Chapter XVII Tree- Swingers
"So who's going with who?" asked Quistis, looking around at everyone.
"I think that I vill be staying here." Said Dr. Odine, "I vill try to find out vat exactly Adel is after."
"Fair enough," said Quistis, "Who will go to the Garden and who will go and find Sirus and Aurora?"
Squall and Rinoa side-glanced at each other and announced at the same time, "We will go for Aurora and Sirus."
"Quistis and I should definitely go back to Garden," said Seifer, "You too, Ellone" he added.
"We'll go with Squall and Rinoa!" Dawn chirped in. For the first time since they'd arrived at Odine's, Dawn and Jem stood up, ready for action. "We can help!"
Squall shook his head, saying "No, no. Definitely not, its far too dangerous."
"But, not just you two can go, that's just as dangerous! Jem and I can really help out!" Dawn argued, "C'Mon. You know that you're going to need the help and nobody else is around."
Squall sighed deeply, knowing that she was right. "Fine." he said, but very reluctantly, "Quistis, Seifer, Ellone.You should go to the Garden, but I'm not sure that they'll still be in Esthar, if they aren't, the Garden should be outside Deling City, where Laguna and Kiros are."
Quistis nodded and then frowned, "Er. how are we going to get there?"
Dr. Odine piped in, "You can my jet. It's just a matter of breaking into the air station and getting to it."
"Thank you." Quistis said to Dr. Odine, "Will you be alright here?"
"Yes, yes. Of course, I have a transmitter for my jet, if I find out anything useful about Adel then I will tell you."
"Good Luck." Said Rinoa, and she hugged Quistis and Ellone, when she turned to Seifer he stared down at her.
"I need to ask you something." He said in an undertone, "Over here."
Rinoa nodded and turned to follow Seifer across the room, ignoring Squall's confused look yet Quistis didn't seem surprised.
"What's going on with them?" he asked Quistis who seemed to be trying to listen in to what they were saying.
"Oh, them!" she said, absentmindedly, "Nothing!"
Squall sat back down and listened, he caught the words, "No, not now. It's not the right time!' coming from Rinoa. They seemed to come back quickly, looking rather furious about something.
"Good luck, then!" said Rinoa in a slightly strange voice, and she walked quickly over to Squall and stood beside him.
Quistis, Seifer and Ellone began to walk out but Quistis stopped abruptly and being in the lead, Seifer and Ellone bumped into her.
"Wait guys, you don't even know where Aurora or Sirus are!" said Quistis, doubling back.
"Yeah," said Squall, "That's why we've got to look!"
"You should probably come back to the Garden, shouldn't you?" she asked, looking at from Squall to Rinoa then to Dawn and Jem, "I mean," she continued, "What if they aren't even in Esthar anymore, how're going to get out if we leave without you."
"But-"
"You can't help them if you don't know where they are, it's best to have a lead on where she is, isn't it?"
"Yes, but-"
"Quistis is right," said Seifer, "You guys might as well come back to the Garden with us, there's really no use looking for a pin in a haystack."
"Fine." grumbled Squall, disappointed and a little angry, "I guess your right." Squall was adamant in finding Aurora and Sirus as soon as he could, and he would do anything in his power to find them.
Squall, Rinoa, Dawn and Jem all rose and followed the other three out the door and they slowly walked down the pathway.
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Irvine and Selphie stared at the creature, with wide eyes, that stood in front of them, the creature seemed to be smiling. It was completely green, with a long tail that had a sharp spike on the end. It stood about five feet tall, it was wearing some sort of a purple garment and it's face was extremely strange also.
The grin that the creature had, stretched across it's face from ear to ear, its teeth were yellowish and sharp and it didn't seem to have a nose, but it had two very large eyes that were round and bulging with green in the center. On top of its head where green sort of hair stuck up in all directions were two more eyes but they stuck up on what looked like cords of some sort that were waving back and forth, looking around in all directions.
"'O are you?" asked the creature in a high pitched voice.
"We're." Irvine started, but the words didn't come out. They looked around and saw many of the same types of creatures coming from out of the trees and looking at them, all-grinning.
"You are.?" asked the creature expectantly, still smiling widely.
"We're. we're. humans from Balamb." said Selphie, clinging to Irvine's arm, unsure of what exactly to say to such a strange creature.
"O, your from up zere!" said the creature, pointing up at the large caves roof. Irvine and Selphie assumed the creature was talking about from up above.
Irvine nodded.
"I see, I see!" said the creature, jumping up and down. "Welcome to our lands, ve are ze race of ze plants. Zey call us ze tree swingers up zere."
"Who calls you the tree swingers?" asked Irvine, "We've never even. well, we never knew you existed."
"Ze ozer creatures, the ones zat you call monsters, vell, zey call us ze tree swingers." Said the creature, "Zey do not like us very much, ve down stay down 'ere most of ze time unless ve need a plant specimen to grow more trees for us."
"What is your race's real name?" asked Selphie, curiously. She was becoming very interested in the 'tree-swinging' race and wanted to find out all that she possibly could about them.
