A/N - Okey dokey, used the ol' RNG and it selected this fic. Sooooo I decided to work on a new chapter for this story! It's been a little while, huh? lol

Anyways, this chapter tackles a few different things, starting with the Galbadia Missile Base and ending with the events at Balamb Garden. Heads up for those of you reading this: I didn't finish the whole scene at Balamb Garden. I'll finish it off in the next chapter probably.

Alrighty, not much else to say, soooo...enjoy!

Chapter 12 – Betrayers

As soon as Naruto's party arrived at the Galbadia Missile Base, a guard stepped out of the guard station nearby and motioned them through. When he returned to the guard station, Selphie breathed a sigh of relief. "That was easy enough."

After being let through, Naruto steered the vehicle they were in into one of the parking spots and looked back at everyone to ensure they were all garbed in the Galbadian soldier uniforms. Seeing that they were, he led them outside of the car and stretched for a moment.

Over a speaker, they heard somebody saying, "Following the launch on Trabia Garden, prepare for the launch on Balamb Garden. All personnel, take your positions."

Frowning at that, Naruto was about to say something before Selphie said, "Ewww. This uniform's all itchy and smelly. It's disgusting."

Naruto sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I hear ya. Still, just bear with it for a while, okay? If we want to get through here and save Balamb Garden, we need to stay incognito."

Zell decided to interrupt at this point. "So when the hell is launch time? I doubt we have the kind of time needed to stand around and chitchat. We gotta move!"

Selphie clenched her fist tight and said, "It doesn't matter. We need to stop the missiles and that's all there is to it, right?! If there's a door, we go in! If there's anything we can break, then we break it! And then, in the end, we blow this place to smithereens!"

Ino smirked and said, "I like your attitude Selphie. Let's do this!"

Naruto nodded and said, "All right people, let's get a move on. We really don't have the time to stand around chatting for hours on end." And with that, they entered the missile base proper to hopefully save Balamb Garden from its inevitable destruction at the hands of Galbadia.

Upon entering the building, they approached one of the nearby doors, only to find them both locked. Frowning slightly, Naruto rifled through his uniform's pockets until he found what he was looking for: a key card. Swiping it through the locking mechanism, he listened as it went beep before a voice announced, "Verifying… Access granted…"

Selphie grinned and exclaimed, "Whoo-hoo! Let's get in there already!"

Ino bopped Selphie on the head lightly. "Quiet down. You don't want to give us away, do you?"

"Sorry Ino. I'll be more careful." Selphie replied before she and the others followed Naruto through the door.

Entering the next room, they spotted somebody guarding a door just up ahead. Whispering to Naruto, Irvine asked, "So what do we do? I assume you've got some kind of plan?"

Naruto whispered back, "Just be quiet and act casually. Let me do the talking. I'll get us through here, no problem." Seeing everyone nod in understanding, Naruto led the group to the guard, only for the man to shout, "Hey! You! Stop right there!"

Yikes! Do we really look that suspicious? Zell wondered quietly to himself.

The guard said, "No running inside the base! The catwalks are very narrow here! You should really be more careful."

Naruto smirked at the man and said, "Don't need to tell us twice. We were walking anyways, but thanks for the warning. At ease soldier." When the man saluted him, Naruto saluted him back before he turned and began to lead his team along the pathway.

As they proceeded along the catwalks, they peered over the edge and saw missiles being carried along on moving platforms below. It was obvious that they were already loading the missile launchers with new missiles that would be fired upon Balamb as soon as they were ready. Damn. This is gonna get ugly if we don't hurry it up. Naruto thought to himself.

Seeing the missiles, Selphie scowled and said, "We can't let them fire on Balamb Garden. I refuse to lose my new home."

Naruto nodded and said, "I'm with you there. Let's get going."

As they descended the stairs, they saw a couple of guards standing guard outside of two rooms. Deciding to ignore them for now, they went under the stairs into what appeared to be a hangar of sorts. They saw two more guards standing near the railing and wondered if they were simply slacking off. So, approaching them, Naruto asked, "What are you two up to?"

The Maintenance Soldier asked, "Huh? I'm busy right now. What the hell do you want?"

The other Maintenance Soldier turned and asked his buddy, "Oh yeah… Aren't we suppos'ta inspect the circuit room soon?"

"Wait, it's that time already? Well, we're doing the real thing today, so there's no way we have any time for it." The first one said.

The second soldier turned to Naruto and asked, "Sorry to trouble you, but could you deliver a message for us? Tell the guys by the missile launcher to go on ahead, and that we'll catch up with 'em later."

Naruto nodded and offered the soldier a smile. "Of course. Is that all?"

"Yes. Thank you. We really appreciate it." The second soldier said.

"No problem. We'll be on our way then." Naruto said before he turned and motioned for his companions to follow him. Stopping by the nearby Draw Point, Naruto instructed Irvine to draw from it. Receiving 10 casts of the Blind spell, Naruto nodded in satisfaction before leading the team back into the room with the stairs.

Approaching the first guard, Naruto listened as the man said, "I assume you're here to examine the missile launchers? They're right through this door."

"Thank you. We'll make this quick, I promise. The maintenance guys wanted us to deliver a message to a buddy inside. Always fun being the messenger, huh?" Naruto said, chuckling afterwards.

"Indeed. New recruits oftentimes receive orders to do a lot of menial chores. Take care of yourselves." The guard said.

