A/N: sorry, im really sorry, I haven't updated. I had a pretty busy week and weekend, and I had barely any time to write. I just finished writing a chapter in advanced, so please enjoy this long awaited chapter! Please review! I had 800 hits last night and i came to check today and had 816! yay! please review! please!
After riding for hours on the train, they came upon the beautiful emerald grass of Balamb. The garden was just ahead of them, which made Amaya smile. "Well, I guess the garden is safe!" Rinoa said, running up towards the golden gates and putting her hands behind her back, rocking on her heels and looking at Squall. "Yeah, yeah..." Marriku said, inching closer to Squall. "Doesnt it feel good to be home, Squall?" She said. Amaya smiled at Rinoa's face, her young features squished together in annoyance. It made her look like a dog.
"We have to report to the headmaster, come on," Squall said, motioning for them to follow him. They headed inside. and It was like total chaos. Students were running around, looking in the nicely planted bushes in the courtyard and attacking other students. The garden advisors were screaming out orders and in the mess of it all, Rajin and Fujin confronted them. "Hey, your back!" Rajin said, putting his hands on his hips.
"Whats going on here?" Squall asked, his eyes scanning the mess of it all. "I dunno. At first, they were sayin' somethin' about roundin' up the seeDs, ya know? Now, everyone's either sidin' with the Garden Master or the headmaster and fightin' everywhere, ya know?" Rajin said, his voice sounding very dramatic. His tan features were flushed pink and Fujin shook her head at him and said, "DISTURBING!" "Disapointin' for the disciplinary committee. All our work for nothin', ya know!" Rajin said, glaring at all the figthing students. "Why are the seeD's being targeted? And where's the headmaster? Is he safe?" Squall questioned, a look of seriousness flashing through his features. 'Hes setting into leader mode, as always' Amaya thought, lightly smiling.
"We got no clue" Rajin said, shrugging. "We need to find him right away. Its urgent. Galbadian Missiles may be heading this way" Squall said, his emotionless voice hiding his thoughts and making his voice sound nonchalant. "WHAT? We gotta get outta here!" Rajin said, his onyx eyes wide with anxiousness. Fujin shook her head again and violently kick Rajin in the shin. "OOOOUCH! Geez, alright! We'll warn everyone about the missiles! Man, this is no time to be fighting, ya know!" Rajin said, shaking his head and looking to his partner. "We'll go look for the headmaster," Squall said, looking at his team for nodding approvals, which he received.
"CAUTION!" Fujin said, her blue eyes slanted like she was glaring. "Yeah, the fightin' is intense everywhere! And watch out for those Garden Master goons, ya know!" Rajin said. "Hey, who do you guys support?" Rinoa said. "Is this the right time to be asking that?" Amaya said, just wanting to annoy her. 'It isnt thou, fighting is going on all around us and missles are heading for the garden and we could be killed!' she thought. "Hey, jus' like Fujin said, ya know? We're with Seifer. Always have been always will" Rajin said, nodding at them and walked away, Fujin followed. Squall cocked his head, his eyes floating with thought.
"So, what is our plan of action, Mr. Leader?" Rinoa asked, standing up straight and stroking her Pinwheel. "Thats really going to help us..." Marriku mumbling, tapping her katanas against her shoulders. "As I said, we should find the headmaster" Squall said, sounding tired. "Lets go!" Marriku said excitedly, tapping her katanas faster against her shoulders. Squall nodded and led them through the groups of students screaming and fighting with each other. A worker at the garden ran in front of them and screamed, "Whose side are you on! The garden master or the headmaster?" 'wow, that guy is scary!' Amaya thought as Squall said, "Uh-the garden master!" "GOOD! go find the headmaster! Dead or alive!" the worker said, running away and almost knocking his sunflower yellow cabby hat off.