"Ve do not have a formal name, ve do not believe zat ve need zat sort of 'ting. Ve are creatures of ze planet, and believe uz and ze planet are one." Said the creature, shaking its head. "But I am ze leader of ze males, I am called Ulrich."
"Leader of the males?" asked Irvine.
"Ve believe zat males and females should not be under ze same command, ve don not favor certain genders like you do, ve live together in 'armony."
"Oh." said Selphie, "Who's the leader of the females then?"
"Zat vould be Nateria," said Ulrich, "She's over zere." He pointed a long green finger to another tree where another creature with yellowish hair had stepped out and was staring at them menacingly.
"She doesn't look like she want's us here." said Irvine, wondering why the female 'tree-swinger' looked much more menacing then the male, "Maybe we'd best leave you in peace."
"Don't vorry about 'er," said Ulrich, waving a hand impatiently, "She's tough to please!"
"But we don't want-" started Irvine but Ulrich grabbed their arms and began to pull them forwards into the small tree house behind them. "Come, 'ave some food! You looked starved!" he said.
Irvine and Selphie decided not to argue and they followed him inside.
The small house was made of what looked to be tree bark that was tied together using the long vines that Irvine and Selphie had seen earlier. The floor was covered in large leaves that lay flat from walking on it. A small bed made of tree bark and covered in a giant leaf (Probably used for a blanket, they assumed) sat in the far-left corner and had vine hangings all around it.
To the right was a large and tall basin that reached up to their chests and it was filled with clear water. Next to it was a small fireplace surrounded in large stones; the bottom had a large and flat stone covering the wood floor.
"I 'ave not seen your 'ouses up zere but I imagine zat zis is very small to you." Said Ulrich.
"It's cozy!" exclaimed Selphie, looking around with a small smile, "I always love houses that are cozy!" she wrapped her arms around her self and for a moment, rocked from side to side, making Irvine give her a funny look. Ulrich seemed to think that Selphie was funny, and giggled.
"So how long have your kind been here?" asked Irvine, now ignoring Selphie, who was walking around, looking at things, "How come we've never heard of you, or seem you before?"
Ulrich pulled out two puffy plant type mushrooms that he gestured for Irvine and Selphie to sit on. "Ve 'ave been 'ere since ze beginning of life." Said Ulrich in his high-pitched voice as he busied himself with a fire that seemed to light pretty quick. "Ve only stay 'ere though, ve vere banished from up zere."
"You were banished?" Selphie said, bewildered, "But why?" Though trying to be serious, Selphie couldn't help giggling at how much she sank into the plant type mushroom chairs; they were unbelievably comfortable.
"Long ago ze 'umans found us and zey vere afraid of us." Said Ulrich, shuffling over to another place on the floor that he pulled open and they several plants of different kinds that Irvine and Selphie had never seen before.
"Ze 'umans chased us avay and ve vere forced to live vere zey could not find us," Ulrich continued while pulling out some plants and placing them on a stone in the fire. "Ze old people of our kind found a small cave, zey vere ze only ones left after ze battle between ze 'umans and us. Zey expanded on ze cave and ever since ve 'ave been living 'ere in 'armony together."
Both Irvine and Selphie shifted uncomfortably, "Do you kind still feel hatred towards us?" asked Selphie.
"Vell, yes and no. ve do not believe in 'olding grudges against anyone." Said Ulrich, placing the cooked plants on two stone platters and handing them to Irvine and Selphie with stone pieces to eat the plants with.
"I vill not say, 'owever, zat some of us do not 'old grudges against ozers." Ulrich said, sitting on his small bed and looking at them with all four eyes, "I know zat Nateria vill 'old a grudge against the 'umans. She does not understand vhy ve vere banished, she vants to see ze vorld but ve von't let 'er. It vill be too dangerous for 'er."
"I wonder why we've never head of you before though, I mean." said Irvine, eating some cooked plants, ". if our kind really did banish you then why don't they tell us that you exist?"
"Why won't you let Nateria up there though?" asked Selphie, completely ignoring Irvine's wondering. "There's no humans in the forest, only the monsters."
"If ve vere seen zen it vould bring back all ze war and all ze death to our kind!" exclaimed Ulrich, "You 'ave not 'eard of us before, I think, because you 'umans think zat our kind vas gone. Your kind nearly made our race extinct! There are not many of uz 'ere, ve used to be of great numbers."
Irvine shook his head, "I can't say how ashamed both of us," he glanced at Selphie who was also shaking her head, ". how both us fell right now! I'd never heard of anything so barbaric and terrible as another race being banished from our planet, being told they cannot live!"
"It is not your fault," said Ulrich, waving the matter aside, "I know zat it vas a long time ago and 'umans were just learning of zis planet. Our kind vatched you grow and evolve into 'umans, many of our kind did not vant to let your kind live, but zey argued and in the end your kind thrived and ended up taking over zis planet. I suppose zat zere isn't enough room for two races!"
