Squall was walking down the hallway, looking for his instructor. Lots of cadets were around, everyone fussing about the upcoming field exam that was going to be held later in the evening. Just as Squall passed the Library, his instructor waved at him, mentioning him to come near the directory.
"Squall, over here. I'll be announcing the squad assignments for the field exam now. Let's see which group are you assigned to now…"
Quistis ran through her notepad while adjusting her specs briefly, and then putting her notepad down once she found what she was looking for.
" You're in Squad B. You will team up with Zell Dincht, quite a lively fellow."
"Lively? He's
just loud, can't I switch members?" Squall said with a scowl
surfacing his face, with no intention to hide his agitation.
"No, I'm afraid it can't be done. Zell, come over here."
A spike haired blond steps into the sight, throwing punches into the air while doing some supposedly cool acrobatic moves. A very distinctive tattoo mark over his left eye stood out from his features, some sort of complex intricate marking, flowing down his sharp face with elegance. The acrobat ended with a final somersault, and he grinned ear to ear, not even breaking a sweat.
"Whoa, I'm with you?"
He rubbed his hand on his pants and reached out to shake with Squall, but Squall totally ignored him, shaking hands was just something he disliked. Zell pulled his hand back when Squall seemed oblivious to his gesture, opting only to greet his silent comrade.
"You don't get along with Seifer, do you? Heard he whopped you pretty bad this morning."
"We weren't fighting, we were sparring."
"I bet he doesn't thought like that Look, he's just being a pain in the ass. All you have to do is just ignore him"
"It's none of your…" Squall was really annoyed, and was using all his self-discipline to not beat the crap out of this busybody.
"Business." Quistis interrupted their talk, while trying to conceal the growing laughter that threatened to blow out any moment now.
"Ahem…Excuse me, but that Seifer you're talking about, he's your squad leader."
"SAY WHAT?"
Both Squall and Zell chorused, bewildered at what fate had cruelly set them upon. It's like having a gunblade stabbed through their gut, then bring turned around just to watch their face drained of all colours as the words sunk in to their mind like, the injustice of their fate truly dawned on them.
Seifer finally walked into the picture, with Fujin and Raijin tagging along, as usual. Clad in his usual trench coat, he wore a blue shirt marked with a white cross underneath it. His Hyperion was fastened on his belt, shimmering with a cold wicked gleam as the light was reflected from it. He was like always, a cocky, arrogant smile plastered all over his face.
"Seifer, you're the squad leader of Squad B. Good luck to you."
"Instructor, I hate it when people wish me luck. Save it for those bad students who need them."
"Okay then Seifer. Good luck to you."
Seifer's cocky expression was quickly replaced by a scowl, being taken aback and offended by his instructor's witty remarks.
"Well then, all of you will be assigned in Squad B. I will be the instructor of the Squad. Teamwork is the utmost important factor. Let's make this happen."
"Listen up, teamwork means stay out of my way. It's a Squad B rule. Don't forget it."
With that Seifer spun around and headed to the Car Park, with the other trailing behind.
-----------------
The silence engulfed the little space confining all four of them, except for the steady humming sound vibrating from the engine of the vehicle. He could feel his entire body screaming for something to do, each of them being restless doing nothing for about eternity. Actually it had only been fifteen minutes, but that for a hyperactive being is one of the cruelest tortures on could think of.
"Show me your gunblade will ya?"
Zell finally shattered the silence and everyone on the vehicle turn their attention to him, except for one. Squall still remained his posture, his hands covering his face, his eyes seemed distant as if his mind was wandering the green plains in Balamb. He seemed oblivious to the demand stated towards him, if he did he wasn't going to give Zell a respond, wanting to be left alone in his own little mind again.
"Can you please let me see your gunblade?" No response.
"Come on, just a little peek." Squall didn't even move a bit.
"Fine then, scrooge… What's on you mind anyway?" Zell finally gave up, seeing how his futile attempt crumbled before deaf ears.
Squall seemed to be seriously pondering for an excuse, but actually the answer already formed itself in the back of his mind, one of his universal solution to all the questions pointed towards him.
"Nothing."
The moment the words rolled out of his tongue, Quistis resonated with his with precise accuracy, well after all she did spend a bit chunk of her time to understand her favourite student. That is if understand means observing from distant when Squall was training alone in the Training Center, or stealing glances of him during class trying to figure out what was he doing at the mean time. Yes, Quistis Trepe had a crush on Squall for a few years now, but she hid it well, even the Trepies, her own personal fan club that stalked her to no ends didn't seemed to notice this dark secret she hid so deep in the recesses of her mind.
