Final Fantasy VIII: A Trip to the Zoo

Squall, Rinoa, Quistis, Seifer, Zell, Irvine and Selphie were sitting bored in the quad one sunny morning in Balamb Garden.

"What do you guys wanna do?" Selphie asked everyone.

"Hell if I know," Seifer replied.

Rinoa appeared to be thinking for a minute. "Hey guys, didn't they just open up a new miniature golf place down in Dollet?"

Everyone scoffed at that idea.

"Well, what else is there to do?" Quistis pondered aloud.

Selphie thought, then brightened up. "Hey, you guys wanna go to the zoo?"

Nobody particularly cared for that idea, but what else were they going to do all day?

So, everyone piled into the Ragnarok and held on tight as Selphie piloted down to Deling City. The ride wasn't very long; only about thirty minutes from where they were currently stationed near Winhill. Squall and Rinoa sat up front and played cards, Irvine and Zell sat somewhere in the middle playing miniature travel board games, and Seifer and Quistis sat way in back, playing tonsil hockey.

When the gang arrived, they all climbed out of the aircraft and huddled around a map of the city that was mounted on a pole near the entrance.

"You are here," Zell read aloud. "How do they know that?"

Everyone else ignored him and searched it for what they were looking for.

"Oh, here it is," Quistis pointed. "Right here next to 'Rent-a-Car'."

"Deling City Zoo," Seifer read. "We're supposed to take Bus Five at Stop Three, then get off at Stop Twelve."

"Rinoa, wouldn't you know where it was?" Squall asked her.

She shrugged. "I've never even heard of this place until you guys came up with it."

Everyone started walking toward bus stops, trying to locate 'Stop Three'. They eventually found it, then had to wait five minutes before the bus got there.

When they finally got to the zoo, they paid their admission and walked through a door leading them outside. Directly ahead of them were two monkey- like creatures climbing around on each other.

The girls all cooed as they watched the cute things wrestle. The guys simply rolled their eyes.

Seifer spotted the next animal. "Aw, check this guy out!" he said. They all walked over to see the cockatoo in its large cage. Seifer stuck his finger in one of the holes. It climbed over towards him, carefully latching its claws on the cage walls, then bit the hell out of him.

"Ow, shit!" he exclaimed while everyone else burst into laughter. The bird screamed loudly at him and he looked around nervously for owners. "Quiet, bitch."

The next animal was a huge baboon sitting quietly in his cage. He sat there holding onto his cage walls, watching the teenagers curiously. Quistis saw him first and got the others' attention. "Look, guys! Let's get a picture of this one."

Selphie pulled out a digital camera she had brought along and aimed it at the baboon. "Smile!" she told it teasingly, and everyone was completely surprised when it did.

They were walking past more bird cages when they saw IT looking over the fence. A large, unfriendly ostrich head loomed over them and hissed, opening its mouth wide. Zell, who was unknowingly and directly underneath it, nearly had a fit when it almost bit him.

They walked along, oohing and aahing at all the creatures, when they came across two turtles having a great time over by the water hole. The guys all burst out laughing and leaned over them, cheering the male on. The girls simply stayed back in disgust, but had to laugh when the female turtle started to crawl away.

Finally, they reached the deer and camel pens. The does all came over quietly to be petted, while the bucks all pounded the pen walls with their horns, trying hard to get at Seifer. They had gone on to see the last animal, a camel, when it happened. The group had all looked at it one-by- one, and Rinoa was the last one to go up to it. It had kept its head down when all the others had petted it, but when Rinoa came up, he rose his head above the fence and showed her its bottom teeth.

"Look guys, he's smiling at me!" she exclaimed, and the others came over to see. Suddenly, the camel hauled back and spit on her. Everyone fell over laughing except Squall, who had to hide a big grin when he went over to help wipe her off.

Rinoa didn't know whether to just leave or to spit back.

Finally, they all stumbled up a set of stairs leading back into the main building. There was a machine in there that, given two quarters and a penny, would flatten out the penny into an oval and imprint a picture of an animal on it, along with 'Deling City Zoo'. Of course, everyone had to have one, so while the rest of them were getting their pennies flattened, Quistis spent five minutes trying to dig 51 cents out of her purse for both her and for Seifer, since he had no change. Once his was made, he immediately dropped it on the floor, where it rolled into a crack.

The gang finally all left Deling City Zoo with big grins on their faces.

Yes, even Squall.

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*}Biv{*