Chapter 23
Loyalty
After arriving in Balamb, Squall, Rinoa, and Zell made their way to Garden quickly. Time was of the essence.
Squall approached Garden's front gate with urgency, but he slowed down, realizing that Garden was undamaged and appeared peaceful. It was a little quieter than usual outside, but the three teenagers didn't seem to notice. All, especially Zell, breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"Alright! The Garden's safe!" Zell cried, ecstatic.
"It looks like they did it." Squall thought, impressed. But he wouldn't allow himself to assume too much.
"Still, the missiles could be on their way."
Squall turned around and looked at Zell and Rinoa.
"We have to report to the headmaster. Come on."
Squall ran up to the gate and entered Garden. He looked upon his surroundings with an elated sense of contentment and familiarity… How long had it been exactly?
But as Squall took only a few steps, he noticed that something was very different, and very wrong. He heard yelling and blasts of magic resonate throughout the open-air walkway.
Student's were running everywhere, and red-robed Garden staff were shouting out commands. Squall looked about in surprise.
"Find the head master!" one staff member yelled.
Squall didn't understand.
"What's going on? Are they evacuating?" he wondered.
"Seize him! Kill him if you have to!" the same staff member cried. "Go!"
"What!?" Squall thought. "Kill him!?"
Squall backed away from the staff member, still unsure about what was going on. Suddenly, though, he bumped into a Grat, one of the monsters that resided in the training center.
Squall quickly turned around and drew his weapon. Rinoa and Zell followed suit.
"What are the monsters doing out?!" Squall thought. "What is going on!!?"
Squall lunged at the beast with his gunblade, and it fell instantly. Grat's, while dangerous if given the chance, could be beaten easily. Squall made sure to attack before it had the chance to use it's poisonous tentacle-like appendages to put him to sleep.
"Monsters out… Student's running everywhere… We need to figure this out before someone gets hurt… and everyone needs to be warned about the missiles."
Squall ran closer and closer to the insides of Garden. Zell and Rinoa followed him, speechless. Even Rinoa, who had only been to a Garden twice in her life, could tell that something was amiss here. That things weren't the way they should be.
Squall stopped once again right by the turn-wheel entrance.
"What the hell is going on?" he thought impatiently.
Suddenly, a garden staff member noticed them, and came rushing over. His yellow hat bobbed up and down as he spoke.
"You three, which side are you on?"
Squall looked back at the staff member with confusion, and a bit of contempt. What was this moron blabbering about.
"Huh?" thought Squall.
"Answer the question! Are you with the Garden Master, or are you with Cid!?"
"I don't understand what you're talking about." Squall replied.
The red-robed man glared from underneath his circular hat. He was getting very impatient.
"Do you swear your allegiance to Garden Master NORG?"
Squall thought for a moment. From what he could gather, there was some kind of contention between Cid and this… 'NORG'… but who was NORG? What did they mean by Garden Master…?
"I don't get it…" thought Squall. He looked up directly into the staff member's face.
"Can you tell me what's going on?" Squall reiterated, in an impatient tone.
"I'm the one asking the questions! You're just supposed to follow orders!" the man replied vehemently.
Squall rolled his eyes. He'd had enough of this. Staff members were bad enough without this situation... whatever it was.
"Hey! What kind of attitude is that!?" the staff member screamed. "You're with Cid, aren't you!?"
With that, the staff member blew a whistle, and two monsters came rushing out from behind a bush.
Squall drew his weapon quickly, as did Rinoa and Zell.
"What is this… a joke?" Zell thought. He rushed towards a rather small catcherpillar, and punched it in, what served as, its' head several times. It fell down dead.
Rinoa shot at another Grat who had appeared with the catcherpillar. It attempted to retaliate by grabbing at her with its' tentacles, but Squall rushed at the monster with his gunblade.
"NORG is the true master of this Garden…" the staff member said, frightened. With that, he ran off.
Squall sheathed his sword, for the moment, and ran over to the turn-wheel entrance. A student was seated there, shaking his head nervously. He looked up to see Squall, Zell, and Rinoa standing above him. Squall recognized him from Quistis' class.
"Hey, Squall." he said. "The Garden is in chaos. The monsters from the training center are everywhere. The members of the Garden Master's faction set them free. Watch your back, man."
Squall nodded, ready to enter what looked to be a very long battle situation.
"Hey, if you're going in there, take this with you…" the student offered. He handed Squall a mega-potion. A super-condensed healing solution.
Squall took it gladly, and marched into Garden.
Upon finally entering the main hallway, Squall saw two familiar figures standing near the directory.
"Fuijin… Raijin…" he thought.
Squall approached them with Zell and Rinoa following closely behind. They glanced about nervously, making sure that no surprise attacks would catch them off-guard.
"Hey, you're back!" Raijin cried.
"What's going on here?" Squall asked, matter-of-factly.
Raijin spoke in a confused and excited voice.