Unable to eased his mind of the boredom, Zell started shadow boxing in that crampy little space, the 'clink' sound of his foot come in contact with metallic floor heard throughout the compartment. Seifer watched this and cocked one of his eyebrows, deciding to find a little pleasure in this seemingly long, boring drive.
"Stop that, it's annoying… Chicken-wuss." He laughed out mockingly as Zell turned into shades of red in anger, while fuming and tried hard to figure out something to throw back into Seifer's face.
"What did you call me!"
"Knock it off, both of you. This is an important exam for all of you. Now behave yourself!"
Quistis was tired of their mindless arguments, which only added much worry to her whether her team was going to make it through the exam. Everyone fell silent immediately, not wanting trouble before their exam.
"Instructor, who was the girl outside of the infirmary this morning?" Squall surprisingly trying to engage in some sort of communication with other people, which is something quite rare to be found.
"Was there someone outside? I'm not aware of anyone else near the infirmary."
Hearing this, a smug grin started to form across Seifer's face, another smart-ass remark formed in his head.
"This is great, now I have a chicken-wuss and a guy who had just reached puberty in my squad…"
-----------------
Balamb was within sight after an hour drive, a small harbour town by the coast. It was a quaint little town, with most of the residents there working as traders or fishermen, leaving the elders, and kids around. They drove straight to the sock as designed, where the vessels were awaiting their final occupants.
"Hurry up, you're the last team."
The SeeDs stationed there urged them on, and Squad B immediately compiled to the orders, moving into the vessels and took off.
A female SeeD entered the vessel after them, a military strategist was to brief every squad about the mission before entering the battlefield. Quistis was the first to greet her, and they seemed to have been working together for a long time.
"Hi Quistis."
"Hi Xu, nice to see you again. These are the members of Squad B."
Quistis saluted to her higher commanding officer, followed by the rest of the squad. Xu had a disapproving look when she noticed one of the cadets didn't follow the protocol and salute her, the frown on her face deepened when she realized whom that cadet was.
"Seifer, how many times it had been now?"
"Oh, I just love these exams…"
Xu just ignored him, Seifer had quite a reputation of being a rebel, and she had no time to waste with him. She moved to the large monitor at the other end of the vessel, while ordering rest of them to be seated.
"I'll explain the situation and brief about this mission, please be seated."
"Our client for this mission is Dollet Dukedom Parliament. They made a request for SeeD 18 hours ago. Dollet was under attack by Galbadia army for the last 72 hours. 49 hours into the battle, the Dollet army abandoned their position in the city and retreated to the mountains, reorganizing their scattered army after being ambushed without any warning. That is their current status."
"Now into the mission objectives. According to Intel reports, the G-army are moping the rest of the D-army in the mountain regions, trying to break their force before they manage to regroup. We will be landing at Lapin Beach, filed exam participants are required to eliminate the G-army stationed in the city and liberate it A.S.A.P. The SeeDs will intercept the G-army in the mountains to prevent them making their way back into the city."
"So what do we have to do?" Seifer was not one into briefings, to him all this crap were useless, typical of simple-minded male who only know how to use brute force.
"You're to eliminate all the G-army in the city."
"Sounds important…" Zell was fully immersed in Xu's briefing.
"Sound's boring. So what you're really saying is that we do all the dirty, little works for Garden…"
Xu quickly changed the subject, because she too knew that Seifer was right, no matter know wrong he is as a person.
"This hardly need to be said but, withdraw orders takes priority, don't forget it. We should disembark soon, get ready." Xu left shortly after the briefing ended.
-----------------
The sun was at the brink of horizon, nightfall looming into the sky with every seconds passed. The moon was already high up in the sky, a perfect reflection forming in the turquoise waters. The image shattered to pieces as a vessel cut through it with mind-numbing speed, only to be formed back when the waters was still again.
Squall was upon the deck, trying to focus his mind while examining the maps of their battlefield. The salty sea breeze had a kind of soothing effect to him, reminded him the peace and quiet in his hometown, where he had spent a lot of time near the sea. He took out a transparent and put it upon the map on his left hand, where it stated the coordinates of their landing spot.
A huge explosion on the shore ahead caught his attention, the SeeDs had already land first to provide cover to them. He retreated back into the vessel, and soon they crashed upon the Lapin Beach. The hatch opened and Quistis gave her orders to her squad.
"You're to secure Central Square. Follow your squad leader's orders."
Seifer did final checking on his junctions and equipment, then with a serious tone that seemed so out of his character, he ordered.
