Heating up

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It was approximately 9.38 in the morning in Deling City. The streets and highways of the city were raving with the endless rush hour where motorists horning and cursing at each other in irritation. At the northern end of the city lied the Caraway Mansion, home of Deling City's acting President General Caraway. At the humble entrance of the house stood an aggravated Squall, staring at Cid sternly directly in his brown eyes through the thick glasses. His girlfriend, Rinoa only shed tears while her blood-shot eyes looked at her presidential father.

"Tell us. Tell us that we're eliminated!" Squall said wrapping one arm around her girlfriend snugly and pulled her until her head touched his shoulder. "I don't want to let Rinoa suffer by eternalising the dilemma she had."

"Squall and Rinoa," Cid started again after clearing his throat. "You both have been told that you're in last place." Cid paused momentarily trying to rise the tension in the couple. He let out a sigh of relief and smiled affably. "The good news is this is not an elimination round!"

"What?" Rinoa said in perplexity, raising her head from rest on Squall's broad shoulder, which was like a pillow to her where she could just throw all the bad things on. She started to arch her lips a little, almost smiling. "Is that really true?"

"No way," Squall shook his head in denial. "You're just kidding cuz you and General Caraway don't want to hurt Rinoa's feelings."

"Just take it pardner," Irvine said behind his hat and dropped off from his seat on the patio table. He approached Squall and patted on his back. "The goddamn lady luck is really smilin'."

"We already know that you won't be eliminated ya know," Raijin added.

"Yeah," Selphie cheered raising her arm in the air. "We want you Squall."

"Squall, we... we're not eliminated," Rinoa finally cheered in relief. She stretched out her arms to embrace her boyfriend warmly while Squall only stood there dumbfounded. Rinoa then released her grip on Squall and turned to everybody in her award-winning smile. "I don't know what to say umm... this race is crazy and exciting and all, but I just want to say that I'm really relieved and I want to go on."

"Honey," General Caraway interrupted looking at his daughter sternly.

"I know daddy," Rinoa reasoned. "The city can't lose their first daughter but I really want to go on, to learn more about myself than what I discovered after the Ultimecia incident."

"Rinoa," General Caraway perked up his voice. "You're as persistent as your mother!"

At the instant everyone started to laugh and Rinoa could only rub her wet and slimy hair. Rinoa then turned to look at Squall who was like a statue since they arrived here.

"Are you gonna say something?" Selphie said poking her finger on his arm, hoping for a reaction.

"Poor Squall, he must've been in the shock of his lifetime," Quistis said, sitting on the patio drinking her afternoon tea with Xu, who crossed her arms with the elbows pressing the glass table.

"Quisty, I just want to give an advice," Xu said matter-of-factly. "Forget Squall."

After hearing the advice, Quistis stopped drinking her tea and slammed the cup on the saucer. "Why?" she asked, having the expression in her face that she was not amused. "I almost got it Xu and the next thing I have to do is to tie it up. I've already got the plan running."

"But it's unfair to Rinoa and you're torturing her," Xu retaliated raising her voice.

"Hey, hey, ladies," a cowboy voice joined in with Irvine appearing in front of them with his hat on his chest. "What's the commotion about?"

"Nothing," both of them said in unison. Then they turned from Irvine to face each other staring blankly.

Squall woke up with his head splitting in pain. He rubbed his forehead to ease the ache and turned up to see Selphie's face pressing his nose with a huge cheery smile.

"Finally, you woke up!"

"Whatever," he muttered. "Go away!" Immediately, Selphie pulled her face away from Squall. "Where's Rinoa?"

"Bathing," Selphie said casually. "She needs to get rid of the goo on her you know. Need some fresh air?"

Squall could only reply with a small nod since the pain would increase as he moved his head. Selphie then helped Squall to rise up from the bed and she took him to the balcony. The dusty air of the city did not helped Squall much to rejuvenate his senses.

"Just asking out of curiosity," Squall said, as Selphie neared her ear close to Squall's mouth since the cacophony of city traffic dampened his voice. "How on earth did you tame Seifer?"

Selphie silenced momentarily, but then she turned to Squall grinning. "What's the big deal? I flirted," she pouted.

"Oh," Squall perplexed. His mind began to rotate with a pondering. "Seifer and his posse must be up to something. Usually he would dump Selphie in the beginning although he was forced to team up with her."

Selphie yawned and stretched her arms to the back. "It's so stressful but I can't wait to see what the next leg look like. You know it's relaxing to remember and talk about the crazy things on the race that happened before."

Squall started to press his view on the Deling City scenery - shops, commercial buildings and parklands at the left, the Gateway at the center and the residential areas and tall skyscrapers at the right.

***

"Squall let's do it!" Rinoa pleaded tugging Squall's hand trying to make him to read the Balamb Garden Around-the-World Race pamphlet. The persistent Squall who still did not want to get away from his coffee made her give up.

"The prize is a mil you know?" Rinoa said, which finally made Squall to put his coffee cup on the table and turn to Rinoa with interest.

"Are you serious?" Squall said.

"You don't believe me?" Rinoa then handed the pamphlet to Squall and he began to look at it keenly.

'The only gateway to the whole world awaits' was the first line he read and he began to lose interest.

"It's crap. I can pilot the Ragnarok to go around the world," Squall said nastily but soon turned back to the paper. 'The winner will win the grand prize of 1,000,000 gil!'

"Hmm... no sponsors," Squall pondered with his fingers rubbing his chin. "But I have a large debt at hand and the money would come into use, if the money is ever real."

Squall slapped the paper on the table with a loud slam and tilted his head up to face Rinoa vigorously. The crowd of the Garden cafeteria stopped their usual conversation and laughter to see the couple.

"I'll do it."

"Rock-paper-scissors to see who pairs in the race!" Selphie cheered, drawing her hand to her back, sitting on the same table with Zell and Irvine.

"Sorry Sefie," Irvine said, now wrapping his arm around Zell sitting beside him but Zell tried to evade, muttering 'I'm not gay you know' in his lips. "We've already paired up and signed in."

"Then who will team up with me?" Selphie cried, with tears about to form in her eyes. But as a happy-go-lucky person, she hid her sorrow by wiping away her tears and smiled. "Never mind, I can look for other people."

Selphie stood up from her seat and walked around the cafeteria asking the other students and SeeDs to be teammates. A student, who was a friend of Zell, came running to Zell with aggravating news.

"Bad news Zell," he said huffing and puffing, with his hands pressing on the table and his head hanging downwards. "Squall and Rinoa are joining."

"Shit, he'll be a threat," Zell exclaimed.

"Don't worry dude," Irvine said casually, patting on Zell's shoulder to calm him down. "The regulations said only nine teams will be selected randomly."

"Okay, so you two have already teamed up," Seifer said leaning against the vending machine talking to Fujin and Raijin. "Then what about me?"

"FIND," Fujin said briefly.

"She meant that you should look for someone compatible as simple as that, ya know," Raijin explained.

"QUIT."

"Or else you might as well give up cuz no one wants to be with the meanest and baddest ex-knight, ya know," Raijin added, exploding into a giggle with Fujin.

"Cheap bastards," Seifer muttered. He turned away from them with Fujin and Raijin staring each other.

"OFFENDED?"

Seifer walked with small steps with his hands at his back to the deeper and more crowded part of the cafeteria. He turned to his left to see Zell and Irvine having a conversation with the Trepies on a large round table.

"Now there's someone to release my frustration," Seifer thought sneering. He strode towards the table and pounded his palm on the table and turned his head to Zell with a grin.

"Wassup chicken-wuss?" Seifer jeered. Zell wanted to rise from his seat and retaliate but Irvine managed to push him back down.

"What's wrong Seifer?" Daniel started. "Ya love Zell? As in real love." Everyone on the table laughed and giggled hysterically after Daniel stressed the 'love' word. Seifer who was embarrassed at first, flamed into anger and shuffled away from the table after he pounded his fist on the table. After a few moments, Seifer returned to the table grabbing a food tray with both hands and knocked it on Daniel's head. Seifer sneered and hit Daniel and his Trepie friends some more.

"Seifer, what're you doing!" Zell spat with his fist shaking wanting to punch Seifer on the face.

Seifer stopped his attack and the tray dropped uselessly to the floor. "Wanna piece of me? C'mon!" Seifer said in a challenge by pointing both of his fingers to himself. Zell immediately rose up from the seat and climbed to the top of the table shoving away the plates and glasses, which clattered on the floor after they dropped from the table. Then at the end of the table he took one big jump, trying to elbow-drop Seifer from above. Seifer nimbly dodged his attack and Zell fell on the floor with a thud. Seifer took the advantage by kicking Zell's stomach causing him to shriek out in pain.

"What's going on?" Selphie muttered trying to pave a way through the crowd who was looking at the fight. She paved into a spot where she could see clearly what was going on besides having herself unnoticeable to the two boys.

"Wow, cool. Hey maybe I can get Seifer to be my teammate and Rinoa said he was sweet once. Oh what the heck let me tape this fight and sign-him up!" Selphie took out the camcorder from her linen bag and recorded the fight while clearing up her voie to start commentating. "Zell is clenching his fist ready to attack Seifer. And there he goes... ooh, Seifer jouked it and chopped his back and he's down... Oh, what's this? Zell's not going to give up and he's getting up with a bloody face."