Nodding in thanks, Naruto led his team into the next room. The first thing they did was go to the nearby Draw Point and allowed Naruto to draw from it, earning 6 casts of Full-Life. Afterwards, they approached one of the nearby Maintenance Soldiers.

Turning to face them, the man said, "The last launcher should be arriving here soon…"

Naruto nodded in understanding before he walked over to the other soldier. "Sir, I've got a message for you from the maintenance guys in the hangar."

The soldier turned to Naruto and asked, "Well, what is it?"

The blonde SeeD said, "It's about inspecting the circuit room. They said that they're too busy at the moment and wanted you to go on ahead."

The maintenance soldier nodded in understanding, a frown appearing on his face. "That's all well and good, but I'm still not done here, you know… Hmmm… Could you tell them that I can't go just yet? Thanks in advance, I appreciate it."

Oh goodie. Gotta love playing messenger boy for people you wanna kill. Oh well, let's go deliver the message. Naruto thought, letting out an inaudible sigh. Leading the way back to the other maintenance soldiers, he walked up to them and said, "Sorry to disturb you again, but your friend said that he's too busy to go, too."

The first soldier frowned and asked, "Damn. What do we do now?"

The second soldier said, "Guess we have no choice but to go…"

For a while, all was silent as the two soldiers contemplated what they should do. After a few moments, they turned to Naruto and the team and asked, "All right, can we ask you to go?"

"What?! Hey, that's not cool man!" the second soldier exclaimed. "What if the base commander finds out?!"

"Eh, it'll be fine. All we ever do is go and make sure everything's up and running, anyway."

For a while, all was silent again before the second soldier said, "Well, I hope you're right…"

The first soldier turned to Naruto again and said, "So, that's that. We're counting on you."

If it wouldn't give them away, Naruto would have smirked. Instead, he saluted the man and exclaimed, "Yes, sir! We'll get that taken care of right away." Heh, you idiots made this way too easy for us.

Venturing back upstairs, they approached the guard from before that had warned them to be careful on the catwalks. Upon reaching him, Naruto said, "Sorry to disturb you again, but the maintenance team asked us to take their place with the inspection."

"Huh, really? Then I guess my shift is over… I'm gonna call in my relief. Go ahead with the inspection." And with that, the guard ran off, allowing Naruto's team full access to the circuit room.

Entering, they approached another Draw Point and allowed Selphie to stock up on some Blizzara spells. Afterwards, Naruto approached the control panel and looked it over carefully for a moment. Let's see here… Ah, this should do it. He thought to himself as he pressed a few buttons. After he was finished, the lights within the base went out. "Bingo. That should help slow things down a bit."

"Electrical System Malfunction. Maintenance Team: Investigate immediately." A robotic voice said over the intercom.

Smirking to himself, Naruto turned to his friends and motioned for them to follow him. "Time for us to get out of here and get back to work."

Upon stepping outside of the room, two maintenance soldiers ran up to them and demanded, "Hey, you! What the hell's going on here?!"

Naruto frowned slightly and said, "Actually, something strange happened. We were just about to go call on you. We don't have any idea what happened."

The maintenance soldiers nodded and said, "Roger that. We'll take care of it."

When the soldiers hurried into the room, Naruto smirked wickedly before motioning for Ino to follow him into the room. Once they had, the two of them proceeded to quickly eliminate the two of them before dragging them into the corner, leaving their dead bodies to rot.

Upon leaving the room, Selphie looked at them expectantly for a moment. When they nodded at her, she said, "All right. Let's keep moving!"

Irvine looked at the shinobi and shook his head in disbelief. I swear, these shinobi are dangerous. I definitely don't want to cross them.

Returning downstairs, they watched as one of the maintenance soldiers stepped outside and asked his buddies for help. When they reentered the missile loading dock, Naruto led the party back down the stairs and attempted to enter the room the three had just entered. As soon as he went to open the door, a guard stepped out into the hallway and immediately narrowed his eyes. "You. I haven't seen you around before…"

Naruto said, "Yeah, sorry about that. We were just assigned to this base. We're still new here and it's awfully easy to get lost in here."

The guard nodded in understanding. "I hear ya. Anyways, we need some help in here. Mind giving us a hand?" When Naruto nodded affirmatively, the guard smiled and led them inside. As they followed after him, the guard grumbled irritably to himself. "Unbelievable… Power failure at a crucial time like this? What the heck are the maintenance guys doing…?"

Once inside, they saw the problem immediately. Soldiers were attempting to push a missile launcher into place, but they weren't having much luck. It was gigantic and Naruto and his team honestly weren't sure if they'd be able to help push something like that into place. Still… "How can we help?" Naruto asked.

The guard nodded towards the soldiers that were attempting to push the missile launcher. "Two of you go on either side, and you go in the middle. Push the damn thing with all your might. I'll let you know when to stop."

Naruto nodded and motioned for Zell and Irvine to help him out. Stepping in between the two soldiers, Naruto waited for his friends to get into position before they started pushing with everything they had. It was a slow process, but they eventually managed to get the missile launcher into place. As it sunk into the floor and locked into place, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief before smiling at the soldiers on either side of him. "That thing was heavier than it looked, huh guys?"

The soldiers chuckled a bit before collapsing on their butts. "No kidding. Thanks for the help."

"Anytime." Naruto said before approaching the guard that had directed them.

"Good work." The guard said with a smile. "All we need to do now is confirm the coordinates on the control panel. The program should be ready to go. You gets get on it."