"Move out, Squad B.
-----------------
There wasn't much resistance awaiting them along their way to Central Square, only a few guards stationed here and there. Those guards posed no threats with Seifer in the team, he easily knocked out the enemies one by one while Squall and Zell draw magic to better their junctions. They reached their designed area within fifteen minutes, with Seifer being all hyped up.
"Hey you Galbadian cowards, come out and show your faces, don't leave me hanging here." He swipes his gunblade around, eager to get into another battle, it had been a long time since he got so excited.
"What an idiot…" Zell mumbled as he tried to catch up with his squad leader.
"I want you both to scout the area for enemies." With that Squall and Zell start to scout for more G-armies.
They eventually found a spy hiding behind a car wreck, and disposing him quickly before information about reinforcements from Balamb Garden is released to their enemy.
"That's all for now. We're on standby till more orders come. How boring…"
-----------------
It felt like eternities had passed, but nothing had happened, not even a withdrawing order. Seifer was almost bored out of his mind, quickly losing his patients with all the adrenaline pumping inside him, screaming for him for release.
The bell on the chapel rang, some Dollet residence in hiding tried to gather the remaining townsfolk that have fled when they were ambushed, now that the SeeDs and the cadets had secured the Central Square. Seifer was leaning against the wall with Hyperion on his shoulders, while Zell was pacing around, also hoping for some action. Squall was deep in thoughts, trying to figure out why the G-army attacked the small town, when some growling voice disrupted him.
"That's it, I can't take it anymore! What is this, some kind of dog training?"
Seifer was fuming, swinging his Hyperion around like a mad man. No one dared to talk to him, afraid that they would be chopped into minced meat. Squall heard footsteps approaching, and he signaled the other two to lay low. A group of G-army seemed to be retreating back to the mountains, towards a huge building upon the cliffs.
"It's the enemy, where are they going?" Zell asked out as discreet as possible after they left.
"Our next destination." Seifer pointed Hyperion towards the facility, his face lightened up, sensing more actions to come.
"But that's against orders!" Zell said dumbfounded by Seifer's decision.
"Weren't you saying how bored you are?
"Squall!" Zell trying to get support from his silent companion to help him out.
"I'll stand by the leader's decisions." Squall said that with his eyesight locked onto the path those G-soldiers took, trying to watch out for anymore if they come.
"Leader's decisions? You want to wreck some havoc too, don't you?" Seifer punched him lightly, only to be shoved away by Squall.
"It's a good opportunity to test out my training. Thanks to you, I feel like I can take on anyone, even if they fight dirty, like you."
"You'll thank me when the time comes."
"What the hell…" Zell grumbled as things started to look bad, he really hate to go against orders, this could cost him his SeeD career.
"Look, this ain't an ordinary battle. It's an exam, an important one too. We have to sick to orders."
"Fine then, you stay. I don't need any boy scouts." Seifer said that to invoke Zell, he knew it's the only way to get him to go. He really disliked Zell a lot, but despite that, he still needed Zell at combat, as the teaching back at Garden taught him so. Three person team works the best during a battle.
"Zell, don't take him seriously." Squall doesn't want any more trouble to worry about. " Seifer, if you gonna go then we have to hurry, we have not much time left."
"The enemy was headed to the facility. We, Squad B are to secure the summit. Move out." With that order they both rushed towards the facility, along with a reluctant Zell following them from behind.
-----------------
Along the staircases, lots of injured D-army was lying down, the G-army had manage to break their final defenses along the mountain path. Seifer leading his team was running up the path, when they almost stepped over a Dollet soldier crawling out from a boulder in front of them.
The Dollet soldier were panicked when he was almost stopped over by someone, quickly raised up his hands to shield himself.
"Who… who are you?"
"Don't worry. We're SeeD candidates dispatched by Balamb Garden. Can you tell us what's going on?"
The fear in his eyes was gone, replaced by relief once Squall had explained themselves.
"The G-army had taken control of the Communication Tower. It had been a nesting ground for monsters since it had not been used years ago. If you're going up there, be care…"
The poor soldier didn't manage to finish his sentence, as he was being dragged into the grasp of a fierce looking Anacondaur. Squall jumped down and stuck it at the abdominal section, causing it to wheezed in pain and loosen its grip on the soldier, who ran for his life. The creature was tougher than the usual creeps they encountered back in Balamb, Zell and Seifer jumped into the battle to assist Squall.
