AN: I know it's been a while but as I said, this one is my side projects for when nothing else seems to come willingly. I worked on this bit by bit and here the next chapter is. For now, enjoy close calls and a lot of action. (fyi this is my first major action sequence… so any feedback concerning how to make this and future encounters flow more naturally, would be greatly appreciated)

TECKNICALITIES:

A: I don't know what kind of weapon Nida uses… so I have him use a spear

B: I changed GF's just a TINY bit. It's not so much compatibility as it is Who gets priority (GF favoritism, is thus still a part of it) but because it is priority, there could be say… one summon right after another of the same GF from different people. I know it screws stuff up a bit, but that's how things worked out best, yes I am thinking long run.

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~Flight of the Destined~

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Selphie's group had been stationed at the beach. They were so to speak the messengers as well as the last line and the first to engage the enemy. As Rinoa ran passed them they continued to take down Galbadian after Galbadian. It seemed odd as she fought them, that not two days ago, these were the people she was in a way, working for. To so easily switch one's allegiance… it seemed wrong. It was wrong, but there was nothing she could do about it now. This was the path she had chosen, the path she had followed and in turn the path she was subjected to. In a different life perhaps things would be different. Maybe if her mother hadn't…

"The surrounding area has been cleared." Mattie, a girl with medium length brown hair pulled into a pony tail and brown eyes interrupted her thoughts.

"Very good." Nida was the squad leader. He was calm and quiet and a fairly good fighter. It had been a fairly easy job, there weren't a lot of Galbadians hanging around the down town area. The only sounds that could be heard were the echoes of Galbadian artillery from the distance, destroying who know what. All three regardless of the stagnant feeling all stood prepared for an ambush, constantly searching the surrounding area for signs of such an occurrence.

Rinoa had enough practice blindsiding her instructors in Galbadia to know how to remain still and remain attentive to everything said. They had no problem's picking on the daughter of the General; he wouldn't believe a damn word that came out of her mouth if it concerned how evil Galbadia Garden was. Because of how she had been treated she was more than able to handle herself when it came to composure, she knew that wouldn't be a problem on the scoring. As things were looking, there wouldn't be anything too bad, so they all would likely pass. But things could change in the blink of an eye, life had taught her that, one too many times.

"Do you hear that?" Nida asked. Mattie and Rinoa both strained their ears until footsteps registered in their hearing. They immediately formed up, ready to attack. It sounded like two pairs of footsteps heading their way. Then it sounded as if one began going a different direction while one continued towards the three cadets. Selphie rounded the corner, she stopped a moment leaning her hands on her knees as she bent over to catch her breath. It was clear there was no one behind her so they dropped formation, the other two knowing that she was one of their own from the uniform.

Selphie looked up and spotted Rinoa and gave her a quick smile as she began running up and past them,

"Group B, almost there, just a few more blocks. Going to be fine, gonna get there." It was just barely audible but Rinoa could hear it. As she passed out of sight Mattie spoke up.

"That's Seifer's team isn't it?"

"Yeah." Rinoa answered.

"Wonder what's up?"

"We'll find out on her way back if it applies to us." Nida spoke.

"Think it's a retreat?" Rinoa asked. Section 1 paragraph 4: The messengers will give the order to retreat to the furthest station first then the retreat will follow through to insure no one is left behind.

"Maybe. We'll find out soon." Mattie said. Things were like that for some time. Selphie didn't reappear and no Galbadians passed by. Needless to say they were all feeling rather antsy. This continued until Rinoa noticed a small shaking underneath her feet. Mattie was pacing and Nida was sitting at this point.

"You guys feel that?"

"What?" Nida looked at her and stood on his feet as Mattie stopped her pacing. They stood still for a moment and the shaking became more pronounced.

"What the Hell is that?" Mattie blurted. Then a loud metal screeching sound from up in the hills was heard and they all looked in the direction of a tall tower that was now visibly shaking even more so than the ground. A canister of sorts shot through its center. As it reached the top of the tower, it spun as it rotated to a programmed degree. The sides opened and plates slid out to connect them ending with a circle of metallic plates that bent into the shape of a satellite dish. The center of the dish continued the transformation by splitting it's antenna into different sections. Electricity crackled between them all and a loud hum followed by a stream of light emanated from the center of the satellite.

"Is that what the Galbadians were after?" Rinoa questioned in awe. The hum had settled and was no longer audible and the shaking had stopped as well. On the back side of the satellite a large flying thing hovered, letting loose an echoing screech as it threw billows of wind, that could no doubt send people flying, on the tower deck.

"Well, some Galbadian's got what they deserved." Rinoa said, Mattie continued.

"Woke something up, and it's really cranky too." They returned their attention to their surroundings to make sure nothing had changed. It was like that for three minutes, then the unthinkable happened. A ball of red rock crushed the creature, as a loud rumble echoed in the streets.

