Disclaimer: I dont' own any of the FFVIII characters, I just own the story.

What it Takes...

Ch.3 Preparations

The waking sun orbits around the Earth, shining intense rays that begin their relentless attack on closed blinds and closed eyes.

After a futile effort, blood shot eyes burst open to a sun splashed room.

A loud yawn escapes the small blonde as he sits up and stretches floridly. "Ugh…it's way to early…" Zell murmured to no one in particular.

With eyes more than half closed Zell groggily stumbles to the bathroom. Not realizing where certain objects in his room were, he gracefully rams his shin into the coffee table.

"Ahh! Son of a….Piece of shit table! What the hell is it doing in the way of damn near EVERYTHING?" Zell roared as he collapsed backwards on the ground hard, while rubbing his shin fast enough to start a fire.

"Oh my poor shin…It's ok daddy still loves you…" Zell sat on his floor for a moment blowing on his injury, hoping the pain would soon subside. With the pain dulled to a slight throbbing, Zell removed his hand barricade to reveal a small red bump where his shin connected with the table.

Zell shook his head, and a look of anger swarmed his features. "That is the last damn time!" Zell walked over to his balcony and open the sliding glass door. He stood out on his terrace and peered down at the ground so far beneath him.

He scanned the area for any personnel. Zell strolled back inside and had a huge maniacal grin plastered on his face. He looked at the table and had a fanatical sparkle in his eyes. He pulled the table out onto his veranda and once again peered over the edge. Once he realized the coast was clear, he lifted the table over his head and with all his might hurled the wooden demon over the rail.

Quickly Zell went back inside and closed the sliding glass door. Even with the door firmly shut, Zell could still hear a loud crash.

"I feel better." Zell beamed with his trademark smile while dusting his hands off.

Not wanting to look suspicious Zell went about with his daily routine. He sauntered into his bathroom, feeling quite proud of himself, and turned on the shower faucet. A slight hiss emerged from the shower as the water flowed through the rusty copper pipes.

Zell waited for a moment and stuck his hand under the mist of rain. It was still a bit chilly to get in, so Zell waited patiently, by looking at himself in the mirror. After a few smiles and couple of flexing poses Zell hopped in. The comforting warm water cascaded down his tired body, cleansing him of fatigue and odor.

Zell lathered himself up with soap and quickly washed his hair. After about twenty minutes Zell was content and turned off the water. He jumped out of the shower and into a steam filled room. He dried off, and took his towel to wipe off the mirror.

He reached under his sink and pulled out a ridiculously large bottle of hair gel. He squirted more than enough into his hand and slicked up his fluffy blonde hair. First he put his hair into a perfect point standing straight up and then evened it out into two horns. He stated at himself and burst out laughing at the fact that it reminded him of Ifrit.

He then proceeded to cross his arms and let out a low growl. He laughed some more and then slicked his hair all the way back. He squinted his eyes slightly and then frowned.

"Hey chicken wuss what are you lookin' at." Zell's reflection questioned, in a low mocking voice as he resembled a smaller, and in Zell's opinion, better looking Seifer.

The corners of Zell's mouth began the quiver as trying to hold a serious face became difficult. Finally Zell burst out laughing, and decided it was almost time to get going. He styled his hair, the way he always does, the scattered spikes in the front and the back smoothed out.

He brushed his teeth and rinsed with mouthwash. He winked and smiled at his reflection. He returned to his living and felt like something was missing.

"Oh yeah…duh…I think it makes the room look more spacious, yup." Zell mused to himself upon realizing that not more than an hour ago he hurled his coffee table of his balcony.

A loud booming voice comes across the intercom. "Will Squall Leonhart, Zell Dincht, Irvine Kinneas, Rinoa Heartilly, Selphie Tilmitt, and Quistis Trepe please come to the conference room, I repeat will Squall Leonhart, Zell Dincht, Irvine Kinneas, Selphie Tilmitt, Rinoa Heartilly, and Quistis Trepe please come to the conference room. That will be all thank you."

"Well I guess its show time." Zell chimed to himself.

Zell hurriedly got dressed, nothing special just hte usually shorts, shirt, and of course, jean-jacket. He nonchalantly strolled down the hall to the elevator. After punching in the correct floor number he made his way to the conference room. As he opened the door, he realized that once again he was…late. Everyone else has already been seated and apparently were waiting for him.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late." Zell apologized while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head and flashing a huge grin.

"Zell please have a seat."

Zell gazed at the front of the room, to see Cid motioning him to sit down.

Zell looked for an open seat and saw Quistis waving him over towards her.

'That's my girl, always got my back!' Zell thought happily as he sat in the seat next to the slightly taller female blonde.

"Ok…So first thing first, I received a very disturbing report; it appears that someone has hurled a wooden coffee table out one of the dorms. Would any of you know anything about that?" Cid questioned those before him while cocking his eyebrow at Zell.

