Chapter 3: Times that changed.

AN: Sorry this took so long. I think there are errors in it but I cannot be sure. I'll post it as is and fix it tonight if dates or anything else are incorrect.

I woke up. Dazed. Last I remember I was looking at a cowboy then I was here. Damn, I remember now. He was the one who knocked me out. However now wasn't the time to worry about it. I looked around I it seemed I was in a semi lit storage room, nothing was in it. I could tell that the electronic panel to open the door was dead however I still walked over to it and tried. Not surprisingly it didn't respond. I waited by the door. I couldn't tell if I was in an aircraft or a ship. There were no windows. I could hear the hum of a machine but couldn't tell if it was an engine or something else. It didn't take long for the sound of approaching footsteps to be heard. I stood in front of the door ready to attack. It opened, it was that man with the strange tattoo on his face. As quickly as I could I launched a roundhouse kick at him. I connected in his left shoulder which caused him to spin however he only spun to gain momentum for a counter roundhouse into my chest. I flew back into the storage room wall. His strength was unreal, I shook my head. "Ok, you win."

"If I were you I wouldn't try that again." He said.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Well right now you are 20,000 feet in the air heading towards the area known as Balamb."

"And what will happen to me?"

"I do not know yet. Depends on your story."

I read some basic intelligence our forces gathered on this world. The Gardens as they were called were mercenary training facilities. "I didn't know your mercenary training camps talk with POW's?"

He looked a bit surprised. "It seems ya know more than we thought. That's good. You will know how to help yourself better."

We landed at this Balamb Garden and I was taken to an interrogation room. The room was like any other interrogation room. Small, dark, I sat down in a cheap wooden chair at a cheap wooden table. Following me inside was the cowboy. He sat across me. He didn't speak, he just stared at me. "My name is Irvine Kinneas. You are-" He looked at my papers, they were in English but one was in Russian. He looked confused at the ones in Russian. "Korey Luck. Born in Orlando Florida, April 17th 1984." He thought about the next word. "It says Repatriotised in 1992. What does that mean?"

"Let me start from the beginning. I studied history before and after the fall of Capitalism in my nation. I have duel citizenship in both America and The Soviet Union. Anyway though people debate when this started I agree that from 1953 till 1991 my world was in a conflict know as the Cold War."

"What's that?" He interrupted.

"A conflict where, in this case, two nations are so powerful they can destroy each other so they find other ways to gain superiority over one another. Such as going to weaker nations, funding them and in return the nation becomes an ally. It all started when China finished it's war of liberation and in 1950 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea launched a daring strike, with Soviet help, against the American puppet nation The Republic of Korea or south Korea as it was more commonly know as in America. The DPRK forces quickly liberated the area mainly because the American forces had few tanks and anti tank weapons in south Korea. They did manage to halt the DPRK forced for a time but in the end all of Korea was liberated except for Jeju, a southern island. The war ended in 1953."

"So why didn't this America fight the Soviet Union right there? Launch an attack so that wouldn't happen again." He asked.

"Well the world had just gotten over a Second World War." I could see the shock in his eyes at that. However it also seemed more of a soft shock. Like something may have happened to him in this world. I decided to forget it and continue. "The major fighting was between The Allies and Axis. The Allies were the nations: United States of America, The Soviet Union, Communist and Nationalist China, France, The United Kingdom, Denmark, Belgium, The Netherlands, occupied Vietnam, occupied Laos, occupied Cambodia, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, The Philippines, and Liberia.

The Axis nations were: Japan, occupied Korea, Manchuria, Germany, Finland, Romania, Hungry, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Italy, and puppet nations carved out from Yugoslavia. To make a long story short the allies won at a very heavy price. Now back to the Cold War. After Korea the Americas began an a form of human rights violations occurred called McCarthyism. It was the arrest of peaceful Communists in America. Then later a similar situation, that happened in Korea happened in a nation called Vietnam. It was occupied by France but Communist forces under the leadership of a man named Ho Chi Minh brought liberation and Socialism to the north while America brought Capitalism and Imperialism to the south. American and Soviet forces gave aid to their ally but after a long stalemate the Americans sent ground and air forces to south Vietnam. Do you understand so far?"

"Heh, yeah. Keep going." He said while waving his hand in keep going motion.

"Anyway the US decided that another Korea was not going to happen, so they invaded the North Vietnam. However even bigger problems occurred. The population of both the north and south didn't just give in to invasion. They continued to fight. It ended in 1980 with America fully withdrawing."

"I have heard enough." The cowboy said flatly. "It seems to me that your forces plan a worldwide takeover. I will put through an order to have you sent to the Balamb Section of D-District Prison."

"Section?" I was not confused. Just testing how much info on the situation of this world's alliances and splits.

"After a event known as time compression occurred the Galbadian military shrank due to soldiers and officers quiting and even defecting to Balamb or Esthar so they offered use of their prison as well as other concessions to Balamb, Dollet, and Esthar for a 6 year nonaggression pact. The Pact expired last month."

So that was why they thought we were Galbadians.

"Get up and follow me." Irvine ordered.

As soon as we exited the room I followed him along with the one called Zell and three others acting as an escort. We walked to a transport vehicle. I entered the colorful van like vehicle. There were no windows but small slits so I opened one and the ones known as Zell and Irvine were walking away. Two of the three escorts entered the van and the other just stood there until we departed. As we left I looked outside at the impressive structure. How I wished I could have seen more. The drive took only twenty minutes to enter the city however the city was huge. It took 2 hours to drive to the docks. They opened the door and with swords drawn they told me to get into what looked like a prison transport boat. It was a camouflaged ocean blue with a few massive machine guns attached to it. I entered and saw two more people being transported with me. It was dark so I could only make out one. He wore a brown trench coat and a blue mask.

"Well looks like we have more company. On the way to hell above sand. Just some to let you know once they open that door again I am escaping or getting killed. So you can either help or cringe like a cold toddler." The man in the shadow said.

"Heh, I'm known as Tear to people in these parts so you can call me that." The man in the mask said. "Oh and the walking bad attitude over here next to me is called Seifer."

The man in the shadows leaned forward. He had a scar on his face, he wore a badly torn white coat with a red sword on it. I thought about what the one called Seifer said. "Hey Seifer, I'll help you escape if you can get me as close to Dollet as you can."

He smiled. "I can get you to a occupied town called Timber. If you are good enough to keep up with me then you can make it the rest of the way."