CHAPTER 3 – Galbadia's Invasion of Dollet

"...is the communications tower. This is where Squad F will be," Instructor Trepe finished the location briefing. "You, Squad C, will be located here: the city square."

"So we go in, kick some ass, and guard the water fountain?" Seifer asked, boringly.

"Basically," Xu answered.

"Wow. Awesome."

"This is to be taken seriously, Seifer," Xu kicked him in the ankle. "This isn't a little training exercise—this is an actual SeeD mission that we're using as SeeD recruiting. With an attitude like that, it's no wonder why you didn't get in last year."

"Oh, suck my cock, sweet ass, I'm just saying that this is boring as all hell. We're securing a fountain, for God's sake."

Squall was listening to the briefing while at the same time adjusting her gunblade.

"You really like that thing," Zell's voice came from her right. She turned to see him watching her intently.

"Yeah. It's the only thing I've got that used to be my dad's. I don't even know who he was."

"Oh, sorry."

"That's okay. I know my mom's name, and even what she did for a living."

"What?"

"Well, her name was Raine Leonhart, and she was a bartender at a bar/apartment. That's supposedly how she and my dad met—he wandered into town and asked to rent the room upstairs. Then they fell in love and I came about because of it."

"Hey, dick suckers, why don't you two listen to the briefing? I'm gettin' my ass chewed out over here because I ain't listening." Seifer sat back in his seat after his rant.

"I was listening, Seifer," Squall stuck out her tongue. "And for your information, I'd say it helps your teammate trust you if they know a little bit about you."

"What? Here's all I need to know about you: you're five-foot-six, weigh a little over a hundred pounds, have thirty-four C tits, and you're dating a guy who can't think but five minutes in front of his dick."

"Funny—all of those sounds like you," she said, laughing.

"Yeah, funny. If you don't shut the hell up, I don't think we'll do good on this mission, y'know that?"

"She's right, Seifer," Xu said, smacking him with a ruler. "You three need to trust one another, and if you don't, this mission won't go good. So stick your holier-than-thou attitude up your ass and get along with your teammates!"

Seifer had a look of extreme surprise on his face.

"And if you make fun of my little brother's slight... intelligence problem again, I'll beat your ass."

"Squall," Instructor Trepe said, "can you go up top and see how close we are to Dollet?"

"Yes, Instructor," Squall said, nodding. She fixed her skirt and climbed up the ladder on the far end of the room. After a lewd whistle from Seifer, she shut the hatch and entered the gun turret on top.

Dollet was quite obvious, due to the massive amounts of explosions and upward trails of gunfire. The beachhead was framed by a dozen or so SeeD ships that had already landed. The one Squall was on would be just another one of those in a few moments. She hit the transceiver button. "Instructor Trepe, we're almost there."

"Thank you, Squall. You may return to the cabin."

"Yes, Instructor." She opened the hatch and dropped back down into the cabin. Zell handed her gunblade over to her, which she slung the sheath over her shoulder and drew the gunblade, making sure it was absolutely balanced for the mission at hand. "We should run aground in about ten seconds."

Sure enough, ten seconds later, Squall was right. They hit the beachhead with a very loud thud and a grinding noise like metal hitting rock. Then, the front door opened and Xu lead the way out of the ship. After her was Seifer, then Zell, then Squall, and finally Instructor Trepe stayed behind. "One is always ordered to stay behind and watch the ship," she said, when Squall asked why she was staying behind.

"All right, listen up!" Seifer shouted to her and Zell, sounding quite leader-like. "We're here to secure the central square—which is that way," he pointed ahead of them. "You will follow my orders without question and do as I say, got that?"

"Sir, yes sir..." Squall said, dryly.

"If you weren't the hottest piece of ass in school, I'd beat you to death," Seifer said, turning around.