"I dunno. At first, they were sayin' somethin' 'bout roundin' up the SeeDs, ya know!? Now everyone's either sidin' with the Garden Master or the headmaster and fightin' everywhere, ya know!?"
The silver haired Fuijin stood there silent for a moment, but soon chimed in.
"DISTURBING" she said.
Raijin shook his head.
"Disappointin' for the disciplinary committee. All our work for nothin', ya know!?"
Squall still didn't quite understand.
"Why are SeeDs being targeted? And where's the headmaster? Is he safe?" Squall asked.
"We got no clue." Raijin replied.
Squall sighed in frustration.
"We need to see him right away. It's important."
Fuijin and Raijin cocked their heads questioningly. What did he mean?
"Galbadian missiles may be heading this way." Squall informed them.
"WHAT!?" Raijin cried anxiously. "We gotta get outta here!"
Fuijin turned around in a huff, and kicked her brother in the shin.
"OOOUUCH! Geez, alright!" Raijin moaned. He turned to Squall. "We'll warn everyone about the missiles! Man, this is no time to be fightin', ya know!?"
Squall nodded in appreciation.
"We'll go look for the headmaster" he said.
"CAUTION!" Fuijin warned.
"Yeah, the fightin' is intense everywhere!" Raijin agreed. "And watch out for those Garden Master goons, ya know!"
Raijin and Fuijin were about to head off, but Zell stopped them. He wondered… whose side were they on?
"Yo, guys… you with…?"
Rinoa interrupted him, finishing the question.
"The headmaster?"
Raijin shook his head.
"Hey, jus' like Fuijin said, ya know!? We're with Seifer. Always have, always will."
They both nodded. And with that, they ran off to warn the battling students.
Squall put his hand to his hip and shook his head.
"Seifer… he's sided with the sorceress. You guys alright with that?" he thought.
Squall sighed, and motioned for Zell and Rinoa to follow him.
"We're going to have to search every single area of Garden…" he thought with disdain. "Well… maybe not… we can stop by the infirmary first… maybe doctor Kadowaki knows something…
Squall made his way through Garden's main hallway carefully, trying to avoid any monsters or staff members, and into the infirmary wing. Unfortunately, they had an unpleasant surprise waiting for them in the hallway.
"Looks like Cid has some decent pawns" a Garden faculty member said. Two cadets stood by him, ready to fight against two very well trained SeeD veterans.
Apparently, some students had joined with this NORG character.
"This is getting nowhere," the staff said. "Call the monsters."
Squall glared at the staff member. His back was turned, and he had no idea that three other SeeDs were behind him… Perfect for a surprise attack.
"Well… two SeeDs…" Squall thought, remembering Rinoa. "But she can hold her own well enough…" Squall rolled his eyes at this though. "…As long as I'm with her…" he thought sarcastically.
Squall shook the thoughts from his head and began to take action.
"Let's get in there!" Squall cried as he saw a monster come at the uniformed SeeDs.
"More SeeDs here!?" the staff member cried in annoyance. He backed away slowly, allowing the monster to have a straight shot at the SeeDs.
Squall, Zell and Rinoa found themselves pitted against a huge flying insect. A rare, but powerful monster called Granaldo. Squall recalled the night he fought one with Quistis in the training center…
The huge flying beast flew over Rinoa's head, attempting to grab at her with its' claws. She screamed and shot at it with her Blaster Edge.
The monster screeched in pain, and backed away. Squall then rushed towards it with his gunblade, slicing off one of its' six appendages.
Screaming now, the insect's wings stopped buzzing, and it fell to the ground. Zell ran over and drop-kicked it to make sure that it was dead… It was.
After they had taken care of the Granaldo, Dr. Kadowaki came rushing out of the infirmary. She'd heard commotion out in the hall earlier, but it was so intense now, she was sure that someone was injured.
"Oh my…" she exclaimed. Dr. Kadowaki noticed one of the cadets leaning against the walk-way wall, clutching his stomach. He'd somehow gotten injured in all the excitement.
"Can you stand up?" she asked, offering a hand. The student was bleeding through his side.
The young man looked up at her suspiciously. He'd just tried to fight alongside one of the Garden Staff…
"Why are you helping me? I'm with the Garden Master…" he replied, coldly.
The doctor rolled her eyes.
"Stop being ridiculous. I don't care whose side you're on."
She examined his injury and frowned.
"We need to take care of those wounds now, you hear?"
The student nodded, reluctantly, but he couldn't get up or walk under his own power. Dr. Kadowaki could tell. She looked around and saw Squall standing above her, and frowned at him.
"Squall, don't just stand there. Give me a hand."
Squall was about to object, but he knew Dr. Kadowaki too well to think that he could come up with any excuse.
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"What is all this faction mumbo jumbo?" Dr. Kadowaki asked. "It's ridiculous.
They had placed the student on a medical bed and Dr. Kadowaki dressed his wounds. She sat at her desk with a worried frown on her usually cheerful face.
