Chapter 24
The MD level, and Mobile Garden
Squall Leonhart grasped the headmaster's key in his hand tightly. Questions ran through his mind as he led Zell Dincht and Rinoa Heartilly into the Garden's elevator.
"What are we going to find down in the MD level?" he wondered. Squall hadn't even realized that Garden possessed more areas than the initial three floors. Now that Cid had told them about the MD level, Garden seemed all the more mysterious to him.
But Squall, Zell, and Rinoa had more immediate concerns… Garden's survival.
"How can Cid… headmaster Cid… be so sure that whatever is down there will protect Garden. It could just be a shelter, or an alarm of some kind…"
Squall shook the pessimism from his head.
"Well… we have to do something…" he thought. "I can't let Garden be destroyed."
Once they approached the elevator doors, Squall looked around on the elevator control panel for the key-slot.
"Here it is…" Squall thought. It seemed funny to him, though. He'd never noticed anything unusual about the elevator before, but now he saw all kinds of buttons and knobs that he'd never had to use. What were they for? Why hadn't he noticed them earlier in his stay at Garden?
He inserted the key and the control panel beeped loudly. Squall walked into the elevator, followed by his two companions, and the doors shut quickly behind them.
Past the first floor, past the second… After what seemed like minutes of going deeper and deeper into the bowels of Garden, the elevator began to slow down.
"Finally…" Zell thought, getting impatient. But the elevator didn't come to a complete stop. Instead, the lights went out, surprising them, and the elevator continued on very slowly, as if it was trying to stop, but couldn't. It shook and came to a sudden halt, jolting the three teenagers. Squall Zell and Rinoa looked around in confusion for a moment, but soon the elevator was lit up again, and they could see.
"What in the world is going on…?" Squall thought.
He tried to exit through the doors, but they wouldn't move. Squall felt foolish once he saw where they were…
Right outside the glass-doors of the elevator, was nothing more than a concrete wall. The elevator must've come to an emergency stop for some reason.
"Figures…" thought Squall, folding his arms. "the elevator hasn't been down this far in years, probably…"
Squall pressed a few buttons on the control panel, trying to make the elevator do something. Anything.
"…It's not responding" he thought wit frustration.
Squall huffed and glanced over to Zell. The spiky hared young man usually had some input or suggestion… 'Mr. Know-it-all-Zell' would come in really handy right about now.
"What!?" Zell said. "I don't know what to do!"
"Great" thought Squall sarcastically. He inadvertently shot a glance over to Rinoa. She smirked slightly at him, but spoke matter-of-factly.
"Come on. There has to be a way out" she said.
Squall rubbed the back of his neck and looked around the elevator compartment.
"There should be a way out… but whether we can find it or not is a different issue." Squall thought. He looked around some more.
"Controls won't work… door won't open…" Squall looked up to the compartment's roof.
"…Ceiling's solid…"
Squall hung his head down, frowning. What were they supposed to do? It's not as if he knew, and it wasn't like there was just some 'magical' trapped door waiting right there for them to…
"What in the world…?"
He walked over to a small panel on the floor of the elevator, and felt along the edge.
"I'll be damned…" he thought. "I think it's a door…"
Squall pushed on it slightly, and as he did so, it immediately came open. Zell and Rinoa gazed on in gleeful surprise.
"Alright!" Zell cheered.
Squall ignored his praise.
"Nobody's been here for a while, so be careful" he warned.
Squall looked out of the elevator from the small door. They could all fit through it, but they really would have to be careful… the elevator had stopped much too early, and there was a good ninety feet until the light from the next door shined through.
"We'll have to climb down this ladder along the edge…" Squall observed.
"Sure looks rusty… I hope it holds."
He felt the first rung and shook it slightly. It seemed steady enough, so he began to dismount the compartment.
One by one they climbed out. Squall went down first, followed by Zell, and then Rinoa. They climbed down deeper and deeper until they were about ten rungs from the next opening in the wall.
"So… whaddya think's down here?" asked Zell from above Squall's head.
"… … I don't know" Squall replied.
"Well, Whatever it is, I don't know how its gonna protect against Galbadian missiles…" Zell continued. "I mean, those things are bad-ass! Seriously! ..I can only imagine what they did to Trabia Gar…"
"Zell…" Squall interrupted him in an irritated tone.
