Part I. New Powers
Once we arrived at Traverse Town, gas masks removed, an envelope (snail-mail size) flew to us and when it opened a 3-D arrow appeared and from the envelope Irvine's voice called out, "Hey there, guys. If you received this message then good. Follow the arrow to find me. I want to discuss some things with you."
The arrow then pointed to a certain direction and we followed it. When the arrow turned at certain points, we turned to its direction. Eventually we ended up at a manhole and when the arrow pointed downwards, we shrugged our shoulders, then, after removing the 'cover', descended, replacing the 'cover' afterward.
After reaching the bottom, we were at the sewers (obviously). As we continued to follow the arrow (thankfully, it did not require us to cross the water since it led us to bridges at certain points), we eventually ended up at a chamber and, along with some targets, there was Irvine.
"Hey there, guys. You're just in time for some target practice. Let's get started."
After half an hour of target practice (the targets mysteriously reappeared after being completely busted), I showed Irvine the gummi block we got from the Deep Jungle. When he inspected it for a minute or two, then he suggested I show it to Quistis.
He then gave us a small wooden slab with a bear's pawprint engraved in it, told us to show it to Merlin, then showed us a teleporter. When we entered it, we were suddenly at the SeeD Remnants HQ (judging by what I saw of it as I went outside after my rest from my showdown with Irvine when I first met him).
As we wandered about, we eventually saw Quistis in the living room sitting on the sofa, setting a jug of water and some plastic cups (not the party-type disposable sort). As we sat down on the sofa with her (and had a few drinks), I showed her the gummi block.
She told us it was a Navi-G (a.k.a. navigation gummi) which would enable us to travel to even more worlds. She then gave us a manual (for installing the Navi-G) and a chest (to deliver to Merlin). After we said goodbye to her, we headed for Merlin's house (and passed Zell along the way, who was possibly running another errand; who knows who he's running those errande for).
When we entered it, Merlin was waiting and when he noticed the chest I was carrying he said to me, "You seem to have a bit of a problem remembering spells, eh?" When I nodded, he said, "I better do something to solve that." then after I gave the chest to him (which he motioned me to do), he blew a certain powder at me and when I sneezed, 8 spheres, shaped like the one Barret gave me back at Olympus Coliseum, appeared at the chest.
When I looked closely, I saw that the spheres had symbols. Five green spheres have a flame (Fire), a bolt (Thunder), a crystal (Blizzard), a leaf (Cure), a twig (probably Esuna) respectively. Three yellow ones had a boomerang, another boomerang but with a shield, and a cloud. When I asked Merlin what those three were, he answered, "Those are your Abilities, while the green ones are your Spells. Those abilities are called (in the order I observed them) Boomer Blast, Shield Boomer, and Sky Dropper. You'll find out how to do them once you equip them." and as he said that, two bracers with three slots each (for the spheres probably, which I will call Materia since I could not think of another name for them) appeared on both of my arms.
"Now that problem's solved, you have anything else for me?", Merlin asked. I then took out the wooden slab and after he inspected it he then opened a mini-carriage on a shelf, then the Fairy Godmother appeared.(Those who watched Disney's Cinderella or played Kingdom Hearts would know her). She then got the slab, waved her wand at it, then the slab turned into a red Materia with a symbol resembling a grey bear whom I (mentally) identified as Baloo from "The Jungle Book".
"When you summon him in battle," the Fairy Godmother said just before she returned to the mini-carriage, "He will do a mighty roar sending foes flying and dealing damage to them." Just before we said goodbye to Merlin, he gave us 2 green Materia called Silence (a speech balloon with 3 dots) and Poison (cobra). After we left his house (and stowed the chest in my pack), we strolled back to the SeeD Remnants HQ.
Part II. Windelle
As we passed the same area where Gregorio, Yoris, and I fought the Red Armor, several Heartless appeared. Just before any one of us could act, they were busted by a couple of silver beams (mine shoots white) and when we looked for the source, it was Windelle holding a silver variant of my gun which he called the GunDeLuna.
Windelle then said, "There you are. What's going on?"
"Windelle!" we all cried out and started poking him around. He then told us to 'cut it out' and that he was not an illusion.
When I asked him if he saw Florina, he asked if I did.
When neither of us answered, he replied, "Don't worry. I'm sure she escaped the islands as well."
I remarked, "Don't worry about that. I was last with her at the island's last moments."
"We're out at last. Hey, she may be looking for us this minute." (At this point, a Shadow Heartless appeared and Yoris noted me about this) "We'll all be together soon. Worry not. Just leave everything to me. I know this–" He was interrupted by a shot behind him and saw me with my DirLuxGun.
As I said to him, "Leave it to who?", Gregorio and Yoris called out their weapons too.
"Rael, what did you–"
"We've been looking for you and Florina too. We've visited so many places and worlds, doing just that. We also saw Sora too adventuring like us."
"Really? Well, what do you know. I never would've guessed."
Suddenly, my DirLuxGun flew to Windelle and after he toyed with it and his own gun, dodging my efforts to retrieve it all the while, he returned it to me.
Yoris then said, "Okay, so, you're coming with us, right?"
"We've got this awesome rocket. Wait 'til you see it", Gregorio added.
"Thanks, but I got my own Gummi Ship. Don't ask how I got it, but for sure I did not kill or trick anyone for this.", Windelle replied.
"So, you're not coming with us?", I asked.
"Nope. Besides, It'd be better if we split up. We'll find Florina faster that way."
