Chapter 5 - Tower

They ran after Seifer, encountering a few minor monsters on the way that were neutralized quickly. Ahead, Seifer left remains of the monsters he slew, leaving a grotesque trail for Squall and Zell to follow, finally catching up to him at the top of the hill facing the entrance to the tower.

Seifer turned to watch Squall and Zell approach, waving them to come to his location as stealth as possible. Both boys knelt beside him to watch the scene below unfold.

At the entrance, two Galbadian soldiers stood guard. Two more appeared in the doorway and walked outside.

Seifer and Squall pulled out their pairs of (binocular/ amplifiers) to watch and listen.

"…generator is up and running. Boosters were also fine." Soldier 1 said.

"Good. Shortly we'll disconnect the cables. It's over the air or nothing." Soldier 2 said.

"Roger. I'll let you know when we're ready." Soldier 1 said.

Seifer looked at Squall with a quizzical look on his face.

"…the hell are they doing?" Seifer asked out loud.

Squall shrugged.

"Repairs? "Squall suggested.

"Bah...it don't matter. They're still going down!" Seifer stood as he watched the soldiers walk out of the tower, leaving just the two guards outside.

Seifer started to load rounds into his gunblade.

"So, this is your 1st battle, right? Are you scared?" Seifer addressed Squall.

"I try not to think about it, so I'm not sure." Squall answered.

"Not sure, eh?" Seifer mused as he eyed Squall.

"I love battles. I fear NOTHING. The way I look at it, as long as you make it out of a battle alive, you're one step closer to fulfilling your dreams."

"Dreams?" Squall inquired.

Seifer looked at him puzzled.

"Yeah…" Seifer said, "You have one too, don't you?"

Squall paused. He's spent his whole time at Garden, which seems like his whole 17 years of existence, pushing for this very day. Grueling weapon and combat training, mind conditioning, learning how to survive on next to nothing with nothing more than the gear you came with...if that. He focused his energy and strength on becoming faster, stronger, more resilient…casting off that weak little kid who used to be so afraid of his own shadow. To dream...it was a waste of time and energy he simply didn't have.

What good was it to dream anyway when all he'll end up was alone.

It hurt less to not hope for anything.

"I'll pass on the subject."

Seifer smirked.

"What? Are you embarrassed?"

Squall looked at Seifer without emotion.

"Not at all."

"I'll tell you my dream.." Zell piped in.

Seifer whipped around.

"Shut up!" He exclaimed. "No one asked you."

Zell looked down like a beaten dog.

Seifer started down the switch back dirt trail leading down to the tower entrance.

He turned and called out, "Someday I'll tell you about my ROMANTIC dream."

Seifer then turned back and started to sprint.

Huh? Squall thought.

"Argh! There he goes AGAIN. " Zell lamented.

Squall turned to hear something rustling on the hill above them.

"There you are!" a girl said as she emerged from the brush.

Her smile quickly faded as she lost her footing.

"Whooooaaa!" she cried out as she came tumbling down the hill.

Squall quickly moved towards her.

"Are you ok?" Squall asked.

The girl simply smiled and brushed off her uniform as she stood back up.

"yeah.." she started. "I'm a messenger from squad A. My name is Selphie. Your squad leader is Seifer, right?"

Selphie began to look around.

" Where is he?"

"He's that idiot down there." Zell said as he pointed towards Seifer at the entrance of the tower, now engaged with the two guards.

Selphie's face fell as she watched Seifer finish off his two opponents and then head inside the tower.

"Oh...this sure is tough." She muttered.

"Hey Captain! Wait up!" she shouted as she jumped down the hill after him.

Zell's eyes grew 3 times their size as he watched Selphie charge in after Seifer.

Squall jumped down the hill after her.

"Are you both INSANE?!" He shouted.

Selphie turned and shouted back, "Come on! Jump! Don't be a Chicken-Wuss!"

Zell growled at her and then proceeded to jump down the hill as well, riding the dirt and gravel down as if he was boarding on snow.

"See…not that bad!" Selphie said as she smiled at Zell.

Zell glared daggers at her.

"Let's move!" Selphie ordered as she entered the tower.

Evidence of Seifer's rampage laid before them as they entered the old industrial tower. Rust dotted the freshly blood splattered dingy walls. Ahead was a service elevator.

"We go up." Squall said as he gestured towards the door.

He went over to the control panel and operated the controls to return the car. The elevator responded with a far away clank and the loud whirling as the car returned to the main floor. Selphie, Squall, and Zell boarded.

As they went up, Selphie peered over the edge of the rising platform they stood on.

"This is sooo cool!" she said with glee.

"Be careful you don't fall off." Zell told her.

"Oh shush, it's fine you big chicken."

"WHAT?!"

Squall rolled his eyes.

Now these two…ugh.

"Zell, could you please just calm down and stop taking everything so damn personal?" Squall asked.

Zell looked at Squall getting ready to lash out at him. Squall looked back at him, meeting his eyes, unflinching.

"I need you to ask yourself if it's worth it." Squall calmly spoke.

Zell returned the gaze, and relaxed.

"No.."

Squall simply nodded in response.

Shortly they arrived at the top of the tower. They stepped just outside the platform and watched a large man buried halfway into a control panel. A tool box was open at his feet with a variety of tools spilling out of it. A long stream of explicit language spewed out of the control panel as sparks flew and more wires popped out.

A smaller man appeared around the corner and approached where the large man was working.

"Major Biggs! There's reports of a monster shaped shadow up by the main satellite array."

