Angelus Errare
Written by -Laguna-
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Chapter 3: The Escape…
"And that's when they threw me in here." Squall finished, shoulders dropping a bit.
He had explained the whole story, this time to Skye. She had listened to him patiently, at some parts she had been confused, but she let Squall talk without interrupting him even once.
She gasped. "Incredible…"
Squall turned to Skye questioningly. She sat next to him on the prison bunk.
-"You mean you actually believe me?" He asked.
"Yeah, I guess so. This story is too weird to just make up." Skye said, smiling.
Exactly what Quistis had said. Squall mused.
They heard students running down the hall from one moment to the next. Squall wondered what the sudden commotion was about but didn't think much of it. Some students always ran. Maybe hotdogs were being served?
-"So what are you going to do?" Skye asked.
"If I can get out of here somehow, I think I'll try and find Ellone." He answered. "She might know what's going on, or even be the cause of it all in some way."
-"Hmm…Ellone?" Skye mumbled. "That name sounds familiar, but I can't recall where I heard it before…"
Squall sighed. "She was the one I told you about just now, you know, with the time-compression and all.."
Laughing, she nudged Squall. "I may have amnesia, but I'm not THAT oblivious. I meant before that."
They heard the intercom rang. The sound of it was muffled, as it came from the other side of the brig door.
"…Everyone," Cid spoke through the intercom. "Galbadia Garden is heading this way. They will most likely attack our Garden. As you should know, the plan is to counter-attack this time. Those who are assigned to the counter-force squads; make sure to repel the first wave quickly, then head over to the main entrance of Galbadia Garden and follow Commander Gantt's lead. Those on the defense; make sure all the junior classmen, civilians, injured, and other non-combatant personnel are safe. Good luck!"
Squall jumped off from his bunk as the message ended.
-"Counter-attack this time?" Skye mumbled. "But according to what you just said--"
"We DID counter-attack!" He yelled in frustration. "Galbadia Garden was taken out! Dammit!"
Squall had never been this worked up before. All his frustration and anxiety seemed to surface at once. He was ready to claw his way out if the brig with his bare hands.
But before his rage turned to madness Skye laid her hand on his shoulder.
"Squall, calm down." She said. "Things are different, you already knew that."
Is this what would have happened if I weren't around? They didn't counter-attack earlier?! He thought.
He banged his fists against the door. "Let me out!"
Those idiots, didn't they know he could help them in their fight?
"Squall," Skye said patiently. "They're not just going to let us go. I've pleaded already. They wouldn't listen."
Squall checked around the room. The first wave of anger was subsiding, he was able to use his head again. It didn't take him long to think of something. Whether it would work or not depended on how well their guards knew their prison-escaping clichés.
"Looking for something?" Skye asked, curious if anything.
"I've got a plan to get out of here." He told her. "And I'm going to need your help."
She began to look insecure. "But…I'm useless thanks to this bangle. And even without it, I don't know how to use my powers, if I really have them."
"Don't worry about that." Squall assured her. "Humans aren't helpless. Their resourcefulness is their strength."
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"Sir?" The student behind the Garden controls wavered, turning to Cid. He glanced in the direction of the approaching Galbadia Garden. By now Balamb Garden was afloat, but they'd never manage to outrun the enemy.
Galbadia Garden was a raging bull, and they were colored red…
-"Just hold her steady. Let them head for us." Headmaster Cid ordered. He grabbed the nearby guardrail and steadied himself. Kamikaze attack? He wouldn't put anything past their enemy.
Both Headmaster Cid and Kenan watched the enemy Garden closing in on them. They were sure to launch their first wave any second now. But they were prepared, and this time, they would take the battle to the enemy's Garden.
"This is it. You better go down now to command the troops. Godspeed." Cid told Kenan.
He saluted and stepped on the small elevator and headed for his squads in the main hall.
Seifer overlooked the rows of soldiers standing in front of him. He pushed a button next to him and a huge door opened. From the side entrance of Galbadia Garden that had opened, he saw Balamb Garden getting closer and closer, and waited for just the right time to give the signal.
"Ready!" Seifer said. "…GO!"
On his commands the Galbadian soldiers jumped on their bikes and drove it up the slopes at tremendous speed. Dozens of bikes came flying through the air towards Balamb Garden leaving a trail of smoke.
