Four years have passed and Squall is now 13 years old. He was following the path leading from the Garden to the town of Balamb, where he was ordered to obtain a weapon. Another student, Nida, walked along side him, also ordered to obtain a weapon. The Garden staff paired them together in order to prepare them for whomever they were to be paired with on future missions. "Hey, what kind of weapon are you gonna look for?" Nida asked.
Squall walked several more steps before answering. "…Don't know." He said.
"Just gonna browse around, huh? Me, too." Nida said. "Hey, it wouldn't hurt to buy some items while we're here, too. I mean, a SeeD's gotta be prepared, right?"
Squall didn't respond in any way and just kept on walking. After taking the long way to town, they walked through the main entrance. Squall kept his mind on his orders, heading straight to the weapon shop. Meanwhile, Nida glanced around at the harbor town, taking in the peaceful atmosphere. Before long, they arrived at the weapon shop. Inside, Nida ran over to the display cases in the center of the shop, which contained some throwing weapons. Squall walked along the walls, glancing at nunchukus, whips, and guns. Then, he came to a long rack in the back of the shop, where he saw some blades that had guns for handles. Underneath each one, there were tags that had the names of them. They were called gunblades. Squall looked over each one, carefully, but there was only one that seemed to shout out at him. That gunblade was a revolver type, which had a unique carving of a lion on it. Squall picked it up off of the rack and sliced it through the air, until he found a comfortable fighting stance. Nida looked up from the display cases to see what was going on. "That's, definitely, you." He said, and then walked over to get a better look at the blade. "What's this carving?"
"…It looks like a lion." Squall said, after looking over the carving again.
"You know… I read that lions are known for their great strength and pride. I wonder why someone would carve a lion on a weapon." Nida said.
Squall shrugged his shoulders and decided to purchase the weapon. "Hey, I know." Nida said, just as Squall reached the counter. "Maybe the wielder is supposed to have great strength and pride."
"…Maybe."
Squall completed his mission of obtaining a weapon and the shopkeeper through in a holster for him. He waited outside for Nida, figuring that since he was ordered to be with him that he'd better return with him. While he waited, he headed next door to the item shop, where he purchased several potions and phoenix downs, etc. By the time he was down, Nida came out of the weapon shop. Squall went to regroup with him and saw him staring at the store across the street. It was a clothing store. "How about picking out our own set of clothes?" Nida asked. "It'd be nice to change into something else, rather than where these uniforms all the time."
Squall thought about it for a moment, and then agreed with Nida. The two of them entered the clothing store, where they went separate ways again. As they did in the weapon shop, Nida glanced over the center display racks, while Squall walked along the wall. There were tons of outfits from short, tight clothes to long, less revealing clothes. Nothing seemed to interest Squall, until he got to the center of one of the sidewalls. There was a line of this one outfit that seemed to stand out from the rest. It was a white T-shirt underneath a black, long-sleeved jacket with fur around the collar. The pants were dark blue and were covered by two belts at the top. Completing the outfit, there were black boots underneath the display rack. (Why do these clothes look familiar?) Squall thought. (No point in thinking about it.) With that, he took the outfit and headed for the changing room. He took notice that Nida was, also, doing the same. Inside the dressing room, Squall went ahead and tried on the outfit. The outfit felt a little different from his uniform, but as with all new clothes, it just needed broken in. Squall changed back to his uniform, and then took the outfit to the checkout counter. Once the outfit was paid for, he waited at the entrance for Nida, who head to return the outfit he picked out for a different size. After several outfits, Nida finally checked out.
The party of two began the short journey back to Garden. They walked halfway on the roadway, until Nida stopped them with a question. "Why don't we cut through the plains? It'll give us a chance to try out these weapons in battle." He said.
Looking out over the plains, Squall could see that it was the fastest way back to Garden. "We could use the exercise." Nida said, his new sword already drawn.
Squall nodded, and then started going through the plains. Mostly bitebugs roamed the plains, but very rarely a t-rexaur stomped through. Squall and Nida encountered several bitebugs and was able to gain some easy experience. After several quick battles, the two of them made it back to Garden, where they were congratulated for their success by the Garden staff. Nida left to go his own way, leaving Squall alone. Squall, too, went his own way, walking through the Garden toward the directory. Once he was in that area, he heard Seifer's voice, obviously teasing a new student. "What happened to your hair?" Seifer said. "It looks you stuck your finger in a light socket."
"This is MY hairstyle and I like it!" A blonde-haired, 13-year-old boy countered.
"You like putting your finger in light sockets?" Seifer laughed.
"Shut up! I don't do anything like that!"
"Yeah, sure. I hear ya." With that, Seifer walked away.
The new student put up a fist, threateningly, at Seifer. "Just because I'm new here doesn't mean you can pick on me!" He shouted, and then walked in the opposite direction.
(Seifer…) Squall sighed, and then walked toward the dormitory, past the library. In front of the library, he saw the new student talking to a girl with pigtails. "Yeah, I would've had him, too," He heard the boy say. "But he chickened out and ran off."
"Wow. Really?" The girl with the pigtails asked.
"Yeah. I'm almost as strong as my grandpa." The boy said. "He's the whole reason why I'm here. I wanna be just like him."
"Hey, I don't know your name, yet?"
"My name? It's Dincht. Zell Dincht."
Paying no attention to the loudmouth, Squall stayed on his current course toward the dormitory.
Sefie: That's chapter 21 for ya! Well… now Squall has his look and Zell's at the Garden now. Hmmmm… what's gonna happen next? Stay tuned to find out! Oh… time for an advertisement. Are you into online RPGs? Then, come on down to Final Fantasy Garden Omega. The first manager, Squall, is turning our group into an RPG. Not only that, we're gonna have a lot of FF info on our pages. Come and check it out at http:groups.msn.com/FinalFantasyGardenOmega