging the earth into world war. Adel won over Galbadia and corrupted it for her own personal use, putting the armies under her command.
When this happened, Balamb launched a full-scale attack against both Adel and Galbadia. Esthar watched from a distance as Balamb's forces were obliterated with ease under the power of Adel's iron fist until it realized that it was the final victim-to-be. As the Galbadian forces manned their boats and aircraft to head for the Western Continent, Esthar was preparing its high-technology weapons to destroy the incoming threat. When Adel arrived at Esthar, yet another major battle took place, and Esthar sadly lost.
A year into the war, Adel controlled two of the major earth powers, and obliterated another. She ruled all. No-one knows the truth as to how Esthar managed to overthrow her, but folk-lore has it that three years into the war and two years into the "Reign of Adel", they contained her in a capsule that was hidden from all humanity. They froze her, isolated her, and sound-proofed the walls so that she would cause no more harm. When Galbadia and Balamb made their return to normalcy, researchers, engineers, architects and many others began trying to figure out the cause of this paranormal activity, but apparently all in vain.
Just when Squall was about to walk off, he heard the Dollet soldier let out a yelp and he sees that something is pulling him into the bush that he was resting on.
"AHH!!! HELP!!!"
"What the hell?" Even though Squall was confused, he ran back to the Dollet Soldier and pulled him out. Once the Dollet Soldier was out of the bush, Squall was left staring another creature straight in the face. This creature's face resembled that of a snake, but it was much larger and didn't have the flickering tongue. It had green, scaly skin and matching green eyes. The creature pushed Squall back and slithered out of the bush. Now that Squall could see the whole creature, he realized it to be an Anacondaur. That would explain the snake-like appearance. Come to think of it, Squall noticed that the only difference between it and a snake are the two long arms stretching out from its sides. At the end of these arms, there are two claws that are around 3" long jutting out. These claws could easily rip a man to shreds if caught unwary. All of its other features resembled that of a snake – from the hooded neck, to the long, slimy tail. The Anacondaur stared Squall in the face.
Seifer was still hungry for more action, "Damn, I hope that this poor monstrosity puts up more of a fight than those G-Force retards!"
And with those words, the fight commenced…
* * *
The Anacondaur, being quicker than its human opponents, started the battle off. It jumped onto Zell and twisted its long body around his. Before he knew it, Zell could feel the moist earth on his knees as he was lowered to the floor by the Anacondaur, fading out of existence. Squall tried to help Zell by hacking at the monster's body but his gunblade simply bounced off of its hard carapace. Seifer stood a couple of feet from the Anacondaur trying to decide whether he should help or not.
As Zell was losing consciousness, he coughed up a few words, "…Magic…fire magic…weakness…"
Squall understood right away what Zell wanted and he stretched his hand out in front of his body. The ground underneath Zell and his constrictor grew hotter and hotter, and it became noticeably red. Zell…this might hurt a little… Suddenly, the ground cracked and split and hot magma came pouring out. The Anacondaur, surprised by the molten rock underneath its reptilian body, loosened its grasp on Zell, giving Zell a chance to break free. Zell punched the Anacondaur in what he thought was the torso, making it fall to the floor, and then he jumped out of the forming puddle of lava, only scathing the soles of his shoes a bit. The monster was then engulfed in the hellish fire that was coming out from within the earth. When Squall replaced his hand on his gunblade, the fire disappeared and the only thing left was the Anacondaur lying on the ground, its green skin now charred black.
Seifer saw that it was still wriggling around on the floor so he came up to it to finish it off. He was just about ready to stab at it when it sprayed something from its mouth that reminded the group of jade-tinted saliva. He ducked just in time for it to miss him but the saliva hit Squall directly in the eyes. Seifer now didn't hesitate to stab the Anacondaur in its abdomen causing it to let out a scream caused by excruciating pain. With this, Seifer ended the battle and then turned to see what damage the Anacondaur had done.
Squall was hit directly in the eyes by some of the Anacondaur's poison. He was involuntarily lowered to the floor by the tormenting pain, and he couldn't get up. Aaahhh!!! Squall remembered packing a couple of potions and antidotes for the field exam, just in case things like this were to happen. Through his screams, he managed to tell Zell to take out an antidote from within Squall's left jacket pocket. Zell fished around until he found it and he then opened the vial and dripped the antidote onto Squall's eyes. The poison quickly evaporated, revealing squinted balls of red.
Squall's vision began to clear right away. He stood up and thanked Zell.