He then walked away and as he did, Gregorio 'shot' a Tracker at him. When we opened the Tracker console (I call it the Finder) however, he was no longer in range (The device detects those with Trackers within a world; in this case, only those in Traverse Town), but we saw our headshots in the screen however (Gregorio shot Trackers at me, Yoris, and himself as a precaution after the Gummi Ship collision incident).
Seeing that he was gone, we continued to the SeeD Remnants HQ. As we entered the living room, all the four members were there and they asked if we got the time to hear a story. When we nodded, they told us one.
Part III. SeeD
Note: This is not in my point of view, but in what the SeeD Remnants told me.
A year ago, they were SeeDs (a mercenary force) of Balamb Garden, one of three educational institutions in their world. Irvine says that he was, however, from another of these "Gardens" before being part of the team and that he wasn't its leader, to begin with. It didn't even start with just the four of them.
Back then, a Gunblade ("A very difficult-to-wield weapon.", Zell comments."Heck, the only 'gun' component is just a trigger which vibrates the blade to land a strong hit, making it, all the more, harder to master.") specialist named Squall Leonhart was the 'born leader' of their team ("Though he was at first a 'lone wolf'.", Rinoa added).
There was also a young and frisky Nunchaku ("Though I have to say hers is quite big compared to most." Quistis remarked) specialist named Selphie Tilmitt (Irvine started to sob at this part). The six of them were a great team and were known by all as the ones who defeated Ultimecia 3 years earlier, an evil Sorceress from the future determined to rule their world.
They had lived in a time of peace since then. That is until the Heartless came, who came out of nowhere. They were led by an evil witch who goes by the name Maleficent, leader of a "Hellfire Club", and a couple of Eastern-style Warriors called the Wutai Association.
Despite their best efforts, SeeD, the Galbadian Army (whose Garden is from the same one Irvine was from), and even all the monsters of their world failed to stop the threat immediately. Eventually, the last stand was at Balamb Garden itself while it was mobile, trying to find, in vain, a safe haven to regroup.
During the battle, the six of them were cut off from their allies and surrounded by Heartless. Even as the six of them fought with all their might, one of them eventually tired out, and that was Selphie ("Despite her energetic status at the beginning of the battle.", Irvine said, still with tears on his face). The Heartless took advantage of this and struck her down. But unlike the rest of their allies, who turned into Heartless themselves ("Whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, we don't know for sure.", Rinoa said.) a white light shone down on her, her body disappeared, leaving a white orb which then shot into space.
-The orb probably landed on Destiny Islands and was probably reincarnated as the Selphie the residents there, including Sora, Riku, Kairi, and his friends know-Irvine was shedding tears as he called out her name while it all happened; the rest were too busy fighting to notice. Just after, a Large Body Heartless crashed between Squall and his teammates. Just then, even as the four were still able to see Squall and vice-versa, a dark portal appeared behind him and them. Just then, Balamb Garden crashed somewhere and they fell into the dark portals and lost consciousness.
-Squall probably bumped his head as he landed from his fall and was somehow implanted a false memory he, Yuffie, Aerith, and Cid are sharing-
As the four awoke and reoriented themselves, they had ended up in Traverse Town. They then wandered about and eventually sat up their HQ. When Quistis, Zell, and Rinoa noticed that Selphie wasn't with them (they had been too busy battling), Irvine then told them of her tragic fate.
Sorrowfully accepting the fact, they then lived their lives here and as Heartless arrived, they fought them off to prevent Traverse Town from suffering the same fate as their own world did. Eventually, they met us and that's where their story ends.
Part IV. First Encounter
Note: Back to me now.
After we listened to their story, we then said farewell to them, adding that we should continue saving worlds. Once we left the HQ, we were about to teleport back to the Gummi Ship until 2 guys appeared in front of us.
"Greetings. We are Jia and Yi", one of them said.
"Members of the Wutai Association.", the other one said.
Jia bonked on Yi's head. "Fool! They probably know about us already."
"Sorry, I thought those SeeD Remnants may have forgotten about us."
"Idiot! They'll never forget what we had done to their world because we are allies of the Hellfire Club."
"Now you're the idiot! Master Xin and Maleficent will have our heads for sure."
"There you go again! You told them about our leaders!"
"No need to worry about that since your butts will be kicked by us.", Yoris answered. Before they could act, I casted Silence and Poison on them (I had them equipped since I wanted to try them out.) and they were quickly weakened. Gregorio and Yoris then rushed for them as I turned around since though I was able to fight, I still could not stand the sight of killing (the showdown with Irvine back when I was recently out of Destiny Islands was a truly-forced-upon situation and besides, I did not want to kill him and perhaps he didn't either).
When I turned around, Jia and Yi's bodies faded into darkness. I remarked, "I doubt the other members are as incompetent as these two were. Let's get back to the ship fast." Gregorio then teleported us back to the Gummi Ship and installed the the Navi-G using the instructions as Yoris navigated to Olympus Coliseum.
"A tournament is already taking place and Sora is there too.", he told me all the while.
Once the Navi-G was successfully installed and once we arrived, we put on our 'masks' (in this case, our Greek helmets), then teleported down. A half hour later, we were back at the Gummi Ship with our rewards. While Gregorio and Yoris got enhancements for their weapons, I got a Gravity (half a purple orb), an Aero (gust), and a Regen (tree) Materia.
Yoris then followed Sora's Gummi Ship as it went for another world. As both our ships approached it, Gregorio then pulled out turbans and handkerchiefs from the Gummi Ship's wardrobe and we put them on (hankies cover the nose and mouth) (after removing the helmets, of course). We then teleported down to the world below.