"We need to find the headmaster...before someone gets to him first..." Squall mumbled, leading them towards the Infermary. "Why are we comming here?" Rinoa said, running to catch up. "He could be hiding out with Dr. Kadowaki, or at least she might know where he is" Squall said. Two SeeDs jumped up at them, blocking their way from getting inside of the infermary. "Whose side are you on?" The screeched. "Should we fight them?" Amaya whispered. "Long live the garden master!" One SeeD shouted, running towards them with his sword raised. In an instant, Squall and the SeeD's blades met in a clang of metal against metal. Squall pushed him back as the other SeeD ran forward and Marriku kicked the sword out of his hand and said, "I dont think you want to do that."
The Seed, glaring and nostrils flared, stepped back gingerly. Dr. Kadowaki ran out of her office and towards Squall. "Stop fighting! Too many students are getting hurt already!" She scolded, motioning inside of her office where dozens of hurt students were being bandaged up. "We dont have a choice. Galbadian Missiles are heading this way." Squall said. Dr. Kadowaki placed a hand to her heart and said, "We need to evacuate!" "We need to find headmaster Cid first. Do you have any idea where he is now?" Amaya said. "No. Find Xu, shes been running around and she, im sure of it, knows." Dr. Kadowaki then turned her attention to the SeeDs and pushed them into her office along with the other injured students.
"Should we check possibly the parking lot next?" Marriku suggested. "Are you sure he would be there?" Amaya asked. "He could be, some of the SeeDs are on his side, so maybe they're hiding him somewhere" Squall said, leading them out. A group of students ran towards them, their weapons raised. "Sleep" Amaya whispered, raising her staff. a purple haze took over the students and they slowled down, eventually falling to their knees and snoring. "Good job" Rinoa said, nodding to her. They headed towards the parking lot, and to their suprise, Headmaster Cid WAS there! "Headmaster...!" Squall said, coming towards him. In a flash, he was gone. Two SeeDs jumped out and said, "Are you with or against the Headmaster?" "With" Squall said. The SeeDs relaxed and said, "We set up this hologram so it would appear that he was here, but we really dont have a clue where he is. Xu told us to find him, but its hard to fight against the people for the garden master. Theres too many of them" One explained.
"I see. Any idea where Xu is now?" Marriku asked. "Training center, I think!" The other SeeD said. They saluted them, and headed out again, a Garden worker pointing at them. "They arent siding with the garden master! Attack them at once!" A group of maybe 4 students jumped out, all armed with swords. "Fight them, but go easy on them" Squall ordered. Rinoa, ditching her pinwheel, resorted to punches and kicks to one of them, surpised that this student was so weak. Marriku didnt unsheath her katanas, but hit them with it, afraid the blades of her katanas would cause far too much damage. Amaya hit them lightly with her staff, afraid to hurt them, but the students were not afraid to attack them. A students sprinted towards Amaya and leaped into the air, the tip of his sword making contact with her face, a thin streak crossed her cheek a a dribble of blood flowed down from the fresh wound.
When the weak students were finally taken down, the garden worker shouted and ran for his life. "We've got to hurry!" Rinoa pleaded. Squall took the lead and led them towards the training center, seeing a lone female SeeD leading two junior classmen away from the gardenmaster goons. "Leave us alone!" She cried, pushing the junior classmen behind her, covering her face as the goons tried to attack. Marrikua and Squall ran forword, slashing at the two goons and they fell, clutching their bleeding wounds. "Are you okay?" Rinoa said, squatting down and looking the SeeD in the eyes. "Yeah, thanks to you guys. I was protecting the junior classmen and all of those garden master supporters just attacked! I escaped with these two, but i dont know about any of the others," She explained. After making sure they were okay, the party of 4 headed towards the directory.
"Where is she?" Marriku said, faking a look of confusion and anger. "Wait! There she is!" Rinoa said, pointing towards the elevator. Indeed, Xu was running up the steps and headed into the glass elevator and headed up. "lets follow her!" Squall said, running towards the elevator. When it returned, they got on and headed towards the second floor. When the glass doors opened, Xu ran towards them. "Who's side are you on?" she said, glaring at them. "Neither. We have urgent news and we need to see the headmaster now. Where is he?" Squall explained. "I'm listening..." Xu said, crossing her thin arms around her chest. "Galbadian Missiles may be heading this way." He said. "Here?" she said, her blue eyes wide,"...Alright. I'll inform him right away." "Wait. Where is he?" Squall pleaded.