History was repeating itself.
Grinning coldly, Seifer reached for his communicator.
"Raijin, are the Para-troopers ready?" He said.
-"Roger, ya know." Raijin answered. He gave his squad of green-uniformed soldiers the lift-off signal. They strapped themselves in the jetpacks and flew them straight at Balamb Garden.
"Fujin," Seifer said through his communicator. "As soon as we're close enough, move the droids in!"
-"AFFIRMATIVE." She told him.
"Here they come!!" Zell yelled from Balamb Garden's main hall. He pointed at the bikes landing near the Garden entrance. This time the Galbadians had centralized their attack in one place, which was to Balamb Garden's advantage.
Selphie gestured for her squad to move in. "Lets get em!"
Shots of Blizzaga were fired at the Galbadian soldiers. Most of them missed their target completely and the Galbadians who had landed their bikes droves them at full throttle straight through Zell and Selphie's squads at the front gate, forcing them to break their formation.
Para-troopers arrived next, landing right on top of them, guns firing rapidly. A fierce and at first sight chaotic battle ensued. Nobody had held any kind of formation and it seemed a one-on-one fight on a massive scale.
Irvine and Kenan rushed onto the scene with guns drawn.
In the distance, a Para-trooper had slammed his jetpack straight into Selphie and sent her falling to the ground. Avoiding a few Galbadian soldiers engaged in close combat with Balamb-students, Irvine ran to her aid.
He aimed for the Para-trooper, and fired a couple of shots in quick succession. Hitting the jetpack's engine, Irvine caused it to explode just as it hovered over two Galbadian soldiers.
"A three-in-one shot!" Selphie exclaimed as she got up and hugged Irvine in gratitude.
-"Lieutenant Biggs! Are you okay, Sir?" One of the three wounded Galbadian soldiers asked.
Biggs looked up and noticed two students and a SeeD had surrounded them.
Kenan smirked and aimed his handgun right in Biggs' face. "Biggs and Wedge, I presume? So what rank are you guys now? I mean- seriously, what's below private?"
Wedge immediately raised his hands. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! We give up!"
-"Kenan, they're coming out in full force!!" Zell yelled as he saw Fujin lead several squads of what appeared to be robots onto Balamb Garden.
"Get outta here you two!" Kenan said to Biggs, and focused his attention on the ensuing battle at the front gate. Nobody could tell for sure which side had the numeric advantage.
Zell grinned as he noticed a hoverboard parked near him. He jumped on it and flew it right through the many artificial reserve troops, knocking down entire rows. What the Galbadians did to them, they could do back.
The remaining Para-Troopers and bikers were being dealt with professionally now. Balamb Squads had regrouped, and the Long-Range Mages were now casting their Aeros against the flying threats, and Bio and Quake against the ground forces. The Galbadians knew they were getting hurt badly and a lot of them withdrew behind the droid lines. These late arrived squads - a combination of all the mechanical troops Zell and the others had seen during their encounters with Galbadian forces- were not programmed with a retreat option however, and fought fiercely. They had GIM27N's -close combat types with limited A.I.- protecting the GIM52A ones; the bots with a Micro Missile launcher pack on their backs.
Zell flew the hoverboard back to friendly lines and at that moment came the Galbadians counter. And to be honest things looked pretty bad when the rear ranks of these GIM52A's opened up fire all at once, but the Squad of well-trained Mages used the airborne missiles at target practice. Fireballs, Ice Javelins and even mid-air water bubbles stopped all but a few from ever reaching the Balamb forces.
Now the ball was in their court again.
"Come on! Hit em while they're reloading!" Kenan shouted. At his command the Balamb Forces advanced as one. The Swordsmen were first to plunge into the metal-fist-swinging GIM27N's. The dumb machines tightly held their column formation, and soon they were packed altogether.
Selphie saw the perfect opportunity. "Mages! Thundaga!"
The Swordsmen were ordered back to avoid friendly fire and lightning shot from the dark sky above. With so many thunderbolts shooting one after another it was as if someone was playfully flicking the light switch on and off. However it was a definite lights out for a large portion of the Galbadian unit. As always, thunder element had dealt massive damage to mechanical enemies, and big gaps were made in the enemy's lines.