Irvine and Selphie finished their cooked plants in silence, marveling over the amazing taste that filled their mouths and that made them even more tired then they were. Ulrich seemed to notice this and stood up.
"Come, follow me and I vill show you an empty 'ouse zat you can use for resting." He said, going out the door. They followed him out onto the platform and watched as he swung out
Chapter XVIII.....................The Roknarag
"We've got to stay low!" exclaimed Quistis who was in the lead as they walked down the path out of Dr. Odine's office out onto the street, all crouching.
"I'm crouching as low as I can walk!" said Rinoa angrily.
They travelled slowly along the street, out of view of any guards on the streets nearby, luckily they hadn't run into any on the street they walked along. The sun was now high in the sky, they'd been in Dr. Odine's office longer then they'd thought and now it was nearing at least one o'clock.
"We're almost there," said Quistis, as they reached a turning point in the road that lead down another road where the Esthar Airstation was. "Now this is the tricky part," she looked back at everyone, "We've got to go down there without being seen." She pointed down the road.
"Now, we'll go two at a time, but one of us has to go alone, that'll be me." She said, turning back to face the road, "I'll go first and wave on the next two which will be Seifer and Ellone, then I want Dawn and Jem to go and Squall and Rinoa will follow last."
Everyone nodded and they switched places so that they were in the right order and then looked at Quistis again. "Ready?" she asked, they all nodded, "Alright, I'm going."
Quistis stood up slightly and ran as fast as she could down the side of the road, looking straight ahead until she got to the building at the end and she looked around warily then from a distance, they saw her wave on Seifer and Ellone.
They ran slightly slower then the speed that Quistis went down the path, but still considerably quick and they got there safely. Next, Dawn and Jem were waved on and they went running down the path to where the others were.
Squall and Rinoa moved up to the edge of the road but they saw no wave, they could see the group of them in the shadows but not enough to make out what they were doing. "What's the hold up?" asked Rinoa.
Squall shook his head, "I'm not sure." he whispered and continued staring down the road to see Quistis waving them on but nothing happened.
"You don't think.they were seen, do you?" said Rinoa.
Squall hushed her and turned around. "They weren't seen, I don't think." He whispered then turned back to look down the road.
"I wonder what's going on, I mean. did they forgot we were here?" asked Rinoa, but she quickly stopped talking when Squall gave her a funny look, raising his eyebrows as though to ask, 'what the hell are you talking about.'. "They didn't forget." he said finally.
"I know but." Rinoa trailed off.
"Let's run for it." said Squall, turning back to Rinoa.
"What, we don't even know if its safe yet!" Rinoa exclaimed.
"Well, we don't know if their safe either," Squall said and he rose into a low running position, "Are you coming or not?"
Before Rinoa had the chance to say anything Squall was up and running down the road towards the air station. Rinoa got up and ran after him, muttering under her breath, "What an idiot."
Squall, who was running about twenty feet ahead of Rinoa, stared down the road to see if they were still there but it was too dark in the shadows for him to see, but he had been running so fast that he was nearly there.
Rinoa looked around and nearly fell over her own feet when she saw three Esthar soldiers on the road opposite that they were on running after them and they seemed to be loading guns. "Squall, watch out!" she called in warning.
Squall looked back and saw the soldiers and instead of running forwards he stopped dead and waited for Rinoa to pass before running again. As they reached the air station doors they heard gunshots and when they looked beside them they saw the rest of the group huddled in the corner, Quistis in the front.
"C'mon!" said Quistis, pointing at the door, "We've got to get out of here!"
Quistis ran to the door and with a great pull she opened it and let them all inside before closing it again and locking it.
"Why didn't you wait for the signal?" she demanded angrily, looking at Squall and Rinoa.
Rinoa shrugged and looked at Squall, who was looking slightly abashed, "We thought that you were in danger or something. I never thought that we might have been the ones in danger." he said.
"Obviously not." Said Quistis and stepped passed Squall, looking around the large hanger that they stood in. "Odine's aircraft is over there, beside the big red one. that's where he told me it was."
They walked towards the large red ship and looked beside it where there was a smaller blue one that looked unbelievably like a small Ragnarok. They looked around for a moment, there was no ceiling, and they could see the afternoon sky clearly through the open roof.
"Who's flying?" Dawn asked, startling many of them because she hadn't talked in so long, "I.I could fly if you don't mind, I mean, if none of you can fly."
"Actually," said Rinoa, "Selphie." she paused after saying Selphie's name, closing her eyes in grimace for a second and then, finally, she continued, "She used to fly the Ragnarok. I don't think that any of us ever did fly."
Squall nodded in agreement and looked at Quistis who seemed to be considering the matter, "Alright, Dawn, you can fly it. None of us can, anyway." she looked around at everyone.
"You can count on me!" Dawn said, smiling and doing a SeeD salute, though, not exactly right. She turned and got on the blue aircraft first, not seeing the funny look the Quistis gave her after the SeeD salute she tried to give.
"This looks so much like the Ragnarok." said Rinoa as they got inside and up to the pilots deck, "Everything about it. The only difference is that it's smaller."