The crowd cheered on shouting Seifer and Zell's name. Zell and Seifer exchanged glances.

"Take this!" Zell's fist started to burn with fire and pointed it at Seifer. Then he motioned his feet and disappeared a second later.

"What the fuck," Seifer muttered. In a second, Zell appeared in front of Seifer smiling triumphantly.

"Eat this S.O.B. 'Fist of Fury'!!!" Zell neared his fist at Seifer trying to punch his face until his jaw broke. Seifer anticipated the attack and could do nothing but shielding his face with crossed arms. Subsequently, Seifer jerked backward until his back banged on the pillar, almost breaking his spine.

"Zell finally got Seifer! Oh no, what's this? Fujin and Raijin are stepping into the ring."

Fujin and Raijin walked towards Zell and Seifer who was slouching against the pillar.

"Help me you guys!" Seifer said but only to expect the disciplinary committee to disarm him by jerking his arms to the back.

"ZELL TOO!" Fujin ordered Raijin to arrest Zell. "ENOUGH TROUBLE. NOW DETENTION!"

"Move it. We got no time ya know," Raijin said forcing Zell to follow his steps.

Selphie turned off the camcorder and tucked it back into her linen bag. "Oh, this is gonna be great. I'm positively sure that we will be selected to join the contest."

Cid twirled his executive's chair to face the ocean and beach scenery of Balamb Continent. The small creak of the door sounded and the headmaster's most awaited guest approached Cid whose head could only be seen behind the black leather of the chair.

"So did it attract the students?" Mr. Alex Axel asked trying to catch his attention.

Cid turned the chair around to reveal his affable looking self. "I only did it out of everyone's boredom, not for the money."

"Whatever," Mr. Axel said casually. "Now where are the tapes?"

Cid immediately rose up from his seat and walked to his side with his hands behind his back looking like a real principal. "I'll lead you to the VIP room."

Cid opened the door for Alex Axel to pass through first, but Edea Kramer, his wife and the secretary of his office showed up in front of the doorstep.

"Good evening honey," Edea said with a file held between her arms and chest. She then turned to the stranger that her husband had not introduced to her before. "Honey, who's he?"

Cid hesitated for a moment but was able to come up to something. "Edea, this is my old classmate from Galbadia High School. I'm just taking him to the VIP room to look at some photos."

"Oh okay," Edea answered. "I hope you'll enjoy the Garden's hospitality Mr...."

"Axel."

"We got to go honey. He'll have to catch a train back to the capital tonight," Cid said trying to divert his wife's attention on his guest.

Cid led him down the hallway to a two-way door, where he opened it with both hands revealing the VIP room, which was ornately decorated with pictures and photos of Balamb Garden and at one end was a sofa set and a 24-inch television, plugged to a VCR. Cid walked to the shelf behind the triple-seated sofa and pulled out a box of tapes containing profiles of twenty couples who wanted to qualify for participation.

"Help yourself," Cid said pushing the box to the center of the sofa set. Mr. Axel opened the box and uncovered the black glossy tapes on top of the dusty photo albums that were already in the box for a long time. He fished out a tape and examined it.

"Dr. Kadowaki and Matron. Who're they?" he asked.

"Dr. Kadowaki's our infirmary lady and Matron's my wife's nickname to the kids," Cid answered, trying to arouse his interest on the tape. "They're the only elder couple who submitted their entry."

Alex Axel turned his head around to look into Cid's brown eyes through the thick eyeglasses. His eyes spoke, "I didn't know you're willing to risk your wife's safety."

"Don't worry, my wife's an ex-Sorceress and she's from a family of Centran nomads," he replied.

"People sees us as two old ladies but we'll prove that we're as good as the younger teams," Edea's voice said on the television screen. Her image was a white woman with long black hair tumbling down to her hips and was clad in her usual black garment. Standing beside her was a fat woman with her hair tied up into a small ball stuck at the back her head and clad in a doctor's uniform.

"Hopefully. We just want to feel young again," Dr. Kadowaki said, giggling.

"Hi, I'm Rachel and this is my partner Daniel and we're part of a groupie called the Trepies!" The vibrant young redhead girl cheered stretching her arms excitedly into the sky. Behind her was a giant portrait of their idol, Quistis Trepe, used as a background for her team's video presentation.

"We're smart, sporty, shrewd, sarcastically funny and most importantly we would not let anyone double-cross Instructor Trepe," Daniel said soon afterwards.

"And we want to win the million bucks to buy a yacht for Instructor Trepe, who wanted it so badly," added Rachel, who then hugged Daniel emotionally with tears in her eyes. "Oh this is so beautiful!"

"GREETINGS," the image of a silver-haired woman with an eye-patch covering the right eye of Fujin said like an alien on its first encounter with earthlings.

"She means that she says hi to anybody who's watching this tape. Oh yeah we forgot to introduce ourselves," Raijin turned to face Fujin and they both nodded in unison. "This lovely partner of mine here is Fujin and my name's Raijin. Ya know, we're named after the elements of..."

"WIND THUNDER," Fujin interrupted. "MAKE IT BRIEF."

Raijin turned to Fujin dumbly. "I thought that should be all... right?"

"IMBECILE." The tape rolled until it showed an irate Fujin kicking Raijin, who was yelping helplessly in pain while rolling on the floor.

"Oof! Now to the people who're watching this, pick US okay?"

Alex Axel, who was squatting in front of the television screen, pulled out the tape from the VCR after watching it uninterestedly. He stacked it on top of the pile of tapes stacked up like a pyramid. Then, he reached out his hand lazily towards the inside of the box and felt the sleek plastic casing of the last tape. The TV showed the image of Selphie immediately after the tape had been played.

"Hi everyone," the girl in yellow cheered in her own happy-go-lucky style. "My name's Selphie Tilmitt reporting here on a fight between my teammate Seifer and the enemy Zell Dincht!" her voice commentated in the filming of the fight, which occurred two weeks ago.

Cid slammed his palm on the coffee table in an outrage, while Selphie's voice was rambling about the scene on the screen.

"I can't believe my student is submitting something like this!" he exclaimed.

"No," Alex Axel said in denial, while shaking his leg from left to right sitting comfortably on the sofa. "This is a powerful example of a short film and I love it," he said grinning from ear to ear watching Seifer dodging Zell's punches nimbly. "By the way, I've already picked the people who will make my show an instant hit."

"This is my only chance to get my Squall back from the hands of that bitch," Quistis muttered hopefully while sitting on her desk waiting for Cid's next words for the day's announcement.

"First of all thank you for supporting the idea by sending wonderful entries. Hopefully if this was interesting then we can try to put it on film," Cid said chuckling affably through the intercom speakers wired throughout the Garden. "Just kidding, I know it's impossible but let's don't waste time and get things straight."

Nida and Shelley stopped their conversation in the park and silenced in deep thought and reverence during the pause. The digitalised voice of Cid Kramer soon sounded.

"Dr. Kadowaki and Matron, Squall and Rinoa, Zell and Irvine, Daniel and Rachel, Nida and Shelley, Jack and King, Fujin and Raijin, Quistis and Xu, and finally Selphie and Seifer."

Seifer perplexed after hearing his name by dropping his bloodstained gunblade uselessly to the dirt after slaughtering some Grats in the Training Center. He stood dumbfounded as his weapon clattered on the ground, muttering to himself. "What the fuck."

"Oh and Selphie and Seifer, please come to the office before lunchtime. I've got something to say to you."

***

Alex Axel sat on the chair with his elbows pressing the panel while his fingers fiddled the buttons to replay the recorded progression of the race. The staff of the production had left their boss alone in the lonely broadcast van parked among the trailers at the edge of Deling City. As the images of Seifer and Selphie appeared on the screen, he turned the chair for himself to meet with Cid and General Caraway after detecting their ubiquitous footsteps in the silence.

"Axel, you monster," Caraway started in his deep manly voice, calmly. "If you try to threaten the safety of my daughter again I will make sure that you'll spend the rest of your life in jail." Caraway turned away from the aggravated producer, leaving Cid Kramer to settle the rest.

"Alex, I strongly urge that you stop endangering the safety of my students," Cid growled in aggravation, covering his face thinking of the next words. "Also, I simply do not recommend airing it as soon as possible, it needs editing. If not, I'll cancel the deal."

Alex Axel began to smirk and rose up from the chair shuffling towards his old friend. He stood in front of Cid matching his height and the both of them engaged in serious eye contact.

"You still know the Contract System, don't you?" Axel said nonchalantly. "I have the rights to keep the money you've funded for my show and I can terminate the agreement on profit shares. Besides, don't your students feel disappointed if you go back to the pit stop and say, "I'm afraid that the competition has been canceled and we'll all go back to our normal Balambian lives."? Remember they've come this far and they wanted the money so badly that they'll be up on their throats trying to oust each other. And don't forget my job and promotion is at stake if I'm unable to complete the program, friend."