Zell then threw a few punches as the Anacondaur, trying to distract it from attacking Squall. The beast was agitated, and its massive tail hit Zell, knocking him off his feet. Then Anacondaur sprayed out Dark Mist on Seifer. He managed to dodge the full blow of the attack, which saved him from being blinded by it but still his HP went down by a hundred. He make used of his low HP, concentrated on his pain and anger upon his final attack, and unleashed Fire Cross, taking care of the Anacondour for good.
"More monsters, that sucks." Zell was not very fond of the tougher creature around here, after the battle he found out that he got struck and a few bruises forming on his arms.
"That's more fun to us. Come on, let's go." Seifer's said curtly, then leaving the team, pushing on their way to the facility.
"More fun? Pu-lease…" Zell rolled his eyes, Squall and him following their leader's trail.
They continued their way to Communication Tower, but stopped when they overheard the G-soldiers guarding the tower. They lay down and observed the guards from a cliff, and realized that they were trying to repair the facility. Soon the guards all entered the building, leaving the front door unguarded.
"This must be your first battle. Are you scared?" Seifer turned to Squall asked
"I don't know. I try not to think about it." His gaze still upon the massive tower in front, while observing it for any more guards around.
"I don't fear battles. The way I look at it, as long as you make it out alive, you're one step closer to your dreams."
"Your dreams?" Squall was a bit taken aback, never thought Seifer would in a million years actually want to 'talk' to him.
"Yeah, you have one don't you?"
"I'm gonna pass on this subject." Squall turned away uninterested.
"Yo, let me in on this too." Zell interrupted.
"Mind your own business."
"Frickin' hell." Zell wanted to pummel Seifer into nothingness so much he tried to punch him in the face, but Seifer had no problem avoiding each fist, he was much to fast for Zell.
"What's the matter Zell, swatting flies?" He no longer conceal his laughter, scorning Zell in humiliation.
"Damn you." Zell punched the ground in frustration, while Seifer went ahead to the facility, his curiosity driving him to investigate what's going on.
"There you are."
Both cadets were startled by the energetic voice, thinking it was from the enemy. But they only saw a petite looking brunette in a cadet suit just like theirs, panting as if she had ran a marathon. She tried to walk down the rocky steps, but lost her balance on a loose rock and went tumbling down the whole way. She winced a bit at the bruises formed on her smooth legs, but then quickly hide it and smiled sheepishly at the other two males and wink at them.
"Are you Squad B?" Squall nodded at her, something about her reminded him of someone, but he can't place it.
"Hey, you're the guy that showed me around. Thanks, I don't get so lost anymore." She smiled gratefully towards Squall, that kind of smile that resembles a little child when she got an ice cream from her mother. It seemed so out of place in this place, in the midst of a heated battlefield.
"I'm a messenger. My name is Selphie from Squad A. Your squad leader is Seifer right? Where is he?"
Squall pointed down the cliff they were on, where Seifer was running towards the entrance, then turned back to his comrades.
"One of these days I'm gonna tall ya about my ROMANTIC dream!" With that he turned away and headed into the facility, leaving the rest of the team again.
"Oh boy, sure is tough. Wait up Seifer!" Selphie jumped from the cliff, in hope to catch up in time. Squall and Zell went to check whether she was okay, it was a very high cliff after all. She didn't look hurt, hadn't even slowed down her pace.
Both of them finally rounded the cliff and rejoined with Selphie, who junctioned herself before heading towards the facility. They were at the entrance, when the metal door slided open, showing Seifer chasing out the guards on the lower levels.
"Cowards." He turned back inside, leaving a yelling Selphie behind him.
"Quick, he's getting away."
-----------------
It was dark inside, with only some electronic devices that radiate off lights illuminating the place. In front of them an elevator just came down from the upper floor, and they immediately went up, in hope of catching Seifer in time.
They were greeted by the sight of Dollet, high above the Communication Tower. The sun was setting, the sky was burning in a red orange hue. They would've been fascinated by the sight, if they weren't on a field exam right now. Seifer was no where in sight, but a Galbadian soldier was there. This one wore a red outfit, probably of higher ranking, and was totally oblivious to the three of them, trying to fix something on that huge switchboard in front of him.
"There, it's complete!"
The soldier finally stop what he was doing, and all around them the whole facility seemed to have a life of his own, shaking violently as if someone trying to yawn the sleep away. A wrench on the floor to fall through a hole, diving far far down, till it hit the lower floors with a 'clink' sound.
The rest of the buildings came to life, sound of turbines and engines humming. A cannon shaped machinery shot out from a long barrel-like structure behind Squall, who turned around to see what was going on. It spread out like the claws of a dragon, and then plates are was formed in between, making a large disc. The long abandoned Communication Tower got its satellite disc up and running again, after all these long years.