"It was probably modeled from the Ragnarok, same design." Said Seifer, playing with a switch as Dawn jumped into the pilot's seat.
"Wow, so many buttons." Dawn said in amazement, looking as though she were in some sort of pilots heaven, with a wide smile on her face. Flying seemed to give Dawn some sort of rush.
"Can you handle this thing?" Jem asked her, leaning on the back of the driver's seat.
"Of course I can!" Dawn said, almost angrily, looking around at him and glaring. "You DO remember my dive in the Airstrike jet, don't you?"
"Don't take a fit," said Jem defensively, "I was just asking you a question!" He smirked and in an undertone, said, "And after the dive, we crashed."
Seifer caught it and started laughing, but was stopped by a sharp look from Rinoa and Quistis. Luckily nobody caught Squall's snicker.
Dawn flicked a switch that made the shutter that went of the large window open. "Wow." She then flicked another switch that made them all feel a large jolt, the aircraft had started.
"Hey," said Rinoa, looking at a sticker on the control panel, "This thing is called a Roknarag!"
"Time to get the hell out of this city!" Dawn said excitedly and pulled on the steering rod. The Roknarag rose out of the air station just as the lock on the door was broken open, suddenly, and several soldiers came piling in.
"See ya later, suckers!" Jem said, doing a small salute and the Roknarag soared over the vast Esthar City and out towards the ocean, towards Balamb Garden.
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The sun had risen and it was early morning, fires were burning on some of the houses, people were screaming, running and fighting.
"We should get back to Caraway's mansion." Suggested Zell, looking around at the still rioting people of Deling City.
"Your right," agreed Clarissa, also looking around the streets. "C'mon, Laguna.. Where's Laguna?"
Laguna was walking to where a small group of people was sitting huddled together, that all looked to be very young, maybe severnteen years old at the most. In front of them was the woman that Clarissa and Zell recognized as the one that Laguna had helped and who had returned his favor by helping him too.
"LAGUNA!" Zell exclaimed and both Zell and Clarissa ran after Laguna, catching up to him quickly. "What are you doing?" Zell demanded.
"I'm. I'm going to help them out." Laguna said, looking over Zell's shoulder to look at the group, or what Zell suspected, look at the woman.
"We need to get back to President Landers, now!" Clarissa urged, "C'mon." She pulled on Laguna's shirt but he stood there stubbornly.
"N.No, you guys go. I'll, uh, be right there." Laguna said and pushed past them, walking towards the small group.
"Oh, but."
"Give it up. He's not going to come." said Zell, "Let's go."
Zell and Clarissa headed off in the direction of Caraway's Mansion, stopping occasionally to put an end to small riots and to tell people that Deling City was safe again, that Adel was gone.
They walked up the pathway of Caraway's mansion just as Landers and Caraway were stepping out of the house. "Ah," said Landers, clapping his hands together, "So, your back. I was just talking to General Caraway here and-" he looked around, "Where's Loire?"
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"Umm, hello." said Laguna to the woman who had just told the small group to go somewhere that Laguna didn't quite hear. It sounded something like a bar.
"Hello," said the woman, giving Laguna a smile that made his heart melt and his legs weak. She looked at him expectantly.
"I, uh, was wondering, uh, who are you?" he said bashfully, staring at her in her brilliant blue eyes that gleamed in the light.
"Oh, I'm Alexandra Wrelaway," she said, holding out her hand for Laguna to shake, "But people call me Lexi," she added.
"Thanks for what you did back there," Laguna smiled, shaking her hand making his knees even more weak, "You really helped me out."
"Well," she said, returning Laguna's smile, "If it hadn't been for you then I wouldn't have been there to help you. I was just returning the favor, er. sorry, what's your name?"
"Oh! Sorry, my name is Laguna."
"D'you have a last name, Laguna?" she smiled again.
"Umm, yeah, Laguna Loire."
"Laguna Loire!" her eyes widened and her smile faded, "You mean President Laguna Loire, President of Esthar, Laguna Loire!"
"Umm, yeah."
"Wow," her eyes were still wide, "What are you doing fighting Adel? And why would you fight even think of fighting her in the first place? What are you doing in Galbadia, let alone, Deling City?"
"You sure do ask a lot of questions," replied Laguna, "And the answers to all those questions are well. it's a long story."
"I have time," she said.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Laguna asked suddenly, "Why were you leading that group of people?"
"Well, I own the bar. the one beside the hotel here, you see."
Laguna nodded as she continued.
".and there were these teenagers that were staying in the hotel there that had lost one of their friends and they were worried. I told them that they needed to look for their friend and that I'd help them, so I told them to head to the bar and wait for me there."
"I see."
"Yeah," she said, "I'd really like to listen to what your story is but. well, I'd better get back." she turned away and began to walk away but Laguna ran after her.
"I'll come too."
"Shouldn't you get back to. where are you supposed to be?" she asked, frowning.
"No, I can come. I'll explain what's going on, on the way there." He followed Lexi to the bar, explaining all about what was going on.