Squall pulled the hem of her skirt down to cover up her panties as she sat on the fountain. Their journey there had been slow, yet fulfilling. Several Galbadian soldiers had died by either her gunblade, Seifer's gunblade, or Zell's fists. She had to admit—Zell was quite good at beating people to death with his fists.

Squad A's field leader—Shibiru—walked into the area from the way they'd came. His first action was to wave to Squall, which prompted an immediate course of action by Seifer, who grabbed him and slammed him to the ground.

"You tryin' to give away our position, bitch?" Seifer practically shouted.

"Seifer, leave him alone," Squall said, walking over to him and putting her hands on her hips. "He's just here to check and see if we're—" She looked to her right and saw a group of Galbadian soldiers running toward them. She couldn't tell if they could see them, but it wasn't worth the risk. "Quick! Hide!"

Seifer, Zell, Squall, and Shibiru all hid on the opposite side of the fountain. Squall heard a whimpering noise coming from her right. She looked and found a stray dog, which looked as though it hadn't been fed in weeks. It was off-white, with patches of brown and black all over its thin body. It was probably the saddest thing she'd seen since Seifer.

"C'mere, boy," she whispered to the dog, waving her hands toward herself.

"Squall, it's just a stray, leave it alone," Seifer ordered.

"No! As soon as he barks, they'll come over here and find us! Better if they don't see him!"

"Fine, shit..."

The dog walked over to Squall and plopped down on the ground in front of her. She looked over the fountain and saw that the Galbadians were just about gone. The last one stopped and looked around, as if suspicious about something, then followed his comrades. As he disappeared behind the buildings, Squad C and the lone Squad A member stood up and breathed a sigh of relief.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Seifer shouted. "Just leave the damn thing!"

"No," Squall said, firmly. "I wouldn't leave you if you were dying."

"I'm a human! That's a goddamned dog!"

"The way you're acting now, I don't see a difference."

"Fine. Hakashi: what the hell are you doing here?" Seifer turned to Shibiru and folded his arms across his chest.

"Okaido sent me here to check on you guys, and told me to stay with you if necessary."

"Well, I don't think it's necessary. We're just fine as is."

"Then I ran into Xu, who ordered me to stay with you."

"What?"

"Xu doesn't trust you. And with what you've been like since I showed up, I don't blame her."

"Christ... Bunch of goddamned pansies... Don't fucking trust me..."

"So," Squall said, looking up at Shibiru, "why did Okaido tell you to come check on us?"

"To be honest, I don't think he really trusts Seifer. And he said it was standard procedure."

"Oh. What's going on, anyway?"

"Well, most of the Galbadian soldiers have relocated to the communications tower, that way," he pointed the way the soldiers had all ran. "Other than that, we don't know exactly what's going on. They seem to know that SeeD's here, though."

Squall sat down on the edge of the fountain. The dog was licking her left leg. "Well, Seifer, what do you think we should do?" she asked, looking over at him.

"What'chu askin' me for?"

"Because you're the squad leader, whether anybody trusts you or not."

Seifer spat on the ground. "Okay. Lover Boy," he addressed Shibiru, "what teams are near the communications tower?"

"None. This the closest one."

"Okay. Then we're gonna go see just what they're doing."

"What?" Zell shouted in amazement. "But that's against orders!"

"You always do what you're told, Chicken-Wuss?"

Zell growled. "Don't call me that!" he spat out.

"Whatever. We're goin' and we're goin' now. Lover Boy?"

"Yeah?"

Seifer smirked. "Welcome to the team."

Squall, Shibiru and Zell were the only ones taking it cautiously, it seemed. Their path following Seifer was littered with the corpses of Galbadian soldiers.

"He sure loves choppin' people up, don't he?" Shibiru asked. "And you let this guy be your team leader?"

"Wasn't our choice," Squall answered.

They continued up the path until they came to a small clearing, overlooking the doorway to the communications center. Seifer was nowhere to be found, but his gunblade had been the one to chop open the door to the massive fifty meter building. And one look past the door made it obvious to everyone that he had thoroughly enjoyed cutting up, disemboweling and masochistically slaughtering the enemy soldiers.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Squall said, burying her head in Shibiru's chest as he held on to her. He patted her on the back of the head.