Again, if Naruto could have smirked without raising suspicion, he would have. Instead, he nodded in understanding before he led the team back out of the room and right to the control panel.

Looking down at it, Naruto was interrupted in his thoughts by Zell. "Why don't we just smash this baby and be done with it?"

Ino whacked Zell in the back of his head. "Think you idiot! If we do that, we might end up launching the missiles by mistake. No, leave this up to Naruto-kun. He'll figure it out."

"Yeesh. Sorry." Zell said as he rubbed the back of his head. "Think you can figure it out, Naruto?"

Naruto nodded and proceeded to press a few buttons, bringing up a screen with a variety of options on it. Selecting the choice that said Target, he watched as another series of options appeared on screen. Deciding against setting a new target, he instead focused on the Set Error Ratio command. Clicking on it, he turned the error ratio up to the maximum it could go. Afterwards, he selected Data Upload and then Yes to confirm the changes he had made.

Once Naruto had finished, he closed out of the system and looked at his teammates. "That should help tremendously. C'mon, let's get to the launch control room and see what we can do from there."

Approaching the guard blocking the other set of stairs, they listened as he said, "This place is off-limits. You aren't allowed up here."

Naruto nodded in understanding, but didn't budge. "I understand that, but we've come to report on the missile coordinate data. Could you please let us pass?"

The guard nodded in understand and said, "Of course. Go right ahead."

Thanking the relief guard, Naruto led his team upstairs. Once they were gone, the guard frowned and wondered aloud, "Since when did we have someone like that in our base…?"

Up in the control room, a soldier turned to his commander and said, "All systems go, sir!"

The other soldier turned and saluted his commander and said, "Everything's all set, sir!"

The officer nodded and said, "We had some minor setbacks, but proceed as scheduled. We may be running behind, but prepare for the final launch phase regardless."

Both soldiers saluted again and said, "Roger!" Afterwards, the soldiers turned back to their stations to make their final preparations. One of the soldiers got on the intercom and said, "Attention all personnel. This is the control room. We are now entering the final phase of the missile launch. Take your designated positions and prepare for the launch!"

Hearing this, Naruto scowled and motioned for his team to follow him. Ascending the stairs, they approached the officer, prepared to do whatever it took to stop the missile launch.

Turning to face the newcomers, the officer asked, "Huh? What the heck are you doing in here?!"

Naruto looked calmly into the officer's eyes and said, "We've come to report on the missile coordinates, sir!"

"Oh…" the officer said. All was silent for a while before he shouted, "Don't move! I thought you looked suspicious. You're the intruders! No use hiding it now! You don't look like any of the soldiers I've seen here before, and you're acting way too suspicious. Surrender now and I might go easy on you!"

Naruto sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Suppose our cover's blown. Ah well, can't say we didn't try. Everyone ready?"

Selphie nodded and said, "Definitely! We're gonna kick their asses and save Balamb Garden!"

"What the heck? Just who are you?!" the officer exclaimed, only to panic as he came under attack by Naruto. The blonde had taken hold of a kunai and was using it with deadly efficiency, making numerous stabbing motions and slicing attacks. What made it worse is the fact that the blonde bastard wasn't even using his primary weapons.

Quickly dodging another attack, the officer raised his arm and prepared to fire upon Naruto, only to wince as the kunai finally hit its mark, burying itself deep into his neck. "F-Fuck…" the officer mumbled out. He was losing a lot of blood, but he still managed to raise his arm high enough and unloaded an entire clip into Naruto. However, when his opponent simply vanished in a puff of smoke, the officer groaned out, "Fuck."

Naruto watched as the officer collapsed to the floor, the life soon leaving his eyes. Looking at his girlfriends, he saw the two of them had finished the soldiers off. Afterwards, he wiped his kunai with a cloth before slipping it away into his kunai holster once more.

Once he was sure everyone was okay, Naruto walked over to the control panel and looked it over carefully. If they wanted to stop the missiles from launching AND destroy the base, they'd have to be smart about it.

As he examined the control panel, Selphie walked up to him and asked, "Can you figure it out? Please tell me you can stop the missiles and blow up this dang base."

Naruto nodded and said, "Using this, I should be able to stop the missiles from launching. However, I can't set the base to self-destruct with this control panel. Ino-chan, Irvine, see what you can find in that room over there. I'll handle this."

Ino and Irvine nodded before entering the next room. As they did, Naruto set to work on the console he was at. When he was finished, he motioned for Selphie and Zell to follow him into the next room. "Naruto-kun, this one looks like it controls the self-destruct mechanism. Why don't you take a look at it?"

Naruto nodded and walked over to the console. Taking a moment to look it over, he said, "It seems simple enough. Question is, how much time do I set the countdown for? 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30, or 40? Which do you feel most comfortable with?" he asked the others.

Selphie smiled at him and said, "I'm feeling pretty confident. Let's go with 10 minutes. Besides, I don't want to give them the time to fix things. This place needs to go kablooey as soon as possible!"

The others each nodded in agreement, so Naruto set the timer for 10 minutes. Afterwards, he motioned for them to follow him and quickly began to lead them out of the base through the nearby passage. However, once they arrived outside, they came under attack by a rather large machine called BGH251F2. Scowling at this, Naruto said, "We really don't have time for this."

"Not much of a choice in the matter. Let's destroy this hunk of junk and get the hell out of here!" Irvine exclaimed before he and the rest of the team went on the attack.