"Huh? …Oh… Sorry."
Rinoa giggled slightly at their conversation. Exactly what she'd come to expect from these two… Just then however, they heard a noise coming from above.
Rinoa looked up and her eyes widened in fright as she saw the elevator car begin to stir.
It was slow at first, just barely creeping along the edges with the sharp scraping noise of metal. Then a loud snap caused the elevator to fall full-throttle down the shaft.
Squall and Zell were already inside the opening. They'd heard the elevator's approach and climbed inside quickly, urging Rinoa to hurry as well.
Rinoa leapt into the compartment with split seconds to spare. The elevator car came crashing down hard just as she landed. It stopped upon reaching the door, leaning itself against the elevator shaft's walls.
Squall stepped foreword as Rinoa leapt in, becoming slightly worried. She'd almost been crushed… But she breathed a sigh of relief, and seemed alright. Squall blushed a little, trying to think of something else.
Then he looked directly behind Rinoa, and slapped his forehead.
"What? What?" Rinoa asked. "Did I do something?"
Squall shook his head.
"…No… the…" he sighed in frustration. "…The only way we know how to get out of here just came crashing down…" he said, pointing to the elevator car.
"…The cable's probably snapped…"
Zell and Rinoa both looked at the cart nervously. Squall was right.
"…Look… Whatever" Squall said, wanting to forget about it. "We'll find some other way out… Just don't worry about it… We have other issues at hand."
Zell and Rinoa nodded in agreement, though they were both a bit unsure, and the group continued on.
The room they had entered was actually more like a narrow hallway. At the end was a huge part of the ventilation shaft, curving and heading downward.
Right in front of the ventilation piping was a small hatchway in the floor with a thick bar-handle on it. Squall, Zell, and Rinoa approached it.
Squall reached down to grab the handle. He grasped it firmly and pulled up, but it wouldn't budge. He huffed as he continued to pull on it. He felt it give just a little each time, but not enough to open it…
Then., he gave it one final tug, and the door flew open, revealing another passage.
Squall motioned for Zell and Rinoa to follow him, as he jumped down into the corridor.
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After they had all reached the floor, Squall looked around. They were in the middle of a huge pipeline. The walls of which were covered with splotches of a thick, black substance…. They were in an oil pipeline.
"An oil stratum… " Squall observed. He turned to Zell and Rinoa.
"Watch for enemies weak against fire around here." he warned. "if you junction fire elemental magic, battles should be much easier."
Zell raised his eyebrow at this.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa… you think there are monsters down here, Squall?"
Squall shrugged his shoulders.
"Yeah, probably. This area has been abandoned for so long… who knows what's been breeding down here…"
Zell nodded with a somber look on his face. The idea of more fighting wasn't appealing to him right now… especially after all the battles they'd fought upon entering Garden's gates…
Rinoa on the other hand didn't seem to mind at all. She was happily surprised to discover how well she could use Para-magic, and wanted to try it some more.
"Okay, let's go." Squall said. Rinoa and Zell nodded, and began following him down the pipeline…
They found that the pipe turned a corner, and opened up to another area. Probably just another duct for the oil to run through.
"Why would Garden need to run so much lubricant through theses pipes…?" Squall thought. "They're huge… big enough for someone twice my height to walk through…"
The approaching pipe-way went down, and had a ladder leading to the floor.
"And why would it need to be so accessible…?" he wondered.
Squall decided to forget his question and focus on finding whatever it was that headmaster Cid was so sure about…
"I guess we'll know it when we find it…" Squall thought anxiously. "I just hope it'll help…"
They made their way onto the bottom of the pipe. As they examined the area, Squall noticed that the floor beneath them was actually a huge postern with a split right in the middle.
"So the pipe goes down even further…" Squall thought. "And there's another ladder top right over there too…"
Squall breathed heavily. He was getting tired.
"How far down does this go?!" Zell said. He'd noticed the other ladder as well.
Opposite of their position was what appeared to be a small room. Rinoa tapped Squall on the shoulder and pointed it out. Squall looked up and headed towards it.
Inside they found a rusted room with a large control panel at the back. The buttons knobs and dials were all either broken or missing from it, but on an extension of the panel was a huge metal turn. On it was an inscription.