"So who's going with who?" asked Quistis, looking around at everyone.
"I think that I vill be staying here." Said Dr. Odine, "I vill try to find out vat exactly Adel is after."
"Fair enough," said Quistis, "Who will go to the Garden and who will go and find Sirus and Aurora?"
Squall and Rinoa side-glanced at each other and announced at the same time, "We will go for Aurora and Sirus."
"Quistis and I should definitely go back to Garden," said Seifer, "You too, Ellone" he added.
"We'll go with Squall and Rinoa!" Dawn chirped in. For the first time since they'd arrived at Odine's, Dawn and Jem stood up, ready for action. "We can help!"
Squall shook his head, saying "No, no. Definitely not, its far too dangerous."
"But, not just you two can go, that's just as dangerous! Jem and I can really help out!" Dawn argued, "C'Mon. You know that you're going to need the help and nobody else is around."
Squall sighed deeply, knowing that she was right. "Fine." he said, but very reluctantly, "Quistis, Seifer, Ellone.You should go to the Garden, but I'm not sure that they'll still be in Esthar, if they aren't, the Garden should be outside Deling City, where Laguna and Kiros are."
Quistis nodded and then frowned, "Er. how are we going to get there?"
Dr. Odine piped in, "You can my jet. It's just a matter of breaking into the air station and getting to it."
"Thank you." Quistis said to Dr. Odine, "Will you be alright here?"
"Yes, yes. Of course, I have a transmitter for my jet, if I find out anything useful about Adel then I will tell you."
"Good Luck." Said Rinoa, and she hugged Quistis and Ellone, when she turned to Seifer he stared down at her.
"I need to ask you something." He said in an undertone, "Over here."
Rinoa nodded and turned to follow Seifer across the room, ignoring Squall's confused look yet Quistis didn't seem surprised.
"What's going on with them?" he asked Quistis who seemed to be trying to listen in to what they were saying.
"Oh, them!" she said, absentmindedly, "Nothing!"
Squall sat back down and listened, he caught the words, "No, not now. It's not the right time!' coming from Rinoa. They seemed to come back quickly, looking rather furious about something.
"Good luck, then!" said Rinoa in a slightly strange voice, and she walked quickly over to Squall and stood beside him.
Quistis, Seifer and Ellone began to walk out but Quistis stopped abruptly and being in the lead, Seifer and Ellone bumped into her.
"Wait guys, you don't even know where Aurora or Sirus are!" said Quistis, doubling back.
"Yeah," said Squall, "That's why we've got to look!"
"You should probably come back to the Garden, shouldn't you?" she asked, looking at from Squall to Rinoa then to Dawn and Jem, "I mean," she continued, "What if they aren't even in Esthar anymore, how're going to get out if we leave without you."
"But-"
"You can't help them if you don't know where they are, it's best to have a lead on where she is, isn't it?"
"Yes, but-"
"Quistis is right," said Seifer, "You guys might as well come back to the Garden with us, there's really no use looking for a pin in a haystack."
"Fine." grumbled Squall, disappointed and a little angry, "I guess your right." Squall was adamant in finding Aurora and Sirus as soon as he could, and he would do anything in his power to find them.
Squall, Rinoa, Dawn and Jem all rose and followed the other three out the door and they slowly walked down the pathway.
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Irvine and Selphie stared at the creature, with wide eyes, that stood in front of them, the creature seemed to be smiling. It was completely green, with a long tail that had a sharp spike on the end. It stood about five feet tall, it was wearing some sort of a purple garment and it's face was extremely strange also.
The grin that the creature had, stretched across it's face from ear to ear, its teeth were yellowish and sharp and it didn't seem to have a nose, but it had two very large eyes that were round and bulging with green in the center. On top of its head where green sort of hair stuck up in all directions were two more eyes but they stuck up on what looked like cords of some sort that were waving back and forth, looking around in all directions.
"'O are you?" asked the creature in a high pitched voice.
"We're." Irvine started, but the words didn't come out. They looked around and saw many of the same types of creatures coming from out of the trees and looking at them, all-grinning.
"You are.?" asked the creature expectantly, still smiling widely.
"We're. we're. humans from Balamb." said Selphie, clinging to Irvine's arm, unsure of what exactly to say to such a strange creature.
"O, your from up zere!" said the creature, pointing up at the large caves roof. Irvine and Selphie assumed the creature was talking about from up above.
Irvine nodded.
"I see, I see!" said the creature, jumping up and down. "Welcome to our lands, ve are ze race of ze plants. Zey call us ze tree swingers up zere."
"Who calls you the tree swingers?" asked Irvine, "We've never even. well, we never knew you existed."
"Ze ozer creatures, the ones zat you call monsters, vell, zey call us ze tree swingers." Said the creature, "Zey do not like us very much, ve down stay down 'ere most of ze time unless ve need a plant specimen to grow more trees for us."
"What is your race's real name?" asked Selphie, curiously. She was becoming very interested in the 'tree-swinging' race and wanted to find out all that she possibly could about them.