The group turned around to see what happened to the Dollet Soldier. They came up to him and Squall tried to shake him from what looked like a deep sleep. When the soldier didn't wake up, Squall knew what happened.
"He's dead. Let's go," said Seifer. When Squall pulled him out of the bush, it was too late. The Anacondaur had already bitten the soldier in the leg, releasing a deadly toxin into his body. Within minutes, the soldier's life was over.
"Monsters, huh?", said Squall.
"Well, that sucks," replied Zell.
"Don't worry. More fun for us," said Seifer.
"Let's go," encouraged Squall.
As the team approached a cliff facing the tower the tower, they stopped and kneeled down when they see two G-force soldiers guarding it. As they examined the tower, they noticed the same patrol that almost spotted them at the Central Square come up to the guards. A conversation ensued.
The first G-force guard told the leader of the patrol, "The generators are up and running, sir."
The second guard added, "There have been no problems with the backups."
Then, another guard ran through the open door from within the tower in between the two guards and said, "Exchange process ready to begin."
Back on the hilltop, Zell was in a state of confusion, "Exchange process? What the hell are they doing?"
"Who cares?" Seifer was fixing his right hand glove.
The leader of the patrol responded, "Excellent."
Seifer turned to Squall, "This must be your first real battle. You scared?"
Squall glanced at Seifer, and then turned back to the tower, examining it closely.
Seifer continued to talk, "The way I see it, everything that doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I'm not scared of anything. With every battle I win, I come closer to fulfilling my dream."
Squall asked, "Your dream?"
"…Yeah. Don't you have your own dream?"
"If you don't mind, I'm going to pass on that subject."
Zell decided to talk, "Yo, lemme in on this. What are you talking about?"
Seifer responded angrily, "Mind your own damn business, chicken-wuss."
Zell punched Seifer in the shoulder, "…Frickin' Hell!"
Seifer chuckled at Zell, "What's the matter, Zell, you trying to catch the flies you missed in the car now?"
And with that, Seifer jumped down from the cliff that the team was hiding on and proceeded to walk towards the communication tower.
Zell whispered to himself, "Damn him…"
After a couple of seconds, the two guys heard a voice from behind them. "There you are!"
They turned around just in time to see a 5'1" girl falling down the side of the cliff. She landed a couple of paces from Squall and she winked at him. Squall realized that it was the same girl that bumped into him earlier today. "Are you Squad B?"
Squall nodded yes. The girl then said, "My name is Selphie, a student from Squad C. I came here as a messenger. Seifer Almasy is your captain, right? Where is he?' Selphie glimpsed at Squall and a look of remembrance came onto her face, "Hey, I know you! Sorry for acting spoiled, by the way."
Squall nodded her off.
From the distance, they heard Seifer shout, "Some day, Squall, I'm gonna tell you about my ROMANTIC dream!"
Selphie looked at him and said, "Boy, this job sure is tough. Well, let's get going?"
Now that Seifer had been replaced by the messenger girl, the three moved on towards the Communication tower.
As they walked up to the communication tower, they heard yelling coming from the inside. They placed their backs against the wall of the tower and waited. Soon, they saw three Galbadian soldiers run out. Seifer was behind then, swinging his gunblade crazily. When the G-force soldiers ran out, he whispered, "…Cowards," and then turned back and the door closed behind him.
Selphie whined and said, "Hey, the captain is getting away!!! Let's go after him…"
They walked inside and examined their new surroundings. The tower may have looked neat from outside but inside, there were nothing but cobwebs and spiders everywhere. Seifer was nowhere to be seen. Squall noticed an elevator coming down from the top of the tower. Maybe Seifer went up there… He told his squad to get on the elevator and they did so. He flipped a switch and the elevator began to creak and ride up to the top of the tower.
Selphie laughed and said, "I love elevators! They're so fun!"
* * *
While the group was making its way towards the tower, two Galbadian soldiers were making some repairs on top of it. These two soldiers go by the names of Biggs and Wedge, Biggs being a Major, and Wedge being a Sergeant.
Biggs, being of higher rank, is allowed to use armor far beyond the reach of regular soldiers. He uses an armor weighing in at 75 pounds, weighing him down constantly. It is the model TM-358 armor. Regular soldiers wear armor that weighs just about as much as a regular trench coat – from around 10-15 pounds. This is the model TM-178 armor. Differences are clearly visible, such as the TM-358 armor is red, and shows off huge plates of armor all over the body, while the TM-178 is blue, and consists mainly of tights and a few pieces of armor on the arms and legs. The torso is completely unprotected. The only constant between the two uniforms are the "night-vision goggles" found on the helmets.