Cid paused doubtfully after listening to his reasoning. In his mind he was still upset about what had happened. "Do want you think is right, as long as you don't endanger my students any further just as we agreed in the production contract."

"Don't worry about that. Your students will not expect the tasks they'll have to face ahead," Axel assured.

***

The crescent moon started to rise along with the beams and lights projected in the clear night sky of the city. Zell and Irvine came out from the front door of General Caraway's mansion to meet the clue box situated on the pathway. Beside it was a Galbadian Soldier who would hand the envelope to them on their checkout time.

"I'm sorry, President Caraway had urgent matters. It is time to move on," the soldier handed the red envelope to Zell, giving his team a military salute. Zell eagerly pulled the detachable seal to rip the envelope open.

"Make your way to the carnival at Zephyrus Square and find the clue hidden behind one of the booths," Zell said smirking. "That means more hotdogs buddy."

"You don't get tired of the wieners don't ya?" Irvine answered irritably, while counting the money enclosed to make sure that they have received 100 gil for the leg. "First thing first, let's go out and get a taxi to get outta here."

The taxi drove through the streets jam-packed with tourists and residents strolling along the sidewalks enjoying the sights of the city. The ride around the downtown area of the city, which was crammed with restaurants, cinemas and theaters and specialised shops, ended when the taxi arrived at an unlit clearing known as Zephyrus Square. Zell and Irvine dismounted the taxi to find the clearing overrun with crowds of people waiting for the workers to set up the gaming booths and oiling the various machinery which were mostly the rides. The humming of the generators vibrated the air and the square was immediately brightened with orange and white lights formed by arrangements of tiny bulbs, a welcome signal for keen tourists to enter their carnival.

***

Fujin and Raijin strolled down the pathway wearily as they were about to end their mandatory rest period. At once Fujin swiped the envelope from Caraway's representative and opened it with an unpleasant sound of paper ripped apart.

"DESTINATION," Fujin hissed while she bowed to talk to the cab driver.

"Can you take us to the Zephyrus Square Carnival?" Raijin translated in agitation. "We're on a race and we want to get there as soon as possible, ya know."

"Okay no problem," the middle-aged driver signaled the couple to drop their loads in the trunk.

"Damn we overslept," Rachel moaned as she examined her wristwatch to find that they had been five minutes late. "It's all your fault as well Daniel because you forgot to set the alarm."

"Okay, okay," Daniel spoke tiresomely trying to keep his teammate from annoying him any further. Presently, Rachel took their envelope politely and was about to tear it open.

"Make your way to the carnival at Zephyrus Square..." Rachel read. At this point Daniel's face was starting to lose colour and turn pale.

***

"What no clue?" Irvine exclaimed after the girl who was behind the ring-toss booth shook her head. "Are you sure about that?" Irvine repeated, but this time the teenage girl announced a solid 'no' answer and shoved him off to let the customers in. Irvine stomped his foot trying to release his tension. "Dammit we've searched for all the gaming booths already and all I got was a no for an answer," Irvine thought hopelessly while pacing around the square aimlessly. "Now where's Zell? I hope he doesn't sneak into another hotdog stand outside the carnival."

"Anyone knows where to get hotdogs here?" Zell bellowed at the crowd queuing up to ride the Ferris Wheel.

"Umm... Wiener City?" a young boy answered naively with his eyes filled with curiosity as he looked at the sour face of Zell's.

"Goddammit! I can't believe that a carnival so huuuge like this doesn't even have a normal snack like hotdogs that was supposed to be the symbol of Deling City, while other carnivals like in Balamb serve at least the hotdogs without the bread. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

Tears started to form beneath the boy's eyes after Zell chided and eventually sniffled and sobbed tugging the jeans of a grownup beside him who seemed to be the boy's father.

"Go and get someone your own size, punk," the father spat. "By the way, nice hair. You look like a muskrat."

"MUSKRAT!?!?" Zell howled, gritting his teeth and clenching his fist tightly until the veins around his hand expanded. He showed his fist angrily at the father. "Nobody calls me a muskrat!"

"Daddy does he want to kill me! Can we call the police to take him to the underground prison like in TV?" the boy wailed hugging onto the legs of his taller father. "I'm scared!"

"Now there you are pardner," Irvine said walking towards the irate Zell with his hands stretching outwards. Immediately, he shoved Zell from the man's sight and said a few words of apology.

"I know I can rely on that booming voice of yours," Irvine teased, rubbing his knuckles on Zell's head. "Can't you just behave like anyone else?"

"But... but..." Zell tried to reason but was soon interrupted by Irvine's gesture.

"I know you don't want people to call you CW and MR. But for heaven's sake we're in public and if we really get into trouble the mil would just fly away," Irvine calmly said. "Don't you want your own personal gym that you always wanted, which Balamb Garden doesn't have?"

Zell nodded speechlessly. Irvine let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Now back to where we left off. I searched the whole western side but no clue. How about you?"

"Same here. And it makes me hungry," Zell said, feeling his stomach rumbling endlessly. "Why aren't there any hotdogs in this hell?"

"Food will come later," Irvine said, letting out a larger sigh than the first. "Looks like we'll have to start all over again."

***

"PROSTITUTES," Fujin muttered looking at the sight of barely dressed women lingering the red light district of downtown Deling City. "STUPID AND TRAITOROUS WOMEN!!"

"Prostitutes are supposed to be fun to play with, ya know," Raijin said dumbly and was given three knocks in the head as a reward for his idiocy.

"FOOL!" Fujin hissed. "HOPE YOU GET WEIRD DISEASE FROM BITCHES!" Fujin pushed herself on the seat tilting her head upwards and shutting her eyes momentarily. The shabby and unkempt buildings soon turned into a brightly-lit environment.

"FINALLY," Fujin said as the driver halted in front of the cacophony of the carnival. She tabbed the fare beside the ashtray and squeezed herself out of the taxi with Raijin.

"So many booths," Raijin commented sauntering around the square. "Can we play a game, puh-lease?"

"IDIOT," Fujin screeched and turned away from her pea-brain partner to head for the ticket booth as a start.

"YOU KNOW WHERE CLUE IS?" Fujin asked briefly at the dried-up old man in front of the desk.

"You've come to the right place," the man stretched his long arm to reach the empty space for something stored beneath the desk. Then the hand appeared from beneath the counter with a sealed red envelope firmly gripped.

"I didn't know you're lucky honey," Raijin said from behind Fujin. "I thought I read somewhere that brutal women don't have luck finding a relationship."

Fujin reacted by kicking onto his leg, hiding a smile as she eagerly unsealed the envelope in her hand. "BUS."

"Take a bus to Rancher Fort and once you reach there, look for the clue atop the town's outpost. Buses will only operate from 6.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m."

"NO TIME," Fujin said looking at her watch which displayed the current time of 2231 hours.

Zell walked the pavement of the carnival aimlessly at random booths in the search for their most wanted clue. Zell turned away from the man behind the shooting booth and found Fujin and Raijin leaving the ticket counter.

"Oh man Mrs. Long John Silver and her counterpart are here already? I can't believe it," Zell squinted his eyes and focused on the bordered sheet of paper with writing on it resembling the route info, which Fujin tried to conceal it by stuffing it into her belt pouch. "Is that the clue that we're looking for?"

Zell crept up to the ticket booth among the children and tourists lingering the empty spaces trying to hide from the duo. Raijin sensed a foreign vibration within the crowd and turned to face them.

"Hmm... was anyone there?" Raijin asked himself goggling at the clusters of children holding balloons, which floated above the pack. Suddenly, his eyes spotted a clump of blonde hair jutting outwards moving across the sea of people like a shark. "Must've been some kind of new toy."

Finally, Zell arrived at the blue booth in front of the bent old man. He pounded his palm heavily rattling the counter.

"Do you have a clue?" Zell asked casually. Immediately the person in front of him arched downwards and sprang back up with the red envelope.

"Finally!" Zell said thoughtfully to himself, punching in the air with glee as he snatched the clue eagerly from the man's wrinkled hands. "I knew I'm not stupid like Irvine always sez. Now where to find Irvine?"

***

Selphie stood on the mat receiving her share of the envelope. Presently, the CC group team and the instructors were freshening up and getting ready for the leg. It was exactly 11.30 p.m.

"Make your way to the carnival," Selphie read in a singsong cheery tone. "The carnival will open from 9.00 p.m. until 3.00 a.m."

Seifer tried to liven himself to match his newfound girlfriend's joviality. Nevertheless, the impact of the race, the stress seeped deeper into his veins until he could not afford to curve his lips into a smile. However he managed to squeeze into a taxi and lulled into a short nap.

***

"I can't believe you've wasted time hanging around with the ladies at the shooting booth, Irvine," Zell argued, arching forward from the leathery seat of the taxi.

"What's your point?" Irvine tilted his hat to uncover his face, grinning. "You did the same for hotdog huntin'."

"I do have a point," Zell insisted, pointing his finger rudely in front of Irvine's line of vision. "From now on I deserve the respect that every teammate in the universe should have. I don't want to be pushed around and I want to do things the way I think it should be."

Irvine tilted his body forwards and started to sound interested. "What did I do to you?"