"Argh!" Biggs cried out in frustration as he dropped a tool and sent more sparks flying. "Look, I can't fix this damn thing with you flapping your lips."

"But sir...there's…!"

"I honestly don't care at the moment." The larger man growled. "Now go handle whatever it is."

"Yyesss sir."

The smaller man walked back the way he came.

Squall heard the whirling of systems coming online behind him. He spun and saw the tower extend some sort of antenna. A rush of wind blew his unruly brown hair back as it thrusted upwards and began to open.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Squall demanded as he stepped out onto the deck further, drawing his gunblade.

The larger man emerged from the tangled mess of wires popping out of the control panel.

"Ha! I might ask you the same thing, mister." Biggs demanded as he stood to full height. His brow began to furrow as he looked around the deck and only saw the three cadets.

"Hey…what happened to all the guards?!" Biggs asked.

"We gave them the night off!" Squall answered.

"Hey Wedge!" Biggs called out. "Come on over here, we got ourselves a comedian."

Biggs was greeted with silence.

"Wedge?"

Off in the distance, Squall could hear another man speaking.

"Hehe...I..uh..seem to be done here. I'll just be on my…ahhh!"

The smaller man returned running. Following him was Seifer.

Seifer bats Wedge's gun out of his hand as he tried to pull his weapon.

"Sorry to crash the party." Seifer said.

Wedge cried out. "Are you CRAZY?!"

"Ah, just shut your hole!" Seifer demanded.

Biggs charged Seifer. Seifer dodged and tapped him on the back with his gunblade. Biggs let out a umph and came back around, swinging a massive crowbar for Seifer's head, but he swung wild.

Squall came running behind the pair and downward thrust with his gunblade across Biggs shoulder blade, knocking him into Seifer's power swing that landed on his head.

A stupefied look crossed Biggs face as his eyes rolled back and he crumbled into a heap.

As Squall and Seifer finished up with Biggs, Zell and Selphie rendered Wedge unconscious.

The party looked to each other as a loud screeching sound was heard from above.

"What the hell…" Zell was cut off before he could finish by a very large creature dropping to the deck from above. It stood perhaps 10 ft tall…if it actually stood. The beast hovered in the air propelled by 2 massive, purple colored leathery wings. It's head was so distorted, it didn't appear to have a face...but a massive chin that jutted out. It clawed at the party with its 2 massive clawed "hands" and thrust its stinger style tail st them.

"Be careful!" Squall shouted "I think this is what may have poisoned that Dollet soldier."

The beast screeched again, generating a massive wind attack with its large wings.

"Keep steady!" Seifer shouted out.

Squall threw a protect spell on the party. Hopefully this would keep them shielded from the beasts physical attacks.

Selphie threw a fire spell at the winged beast. It landed in what would be the beast chest. Flames flew up onto its pointed chin as the creature cried out.

Zell wisely kept his distance and summoned Quezcotyl. The illuminated being quickly appeared and hovered on its large wings.

Zell shouted "Use lightening storm".

The being rose up and complied. Points of lightening began to form and then converge as they shot to the creature. The creature, being struck began to convulse. It started to drop down a little lower.

"Ah, you like that, eh?!" Zell shouted. He commanded Quezcotyl to perform the attack again.

Taking the queue from Zell, Squall, Selphie, and Seifer all cast lightening spells onto the creature, each hit causing the creature to convulse more violently each time, until it fell to the deck. A green ichor began to spew from its stinger.

"Stay back from that, it's the poison!" Squall shouted.

The creature writhed on the deck

Squall summoned ifrit next and commanded the being to throw the dying creature off the tower.

Ifrit scooped up the creature, dodging its attempts to bite him, and power slammed it off the tower. Squall ran to look off the edge and saw the creature appearing lifeless inside a burning crater. The rest of the party joined him as they watched the beast become consumed by Ifrit's funeral pyre. Squall then cast a water spell to douse the fire so he wouldn't be known as the SeeD cadet that burned down Dollet.

"What the hell was that thing?!" Zell exclaimed.

"An Elvoret. "Squall said. "I figured as much when we encountered the Dollet soldier who convulsed and died. Their poison is extremely toxic. Just touching it can be fatal."

Seifer's brows shot up.

"Wow…look who's been studying. " Seifer said.

"Captain!" Selphie called out "I've been sent here to inform you that all SeeD members and candidates are ordered to withdraw at 1900 hours and assemble at the shore."

Seifer turned to Selphie.

"Withdrawal?! This place is no where near secure."

"I understand." Selphie said "But the only thing I was tasked with was delivering this order. You have been officially served. Failure to comply will be met…"

Seifer raised his hand to silence her.

"Yeah, ok, ok." Seifer said.

"Wait..what time did you say?" Zell asked.

"1900 hours." Selphie confirmed.

"Damn!" Seifer "That's in 30 minutes."

Seifer sprinted for the elevator and turned.

"You got 30 minutes to get to the shore. Better run."

He operated the controls and started to descend.

"Argh! " Zell angrily began to dance around. "Who the hell does he think he is?!"

Squall gestured his arm towards the lift that Seifer used.

"Why don't you ask HIM?!" Squall snapped.

Squall breathed out, trying to not let his circumstances get the better of him. Panicking wouldn't do them any good. All panic does is get you dead.

They waited for the lift to return and rode it down.

After they left, Biggs began to stir. He pulled out a remote from his uniform and began hitting a series of buttons.

"Heh.." He weakly muttered "Let's see you snot nosed punks get past my buddy."

He then closed his eyes and the remote went clattering out of his hand to the deck.