"We don't know either…" Squall informed her. "We just got here, and we need to speak with the headmaster."
"Oh..." Dr. Kadowaki replied. "You're looking for Cid? As you can see, he's not here."
Squall sighed in frustration
"Well, do you have any idea?" he asked impatiently.
"Hmm…" the doctor thought a moment. "Xu might know" she said. "I have no idea where she is though. Why are you looking for him anyway?"
Squall threw back his hand in urgency.
"I need to inform him that there may be missiles heading this way" he exclaimed. "You should get out of here, too."
Dr. Kadowaki gawked at him in disbelief.
"Are you serious!?" she cried." Squall nodded solemnly.
"Then I'm definitely gonna have to stay. If anybody gets hurt, who's gonna look after them?"
Squall shrugged his shoulders. If she wanted to stay, fine. But they still needed to inform Cid. He nodded a 'goodbye' to the doctor and walked off. Rinoa and Zell followed him.
Out in the infirmary hallway, one of the SeeD who was defending the infirmary approached Squall.
"Hey, Squall" the young man said.
Squall looked at him oddly for a moment. He didn't recognize him at all.
"Who are you?" Squall asked.
The young SeeD looked hurt at Squall's comment. 'Who was he'? Wasn't it obvious…?
"What!?" he exclaimed. "Oh, man, it's me, Nida! We passed the SeeD exam together. I can't believe you forgot!"
Squall turned his head away, embarrassed at this.
"Oh yeah…" he said in a low, humiliated voice.
Nida noticed his embarrassment, and tried to brush it off.
"Gee… Well, it's just like you to forget…" he excused, making fun of Squall's reputation. "Go on. I got this place covered."
Squall nodded and walked away quickly.
"Man, Squall…" Zell said after they were further down the hall. "You didn't remember Nida?"
Squall didn't reply.
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Out in the main hallway, there were numerous students running back and forth between wings. Squall couldn't tell whose side everyone was on anymore, though no one seemed interested in fighting right in the middle of the hallway.
"Good…" thought Squall. "Gives us a better chance to figure out what's going on… and find the headmaster."
Realizing that they would have to search all throughout Garden now, Squall decided to check the wings systematically.
"Since we just went to the infirmary, we'll check out the Quad… and then go on from there until we find the headmaster." Squall thought.
Upon entering the Quad's second section, Squall noticed another staff member, rushing up towards them. He heard the staff member mumbling something to himself.
"Dammit. We need reinforcements" he said.
Squall tried to look for a place to hide for a moment, but it was too late. The Garden staff bumped right into him.
"Another one of Cid's followers!? DIE!" he screamed. The staff member blew on a whistle and once again monsters appeared, obeying the call of their masters.
The staff member ran off as two monsters came rushing at Squall, Rinoa, and Zell.
Interestingly, the two monsters were completely opposite types… a Bomb and a Glacial Eye. The Bomb, a huge swirling mass of fiery flesh, used heat attacks, and the Glacial Eye absorbed any attack fueled by frigid magic… both were entirely out of their element in the fair-weather conditions of Garden.
Nevertheless, both attacked furiously. Squall quickly arranged the magic he had juctioned to take on the Bomb, which he saw as a more immediate threat.
A simple juctioning trick allowed Squall to associate Ice magic with any kind of attack, whether he was hitting something, or using his weapon. Any extreme and quickly given pressure could also unleash Ice-typed magic on to the receiver. It required a GF who possessed the ability, but other than that, was a simple process.
Squall sliced onto the Bomb with ease, doing incredible damage.
The group however, made a mistake in assuming the hovering Glacial Eye was no threat. With its' almost jelly-fish like appearance, the Glacial Eye appeared nearly harmless. It shined a bright blue color, as its' 'tail' quivered below it, helping it maneuver in the air.
But the Glacial Eye was anything but safe. With the ability to stop an opponent dead in their tracks, Glacial Eyes were notoriously tricky monsters. This one made no hesitation to send out energy waves in Zell's direction…
Zell attempted to dodge the attack, but he noticed it too late. The attack literally froze Zell in place. It was almost as if he'd been turned to stone…
Squall Glanced over at Zell, worried for a moment.
"…Just a simple status effect…" Squall thought, remembering the magic classifications he'd learned. "I can heal him with Esuna later…"
Squall looked at Rinoa and nodded his head towards the Glacial Eye.
"Go on… kill it" he thought.
Rinoa agreed and Started firing at the floating monster. After just a few rounds from her Blaster Edge, the monster crumpled up and fell to the ground.
Rinoa smiled, proud of herself, but she looked over and Squall was still struggling with the Bomb. She frowned.
"That's weird…" she thought. "…Wasn't that thing smaller when we started…?"