"…Pipe opening." Squall read aloud from below the wheel. "I guess this is how we go further down…"
Squall grabbed hold of the wheel and began to pull on it furiously. He tugged and tugged but couldn't get the turn to move at all.
Zell and Rinoa looked on as Squall grunted fiercely, trying to move the rusted old wheel.
Finally, Squall released it, and rubbed his wrists. They were getting pretty sore, and the wheel hadn't moved at all…
Zell spit on his hands and rubbed them together. He approached the wheel and nodded to Squall.
They tugged on the caster again and again, but to no avail. This thing was really stuck.
Finally, Rinoa approached it, and took hold of another part of the wheel. She didn't think she'd be much help, but she hated just standing there watching…
They pulled and pulled on it and, finally, it started to budge. Slowly, they turned it over and over, releasing the pressure that it was holding. They turned the wheel, until they couldn't push it any further.
"Alright," Squall said. "I guess that's it. Let's keep on going."
He led them out of the room and sure enough, the large hatch was completely open, exposing no less than a hundred feet of piping beneath them.
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At the bottom of the ladder, Zell, Squall and Rinoa found that it opened into a huge room. More than a room, actually, it was a large steel chamber with glass and metal cylinders coming in diagonally from the circular walls, about 16 of them. Directly beneath the three was a metal walkway which lead down to a circular walk on the floor surrounding a huge support cylinder. The cylinder went up to the ceiling with ladders and all kinds of access shafts going up and around it... The chamber was huge.
They jumped down from the bottom rung of the ladder and started down the metal walkway. It was similar to a fire escape, but much longer. The walkway started out near the ceiling and went all the way to the floor.
As they reached the bottom, Squall lead them around the column in the middle of the chamber. They looked all around for some kind of control panel or lever or something to tell them where to go next.
They walked all the way around the cylinder, and couldn't see another way out.
" …A dead end?" Squall thought.
Squall, Zell and Rinoa looked around. What were they supposed to do? Where did they need to go next? …That's when they noticed the ladder.
" Man, another ladder…" Zell lamented.
Rinoa breathed heavily. She was getting worn out
"I wonder where this thing goes?" she said.
Squall remained silent, but all three teenagers followed the metal rungs up the pillar with their eyes, trying to see where it led. They found themselves turned around and staring across the chamber at a small control room across the chamber, up near the ceiling… The ladder led to a metal walk which traversed all the way around to the control room.
Zell gawked at the huge distance for a moment, and then hung his head in frustration.
"Oh, over there…" he said in dismay.
Rinoa took a deep breath. She didn't feel like climbing up all that way either.
"Well, Squall?" she asked. It was up to him to choose their next coarse of action.
" …I have to decide?" Squall thought, taking another look at the distance from here to the control room. "…I don't feel like doin' this anymore then they do…"
Squall looked at Zell and Rinoa.
"I could just send one of them" he thought. " But… Zell and Rinoa… … …"
Squall immediately dismissed the idea. The ladder looked pretty dangerous, and he didn't want to risk one of them getting hurt… Though he felt slightly uneasy about that, so he pretended that it was because he didn't trust them enough. Squall shook his head and considered his other options.
"We could all go, I guess…" Squall thought. He took another look at the ladder and sighed in frustration.
"To dangerous. That thing is so rusty, it'll probably bend under just my weight…"
Squall knew what he had to do.
"I'll check it out" he thought. "That's the safest way…"
Squall looked at Rinoa and Zell.
"I'll go take a look" he announced. "You two wait here."
Zell breathed a sigh of relief and Rinoa gazed at Squall appreciatively as he placed his gloved hands on the rungs of the ladder.
"…Thank you…" Rinoa thought. She felt bad for not going with him, but the ladder looked pretty dangerous to her as well. She didn't want to risk all of them getting hurt, and the less people on there would be better anyway…
"That's really sweet of him to do that for us, though…" she thought. "…I wonder if he's feeling okay?"
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Squall climbed up the ladder quickly, but carefully. It wasn't too bad so far, and the ladder seemed to be holding pretty well.
"…Nothing to worry about, then, I guess…" Squall thought with relief. He was about three-fourths of the way up until the metal walkway.
Suddenly, he heard a loud snap from the top of the ladder. Then another.
