Chapter 2.
The hour Squall spent in the training centre passed a whole lot quicker than he would've preferred, after taking out Three T-Rexaurs in a blind rage, killing Five grats and stocking up on spells from the draw point and announcement was booming out of the PA system informing all onboard that they were approaching the Galbadian continent and if any SeeD's wanted to leave, they were permitted to do so at this time, Squall sighed heavily and began wakling out of the training centre but before the announcement cut, the announcer, obviously being Gardens Pilot, Nida, took on a less official tone and said.
"and err…Squall, if you can hear this, good luck with the trip, that is all" with that the PA bleeped politely and the announcement ended. Squalls rage resurfaced and a nearby grat took the brunt of that aggression, Squall dived at it, fire forming in his hand – nothing was left other than its charred remains. He placed his hand on his forehead, cursed mentally to himself, made a mental note to reprimand Nida for using the PA system inappropriately, removed the hand and headed to his dormitory.
Once he got to his dorm he washed down his Gunblade and knives then jumped in the shower. After a brief shower he washed some of the dry blood off his jacket, changed his trousers and went out to the balcony of his dorm. Griever was still hanging out over his white muscle-shirt and glinted in the sunlight once again. Squall removed gunblade from its sheath and let the sun bear upon it, he couldn't remember the last time he had seen it shine in the sunlight, the only times he'd drawn it in the past Eight months were in the training centre where it looked full as the artificial light poured onto it. Seeing it shining in the light invoked an emotion which he had not experienced for quite some time, happiness. He held Gunblade up so he could see his reflection on it, he was surprised at the reflection he saw on it, he was smiling. To a certain degree it comforted him, but in an opposite and domineering reaction, he instantly removed the smile and replaced Gunblade in its leather sheath. He realised that they would be approaching the Deling city landing zone soon so he turned around walked inside and closed the balcony door. He reached under his bed again and pulled out the box that previously held Gunblade, undid the clips, opened it up and filled it with boxes of ammunition for his Gunblade, he then reached under his bed again and pulled out a hold-all and placed the box inside it, he turned around grabbed some extra clothes from his wardrobe and placed them in the bag. After he had done packing the essentials, toothpaste, hairbrush, hair-gel etc, he skulked across his dorm, holdall hanging from his side, reached the door, opened it and stepped out. Once he got outside, he sighed at what he had just experienced then closed the door, stood up straight and started walking to the garage to begin his 'Vacation'.
Squalls stomach grumbled as he was walking along the walkway from the dormitories. 'Canteen' he thought silently to himself and took a right at the end of the walkway as opposed to the left turn that would take him to the garage and his pre-planned vacation. He walked almost subconsciously to the canteen deep in thought about what just happened to him could mean. Upon entry of the canteen he quickly dismissed those thoughts as his stomach gave yet another violent rumble. Thankfully the lines were practically empty and Squall could walk right up to the serving counter to order some food.
"What can I get ya Commander?" Squall mentally cringed at being called Commander once more.
"Got any burgers left? And please, call me Squall"
"Yeah, don't ya want any hotdogs? If you want em, ya best get em before Zell gets back, he just ran back to his dorm to grab some money so he could buy them"
Squall just merely grinned and the dinner-lady knew what he was going to say before he said it, she wrapped up the Two remaining hotdogs and Two burgers, placed them in a bag and handed them to Squall who requested that his meal be placed on his 'tab' in the canteen, to which the dinner-lady just nodded and obliged. He then turned to walk out, quite satisfied with his purchase when Zell bounded in with a note in his hand to pay for the last hotdogs, Squall couldn't help but grin as he smugly walked past him. Once out of Zell's sight he pulled out one of the hotdogs, unwrapped it and started eating it. Within a minute, the hotdog was no more. Squall deposited its wrapper in a nearby trashcan and pulled out a burger which suffered the same fate as the previous hotdog. He decided to save one of each until they left Garden, zipped open his hold-all and placed them inside. Where they would go from the landing zone he didn't know, he guessed that Selphie would have a say in their heading once they left.
As he got up onto the walkway of the parking garage Zell bounded up behind him and jumped clean over his head onto the walkway before him.
"'Sup man?" he asked, giving Squall a thumbs-up.
Squall just stood on the spot, one hand on his hip giving Zell a stony look. The PA beeped politely ready for another announcement.
"All hands, prepare for landing procedures, we are approaching the landing zone, that is all" then it beeped again politely and the announcement cut.
"We best get ready to head out" Squall stated and walked past Zell, ignoring what had just happened.
"Tch...fine" came the disappointed reply from Zell upon Squall not particularly noticing the stunt he just pulled off.
The landing zone was situated a few miles off Deling city and was a largely a structure built into the ground moulded into the shape of Gardens lower sections, only two existed, one in Balamb, close to where Garden was situated before its engines were activated, the other on the Galbadian continent, Six miles off Deling city. There were only two of these structures built due to their high cost however there were plans for one to be built on the trabian continent, near Trabia Garden and also in Esthar after they had completed their operation to form a beach on the eastern coast using explosives and excavating the land hereby allowing Garden up onto the Estharian continent. They were only built specifically for Balamb Garden as Galbadia Garden was returned to its previous location after the battle damage was repaired and its piloting controls were restored, after it was returned to its previous location, its engines were deactivated and it came to rest where it belonged, Trabia Garden was repaired to its previous glory, however its engines would never be able to be activated due to the artificial materials it was reconstructed from as the initial materials could not be found, if the engines were to start, most of the Superstructure would collapse, rendering it unfit for flight.
Garden slowly decelerated as it started its approach to it. When it was less than a minute away, Four separate struts lowered from the furthermost sections of the garden, seemingly passing straight through the anti-gravity ring and locked in position. Four corresponding struts started to ascend from the ground at the landing zone, as the garden got closer, the struts changed their height according to Gardens altitude and locked in position. Garden was coming to a full stop when the struts met, they heaved a bit as they connected and Garden achieved a full stop. The struts of the landing zone then started to retract into the ground carrying Garden with it and the Anti-gravity ring started to expand and travel back up around gardens central structure and came to rest in its previous location above the Administrative officers at the top of the Garden, bending in all sorts of directions to fit around Gardens new shape before restoring itself to its perfect circle. The layout of Garden however remained the same as it was, as opposed to reverting back to its previous form. Once the garden was fully docked and rested firmly at ground level the exit door of the parking garage was gracefully opened and several different vehicles, all belonging to SeeD's drove out. The shutters protecting the front gate were also opened and the gates unlocked for anybody who wished to leave that way. Up in the Headmasters chambers the piloting tower descended down until it reached the same level as where the Headmasters desk previously was and locked into the floor.
Cid tapped Nida on the shoulder.
"Nice work Pilot"
"Thank you Headmaster, but do me a favour? Just call me Nida"
"Very well Nida, nice work anyway, well I guess I best go see Squall and everybody off, if you need me, ill be in the Garage"
Cid and Edea then left the 'Bridge' arm-in-arm with each other, both heading for the Garage to signal Squall and his colleagues' departure from Garden.