Rinoa was right. The Bomb had been increasing in mass every time Squall attacked it. Even at the slightest movement towards it, the bomb grew…
Rinoa thought for a moment. Squall seemed to be handling it okay. The bomb tried to crash into him every now and again, but Squall deflected it with his sword. But something bothered her…
"What was that thing I learned about Bombs…" she thought. Then it came to her.
"Oh no…"
Rinoa's eyes widened as she recalled the information… Bomb's committed 'suicide' if too heavily damaged… which meant…
"Squall! Get down!' Rinoa called out.
Squall glanced over to her questioningly for a moment.
"What does she mean…?" he thought.
Suddenly, the Bomb increased in Size drastically, and began shaking. Rinoa ran over to Squall and grabbed hold of him, slamming them both down into the floor. They both skidded across the tiled ground, Rinoa on top of Squall, as the bomb exploded violently.
Squall looked up at Rinoa in surprise for a moment, and sight embarrassment as he realized what'd just happened.
Rinoa looked back at him, gazing at him with worried eyes. She too however became embarrassed, and Quickly picked herself up and off from him.
"… Thanks." Squall said plainly, after a long silence. Rinoa nodded, smiling weakly. Suddenly, both looked over to where the bomb had exploded.
"Oh my gosh!" Rinoa exclaimed. "Zell!"
Squall quickly cast Esuna on the excitable young man. Zell moved slowly at first, but then shook his head wildly as he came out of the 'trance'.
"Whoa…" Zell said, still a bit woozy. "What just happened…?"
Zell looked at Squall and Rinoa, who were both blushing slightly. Zell cocked his eye suspiciously for a moment, but simply shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, anyway… let's keep going…" Squall said.
The three made their way further down into Quad. Squall approached the Garden festival stage carefully, and cautiously.
"Nothing looks damaged so far…" he thought. Squall remembered how he'd told Selphie that he'd help out with the festival…
"What was I thinking…?" Squall thought. "...Oh well… She'd kill me if I let anything happen to the set-up…"
Suddenly, Squall heard a noise above his head. He glanced up quickly.
"Who's there!?" he said suspiciously.
Three SeeDs jumped down from the top of the stage.
"Whose side are you on!?" one yelled. All were in their SeeD uniforms, two boys and a girl. The dark haired male in back was speaking.
Squall rolled his eyes. Whose side?
"I guess the headmaster…" Squall thought. "He's the only one we even know about!"
"I'm with the headmaster." Squall said plainly.
The three SeeDs let down their guard
"Phew- Glad to hear it." the leader said. He took another look at Squall, remembering who he was.
"I sure don't want to fight you" he half-joked. "Who's this Garden Master anyway?" he asked rhetorically.
Squall shrugged his shoulders.
"I still don't understand what's going on…" Squall said.
The other male student nodded his head sympathetically.
"The headmaster had most of the SeeDs evacuate" he explained. "He said something about 'the true battle for SeeD' is yet to come, and now's not the time."
The female SeeD nodded in agreement.
"You won't find the headmaster here, though."
Squall sighed.
"Well, we could use some help locating him…" Squall replied.
The girl shook her head.
"We're gonna hold up here for a little longer."
Squall nodded and motioned for Zell and Rinoa to follow him. They all left the Quad, and entered the cafeteria.
Immediately, A Garden staff member caught sight of them.
"Another one of Cid's followers? DIE!" he exclaimed.
"This sure is getting old…" Squall thought.
A Bomb appeared down the hall, and rushed towards them.
"Stall them" the staff member said.
Squall still had the Ice magic equipped to attack with, so the three fighters finished off the bomb rather quickly. After the battle, they made their way into the cafeteria, still looking for the headmaster.
They saw another group of SeeDs guarding the area. Squall approached a young, female SeeD.
"Thanks for the backup." The tall blond girl said. Squall nodded, hardly paying attention. He glanced over her shoulder, looking for Cid…
"If you're looking for the headmaster, he isn't here" the girl informed him. "We've gathered here to make them believe that he's in here."
One of the other SeeDs spoke up; a young man.
"If they attacked us all at once, there's no way we could hold them off. Even if we are SeeDs.'
The blond girl nodded in agreement.
"The others are doing the same thing in other areas. Essentially, we're cutting them off. Brilliant, huh? It wasn't our idea though."
"Who came up with it?" Squall asked.
"Xu" the boy replied.
"She took charge immediately when this whole thing began." The blond girl said.
Squall nodded and began to walk away.
"Hey Squall, tell those traitors to bring it on." the girl cried.
Squall turned around in surprise. He simply gave the girl an odd glance and rolled his eyes.
"Whatever"
"Hey, Squall… hold on a minute…" Zell tapped Squall on the shoulder and walked away. He moved up to the cafeteria counter.
One of the female SeeDs was standing near the counter. Zell approached them with an inquisitive smile.
"Do you guys want some hot dogs?" she asked.
"YEAH!" Zell exclaimed. That was just what he'd wanted to hear. He swung his arms around in excitement.