"Well..." Zell started thoughtfully. "You stopped me from going to the Metalhead live concert in Timber, you forced me to take the jump in Dollet, and, especially, you ate the true blue, original, only to be served every year, Deling City competition hotdog." Zell paused for breath after listing them down arduously. After that his tone turned triumphant. "And now I found the clue to show that I'm not the person to be pushed around like a dog, obeying everything his master says."

Irvine started to chuckle behind his hat. Then he pulled of his hat and let it hung freely with a string bound loosely round his neck. "Are you trying to say that you want to be in charge of the team now?"

"No..." Zell scoffed. "I mean, yeah, why not? I have the right to be leader for a day."

"Okay then," Irvine said casually. "Now oh almighty pardner, where shall we stay for the night?"

Zell hesitated and shrank back to his modest self. His mouth trembled with perspiration dripping down to the upper lip, muttering. "Oh now the jackass cowboy got me. I might as well put on a confident façade."

Zell pulled out his wallet to inspect their budget. So far they saved 115 gil from the last three legs plus 100 gil received for the current leg minus another 10 gil for the taxi.

"Driver. Take us to somewhere cheap to stay for the night."

***

"Carnival at Zephyrus Square. No problemo," Rinoa said refreshed and game for the leg, unlike her boyfriend Squall who was yawning sleepily throughout the morning.

Rinoa and Squall started jogging down the street to the nearest taxi stand with their bulky backpacks jiggling. "Hurry, we've only got 2 hours before the carnival closes!" Rinoa cried frantically as they halted a taxi skidding down the tarmac.

Squall plopped his back with a thud on the hard leather seats, letting his head swing to the left looking out the window. After Rinoa had given the directions, she leaned her head onto the cushion and her hands rubbing her thighs, staring nervously at the streetlights passed by. Squall positioned his brown eyes adoringly at Rinoa after detecting her troubled heartbeats.

"Don't worry Rinoa, I have a hunch that we can still catch up," he whispered in the most comforting way but was not enough the break her aggravation. He started again, this time with his lips closer to her ears and his arms wrapped around Rinoa's waist snugly. "Don't worry you won't have to compete with Quistis for my sake, I'm through with her honestly. After the race and hopefully win the money, we'll go on the luxurious Around the World Cruise and get married under the starry night sky with that comet we've seen that night in Balamb."

Rinoa carved a smile on her face and turned to face Squall's facial scar. "I didn't know you're a sweet talker, but Seifer's a better one," Rinoa replied jabbing onto Squall's stomach lightly. "But promise me that you'll never let that bitch flirt on you again."

Squall answered with a weak nod. Subsequently, the both of them neared their lips and began to wrap their arms around each other.

***

Zell and Irvine finally arrived at a motel at the edge of the northern suburban district of the city. Zell walked into the motel with heavy steps, which startled Raijin and Fujin, who were about to receive their keys.

"Hey guess who's here!" Zell said chuckling boisterously. "It's Mrs. Long John Silver eloping with her new boyfriend."

"INSOLENT FOOL!!" Fujin's voice boomed resulting to some grumbles from the people upstairs. The receptionist tried to calm her down as she was glaring at Zell furiously with her single eye.

"C'mon honey," Raijin said rattling their room key, glancing at Zell for the moment. "Let's call it a day. We can get our revenge on them someday."

Fujin stepped away from the counter and strode to approach Zell and Irvine. "Don't you forget that I helped you to look for the clue!"

Fujin stomped on the floor, then turned and strode away to the outside with Raijin tagging along like a dog. Zell and Irvine then walked to the counter with soft steps.

"I'm sorry we've got no rooms," the receptionist announced and clicked the 'no vacancy' sign on the counter.

"Oh dear there goes our room," Irvine sighed babyish. "So now what should be do? You're the leader after all."

"Umm..." Zell thought. "We'll just sleep at the playground bench out there. They look cosy by the way."

"Fine with me!" Irvine chirped. The both of them dragged their heavy loads to the playground and occupied on bench each for the night.

"This sucks."

***

Rinoa stretched out a shawl and wrapped it around her head and covered her mouth. "No I don't want to split up, we could get lost."

"Fine," Squall groaned, leaning on a pole near the entrance. "We'll start at those booths near the clowns."

Squall and Rinoa at first jostled hand in hand towards the area and then split up to different booths.

"Do you have a clue? We're in the middle of a race," Rinoa said with her voice muffled behind the shawl. Rinoa paced away from the gaming booth after she was given negative response.

"Red envelope. Do you have it?" Squall asked with his fingers drawing a rectangle in the air.

"Hey aren't you the guy who almost got killed by the Sorceress?" the girl said sheepishly, examining Squall's facial features.

"Please it's an emergency," he insisted.

"Black hair, brown eyes, pale skin, scar running from the forehead to the left cheek," she muttered absent-mindedly. "You really fit the description someone gave to me. Oh well if you're not him then sorry I don't know what you're talking about."

"Whatever," he said coolly. "Are you sure? Red envelope with clue in it."

"Sorry no," she answered, which was replied with an unfriendly walk-away. "Is he really that guy? Oh well there goes my autograph."

Squall and Rinoa approached each other with frustration hanging around them like a cloud.

"I can't find it!" Rinoa whined.

"Whatever. Same here."

Rinoa took a peek at her watch and started to widen her eyes in worry. "Oh no. We've only got thirty minutes left and that's not enough to search the whole carnival."

She wrapped her arms around Squall and laid her head on his chest, looking at the thinning crowd of the carnival. "We're done for..."

"Cut it out," Squall growled causing Rinoa to relinquish her arms from hugging Squall. "Keep your hopes up," he said briefly. "Stay here."

Squall released his backpack on the ground and started running while dodging people to the general ticket booth. The old man was already expecting his arrival to receive the final envelope.

"Do you know which booth has the envelope?" he asked impatiently. "We're on a race and it's an emergency!"

"Hold your horse and I'm coming," the man bent down and then a red envelope popped up on the counter. Squall immediately grabbed the clue and left the booth without thanking the old man.

"Youngsters nowadays."

"You've got the clue!!" Rinoa cheered with relief, coiling her hand around Squall's neck. "What does it say?"

"Take a bus to Rancher Fort and once you reach there, look for the clue atop the town's outpost. Buses will only operate from 6.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m.," Squall read calmly.

"Oh Squall," Rinoa cried with tears twinkling in her eyes. "We can still catch up!"

***

"Super-duper-mega-bummer!" Selphie whined, slamming the receiver angrily on the holder. "All the hotels are vacant."

"What's the use?" Seifer said casually resting on the bench.

"Seifer you can be so lazy and unhelpful at times," she scolded walking out of the phone booth to the park bench, frowning. Seifer shoved his legs away from the bench allowing Selphie to sit beside him.

"Does your head hurt honey?" Selphie cooed rubbing her fingers on the bandage wrapping around Seifer's forehead.

"Don't worry about the head," Seifer replied, grabbing onto her fingers and slid them to his cheek. "Do you know what made you appealing to me?" Selphie shook her head lightly. "You're that person who is cheerful and carefree all the time, and that gives you the power to create a smile on everybody's face and shape a happier world for everyone." Seifer paused and turned his head towards the stars glittering in the night sky. "I'm happy enough that you're willing to tame the beast within me."

"Oh no, don't say that," Selphie said, moving her face to meet Seifer's. "I'm so excited that you can bear my attitudes and tastes and all. You know my pals would scream like women and throw up when they step into my room."

"I'm looking forward to your room," Seifer said sarcastic, which caused Selphie to giggled and returned the smile into her.

Eventually, a taxi screeched and stopped on the road a few metres from their bench. The taxi's engine was still humming and the door swung open to reveal Rinoa in a shawl, surfacing from the taxi and then strutting towards them.

"Hey Rinoa," Selphie greeted, waving her hand at her.

"I can guess you're going to sleep in the park tonight," Rinoa said with strands of her hair fluttering to the light breeze. "Why don't I take you two to stay with us in style!"

***

"Super-duper-mega-cool!" Selphie cheered lunging towards the fluffy mattress of the king-sized bed. "Wow Rinoa I like the Presidential Suite."

"No problem. I'm the first daughter and my dad is going to pay for all this," she grinned, sitting on the same corner of the bed beside Selphie.

"I wish I could be first daughter or princess of some kingdom," Selphie sighed thoughtfully. "Hey maybe Sir Laguna can be my adoptive dad!"

Shortly, Seifer's blonde complexion popped out of the opened screen, which divides the two adjoining bedrooms. Selphie extended her arms for Seifer but Rinoa walked gently with the laces of her nightie swaying towards him.

"Sorry Seifer, this is a girl zone," she said, grinning.

"Selphie's supposed to help me change the bandages," Seifer explained, but was replied with Rinoa's finger sealing his lips.

"Rinoa told me that Squall's going to help you after his shower," Selphie explained, waving her legs, which were dangling from the bedside left and right.

"No problem there. Goodnight," Seifer retracted his head from the opening and reconnected the screen into a wall. Selphie picked up her towel and bedclothes ready for a restful shower.

"Too bad we've only got two to three hours to stay here," she sighed.