As Biggs sat next to the shiny, metallic console that controlled the tower's main generators and motors, Wedge came up to him and gave him a salute. "Major Biggs, there have been multiple reports of a gargoyle-like shadow on the roof, sir."
Biggs grumbled and said, "…What?! Be quiet, I'm busy!", he struggled with the tools and then added, "What's with these crappy old tools?" He fished for a wrench in the handbag lying next to him and turned back to the console, "This goes there…and…and…why do I get stuck making all of these repairs? It's not fair!!!"
Wedge saw the distress Biggs was in, and he decided to leave him alone for both their sakes, "I'm gonna go check around to see if there really are any monsters here…"
In a few moments Biggs finished his job, "This goes here, and that goes there, and…it's finally complete!"
At that same moment, the lift on which Squall's party was riding came to a stop next to Biggs. They ran off of the platform and began to feel the tower vibrate. The loud grinding of motors and the grinding of metal on metal was very loud. From inside the tower, a huge cylinder column rose up into the air at a remarkable speed and tilted sideways to a 45o angle. The column then opened up into a Satellite Dish and the lights that lined the outside of it began to glow a bright green.
After witnessing the short show of lights and sound, Squall turned back to Biggs who was still lying on the floor, "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"
"I ask that same question of you, boy! Hey, wait a second…what happened to all of the guards downstairs…? Don't worry, I'll take care of you nice and good…," he chuckled, "…Wedge…Wedge?", when his trusty partner didn't answer, Biggs grew hesitant. "Well…my job is done here, so," he cleared his throat, "I guess…I'm gonna…be leaving now…," all the while pacing towards the lift.
At the same moment he was about to get on the platform, the elevator slid down, almost causing him to fall. There was a slight awkward silence in which Biggs reloaded his gun and when the lift came back up, the Squad B captain was the person riding it. He sliced at Biggs hand, causing a piece of his armor to fall off. "Sorry to crash your party," said Seifer in his naturally intimidating tone. But before anyone could say another word, Wedge came running from around the side of the tower with an 8' flying monster on his tail. The monster looked like a strange mix between a bird and a wasp, with a purple coloration. "AAAHHH!!!"
With a simple waft from its mouth, it blew Biggs and Wedge off of the side of the building.
As it turned back to the dumbfounded fighters, their bodies clenched, awaiting the monster's next move. The monster, an Elvoret as Squall knew from his classes, snarled and let out another sharp breath carrying Selphie, the lighter of the group, over the side of the tower and to the same peril that claimed Biggs and Wedge, leaving only Zell, Squall, and Seifer to fight.
"Be careful this time, you hear?", said Squall caringly to Zell.
Zell nodded and defiantly began to run at the Elvoret anyway showing clearly that Squall's advice had fallen on deaf ears.
* * *
As Zell picked up pace toward the Elvoret, he picked up the wrench Biggs left behind as well in an effort to acquire some sort of missile projectile to throw at the monster. As Zell swung his arm behind his body to throw the projectile he noticed that Squall had picked up pace and joined in the sprint towards Elvoret. Seifer, on the other hand, ran around the other side of the tower in an effort to attack the creature from front and back – a "Pincer Attack." Zell threw the wrench from afar at an early attempt to confuse and maybe even distract the Elvoret and it bounced off of its veiny right wing.
Elvoret glanced at its wing to figure out whether to react or laugh, but as it turned back, it saw an angry Zell already in the air in front of its face with his closed fists resting at the ends of outstretched arms. The monster lifted itself up into the air with ease allowing Zell to punch the air and tumble back down to the ground, rolling to the edge of the tower with no signs of slowing down.
As Squall raised his gunblade over his head to take a stab at Elvoret, the monster raised itself even higher so that the gunblade missed and connected with one of its own. Seifer had ran around the other side of the tower and taken a go at Elvoret at the same time as Squall but unfortunately, he missed. Seifer growled at Squall – something about, "You idiot! I had it! Why did you have to get in the way?" – but Squall didn't have the time for petty insults. He saw that Zell was about to fall over the side of the tower. Squall ran over to where his team-mate was and stuck out his hand, "ZELL! Take my hand!", but Zell only glanced at Squall with a terrified look in what seemed to be slow-motion and fell over. Squall was left on his knees, eyeing where Zell just lay with an open mouth. In a split-second, Squall let out a roaring scream and lunged forward for Zell. He ran to the end of the tower and fell on his torso reaching out for Zell, hoping that he was there. Please, God! Let him reach my hand! That's all I ask – just let him get my hand…
Squall propelled his blind hand forward over the brink of death and grabbed Zell by the arm. "Zell, don't let go. It's a long way down," said Squall with slight happiness in his voice. Zell let out a nervous chuckle and pulled himself up, knowing that what was up there was not nearly as bad as what was under him…
As Squall pulled Zell up, a strange thought came to his head. Why didn't the Elvoret attack us? It had a huge opportunity to throw in some winning moves just now…hmm… As he turned around, he saw that Seifer was standing in-between him and the monster swinging his gunblade like a madman to keep it up in the air, his cape billowing in the wind Elvoret's wings produced.