The girl smiled at Zell's outburst, and nodded to her companion, also standing right by the counter.
"Hey, give them some of those leftover hot-dogs." She said.
The other girl looked back at her friend with a confused stare.
"Oh,…" she realized. "…We already finished them."
"Oh really?" the girl replied. She looked at Zell and Shrugged her shoulders. "Oh well, sorry."
Zell hung his head.
"This always happens …I LOVE those Hot-dogs, and they never have em'!!! Grrrr…"
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Out in the main hallway, things seemed to have died down a bit… or at least that's what the appearance was.
"…Everyone's tensed up by now…" Squall thought. "…Now it's hide and seek…"
He led Rinoa and Zell past the dorms.
"No reason to check in there…" Squall thought. "that'd be the first place they'd look, so he probably isn't there…"
The dorms weren't particularly big, but there were a lot of rooms. It was easy to get lost if you didn't know your way around… The Garden staff new this, so it was probably the first place they checked.
Squall went straight to the parking lot, the next section of Garden. He saw another staff member off in the distance.
The Garden staff caught sight of the three teenagers as well, and sent a monster right after them.
"This Garden belongs to NORG!" he cried, as a Grendal came running down the hall.
The Garden staff ran past Squall, Rinoa and Zell before they had a chance to catch him. The monster kept them occupied.
The Huge, muscle-bound beast crawled on all fours, though its' forelegs resembled arms. Grendals were nefariously ill-tempered, and quite strong.
Zell ran up and spared with the beast for a moment. He was able to disorient the monster, but killing it was going to be another matter entirely.
Squall slashed furiously with his gunblade, but couldn't seem to slice beyond the surface of the Grendal's hide… It had incredibly thick skin.
Rinoa stepped back while Squall and Zell Exchanged blows with the monster. She began trying to use magic…
"Squall said this wouldn't be easy since I've never had any training… but I guess now's as good a time as any to practice…"
Rinoa began scanning through the magic stock that Squall had allotted her on the way back to Garden. It was mostly healing spells, as those were the easiest to cast, but she found an attack magic that suited their needs.
"Aero… well here goes nothing..." she thought.
As Rinoa focused, her head ached slightly, but the tension was soon relived, and the energy flowed freely. A gust of wind emitted from her and hit the Grendal with full force… the monster fell down instantly,
Squall and Zell looked at the monster in stunned silence. They'd spent about ten minutes fighting with the monster, and had gotten almost nowhere. Now, after some magic… it was dead. Squall scratched the back of his head for a moment, and then turned around to see where the Wind magic had come from.
"That was one strong Areo spell!" Zell exclaimed still staring at the Grendal. "You'd have to build up an incredibly high magic level to be able to actually kill one of these things with it! They aren't even really weak to wind magic, I don't think…"
Zell nudged the Grendal with his foot curiously. It was dead all right.
"I mean, where'd it come from… and…" Zell stopped as Squall tapped him on the shoulder slowly.
"What…?"
Zell turned around and saw what Squall was staring at in baffled reticence.
"What in the worl….?!"
Rinoa stood there, blushing slightly, her left foot propped behind the right, and her hands behind her back. She smiled shyly.
"…Well… " she said slowly. "We should keep going, right?"
Squall gawked for a moment, open mouthed, and nodded slowly. Zell scratched his head.
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As the three fighters made their way further into Garden, Squall entered the parking garage quickly. He was taken aback at what he saw however.
"Sir!" Squall said, saluting headmaster Cid.
The headmaster stood proudly, with his hands behind his back. He smiled at Squall a moment… but he didn't move.
Suddenly, Cid's image began flashing on and off, until finally, he disappeared altogether.
"What the…?"
Two SeeDs in the back of the parking lot walked up to Squall. One held a small device in his hand.
"It was just a hologram. Pretty cool, huh?" he said. The SeeD held up his hand-held hologram emitter proudly.
Squall rolled his eyes.
"Where IS the headmaster?!" he asked impatiently.
The other student shrugged and replied.
"As you can see, he isn't here, either. Keep looking, you'll find him."
Squall was getting tired of this. He waved the SeeDs off and made his way back out to the main hallway.
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"This is taking too long…" Squall said. "The missiles could hit at any moment."
Zell sighed heavily. He was especially getting impatient.
"Well, let's just check out the training center… " Zell offered. "That's a pretty big area…."
"Yeah… but he could be anywhere in there." Squall thought.
'Whatever." Squall replied. "Let's go."
Squall ran into the training center with his hand placed precariously on the hilt of his gunblade. There were going to be a lot of monsters concentrated here, and roaming freely as well…
Squall stopped and put up his hand to quiet Zell and Rinoa. In front of them was a staff member and two students who appeared to be working with him…
The first student cried out.
"Over here! She's one of the headmaster's SeeDs!"
the staff member glared angrily in the direction that the student was pointing..
"The junior class-men are with her. Don't let them escape" he said with hate in his voice.