"Oh I don't count on that," Rinoa remarked. In confusion Selphie disappeared into the bathroom while Rinoa leaned towards the nightstand and started dialling the telephone.

"Is this the Deling City Bus Company? I'd like to purchase tickets to Rancher Fort? You can't sell tickets this hour? What if I'm Rinoa Heartilly, President Caraway's daughter?"

Squall surfaced from the bathroom only to be dressed with a towel wrapped around his navel. Across the bedroom was Seifer, re-bandaging his injured head in front of the dresser mirror.

"Seifer, I told you that I'll help you with the dressing," he said shuffling towards Seifer, whose head was bandaged disorderedly. He tucked his fingers below the loose bandages and tugged a part down to make it parallel to his shoulder.

"Ouch," Seifer squealed. "I can manage myself, thanks."

"I don't believe that you can be this nice Seifer," Squall spoke in a serious tone.

"What do you mean?" Seifer questioned in puzzlement. Then his reflection started to sneer back evilly at Squall.

"So you've finally revealed your true colours," Squall commented.

"Ah Squall, you're becoming a more of a wimp nowadays," Seifer snickered. "Usually you would draw your gunblade at near that cold blade of yours at my throat."

"You're no better than me," he scoffed. "I don't change to manipulate other people's feelings like you!"

"Oh you're saying that I'm playing nice in front of Selphie," Seifer pulled the bandage until it was wrapped snugly round his head and as the finishing touch he closed the bandage with a clip. He then spun around to make eye contact with Squall.

"If you hurt Selphie in any way, I'll make sure that I'll wipe you out from the face of the planet," Squall vowed with his balled fist trembling. At this point Seifer started to snicker hysterically.

"Hehe... what's this? Looks like Squall has a third lover," Seifer teased.

"My concern with my former comrade is none of your business," Squall said, now standing upright. "I'm going to sleep on the couch."

"Why thank you for your kindness."

"Guess what Selphie," Rinoa said lying on the bed facing Selphie who just got out of the bathroom.

"Yeah?" Selphie spoke rubbing her hair gently with a towel to dry them.

"I've booked bus tickets for all of us leaving for Rancher Fort at ten a.m. And the other good news is, there'll be only two seats left and that means we'll be ahead of four other teams."

"Woohoo!" Selphie cheered. "Great."

Selphie donned the silk pajamas provided by the hotel and flung her body on the bed. She immediately shut her eyes after the lights were out. She tried to sleep but she could not remove the thought repeating itself annoyingly from sticking in her mind like a parasite. What if Rinoa and Squall planned this and we'll be left behind when we got up? In the end, she was mentally awake although she slept peacefully throughout the night.

***

The sky began to turn reddish-orange as a new day dawned over the cityscape. Zell woke up from the damp bench and turned to sit upright causing his back to twist in ache.

"Man sleeping on the bench is totally uncool," Zell muttered rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. "Where's Irvine?"

"Mornin'," Irvine greeted approaching Zell with a cup of coffee he got from the vending machine in his hand.

"Hey where's my coffee?" Zell asked crankily.

"Okay I'll get you a cup," Irvine said, gulping down the last drop of the warm liquid. "By the way, do you know what time is it?"

Zell replied with a weak shake of the head.

"It's 7.00 a.m. and Fujin and Raijin just left to the bus terminal," Irvine said matter-of-factly.

"What the fuck," he muttered, turning his attention to the spot where he placed his alarm clock, which was smashed into pieces. A dent of the metal piece matched Zell's knuckles perfectly. "Shit."

***

"Well we're all here except for Squall, Rinoa, Selphie, Seifer, Zell and Irvine," Rachel said waiting for the Galbadian Desert Terminal to open.

"FOOLS," Fujin muttered, snickering by herself.

"Ya know we've spotted Zell sleeping on the bench this morning and smashed his alarm clock with his fist," Raijin translated, which sparked off hysterical laughter among them.

"That's so much like Zell," Quistis added.

"You know I was Zell's roommate once and there was one morning where I found a smashed-to-bits clock on the floor and beside it was Zell sleeping. When he got up he complained about the mysteriously headache he had the whole day and I had the hunch that he used his head to break his clock when he fell from the bed," Jack joked adding to more laughter. "And I didn't tell him about it until now."

"Oh what have we here, the jackass is up to his mindless cracking tales," Zell's voice said as it spread to the group all clad in light clothing. Zell and Irvine were then seen approaching towards the group slinging their backpacks.

"Good morning Zell and Irvine," Xu greeted affably. "Had a good night's rest?"

"Now that you mentioned it," Zell muttered squirming to the backache he got in the morning.

"Sorry Zell I was just livening the group since we're so down altogether," Jack said trying to sound apologetic.

"Aww you don't have to apologise. You have the jackass genes in your DNA anyway," Zell taunted nastily, then sounding a bit cocky. "Anyway I'm about to announce that I'm the new leader of the group and I can do whatever I want if anyone is in my way."

"Congratulations," Daniel muttered with his lips curving upwards. "Cocky dude."

"So any hot news?" Zell asked, which was replied with voices saying 'Oh no, not really'.

"Man he's getting annoying I wonder what made Irvine pass up his leadership rights," Daniel whispered at Rachel.

"This is going to be bad," Quistis thought with her hand covering her head hanging downwards sleepily. "Where are the other two teams?"

The clock hanging by a chain in front of the platforms struck eight and the bell chimed throughout the building signalling the new hour. A bus attendant opened the gate of the Galbadian Desert Terminal, which incited the teams to flood into the area. The teams hustled towards the counter getting the first line. It was Fujin and Raijin.

"Not fair, they pushed me!" Rachel whined letting herself to be pulled to her feet by Daniel after she tumbled on the floor. She sensed a jolting pain in her knee and pulled up her jeans to uncover a bleeding knee. "Oh it hurts!"

"Don't worry and calm down," Daniel said with his arms around his partner getting her to the platform seats. Rachel stretched out her injured leg and let it to lie on Daniel's lap. Daniel zipped open a compartment of his backpack to receive his mini first aid kit. He cleaned the wound with bottled water and then applied antiseptic on it, which stung causing Rachel to squirm. Daniel deftly wrapped the wound with a small roll of bandages.

"There you go, as good as new!" he said. "Try standing up."

Rachel moved her leg back to the ground and lift herself slowly until she was standing upright. Then she took a few steps forward. "Thanks, it didn't hurt much."

"Phooey, we've missed the 10.00 a.m. bus!" Jack cried followed by King slamming his palm on the counter angrily. "When's the next bus?"

"12.30 p.m."

"Okay we'll take that."

It was after nine in the morning and the remaining two teams arrived at the platform. Quistis stood up from the seat to stand face to face with Rinoa.

"Good morning Squall and Rinoa," Quistis greeted innocently. "I'm afraid that only 12.30 p.m. tickets are left. Fujin and Raijin bagged the tens."

Rinoa waved her finger from left to right in front of Quistis. "Don't count too much on that."

"Miss Caraway, your tickets are ready," the ticket-seller said to the group. Rinoa raised her eyebrows and strutted to the ticket counter. Selphie shuffled wearily towards the seats and laid her body on a whole row of seats. Seifer energetically walked to Selphie and knelt beside her head.

"Seifer, I didn't sleep much last night because I was worried that Rinoa would snake me," Selphie explained in a yawning voice with her eyes almost shut.

"You rest up for awhile," Seifer advised holding on to Selphie's hand. He then stood up and spun to see Rinoa and Quistis exchanging blank stares at each other.

"I've got the tickets," Rinoa teased in a singsong voice, letting the ticket flutter by the morning breeze. Quistis on the other hand, leaned by a pillar with her hand on the sturdy structure supporting her body, while her head started to hang downwards gloomily.

"Bitch..." she muttered.

"Don't forget that you're in my territory buster," Rinoa retaliated, then laughed hysterically causing anger to build up within Quistis. "You're powerless!"

Quistis started to stand upright and with one flash, a red mark appeared on Rinoa's cheek.

"You slut!" Rinoa spat rubbing her hurt cheek. Squall was beginning to approach the two women. "Squall, you're just in time."

"What's the matter honey?" Squall said to Rinoa's ear softly, then coiling his arms around her waist swaying her.

"Guess what," Rinoa showed her bruise to Squall and then pointed at Quistis, "She slapped me. Do something about that bitch!"

"Squall..." Quistis voiced but was interrupted by Squall's deep thought.

"Oh man I can't offend my former instructor, comrade and lover but I also have to make my girlfriend happy somehow for all she went through. Think Squall think!" Squall cleared his throat and rose his head to meet Quistis' blue eyes through her glasses. "Quistis I'm really upset that you hurt my girlfriend without any concrete reason. I think that from now on we will break our alliance and will not communicate with each other for good."

Squall approached Quistis with small steps and jabbed her in the stomach. Quistis squirmed, with her hands holding her abdomen trying to sooth the pain. Rinoa was beginning to smile like a sphinx, only to expect more from Squall when he wrapped his arms around her again providing her the warmth she need to fight the cold morning weather. Xu rushed towards Quistis to expect her teammate to turn to her and, as if nothing serious happened, said, "I'm fine, I'm not hurt at all."