Without warning, Squall yelled to Seifer, "Get back!!! Me and Zell are going to light it up." He then turned to Zell, "You ready?"
Zell nodded his head even though he was still trying to comprehend what decision Squall had just reached without informing him. When Squall raised his hand toward the sky and closed his eyes, Zell understood. He did the same and the sky began to darken. A faint drizzle began and, not surprisingly, only coated Elvoret. The monster was enveloped in a white orb of light that threw Seifer back and away from the creature. The monster scratched at the orb, but to no avail. He was trapped inside until…further notice.
From the smoldering sky came a thunderbolt – a bright yellow thunderbolt that sliced the air on the way toward Elvoret's body. As the thunderbolt hit the orb, time appeared to be at a virtual stand-still. After several long moments, Squall set of a chain of events with just a slight twitch of his hand. The orb began to brighten until the trio could not directly look at it anymore. Squall and Zell's eyes remained closed while Seifer shielded his with his gunblade. The group heard a sound so high, so shrill, that it made them wince. It was the sound of the Elvoret in pain. It was the sound of Elvoret being sizzled. It is the sound of Elvoret being Barbequed, thought Seifer.
After a couple of minutes, Squall and Zell found that they have done what they set out to do and they release the grip on nature that they had previously had. The white orb automatically disappeared and Elvoret fell to the ground in a black, deformed crisp. Almost immediately after it fell, its body began to disintegrate from the wind that started to pick up. In a few minutes there was no trace that a creature called "Elvoret" ever lived on the Dollet Communication Tower.
* * *
Selphie!!! Squall remembered about the messenger and ran over to the side of the tower from which Selphie fell. Surprisingly, she was hanging from one of the metal protrusions from the wall and Squall gave her a hand to pull her up. He heard Seifer speak up, "Wow, chicken-wuss, even a girl could find something to hang from…you're an embarrassment."
This time, Zell didn't reply. He coolly showed Seifer a few warm gestures with his hand and ran over to help Selphie to her feet, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think so," Selphie responded, "Oh, that reminds me – I still haven't given you the message." She limped over to Seifer and said, "Are you the Squad B captain – Seifer Almasy?"
"Yeah, what of it?"
"Seifer, I am a messenger from Squad C and I come with a message telling all SeeDs and SeeDs in training to withdraw."
"Withdraw?!", replied Seifer, "But the enemies still around!!!"
"Captain, I don't make these requests, I just deliver them. You and your squad have to be at the shore at 1900 hours."
"Oh, alright, but I still don't under-", Seifer was interrupted by Squall.
"When did you say we have to be at the shore?"
Selphie replied, "1900 hours."
Zell pitched in, "1900 hours?! But that's in less than 30 minutes!!!"
All the while, Seifer was pacing towards the elevator, "…Thirty minutes," as he activated the elevator, "You guys better run!" And with those words, the elevator went down.
Zell yelled at Seifer, "HEY!!! Wait for us!!! Damn, who does he think he is?!"
In half a minute the elevator came back up, awaiting the next group of passengers.
Squall, also annoyed by Seifer, said, "Why don't you go ahead and ask him?"
* * *
Somewhere in the plains behind the Dollet Communication Tower lay Biggs, his leg crippled, his arms barely moving. He had taken quite a beating falling down from the tower at 50 ft.
When he finally came to, he took a remote control out of his left pant pocket and pressed the activation switch. He then began to talk into the microphone, "Those... little twerps...are the targets...now...go and...destroy them! They know too much, don't let them...leave…ALIVE!" he said, falling over on his side.