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A young red-haired SeeD girl ran deeper and deeper into the training center with two of the underclassmen in front of her. She kept looking behind her, scared and nervous.
Suddenly, they ran into a corner, and the students from the NORG faction were closing in on them.
"Oh shoot…! I'm sorry" she said. The female underclassmen stood by her SeeD mentor, holding her hand. She knew what was coming.
The boy however wasn't going to give up that easily… it was 'the jogger'.
"I'm gonna fight, too!" he cried. The blue-clad young man made two fists as the two student's from the NORG faction came close to them.
The first one approached the boy and laughed.
"Heh heh heh… This should be interesting" he said in an ominous tone.
The young boy jumped at the older student and cracked his fist right into the older boy's gut.
"Aahhh!" The student cried. That was the last thing he'd expected from this… kid.
The young boy smirked and cocked his fists again.
"I'm not training everyday for nothing. Come on!" he chided
The older boy spit a little bit of blood from his mouth and glared at the underclassmen.
"Why you little…!"
Squall, Zell, and Rinoa were watching the whole thing. Finally, as the students aligned with NORG started grabbing for the three defenseless students, Squall leaped in, swinging his gunblade around wildly.
"You'll have to get past me first" he said with a glare.
The Garden staff finally approached the group and saw what the situation was. He became infuriated.
"Another one of Cid's followers? DIE! Those opposed to NORG must die!"
The staff member blew his whistle and quickly ran away. Squall raised an eyebrow at this.
"What's going on…? There's no monster s coming at us this time…"
Squall's thoughts were soon interrupted by a loud boom. Then another. And another.
"Uh…. Squall…." Zell said approaching his leader. "What as that…?"
More thumping. The ground was shaking now.
Squall put his finger to his lips and scanned the surrounding area. What was going on?
Suddenly, from behind a group of tall trees, and huge roaring head appeared, followed by its immense body stomping the ground beneath. The beast gnashed its huge teeth, and roared ferociously.
Squall gazed up in amazement as the T-rexaur approached the group. A dark shadow covered Squall, Rinoa and Zell, as it came closer and closer.
"S-So…. W-W-What n-now….?" Zell asked nervously.
Squall looked around. He thought. He tried to explore their options…
There were none.
Finally, he just glared up at the monster. It was too big and fast to run away from, and nearly impossible to defeat…
Squall snorted and drew his weapon.
"We've got nothing to loose now…" Squall said. "Just go for it!"
Squall cried out as he lunged at the monster. He sliced into it again and again.
Barely any affect.
Zell thought and thought. He knew that he wouldn't do very much damage against that thick hide with just his fists… so he decided to take a less-direct approach.
Zell focused and began to summon a GF… It was taking longer than usual, but Zell could feel the Guardian Force coming.
"Squall!" Zell cried out. " I'm summoning Brothers! Standby!"
Squall didn't listen. He simply kept trying to cut into the monstrous dinosaur.
The Beast glared down at his small assailant with curiosity for a moment. Every time the tiny creature took a swing with the sharp object, the T-rexaur would take a step back or forward, avoiding it altogether.
Finally, Squall got a good, deep and painful cut in. The T-rexaur went wide eyed and screamed out a deafening roar. The beast lunged down and swatted Squall over with its powerful head. The beast then rammed Squall's body into the ground violently, putting all its weight into the attack.
Squall still had hold of his weapon, but he couldn't move it. The monster had his torso pinned down, and it was digging him a good half-foot or more into the ground. It hurt like hell.
Finally, the monster lifted its head to see if the small antagonist was dead yet. It cocked its head curiously.
Squall blinked slowly at first, but then came to.
His body was bruised, but Squall moved about freely within a spilt second. He shook his head and stepped back slowly from the monsters glare, just slightly dizzy.
The T-rexaur was surprised that Squall was still moving. It roared in disappointment and frustration.
Squall looked back up at it. He was weakened… But something felt different in him. Squall's depleted state had given way to something that, felt like a 'second wind', but was much more than that…
Squall took a deep breath, and ran towards the huge monster.
The T-rexaur's eyes widened in surprise as Squall sliced into it several times. Again and again Squall cut, pulling the trigger of his gunblade every time. He even kicked himself up close to the monster's chest and jabbed in quickly. Squall was moving fast. Too fast for it to be natural.
Then, Squall leapt into the air about ten feet, swinging his sword around his head. He focused all his attention on the T-rexaur, all his aggression. Squall began to utilize the power from stocked magic, and focus it into his attack. A wide circle of energy formed around him, then exploded onto the T-rexaur in one immensely damaging shockwave.
The T-rexaur breathed heavily. It was near death. The huge monster collapsed onto the ground.
Zell immediately discontinued the summon, and gazed at Squall in awe.
"What th… " Zell began. "What the hell was that!?!"
Rinoa approached a weakened Squall, down on his knees, catching his breath.
"Are you alright…?" she said, putting her hand on his shoulder.