***

"Gawd it's stuffy here," Selphie complained, already sitting on her seat while the some other people were queuing outside. Seifer got in the bus and sat next to Selphie.

"Why can't the guy turn on the air-conditioning?" Selphie whined struggling to slide the rusty window open.

"Here let me help," Seifer reached out his arm across Selphie and with might he opened the sliding windows effortlessly to welcome the cool air outside. Selphie inhaled the semi-polluted air, which made her feeling drowsy and subsequently she tilted her head to lean by the window beams and fell into slumber.

The green pastures dwindled into the scenery of a granite desert, with cacti populating most of the area and some tumbleweed rolled across the sands by the wind. The temperature was rising, causing Fujin to feel uncomfortable, especially when she felt a drop of water dripped onto her arm.

"RAIJIN STOP SWEATING!" she grumbled. "ANNOYING."

"I can't it's a natural sorta thing, ya know when it's damn hot out there and the air-conditioning was fried," Raijin said.

"THEN GRAB A TOWEL AND WIPE YOURSELF DRY. YOU'RE ADDING HUMIDITY."

A four-hour journey from Deling City ended up in the old outpost town of Rancher Fort, twenty-one miles from the edge of the desert. The driver parked the bus at the town's terminal and signaled his passenger to disembark. The passengers got down the bus to let the sun soak into their skin. They never expected the desert to be uncontrollably scorching.

"Ugh, the sand burns!" Rinoa yelped after having particles of sand blown into her sandals. Squall, who was wearing green shorts and a white sleeveless shirt, started to put on his sunglasses and held his head up to spot a tall lookout tower among the water towers from afar.

"There it is," Squall said, leading the pack to jostle towards the direction of the tower. Squall reached the lofty structure first and grabbed onto the warm wooden rungs of the ladder and began to climb up. Rinoa tilted her head upward to follow Squall's movements towards the hazy apex.

"Squall be careful," Rinoa whispered, who was beginning to feel vertigo after staring at the fuzzy image of the sun for too long. Squall finally arrived at the summit and opened the clue box placed beside the railings to take out an envelope. Squall scaled down the tower to meet Rinoa with two large bottles of water and a roadmap in her hands.

"Here Squall, your water," Rinoa said quickly while handing over a bottle to Squall.

"Thanks," Squall said huffing and happily splashed down the cooling water down to his mouth. Rinoa then took the red envelope from Squall's grip and ripped it open.

"Choose a marked vehicle nearby and drive yourselves to Wyatt Shooting Park."

The couple immediately paced towards the line of convertible jeeps next to the greengrocer's and stuffed their backpacks into the trunk. Rinoa spread out the map of Galbadia Desert on the car's bonnet and scrolled her fingers across the first longitude to meet with the location of their next destination.

"Found it let's go!"

Squall hopped into the driver's seat and turned on the engine while Rinoa entered the back seats to enjoy the cooling sensation of air-conditioning.

"Okay drive along Highway 18 until you reach a crossroad and then turn right into Highway 17 and drive on until you reach the place," Selphie instructed.

"Got it," Seifer affirmed diverting the jeep into the highway. Suddenly, he heard a faint noise from behind and took a peek at the front mirror to see Selphie bending down with illness. "Are you alright there?"

"Fine," Selphie replied tilting her head slowly and sickly to meet the front mirror. She immediately pulled out a ply of tissue and covered her mouth. "I don't feel right today," she whined weakly.

"WHERE?" Fujin hissed, clutching the steering wheel tightly. Behind her was Raijin rotating and looking at the map dumbly.

"What was that place again?" Raijin asked facing the front mirror. "Watts hooting perk something like that?"

"IMBECILE," Fujin screeched, pressing on the brakes hardly until the jeep came to a full stop on the curbside. "GIVE!" Fujin said clenching her teeth, turning around to snatch the map violently from Raijin's hands.

"PROTOZOAL CRETINOUS FOOL," she mumbled, reading the map.

"I'm sorry honey," Raijin squeaked with puppy eyes glancing back at her.

"SORRY IS NOT ENOUGH," she answered throwing the paper at him angrily.

"We're finally here. Man it's hot," Rinoa said fanning with a brochure. Squall drove the jeep to an empty space and parked it there. The couple pulled themselves out of the stuffy vehicle and hustled to the clue box just outside the park entrance.

"ROADBLOCK. Who has steady hands and good eyesight?" Rinoa then pointed at Squall.

"No honey, you," Squall said pointing his finger back at Rinoa and stared at her eyes.

"Fine," she said abruptly, tearing off the first layer of the clue. "Holy cow."

"Yay, fresh air at last," Selphie cheered with her arms stretched out inhaling the free-of-dust air.

"Who has steady hands and good eyesight?" Seifer asked.

"You of course. You use a gunblade," Selphie answered. Immediately, Seifer proceeded to the instructions.

"Complete the three tasks below. 1. Shoot any of the three cans with a rifle. 2. Use a sniper to hit the bull's eye. 3. Shoot a flying target with a pistol."

Seifer put on goggles, earmuffs and gloves and held the rifle in his hand. Beside him was Rinoa with her close to her rifle, winking one eye aiming at the middle can ten meters away.

"Damn," Rinoa grumbled after missing her shot. She then turned to Seifer trying to disturb him.

"I bet I'll beat you Seifer," she jeered sarcastically. Her soft voice was able to penetrate the solid earmuffs causing Seifer to get distracted and missed his target.

"God can you stop distracting me?" he growled at her. Rinoa fidgeted and lipped 'I can't hear you.'

Rinoa returned to her concentration. Behind her was Squall.

"You need to align it a little to the bottom," he rambled. Rinoa gave a light kick on his knee and pulled the trigger. The bullet exploded out of the rifle and sped right into the tin can, causing it to fall off the wooden stand.

"Wow did I get it?" A green light flashed from the target zone. Squall gave his girlfriend a pat on the back and the both of them followed an arrow to the next area.

The second area was at the eastern section of the park. A few yards from the shooting line were a row of bull's eye targets. Rinoa lifted up the heavy sniper gun and rested the hilt on her shoulder. She looked through the scope and aligned the gun a little to the right and a little upwards. Her arms shook causing the target to blur through the scope. Rinoa frustrated pressed the trigger and a dark spot appeared inches from the center.

"Try to calm your arms," Squall instructed.

"Oh shut up."

A few failures later Seifer and Selphie were seen jogging towards them. Seifer lifted the sniper vigorously and started to aim. With one shot, the bullet hit into the center of the circular target.

"Seifer, you rock!" Selphie cheered, then led Seifer to the final task zone. Rinoa pulled her eye of the scope giving it a little rest. She took off her goggles to wipe of the perspiration sticking on it.

"Rinoa, don't give up!" Squall said.

"You're such a pain in the ass," Rinoa spat, wiping off the sweat from her forehead. Then she wielded the sniper again and tried to stop her arms from trembling. Rinoa managed to make a success out of her attempt. She dumped the sniper on the sand and ran with Squall towards the next area.

Fujin and Raijin arrived at the park entrance.

"I'LL DO IT."

The duo arrived at the first task zone. Fujin immediately filled the rifle with bullets.

"Uh Fujin I think you need to wear safety..." Raijin's words was interrupted with a bang of the explosion. "...gear."

The can fell on the sand and the green light flashed back at Fujin. Without hesitation, they both ran following the arrows. Raijin brought the safety gear with him just in case.

"Use a sniper to hit the bull's eye Fujin," Raijin said, handing the goggles and earmuffs to Fujin. "Don't forget to wear these ya know."

"THANKS." Fujin put on the safety gear and lifted the sniper from the shooting booth. She ended the trial after two attempts. Fujin dumped the sniper and began to pace with Raijin on her tail.

The third zone was revealed to be inside a building and inside a room was a chamber with tennis balls flying and bouncing around. Rinoa fired blindly at the chamber from the shooting line. In the end a red light flashed at her.

"This is impossible," she complained.

"Seifer, you can do it," Selphie sang and clapped her hands. Seifer lifted his head to face the chamber and stretched out his hand ready to fire.

"Dang."

"You need to be calm," Squall grumbled.

Rinoa tried not to listen to him but was deeply distracted. The tennis balls soon had Squall's faces on them, laughing hysterically at Rinoa.

"Aaaahhh!!!!" Rinoa closed her eyes firing all the bullets in her gun with her hands moving randomly. Subsequently, a green light was lit and a red envelope appeared in a slot in front of Rinoa.

"See I told you you can do it," Squall commented, running towards the exit with Rinoa beside him.

Rinoa pouted at Squall, reading the clue to herself not wanting Squall to read with her.

"Congratulations, you have been completed the Roadblock and prove yourself to have acute senses. Go back to your vehicle and go on a lookout for the next clue hidden around the parameters Galbadian Desert Prison."

Fujin and Raijin arrived at the third task area, bending down, holding their knees and out of breath. Selphie and Seifer were surprised to meet the duo.

"No fair," Selphie whined, stomping her foot on the ground firmly. "I thought you two are supposed to be lost."

"PESKY BRAT," mumbled Fujin, which was followed by an uproar from Seifer and Selphie. She wiped off the perspiration from her forehead and immediately walked to the gun shelf, while the couple euphorically ran out of the building with their clue waving in hand.

