Timber Shopping District - 3.41 p.m. (Timber Time)
Quistis and Xu arrived at the bustling streets of Timber's shopping district. Quistis spotted the arch draped in a blue and yellow banner after she got off at a chinaware shop.
"Xu, let's go!" she told Xu who remained in the cab, now arguing with the driver.
"The last time I came here, a ten minute trip only cost 10 gil and now you're charging 20 times the amount of money?" Xu rebuked.
"Drop the money or I'll call the cops," the driver said casually. he then pulled out a gun from the glove compartment and pointed it at Xu.
"You asked for it honey." Xu then kicked the driver's hand and the fake gun dropped uselessly onto the floor. The driver staggered, stroking his hurt right hand and took the 10-gil bill from Xu.
Daniel and Rachel and Squall and Rinoa arrived at the street behind Quistis and Xu's cab.
"Oh my god, the others are here!" Quistis exclaimed as she spotted the two cabs. "We've just wasted a good deal of time Xu."
"Yeah, coming out," Xu said as she got out the car. The three teams blasted through the sidewalks teeming with shoppers and fans heading to Timber Stadium for a concert. The teams then scattered to look for the next clue. Rinoa found the teenager, sitting on a bench. She asked for the clue and the teenager coldly pulled out a red envelope from the pocket of his jeans.
"Squally honey, I've got the clue!" Rinoa shouted at Squall, somewhere stuck in the crowd.
Rinoa ripped the envelope and read, "Book a mystery charter bus ride at Timber Hotel." Rinoa spun around to look for Squall, but she only saw Daniel and Rachel asking the man for the envelope. Rinoa dodged traffic to get to the other side of the street, and all she found was a Xu in confusion.
"Xu, have you seen Squall around?" Rinoa asked frantically.
"Nope. Quistis' gone too," Xu replied. Xu then jaywalked to the other side of the street.
"Where can Squall possibly be?" Rinoa thought anxiously. "Squall! Where are you!" She shouted.
"I think we have a good chance to claim the fast forward pass," Shelley told Nida, looking up at the Timber cityscape from the window. "I don't think the teams that are leading would take it anyway. What do you think?"
"Hmm..." Nida arched forward to see Jack and King's cab stopping before the traffic lights in front of them, "How do you get the pass?"
"It says here we should go to Timber Maniacs and look for it in a pile of magazines," Shelley said, reading the instructions on a green piece of paper that came with their second envelope.
"Then let's go for it." Nida agreed. "Driver, take us to Timber Maniacs please," Nida asked. The driver nodded and turned to the right after passing the traffic lights.
Jack looked from behind the seat to see Nida and Shelley turning the other way.
"Shit, did they spot a shortcut or were they just plain crazy?" Jack exclaimed. "Hey buddy, what do you think?"
"We'll follow them cuz they're smart," King said, arching his body forward and tapped on the driver's shoulder. "Hey cabbie, can you follow that taxi behind us?"
The taxi U-turned and pulled into the road where it caught up with Nida and Shelley.
"Shoot, Jack and King have changed their minds to get the fast forward pass I guess," Nida said as he looked at the front view mirror. "Drive faster! I'll pay extra 15 gil if you could do that," he ordered, waving a 15-gil bill back and forth. The driver pressed the accelerator harder.
"Dammit, they're trying to lose us," King waved a twenty in front of the backview mirror bribing the driver. "Don't lose that cab!"
Squall's black T-shirt and jeans were tugged by the pedestrians as he budged towards the arch. He jerked backwards and bumped onto someone's chest. He turned around to apologize; it was Quistis.
"Are you alright, Squall?" Quistis said, hugging him around his torso.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Squall said, "This street sucks."
"Let's get through this together okay?" Quistis said. The both of them cooperated to break away from the crowd. They found Rinoa and Xu who were looking at the crowd for their presence.
"Squall, I was so worried!" Rinoa said and embraced Squall, kissing him on the cheek. Xu was also relieved to see Quistis again.
Edea and Kadowaki arrived at the shopping district. They were shellshocked when they found the sidewalks to be overcrowded.
"Oh my goodness, what's going on?" Edea asked. "Can you take us directly to that arch?" The car continued towards the mosaic arch. Edea stepped out, leaving Kadowaki in the taxi, and then returned with the clue in hand.
Zell and Irvine, Seifer and Selphie and Fujin and Raijin were reaching the vicinity.
"What the heck! Metalhead is in Timber?" Zell exclaimed as he noticed people with mohawk hairstyles and piercings, wearing Metalhead T-shirts, marching towards the stadium.
A large television screen at the top of Coco Plaza and several billboards around the Shopping District advertized the concert.
It made Zell enthusiastic about the concert.
"Oh so that's why it's so crowded," Irvine said with his face behind his cowboy hat.
"You don't understand, I crave for Metalhead, and their hit 'Freeway Ultrastar' is outta this world!" Zell began to jump up and down on the car seat. "It makes me wanna join the crowd dude."
Irvine revealed his grinning face, then slapped on his forehead.
"Driver, get us to that flag immediately before this dude rock your car to smithereens," he urged.
Zell flung himself to a resting position, grumbling to himself, "I rather lose a million gil than not able to watch Metalhead, live."
"Ooh, Metalhead, that band are made of psychopaths," Selphie squealed. "I hate 'Freeway Ultrastar', it is 'super-duper-mega-suckingly-bad'! Don't you think so?"
Seifer pressed his nose against the window ignoring Selphie's banter. He was so pissed at her when she insulted on his all time favorite song. It seemed unbelievable that Seifer had the same interests as Zell while the both of them despised each other.
"You know there weren't many people like what you see now during the Galbadian occupation. In fact it was totally overrun by soldiers so we had to encounter a lot of them during our first SeeD mission!" Selphie said proudly. "And we surely whipped up a hell lot of them!"
"Just shut up you bitch," Seifer groaned.
"Ugh, Metalhead. They suck ya know," Raijin commented. Fujin kicked him on the ankle.
"THEY DON'T SUCK!" Fujin insisted. "Metalhead is all about self-liberation and the freedom of speaking up your rage and anger! I once wished that I could just drive a monster truck and crush twenty cars in a row on a freeway just like 'Freeway Ultrastar'!"
"Ya don't have to sound that harsh Fujin, honey," Raijin said, rubbing his ankle. "That's not ladylike."
"IMBECILE!" Fujin stepped on Raijin's big toe.