"Ve do not have a formal name, ve do not believe zat ve need zat sort of 'ting. Ve are creatures of ze planet, and believe uz and ze planet are one." Said the creature, shaking its head. "But I am ze leader of ze males, I am called Ulrich."
"Leader of the males?" asked Irvine.
"Ve believe zat males and females should not be under ze same command, ve don not favor certain genders like you do, ve live together in 'armony."
"Oh." said Selphie, "Who's the leader of the females then?"
"Zat vould be Nateria," said Ulrich, "She's over zere." He pointed a long green finger to another tree where another creature with yellowish hair had stepped out and was staring at them menacingly.
"She doesn't look like she want's us here." said Irvine, wondering why the female 'tree-swinger' looked much more menacing then the male, "Maybe we'd best leave you in peace."
"Don't vorry about 'er," said Ulrich, waving a hand impatiently, "She's tough to please!"
"But we don't want-" started Irvine but Ulrich grabbed their arms and began to pull them forwards into the small tree house behind them. "Come, 'ave some food! You looked starved!" he said.
Irvine and Selphie decided not to argue and they followed him inside.
The small house was made of what looked to be tree bark that was tied together using the long vines that Irvine and Selphie had seen earlier. The floor was covered in large leaves that lay flat from walking on it. A small bed made of tree bark and covered in a giant leaf (Probably used for a blanket, they assumed) sat in the far-left corner and had vine hangings all around it.
To the right was a large and tall basin that reached up to their chests and it was filled with clear water. Next to it was a small fireplace surrounded in large stones; the bottom had a large and flat stone covering the wood floor.
"I 'ave not seen your 'ouses up zere but I imagine zat zis is very small to you." Said Ulrich.
"It's cozy!" exclaimed Selphie, looking around with a small smile, "I always love houses that are cozy!" she wrapped her arms around her self and for a moment, rocked from side to side, making Irvine give her a funny look. Ulrich seemed to think that Selphie was funny, and giggled.
"So how long have your kind been here?" asked Irvine, now ignoring Selphie, who was walking around, looking at things, "How come we've never heard of you, or seem you before?"
Ulrich pulled out two puffy plant type mushrooms that he gestured for Irvine and Selphie to sit on. "Ve 'ave been 'ere since ze beginning of life." Said Ulrich in his high-pitched voice as he busied himself with a fire that seemed to light pretty quick. "Ve only stay 'ere though, ve vere banished from up zere."
"You were banished?" Selphie said, bewildered, "But why?" Though trying to be serious, Selphie couldn't help giggling at how much she sank into the plant type mushroom chairs; they were unbelievably comfortable.
"Long ago ze 'umans found us and zey vere afraid of us." Said Ulrich, shuffling over to another place on the floor that he pulled open and they several plants of different kinds that Irvine and Selphie had never seen before.
"Ze 'umans chased us avay and ve vere forced to live vere zey could not find us," Ulrich continued while pulling out some plants and placing them on a stone in the fire. "Ze old people of our kind found a small cave, zey vere ze only ones left after ze battle between ze 'umans and us. Zey expanded on ze cave and ever since ve 'ave been living 'ere in 'armony together."
Both Irvine and Selphie shifted uncomfortably, "Do you kind still feel hatred towards us?" asked Selphie.
"Vell, yes and no. ve do not believe in 'olding grudges against anyone." Said Ulrich, placing the cooked plants on two stone platters and handing them to Irvine and Selphie with stone pieces to eat the plants with.
"I vill not say, 'owever, zat some of us do not 'old grudges against ozers." Ulrich said, sitting on his small bed and looking at them with all four eyes, "I know zat Nateria vill 'old a grudge against the 'umans. She does not understand vhy ve vere banished, she vants to see ze vorld but ve von't let 'er. It vill be too dangerous for 'er."
"I wonder why we've never head of you before though, I mean." said Irvine, eating some cooked plants, ". if our kind really did banish you then why don't they tell us that you exist?"
"Why won't you let Nateria up there though?" asked Selphie, completely ignoring Irvine's wondering. "There's no humans in the forest, only the monsters."
"If ve vere seen zen it vould bring back all ze war and all ze death to our kind!" exclaimed Ulrich, "You 'ave not 'eard of us before, I think, because you 'umans think zat our kind vas gone. Your kind nearly made our race extinct! There are not many of uz 'ere, ve used to be of great numbers."
Irvine shook his head, "I can't say how ashamed both of us," he glanced at Selphie who was also shaking her head, ". how both us fell right now! I'd never heard of anything so barbaric and terrible as another race being banished from our planet, being told they cannot live!"
"It is not your fault," said Ulrich, waving the matter aside, "I know zat it vas a long time ago and 'umans were just learning of zis planet. Our kind vatched you grow and evolve into 'umans, many of our kind did not vant to let your kind live, but zey argued and in the end your kind thrived and ended up taking over zis planet. I suppose zat zere isn't enough room for two races!"