"Dammit… spoke too soon" Squall lamented. The ladder began to lean slowly, but as more of the attachments connecting the ladder to the cylinder snapped apart, it fell foreword full-speed.
Squall hung on tightly and closed his eyes as the ladder crashed into the control room window. He leapt through legs first, and covering his eyes to avoid being cut to harshly by the shattered glass. He landed on the floor with a loud 'thud'.
The young man lifted himself from the floor, brushing the glass out of the creases in his jacket. He looked out what was left of the window. The ladder was still hanging there on the edge, and everything else seemed fine.
Just then, however, the metal walkway leading into the room collapsed from afar. Squall was taken aback for a moment as the loud crashing noise echoed through the chamber walls.
"Well… I'm alright… and I'm here" Squall thought. "I might as well see what I can do while I'm inside…"
Squall found his way over to the room's control panel. He examined it carefully at first, but soon realized that most of it was broken.
"The only thing that still seems to be in tact is this switch… I'd better try that first or else I might break one of the other things…"
Squall pushed the switch upwards. He waited for a moment, but nothing seemed to happen.
"Figures…" Squall thought. "We come all the way down here and most of this crap doesn't even work…"
Suddenly, Squall felt the entire chamber vibrate. A loud rumbling from beneath alerted him to what was happening down on the floor…
Outside of the metal walk surrounding the pillar, the rest of the floor started to separate.
"It's… it's falling apart…" Squall thought with concern.
But the floor wasn't falling apart. He soon realized that it was separating, and tucking the floor sections into the walls of the chamber itself, revealing more of the Garden's MD level below.
"I'd better get back down there to make sure Rinoa and Zell are alright…" Squall thought.
He headed towards the door to the room, but then remembered.
"The path up ahead collapsed after that collision, so I can't go down this way."
He gazed over to the ladder hanging precariously along the broken window sill.
"It looks like I'll have to use this ladder again."
Squall frowned with displeasure as he grabbed hold of the metal rungs, and made his way back down to the 'floor'.
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"Squall, that was close! You all right!?"
Squall leaped down from the broken ladder, and was greeted by Zell's concern.
"…Yeah" Squall replied, brushing the hair away from his eyes.
Rinoa held her hand up to her metal chain necklace and gazed at Squall with worry.
"Gosh, you scared me. That must've been terrifying" she said.
Squall rubbed the back of his neck nervously at this. he didn't know how to respond to her concern…
"… Maybe a little. Who cares." Squall replied hastily. "We have bigger things to worry about."
Rinoa gazed up at him with a curiously raised eyebrow.
"I hope he's alright…" she thought.
Squall walked over to the edge of the walkway and peered down over the edge. There was another walk below them, and a ladder leading straight down to it. But the ladder was blocked by the railing of the walkway.
He looked beside him and noticed a lever with a pulsating green light attached to it.
"This must release the gate…" Squall thought. He pulled the lever down, and sure enough, the gate opened.
"Come on" Squall commanded. "Just one more ladder, I think…"
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Before they reached the bottom of the ladder, Squall, Zell, and Rinoa noticed a strong smell emitting from below. Rinoa winced at the odor.. it was terrible.
Squall sniffed curiously, and gazed down.
"…Petroleum…?" he guessed. Squall squinted as he climbed down further…
"…Oil."
They finally reached the lower level. Squall looked at the pool of oil surrounding them. It spanned almost forty feet across on all ends, and he could only take a guess at how deep it was.
Zell shook his head in confusion.
"What is this!?" he exclaimed.
Squall shrugged his shoulders, equally confused, and looked around. Still, there was nothing that seemed to be of any use in protecting Garden.
Then, a large metal door in the distance caught Squall's attention. It laid across a bridge and even further into the MD level.
"We must be at the bottom…" Squall thought. "Through that door might be what we've been searching for…"
He squinted, trying to get a better look at the door. It seemed pretty solid. Squall had no idea how they were going to open it…
"Hey, Squall!" Zell cried. "Whaddya suppose this does?"
Zell was fidgeting with a small lever on the edge of the walkway. Before Squall could speak, Zell impulsively pushed it down, causing another loud rumble to echo through the chamber.
"Opps…. Sorry Squall…" Zell said, sheepishly.
Squall rolled his eyes, but was taken aback when he realized that Zell had inadvertently opened the large metal door across the bridge.