Together, they unleashed all of their best attacks and magic on the blasted machine. Naruto pelted it with Thundaga spells, Selphie casted Water numerous times, Zell unleashed powerful attack after attack, Irvine made use of his Shotgun ammo to assault the damn thing, and Ino made use of the weapons she had on hand.

As the timer continued to tick down, the party grew a little worried, but they realized they still had about five minutes left. Naruto, deciding enough was enough, formed a Rasengan in hand and infused it with wind-natured chakra. Charging forward, he slammed the powerful attack into the mighty machine, watching as the damn thing was destroyed almost instantly. However, the damage to his arm was bad, so Ino took the time to heal him with her medical ninjutsu.

While Ino tended to her precious boyfriend, the other three took on the Elite Soldier and his two Galbadian Soldier accomplices. Compared to the BGH251F2, they were pushovers. When they finally perished, the party looked towards the only visible escape route, only to realize that they were trapped inside. Scowling at this, Naruto looked around, trying to find some other way they could escape. Dammit! I'm not seeing anything! Are we going to have to carry them out of here?!

Selphie, Irvine, and Zell collapsed to their knees after some time. "A-Are we going to die here…?" Selphie asked sadly.

"Squall will take care of the rest, won't he?" Zell questioned hopefully.

Selphie smiled sadly to herself and said, "I wonder if he'll organize the Garden Festival for me?"

Naruto found himself chuckling at that. "Heh, somehow I doubt that."

Zell stood up and kicked at the ground for a moment as the timer continued to count down. "Tch. I've always thought about when this day would come. Living a life full of battles…I guess you could say I was prepared… But when I think this is really it…" Clenching his fists tight, Zell exclaimed, "Dammit it pisses me off!"

Irvine frowned sadly to himself as he said, "Squall…he probably didn't trust me. That's probably why he put me on this team…"

Naruto smacked Irvine in the back of the head. "That's bullshit and you know it. If Squall didn't trust you, he wouldn't have told you to help us. You could've refused at any time and gone on your merry ol' way. Nobody would have stopped you. Squall put his faith in you, hoping you'd come through for everyone."

"That's right. Squall chose us because he believed in us!" Selphie exclaimed. "We can do it. He knew we could pull this off. And look, we managed to pull off something incredible! But…now we're stuck…I…I don't want to die like this."

As tears began to trickle down Selphie's cheeks, Naruto walked up to her and held her close. Kissing her sweetly on the lips, he said, "We're not dead yet. There is one way we can get out of here. You three just need to hold on tight."

Selphie looked about ready to ask him what he meant, only for Naruto to suddenly sweep her off her feet and into his arms. Blushing at the bold action, Selphie asked, "What are you doing?"

Naruto smirked as he created a couple of seal-less shadow clones and had them pick up Irvine and Zell. Afterwards, he looked at Ino and nodded once before the two of them leapt on top of the nearby wall and then used their superior speed to get the hell out of there before it could blow.

Once they were far enough away, they turned and watched as the Galbadia Missile Base exploded in a massive eruption of fire and smoke. Breathing a sigh of relief, Naruto collapsed on his butt and laid back on the ground, laughing afterwards. "Holy shit that was close."

Selphie smiled happily and hugged her boyfriend tight, kissing him on the lips. "I love you Naruto-kun! You amaze me more and more every day we're together!"

Ino smiled at the scene before she looked at Irvine and Zell. "Are you two okay? You're not hurt, are you?"

"No. Thanks Ino. How are you and Naruto holding up?" Zell questioned.

"We'll be just fine. For now, let's just relax and leave everything else up to Squall and the others. Kami knows I could use some rest after what we just went through."

Irvine chuckled and said, "Yeah, some rest sounds real nice right about now." And with that, the party of five laid back and closed their eyes.

I don't think I ever want to do that again. Holy crap. Naruto thought to himself, chuckling softly afterwards.

Squall – Balamb Garden

As Squall's team rushed up to the entrance of Balamb Garden, Rinoa exclaimed excitedly, "Hey, it looks like everything's alright! That's a good sign."

Squall smiled and thought quietly to himself, It looks like they did it. Thank God. Still, the missiles could be on their way. We'd best hurry. Turning to his companions, he said, "We have to report to the headmaster. Come on."

As they proceeded towards the turnstiles, the group suddenly paused as they saw the chaos unfolding before them. One of the robed individuals that worked at Garden, they listened as he shouted, "Somebody find the headmaster!"

"Well, that can't be good." Quistis said with a frown on her face. "Perhaps they're preparing to evacuate?"

"Seize him! Kill him if you have to!" the faculty member exclaimed, much to the group's shock.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Quistis exclaimed. "Kill Headmaster Cid? What are they thinking?!"

Hinata shook her head and said, "Something is very wrong here. Come on, we need to get inside and find out what the hell is going on." The others nodded in agreement as they proceeded to hurry towards the turnstiles. However, as they did, they were suddenly accosted by monsters. "Isn't this supposed to be a safe haven?! What the hell is going on?!" Hinata exclaimed.

"I don't know, but I don't like it. We need to get to the bottom of this and fix this mess." Squall said as they began to fight the Grats that had intercepted them.

Naturally, these enemies didn't stand a chance in hell against them, but they were still a nuisance. Continuing towards the academy, they fought a few more monsters, including a T-Rexaur. As they got closer to the turnstiles, Squall paused as he glanced at a nearby faculty member. What the hell is going on?