As soon as the word table came out of Cid's mouth Zell almost immediately choked on the glass of water that was laid out for everyone. Quistis in a panic had to use all her strength and pound on Zell's back so he would stop choking.

Everyone just watch in amazement as Zell's face was turning a lovely shade of cerulean and the small Quistis was beating on his back with all her might. Finally Zell drew in a much needed ragged breath.

"Zell are you ok?" Zell could sense the worry in Quistis' voice.

"I…I'm fine…" Zell choked out through coughs.

'Dammit, as if that wasn't obvious! Nice going Zell, way to be smooth.' Zell cursed himself for being such a dork, not to mention bad liar.

Now Zell's face was a blazing shade of red, one that closely resembled the color of a Ruby Dragon. Sweat began congregating upon his palms as he nervously fidgets in his chair. Zell's throat instantly dries up, so Zell leans forward to take another sip of water.

"Zell…" Cid called his name, and as soon as the water slipped through the threshold of Zell's lips, He involuntarily spit the water out all over the table in front of him.

"Oh I'm so sorry…" Zell stammered and tried cleaning the water up with the bottom of his shirt.

Cid and Squall simultaneously shook their heads.

"Zell you wouldn't know anything about this incident would you?" Cid questioned Zell in somewhat of a mocking tone.

Zell could swear that the temperature of the room was hotter than the Fire Cavern.

'Come on Zell, be cool, just be cool…Cool as ice, yeah that's it, be as cool as ice, you got this. They don't know you did it, and if they even think you did, how could they prove it? They couldn't, so you got nothing to worry about man, just remember be cool…' Zell thought.

"Well…?" Cid's voice interrupted Zell's thoughts.

"Cool as ice…" Zell spewed out; unaware that what he just said was supposed to stay in his head.

"What?" Everyone questioned in unison.

'Dammit Zell, way to go, that's two strikes. I mean if they don't know by now, then they are even denser than I am.' "Um..No sir, don't know anything about it." Zell quickly mumbled out and continued drinking his "troublesome" water, while keeping his gaze fixated on the ground in front of him.

"Alright then, the real reason why you are all here…" Cid started.

Zell immediately let out a rather loud sigh of relief, and clumsily drew more attention to himself.

'Damn' Zell inwardly cursed himself.

Cid continued, "As you know today is your first real mission after Ultimecia's defeat. Now I know you have all been through the training center on a daily basis, but your skills may be a little rusty considering the monsters in there are fairly weak compared to the ones you fought in the castle. That's ok, but remember, because you were the one's who defeated the sorceress, the entire world will be watching you closely, especially Galbadia." Cid rambled, pacing back and forth with his hands nervously fidgeting behind his back.

"Excuse me, but what's the deal with Galbadia?" Selphie brightly interrupted.

Cid ceased his nervous pacing and looked up at beautiful, petit brunette, then he fixed the glasses on the bridge of his nose and moved them to their proper spot. "Well as you all know they were the ones who helped the sorceress and also wanted to take over the world. So they are going to look for any excuse to start another war, and if we show that we are weak and out of shape, then that will give them the courage to start a war all their own. The only reason why they haven't sent their army over here is because right now they know we are too powerful, but should they find out anything different…lets just say it won't be good. So it's sufficed to say, you need to be at the top of your game from now on."

"What's the mission?" Squall's stern tone came across the room.

"Oh right…as of late there have been an increased number of monsters in the Tomb of the Unknown King, northeast of Deling City on the peninsula." Cid replied.

"Aren't there always monsters roaming around in that thing?" Irvine's southern drawl shot across the room.

"Yes, but not this many, and these monsters are at the level four and five class." Cid stated once again fixing his glasses.

"Whoa… that's crazy, I wonder what they are all doing there?" Zell questioned.

"At this point and time we don't know, all the information that has been given to you, is all the information we have. So remember be careful and do your best. Oh… and one more thing, this isn't a complete extermination mission, all you need to do is just do one quick sweep of the premises, destroy only the monsters in your way and leave the rest for now."

"But why?" Rinoa's sweet voice questioned.

"Because like Irvine said, monsters are in there all the time, it would take far too long, and be a complete waste of time, so just do a quick sweep. That will be all."

As soon as Cid finished everyone immediately stood up and placed their right hand in front of their face. Cid replied by copying the action and then finished the salute by throwing his arm back down at his side.

With the formalities done Cid left the room, so Squall and the others could deliberate and choose teams.

"Alright, you have all been briefed of the mission, now I figure it will be much quicker if we just split up into two teams." Squall stated and looked around the room.

"Alright Irvine, you will be leader of the second team and that will consist of you, Selphie, and Rinoa."

Irvine nodded at his SeeD commander, signaling everything was good to go.

"I will be the leader of the first team, Quistis and Zell you will be going with me." Squall glanced over at the two blondes who seemed ecstatic about being together on their first mission as a couple.