Zell turned his hoverboard around and revved it up. He had his hoverboard aimed for the line of Launchers and just before the collision back-flipped off. As he acrobatically landed on his feet he saw his ride smash through a couple of weaker GIM52A's- the skinniest looking bots ever made.
Now it was completely clear who held the advantage, as the Balamb Forces were pushing the Galbadians back.
-"Whoo-hoo!" Selphie exclaimed after knocking down another droid. "We're winning this time!"
Kenan fired a flare-gun.
"Okay, we're going in!" He said as the flare went up high in the sky.
-"We will mop things up here, good luck!" Selphie said, nodding.
Upon seeing the flare a great amount of students disengaged from their fights, ran through the scattered Galbadian ranks and followed Irvine and Commander Gantt towards Galbadia Garden. Selphie and Zell's squads were left to deal with the remaining Galbadian soldiers. They hadn't had this much fun in weeks…
'Commander' Fujin had been watching the fighting from a safe distance. Despite being of some rank in the Galbadian Army, she didn't particularly care for it, or for its troops. The way the battle was going worried her for one reason, and one reason alone. It might endanger the one person she did care about it…
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Seifer flew his jetpack through a Balamb Garden classroom window together with two Para-troopers. As expected, the classroom was empty, and in the confusion of the battle at the Front Gate, nobody had noticed them enter.
"Alright," Seifer said, throwing the jetpack off. "Follow me."
His two Para-troopers escorts discarded their jetpacks and got out their swords "Sir!"
Seifer pressed a few buttons on a wall-panel and managed to unlock the classroom door.
Glaring around the corner, Seifer noticed the hallway was deserted.
"This way." He told his men.
They ran across the second floor hallway. The sounds of the battle at the front-gate could be heard faintly. It somewhat resembled a really fierce thunderstorm and Seifer wondered how his force was doing.
-"HEY YOU!" A student yelled, coming up from behind them.
Seifer turned around. It was just another young fool with an attitude. This Garden was full of 'em…
"You take him, I'll get the Sorceress." He ordered his men.
The student drew his sword and engaged the two Para-troopers. Seifer ran further down the hall and noticed a guard stationed up ahead. He grinned and rushed towards him, charging up a Firaga shot.
The guard gasped in surprise and before he could reach for his blade, Seifer's Firaga shot knocked him back. The guard flew against the far wall and drop down to the floor, either unconscious or dead. It mattered little.
Seifer walked up to the brig door. It looked sturdy enough to withstand blasts of magic, so with a quick slash Seifer destroyed the door panel next to it. He yanked out the main board, and reached for the wires behind it.
Upon connecting the right two severed wires, a light blinked for a moment and then short-circuited.
The door slid open a few inches and stopped.
"I'm in front of the brig." Seifer spoke into his communicator. "How goes the battle?"
-"BAD." Fujin replied. "LOSING!"
Seifer slammed his fist against the wall. "Dammit!"
He had hoped his forces could eliminate Balamb Garden for good this time, but he knew that wasn't the purpose of this mission.
"Just retreat!" Seifer ordered through his communicator.
-"Impossible, ya know!" Raijin replied. "They are takin' control of Galbadia Garden, we're losin'! Ya know!"
"Damn. Go to plan B." Seifer told him and switched off the communicator.
Bracing himself, Seifer manually slid open the brig door.
To his surprise the brig was completely empty. He stepped inside. Suddenly out of the corner if his eye, he saw a young man rushing up towards him. Seifer gripped his gunblade tighter and pointed it sideways towards him.
The man stopped.
Seifer pressed the tip of his gunblade against his throat. "Where is the Sorceress?"
A sudden blow on the back his head knocked Seifer down, and he released his gunblade in the fall.
-"Right behind you." Skye grinned, holding a metal plate in her hands.
Squall picked up the gunblade but became aware again of his cuffs. He wouldn't be able to fight like that.
He looked at Skye. "I need your help with this."
-"I'm not very good with weapons." Skye said, taking the gunblade from Squall. "But I'll try."
She raised it high above her head, and swung it down right through Squall's chains. They tore apart and Squall yanked off the two loose ends on his wrists.
"What about my Odine bangle?" Skye asked.
