Recap of the Story: The gang has been sent on a mission by Laguna to solve the mysterious monster uprising on the Plains of Esthar. Quistis is still trying to win Squall's heart, but Rinoa's filling her heart at the moment. Via Ragnarok, they fly to Esthar. First off, Irvine tries to win back Selphie's damaged heart by taking her shopping. Zell and Quistis go off to fight a few monsters, and Squall and Rinoa help out Zell and Quistis when they wake up. Squall gets a disturbing phone call saying the monsters are running all over the city of Esthar. Rinoa teleports Squall, Quistis, Zell, and herself back to Esthar. The gang meets up and split into groups. Rinoa teleports to Odine's Laboratory to defend Odine. Squall dashes to Laguna's Office. Selphie and Irvine head to defend the Air Station. And Zell and Quistis hang back to defend the Shopping Area. Zell and Quistis do an excellent job of defending the Shopping Area, but they fatigue and they get captured by an enormous Iron Giant. Selphie and Irvine also do well, but as a result of trying to show off his gun skills, Irvine lands on his head and knocks himself unconscious, or is he dead? Selphie takes him back to the Ragnarok. Rinoa clears out the Laboratory and discovers a strange book Odine was reading. Squall finds his father and just gets into a fight with him, not hearing Rinoa's scream from the Laboratory. Let's see what Squall's up to now.
"For the last time Squall it's SCONES!" bellowed Laguna, pissed off that Squall couldn't realize the word 'scone' was pronounced the way it was spelt. The boys couldn't stop arguing. As soon as one argument finished, another one erupted instantly.
"What the hell have you been trippin' on? It's pronounced SKONS!" Squall fired back.
"Shut up! I have more experience in the world than you do!"
"Are you joking? You screwed up with Julia. You're hated by the shopkeeper in Winhill, and you got Ward and Kiros in loads of shit! I have more experienced experience than you!"
Kiros took this time to step in and roared. "Everyone be quiet!" They all became quiet. "Can you hear anything from the outside?"
Laguna scratched his head and paused a moment before saying, "There's no sound. It's all quiet outside"
Squall wasn't surprised, "This probably means we killed all the monsters in the city."
"Yes but," Kiros said quietly "if that were the case, we'd hear the telepods and trains and people bustling about."
Squall's still wasn't surprised; he said, "I'll contact the Ragnarok." He flipped open his cell phone and dialed the Ragnarok's control desk.
"Hello?" said the still sobbing voice of Selphie.
"Selphie? Is that you? How are you and Irvine doing?"
"We're doing…..We're…doing…." she sobbed, "Irvine still hasn't woken up yet! But he's still breathing thankfully!" But she still cried. Squall figured he should leave her alone.
"Hang in there Selphie. Anyways, could you get Zell, Rinoa, or Quistis on the phone?"
"They're not here." Selphie sniffed. "Shouldn't they still be in Esthar?"
Squall froze. If everyone had killed all the monsters, then shouldn't they have gone back to the airship? Squall hastily thanked Selphie and hung up. He dialed Zell's cell phone. Four rings and then, "This is Balamb's International Phone Service. Unfortunately, this phone owner is unable to be contacted at the moment. If you would like to leave a message, press 1. If you would like, for a 1000 Gil fee, BLPS will monitor the cell phone and will notify you when the caller is able to be contacted again. If you wish to hear this message again, press 9." Squall hung up, and dialed Rinoa's number. He was in luck this time.
"Hel….Hello?" came the coughing whisper of Rinoa.
"Rinoa? What's wrong! You sound sick!" Squall gasped. What happened to Rinoa?"
"Squall…is…that you? H-help…me…cough I...I'm somewhere underground I think…I don't know how I got here...I just found a book, and read a few lines… and then…." The signal died.
"Rinoa!" Squall quickly re-dialed the number. No luck. Either Rinoa was sent further underground, the battery died, or something just plain weird happened.