The Garden Faculty hurried up to them and demanded, "You four, which side are you on?" When Squall didn't answer right away, the man shouted, "Answer the question! Are you with the Garden Master, or are you with Cid?!"

"Garden Master? I don't even know what the heck you're talking about." Squall said, frowning deeply at the faculty member.

"Do you swear your allegiance to Garden Master NORG?"

Squall frowned deeper and asked, "Can you tell me what the heck is going on?"

"I'm the one asking the questions! You're just supposed to follow orders!" When Squall scoffed in response, the man exclaimed, "Hey! What kind of attitude is that?! You're with Cid, aren't you?!"

Hinata scowled at him and exclaimed, "We don't even know what the heck is going on! How can we determine which side we're on if nobody explains anything to us?"

"NORG is the true master!" the Garden Faculty member exclaimed before blowing a whistle, summoning both a Grat and a Caterchipillar. Afterwards, he ran off, leaving the party of four to fight the monsters he had summoned to deal with them.

The enemies died quickly, unable to put up much of a fight. Once they were dead, the team hurried to the turnstiles and saw a student curled up on the ground. Approaching him, they listened as he said, "Hey, Squall. The Garden is in chaos. The monsters from the training center are everywhere. The members of the Garden Master's faction set them free. Watch your back, man. If you're going inside, take this."

When the student handed over a Mega Potion, Squall thanked him before he led the girls through the turnstiles and into Balamb Garden proper. Once inside, they spotted Fujin and Raijin ahead. Hurrying towards them, they listened as Raijin called out to them. "Hey, you're back!"

Squall frowned at them and asked, "What the hell is going on here?"

"I dunno. At first, they were sayin' somethin' 'bout roundin' up the SeeDs, ya know?! Now, everyone's either sidin' with the Garden Master or the headmaster and fightin' everywhere, ya know?!" Raijin explained, clearly worried about the whole situation.

Fujin said, "DISTURBING."

"Disappointin' for the disciplinary committee. All our work for nothin', ya know?!"

"Why are SeeDs being targeted? And where's the headmaster? Is he safe?" Squall questioned, hoping to get some damn answers.

"We got no clue." Raijin said, shaking his head negatively.

"We need to see him right away. It's important." Squall said, sounding a tad frustrated at the whole situation. "Galbadian missiles may be heading this way."

Raijin's eyes widened in horror and he exclaimed, "WHAT?! WE gotta get outta here!"

Fujin, obviously not liking his attitude, turned and kicked him in the knee. Raijin winced and shouted, "OOOUUCH! Geez, alright already! We'll warn everyone about the missiles! Man, this is no time to be fightin', ya know?!"

Squall looked them in the eyes and said, "We'll go look for the headmaster."

"CAUTION!" Fujin exclaimed.

"Yeah, the fightin' is intense everywhere!" Raijin said. "And watch out for those Garden Master goons, ya know!"

Rinoa asked, "Hey, who do you support?"

"Are you with the headmaster or the Garden Master?" Quistis questioned.

"Hey, jus' like Fujin said, ya know?! We're with Seifer. Always have, always will." Raijin said before he and Fujin ran off to do what they could for the students.

Once they were gone, Squall frowned as he thought to himself. Seifer… He's side with the sorceress. Are you guys really alright with that? Deciding not to dwell on it for the time being, Squall and the others decided to go around to each of the different districts inside Balamb Garden, starting with the dormitories.

Upon arrival, they saw another Garden Faculty member and were immediately under attack by him. "What…?! Another one of Cid's followers?! Prepare to die!"

When he summoned a Caterchipillar, Squall groaned and said, "These things are just annoying. They really don't pose much of a threat, but that doesn't make them any less of a nuisance."

Hinata said, "Not much we can really do about it. We need to figure out what the heck is going on here, and if we need to go to every district and beat the snot out of a bunch of monsters to get some answers, then we might as well do it. Now stop complaining and let's fight!"

Squall chuckled a bit and said, "Sounds good to me."

After defeating the Caterchipillar, they proceeded into the dorms where they decided to get a bit of rest. They weren't going to sleep, but they did need to relax for a moment to recover from the battles they had already been through upon arriving at Garden.

Once they were ready again, they left the dorms and proceeded into the cafeteria hallway where they found another faculty member. Scowling at the man, they proceeded to approach him with weapons drawn. They weren't going to tolerate the Garden Faculty betraying Cid and the SeeD in such a way.

"Another one of Cid's followers?! DIE!" the man exclaimed before summoning forth a Bomb.

Squall scowled and said, "If Naruto were here, we could have him summon Shiva to deal with this thing. As it is, we'll need to be careful and take this thing down fast."

His teammates nodded before they went to battle with the Bomb. Deciding not to take any chances, Squall focused before casting a Blizzara spell, dealing massive damage to the Bomb. Immediately afterwards, just to be safe, Hinata dashed forward and attacked it a few times before leaping backwards, watching as the Bomb perished before it ever had a chance to explode. Once it was dead, they proceeded into the cafeteria proper to check on the state of things and see if everyone was okay.

"Thanks for the backup." A female SeeD said, bowing politely to the party. "If you're looking for the headmaster, he isn't here. We've gathered here to make them believe that he's in here."

A male SeeD nodded and said, "If they attacked us all at once, there's no way we could hold them off, even if we are SeeDs."