The attack which Squall had just performed was astounding and frightening at the same time. He didn't even know how he'd done it. The energy just seemed to come into him.
Sweat ran down from his face profusely as he nodded, unable to speak for the moment.
"I guess all of us have some kind of surprise today, huh?" Rinoa said, trying to lighten the mood.
Squall gathered himself and stood up. His thoughts paralleled Zell's questions.
"What the hell was that!?"
Squall gazed about. No one seemed hurt, and the T-rexaur was dead. So long as everything was okay for the, moment, Squall didn't see a need to worry about it.
The SeeD girl approached Squall and spoke with relief.
"Thanks Squall" she said appreciatively.
Squall nodded as he sheathed his weapon. He still felt a little woozy.
"Whe…" he paused as he steadied himself. "Where's Cid…?" Squall asked.
"The headmaster? He isn't here" the girl replied quickly. She gazed at Squall with concern for a moment.
Squall put his hand to his forehead and nodded.
"Alright… " he looked towards Zell and Rinoa. "Let's keep going…"
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"Yo, Squall! You gonna be okay? That was a helluva hit you just gave to that T-rexaur!"
Zell worried over Squall as they made their way to the Garden's library.
"I'm fine." Squall said plainly, getting irritated with all the attention. "And I don't know what happened back there… So don't bother asking me."
Zell just nodded quietly, trying to figure it out himself.
"Com'on." Squall said suddenly. "This is the last stop on this floor, then we're going upstairs"
Squall led Rinoa and Zell into the Garden library. As they walked down the hallway, Squall saw yet another Garden staff member guarding the way.
He appeared to be waiting for something. His foot tapped the ground anxiously.
"What's taking so long!? Hurry up!!!" he called out.
Squall approached the Garden staff from behind and tapped him on the shoulder. As the Garden staff turned around, Squall butted him in the head with his gunblade, knocking the staff member out.
"…damn… that felt good." Squall thought as he stepped over the limp body of the Garden staff member. "Always wanted to do that…"
As Squall entered the Library doors, he was greeted warmly by another group of SeeDs.
"Phew! Thanks for your help!" one girl said.
Squall nodded and quickly asked about Cid.
"The headmaster?" one boy replied. "He's definitely not here."
Squall shrugged this time.
"figures" he thought.
As Squall leaned against the wall for a moment, one of the girls in the library approached Zell. It was the pig-tailed girl that was on the library committee.
" Hello… Umm, if you would like… I mean… uhh, if you don't mind… Please use this." She said. Her voice made her sound like a nervous wreak. Se handed Zell a small bottle of 'mega-phoenix' … another super-concentrated medicine.
"Thanks a lot!" Zell replied, oblivious to the fact that this girl was obviously smitten by him. He pockted the mixture apriciativly.
Squall rolled his eyes as Zell and the girl chatted a little more. Finally, he motioned for Zell to follow him.
"Com'on." Squall said. "We have to find Cid or Xu somewhere…"
Zell nodded and waved 'goodbye' to the girl. She blushed furiously.
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Out in the front hall. Squall saw someone familiar running up the stairs to the elevator.
"Xu!?"
It was indeed Quistis friend, Xu. She was running quickly up the stairs and entered the elevator causiously. Squall, Rinoa and Zell attempted to follow her.
"She went up…" Squall observed.
Squall hit the keypad on the elevator and it came back down quickly. They piled into the lift and the elevator took them to the second floor of Garden.
As they excited, Squall ran down the second-floor hall, searching for Xu. He heard footsteps down to the right and followed the noise.
Xu turned around nervously as three teenagers came running towards her.
"Whose side are you on!?' she called out as Squall, Zell, and Rinoa approached her.
Squall rolled his eyes and spoke bluntly
" Neither" he replied. "We have urgent news. We need to see the headmaster now. Where is he?"
Xu eyed him suspiciously. She barely knew Squall, though he was one of Quistis' students, so she couldn't trust him entirly at this point…
"I'm listening…" she said, folding her arms.
Squall threw his hand back and cried out impatiently
"Galbadian missiles may be heading this way!"
Xu's jaw dropped.
"Here!?"
Squall nodded. Finally they were getting somewhere.
"Alright. I'll inform him right away." Xu said. No matter how the situation with the NORG allies was going, the complete destruction of Garden was something else entirly.
Squall wasn't satisfied with this however. He wanted to give a report himself… Mainly because there was a lot that'd happened.
"Where is he?" Squall asked.
Xu finally accepted that Squall wasn't allined with NORG. He didn't seem like that kind to Xu… Most of NORG's allies weren't SeeDs yet anyway.
"In his office." Xu said. "We made it look like he's hiding, but he's been there all along."
Squall rolled his eyes.
"So we've been playing the same game that this NORG idiot has been playing the whole time…" he thought. "They could have just told us what the hell was going on in the first place…"
Squall shrugged off the irritation and looked at Xu, expecting her to lead them to Cids office.