"Look, Zell!" Rinoa cried. She pointed to the door happily.
"Let's hurry…" Squall urged. He quickly started across the bridge.
"Hey, Squall…" Zell began. " I thought you said there might be monsters down here… We haven't come across any…"
Just as Zell spoke, the pool of oil beneath them began to quiver and ripple wildly. Soon, two huge, slim covered creatures emerged from the natatorium of oil, and propelled themselves onto the bridge.
"Uh-Oh…" Zell said, slowly backing away.
Slimly, dripping oil smacked across the metal plating of the bridge as the two creatures gyrated their huge, slug-like bodies around, making horrible gurgling noises. Oil slobbered out from every orifice of their thick flesh, and the eye-less creatures wiggled their antennae's around in the air, sniffing out any change in their environment.
"WHAT are those things!?" Rinoa yelled with a look of disgust on her face.
Squall focused and began scanning the odd creatures.
"Oilboyles" he said plainly. "We'll have to get rid of them…"
"Oh, gross…" Rinoa said. But she knew that their options were limited.
"You don't have to touch them," Squall offered, drawing his weapon quickly. One of the Oilboyles squealed furiously as he did so.
"…Just cast fire on them…"
One of the Oilboyles pushed itself foreword, and lifted it's muzzle up.
"Now!" Squall cried.
The command was too late. The sloppy creature spewed out a thick stream of oil at Squall, right into his face.
"Squall!" Rinoa cried.
Squall wiped the oil away, but it stuck onto him, and weighed him down. Plus, he couldn't seem to get it out of his eyes…
"Damn… must be charged with energy… some kind of para-magic or something." Squall thought. He called out to Rinoa and Zell.
"Don't worry about me! Just hit those things with every fire-typed spell you've got!"
Squall began to cast Esuna on himself, to remove the blinding effect of the 'Oil'. Zell and Rinoa began casting Fire and Fira repeatedly.
Once Squall had recovered, he saw that one of the monsters was backing away. He ran towards it slicing with his gunblade, and finished it off.
"Now for the other…" he thought.
Squall began focusing heavily, and began summoning Ifrit… A fire typed GF.
"This should take care of 'im…" Squall thought.
Beads of sweat rolled down his face as he summoned the Guardian Force. He couldn't do much while he was summoning, or else his concentration would be broken. Zell and Rinoa would have to hold the Oilboyle back.
And that's exactly what they were doing. Zell performed his newly developed 'Dolphin blow' on the remaining creature, shocking it severely, while Rinoa hit it with Fira magic.
Then Ifrit came forth. He burst from the ground in a flaming mass, and took one look around him. He knew why he had been called from Squall's mind, and the reason lay right before him.
Ifrit roared furiously, and lunged up into the air. He formed a massive fire ball in his hands, and hurled it right into the creature below. The Oilboyle cringed for a moment, and then it's slimy body went limp, completely. Ifrit disappeared.
Squall wasted no time. He quickly turned to Zell and Rinoa, motioning for them to follow him.
"We have to hurry. They might be coming any minute now."
Zell and Rinoa nodded and followed Squall as he stepped over the burnt and bruised bodies in front of them.
As they entered the opening, Squall, ell and Rinoa found themselves in front of a large hole with a metal grate circling around and spiraling until in reached the bottom. They followed it down to find another ladder awaiting them.
Squall urged the other two on, getting more tense with every moment. They'd spent so much time down there, that Squall was getting really worried. Would the missiles hit? They must've been close… But how close?
They made their way to the bottom of the ladder, and finally seemed to reach the end of their long journey. A metal walkway led them into another large chamber… But one which was substantially different.
Squall approached an operating panel at the end of the walkway, but that wasn't what he was focused on. The three teenagers gawked at a huge, foreign-looking structure in the center of the chamber… It was enormous.
The edifice was about the size of a small apartment building, and seemed to be wrapped around itself. It reached up to the ceiling and was attached by a large converging pillar arriving at the top. Maroon colored cylinders and spires seemed to be positioned about a large sphere bringing everything in it to a center. It looked incredibly convoluted, and yet seemed to have a strong semblance of symmetry and arrangement.
" Looks like we're here…" Squall said, still in awe.
Zell scratched his head, confused and shocked.