Irvine and Selphie finished their cooked plants in silence, marveling over the amazing taste that filled their mouths and that made them even more tired then they were. Ulrich seemed to notice this and stood up.
"Come, follow me and I vill show you an empty 'ouse zat you can use for resting." He said, going out the door. They followed him out onto the platform and watched as he swung out
Chapter XVIII.....................The Roknarag
"We've got to stay low!" exclaimed Quistis who was in the lead as they walked down the path out of Dr. Odine's office out onto the street, all crouching.
"I'm crouching as low as I can walk!" said Rinoa angrily.
They travelled slowly along the street, out of view of any guards on the streets nearby, luckily they hadn't run into any on the street they walked along. The sun was now high in the sky, they'd been in Dr. Odine's office longer then they'd thought and now it was nearing at least one o'clock.
"We're almost there," said Quistis, as they reached a turning point in the road that lead down another road where the Esthar Airstation was. "Now this is the tricky part," she looked back at everyone, "We've got to go down there without being seen." She pointed down the road.
"Now, we'll go two at a time, but one of us has to go alone, that'll be me." She said, turning back to face the road, "I'll go first and wave on the next two which will be Seifer and Ellone, then I want Dawn and Jem to go and Squall and Rinoa will follow last."
Everyone nodded and they switched places so that they were in the right order and then looked at Quistis again. "Ready?" she asked, they all nodded, "Alright, I'm going."
Quistis stood up slightly and ran as fast as she could down the side of the road, looking straight ahead until she got to the building at the end and she looked around warily then from a distance, they saw her wave on Seifer and Ellone.
They ran slightly slower then the speed that Quistis went down the path, but still considerably quick and they got there safely. Next, Dawn and Jem were waved on and they went running down the path to where the others were.
Squall and Rinoa moved up to the edge of the road but they saw no wave, they could see the group of them in the shadows but not enough to make out what they were doing. "What's the hold up?" asked Rinoa.
Squall shook his head, "I'm not sure." he whispered and continued staring down the road to see Quistis waving them on but nothing happened.
"You don't think.they were seen, do you?" said Rinoa.
Squall hushed her and turned around. "They weren't seen, I don't think." He whispered then turned back to look down the road.
"I wonder what's going on, I mean. did they forgot we were here?" asked Rinoa, but she quickly stopped talking when Squall gave her a funny look, raising his eyebrows as though to ask, 'what the hell are you talking about.'. "They didn't forget." he said finally.
"I know but." Rinoa trailed off.
"Let's run for it." said Squall, turning back to Rinoa.
"What, we don't even know if its safe yet!" Rinoa exclaimed.
"Well, we don't know if their safe either," Squall said and he rose into a low running position, "Are you coming or not?"
Before Rinoa had the chance to say anything Squall was up and running down the road towards the air station. Rinoa got up and ran after him, muttering under her breath, "What an idiot."
Squall, who was running about twenty feet ahead of Rinoa, stared down the road to see if they were still there but it was too dark in the shadows for him to see, but he had been running so fast that he was nearly there.
Rinoa looked around and nearly fell over her own feet when she saw three Esthar soldiers on the road opposite that they were on running after them and they seemed to be loading guns. "Squall, watch out!" she called in warning.
Squall looked back and saw the soldiers and instead of running forwards he stopped dead and waited for Rinoa to pass before running again. As they reached the air station doors they heard gunshots and when they looked beside them they saw the rest of the group huddled in the corner, Quistis in the front.
"C'mon!" said Quistis, pointing at the door, "We've got to get out of here!"
Quistis ran to the door and with a great pull she opened it and let them all inside before closing it again and locking it.
"Why didn't you wait for the signal?" she demanded angrily, looking at Squall and Rinoa.
Rinoa shrugged and looked at Squall, who was looking slightly abashed, "We thought that you were in danger or something. I never thought that we might have been the ones in danger." he said.
"Obviously not." Said Quistis and stepped passed Squall, looking around the large hanger that they stood in. "Odine's aircraft is over there, beside the big red one. that's where he told me it was."
They walked towards the large red ship and looked beside it where there was a smaller blue one that looked unbelievably like a small Ragnarok. They looked around for a moment, there was no ceiling, and they could see the afternoon sky clearly through the open roof.
"Who's flying?" Dawn asked, startling many of them because she hadn't talked in so long, "I.I could fly if you don't mind, I mean, if none of you can fly."
"Actually," said Rinoa, "Selphie." she paused after saying Selphie's name, closing her eyes in grimace for a second and then, finally, she continued, "She used to fly the Ragnarok. I don't think that any of us ever did fly."
Squall nodded in agreement and looked at Quistis who seemed to be considering the matter, "Alright, Dawn, you can fly it. None of us can, anyway." she looked around at everyone.
"You can count on me!" Dawn said, smiling and doing a SeeD salute, though, not exactly right. She turned and got on the blue aircraft first, not seeing the funny look the Quistis gave her after the SeeD salute she tried to give.
"This looks so much like the Ragnarok." said Rinoa as they got inside and up to the pilots deck, "Everything about it. The only difference is that it's smaller."