-"I can't cut it with this blade." Squall told her. "The alloy of the bangle is way too strong."
He took over the gunblade from her and nudged Seifer with the sharp edge of it. He turned over on his back, eyes closed. Looking at Seifer's forehead, Squall noticed the scar he had made during their 'training session' was gone, completely vanished, as if it were never there. As if it never happened…
"Is he dead?" Skye asked, noticing the man didn't move a muscle.
-"Not yet." Squall said. "But I should finish him off now, while I have the chance. It seems everything Commander Gantt and the others said was true. The Galbadians haven't been defeated, which means Seifer is still the Sorceress' Knight."
Squall slowly raised his blade.
"Don't move!" A green-clad Galbadian soldier yelled as he walked in, sword at the ready.
"Commander Almasy?! What did you do to him?!"
The trooper poked Squall with the tip of the sword. "Step back, now!"
Will they never learn? Skye thought, as she smacked him from aside with her plate.
-"AH! Ow, ow, OW!!!! That really hurt!" He cried out, falling to the ground with a loud thud.
Grabbing him by his collar, Squall pulled him up against the wall. "What are you doing here?"
The trooper was wounded. Blood flowed down from the wound on the back of his head.
-"...Retrieve…S-sorceress…" He uttered before passing out. Although since this was so corny, the soldier could have just been acting. Galbadians were weird like that, Squall knew from experience.
Skye looked at Squall. "They were here to get me?"
-"Yeah." He replied, letting go of the trooper. He was done with him.
Squall wondered why Skye could be so important to the Galbadians that Seifer personally tried to capture her. He got a strange sinking sensation in his stomach. He stood with his back to the girl. When he turned he was relieved to see Skye had dropped the metal plate and hadn't meant to smack him with it as well. She seemed scared more than anything else. Squall shook off his paranoia and headed for the hallway.
Skye followed him and was relieved she finally got out the dark brig. "Where to now?"
The sounds of the raging battles still echoed.
"Let's get out of here first," Squall said. "We'll figure something out later."
The best choice would be the emergency exit Squall figured. Now being an escaped prisoner, they had to avoid both Balamb Garden's forces and the Galbadians. Again Squall didn't know what he was involved in, but he wasn't about to be caught by either side again.
-"Wait," Skye said, pointing to Seifer. "What about that guy?"
She couldn't stand the thought of killing a human being, but if that was the same Seifer she heard Squall talk about, he could be dangerous. Squall was about to reply as he heard a moan from behind him.
Not far from them, a Balamb student slowly got up from the floor, and picked up his sword lying nearby. A Para-trooper lay badly injured beside it.
"The Sorceress is escaping! Defense Squad to the second floor!!" The student yelled at the top of his lungs.
-"No time now, let's go!" Squall shouted. He grabbed Skye's arm and together they rushed off.
"Where are we going?" Skye asked, yanking her arm loose from Squall's grip.
They proceeded down the hallway, running past the injured student. Suddenly Squall stopped in front of the classroom where Seifer had entered. He noticed three jetpacks lying in the corner, just under the broken windows.
He moved towards one of the packs. "Like I said, we're getting out of here."
Skye followed him with a worried look on her face. "I don't know how to work those things…" She sighed.
"Don't worry." Squall assured her. He sheathed his gunblade and strapped himself in the jetpack. "Just hold on to me. I've done this before."
She firmly gripped Squall. Slowly, the jetpack's engine began to rumble and they ascended.
-"Here we go."
Squall carefully navigated them through the window, avoiding the sharp glass edges.
He looked back into classroom and saw an angry Seifer leaning unsteadily against the doorway.
"WAIT!" Seifer ordered them. "You won't get away!"
Skye stuck out her tongue at him as Squall began descending.
"Damn!" Seifer cursed and rushed to the window.
Whoever that guy was, Seifer swore to himself he would get even with him. He reached for the back of his head, a surge of pain came over him.
"Ah hell!" He yelled out. "That witch!"
A student stumbled in the classroom, sword held high. "You…are…not…getting away!"
-"I may not have my gunblade," Seifer said as he stretched out his arms.
"But that doesn't mean I'm unarmed." He smirked, and hit the student with a quick bolt of Thundaga.