"In his office," Xu said, smiling at him, "we made it look like hes hiding, but he's been there all along. Follow me." Regaining her perfect solider posture, Xu lead them back towards the elevator and took them to the third floor. "Hes waiting for you," She said, motioning for them to go forward, "Ill go tell everyone to evacuate." Xu left them alone as Cid turned to them, he was looking at the window. Squall, Marriku and Amaya saluted, Rinoa just looked on. "Sir" Squall said. "Xu has told me about the missiles. But, the intercom system is down so we can't announce the order to evacuate." "Xu, Raijin and Fujin are taking care of that," Squall informed. "I want you to assist them and then evacuate." Cid said, turning back towards the window.
"But...I have alot to report" Squall said, stepping towards him. "You can tell me later," Cid said, turning to him. Squall looked away, his eyes clouded in thought, as usual. "Do you have a problem with that?" Squall looked at him again and said, "Sir, what are you going to do?" "well, im going to stay here and see this to the end. After all, this place is like my home." "No! You cant be planning to die here!" Amaya said, her eyes wide. "You cant! Just come with us, please! You can always rebuild this place!" Rinoa said, walkign towards him. "You can rest assured. I am just going to try something. There still may be a way to save garden." He said, nodding at them. He then winced and fell to his knees. "Heh, I'm too old for this."
Squall stepped forward and kneeled next to him. "Sir, i'd like to handle whatever it is that you're planning" he said. "And why is that?" Cid said, smiling at him. Squall didnt awnser. "Quistis was right. You do have a hard time expressing your feelings." Squall shook his head and said, "Sir! Please tell us your plan!" Amaya, Marriku and Rinoa nodded, leaning in towards him. "Well, this building used to be a shelter, long before it was remodeled into the garden as we know it." Cid explained, pulling a key from his pocket and handing it to Squall, "Use that key to open the lock on the elevator. Opening the lock will give you access to the ID level. Rumor has it that further below the MD level, tehre is some kind of control system. IT was used when this pace was still a shelter, so I've never seen it. And I have no idea what it does. All i know is that it was used for the shelter, so it might prove effective agaisnt the missiles. At least, thats what im betting on."
Squall stood up and said, "I understand. We'll find the control room system and check it out." Cid, too, stood up and asid, "Good luck to all of you." They saluted him and all headed towards the elevator. "Miss Khushrenada?" Cid said. Amaya turned around and nodded. "Be careful down there." "Yes sir." Amaya said, nodding to him and then heading back with the others to the elevator.
Everyone went back into the elevator, and tried to relax as the elevator doors slid closed. The ride to the first floor was quiet, everyone was probally thinking of the missiles that were probally on their way to Garden. When the elevator stopped at the first floor, They crowded around Squall as he put the tiny silver key headmaster cid had given him into the key hole placed near some of the buttons on the control panel. "I never noticed that before..." Marriku said, smirking at Amaya. 'I really dont like all of this lying...but it must be done' Amaya thought as she nodded her head. "Alright!" Rinoa said, as a ladder appeared in the corner of the elevator, which was hidden beneth a little metal panel. "Nobod's been here for a while, so be careful" Squall warned, helping the girls down the ladder before comming down himself.
They came into a large hall, but it looked more like an overly large pipe than a hallway. The smell of gasoline was strong in the air as Squall said, "Lets go this way." He lead them down the pipe and they came upon a metal catwalk which led to another ladder. Amaya began to climb down and screamed when she slipped on a bit of gasoline that was on one of the ladders rungs. "Are you okay?" Rinoa said. "Y-yeah, im fine" She said, heavily sighing to herself and shakily continued down. There was a metal door in front of them, which Squall entered first. It was like a little control room, a large circular handle in the middle of the room. Marriku checked, but none of the controls were working. "its been so long since they've been used. How about trying to turn that handle thingy?" She suggested. They all took grasp of the handle, and with a little elbow grease, they handle rustedly turned. They heard the sound of gears moving and Rinoa looked outside of the door. "Hey, another ladder" She said, pointing. They all climbed down again, Amaya made sure there were no puddles of gasoline anywhere on the ladder before she went down.