"Oh man… What the hell do we do now!?"
Squall approached control panel. Everything seemed to be in working order… But he had no idea how to control it.
"How am I supposed to know? Even the headmaster doesn't know." Squall thought.
Squall shot a questioning glance at Zell. He was supposedly pretty good with tools are stuff… Maybe he had an idea…
But Zell caught the meaning in his stare, and backed away, putting his hands up.
"Yeah, like I know what to do!" he exclaimed, sarcastically.
Rinoa grew impatient.
"We can't just sit here and stare at it" she said, putting her hands on her hips.
Squall sighed, and rested his hands on the control panel.
"What to do…? What to do?"
Squall began turning knobs and pressing buttons. He cranked the switch in the center of the array a few times.
Nothing happened.
"What the heck are you doin'?" Zell cried.
" I don't know!" Squall replied angrily. "What else can I do?!"
Suddenly, the ground started to shake violently. More aggressively then they'd felt before. It sounded almost like a giant engine was attempting to start, but couldn't. The stumbled around, trying to catch their balance on the shaky floor.
*"!!!?"*
They floor began to steady after a moment, but the loud hum and a slight shaking remained. Squall gazed up at the enormous central structure, and noticed that it was moving…
Spires began turning, electricity began to flow freely through the inner parts of the pillars. The design on the central sphere began turning, and locking into different positions. After a moment, it simply began to turn in one continuous motion.
Squall, Zell, and Rinoa all gazed on at this speechless. Without doubt, something big was happening… But what? And would it save Garden…?
Suddenly, the structure started lowering itself further into the bowels of the chamber… or so it seemed. The platform which the three teenagers were standing on actually began to rise, faster and faster it went. Squall looked up as they approached the ceiling. Up and up they went. Squall cringed back, expecting to be crushed by the chamber roof, but something amazing happened…
They passed through the ceiling and kept going further up into Garden. The passed through a section of each floor, the ground opening up and creating room for the platform and its supporting pillar. Squall, Zell and Rinoa passed through without a scratch.
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Up in his office, headmaster Cid paced back and forth nervously. The missiles could be coming at anytime, and Garden would be destroyed… unless Squall had been successful. Unless they'd found something to protect Garden against…
Cid's thoughts were interrupted by a beaming blue circle of light right below his feel. He looked around the floor in confusion, but was soon jolted by a large platform shooting up, straight through the floor, lifting him up with it as well.
Cid rubbed his back, and attempted to pick himself up. He saw three young people above him, looking just as confused and amazed as he felt.
The young man with brown hair gazed out the headmasters overhead windows in wonderment. But he soon saw something which caused a distressed look of urgency on his face.
"Missiles incoming!" Squall yelled out.
Rinoa held her hand to her chest, afraid.
"No!!!" she called, squeezing her eyes tightly shut.
Seconds past. Squall saw the missiles coming in closer and closer… And then another amazing thing occurred.
Squall felt the floor beneath him shake once more, and his stomach turned at the sudden feeling of weightlessness that he immediately recognized.
"…W-what…? We're… floating…?"
Squall saw the bright blue and yellow ring that mounted the top of Garden begin to fall down… no… position itself lower and lower, until it stopped beneath Garden. Squall felt more jerking and pulling, and heard the tumultuous noise below…
Garden was being transformed.
Squall steadied himself, and took one more shocked look out the window. The Galbadian missiles flew right past them, and hit the ground beneath Garden with tremendous force. The Garden began moving foreword, hovering swiftly across the Balamb plains, followed by a huge cloud of smoke, and terrible shock-wave from the Galbadian missiles.
Finally, Squall was able to utter something.
"We're moving!?" he exclaimed, his heart racing.
Cid picked him self up, still a bit dizzy, and leaned against the control board.
"I see… So this is the secret…" he observed.
Zell gazed excitedly out the window.
"Oh man…! This is awesome!"
Rinoa shared his elated, and happy, surprise.
"…Wow!"
Garden was indeed moving. Everyone paused a moment to take in the shocking revelation… Garden was floating, hovering across the ground.