"Goddamn... he just doesn't let up, does he?" Zell asked.

"Wait," Squall said, lifting her head up, "where's Squad F? Quistis and Xu said they were the tower team."

"They were taken out when they landed," Shibiru answered. "They got to the beachhead just before Squad A did."

"C'mon," Zell said, "We need to get up top."

They walked inside, Zell first, then Squall, then Shibiru. A very small elevator was waiting for them as they approached. "So," Squall asked, "up or here?"

"Doesn't look like we've got much choice," Shibiru said, stepping onto the elevator platform. Squall and Zell followed. "At least it's cramped in here, so we can—you know."

"Shibi, did you forget there's somebody else in the elevator with us?"

Shibiru looked over at Zell, who had a very aggrivated look on his face.

"Aw, damn it..."

Sergeant Biggs of the Galbadian Grand Army hated his life right then and there. He was stuck on the top of the communications tower, at least two hundred feet up where he could die if he fell, and he had to fix the damned comms dish because that lazy bastard Wedge hadn't done it. When he got up there, he saw Wedge laying down on the job, so he told him to go survey the other side of the dish. That would keep him busy.

The blue wire's connected to the—blue tab. The green wire's connected to the—green tab, right? But there's no green tab! Damn it!

"Sergeant Biggs, sir?"

Biggs turned around and saw Wedge standing there, looking very nervous. "What is it, Wedge?"

"Sir, there's nothing on the other side of the dish, sir."

"Good, now just stay put while I fix this damned thing."

"Yes, sir..."

Biggs turned back around and returned to his work.

Squall drew her gunblade as the elevator rose closer and closer to the top. It was hard to do, as Shibiru and Zell were much bigger than her, and the elevator was cramped.

They reached the top and immediately, Shibiru and Zell moved off to either side as soon as the door opened. They drew their weapons—fists and guns—as Squall walked forward, holding her gunblade ready. There was a man wearing red, with a strange device on his left hand, knelt in front of a circuitboard inside of a small box. "Here we go," the man said, clipping a few wires.

For minutes, nothing happened, then the building began to shake. A wrench fell through one of the slits in the metal floor. As Squall watched, the wrench disappeared before hitting the ground. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach—falling from this height would kill anyone and anything and there probably wouldn't be a body anymore.

"Ah! Done!" the guy in red said, happily. A noise was coming from the center of the building. It steadily began to grow when, suddenly, a strange cylinder shot out of the building. A fourth of the cylinder tilted toward the sea, then opened up, revealing a sharp point in the middle. The four split parts of the top opened further, creating a fan shape until finally they became a circle around the point. The circle then adjusted until it became a satalite dish. A strange electronic sound began emitting from it.

Squall walked over to the red guy and pushed him against the circuit board he'd been working on. "What the hell is that thing?" she asked, looking into his very confused face.

"A little girl? What the hell?"

Squall punched him in the gut, doubling him over. "Don't give me an answer, and this little girl is gonna kill your ass! We're SeeD, and we're here to stop you Galbadian assholes from doing whatever the hell you're trying to do!"

"What we're trying to do? Wait, where the hell is Wedge? Ah! That son of a bitch!"

"Hey, hey! I'm talkin' to you! What the hell are you trying to do?"

"We're turnin' on that thing, you stupid cunt!"

Shibiru walked up to the red guy, gently pushed Squall out of the way and grabbed the red guy by the collar. He slammed him to the floor and dragged him to the edge. "Call my girlfriend that again, and I will toss you overboard, got it?" Squall almost felt happy—a guy she'd barely been dating was protecting her. "Now, answer the goddamned question, asshole: what the hell were you doing?"

"Like I told your little cunt girlfriend there, turning that satalite dish on, dumbass!"