* * *
The group rode the elevator down all the while listening to Zell bad-mouth Seifer. The elevator reached the bottom floor holding three poised fighters ready to exchange blows with oncoming soldiers but to their surprise, there was no-one left to fight. All of the soldiers evacuated, apparently. The group made their way toward the nine-foot-high automatic door as fast as they could. They wanted to finish their test as soon as possible so they strode out of the door and were ready to run. Zell turned to Squall, who has stopped in his tracks and was listening to the slightest sound. He asked, "Squall? Come on, let's hurry, we don't want to miss the boat…Squall?"
Squall looked at Zell and put his finger to his mouth, telling him to keep quiet. He heard a clanking sound somewhere in the distance like someone was banging a couple of metal rods on a steel beam. He turned in all directions, searching for the enemy, but he didn't see anything. But then he looked up. He saw atop the now extended satellite dish a metal creature that was "looking" straight down at him. What the hell is that?! The creature continued to move around on the dish as if it was its very own home, but then it simply let go and began to free-fall. Squall quickly ducked out of the way when he saw that the metal creature was about to fall on him. He ran and took cover behind a huge boulder along side Zell and Selphie.
When the creature landed with a loud thump and a plume of dust around it Squall was finally close enough to analyze its features. It was apparently a giant metallic spider, complete with eight metal legs that resembled the spare cylinders of a car, pumping up and down as the spider moved. Atop the head of this spider was one red glass eye that followed the SeeDs-in-training no matter which way they moved. When Squall looked even closer at the Spider's metal side, he saw a couple of letters printed on it – "X-ATMO92 : Galbadia Military"
Squall knew right away that this was yet another creation of war made by the G-Force. But what he didn't understand was why such a complex, and probably costly, machine was deployed here…but that wasn't the point now, after all, he was being attacked by a giant metallic spider, perhaps man-eating.
Squall then heard Zell's voice as he continued to stare at the spider, "Squall…what do we do? Should we run?"
Squall turned to look at him and he saw his face. Zell was obviously scared of the metallic creature and he wasn't afraid of showing it. Squall nodded and the group slowly turned and changed their pace to a flat-out run.
With every step Squall heard the X-ATMO92 behind them gaining speed as the cylinder legs pumped. He heard the grinding of the metal hinges and the cracking and splitting of the paved ground as the machine's razor sharp clawed legs dug into it. He ran faster. When he got to the Central Square, he saw a white shape vanish around the bend. Seifer! He turned to look at the spider's position, but he saw nothing. Even though he heard the grinding metal, the machine was no-where in sight. He turned to run but then, from the other side of tall buildings lining the street, he saw the X-ATMO92's glass eye poke out from one of the roofs. It tricked us!
Now that the enemy was in front of them blocking the way to the boat, they had no choice but to fight it. He heard Selphie's whimpering in the background. Squall pulled his gunblade from its holster on his right hip, and prepared for battle.
* * *
Apparently, the spider didn't know that Squall saw it, because it didn't move at all. It stood, or crouched, on top of the roof watching…waiting. Waiting for the right time to jump and destroy the group once and for all. But Squall had an idea. He thought about the weakness that the spider had and what he could do to use it to his advantage. Since it's a machine, I could hit it with a bolt of lightning…but judging by its size, it'll probably just get up and chase us. Then it hit him – back when he was in class just a couple of days ago, he saw a glowing circle of light floating outside of the classroom. He made an excuse to go to the bathroom so that he could get out of class and it succeeded.
When he was outside, he saw that the luminous ball of light was in fact a stray Guardian Force. He claimed it and gained the knowledge of its name and its history. The GF's name was Quezecotl – a lightning spirit. It too lived in another dimension and came to the human dimension very rarely. That is why Squall was later very surprised when he saw it outside of class.
Squall turned to Zell, whose body was tense, and whispered, "When I give you the signal, you run behind that car pile-up that we passed around half a block back, ok?"
Zell's blank face turned to Squall and he nodded. Then he turned to Selphie and passed the message on.
Squall closed his eyes and began to concentrate; he was calling Quezecotl. The sky once again began to smolder just like on top of the communication tower, and the sharp sound of thunder could be heard in the background. Swiftly, a creature with a body resembling that of an eagle flew down and stared at the spider. The machine didn't even look up at the fowl; it continued to stare at Squall, whose eyes were now open, awaiting the bird's next move. Quezecotl spread its wings and it was as if the thunder in the background was amplified by them. The wingspan was nearly 25 feet making the bird a creature to be feared. From the head of the bird, which didn't have any features on it – no nose, eyes, mouth, ears – came a scream that was even louder than the lightning.