He sighed and picked up his jetpack before the student could recover from his attack, and quickly escaped through the window, cutting his shoulder against a glass shard.
As he flew further away from Balamb Garden, he reached for his communicator.
"Mission failed. The Sorceress has escaped." He said. "Raijin, Fujin, I'll be in the fields near Balamb."
-"Uh," Raijin replied. "What 'bout the others, ya know?"
Seifer grabbed a small device from his pocket and grinned evilly. "Just remember plan B!"
Quistis and her team of students had heard the fighting on the second floor and rushed to check it out.
She helped the student Seifer had shot get up.
"What happened?" She asked.
The student coughed heavily. "You're…too late. The prisoners…escaped. Seifer went out after them."
Rushing to the window, Quistis could see a jetpack flying away. The Sorceress was all they were after?
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Fujin, Raijin and what was left of the G-soldiers reached Galbadia Garden's emergency exits. All the droids were ordered to stay behind to stall Balamb's forces. As far as they knew, they performed their jobs well enough.
They rushed outside, most without looking back.
"CLOSE." Fujin ordered one of the lasts that escaped the Garden.
-"Yes ma'am." The soldier said. He pressed a few buttons and the exit doors closed up tight.
Raijin plopped down on the ground. "Phew…"
Glaring at him angrily, Fujin walked over to and picked him up by his ear.
-"MOVE." She ordered her lazy, good-for-nothing sub commander.
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Kenan and Irvine's squads rushed down Galbadia Garden's hallways. They were surprise at how little resistance they encountered but considered Galbadia Garden had also lost many soldiers in the previous encounter.
-"In here!" Irvine yelled as he stopped in front of the control room doors. The doors were kicked open and Balamb forces poured in-- ridiculously many of them.
-"Huh? Where are they?" Irvine asked, noticing the room was deserted.
Kenan glanced around and chuckled. "They must have abandoned this Garden. It's ours now!"
"Right," He continued, rubbing his hands together in childish delight. "Split up in two groups. One will remain here, the other will search for any remaining Galbadians."
-"Yes Sir!" A senior student yelled. He did as Kenan ordered and divided the forces.
The smallest group stayed to defend the control room, in case the Galbadians would try to get it back, whilst the other searched through the Garden for hostiles.
Irvine walked up to Galbadia Garden's controls and randomly pushed a few buttons.
"I wish Zell was here. He's more into the mechanical stuff…"
Kenan moved to the rudder. The screens displayed a total lock down of helm-control.
"We'll definitely have to get some mechanics up here to get this baby going again." He sighed.
-"It doesn't look like anything is working." Irvine said as he glared at the control panels in front of him.
"Even communications?" Kenan asked.
-"Yeah." Irvine confirmed as he saw the smashed up com panel.
"You," Kenan said, pointing at one of the remaining students. "Inform the Headmaster of our status."
The student saluted and ran off. Regrettably a message boy was necessary, as in all the commotion Kenan had forgotten his communicator.
An eerie feeling came over Irvine. "Something's wrong…" He said.
-"What?" Kenan asked, looking at him questioningly.
Shrugging, Irvine paced around the control room. "Do you hear that?"
Wondering what he was on about, Kenan tried to listen for anything out of the ordinary.
Apart from a conversation between students guarding the control room entrance, he didn't hear a thing.
"There," Irvine said as he ducked down and opened a recently disturbed floor panel. "Oh shit!"
Kenan rushed over and looked down at the opening. "Damn!"
A small black box had been placed just under the center floor panel. A few wires stuck out the box, connected to a digital timer of some sort. It was counting down, ticking faintly as a seconds went by. The screen displayed there were about three minutes left…
"A bomb!" Irvine yelled.
The students guarding the control room turned to Irvine. "S-sir?"
-"Tell everyone to get out, now!" Kenan ordered them.
Irvine sighed. "They won't all make it out in three minutes, and 10 seconds…9…8…7-"
-"I know!" Kenan yelled. "That's why we have to do something."
Kenan bent over and reached for a small knife he kept in his boot.
Nodding, Irvine grabbed the knife from him. He used it to quickly remove a few screws from the top of the small box.