The female SeeD spoke up again at this point. "The others are doing the same thing in other areas. Essentially, we're cutting them off. Brilliant, huh? It wasn't our idea though."

Quistis asked, "Who came up with it?"

The male SeeD smiled and said, "Xu."

The female SeeD spoke up again. "She took charge immediately when this whole thing began."

Hinata smirked and said, "Well, this Xu girl sounds pretty impressive. I think we need to find her and see what she can tell us about this whole situation. She might even know where Cid is."

Squall and the others nodded in agreement. Walking up to the female SeeD, they listened as she said, "Hey Squall, tell those traitors to bring it on. We'll take them on as often as they want."

Nodding once, he stepped up to one of the female students nearby to check if she was okay. "Here Squall, you can have this." When she handed him some Gysahl Greens, he blinked a couple of times before putting it in with all their other items. Thanking her for the item, he listened as she said, "We're definitely against what they're doing."

The other female student standing beside her said, "Oh…I hope my brother is all right."

Squall frowned slightly before placing a hand gently on her shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure your brother will be just fine. We're going to go put a stop to this. Stay here and be safe."

The girl nodded before watching as Squall and his party left the cafeteria. Their next destination was the parking lot. They needed to be thorough and deal with each of the faculty members as needed.

Upon reaching the parking lot hallway, they came under attack by another Garden Faculty. This one summoned a Grendel, which the team easily dispatched after stocking up on a little more magic. Once it was finished, they entered the parking lot proper. Upon doing so, they were surprised to see the headmaster standing there. Quickly approaching him, Squall saluted and said, "Sir!"

Hinata shook her head and said, "That's not him."

Before Squall could ask what she meant, the headmaster disappeared, as if he was never really there to begin with. Blinking a couple of times in shock, he asked, "What the…? What's going on?"

One of the two SeeD standing there grinned and said, "It was just a hologram. Pretty cool, huh? Anyways, take this. It might come in handy." When the man handed over a Tent, Squall nodded in thanks. "Keep looking. You'll find Headmaster Cid soon, I'm sure." Thanking the man, they left the parking lot and ventured to the quad.

As they hurried down the stairs in search of Xu and their comrades, they heard a Garden Faculty member say, "Dammit. We need reinforcements."

When the man rushed up the stairs, he paused upon seeing Squall and the girls. "Dammit! More of Cid's followers?! DIE!" Afterwards, he summoned a Glacial Eye and a Bomb to deal with them while he ran away.

"Tch." Squall said before he and the others entered combat with the monsters. Deciding to play it smart, they focused on drawing Blizzara spells from the Glacial Eye and casting those on the Bomb to remove it from the picture ASAP. Afterwards, they focused their attacks on the remaining monster until it, too, perished. Upon their defeat, the party of four went down the nearby stairs to check on whomever may be holding out down there.

Upon reaching the stage, they blinked a couple of times. Nobody was there! Looking at the stage, Squall breathed a small sigh of relief. "Well, at least nothing looks damaged. So far, at least."

It was at this point that they heard someone shout, "Who's there?!" When three SeeDs dropped down from above, one of them shouted, "Whose side are you on?!"

Squall immediately said, "We're with the headmaster."

"That's what I figured. Who's this Garden Master anyway?" the same man asked.

Hinata shook her head and said, "We don't know either. We hurried back here to warn the headmaster about an impending missile attack, only to stumble into this mess."

The SeeD sighed before saying, "The headmaster had most of the SeeDs evacuate. He said something about 'the true battle for SeeD' is yet to come, and now's not the time."

Quistis frowned at this and said, "I wonder what he means by that."

Shrugging it off, Squall approached the other male, only for him to thrust an item into his hands. "…Here, take this." Looking at what it was, Squall smiled at seeing an X-Potion in his hands.

"Thank you." He said, truly grateful to receive such a potent restorative. Afterwards, he and the girls hurried out of the quad and went next door to the infirmary. These assholes likely have the infirmary closed off too. Students and SeeD alike could make use of this facility, but the Garden Faculty are making things exceedingly difficult. He thought to himself with a scowl on his face.

Sure enough, upon entering the hallway leading into the infirmary, they saw another Garden Faculty standing there, accompanied by a couple of SeeD. "Tch. Looks like Cid has some decent pawns." A couple of SeeD approached the Garden Faculty and their traitorous brethren and prepared for further combat. The Faculty member scoffed and said, "This is getting us nowhere. Call the monsters."

"Let's get in there and help them!" Squall declared before he led the assault against their enemies. Sure enough, the Faculty member summoned forth a Granaldo, which Squall immediately remembered from before when he was with Quistis. "Shit."

It was a long, hard fought battle, but they eventually defeated their opponent. However, when it collapsed dead to the ground, it was revealed that the Garden Faculty and a few of those loyal to the Garden Master had fled the scene. Scowling at this, Squall soon shook his head before looking at the SeeD loyal to Headmaster Cid. "Are you all right?"

It was at this point that a familiar face stepped up: Dr. Kadowaki. Looking at the defeated SeeD that had sided with the Faculty, she shook her head and said, "Oh my… Can you stand up?"

The man frowned and asked, "Why are you helping me? I'm with the Garden Master…"

"Stop being ridiculous. I don't care whose side you're on. We need to take care of those wounds now, you hear me?" Turning to Squall at this point, she said, "Squall, don't just stand there. Give me a hand."