Shibiru pushed him a little closer to the edge, then let go, and kicked him off. The red guy was fast, though, and grabbed the edge almost as soon as he was overboard. Shibiru put his foot over the red guy's hand and was about step on it before Squall grabbed him and pulled him away. "I'm okay, Shibi, and he's not going anywhere," she looked down at him. The hand not holding onto the edge was covered in what appeared to be a gatling gun. "He'll fall eventually. Now, our job's finished, let's get outta here, okay?"

Shibiru looked down at the guy and then knelt down, grabbing him by the collar again. He pulled him up and shoved him back onto the mesh floor. "You touch Squall—or anybody around her or even looks like her—and I'll rip your fucking throat out, got that?"

"Yuh—yeah..."

The red guy stood up and ran to the elevator, pressing the button to go down. Squall almost felt sorry she stopped Shibiru now—that bastard hat taken their only ride down.

"Now we gotta wait," Zell said—the only words he'd spoken since they arrived up top.

"Really?" Shibiru asked. "We could always jump."

Squall looked up at him, he looked angry. She felt sad. "Shibi, please?" She stood right in front of him and put her hands on his chest. "Don't talk like that."

"He insulted you, Squall," he said, looking her right in the eye. "I can't stand for shit like that. What did you do to him to deserve that?"

"I did call him an asshole."

"We're not the ones invading some poor small town."

"Yes we are. Except we're invading it to stop the people who already invaded it."

Shibiru put his arms around and held on to her. "You're right... I'm so sorry..."

"It's okay," Squall said, moving her arms up to hold on to him and burying her head in his chest. "You're a boy... boys can be stupid." She started crying. "I don't mind if you're stupid sometimes."

Shibiru gently lifted her head and kissed her on lips. For that single moment, the whole Dollet situation didn't exist. The whole world didn't exist as far as she was concerned.

Squall, Shibiru and Zell took the elevator down as soon as it returned. They left the building and found Seifer standing at the entrance. "Where the hell did you guys go?" he asked, sheathing his gunblade.

"Where did we go?" Squall asked, almost hysterical. "Where the hell were you?"

"I was cleanin' up, hot stuff. What the hell were you guys doin' up there?"

"Almost tossin' a guy over the edge," Zell answered, looking at Shibiru. Shibiru shot a look back at him.

"Really? One of you finally grow some balls? Bet it was Squall, wasn't it? Chick grows more balls than the two dudes in the team."

"Shut up, Seifer," Shibiru said, walking past him. "Let's just get back to the boats."

"Shut up?" Seifer drew his gunblade. "Why don't you make me shut up?"

Shibiru didn't make a move. Seifer almost looked like he was about to burst a lobe. He grabbed Shibiru by the shoulder, spun him around and—

—and received a powerhouse punch to the face, sending shards of tooth and trails of blood into the air. A drip of blood landed on Squall's shoulder. She wiped it off. Shibiru picked Seifer up by the collar of his coat and pulled him close. "Nobody gives a damn about you, Seifer, nobody. You're constantly acting like you're the king of the goddamn castle but you screw up every damn chance you have, and then you blame it on somebody else! Take some responsibility for the shit you do and shut your goddamn mouth!"

He pushed Seifer back down to the ground and started walking away. Zell followed him, and Squall followed him. They all three left Seifer behind.

By the time they got to back to the boats, the rest of the SeeDs and SeeD trainees had also returned. Every other boat was gone. They had suffered few casualties, luckily. Selphie had been waiting by Squad D's boat. "You guys had me worried! I almost thought I lost my best friend! Squall, are you okay?"

Squall giggled. "I'm fine. We didn't really do any fighting."

Instructor Trepe walked out of the boat. "C'mon, kids. We need to get back to the Garden, other wise the two teenage girls who are holding us up will be put in detention for the next week and a half."

Squall and Selphie turned to Instructor Trepe and shouted, "We're not holding anybody up!"