Xu motioned for them to follow her, and ran towards the elevator casiously.
"Follow me" she whispered.
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Squall , Rinoa and Zell all entered the elevator and went up to the third floor of Garden.
Xu entered Cid's office first, and told him the news. After that, she came out into the lobby and allowed Squall and the other two with him to go into Cid's office.
"He's waiting for you." she said. "I'll go tell everyone to evacuate."
Squall went into Cid's office followed closely by Zell and Rinoa. They entered and saw headmaster Cid waiting for them, standing near his desk in his customary red vest.
"Sir." Squall addressed the headmaster, saluting him.
The middle-aged headmaster turned around and smiled warmly at the three teenagers. But his pleasant face was soon covered by a somber frown.
"Xu has told me about the missiles." Cid said. "The intercom is down so we can't announce the order to evacuate."
Squall shook his head.
"Xu, Fuijin, and Raijin are taking care of that."
Cid nodded slowly.
"I want you to assist them and then evacuate…" he said. Cid hung his head down, seeming preoccupied with something else.
"What's on your mind?" Squall thought, curiously.
"But I have a lot to report" he argued.
Cid put up his hand
"You can tell me later"
"You might be dead later" Squall thought. He sighed with frusteration.
"Do you have a problem with that?" Cid said, slightly annoyed. He didn't appriciate being talked-back to.
"Yeah. What are you going to do?" Squall thought. He voiced his concerns.
"Sir, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to stay here and see this to the end. After all, this place is like my home."
Zell was shocked at this. He spome out immediately.
"You're plannin' on dying here!?"
Rinoa spoke up, too.
"No…! You can't! Just come with us, please! You can always rebuild this place!"
All three teenagers looked at Cid with concern. How could he do this? But Cid just smiled, not wanting them to worry about him too much.
"You can rest assured" he said. "I am just going to try something. There still may be a way to save Garden."
Cid took a small step forward, but he tripped over his own foot and fell on his knees.
Squall looked down at him with anxiety.
"Agasint missiles…? How?"
Cid laughed, embaressed at his stumble.
"Heh heh… I'm too old for this…" he mumbled amiably.
Squall couldn't see how Cid was going to pull off whatever his plan was. It must be difficult, otherwise he'd just tell them what it was… And if that was the case, then Cid probably couldn't handle it.
"Sir, I'd like to handle whatever it is that you're planning." Squall blurted out.
Cid gazed up at Squall and pulled him self off of the floor. He eyed Squall curiously.
"And why is that?" he said.
" …I don't know" Squall thought. Suddenly, a million reasons came into his mind. Things that felt important to him.
"… Because you might screw up. Because I want to do more than announce the evacuation. Beacuase this place is important to me, too. Because I want to find out your plan. Because this is my home."
The thoughts were overwhelming. Squall fought to keep them back… they brought up too many emotions.
"…I have too many reasons. I don't know why… Who cares?" he thought.
"My feelings have nothing to do with it, sir" Squall replied coldly.
Cid laughed.
"Heh heh, Quistis was right. You do have a hard time expressing your feelings."
Squall looked down at the ground. He didn't like to share his feelings, but he didn't exactly like other people to bring that paticular aspect of his personality to attention… He preferred to keep to himself all the time.
"Why bother" he thought. "My feelings are my business. Who else would care?"
He glared back up at Cid, who was smileing in a knowing way at him.
" And what is this? Why am I being judged?"
Squall shook his head and imediatly grew impatient. They didn't have time for this.
"Sir! Please tell us yor plan!" Squall urged.
Cid nodded, realizing that they really did have only a short amount of time left. He began to explain his plan… He was going to let Squall head-off the assignment.
"This building used to be a shelter, long before it was remodeled into the Garden as we know it."
Cid reached in his pocket and pulled out a small metal object. He threw it to Squall, and nodded… It was a key.
"Use that key to open the lock on the elevator. Opening the lock will give you access to the MD level." Cid said.
"MD level?" Squall thought.
"Rumor has it that further below the MD level, there is some kind of a control system. It was used when this place was still a shelter, so I've never seen it. And I have no idea what it does. All I know is that is was used for the shelter, so it might prove effective against the missiles."
Cid took a breath as he finished his explination.
"That's what I'm betting on."
"Sounds pretty farfetched." Squall thought, skeptically. "But I guess it's better than doing nothing."
Squall salueted the headmaster respectfully. Even if he doubted Cid's abilty to pull through in something like this, he still held him in deep respect and honor.
"I understand." Squall said. "We'll find the control system and check it out."
Cid smiled apriciativly.
"Good luck to all of you. Who knows what you may run into down there. Make sure you are prepared before you go down."
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End Chap. 23
*Whew!*
What a long chapter… took me forever to write it…
Well, chap 24 is gonna be really boring… just a nessecery boring part to move the story along… But don't worry, I'll have some good stuff in there.
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