10 days have passed since the prologue, and the SeeD test is merely 4 days away

Characters, backstory and any other FF8 stuff are copyright of squaresoft. Anything not from Final Fantasy 8 is all mine.

This chapter will be introducing several new characters into the FF8 world...


Chapter 1 - The SeeD Candidates


A solitary female figure sat cross-legged on the cold floor of a student dormitory. Her eyes were half-closed and her hands resting on her knees. Long brunette hair hung untidily down her back. She wore no shoes. The only sound in the room, aside from her slow, rythmatic breathing, was the regular ticking of a small grey clock hung on the wall.

Her dormitory was very bland and sparse, with no decoration whatsoever, but it was unnaturally tidy and neat. The bed was made, her student uniform hung up on a hanger next to her bed, and a few issues of 'Weapons Monthly' stacked in a pile at the end of her bed, organised by month. A square mirror hung on the wall, and the blinds covering a small window were closed, allowing practically no light into the plain, emotionless dorm room. A closed black case, presumably containing her weapon of choice, was one of only two items that lay on the small table that sat by her bed. The other was a picture of Xu, the head of the administration of Balamb Garden, and her mentor and older sister. Xu had a happy but dignified look in the photo, as she stood there in her uniform. The picture was taken after she graduated as a SeeD.

She sat there, meditating, analysing the thoughts that passed through her brain, and then releasing them effortlessly back into the darkness of her mind. She thought of things that she had learned, the upcoming SeeD exams, fighting styles and techniques and she remembered things that otherwise would have remained long forgotton. Her childhood, playing with friends in her home in Galbadia, her first school, and going to Garden after the death of her parents.

Her breathing fell out of it's regularity, losing it's pattern, and she took a deep breath inwards, filling her lungs with air. Holding her breath for a long moment she cleared her mind of all thought, and enjoyed the nothingness, her brain resting after the exertion of the morning's classes.

She released the air, opened her eyes, which peered around the room as if she had just awoken from a very deep sleep, then she stood up and looked in the mirror. She saw a seventeen year old girl staring back at her, Xiang Mihkel, an A-grade student in all of her classes, and an excellent magic-user and fighter, both with weapons and hand to hand combat. She straightened her hair and tied it behind her head.

Before heading out, she perched her self on the edge of her bed and opened the weapons case next to it. She pulled out three Sai, the weapons in a three-pronged, forked shape with the centre prong being straight and much longer. The central blade was slightly longer than her forearm, so that when held with her hand angled forwards and the sai pointed backwards it extended just past her elbow. She attached the three weapons into her belt, one in the middle on her back and the other two on each side, ready.

She left her dorm, the door closing noiselessly behind her as she went.


Zell rushed into his classroom on the second floor, late, to find an irritated class awaiting him. Several of the class jerked back to consiousness at his entering, not surprising considering that it was a friday afternoon, some acknowledged him with a nod. As well as Xiang and her blonde haired friend, he caught sight of Irvine and Rinoa sitting alongside each other in the third row. Irvine grinned at Zell's enterance and Rinoa giggled. One student in the front row simply continued to stare at the front of the class with a bored expression.

"Twenty minutes, Instructor Dinct." He said in a drawling tone. "You get later every lesson, and I'm sure you wouldn't be overly-pleased if one of us turned up this late."

Zell clenched his teeth and resisted the urge to punch him. The boy's cocky attitude was so remisent of Seifer's that Zell disliked him at the best of times, and this definatly wasn't the best of times.

"Well then, Mr Undine, perhaps we can make up for those twenty lost minutes after class. You can stay behind later if you like, or alternatively you could just shut the fuck up. Your choice." Upon becoming an instructor, Zell had quickly learnt to handle the students with no mercy whatsoever. Joris Undine restrained the insult that was playing at his lips, and sat back in his chair with a smirk.

Zell glared at him for a moment before adressing the rest of the class. "Now then, as this is your last lesson before your tests on Monday, we will be going over anything that you havn't quite got yet, and then we will head to the training centre to have a final practice of your magic and fighting skills. I also think that you should be using the weekend wisely, if you fail on monday you will have another year to wait before you get another chance at it, so make sure that you're all on top form come next week."


Squall sat with Quistis, Xu, Selphie and several other high ranking SeeDs were seated in the Headmaster's office, listening to him talk about the security that would be needed for the upcoming elections in Galbadia. As a rule, Galbadian elections were held every five years, but when Deling was killed by Edea, the Vice-President, Judiah Portland, was given a very rapid promotion and served out the rest of Deling's term. He was generally thought of as a better leader than Deling ever was, although he still stuck by many of Deling's decisions, such as not giving Timber independence. As such, Rinoa thought very little of him.