Sighing softly to himself, the teenager helped Dr. Kadowaki get the enemy SeeD into the infirmary so he could have his wounds tended to. Once he was properly taken care of, Dr. Kadowaki asked, "What is all this faction mumbo jumbo anyways? It's ridiculous. If you're looking for Cid, he's not here."

"Do you have any idea where he might be?" Squall questioned.

"Hmm…Xu might know. Unfortunately, I have no idea where she is though. Why are you looking for him anyway?"

Squall scowled and said, "We need to inform him that there might be missiles heading this way. Kadowaki, please, you need to get out of here, too."

Standing up again, her chair damn near toppling over in the process, Dr. Kadowaki asked, "Are you serious?!" Sitting back down, she smirked slightly and said, "Then I'm definitely gonna have to stay. If anybody gets hurt, who's gonna look after them? Now Squall, take this. You'll probably need it." She said, handing over an Elixir. "Make good use of it, you hear me?"

Rinoa frowned and asked, "Are you sure? It's too dangerous to stay here right now."

"I'm sure. Now go, hurry and find the headmaster. I'm sure he needs your help." Dr. Kadowaki said before watching as they hurried and left the infirmary.

Once in the hallway once again, one of the SeeD standing guard stopped him and said, "Hey, Squall."

Raising a brow, he asked, "Who are you again?"

The SeeD frowned and asked, "What?! Oh man, it's me. We passed the SeeD exam together. I can't believe you forgot!"

Frowning slightly in confusion, Squall's eyes soon lit up in recognition. "Oh yeah…"

"Gee… Oh well, it's just like you to forget. Anyways, go on. I've got this place covered." Nida said. Afterwards, Squall nodded and hurriedly led his teammates out of the room and across to the other side of the floor. Their next goal was to enter the Training Center and see what they could find there, as well as try to help whomever may be in trouble over there.

Upon entering the training center, they stumbled across another Garden Faculty member accompanied by a few more traitorous SeeDs. One of them exclaimed, "Over here! She's one of the headmaster's SeeDs."

The Faculty member said, "The junior classmen are with her. Don't let them escape." And with that, they hurried forward, chasing after the female SeeD and the children she was trying to protect.

"Oh shoot…! I'm so sorry." She said as she stood protectively in front of the children.

The young boy shouted, "I'm gonna fight, too!"

"Heh, this should be interesting." One of the traitorous SeeDs said as he approached menacingly. When the young boy nailed him hard in the gut, he fell to his knees and gasped. "The hell?!"

"I'm not training every day for nothing. Bring it on!"

"Why you little…!" the SeeD exclaimed as he rose to his feet again and prepared to attack the little bastard.

Before the SeeD could make a move, Hinata struck him in numerous places, paralyzing him and watching with a smirk as he collapsed unmoving to the ground. "You're going to have to get past us first."

The Garden Faculty growled and shouted, "Another one of Cid's followers, huh? DIE!" And with that, he summoned forth a T-Rexaur, much to their frustration.

"These things are so hard to kill." Rinoa said, letting out a groan as she and the others prepared to fight.

As was usual with T-Rexaurs, this one could take one hell of a beating and still keep on trucking. During the battle, Squall was forced to unleash his Renzokuken limit break, dealing massive damage to the enemy. It didn't die from that attack, however, and quickly went in for the kill, only to receive a couple of kunai to the eyes, blinding it and enraging it further. After some time, they finally brought the blasted thing down, watching satisfied as it perished before them.

Once it was deceased, they turned to the female SeeD and the children and asked, "Are you all right?"

The children nodded affirmatively while the SeeD smiled at them and said, "We're okay, thanks to all of you. Here, take this. I hope it helps."

When she placed a Remedy in Hinata's hands, the pale-eyed woman smiled in thanks. "Thank you. We'll make good use of this. Have you seen the headmaster anywhere?"

"I'm afraid not. Sorry. I hope you find him soon and put a stop to this madness." The woman said in response.

"Thanks." Squall said before he led the group out of the training center and towards the library. Once they arrived in the hallway leading into the library, they heard a faculty member shout, "What's taking so long?! Hurry up!"

When they approached the man, he turned and said something similar to all the others upon spotting Squall's team. Summoning a Grat to do battle with them, the Garden Faculty member fled the scene, leaving the Grat there to do away with the good guys. Naturally, the monster went down easily to their combined assault, unlike the Granaldo and the T-Rexaurs that had been summoned to fight them before.

Entering the library, they spotted a couple of SeeD standing guard. Approaching the nearest one, Squall asked, "Have you seen the headmaster anywhere? We have something important to tell him."

The SeeD shook his head and said, "I'm afraid he's not here. I don't know where he could be."

"Damn." Squall said. "Thanks anyways." And with that, he walked past the male SeeD and approached a female student standing beside one of the bookshelves.

"Here, please take this." She said as she held out an item for the leader to take. Seeing what it was, Squall smiled in thanks. "Good luck."

Leaving the library, Squall looked at his comrades with a frown and said, "We haven't seen Xu anywhere. Any ideas where she could be?"

Rinoa frowned in thought for a time before she pointed up. "Maybe she's on a higher floor? It's worth a look, right?"

The others nodded in agreement. As they reached the front of the large, circular room, they saw Xu rushing up the stairs towards the elevator. Upon seeing her, Quistis shouted, "Xu?! Wait!"

Rushing up the stairs to the elevator, they frowned. Xu was nowhere to be found. Looking at the elevator, Hinata asked, "Do you think she went up?"