It only took Fujin one attempt to claim their envelope. The duo jogged down the stairs towards the exit, with Raijin reading softly. "Look out for the next clue hidden around the parameters Galbadian Desert Prison."

Seifer was seen turning the ignition key profusely, struggling to power the jeep's weak engine. Fujin hopped like a rabbit into the front seat, jabbing the car key into the ignition keyhole. Seifer finally got the engine running, reversing the car blindly and hit the opponent's dashboard. He turned the wheel clockwise, moved the gear to first and hit the accelerator hard; causing the jeep to burn rubber while it sped out of the parking lot. Seifer started to mellow down driving on the highway. He looked at his front mirror, seeing that the damaged jeep was tailing him, with Fujin, the driver, looking back in fury.

***

"Well we're here," Rachel cheered trying to break everyone's moodiness. The barren scenery of the desert turned into rows of wooden buildings of townships, just like what Rachel saw in cowboy movies.

The bus came to a halt and everyone rushed to escape the stuffiness. Quistis took a deep breath, feeling like she had not breathed the wilderness for a long time. Rejuvenated, Xu and Quistis led the other teams to the base of the outpost. Xu gingerly climbed the ladder to the top of the outpost. At the summit, she looked around to see nothing but sand with clusters of unknown objects dotting the area. The sun was hanging dizzily in the horizon, causing her to shield her eyes from the blinding rays when she scanned the parameters.

"Are you okay there?" Quistis yelled, looking up at the hazy apex in her sunglasses. A drop of water dripped from the cold water bottle and hit the sand and was instantly evaporated.

Xu scaled down the ladder and fell gently in front of her partner. She exchanged the clue for a bottle of water and happily gulped down a mouthful.

"Choose a marked vehicle and drive yourselves to Wyatt Shooting Park."

***

"Phew, it's getting hotter," complained Raijin, who then opened the window welcoming a blast of air into the stuffy jeep. The travel catalogues strewn all over the back seat flew out of the window by a tornado.

"Huh? Honey, are you mad at me or what?" Raijin squealed, with his shirt billowing freely to the wind.

"CURSES SORRY EXCUSE FOR A JACKASS," Fujin mumbled. Veins started to pop out on her forehead as she pressed the accelerator pedal hardly. The jeep started to near Seifer and Selphie's jeep dangerously.

"Seifer, they're tailgating!" Selphie whined, looking out from the back seat at Fujin's jeep, which was next by theirs closely.

"Crazy woman driver," Seifer grumbled. "What she's trying..."

Seifer's ranting got disrupted when Fujin bumped on the side of the jeep. The side mirror broke off and fell uselessly on the highway and the jeep started to skid to the far left. Seifer used all his might turning the jammed steering wheel to avoid crashing on the curb. Behind him, Selphie vomited sicklier than before.

"Fuck you Fujin," Seifer spat, squinting at Fujin's jeep, which was leading comfortably in front of them. He slammed the accelerator hard and shifted the gear to the highest level.

"Uh, Fujin," Raijin said, tapping onto Fujin's shoulder while he turned his head looking at the jeep behind them.

"WHAT NOW," Fujin screeched annoyingly. Fujin started jolting forwards as the enemy jeep bumped vigorously at the back of their vehicle. She accidentally slammed on the brakes and the jeep skidded towards the right into the cactus field a few yards away from the road. Seifer and Selphie's jeep whizzed gleefully past the duo.

Raijin gained his consciousness and in a daze he rose from the seat. He soon found the jeep crashed against a giant cactus.

"What happened? Why am I having this funny headache?" he wondered. He then turned to the driver's seat. He blinked his eyes to convince himself about the red fluid dripping from the steering wheel. He arched his body forward to find Fujin's head had sunk in the airbag stained with blood.

***

The Desert District Prison signboard whooshed away from Squall and Rinoa's jeep cruising along the highway.

"There it is," Rinoa stretched her hands, wrapping around Squall and pointed at the three screw-like spires jutting out of the desert. "The infamous underground prison."

Squall diverted the jeep into the off-road, heading towards an unknown horizon. Around the road was endless series of white chunks of rock and desert plants. The dust swept by the movement of their vehicle almost choked Rinoa to death. The road soon ended in a massive clearing, which was nothing but sand.

"I found it," Rinoa said, giving hand signals to Squall to drive the jeep to the spot. Squall parked the jeep in front of the clue box beside an overgrown saguaro. Rinoa took the envelope and ripped it open. A compass fell out from the envelope and landed on the sand softly. Wind started to pick up and particles of sand and dust were flying all over. Rinoa edgily combed her hair with her fingers to let the sand out from sticking onto her scalp.

"DETOUR: Heat Up or Cool Down.

Heat Up: Exit back to the highway and drive to the Old Desert Station. Once you get there, go to the desert express platform and lift twenty-five bags of cargo into the train to get your next clue.

Cool Down: Starting from the location of the clue box, follow these compass directions, 14 miles at 40º from the east and 15 miles at 70º from the north, which will lead you to an oasis. Once you get there, fill five tanks of water from the lake and mount it on a camel."

"The station's 60 miles from here, so I suggest that we'll take the oasis," Rinoa said, folding the clue into her pocket.

"But we don't have a compass," Squall reminded.

"Dang I remembered there was something heavy enclosed in the envelope." Rinoa started to bend down and on all four scanned the ground for the compass. Frustrated, she arched back up and rubbed her palms to remove the sand. "It's no good."

"It's your fault, not mine," Squall teased, hopping back into the driver's seat. "Hop on. We're going to the station."

***

"Easy-peasy," commented Irvine, who was now heading to the second task zone leaving the other racers who were struggling with their rifles. Daniel could not resist the tingling sensation in his limbs when he aimed with his rifle.

"Oh Daniel," Rachel whined with her hand covering her forehead, agonising every of his failed attempts. The agony greatens as Xu and King finished the task, leaving the couple alone.

"It's been a long time I actually gotta use this baby," Irvine said picking up the sniper from the table. Not far away were two young ladies practising archery and his womanizer self did not want to miss this chance.

"Hey ladies," Irvine greeted in a friendly manner rubbing the tip of his hat. His mood broke when Zell tapped rudely on his shoulder.

"Could you stop womanising for the mean time?" he blared.

Irvine rubbed his earlobes with his pinky. "Aw... can't I just have some fun for a while?"

"That's out of the point! We're on a race and you have a job to accomplish!" Zell scolded.

"I was about to do that," Irvine said casually. He pointed the gun at Zell's head, then to the targets and the bullet burst out of the barrel. Zell could feel the bullet whooshed past his cheek and the movement burned. Irvine moved his head signaling Zell to look at the bull's eye Irvine created.

"Wow that was impressive," one of women applauded.

"Can we see that again?" the other said.

"Sorry girls," Irvine said coolly in his cowboy accent. "I have another job to do."

"Tch!"

***

Fujin woke up with a blurry vision. Slowly, her senses sharpened and found herself lying in the passenger seat of the jeep. She turned her head to see Raijin driving and moved her hand to her forehead where it was aching badly since she got up. She could feel bandages and the pain struck her when she touched the gash beneath the bandage.

"WHAT HAPPENED," Fujin asked, struggling to sit up straight bearing the pain.

"No worries Fujin, I know where I'm going," Raijin assured. "You hit your head hard on the wheel when the jeep crashed. So I found a handy first aid kit from the jeep and wrapped your head."

"GRATEFUL," Fujin thanked, blushing.

"Whoa Fujin. Did you just smile?" Raijin roared. "I haven't see you smile since we met, even after the Ultimecia incident, ya know."

"FORGET ABOUT IT," she insisted.

"So feeling better honey?"

"YES," she replied, resting the side of her head on a cushion. "REST."

***

"Look Seifer it's the prison," Selphie cheered wrapping around Seifer's chest playfully.

"We'll go to prison if can just stop touching me okay?" he growled.

"Aw... Seifer, why being so nasty?" she asked with large puppy eyes.

"Found it, found it!" Selphie wailed. She hopped off the jeep and skipped to the clue box and gently pulled out the red envelope.

"Oh a Detour," she said holding the enclosed compass in her other hand. "Heat Up or Cool Down. I say we do Cool Down!"

"Here we are honey," Raijin said, pointing at the spires of the submerged prison at the end of the road. Raijin parked the jeep in front of the fence surrounding the prison compound.

"Wait here and rest up honey. I'm going to look for the clue." Raijin dismounted the jeep and jogged aimlessly around the area.

"FOOL," Fujin mumbled. "No, I shouldn't call him that. After all he helped me when I was in trouble although I was so mean at him at times. Ooh, now what's this I'm feeling? It felt different when I slept with him for the first time at Dollet. Is this what people call affection? The same thing that brought the sparkle between Squall and Rinoa?"

Suddenly, a distant cry of help was heard and Fujin immediately heeded to the distress. "RAIJIN?"

Fujin hopped out of the jeep. The pain struck her like lightning as she landed on the desert. She then followed the sound to a place where the clue was situated between the giant saguaros. Beside it was Raijin sitting on a rock, sucking his thumb.