Cid continued to drone on about the other three possible candidates for election and their political manifestos. Squall showed little interest until he began to actually talk about their next assignment. A candiate called Frank Brisan was having a rally in Deling City and he wanted to hire SeeD to provide him with some extra security for the event. Selphie made some comment about him not trusting his own people but Squall had sunk back into his stupor. Politics wasn't something he knew or cared about.


A Grat emerged from the dense foliage of the training centre.

"Right Undine, you first."

Joris showed some irritation at being chosen first, but he unsheathed his two katanas and stood to face the monster. He jumped forwards and spun round, the blade of one of his katanas slahed though the fleashy body of the Grat and then he quickly embedded the other into a point just above the wound, with the intent of killing it, but he missed the vital point and injured it badly, but not enough to kill it in one.

The wounded creature lashed out with its branches, aiming for Joris' head, but he was far too quick for it. Ducking under the attack, he roared "Thunder!", and thrust his other blade deep into its body. The electrical energy from the magic arced down the length of the weapon. It slumped dead, killed by these rapid attacks.

"Impressive, not even a scratch." Zell said in approval. "Irvine, next one is yours."

There was a moments silence, then a rustle heard not far off. Irvine levelled his gun and fired, and something no-one else had noticed fell dead.

"Damn I'm good." He said with a grin.

"Uhm... yeah," Zell muttered. He hadn't expected Irvine's go to be over so quickly. "Who's next?"

A girl with short blonde hair stepped forwards. She had been standing next to Xiang.

"Andrea? Okay then."

The girl, trembling slightly, strode forwards so that she was standing apart from the class, and looked around. She used no weapon - her magic was her only defence, and she had several magic powers which were all her own - even Rinoa found them impossible to imitate. A Raldo came flying out of the undergrowth at an alarming speed and hit her hard. She gasped and was knocked to the floor with the force of the blow. The Raldo appeared as much stunned by this as she was, if less hurt. She made no attempt to get back up, but she held her hand out in front of her at the creature as it began to advance. She muttered something incomprehensible under her breath.

The air seemed to distort around her as she drew in the magical energy from her surroundings. After a long moment she jerked her wrist back, and a huge blast of air blew the Raldo backwards through the air. It landed with a thud about ten feet from where it started. Enraged, it roared and charged her. She dived out of the way with surprising agility, and charged up another attack, a ball of fire forming on each of her hands. The beast charged her again, but this time she stood still and released her spell at it.

There ball of fire hit the ground in front of the Raldo with a bang, causing an explosion, the heat fried the creature and the blast knocked Andrea down into the dirt. The class was showered with a mixture of Ranaldo blood and mud. Andrea walked back to the class, a smile on her face.

"How's about some warning next time, eh?" Zell asked with a laugh. "Some impressive skills that you have there, but maybe try to keep them in check on the battlefield. We don't want any casualties on our own side."

"Gotcha, Instuctor." She said hastily, and stood back with the class.

"Right Darnell, you next." He indicated a boy who was standing on his own near the back of the class group, as though hoping his turn would never come.

The boy gulped and took a hesitant step forwards and stood on his own, about ten yards away from the group. He stood and lifted his weapon from his back - A large double-bladed sword. The edge of it seemed plated with adamantine, as the side of the blade was a metallic blue, slightly luminous in the dim light of the training centre. In actuality it was one massive blade, about five foot long, that went to a point at each end. The middle of it had a wooden handle covered with leather, for a better grip.

He fell into his fighting stance as he waited, but otherwise remained still. The waiting and tension irritated him, he wanted this over with. After thirty seconds had passed he couldn't take it any longer.

"Dammit, why won't any of you bastards come out and face me?" His shout filled the training centre, then echoed in the silence.

"Idiot." Joris said none too quietly, not caring who overheard him.

A low rumbling sound filled the training centre, and a dull thudding was heard. It seemed to be getting closer. Zell knew that it could only mean one thing.

"Shit," A T-Rexaur pounded into view, smashing aside trees in an effort to locate the source of the sound. "Rinoa, Xiang, Jowan, Joris, get out there and give him some backup, NOW! Everyone else, get back to the entrance to the training centre and wait there for us." Zell ran forwards with Xiang and the student called Jowan. Rinoa hesitated, then took a single step towards them.

The massive T-Rexaur charged forwards and then turned, swingiing its tail in a wide arc at Darnell. A yell of "Protect!" was heard and the tail hit as the blue shield took shape in front of the boy, the impact sent him flying backwards through the air. His body, contorted, hit the floor with both a thud and a very audiable cracking of bones.