"It was probably modeled from the Ragnarok, same design." Said Seifer, playing with a switch as Dawn jumped into the pilot's seat.
"Wow, so many buttons." Dawn said in amazement, looking as though she were in some sort of pilots heaven, with a wide smile on her face. Flying seemed to give Dawn some sort of rush.
"Can you handle this thing?" Jem asked her, leaning on the back of the driver's seat.
"Of course I can!" Dawn said, almost angrily, looking around at him and glaring. "You DO remember my dive in the Airstrike jet, don't you?"
"Don't take a fit," said Jem defensively, "I was just asking you a question!" He smirked and in an undertone, said, "And after the dive, we crashed."
Seifer caught it and started laughing, but was stopped by a sharp look from Rinoa and Quistis. Luckily nobody caught Squall's snicker.
Dawn flicked a switch that made the shutter that went of the large window open. "Wow." She then flicked another switch that made them all feel a large jolt, the aircraft had started.
"Hey," said Rinoa, looking at a sticker on the control panel, "This thing is called a Roknarag!"
"Time to get the hell out of this city!" Dawn said excitedly and pulled on the steering rod. The Roknarag rose out of the air station just as the lock on the door was broken open, suddenly, and several soldiers came piling in.
"See ya later, suckers!" Jem said, doing a small salute and the Roknarag soared over the vast Esthar City and out towards the ocean, towards Balamb Garden.
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The sun had risen and it was early morning, fires were burning on some of the houses, people were screaming, running and fighting.
"We should get back to Caraway's mansion." Suggested Zell, looking around at the still rioting people of Deling City.
"Your right," agreed Clarissa, also looking around the streets. "C'mon, Laguna.. Where's Laguna?"
Laguna was walking to where a small group of people was sitting huddled together, that all looked to be very young, maybe severnteen years old at the most. In front of them was the woman that Clarissa and Zell recognized as the one that Laguna had helped and who had returned his favor by helping him too.
"LAGUNA!" Zell exclaimed and both Zell and Clarissa ran after Laguna, catching up to him quickly. "What are you doing?" Zell demanded.
"I'm. I'm going to help them out." Laguna said, looking over Zell's shoulder to look at the group, or what Zell suspected, look at the woman.
"We need to get back to President Landers, now!" Clarissa urged, "C'mon." She pulled on Laguna's shirt but he stood there stubbornly.
"N.No, you guys go. I'll, uh, be right there." Laguna said and pushed past them, walking towards the small group.
"Oh, but."
"Give it up. He's not going to come." said Zell, "Let's go."
Zell and Clarissa headed off in the direction of Caraway's Mansion, stopping occasionally to put an end to small riots and to tell people that Deling City was safe again, that Adel was gone.
They walked up the pathway of Caraway's mansion just as Landers and Caraway were stepping out of the house. "Ah," said Landers, clapping his hands together, "So, your back. I was just talking to General Caraway here and-" he looked around, "Where's Loire?"
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"Umm, hello." said Laguna to the woman who had just told the small group to go somewhere that Laguna didn't quite hear. It sounded something like a bar.
"Hello," said the woman, giving Laguna a smile that made his heart melt and his legs weak. She looked at him expectantly.
"I, uh, was wondering, uh, who are you?" he said bashfully, staring at her in her brilliant blue eyes that gleamed in the light.
"Oh, I'm Alexandra Wrelaway," she said, holding out her hand for Laguna to shake, "But people call me Lexi," she added.
"Thanks for what you did back there," Laguna smiled, shaking her hand making his knees even more weak, "You really helped me out."
"Well," she said, returning Laguna's smile, "If it hadn't been for you then I wouldn't have been there to help you. I was just returning the favor, er. sorry, what's your name?"
"Oh! Sorry, my name is Laguna."
"D'you have a last name, Laguna?" she smiled again.
"Umm, yeah, Laguna Loire."
"Laguna Loire!" her eyes widened and her smile faded, "You mean President Laguna Loire, President of Esthar, Laguna Loire!"
"Umm, yeah."
"Wow," her eyes were still wide, "What are you doing fighting Adel? And why would you fight even think of fighting her in the first place? What are you doing in Galbadia, let alone, Deling City?"
"You sure do ask a lot of questions," replied Laguna, "And the answers to all those questions are well. it's a long story."
"I have time," she said.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Laguna asked suddenly, "Why were you leading that group of people?"
"Well, I own the bar. the one beside the hotel here, you see."
Laguna nodded as she continued.
".and there were these teenagers that were staying in the hotel there that had lost one of their friends and they were worried. I told them that they needed to look for their friend and that I'd help them, so I told them to head to the bar and wait for me there."
"I see."
"Yeah," she said, "I'd really like to listen to what your story is but. well, I'd better get back." she turned away and began to walk away but Laguna ran after her.
"I'll come too."
"Shouldn't you get back to. where are you supposed to be?" she asked, frowning.
"No, I can come. I'll explain what's going on, on the way there." He followed Lexi to the bar, explaining all about what was going on.