Squall had a grim face when he put the phone back in his pocket.
"What's the situation?" Laguna inquired. "I got my contact lens, I can see now."
"They're...gone somewhere. Zell, Quistis….and Rinoa!" Squall sobbed. "I've got to find them!"
"I'll help too." Laguna offered.
"No. This is none of your business."
"Shut up. It's my business now. It was my business ever since you came here."
"But how will we know where Quistis and Zell were taken?" Looking out the window, Squall's mouth opened when he saw a lone Iron Giant heading out of the city, and behind it was a whole line of Iron Giants. Where could they be headed?
"I've got a plan." Squall smiled. "We're going to follow those Iron Giants quietly and see where they take us."
"Sounds like a plan to me. Kiros! Ward! Your jobs are to protect this office! Don't let them touch my lava lamps! Smack the living shit out of anything that breathes on my lava lamps!" Laguna turned and hugged one of his lava lamps.
"………" Was all Ward said.
"He's saying Roger that!" Kiros translated.
"Alright, then we're off! Dad, make sure to junction yourself with one of my GF's. You don't want to be a flimsy French fry out there!" Squall sneered.
"I know my stuff don't worry!" Laguna smiled.
The two strode out of the Office. Now that they were closer, they could see that the Iron Giants were headed towards the Sorceress Memorial. Why would they go there? There's been no need for it since we defeated Adel. Though Squall. As they neared the Memorial. The Iron Giants were descending through a trap door just on the outskirts of the Memorial. One by One the Iron Giants went in, and before the last one could close the trap door, Squall and Laguna slipped in from the sides.
It was a dark and narrow path, but Squall could tell they were descending underground. He kept his hand on the stone wall to make sure they were only going straight. The only light came from the few torches on the walls. They didn't dare take a torch fearing that the Iron Giant in front of them would notice. They didn't want to fight in this cramped space if they had the power to do so. Laguna heard a growl from somewhere.
"What do you think that growling sound is Squall?" Laguna asked, but Squall was too focused to really pay attention to what he was saying.
"Must be your stomach." Was his reply.
"Whatever." The growling sound never came back, so Laguna took no heed of it.
The passage never ended, and the Iron Giants still trudged along. Squall fingers along the wall felt wood instead of stone. He stopped, and Laguna bumped into him. After cursing at each other a few times, Squall managed to explain, "There's a door here. Feel it." Laguna acknowledged the door and nodded in the darkness.
"Shall we?" He smiled.
"You do the honors."
After making sure the Iron Giants were out of earshot, Laguna raised his right leg, and then…
"ARGH! CRAP I GOT A CRAMP!" Laguna hobbled around for a few minutes. When his cramp was over, he raised his right leg and kicked the door down. It made a very loud smashing sound. Squall was alarmed at the sound and got his gunblade ready. Thankfully, nothing came their way.
"Watch it next time!" Squall snapped at Laguna. Laguna responded with the peace-sign. Squall sighed, "Let's go." The found another narrow passageway descending down, but this time there were torches everywhere, so they sprinted to the bottom, where there was another door. This time, it wasn't locked for some reason. Inside the chamber was pitch black as the door slammed behind the two as they came in. Now they know why it was locked. One reason was so that anyone entering would find it hard to exit. The other reason they were going to find out. They held hands and walked around slowly. Something Laguna stepped on snapped, and they both froze, ready for anything. They heard a female voice.
"Who….who's there?"
A male voice said, "H-hel….Hello?"
Those voices sound familiar, though Squall and Laguna at the same time. Squall flashed his glowing Lionheart gunblade and illuminated the room. It was a grotesque sight. Rotting organs of all sorts lined the sides of the chambers. There were skulls stringed together and they piled up, thousands of them. Also in the distant corner were two very darkened dirtied bodies. If you didn't look close, it'd look like two corpses chained up. But Squall had been with these two bodies for awhile. He gasped as he saw the nearly dead bodies of Zell and Quistis chained up to the wall.