"Was that…"

"…Ifrit?" Rinoa looked to her two comrades as Nida managed to get the GF's name off his tongue to finish Mattie's question. They were all uneasy in the realization that more Cadets where up there. What was more worrisome was the fact that they all knew none of the Cadets were stationed anywhere near that tower. No one said anything. It was not addressed as it was not their jurisdiction, and they just didn't know what to think of it. Three groups were beyond theirs; Seifer's group was the only one directly behind them. That was the group Selphie had been going to and she hadn't come back yet. The pieces fit.

She kept her eye trained in the direction they would come from. A flash of silver and blond later. Seifer was running past them into the Café.

"Get inside, now!" When they didn't move he continued, "There's a large group of soldiers heading this way, I saw them from up top. He dashed in, and when clanking boots hitting pavement made its way to their ears, they followed. He stood catching his breath as Nida asked,

"Seifer where's the rest of your team?"

"They couldn't keep up." He stated nonchalantly. So much for his passing this exam, more like he was going to get in a shit load of trouble. The group of Galbadians passed the Café heading towards the rest of Seifer's team and probably an accompanying Selphie.

"Hey they can take care of themselves, and I'm sure the pipsqueak can take care of herself too." He said noticing Rinoa's scowl. She wanted to shout, she wanted to scream, she wanted to slap Seifer for his stupidity. She did none of these.

"With that attitude do you honestly expect to pass the exam?" He gave her a quick smirk.

"Oh, we need to be back at the beach at 19:00, that would give you seventeen minutes, good luck." With that he ran out the café doors and took off running towards the ships.

"Damn it."

"Captain?" She turned to Nida for orders, he looked as skeptical of the situation as she did. They all stepped back outside, where they belonged.

"He wasn't a messenger."

"No, and Selphie's probably…" She heard a scream come from the mountain side. All three looked as a giant mechanical, for lack of better words, spider jumped down a few hundred feet in front of three very small figures.

"What the hell are they doing up there?" Mattie shrieked.

"Nida?" Rinoa looked to the Captain, hoping he felt as she did and knowing that if she wanted to pass, it really didn't matter how she felt, she just had to do as she was told.

"Section 15 paragraph 5: if your station has been cleared and the station nearest you is in need of help, leave your area guarded and assist the neighboring station." He quoted.

"Section 1 paragraph 1 sentence 1: The order to withdraw takes precedence over all others." Mattie spat back. Rinoa rolled her eyes.

"Section 1 paragraph 2: If the order to withdraw does not come form a reliable source, disregard it."

"There's no way Seifer would leave a fight unless he had to, Captain you know damn well…"

"Mattie, you will guard this station until told to otherwise from a messenger or one of us. Rinoa…?"

"I'm with you."

"Are you guys nuts?" Mattie yelled. "We need to go back, there's no point in guarding this station if the last one isn't being guarded!"

"Go back, inform Instructor Aki of the situation, we'll be there before the time to withdraw." Nida ordered. Mattie stepped backwards scoffing at their choice then turned and ran towards the beach. With that they took after the mass of Galbadian to help their comrades.

As they ran through the town square a group of five Galbadian soldiers cut them off from proceeding further. That's what happens when one doesn't obey order and leaves their station. There was nothing to do about it now. Nida charged forward to meet the charging Galbadians. In close combat machine guns became cumbersome and the closer Nida got, the easier it was to fight. Rinoa was better off at a distance. Her pinwheel was long distance and was set off using her right hand, while the system was attached to her left arm. Nida quickly took down two soldiers as Rinoa dodged bullets with her GF enhanced senses as her weapon sliced one soldiers head clean off, nicking another in the side on it's return. The soldier clutched his side in agony as Nida knocked his third to the ground as the soldiers bullets ricochet off of nearby metal gutter, nailing the soldier clutching his side, in the head. They moved forward leaving the dead behind.

Death wasn't something Rinoa cared for. She hadn't become numb to it, she still hated it, hated causing it, hated being what she was. But she had little else. It was a poor excuse when she could be back in Timber killing Galbadian Soldiers there… it was still killing. It was a different cause, but realistically, the cause didn't matter anymore. Her father was in charge of these soldiers, and if they failed, so did he. It was reckless, it was merciless, it was ruthless, and it was her, a girl who hated all these qualities had become what she hated, was becoming who she hated. Her father. There was no consolation for her. Only the ability to loath herself and beat back as much unnecessary bloodshed as possible, let her live on with some semblance of peace.

The closer they got to the giant spider the more pronounce the ground's shaking became. They ran forward passing bodies of monsters and civilians and soldiers alike. They rounded a corner and the shaking appeared to be nearly above them as rocks slid from the top down the steep slope. They were running towards something large and mechanical behind a large group of enemy soldiers. Maybe Mattie was right.