From outside, the sight would have been even more incredible. The huge structure which had stood still and motionless for more then ten years, suddenly lifting itself from the ground, taking roots and enormous clods of earth with it, would have been nothing less than unbelievable. Not only that, but the fact the Garden had actually transformed into something totally different… All seven, plus, extensions of Garden, including the dorms, the cafeteria, and a number of other places, had actually pulled themselves nearer inside to Garden, so that it became one central, floating structure, its blue and yellow glowing ring seeming to keep it aloft, letting the newly transformed Garden ride on top of It as it spun round and around.
From inside Cid's also-transformed office, the headmaster began to worry.
"I wonder what is going on outside?" he said, looking at Squall.
Zell's ears perked up at this. He couldn't wait to see Garden from a different perspective now… This was just too cool for him to bare.
"Squall, let's go check it out!" Zell said excitedly. He looked around the platform to find a way down, and luckily enough, a smaller attachment on the pulpit served as an elevator going to the floor of the headmasters office. Zell road down without waiting for Squall and Rinoa.
"Come on, Squall, let's go." Rinoa urged, trying to hold back her excitement. She wanted to see outside as well.
Squall wasn't sure. He felt like he should stay there and figure out how to control Garden, now that it was mobile, but headmaster Cid encouraged him to go.
"I'm concerned about the others. Can you go check?" he asked.
Squall hesitantly nodded, and he followed Zell down to the floor. Zell was waiting impatiently at the bottom of the conveyor.
"Let's go!" he urged, rushing out of the headmaster's office.
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As the three reached the second floor, they heard and saw student's running around, frightened and confused.
One student was pacing back and forth nervously in front of the elevator..
"What the hell is this? Nobody told us that this thing can fly" he exclaimed nervously.
Another student sat huddled in the corner of the hall. Squall looked down at him as they passed.
"What's going on? I was hiding for a while, and now I see all this chaos. Man, I'm really scared. Obviously, you're not, eh?"
Squall shrugged his shoulders. It was confusing and odd… but…
"…I don't know" Squall replied plainly.
"Oh… well, take care…"
A number of other student's were grouped out in the hall. Most seemed calm enough, but were still very disturbed at the occurrence.
" … This is crazy… Ok, ok, just calm down" one girl said to herself. "Take a deep breath. Phew."
She began relating the days events to herself quietly.
"First the Garden master's men started rounding up SeeDs. Then the fighting began… All of a sudden, the Garden began to shake violently then the missiles came… And now we're flying."
Another student stood in the middle of the hallway with his head down.
" Man, what the hell were we doin'!? Sittin' around doin' nothin' while those things were comin' at us."
One young girl was running around the hallway excitedly. She wasn't scared in the least, but rather enthralled at the whole idea… She stopped Squall as he, Rinoa and Zell passed by her.
"Hey, have you been outside yet?" she asked. Squall shook his head. "It's amazing! Just go down the hall and check it out."
Squall made his way to the end of the very hallway in which they'd spoken to Xu much earlier. At the end was a door leading to a small platform on the outside of Garden. It usually served as an emergency exit.
Squall pushed the door open quickly and walked up the stairwell. Once they reached the outside, bright sunlight hit their faces, and the wind blew quickly, but gently through their hair. All three stood in overwhelmed surprise at the sight, especially Rinoa.
Rinoa ran passed Zell and Squall, over to the edge of the platform. She leaned against the side and peered over excitedly. She saw seagulls flying alongside Garden, hovering in the wind, and she smiled with delight. The wind blew stronger near the edge, and her hair flowed freely in the heavy breeze. She gazed all around, brushing the hair from her eyes, smiling the whole while.
Squall stayed back, gazing at her. He felt a certain, inexplicable sense of peace and felicity as he watched the young, fair-skinned woman delight at the amazing display before them. Rinoa felt his stare. She turned her head around, still keeping the hair away from her eyes with her delicate hand, and gave a warm, genuine smile at him.
Squall raised an eyebrow at this, and blushed slightly. He tried to avoid her eyes, but didn't feel like he had to look away. For some reason, he didn't feel uncomfortable, and didn't feel unhappy with her for making him a little embaressed. One thought kept running through his mind…
"…She sure is pretty…"
Eventually, Squall and Zell came over to the edge and gazed on with her. They gawked wide eyed at the ground below, moving fast in the opposite direction as Garden made its way further and further across the ground.
After a few moments, Squall decided that they'd better head inside.
