| Final Fantasy 8: The Beginning |
*Prologue* I�ll be here� �Why?� I�ll be here waiting�for you so� If you need me�I�ll be here� I promise. * Chapter One* Blaamb Garden Squall groaned. He was in the infirmary of Blaamb Garden, with someone in front of him�oh, it was Dr. Kadowaki. "Squall, are you alright?" She asked, kneeling over him. "Yeah�I�m fine�" He muttered, holding his hand to his head. What was he doing there? Why was he so sore? Then everything suddenly came rushing back. The practice fight with Seifer�Seifer cheated and used magic�then cut him on his forehead� "Well, I�m going to call Professor Trepe and tell her to come pick you up for your classes today. Please wait here." And with that, she walked off to the phone. Squall lay there, thinking, when in his peripheral vision he saw a girl. She was about his age�what was she doing in the infirmary? Did she know him? He blinked. The girl was gone. Right on cue, a young lady came into the room, about Squall�s age�or a few years older. Professor Trepe gazed around, until her green-blue eyes rested on Squall. She walked forward, with her hair bun moving only slightly. Her eyes scanned over Squall�s head bandage, and she closed her eyes and sighed. "Squall, what am I going to do with you?" She tilted her head, "Well, personally, I wouldn�t send you back to class�but I suppose that if you can walk you�ll be alright. Anyway, you wouldn�t want to miss your SeeD testing now, would you?" Damn! Squall thought. He had totally forgotten that he had gone to the Practice Arena to warm up for the testing. Then Seifer had came and challenged him. He got up, swaying slightly, and shrugged off Quistis when she put her hand on his shoulder to steady him. He started to walk out of the room, and nodded a silent thanks to Dr.Kadowaki. Looking up from her notes, she smiled back, "Bye Bye, and good luck on your testing!" <DIR> <DIR> <DIR> <DIR> <DIR> <DIR> <DIR> <DIR> <DIR> <DIR> * * * * </DIR></DIR></DIR></DIR></DIR></DIR></DIR></DIR></DIR></DIR> As Quistis and Squall walked back to class, Quistis kept on talking about Squall�s silence and anti-social attitude. Hmm�how can I get through to him? He has the best potential of almost all the students here in Blaamb Garden�other then that Seifer�but Seifer has temperamental issues, and that�s even worse than Squall�well at least Seifer shows his feelings�Quistis though to herself as the reached the classroom doors. Man, she�s finally quiet, and I start to think! This is worse than in my bedroom at night�and at least Zell is next door snoring, so I can concentrate on that�great, just great�Squall walked in the class, and went to his seat near the back. Professor Quistis Trepe, on the other hand, walked to the front of the room, and announced, "Ok everyone, time to get working! I�ve got a few announcements to make too." And she took out a vanilla folder and scanned her notes before she looked back up again. Squall sat a little away from Seifer. He stared straight ahead. "Ok. Seifer, I shouldn�t have to remind you that you are to not�and I repeat NOT�injure the other fighter while in practice fights!" Seifer just smiled a satisfied little smirk and leaned back in his chair. "Right. Now for some other announcements. You all may know that the SeeD test is today�and I hope all of you have finished your Fire Cavern testing before hand. Afterwards, you will have a wonderful graduation ball�but only SeeDs and these that are specially invited are allowed to go! Now everyone, please go to your next class�I see that I have taken too long, hope to see you at the ball!" Squall got up to leave. He walked out, and tried to get past the large group surrounding Quistis. Trepies, that�s what they were called. The Trepies were a group of students who�lets just say �worship�, Quistis. "Squall! Could you please come here?" Quistis gently pushed away the Trepies, and walked towards him, "Have you taken the Fire Cavern Test yet? You know that you need to do that before you go." He shook his head. "Alright, I guess I�ll be your supervising teacher�meet me in the front gate when you�re ready, and bring you gunblade and some potions, just in case you get hurt." Quistis put her hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off, and walked to the door. "Fine." And with that, he put his hands in his pockets, and left the room. As he walked out the class, he heard a girl�s voice. When he turned the corner, he found who was shouting. A girl who looked barely older than a junior classman ran through, shouting, "I�m late, I�M late, I�M LATE!!!!", and ran into Squall. As he fell back, he looked more closely at her face, and saw it had a child-like innocence�even her hair had a bob to it�literally. "Ouch! Oops! I�m so sorry�is homeroom already done?" the girl bombarded him with questions. "Yeah." Squall frowned. "Oh�do you think you could show me around the school some? It�s my first day here�I transferred from Tribia�and I am SO LOST!" she winked. "Sorry, I got to go somewhere." "Oh�alright! Hope to see you later!". Then she turned and happily skipped off. Fire and SeeD Squall walked down the steps to the front gate of the Garden. Quistis was already there, waiting for him. "Ok! Now, we won�t drive a car, since the Caverns aren�t that far, so have your gunblade ready. Also, have some ice and water magic�that is what the monsters there are weak against. Your mission is the trap and get the GF known as Ifrit. He is, like all the other creatures in the cavern, a fire element. Are you ready to leave?" Quistis took out her whip while saying all this. Squall nodded, and shouldered his gunblade. After about half an hour, they arrived at the Fire Caverns. When the two teachers