Squall finally shook out of his trance, then proceeded to question the soldier, to much that he did not understand.
"What are you doing here?"
"Like-wise mister, what are you doing here? What happened to the guards at the lower levels? Doesn't matter now. Wedge, take care of these twerps."
The military officer seemed to be talking to no one, Squall cocking an eyebrow, he thought that soldier had gone mad or something. When the officer realized he was alone and outnumbered, he tried to make a mad dash for the elevator, but his escaped cut short by none other than, Seifer Almasy.
Seeing no choice but to fight, he took the initiative and pummeled Selphie, who seemed to be the weakest in the group. Little did he know that she was highly capable of self-defending, and got hit in the head instead by a nunchunku.
"Major Biggs, why are the enemies here?" Another soldier appeared, but this one was like the others, wearing a blue uniform.
"Where had you been Wedge? No pay for you this month!" The previous officer yelled in frustration, having been hit by a little girl, which was pretty humiliating.
"Should have stayed home…"
It wasn't soon the soldiers were injured badly, they're facing cadets from Balamb after all. Suddenly a gust of wind blew them away, a large winged monster appeared out of nowhere. It had sinister looking claws and a huge sting, the three cadets backed a bit as its horrid appearance shaken them a little. Selphie immediately put a Scan spell on the creature, while the other two trying to distract it.
"Guys, it had low HP and defense, just hit it with physical attacks. Both Squall and Zell were glad to hear that piece of news, they both taking turn to kill the monster's HP blows by blows. The creature was quick at retaliating, bringing down its claws, pushing both fighters' HP to critical level. But they had Selphie to act as a healer and magic user, and it didn't stand a chance against them. She took the chance to draw Siren, the Song of the Sea, and some hefty amount of useful magic before it fell dead, turning into pyreflies that faded away.
-----------------
As the battle ended, the elevator they were in came up again, this time with Seifer along.
"You are Squad B leader, Seifer right?" After receiving a nod, she continued, "I have new orders."
"SeeD members and candidates are to withdraw at 1900 hours. Assemble at shore."
A confused look passed over her fellow comrades, Seifer not containing his doubts inside. "A withdrawal order? But there are still enemies here."
Selphie just shrugged, not knowing the true intentions of their higher commanding officers too. "I know, but I'm just a messenger."
"An order of withdrawal takes priority. I don't want to miss the vessel." Squall piped, bringing his rebellious squad leader to realization.
"1900 hours, that's only 30 minutes to get to the shore. Better run!" Seifer took the elevator alone, leaving the other three fuming behind.
"Who the hell does he think he is?" Zell gritted his teeth, his shoes tapping irritability.
Upon hearing that, Squall glanced over his shoulder, his gaze pointed toward him. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"
-----------------
The trio finally made out of the building, and they were running the way they came in, hoping they were not too late. A loud thud caught them all dead in their tracks, as a great shadow was cast over them, a huge mechanical robot hurling down from the top of the tower.
The ground beneath cracks as the heavy robot landed on it, almost squashing Squall and his teammates. The robot seemed to be totally undamaged from its high altitude fall, and despite its big bulk, attacked ferociously.
Taking the spare moment to cast Scan, Selphie noted its battle statistics.
"X-ATM08… Weak against Thunder, WHAT? 5000 HP?"
Selphie's face was drained of colours. At their level, it was almost impossible to deal such high damage within the limited time they had. Zell had to summon Quezacotl, the Thunder Bird while Selphie cure his wounds to keep him conscious. After a few blasts from the GF, the robot finally gave in, as it started to repair itself, giving them the time they needed to run from it.
Time was ticking fast, they were running as fast as their sore-laden leg would bring them. Far behind them they can hear the thunderous sounds as the huge spider-like robot continue to hunt them down. Finally after what seemed like an aeon had passed, they reached the Town Central and headed down towards their salvation.
As they rounded a corner, out of nowhere X-ATM08 crushed through a block of stores, appearing just a few feets behind them. Zell and Selphie who were up ahead almost reached the vessel, but Squall lost his footings as he reached shore, and fell flat on his face into the sand.
'Spidy' gained on him soon, as he ran the final hundred yards. When 'Spidy' raised up its claws and ready to gave their vessel the final strike, Squall leaped and hurled himself towards it, a string of gunshots was heard echoing loudly.
Quistis was on the deck, embedding rounds after rounds of bullets into the machine with the machine gun on deck, until in exploded into pieces of junks. Squall was safely on board, and they now headed back to the town…