"Sounds good to us." Zell beamed for the both of them.

"Alright then, we will leave in precisely one hour, which should give you all plenty of time to get something to eat, stock up on whatever you need, and also make sure you are all properly junctioned." Squall stated and then watched the couples bound out of the room.

Quistis pushed in her chair and began for the exit, while Zell rushed after her. Upon reaching the lovely blonde to his left, Zell quickly entwined his fingers with hers.

It wasn't until now that Zell first realized how small her tiny hands were. He was always the small one, but Quistis' hand was a nice change of pace for him. Her touch was warm and soft compared to Zell's rather rough hands, but that was expected of him. Because out of everyone in the group, he was the only one who used those same hands as his only weapon, his last line of defense. They were made for fighting and that's exactly what they did. But Quistis was rather surprised at how gentle those strong hands could be, it was as if they were cradling a one of a kind rare jewel.

They happily strolled to their dorms. Quistis parted upon reaching her door.

"Bye Zell, see you in a bit." She flirtatiously blew a kiss towards Zell.

He reached up and caught the kiss and then placed it next to his heart and smiled. Quistis returned the contagious grin and closed her door.

Zell anxiously bounded to his dorm, flying past all the other students. Many of whom gave him peculiar looks, but Zell didn't mind, he got those looks all the time, and that's mostly because he does dumb and klutzy things.

Zell made it to his door in record time. He whooshed through his door's threshold and entered his room. He began stocking up on several magic spells, along with some potions.

"Well that should be more thane enough, all I need now is…hmmm…Oh yeah, duh, my Ehrgeiz." Zell stated to himself, while his hand instantaniously flew to his forehead.

He walked to his dresser that dominated the eastern half of his room and began rummaging through his rather messy drawers. Shirts, socks, boxers, pants, everything started flying out of his drawers, everything except what he was looking for.

"Where in Hyne, did I put those damn things?" Zell's voice was much more aggravated as his search became a little more frantic. "Screw this!"

Zell was finally fed up, he took out every single drawer and dumped its contents into one massive pile in the middle of his floor.

"AAAHHHH!" Zell roared and through up his hands in anger, as he couldn't find his gloves.

Then it hit him. "Oh no…" Zell's face was pure white, and his jaw dropped to the floor.

"You've got to be kidding me; I left them in the drawer of that damn DEMON coffee table!" Zell grabbed all his gear and then ran towards the door. He clumsily triped over his massive pile of clothes and fell face first on the ground.

"Oh my poor nose!" Zell cried, covering his face with his hands. He slowly removed his hands, and checked for blood, luckily there wasn't any. He wrinkled and wiggled his nose a few times and decided it was good to go.

He then commenced his fast pace and headed out where he hurled the table out his window.

Once Zell got there he didn't see the table, or anything left of it.

"Oh come on, gimme a friggin break here." Zell became more frustrated and panicked.

He rushed back inside, flying past the seemingly faceless people. "Where in Hyne could that table be?" Zell's mind raced, searching for any clue to whereabouts of the table.

In his travels he didn't even noticed he accidentally bumped into Headmaster Cid.

"Zell" Cid called after the frantic blonde.

Upon realizing the voice, Zell stopped dead in his tracks.

'Damn now he is going to lecture me for running in the halls, and I don't have time for this.' Zell turned around quickly and was about to apologize, when low and behold Cid was holding his most precious Ehrgeiz.

Zell immediately dove after Cid, enveloping him in a huge bear hug. That's when it struck him like one of Quezacotl's lighting attacks. Zell's face quickly turned a ghostly shade of white.

'Oh no, if he has my gloves than that means…'

"Zell I thought these were your's, and you'll never believe it, they were found in the drawer of the table that was mysteriously thrown at someone's window." Cid spoke in a teasing tone.

"Haha…Uh yeah, that is pretty weird…ha…ha…" Zell replied nervously and went to reach for his gloves, but suddenly Cid pulled him in closely. Zell saw a strange look in Cid's eyes.

"Ya know what I think, someone was probably trying to sabotage you, and then get rid of the evidence….yeah that's got o be it…" Cid hypnotized in a near whisper.

Zell just shook his head, not knowing what to say and took his gloves and quickly walked away.

'Wow, thank Hyne he is a strange old man, I mean come on, how could he come up with something LIKE THAT? Well whatever, it got me off the hook.' Zell thought with a big grin, while heading back to the conference room to meet everyone and head out.

A/N: Sorry this one took so long, usually I post a chapter everyday, or at least every other day, but i have been really busy, so SORRY:( But no worries, I made this one pretty long, and I decided to make this chapter a comical one, because the after this, things are going to get way too serious. Many strange and even bad things are going to start happening, so be ready. Also I just want to give props to those who deserve them, likea person who has been there from the begining azndreamer45, and of course the one and only SelphieFan! You two ROCK! BOOYAH! So yup I hope you all like this chapter, and please don't forget to REVIEW!