"Fujin I thought I told you to wait," Raijin said facing the horizon instead of Fujin who was close by.

"I'M FINE NOW," she replied.

"I hurt my finger when I touched the cactus just now," Raijin whined squirming in pain.

At first Fujin wanted to slap him for being a wimp. However her sensitive side took control and she pulled out a band aid from her jeans' pocket.

"OKAY NOW?" she asked.

"Felt nothin' better," Raijin replied briefly. A strange feeling arose within Raijin as Fujin sat closely beside him.

"Uh..." he stammered. "I feel kinda weird."

"WHAT."

"I don't know how to describe it but I feel warm inside when you fixed the band aid, ya know," Raijin confessed. He did not expect a slap on the cheek by Fujin.

"LET'S CONTINUE," Fujin hissed walking away from Raijin. As usual Raijin tagged behind her, yowling in pain.

***

Squall and Rinoa arrived at the Old Desert Station. The couple ran towards the platform marked by the blue and yellow flag, where the Desert Express staff was awaiting their arrival.

"Okay one of you station yourself on top of the wagon while the other lift these bags and throw it to your partner," a stern looking man instructed immediately after the couple arrived at the platform.

Rinoa examined the bulky cargo. "Oh my god, they're huge."

"Honey, go and wait for me at the top of the train," Squall said. He vigorous lifted the heavy load onto his shoulders while Rinoa climbed to the top of the wagon. Squall threw the bag at Rinoa hoping that his girlfriend would catch it, but she did not. The bag fell heavily on the train tracks with a thud.

"Dammit, aren't you serious or what?" he scolded.

"Sorry Squall," apologised Rinoa, who was sweating madly. "Man it's getting hot here."

"Okay I'll do it again." Squall lifted another bag and carefully moved it next to the train. "On three."

Squall threw the bag upwards and Rinoa managed to hold it a few seconds before it dropped again.

"I'm sorry Squall. I can't do it," she whined.

"It's your fault for losing the compass," Squall scolded. "Now get on it or else you know what."

"You're mean, meany!"

Squall projected the load at Rinoa and this time she grabbed it tightly and shoved it into the wagon.

***

"This is freaking me out," said Seifer, who was driving on the desert, which had an unchanged landscape after thirty minutes of driving. "Are you sure we're on the right track?"

"I'm sure the compass doesn't lie," Selphie replied, knocking the compass with her hand. "Are we lost?"

"Looks like it," Seifer said satirically.

"Cool. I've never been deserted in a desert before," she said jokingly.

"Finally," Seifer said in relief as he parked the jeep in front of a lonely building. "Wait here."

Seifer gingerly walked to the entrance of the house. He knocked the door three times until a fat old woman with white cream dabbed all over her face and curlers fixed around her hair.

"Excuse me. We're lost and could you tell us where to find an oasis around here?" Seifer asked lining the map on the porch.

"Just head 3 miles north-west off here," she answered in a hostile manner. "It's big so you can't miss it sonny."

"Thanks ma'am." Seifer ran to the jeep and returned to the driver's seat. The engine motioned again and Seifer turned the jeep towards the northwest direction.

After a few minutes, a community of desert plants surfaced from the haziness around the desert. Seifer drove the jeep into the lush landscape and the atmosphere was different; it was cooler and more humid than the desert. He then parked the jeep in front of the oasis. Across the lake were a few camels with their riders and giant barrels about 500 gallons in volume.

"Ugh, these tanks are so heavy," Selphie grouched trying to lift the barrel up.

"Here let me help." Seifer tilted the top of the barrel and the barrel fell on its rounded side. Seifer and Selphie rolled the barrel down the shore.

"Neat." Selphie scooped up some water and poured it into the barrel until it was all filled up. The both of them rolled the barrel back to the camels and mounted it onto the hump of the beast of burden.

***

"One more to go Rinoa." Squall lifted the final bag on his shoulders and threw it towards Rinoa. Rinoa deftly received it and hoarded it into the wagon. Then she slipped off the wagon and landed on the train tracks to obtain the red envelope.

"Route info: You have completed the detour. Drive yourselves to the next pit stop, Spratley Manor in the town of Agave Junction at the edge of the Galbadian Desert."

***

Fujin and Raijin arrived at the oasis. Raijin parked the jeep beside Seifer and Selphie's.

"They're here!" Selphie bellowed. He released the barrel and let it roll into the water. The barrel crashed into the lake causing a huge splash of water drenching Selphie. "Woohoo!" she shouted. "But how are we going to get it out?"

"No way I'm going to enter the water," Seifer said, backing away from the shore.

"Oh yes you are." Selphie grabbed onto Seifer's arm and dragged him back to the shore. She pushed him on the back hard and Seifer splashed into the lake and water pattered lightly on the gleeful looking girl. Seifer pushed the barrel and dragged with his heavy wet trousers climbing back to shore. After filling the barrel, Selphie sealed it tightly and rolled it to the camel. Seifer took off his wet clothing and dried them on the warm body of the jeep.

Selphie was soon seen running towards the jeep with the red envelope in her hand. "Drive yourselves to the next pit stop," she read huffing and puffing. "Agave Junction at the edge of the Galbadian Desert."

***

"I'll drive and you navigate," Zell ordered.

"But you can't drive," Irvine reminded.

"Oh, right."

Irvine began to worry, as the landscape remained unchanged after an hour's driving.

"Zell, do you think we're lost?" Irvine asked.

"Of course not," Zell said trying to sound confident. He looked around the area to see nothing but sand dunes and fear trickled down his spine. The sun soon began to sink behind the horizon and the sky turned reddish.

"We are lost dammit!" Irvine screeched. He slammed on the brakes hard until the jeep came to a full stop. Then he turned the jeep around and retraced the path back to the highway.

"We're are we going?" Zell asked.

"To the other detour."

"I command you to turn around!" Zell demanded. "You can count on my directions. Tch!"

"Since when your directions are reliable dude?" Irvine said glancing at Zell's reflection on the front mirror coldly. "You're nothing but a lost boy since I met you."

"Well I never got lost before," Zell insisted.

"That's because Squall's there to boss us around."

"And don't forget I'm the boss here!"

"Your role as boss is over Zell," Irvine retaliated. "I'm doing this for the good of the team."

Meanwhile, Jack and King were also facing the same dilemma.

"Man this is freaking me out," muttered King, who was the driver. "Are you getting those readings right?"

"Dude, I think we should turn around," Jack suggested, with his voice quavering. "We've been everywhere and there's no sign of the oasis!"

King started to get frustrated. "No way!"

Suddenly, the engine died out and the jeep halted causing Jack to jolt forward and his head hitting the front seat.

"Crap."

***

Squall and Rinoa arrived at the populous town of Agave Junction. At the center of the town stood a large golden building with historical importance: the Spratley Manor. Rinoa squeezed herself out of the jeep to see Seifer and Selphie coming out of their vehicle. Without hesitation, Rinoa dragged the relaxed looking Squall out of the driver's seat and raced to the pit stop with the opposing team. Selphie intentionally bumped on Rinoa causing her to pace a few steps back. The couple stole the lead and landed in front of Cid Kramer. Squall and Rinoa followed a few seconds later.

"Seifer and Selphie, Squall and Rinoa, you're teams 1 and 2 respectively," Cid announced.

"All right," Rinoa cheered, giving a high-five to Squall and Selphie.

***

"Shoot," Zell mumbled after he accidentally dropped the load, which eventually landed on the ground.

"Hurry up butterfingers," Irvine jeered throwing another load at Zell. Finally the task had been completed and Zell climbed down from the top of the train wearily. Irvine opened the envelope and read.

"Get to the next pit stop, the Spratley Manor at Agave Junction."

The desert soon turned to darkness and the temperature dropped immensely to about 15 degrees centigrade. Zell and Irvine arrived at the brightly-lit manor and walked up the steps to meet Cid Kramer.

"So what's the result?" Irvine asked curiously.

Cid took a deep breath and then started to smile. The anxiety within Zell lessened as he started to mouth words.

"Zell and Irvine. You're team number six."

Irvine started stretching his arms and wrapped around Zell. Zell felt disgusted when his partner squeezed him tightly but he was kind enough to give him pats on the back.

"We're undefeated!" Zell roared triumpantly.

***



"This is buddy," King said wrapping his hand around Jack's soldier, looking up at the stars twinkling in the night sky. A cold wind picked up, causing them to shiver. "It's the end."

"We've been to many adventures anyway," Jack said leaning his back against the cold body of the jeep. Tears started to drip from his eyes and King reacted by giving him a pat on the back.

Jack and King finally arrived at the pit stop where Cid and a man in cowboy attire waited for their arrival. The both of them climbed the steps towards them.

"Welcome to Agave Junction," the person beside their headmaster greeted.

"Jack and King," Cid started. "I'm sorry to tell that you're in last place, and you're eliminated from the race."

At that point, Jack began to develop tears and sniffled. "We're unlucky to be stranded in the middle of nowhere."

"The race's been great," King added emotionally. "It's a pity that it had to end so fast."

"Our friendship has been proven," Jack took over. "I'm glad that I have a teammate like this guy who cared with the people around him."