Kenan noticed Irvine's hands were trembling. Cautiously he removed the top cover from the box. A red package covered most of the inside. It had three wires sticking out of it; yellow, green and blue. All appeared to be connected to the timer.
"What now?" Irvine asked, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
-"One of the wires should be the right one. Cut it and it'll stop counting down…"
"And the other two?"
-"Boom…" Kenan replied, mimicking a big explosion with his hands. A cold sweat drop rolled down the side of his face.
"So which one do we cut?!" Irvine asked panicky. He glanced at the timer. Only two minutes and change left.
Kenan dropped to the floor and examined the bomb. "I don't know. Maybe all three are wrong? We're dealing with Seifer here, he may be a jackass but he's not a dumb jackass."
"And this might not even be the only bomb here," He continued. "This doesn't look good…"
Irvine sighed. "Great. We're doomed."
-"Maybe not. I have an idea," Kenan said as he stood up. "Keep you fingers crossed."
A bright glow emanated around his hand as he held it up high. "Blizzaga!"
Irvine jumped back and an icicle appeared around the bomb and timer, covering it up whole.
-"Great thinking." He said, getting up to his feet.
"Yeah, but did it work?" Kenan replied as he peered through the icicle.
Water drops were forming all around the icicle. Irvine stepped back. "Well?"
-"The timer has stopped!" Kenan joyously said.
"Great, I'd do a victory dance right now, but the ice is melting!!" Irvine yelled, motioning Kenan to get the hell outta there.
-"Right," He replied as he joined up with Irvine. "But we might have just bought enough time."
The two SeeDs bolted off towards the exit.
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"Thanks for the smooth landing." Skye said, stepping out of the bushes. "Would have never thought of using the ground as a cushion."
Squall ignored the obvious sarcasm. So it was a bit rough…taking off is a conscious choice, landing is inevitable.
Leaving the jetpack covered up in the bush, Squall sighed and looked up at the sky. "I don't think we were followed."
-"Well yeah, that's probably because of your flying." She offered. "Aren't pilots generally supposed to throttle down upon landing?"
"We escaped didn't we?" He replied.
He gripped his gunblade and looked around again. In the distance he could make out Zell standing at Balamb Garden's front gate. A lot of Balamb students stood around him, Squall concluded they won the battle. The counter-attack must have succeeded.
Skye frowned. "What now? They'll be lookin' for us soon."
-"Follow me." Squall said and he walked off in the opposite direction of the Garden.
"Where we going?" She asked as she ran up to Squall. "Hey, wait up! Not so fast."
He suddenly stopped, and Skye bumped into him.
-"Not that slow either." She said, rubbing her forehead. Up until now she hadn't noticed how tall Squall was compared to her. He cast a shadow over her.
-"Get down." He told her as he ducked behind a bush, trying to minimize the sound of the leaves brushing against each other.
Skye narrowed her eyes and saw three figures standing up ahead. She recognized Seifer, but the other two she'd never seen before. They were looking around, probably in search of her and Squall.
"Seifer and his lackeys…" Squall whispered. "Don't let them see you. I'm not sure I can take on all three."
-"So where are they?" Raijin asked.
Seifer glared around with an annoyed look. "They can't be far away. Fujin, see anything?"
"NEGATIVE." She replied.
-"Damn guy took my gunblade…he'll pay." Seifer said, balling his fist.
"We have to get goin', Kenan and the SeeDs will be lookin' for us, ya know?" Raijin said, nervously staring back at the two Gardens hovering close to each other.
Fujin slowly walked towards Raijin and kicked him in the shine. "COWARD."
-"OUCH! Ah!!---ya know?"
Seifer pulled out a timer. "Hmm…that's odd. The bomb is supposed to have gone off already."
They looked up at the hovering Galbadia Garden. Balamb students were practically pouring out of it at the front gate. They managed to get on Balamb Garden quite easily as it still hovered directly next to it.
Sighing, Seifer threw his remote on the ground and crushed it with his boot. "Useless junk!"
Just then, a great explosion emanated from within Galbadia Garden. They covered their eyes.
Seifer's jacket flew back in the wind of the blast-wave, but surely the sudden gust died down.
The Garden was on fire, smoke filling the air around it. There were a series of smaller explosions and then the Garden came crashing down into the ground, momentarily creating a huge fireball that dissipated as it gained altitude.