They were getting closer and Rinoa began to call upon Shiva. The shaking stopped as they rounded yet another corner. They stopped abruptly. Thirteen soldiers stood, all facing towards the three oncoming cadets. Zell, Selphie, and… The machine jumped down a few feet landing directly behind the three who were now stopped before the soldiers. The machine looked over the situation recognizing friends, and targeting foes. It knew the three it was after were cornered. There was no escape. It's red eye raked the two enemies behind the soldiers and the oscillating eye stopped, if only briefly, on Rinoa.

"Diamond Dusts!" Rinoa yelled and the ice goddess appeared in her icy cage and burst forth as she called upon the power of ice. The power was thrust foreword and covered every soldier there. Then the ice shattered into trillions of shards as Shiva disappeared leaving nearly dead soldiers in her wake. The machine didn't care. It jumped over it's three prior targets leaving it's hind side exposed as it landed on several soldiers leading to several sickening crunches. Nida and Rinoa both stood still for only a second before Nida's summon for Quezacotl was completed.

"Thunder Storm!" The thunder bird gathered electricity in it's hold and let it burst in a bubble of electricity to encompass and confuse it's machine prey. Then the GF was gone and the machine began to recover.

"Run" He didn't need to say it, but no one was moving, so Squall said it anyway. Selphie, Zell, and Squall ran around the collapsed machine and fell into formation behind Nida and Rinoa

Fortunately the soldiers had cleared the immediate area of monsters so the rest of their flight down the mountain path wasn't difficult. They passed Squad B's assigned position, the town square. They continued to run from the clanking metal sounds. They passed through the café area again and the ground shook beneath them as bricks flew in every direction.

"Man, Not again." Zell muttered, under his labored breath. Rinoa looked behind them quickly to see the red eye a short distance away, trained on her, and her alone. She turned her face forward and ran faster.

They had made it to the bridge and the machine was closing in. Midway, a shadow passed overhead as the clamping of the machine stopped. Then they stopped, the red eye still trained on Rinoa who had placed just behind and to the right of Squall, with Zell to her left and Nida and Selphie just behind.

"Three minutes." Selphie noted.

Nida and Selphie began summoning their Quezacotles as the machine extended several sharp looking metal claws from each leg tip. It stepped forward to slash at Rinoa who ducked to the left as Squalls Gunblade met metal claws. He dislodged his sword from the claws letting the machine continue it's swipe with it's intended targets well out of the way.

With Rinoa positioned to the side, the center of the machine's underside opened dropping a machine gun and pointed it towards Rinoa. She put her weapon in front of her to guard her heart from the bullets, as she attempted to dodge it's target lock without having anyone come in-between it, and her. Most bullets missed her or hit her weapon but one did manage to hit her left shoulder and one took a small chunk out of the left side of her abdomen. Mean while, Zell, avoiding detection briefly, force kicked the base of the gun from the side, breaking it off. He jumped back avoiding the claw that swiped his way. Nida's Quezacotl hit first, and Selphie's hit right after, it was enough to disorientate it and everyone rushed around it.

The only one not bleeding in some fashion by now was Nida who jumped the steps to make sure a sub boat stayed for them. The machine regained it's presence of programming and turned to follow its target. Zell and Selphie had made it around first and were rushing towards the last remaining form of transportation. Rinoa jumped the steps with Squall right behind her. The machine stepped where they had just been and sent the sand, and gravel, and brick tumbling on top of them with the machine's body stuck in an awkward position mere feet behind them.

"C'MON!" Zell yelled at them as they both got up. Both ignored the pain that was running through their entire bodies. Rinoa made it to the beach edge as she heard a loud machine gun above, she jumped from her run, landing her in the back of the sub boat, she turned to see Squall mid-flight.

It was like time stopped as she finally looked him in the eye's. She saw determination, and pain… and color. In this moment, the walls she had carefully constructed around her mind to prevent herself from seeing herself as different, crumbled. For so long she had been able to ignore the fact that others saw other colors in addition to red. She had been able to forget that she could see the color of some peoples eyes, she had forgotten that she could see the skin color on some people. But most of all she had been able to forget that rainy day that had ruined her life, and the little boy in color.

The moment of the good bye flashed through her mind, she couldn't remember the place, the people, or who that little boy was. But then isn't what mattered. Now is what mattered, as she could see squalls light blue eye's, his pale skin, and his navy blue uniform with silver edges to it. Colors and names matched as she could have only done in her earliest childhood. And this man in color who she had managed to not look at through an entire race for safety, the man she had no doubt, subconsciously avoided looking at, was this close to dying at the claws of that blasted machine.

Time resumed and the machine was pushed backwards by the force of the machine gun bullets. Squall caught on to the back edge of the boat, as it had already begun to drift. Nida and Zell rushed forward to haul him up out of the water. The boat accelerated forward as the back doors closed and locked in an airtight seal, leaving the disastrous exam behind.

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R and R….!