Alright, response time.
Laurendil: Along with Quezacotl, you get Shiva right at the beginning of the game. Anyhoo, glad you like.
ranchgirlmalon: I wasn't planning on putting any side-quests in here, though I did Guarentee all the GFs, and later ones require side-quests. I figured I'll just write them in where it seems appropriate.
lady-rinoa: Wasn't planning on taking out any scene's, but we'll see what happens. Extra scene's do require a bit of brain power (for me anyway), but some extra lines will definitely be included.
Doodlebug: A lot of it will be exact dialogue, though when we really get into it, some scene's will be changed around a bit.
QueenAdreena: I know it's a little fast paced, but I'm unemployed, and was caught in the middle of a snowstorm recently, so I found myself with a lot of free time.
OK then. I originally had this planned as 2 chapters, but found myself unable to pry myself away from the computer to stop typing. This chapter contains plenty of violence, the introduction of Limit Breaks, and a certain Messenger Girl.
CHAPTER 4: THE HEAT OF BATTLE
Doing as Seifer commanded, Squall headed up to the gunners nest of the ship. It was called that simply because of the machine gun mounted in front of him. He stood a little higher in order to see past it. He looked down in his hands, one of which had a snapshot of Dollet, the other of a clear laminate that when placed on the stapshot, gave him his orders. Squall then removed the snapshot from his view to see the city of Dollet, with numerous explosions here and there. Squall knew that with every explosion, there was a casualty. He was determined not to let that happen to him as he gave an icy stare. The ship was going full speed now, as it crashed over a security wall. Other ships exactly like it began landing at the beach, SeeD candidates running full speed into the heat of the battle. Once their own ship landed, the outer doors swung open. Seifer and Squall clenched their gunblades as Zell cracked his knuckles. They ran to the outside where Xu shouted something to Quistis. Shortly after, Quistis gave the three young warriors their orders.
"Okay, you are to secure the Central Square," She yelled in the midst of explosions and gunfire, "Make sure your GF is equipped before heading into battle!" The three quickly double-checked and were good to go.
"Move out!" Seifer commanded as he headed to the staircase leading off the beach and onto the streets, with Squall and Zell closely behind. As they set foot on the asphalt, they were attacked by two Galbadian Troops. Seifer took one while Squall and Zell battled the other. Zell punched the troop in the face, then swept his legs out from under him. Squall caught him while the was getting back up and cut his throat with his Gunblade, cutting off his air supply, thus killing him. Squall and Zell turned and saw Seifer eliminate his own opponent, decapitating him. As they approached the Pub, two more appeared overhead. Zell quickly shot his foot up, catching one of them in the jaw on his way down, breaking his neck and subsequently parilyzing him. Seifer delivered the finishing blow to him, sticking the tip of his gunblade into his already broken neck. Squall used his own weapon to slice off the other mans feet before he hit the ground, then slashed him across the chest. Pushing on, it wasn't as crowded as the three expected it to be as the Central Square came into view.
"The Central Square is up ahead," Seifer said, reminding Squall and Zell. "Hey! All you Galbadian cowards out there! Come out and show your faces! Don't leave me hangin' now!" With that, Seifer ran ahead.
"What and idiot." Zell scoffed at Seifer's attempt to taunt the Galbadians. Quickly, Squll and Zell caught up to Seifer, only to see his gunblade sticking out of a Galbadian sodiers back, covering it in blood.
"There may be more." Squall commented.
"Alright, I want you guys to scout the area for enemies." Seifer said. Squall and Zell rounded the fountain, only to be met with a saber being held by a Galbadian soldier. Thinking quickly, Zell kicked it out of the mans hand before Squall sliced the man clean in half.
"I think thats all of them." Squall said.
"Well then, we're on standby until the enemy comes." Seifer said, "Standby, how boring." Seifer had a point, all it was at this point was waiting, either for more bad guys, or the withdraw order. Five minutes passed before the three of them heard a faint rumbling.
"Sounds like it's starting," commented Squall.
"Bring it on," Seifer said with a hint of confidence in his voice. He then noticed a dog sniffing his leg.
"Get outta here!" Seifer yelled at the dog, who backed away with its tail between its legs. "Hey, Galbadian soldiers! What are you waiting for!? Come and show me what you got!" Obviously, the Galbadians didn't hear Seifer, as not one showed up.
Nearly 40 minutes passed without any activity. No Galbadian soldiers, No withdraw order, nothing.