The came down upon a metal flooring, it was in a circular shape. Squall, looking up, moved towards the left and his eyes came upon a ladder leading up. "I wonder whats up there..." Rinoa said, covering her eyes from the fluerescent lights above. "I'll go take a look, you 3 wait here." Squall said, as he began to climb. He was in the middle, and they heard a large, high pitched creaking noise. The ladder was shaking and it pulled off of the wall, as Rinoa screamed, the ladder and squall crashed through the glass window of a room located high above them. Squall climbed back down and Marriku said, "Whoa, are you okay?" "Yep. Fine" He said. He pointing towards a flashing green light which was placed next to another ladder leading down. "geez, what is with these ladders!" Amaya said, laughing as she climbed down, making sure her staff was positioned carefully on her shoulder. She glanced down and noticed that there were no other ladders leading down into the dark abyss below. She shivered as she climbed down and made it onto the metal flooring.
When everyone was safely down, Marriku pointed towards a switch which was craftly placed close to the metal sidings to the left of the ladder. "Should we pull it?" Rinoa asked. "Its worth a try" Amaya suggested. Marriku pulled it and a door, which looked like a overly large garage door, opened ahead of them on a bridge before them. 'Wait, theres a boss fight comming up...' Amaya thought as they walked towards it. She was right. When they got almost in the middle of the bridge, two blobbish looking creatures jumped up from the oily water below. "What are those things?" Rinoa said, jumping back and putting her hand securely on her pinwheel. "No idea...Just attack it!" Squall said, raising his gunblade as Marriku unsheathed her katanas. Rinoa attacked with her pinwheel as Squall and Marriku both slashed at the oily blobs with their blades.
One of the blobs slithered away from them and squished it body and from its mouth came(at least, what Amaya thought was its mouth) a blast of oil. It shot at Rinoa and she screamed as the black, oily substance covered her clothes. Her whole body began to steam. Amaya raised her staff and said, "Cure." A flash of green light took over Rinoa, and she stood up, still oily, but ready to fight once more. Marriku raised her katanas and said, "Dark messenger." Diablos appeared, almost too large to fit in the area and used his demonic attack against the fat creatures, doing a fair ammount of damage to them. Rinoa attacked with her pinwheel, dodging at least two more oil attacks. Amaya used the Fira spell, which the blobs were weak to, a handful of times. With a final few slashes from Squall's gunblade and Marriku's katanas, the blobs deflated and turned a whitish color against the dark metal of the ground.
"Are the dead?" Rinoa said, stepping back with Squall and Marriku. "I think so." Amaya replied. "We have to hurry, they might be comming any minute now," Squall said, looking at them. There was a ladder in front of them and they took it all the way down, comming upon a metal platform with a large control panel on it. "Looks like we're here..." Marriku said, leaning against one of the panels. "So, what should we do?" Rinoa said, looking at Squall. "The headmaster doesnt even know...How should we?" Amaya said, studying the panel. Squall began to press the center button repeatedly, dust from the controls began to rise into the air.
"What are you doing?" Rinoa questioned, stepping forword. "I dont know! What else can I do?" He said, frustrated. Suddenly, there was a loud, staccato noise that broke the eerie silence. "what the hell...was that?" Marriku said, as she moved away from the panel. The platform began to shake wildly, Amaya grabbed onto the railings as the platform rose into the air, moving insanely fast towards the ceiling. Rinoa screamed, also grabbing onto the railing. The platform didnt hit the ceiling, as everyone was antricipating. But it went through a sort of portal that appeared in the ceiling, the platform rising into the 3rd floor office. Two large metal "hands" held the platform in place and through the large window, they could see the missiles comming at them. "NO!" Rinoa screamed. "Missiles incoming!" Squall shouted.