To Seifer's surprise Balamb Garden didn't seem to have suffered any further damage from the blasts as it was clearly steered away from the scuttled Galbadia Garden.
"SEIFER?" Fujin called.
He stared at the pile of debris that used to be his Garden. The Garden Sorceress Ultimecia placed him in command of.
-"Yeah…" He said. "Let's get out of here. The guy might have escaped to Balamb, we'll search there."
Squall made sure they were a good distance away before he stood up from the bushes.
He stared silently at a burning pile of debris on the edge of an enormous crater.
"Oh no!" Skye cried out from behind. "That murderer!"
-"There couldn't have been many people in there." Squall said, pointing at Balamb Garden. "See, I think our students made it out in time."
She put on a smile. "I hope so."
"I know this cave nearby, we'll be safe there for a while." Squall said.
-"Lead the way." Skye sighed.
He started walking in the direction she'd seen Seifer and his two dangerous looking friends march off in. Skye didn't take one step.
Squall hadn't noticed right away, but when he did came back for her, now running. "Come on, we have to go."
"But…that's where Seifer went." She stammered.
-"It's also where the cave is." Squall told her. "Trust me, you'll be safe."
With a deep breath Skye collected herself. "Okay..let's go then."
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"Oh my!" Doctor Kadowaki called out, rushing towards Irvine, Kenan and their squads at the Front Gate "Is everyone okay?"
-"We're fine Doctor." Kenan assured her. "Just a little shaken up, that's all."
He and the Doc watched Irvine frantically jumped up and down on his coat, which had caught fire and, despite the cowboy's best efforts, was completely ruined.
Zell arrived on his hoverboard, with Selphie behind him.
"Whoa!" He uttered. "Man, that was some blast."
Selphie stepped towards the edge of the Garden entrance and stared down at the huge crater. The guys were lucky they made it out alive.
Zell got off his board. "Are you guys okay?"
Irvine had got on his knees beside the ashes that used to be his coat and appeared to be sobbing.
"Uhm…yeah, all in a day's work." Kenan answered. "How are things here?"
He looked around and saw several wounded Galbadian soldiers lying around. They were being cuffed and taken inside one by one.
Selphie beamed. "We won. Totally booyakaded them."
-"Booyakaded?" Zell asked questioningly. "That's not even a word."
Kenan glanced around. "Hey, where's Quist?"
-"Oh, I think I saw her talking with the Headmaster in the main hall." Doctor Kadowaki answered as she was taking care of a student's wounds.
Zell sighed. "Suppose you have to report to the Headmaster and all, huh?"
-"Yeah." Kenan replied. "But it isn't our fault Galbadia Garden blew up."
"So what happened?" Selphie asked.
-"They planted a bomb." Kenan replied. "But we'll tell you about it later. C'mon Irvine, let's talk to Cid."
"But--my coat!" The other uttered.
-"Yeah yeah, we'll get you a new one."
"Ah, commander. A student just informed me what happened. Are you alright?" The headmaster said as Kenan and Irvine approached. He looked full of concern.
Quistis stood next to him, arms crossed and frowning.
-"We're fine Sir." Kenan answered. Irvine immediately looked unhappy.
Kenan turned to Quistis. "What's wrong?"
She sighed. "The Sorceress escaped during the battle. They attacked us because of her. Seifer entered our Garden to capture her, but she got away together with Squall."
"What Sorceress?" Irvine asked. He temporarily forgot to whimper.
Kenan frowned. "You don't know about her either?"
"No he doesn't." Cid answered. "The less that knew, the better."
-"Anyway, what are we going to do?" Kenan said.
Zell and Selphie caught up with them.
"Wazzup." Zell said as he greeted the rest.
Shaking his head, Irvine gave him the correct impression something was wrong. "Trouble…"
Selphie sighed. "What is it this time?"
The Headmaster cleared his throat. "A Sorceress we kept prisoner here escaped, together with Mr. Leonhart."
-"Whoa, wha?" Zell uttered, barely coherent.
Reaching inside his vest, Cid came up with a small photograph and handed it to Zell.
"This photo was taken when she was brought here by a local fisherman. Her name is Skye; Sorceress Skye." Cid explained. "She is quite powerful and thus dangerous. We cannot let her be captured by the Galbadian hands."