"Still keep us waiting," Seifer mumbled. He looked to his right, Squall was sitting at the fountain, looking like he was about to die of boredom, while Zell paced back and forth.
"Man! Now THIS is boring." Zell said.
"Thats it!" Seifer yelled while swinging his gunblade in the air. "I can't take it anymore, what is this? Some kind of dog training?" Seifer was referring to the dog that was sniffing him earlier, who hadn't gone far. Seifer watched the dog run about 10 feet away and let out a howl. Zell looked over and saw Galbadians approaching, signaling with his hand for Squall and Seifer to get down. As they crouched, they saw the Galbadians completely ignore the central square and turn onto another road. Once they were all gone, Zell decided to speak up.
"Where the hell they going?" He asked. Their eyes followed up the road and spotted and old abandoned tower at the end of it, sitting on top of a tall hill.
"Hey. What is that up there?" Zell asked. Squall simply shrugged as he looked over at Seifer, who was getting a grin on his face.
"Our next destination." He said, triumphantly.
"But thats against orders!" Zell told him.
"Weren't you just saying how bored you were?" Seifer asked.
"Squall!" said Zell, turning to the one in question looking for support. Squall didn't know what to do. Going with Seifer would be against orders, staying still would be disobeying the Squad Leader, since it was obvious Seifer was going anyway. What was the difference, he was going to fail now anyway, no matter what happened.
"I stand by the captains descision." Squall said bluntly.
"Captains descision?" Seifer said. He walked over and put his left hand on Squalls right shoulder. "You want to wreak some havok too, don't you?"
"It would be a good opportunity to test out my training," Squall said, throwing Seifer's hand away. "Thanks to you, I feel like I can take on anyone, even if they do fight dirty, like you."
"You'll thank me when the time comes." Seifer said.
"What the hell?" asked Zell. "I thought you two didn't get along. You're, like, all buddy-buddy now." Realizing that neither Squall or Seifer were paying attention to him, he decided to change the subject. "Listen, this aint no ordinary battle, its an exam, an important one. I'm tellin' ya, we have to stick to orders."
"Then you stay here, I don't need any boy scouts." Said Seifer.
"What was THAT!?" Zell said, cracking his knuckles.
"Don't take him personally Zell." Squall told him. "Seifer, if we're gonna go, let's hurry."
"The enemy is headed for the facility at the top of the hill." Seifer said. "We, Squad B, are to secure the summit. Move out!"
"Alright," Said Squall, reluctantly.
"Tch...fine." Zell said, giving up. And with that, they were on their way to the tower.
Seifer, Squall, and Zell continued down the road leading up the the abandoned tower, now leaving Dollet city limits, knowing that they were going to run into some hostility. They were right as they reached the base of the hill where 3 Galbadian soldiers appeared. Zell ran forward and pinned one to a wall while Squall and Seifer were in heated battle with the other two. Once Zell saw an opportunity, he threw the soldier he was fighting towards the one Squall was fighting, sending Squalls gunblade through each of their stomachs. Seifer was able to finish off his own opponent by himself. As they continued up the hill, they ran into some people lying on the ground, alive, and nursing their injuries. Zell was able to identify them as Dollet Soldiers.
"W-W-Who are you?" One of them asked.
"Don't worry. We're SeeD candidates." Squall told him. "We've been dispatched by Balamb Garden."
"So, whats going on up there?" Seifer asked.
"The Galbadian soldiers have entered the Communications Tower." He said, "On top of that, the place has always been a nesting ground for monsters. If you guys are goin' up there, be carf-AHHH" The poor soldier couldn't finish his sentence before he felt an intense pain in his leg, then his eyes rolled back into his head, signifying his death. Squall looked behind the now deceased soldier and saw the problem. A giant snake type creature called an Anaconduar.
"Blizzard!" Zell yelled, casting a blizzard spell on the snake. "These things are weak against Ice!"
Getting the message, Squall casted his own blizzard spell on the beast. Before it let a third hit it, the Anaconduar rushed forward, trying to squeeze the life out of Seifer. Squall and Zell rushed towards their Squad Leader, trying to free him from the Anaconduars death grip. After a few minutes of struggling, Squall and Zell had diverted the Snake-beasts attention, and Seifer was able to get free.