Rinoa sent a blizzaga at the twenty-foot monster, visibly injuring it. Zell didn't miss a beat. Xiang drew two of her Sai out of her belt.

"Rinoa, help Darnell and get him the hell out of here, we'll deal with the damn dinosaur!"

The student called Jowan sent a blizzard spell up at it. Zell dived forwards and thrust his fist into its stomach, before being knocked out of the way by a swing of the T-Rexaur's head. He had to quickly roll sideways out of reach to escape its gaping maw.

Rinoa cast a quick curaga on the inert body of Darnell, then attempted to carry him away towards the entrance to the training centre. Realising thaat she could not move him without causing further damage, she paused and looked back to see Jowan run forwards and bury his longsword into the chest of the dinosaur. He pushed forwards with all of his power, burying the weapon in its flesh up to the hilt, and then ripped it out, tearing vital organs and flesh alike.

The wounded monster roared out in anger and pain. Such a bellow that could be heard as far away as the library shook the training center. It rose up fully onto its back legs and stood upwards, rising to its full height. It tilted its huge head backwards, streching out the front of the neck.

The neck, as soon as the thought had formed in her brain, Xiang let the Sai in her right hand fly. The force and accuracy of her throw sent the point of the weapon directly into the vunerable neck of the T-Rexaur, cutting through those vital arteries that supplied blood to the brain. Blood spurted from the wound, the sound of Irvine's Exeter was heard, and the monster roared again, its bleeding intensified. The dark red liquid gushing from its throat covered the ground as it fell. Jowan was forced to dive out of the way to avoid getting crushed. It crashed to the ground.

Zell ran to where Rinoa and Irvine were struggling with Darnell. Without saying a word to anyone he lifted the eighteen year-old in a firemans lift and left for the infirmary, leaving the two of them standing there slightly bewildered.

Joris sheathed his two katanas.

"Well that was a great call by Mr Intructor Dincht, what a prat, sending that dumbass out there on his own, it's a wonder he got this damn job, never mind how he managed to keep it for this long."

"Excuse me?" Rinoa glared at Joris, a look of thunder on her face. He turned to face her, incredulous.

Shit, this is gonna turn ugly, Irvine knew that he should do something, but his experience told him that when Rinoa got angry, it was best NOT to interfere. He subconsciously put his hand on her shoulder.

"You were saying something about Zell. You think that he isn't fit for the job. Why?" Rinoa attempted to hold her voice even and steady, but she was failing miserably.

"Gee, let's see," Joris said sacastically, "First he turns up late for his own lesson, then he talks bullshit for half an hour, leads us down here to practice fighting against creatures that we could kill with our eyes closed, sends that dumb-fuck Darnell out on his own only to have him nearly killed by a T-Rexaur." Not knowing his danger, he allowed a small smirk to creep across his face, "He just thinks he's the man because he went through that time compression bullshit with you and those other SeeDs. Well, you know what, fuck him. He's a pathetic excuse for an instructor."

"You..." Rinoa spat. "You Bastard!" She slapped him across the face, full force. Joris staggered backwards in shock, clutching the side of his face. Rinoa turned on her heel and stormed out. Irvine followed, struggling to keep up.

"Bitch!" Joris yelled after her. He turned to Jowan. "You saw that - she attacked me! I'll have that filthy bitch done for assault."

Jowan ignored him completely and walked away, sheathing his sword as he went.

"Don't you walk away... you saw her!" He reached out and grabbed Xiang as she too went to walk away. "You'd stick up for me, wouldn't you. You understand."

Xiang stopped walking, but remained facing away from him. "Get your hand off me, Undine."

"Oh what, are you looking for a fight now too, well, bring it on you whore."

Xiang gave a small smile and glanced over to where the few of the class that remained were watching them.

"Not now, Undine, but some other time." She turned and looked at him. "Some other time."

Joris paused for a moment, considering, then walked away, spitting on the ground in front of her feet before he did so.

Yeah, that's what I thought too, you Coward.

She strode over to where the T-Rexaur lay and crouched down next to it's head. She pulled her Sai out of the neck and wiped the blood off it. Before she put it back into her belt and stood up, she looked again over towards the entrance to catch a glimpse of Joris striding out of the training centre.

Remember, another time, Undine. I will not forget. Neither should you.


Well there we go for now, more soon !

Hope you liked this intro to the new characters, yeah, I know you havn't seen much of them yet, but they will be featuring as much in this fic as the main characters already from FF8, perhaps even more so.

And no, Joris is not meant to be likeable.