Selphie stared at the girl's photo over Zell's shoulder. "She doesn't look dangerous."
-"We think she's been in an accident and is suffering from amnesia." Kenan told them. "Maybe she doesn't even know of her powers."
"So why haven't we been told sooner?" Quistis asked curiously.
The Headmaster's face grew worried. "There was no need until now."
-"Huh?" Irvine said, not quite sure he understood what Cid meant by that.
"I'll inform you when you're in my office. But right now there are several other matters to attend to."
An annoyed look came over Zell's face. "What? More work?! We just fought a battle!"
-"Zell!" More than a few people called annoyed.
"Hey, wait a minute." Kenan said, his face lighting up. "If Squall escaped from Seifer, that means…"
-"He isn't with the Galbadians, yes. And so he might have been telling the truth all along." Quistis said.
Irvine and Selphie looked at Cid questioningly.
-"You should all take a break." He ordered them. "You've more than earned it. I'll take care of everything for now."
"Say, you think they're still serving lunch?" Zell asked with a hopeful look.
-"I should think so. Why don't check, and report back to us?"
It was exactly the kind of mission Zell loved and he made for the Cafeteria with impressive speed.
The headmaster followed him with his eyes for a moment and then turned to Kenan. "We'll set course for Fisherman's Horizon soon. We need some repair work to be done, we'll do that there."
Irvine stood vaguely staring in front of him. Selphie sighed and pushed him in his back.
"Yeow!" He cried out.
She was bewildered. "What's wrong?"
"My back kinda-- ah, never mind." He turned to the Headmaster. "Can I be excused to go to Infirmary?"
-"Of course." Cid said. "Selphie, why don't you got with him, I heard they're short a few hands, maybe you could help out. It'd be greatly appreciated.
"Alrighty!" She said cheerfully.
-"Were they many casualties?" Kenan asked, watching Irvine and Selphie enter the Infirmary.
Cid looked grave. "We don't have the numbers yet, but indeed there are quite a number of wounded."
"Perhaps I should assist the Doctor as well, Headmaster." Quistis offered. Soon only the Headmaster and the Commander remained, the rest of the team being momentarily disbanded.
They started slowly walking towards elevator
-"But Sir," Kenan said, thinking out loud. "Getting back on subject- if the Sorceress is truly is dangerous, shouldn't we go after her right away?"
"I have already sent a team of students that were closest to her." He explained. "You see I put a tracking device in her bangle, she's not far."
Kenan sighed in relief. "That's good to know."
Suddenly he realized something. "Sir, how's my sister doing?"
"Don't worry Kenan." Headmaster Cid assured. "During the battle Quistis had posted some men of her defense squad outside Tia's quarters. They reported no contact with the enemy."
Kenan rubbed his temples. Somehow he wasn't as relieved to hear that as he should have been. If his sister was no longer of any use to the Galbadians…what did that say about Sorceress Skye?
------------------------------------------
Squall led Skye to a cave near the ocean, just past Balamb. As he expected, nobody was anywhere near it-- and why would anyone be? It didn't look like much from a distance. And even up close, the camouflage netting could easily fool a person's eyes.
He pulled down the net that had covered up the entrance.
-"This the one?" Skye asked, staring inside the dark cavern as far as she could.
"Yeah." Squall replied. He turned to make sure they weren't seen, and headed inside.
Skye reluctantly followed, not sure if the cave was really deserted. What if a monster suddenly showed up? She had seen several out in the fields just now. In this darkness they lost the advantage of seeing them coming from the distance.
She shivered as they proceeded further in. A cold gust was coming from somewhere further down.
-"I can hardly see a thing!" She complained.
"Almost there." Squall assured her.
Did he have night-vision or something?
She heard a clicking sound, and a light just above her went on. Narrowing her eyes at first, she slowly got used to the intensity of the light. Squall had apparently pushed a button on the wall just up ahead.
"What is this place?" She asked, trying to make out the ill-lit shapes up ahead.
-"Hang on." Squall told her. He messed with another panel along the wall and a few more lights flickered on up ahead.
She looked ahead and was astonished by what she saw.
Squall turned to her. "And that's our way out of here."