"That does it," Seifer mumbled, "No Mercy!" A bright light surrounded Seifer. Squall noticed what Seifer was doing, he was going into his Limit Break, or finishing move. As the Anaconduar went to attack Zell, it was struck with powerful Fire Magic, forcing it to turn its attention back to Seifer, who was twirling his Gunblade in his right hand, building up Energy. This was a mistake on the snakes part, as Seifer released the energy in his weapon, sending it to the monster, ending up with the severing of the snakes head, thus, killing it.
"Monsters, huh?" said Squall, sheathing his gunblade.
"That sucks." commented Zell.
"More fun for us," Seifer said while running ahead, "Come on."
"Fun? Pu-lease!" Zell said, following Squall and Seifer. The trio continued up the hill, and in about 15 minutes, had finally reached their destination, an edge sitting about 20 feet up from the entrance to the Comms tower. Seifer spotted two Galbadian troops at the entrance, and ordered his team to get down as the three of them listened in on the conversation.
"The generator is up and running." Said one of the soldiers.
"No problem with the boosters." Said the other.
"The hell they doing?" Seifer whispered. The door to the tower opened as a third soldier stepped out.
"Cable disconnetion confirmed. Begin exchange process." he said.
"Roger," Replied the first as the three of them stepped inside the tower.
"Repairs?" Squall asked once the coast was clear.
"Who cares?" Seifer asked as the both stood up. "This must be your first real battle. You scared?"
"I don't know." Squall said, "I try not to think about it."
"I love battles, I fear nothing." Seifer said. "The way I look at it, as long as you make it out of a battle alive, you're one step closer to fulfilling your dream."
"What? Your dream?"
"You have one too, dont you?" Seifer asked. Squall wasn't one to open up, and even if he was, it wasn't going to be to his rival.
"Sorry, but I'm going to pass on that subject." Squall said.
"Yo, let me in on it too." Zell said.
"Mind your own business." Seifer told him.
"Frickin hell!" Zell nearly shouted as he began shadow boxing, in Seifers direction.
"Whats the matter Zell, swatting flies?" Seifer asked him. with that, Seifer ran on ahead.
"Damn him!" Zell muttered.
"Let it go," Squall told him.
"There you are!" said another voice, easily identified as feminine. Squall and Sell looked up above them to see another SeeD candidate standing on a rock higher up the hill. Carefully, she stepped forward, but lost her balance as she tumbled about 8 feet to Squall and Zell. She was fine as she shook her head and stood up. "Are you Squad B?" Squall nodded to her.
"Hey, I know you," She said pointing at Squall. "You're the one that showed me the directory this morning." She was right, Squall remembered bumping into her on his way to the fire cavern.
"Thanks to you, I didn't get so lost today." She said. "Oh I almost forgot! I'm a messenger, names Selphie Tilmitt from Squad A." she said, introducing herself. "Your Squad Leader is Seifer Almasy, right? Where is he?" Squall looked down towards the tower, and saw Seifer running up to it.
"One of these days, I'm gonna tell you about my ROMANTIC dream!" Seifer yelled to his Squad.
"This sure is tough," Selphie said, letting out a sigh. "Hey captain, wait up!" Selphie then Jumped off the edge, taking another spill, but still, she was fine.
"What are you waiting for?" she shouted to Squall and Zell, "Come on!" Squall took a look down the edge, before turning to Zell, both shaking their heads. With that, they decided to take the path Seifer had taken. It took a little longer, but they were able to keep their wits in case of a big battle.
"What took you so long?" Selphie asked. "It would have been much quicker if you had just jumped."
"Much quicker? pu-lease" Zell said. "You wouldn't normally jump off a cliff, right Squall?"
"Yeah, you wouldn't normally jump that." Squall said, mainly just to make Zell be quiet.
"Hmm, I don't know about that." Selphie said. "Well, let's get goin'. You guys have your GF's, right?" Squall nodded as they approached the tower, Selphie learning their Squall and Zell's names. Before they could react, the doors flew open as two soldiers ran past them, Seifer hot on their heels.
"Cowards." Seifer yelled at them before running back inside.
"HEEEY, the captains getting away." Selphie said before the three of them stepped inside. Seifer was nowhere to be found, though there was a lift comming back down to the floor.
"Did he go up?" Squall asked.
"Hey, Squad B captain!" Selphie yelled.
"I think we can take this lift up." Squall said as the three of them stepped on it. Without warning, the lift began to rise.
"Wow, this lift is pretty cool." Selphie said.
"Don't get too exited, or you'll fall." Zell told her
"Like I'm really going to." Selphie said.
