"Take this!" Sean grunted, attempting to strike the formidable serpent ahead with his Twin Lance gunblade.

"Easy there, mate!" Zyma tossed his Shurikens, deflecting Sean's sword. "You're hurting my boy!"

"Grrrrr!"

The pale blue sea serpent growled, its scales shimmering with shades of green and purple. Resembling a dragon in appearance, it had spiky fins near its head and a larger pair further down its body that resembled fish fins. A dorsal fin adorned its tail.

"Alright, alright..." Zyma stroked Leviathan, the sea serpent. "Good GF, I won't let him harm you. Relax, mate. What was that for?" Zyma snapped at Sean.

"My bad, just a reflex," Sean said, still shaken after Leviathan almost engulfed him with its Tsunami spell and water balls.

"He won't kill you," Zyma frowned. "Take some Potion."

Sean followed Zyma's advice and retreated to a large rock inside the underwater cavern, which was sealed with magic. He shook off the excess water from his SeeD uniform and used a healing item.

"Urgh... this SeeD uniform is such poor quality for its price," Sean complained, regretting not wearing his usual yellow ochre windbreaker.

"Show off. I told you to wear something casual," Zyma scoffed at his friend, who had passed his SeeD exam last year while Zyma had missed it due to a mission.

"If it weren't for my chronic back pain…" Sean teased.

"Aye aye, then you could have been in the Legendary SeeD squad. You've been saying that for years. Even Raddie doesn't believe in that anymore!" Zyma retorted.

Sean laughed and observed his friend—a Garden veteran who had devoted his youth to build it up from scratch. When he was not in the field, Zyma always wore a dark green military camouflage windbreaker and had a light green bandana on his black hair. Zyma continued to pet Leviathan for a while, and then the serpent obediently swam back to its nest deep underwater.

"Damn, that was intense, even for a practice," Sean exclaimed. "And you said this is one of the friendlier GFs?"

Zyma, cleaning his Shurikens and placing them carefully inside his dark, hooded cloak, replied, "Yeah, for now."

"For now?" Sean asked, his confusion evident.

"They become stronger as they age. Leviathan was harvested quite early. I don't know why our Garden Master got him that early. It takes longer for a GF to level up once it awakens from its dormant state," Zyma explained, gathering his assassin gear and settling down next to Sean. "The crazy ones are those that have been forgotten for too long and absorbed too much magic from the surrounding without a way to release. They lose touch with their humanity and become more like monsters."

Sean noticed the change in Zyma's expression and asked. "How's your mom doing? Still has good appetite?"

Zyma let out a sigh. "She's obsessed with Chocobos lately, the chubby ones. Can you believe it? I told her, 'Mom, I'm broke because of you. No Chocobo farmer would sell me their birds knowing they'll end up as poultry.' I managed to convince her to eat ostrich instead, but Hyne knows what she'll crave next."

Zyma sensed Sean's uncertainty in responding to the heavy topic, so he swiftly changed the subject.

"So, what's new with your antique collection? Anything interesting for our trade?" Zyma asked.

"Yes," Sean replied promptly. "The new batch of transferred students from Trabia is arriving, and I've already made contact with some of them to acquire a couple of rare items from the war and unique monsters on Winter Island. With a little more polishing, we'll make big bucks."

Zyma's interest was piqued by the mention of transferred students from Trabia. Selphie was supposed to be in the same class with him. Unfortunately, they had never talked to each other as Cid immediately sent her off to the famous Second Sorceress War. To this day, Zyma yearned for the chance to witness her rumored "The End" move, said to be capable of instantly defeating any dark GF.

"Anyone interesting in this batch?" Zyma asked.

"Two are coming this month. One is a silver-haired guy with god-like time-manipulating abilities. He can freeze flying objects, no joke," Sean said.

"Huh?" Zyma nodded. "Sounds rare. Is he a damage dealer, too?"

"Nope. Support role. Just standing behind and freeze, it seems."

"Boring," Zyma blurted out. ''And the other one? Let me guess, a healer girl?"

For the sake of gender diversity, having at least one girl in a duo, trio, or quattro party had become a requirement at Balamb Garden and Trabia Garden, something enforced by Xu - Balamb's interim headmaster, and heavily supported by Quistis and Selphie - the world's role model Legendary SeeDs.

Sean shook his head. "She's a magic caster, offensive. Holy."

Zyma whistled. "She's gotta find a Sugar Daddy, there's no way to draw Holy here. And Mommy Xu won't pay for Holy just to kill Bite Bugs and T-rexes."

"That's why she's into trading business," Sean added. "A good talker."

"Pretty?"

"Nah, so so," Sean shrugged. "Besides red hair and eyes, nothing noticeable. Oh, short. Very short. Selphie kind of short. She looks like a child."

"Boring," Zyma exclaimed, puzzled why there was no limit on height - a critical measure for certain kinds of physical training. Of course, there were a few exceptions, like Selphie, but Zyma didn't believe in the odd.

"Maybe you'll see her in your class soon," Sean casually remarked.

Zyma furrowed his eyes. "Why? Aren't they supposed to be in your brother's class? They're that old?"

Zyma had repeated two years of classes, which he blamed Galbadia Garden's attack on Balamb. Many of his classmates had died or been discharged due to injuries sustained in the conflict. This put a strain on Garden's finances, making it challenging to rebuild the school and provide medical assistance to retired personnel. Moreover, the school had to fund the expensive journey of the Legendary SeeDs to defeat Ultimecia. Despite its high stakes, there was no single client to cover the costs.