"Come on… Cid might want us back…" Squall said half-hearted… He actually wanted to stay outside a bit longer…
But they went inside nonetheless. As Squall shut the door, his eyes adjusted to the inside light, causing him to realize how bright it had been out doors in the sunlight.
Xu came running up the hall as they started on down. She looked worried.
"Squall!" she cried. "It's the headmaster! Get back to the bridge on the double!"
Squall didn't need to hear it twice. He immediately made a run for the elevator.
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Atop the control platform, Cid quickly relayed the problem to Squall.
"Squall! The controls aren't responding! I don't know what to do!" he said. "We're going to crash into the town of Balamb if we don't do something!"
Zell and Rinoa Gasped at this. Squall folded his arms and frowned heavily.
"No way!" Rinoa cried. "Can't we do something!?"
Zell put his hands to his face. He thought of his parent's in Balamb.
"Man…! This can't be happening!!!"
Cid looked to Squall. He needed the young man now, more than ever.
"Squall, can you think of anything?" he asked.
Squall frowned even more. Of course he couldn't…
" …No!" he thought.
Zell urged him.
"Squall, C'MON!!!" he said in a frustrated tone. Zell's hands began shaking.
"Squall do something!" Rinoa said.
"I've been through this all-too recently…" Squall thought. He was once again in the position of leader… something he'd never imagined that he'd have to be in front of headmaster Cid.
" …… How should I know!?"
" Damn!" Squall yelled out harshly. He ran over to the control panel and stated turning knobs and throwing whatever levers he could see. He became infuriated at this array, this machine… At the Garden.
"Damn, damn, damn!!!" he thought. "Why won't this thing just do what it's supposed to!"
Squall became red-faced with frustration and anger. He didn't know what to do! Yet everybody was counting on him! If he made a wrong decision, he would be blamed! If someone was hurt… it would be his fault…
The stress was overwhelming. Squall thought of everybody in Garden, and everybody in Balamb… If he couldn't do something, people were going to die…
And it would be his fault.
All of a sudden, Garden began to shake again. They all felt the shifting weight of Garden intensely.
"WHOA!!" Zell cried. "What was that!?"
"Yes! We're turning!" Cid said, observing the sight out of his window. The scene changed from heading straight into Balamb to the ocean.
Garden passed right over the top of Balamb with but a couple dozen feet to spare. It started safely on it's way into Balamb's coast.
"Alright, Squall!" Rinoa cheered. "You did it!"
As everyone celebrated, Zell looked out the window with interest. He raised his eyebrow as the skyline seemed to rise. Suddenly he realized what was happening…
"AHH…! We're gonna crash into the sea!" he yelled.
Cid looked out and gasped. Zell was right.
" Everybody hold on to something!" he cried.
With an enormous splash and terrible jolting shake, Garden landed in the ocean. It began to sink, and the four people observing from the control platform were sure that it was over…
But Garden bobbed up quickly, if a bit violently, and remained afloat in the sea perfectly. Once they had their bearings, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"…Phew. Squall, everyone, a job well done" Cid commended them. "I think the worst is behind us for now"
" Where are we heading?" Squall asked with concern. In front them now was nothing but water.
"We'll drift along for the time being… until we figure out how to maneuver the Garden."
Everyone looked at Cid for a moment. He seemed pretty relaxed after what had just happened… And his 'plan' left a lot to be desired.
"So, it looks like we can finally relax for a while. And spend some time considering what to do next" he continued.
Everyone nodded. This sounded much more reasonable… they all breathed easily now.
"So much for my room" Cid lamented playfully. "Where am I going to change now?"
All but Squall chuckled.
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End Chap. 24
o.O Garden can fly?!
Yes indeed… well then… uhh… not much to say on this chapter… just wish I would've finished it sooner… -_- … ah well. the next one should be pretty cute…. Ya know, the whole 'hey squall, show me around (Hint hint; 'I really kinda think you're cute and maybe might like you a little bit')' tour thing from Rinoa.
Anyway… this chapter actually ended up really good. Maybe a little slow at first, but that's okay… Wasn't Rinoa's balcony scene just adorable? ^_^
Next up… chapter 25! (Wow… we're just moving' right along here aren't we?) …It has to do with Squall and Rinoa's 'tour', and a rather enlightening *ahem* 'discussion' with Garden Master NORG… stay tuned there…
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