"Only one way to find out. We'll check the 2nd floor first. If she isn't there, we'll check Cid's office. Otherwise, I don't know where we'll look." Squall said before he and the others entered the elevator and pressed the button for the 2nd floor.

Upon arriving on the second floor, they didn't see a single person in sight. Following the hallway past the classrooms, they stumbled across Xu. She looked ready to fight them as she demanded, "Whose side are you on?!"

Squall shrugged and said, "Neither. We don't even know what's going on. Besides that, we have urgent news that the headmaster needs to hear. Where is he?"

When Xu didn't look convinced, Quistis said, "Please, just trust us Xu! I promise we don't mean you, the headmaster, or anyone else any harm. We came here with urgent news for the headmaster. If something isn't done soon…!"

Xu frowned for a moment before she released a sigh and nodded her head. "All right. I trust you. Tell me what's going on."

Squall said, "Galbadian missiles may be heading this way as we speak! There's no time to waste. We have to do something, otherwise a lot of people are going to die!"

"Here?!" Xu exclaimed in shock. After taking a moment to compose herself, she said, "All right. I'll inform him right away."

"Where is he?" Hinata questioned somewhat impatiently. "Please, take us to him."

Xu looked into their eyes, one by one, before saying, "He's in his office. We made it look like he's hiding, but he's been there all along. Follow me." And with that, she rushed on ahead to go and inform Cid of the situation.

Following Xu, they entered the elevator and proceeded to Cid's office on the top floor. Upon arriving, Xu smiled at them and said, "He's waiting for you inside. I'll go tell everyone to evacuate." And with that, Xu stepped into the elevator and took it down to the first floor, leaving Squall and company to meet with Cid.

Entering the office, Squall and the others hurried forward and saluted to the headmaster. "Sir. We bring dire news."

Cid nodded and said, "Xu told me about the missiles. Unfortunately, the intercom is down so we can't announce the order to evacuate."

Squall shook his head and said, "Xu, Raijin, and Fujin are taking care of that."

Nodding again, Cid said, "Very well. I want you to assist them and then evacuate yourselves."

Frowning, Squall couldn't help but wonder, What's on your mind, Headmaster? Shaking those thoughts off, he said, "Sir, I have a lot that I need to report."

"You can tell me later." Cid said.

Frowning further, Squall thought, But you might be dead later…

"Do you have a problem with that?" Cid questioned with a brow raised.

"Sir, what exactly are you going to do?"

Cid rubbed the back of his head for a moment before explaining. "I'm going to stay here and see this through to the end. After all, this place is like my home."

"No…! You can't do that!" Rinoa exclaimed in a panic. "You could die if you stay here! Just come with us, please! You can always rebuild this place!"

"Sir!" Quistis exclaimed. "Please don't do this."

Cid simply smiled at them and said, "You can rest assured. I have no intention of dying today. I'm just going to try something. After all, there may still be a way to save the Garden."

Cid took a few steps away from them, making for the door. Unfortunately, he soon collapsed to his knees and clutched at his side. It was obvious he was wounded and was in need of medical attention. Whatever he had planned, he wouldn't be able to follow through with it on his own.

Hurrying to his side, Hinata began to heal his injuries. Squall stepped up to them and looked down at the headmaster. Cid began to chuckle a bit as he stood up again as soon as Hinata gave the go ahead. "I'm a little too old for this."

Hinata smiled kindly at him before poking him in the forehead lightly. "Whatever it is you're planning, please let us take care of it. We won't let you down, I promise."

"And why would you lot attempt something so daring? Do you not realize the danger this situation poses?" Cid questioned curiously.

Squall sighed and scratched the back of his head for a moment. "It's because we want to do more than just order the evacuation of Garden. Besides that, this place is important to all of us for one reason or another. And…this is home. It's home for all of us, especially for people like me and Naruto. I refuse to let it be destroyed on the orders of a madwoman like Edea."

Cid chuckled a bit and said, "It seems Quistis' initial report on you no longer holds true. You're not having such a difficult time expressing yourself and your feelings anymore. That's good."

Squall grumbled for a moment before saying, "Sir! Please tell us your plan!"

Pacing around a bit, Cid decided to explain. "This building used to be a shelter, long before it was remodeled into the Garden as we know it." At this point, he tossed a key to Squall. "Use that key to open the lock on the elevator. Opening the lock will give you access to the MD level. Rumor has it that further below the MD level, there is some kind of a control system. It was used when this place 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 against the missiles. That's what I'm betting on."

Squall frowned slightly and thought, Sounds pretty farfetched, if you ask me. Still, I guess it's better than doing nothing. Saluting the headmaster, Squall said, "I understand, sir. We'll find the control system and check it out. If it can help us in any way, then it's worth a shot."

"Very good. Good luck to all of you. You're going to need it." Cid said. "Who knows what you might run into down there? Make sure you are fully prepared before you go down there."

Squall and his team nodded before turning and leaving the office. Entering the elevator, he inserted the key and turned it, unlocking access to the lower floors. I swear, we won't let Garden be destroyed. No matter what it takes, we will protect our home.

A/N - And that's the chapter! A lot happened, and I think it turned out rather well. Hopefully you think so as well.

I definitely enjoyed writing this chapter, and I'm looking forward to writing the next one as well. Should be fun!

Anyways, I have no idea what I'll work on next. We shall see!