Amidst these challenges, Xu enlisted Zyma for SeeD missions, despite his lack of an official SeeD title. During these dangerous missions, Zyma managed to accumulate a lot of Gils, so he couldn't complain. However, having to repeat classes during peacetime and endure tedious lectures with students just entering puberty annoyed him. The thought of transfer students, usually around 16 years old, being in his class bothered him even more.

"The guy will join Raddie's class. But the girl... she's a prodigy, I heard, and competitive as hell," Sean explained.

"Ah, another prodigy... what a treat," Zyma exclaimed sarcastically, referring to Instructor Trepe, who was supposed to be only a year ahead of him but ended up being his instructor for many years.

"Shoot, already 2000. Thanks again for showing me Leviathan, man,'' Sean stood up after noticing the time. "I'll drop you off at Garden and pick up Raddie. We're going on a road trip with the Dincht before Zell sets sail for the Deep Sea Research Center."

"Cool, mate. Thanks for the ride. Happy retirement!"

As the two were leaving the cavern, Leviathan emerged once again and emitted a low growl in an ancient language.

"I know, Levi. Your card is safe with me," Zyma reassured the water dragon. "I won't let our commander refine it into a Megalixir again. What a jerk!"

Leviathan nodded contentedly and gracefully swam back to its comfortable nest, acknowledging Zyma's promise.

Balamb Garden. 3F.

"I heard Cid is relocating to the Deep Sea Research Center," Zyma entered the office of the vice headmaster.

"What do you want?" Xu narrowed her eyes. "Let me guess, Bahamut?"

Zyma smirked. "He's the most beautiful GF, let me handle him with care."

"The mission is to protect a sorceress with growing power and could be possessed by a future sorceress at any time, not training pets. Zell is a better candidate, sorry," Xu replied, shifting her attention back to her paperwork. "Besides, you haven't officially passed the SeeD exam yet. I can't pull strings for you for that kind of mission."

"You didn't seem to care when you sent me on the field to support your legendary squad," Zyma snorted.

"You've made enough money from your secret shop amidst the chaos, not to mention your underground card trading business, Joker. It's a win-win situation. Look..." Xu glanced up at Zyma from her desk. "We're friends, and I'm always on your side. I'll do whatever I can within my power to help you. But this is peacetime, and people actually have time to scrutinize military records. We also happen to host the two most powerful sorceresses in our school. Please, if you're up to anything shady, wait until you become a freelance SeeD and are off our radar. Okay?"

"If you insist, Queen," Zyma smiled and nodded. Just a few more months, and his freedom would truly begin.

"One thing, though..." Xu referred back to a sheet of paper. "I know you're not doing anything to improve your grades, which is a requirement for leading a squad in the next SeeD exam..."

"When..."

"But there's a workaround," Xu interrupted Zyma's protest. "Mentorship."

Zyma furrowed his brow. "Mentorship?"

"Yes, mentorship," Xu nodded.

"Define 'mentorship'?" he asked again.

"You mentor someone. Like the way I mentored you..." Xu narrowed her eyes, unable to comprehend why he needed further explanation of such a simple concept in a school.

Zyma burst into laughter, bending over and clutching his stomach.

"What's so funny?" Xu's eyes darkened even more.

"You... your mentorship. That's a good one, my Queen," he said, straightening himself. "In Triple Triad, maybe."

"That..." Xu pointed at his face, "you're such an ungrateful mentee."

"Anyway, I'm not good at teaching. Is there any other way I can get around this? Gil-related, perhaps?" Zyma suggested.

"Don't try to buy off Garden's requirements. I've made up my mind, this is just a heads-up for you," Xu snapped shut a massive accounting book. "Now get out before I reconsider this alternative."

"Aye aye..."

Preferring to babysit a cadet over studying for thirty SeeD written tests, Zyma suppressed his protest and made his way to his favorite spot—the Training Center.

Balamb Garden's Training Center.

"How much?" a student asked in a hushed tone.

"500 Gil," Zyma replied.

"That's way too expensive!" the student exclaimed.

"Having an X-Potion disguised as a Potion is cheating. And cheating isn't cheap, mate," Zyma smirked. "Unless you want to face more monsters to earn additional EXP, which costs way more money than 500 by the way."

The student hesitated.

"Take it or leave it. I have plenty of other customers," Zyma urged, and as expected, the student reluctantly handed over several bills for the small bottle. "Thanks, my friend. Come back later; you'll definitely need more of these for the field exam."

"I heard you also have extra padding for fire resistance," the student inquired.

"Custom-made to fit your big stud, mate. Just text me your size a few days in advance and provide a deposit. Consider it done."

The student pondered for a few moments before responding, "I'll consider it, who knows if the simulation room is completed before this year's field exam."

"Simulation room?" Zyma furrowed his brow in confusion.

"You don't know? The transfer students from Trabia are setting up a simulation room here, just like the one in Trabia Garden. Soon, we won't need to grow monsters in training Center or go fight the real Ifrit for training," the student explained. "It's great news for us, but I guess it's not so good for your secret shop, huh?"

With that, the student left the secret area, tightly clutching their hood to avoid being recognized, leaving Zyma contemplating.

Transfer students... how annoying.