Squall looked from the bird to the spider, hoping to see what will happen next. The next events seemed to happen in slow-motion because Squall couldn't imagine it happening in real-time. The spider backed up on the roof, and then began to pound its sharp feet as it accelerated toward the edge. It's going to jump! The spider flung itself off of the roof of the building, still not even concentrating on Quezecotl. The bird saw this and darted toward the spider's back. It landed on top of the spider and a giant thunderbolt from the sky hit its outstretched wings. The thunderbolt apparently traveled through the bird and down into the spider, for Squall saw the red, pulsating eye grow brighter and brighter.
Squall turned his body to the place where the rest of his group was standing, but he found that they were already running back without waiting for a signal. He forgave them and turned to follow them. When he was halfway back to the pileup, he turned his head in time to see the spider fall into a corner café on the side of the Central Square nearest them.
Squall yelled to the rest of the group to stop in their tracks because the machine was down. Zell and Selphie walked back to Squall and then they turned to head back to the beach. But before they began to walk, Squall asked Zell how much time they had left. Lucky that Zell has a watch…
Zell responds to Squall, "A little bit more than four minutes," with a sorrow look on his face, "I don't think we're going to make it."
"Listen to me – we are going to make it…now let's go." Squall began to run. Behind him, the rest of the team pick up pace to a run as well. As they made their way past the exoskeleton of the X-ATMO92, they saw that it was still wriggling around. But they didn't have time for it right now. They had to get back. They ran past and then they heard the very familiar noise of the pumping cylinders the spider had for legs. The spider was up and chasing them again. What the hell?! How could it still be moving?! They ran around the same bend Seifer ran around not too long ago. Squall glanced back and saw that even thought the exoskeleton of the machine was heavily charred, it was still steadily picking up pace.
As the group crossed the imaginary boundary between Dollet and Dollet beach, Squall stumbled into the sand. He rolled to soften the impact and got back up to continue the run. As the spider-machine crossed the boundary, it also fell, head first, into the sand. But, it got up after a few seconds and proceeded to chase Squall. He looked at the Balamb boat awaiting them, and he saw that Selphie and Zell were already on it.
He heard Zell's scream, "COME ON!!!"
Selphie was on the verge of tears.
Squall was tired and his legs were burning from the load on them but he continued to run. The spider was a little more than 7 feet behind him. He looked at the boat again and he saw it start to pick up speed as it traveled into the water. Are they really leaving? Squall was about to jump onto the boat, when he unexpectedly tripped on a rock jutting out of the sand. Behind him, the X-ATMO92's sharp arms snapped at the air, almost cleaving Squall's legs clean off. He was thrown into the water narrowly missing the metallic arms, and now he truly wasn't sure if he was going to make it.
* * *
As Squall belly-flopped into the water, he swam toward the boat with remarkable speed. It was only a few inches away, but it seemed like miles. He stretched out his hand and missed. He stretched out his other hand and missed again. Damn it! He relaxed his body and tried to grasp what was to become of him. He turned back and he saw the metal spider almost on top of him, with its legs raised. No! I won't give up now…not when I've come this far. In a last and final attempt to save himself, he threw his body forward and grabbed the back of the boat with one hand, fingers already rapidly sliding off. Zell ducked down, grabbed his gloved hands and pulled Squall up. He turned around to see the spider stunned, being jerked back and forth as if on a rope. Then he heard the gunfire from atop the boat. He ran up the staircase now completely soaked, only to see his favorite instructor manning the machine gun turret which was built into the top of the boat. He came next to her and he saw her face, tears streaming down her cheeks.
He looked at her target the spider, which was desperately trying to get up but couldn't. Quistis continued to shoot the machine until the glowing red light on top of its head faltered and finally went out. She released the trigger and leaned back quietly sobbing. Squall stood there a moment, watching the metal corpse. Then he turned back to Quistis.
"What's wrong, instructor?"
"Nothing, Squall. Nothing at all…go back into the boat, I'll be in soon."
Squall turned to go and then he heard Quistis whisper, "I'm glad you're okay, Squall…"
Squall hesitated but then went down the stairwell anyway.
Inside, Squall walked past Seifer sitting on one of the seats with his legs open and his arms on the seat, looking completely relaxed, "Ah, so there you are. Did ya have fun?"
Squall walked by holding his rage inside. Selphie on the other hand, came up to him and slapped his face. He was thrown aback by this move but then he came to his senses, enraged. Before he could do anything, Zell jabbed him in the face and he fell down into his chair, seemingly unconscious. He then turned to Selphie and they exchange a high-five. Squall sat down and looked back at retreating Dollet beach through the window as it slowly faded into the background. …One hell of a test…