guarding the door asked for their names and rank, they gave it to them. After saluting each other, the two walked into the doorway. Heat. That was the first thing that hit Squall, and attacked him like no monster could. He started along the path, ignoring all of the comments that Quistis was making on the way. Get to the end. Get the GF. Go to the SeeD exams. He kept on thinking that over and over. The path suddenly ended, and a booming voice echoed throughout the cave. "Who dares enter my cavern?" Ifrit appeared, and loomed over the two humans. "Ok Squall, get ready to attack!" Quistis brandished her whip and started to cast Ice. Squall was already attacking him and morphing into Shiva. "You have Shiva?!?!" the surprised GF cried out, and after about 3 hits, gave up. "Great Squall! Now let�s go and get ready for the SeeD testing�you will be called over the intercom to the lobby, and will find out your teams there." Quistis turned to Squall, "And this GF will be yours to keep. Let�s go." The two ran out of the hot humid caverns, and into the fresh air, to the Garden. *Ding-Dong! This is Headmaster Cid. Will the SeeD candidates please go to the front lobby to be assigned your teams. Await further instructions from there. Thank you! * The PA turned off. Squall got up out of his bed, and slowly walked to the front lobby. He didn�t have to hurry�no need to rush everything out. By the time he got there, only Quistis and the Headmaster were there. Quistis looked up from the paper she was reading. "Ah, Squall! There you are! You team is Team B, and the other teammate is�Zell Dincht. He�s quite a lively fellow." Right on cue, a young man with blond spiked hair jumped in and did a lot of summersaults, cartwheels, and punches in the air. He then pointed to himself with his thumb. "Yo! That�s me, Squall! What�s up?" Zell walked over to Squall, Quistis, and the Headmaster, and grinned. "��." "Hmm�not much of a talker�hey can I see who�s our captain? Professor?" Zell turned away from Squall and tried to peek at the paper she was holding. "When he gets here." She replied, not amused by his antics. Then, Seifer, Rajin, and Fujin walked over. "Hey�is this the pitiful bunch I have to lead?" Seifer sneered. "Okay, Zell and Squall, this is your squad leader�Seifer." Professor Quistis looked up to all the young men, to make clear that nothing was going to be changed about the arrangement. "So�chicken wuss actually made it here today?" Seifer jeered. "Don�t call me chicken wuss!" Zell clenched his fists and was about to punch Seifer when the Headmaster walked to them. Headmaster Cid wasn�t old or young�he was just in between. He also had an authority that made most people almost instantly respect him. "Hello everyone! I know that you are ready to go and finish your SeeD testing�but I have a few things to go over with you. You mission will be briefed on the boat to Dollet, but remember, always, that this isn�t some training mission�it is the real thing." Cid looked at each person before moving on with his speech, "I know that you will be able to handle this mission, but if the situation occurs, there will be official SeeDs there to handle everything. You are dismissed." After everyone in their squad was in the car, they drove out of the garden heading towards Blaamb Town, where their boat was waiting. "Hey, Squall! Can I see your gunblade?" Zell was sitting next to Squall. "�.." "Squall! Can I see it? Please?" Zell leaned over, tapping Squall on the shoulder. "�.." "Please? Please?" Zell was frustrated now, "�Jeez! Never mind then!" He leaned back in the seat. After a minute or so, Zell got up and started punching the air, warming up for the mission. "Sit down, Chickenwuss!" Seifer looked up at Zell. "Chicken Wuss??!?!?!!?" Zell clenched his fists in unleashed fury. "Yeah�wanna make something off it?" Seifer smirked. Zell was really angry now, Squall noticed. If someone didn�t intervene soon, there would be a showdown. "You two! Seifer, stop calling Zell names�Zell, stop encouraging Seifer!!" Quistis butted in right on time. Zell sat back down, and Seifer looked away, a smug look still on his face. After the car ride, the group silently got out of the car, and walked to the submarine/boat. They got in after the SeeDs standing there confirmed that they were trainees, and sat in the cramped space. A women with medium length hair walked in�Xu. "Hi Xu." Quistis nodded her head. "Hi Quistis! Another batch for this year?" Xu winked. Quistis chuckled quietly. "Yes�I think that most of this years group will make it." Xu nodded her head. "Good. Now to explain our mission�" Xu pointed to a graph on the TV monitor, and started to talk. Great. This is gonna take forever. Why doesn�t she just say, "Blow up the bad guys, and make sure you live through it all."?? It would make everything a whole lot easier�Squall thought. Then he tuned back in as soon as Xu said, "Now, we basically need to makes sure that the Galbadian solders are all gone, so that the townspeople will be able to return home. Any questions? Good. We will be landing in a few minutes." And with that, she turned and left. Squall sat in silence. It was too quiet. He turned to Seifer. Seifer saw him, and started talking. "Ok�remember, I�m the leader, and you better to anything, and everything, that I say out there! Squall�go out and check what�s up out there." "�.Fine." Squall got up and left, ignoring Seifer�s chuckles. The sea breeze hit Squall as soon as he went out onto the deck. He breathed in, taking the fresh air into his lungs. It was a whole lot better than being in there, will all the other people crowding and talking. Silence was good. No one could get hurt with it. He looked over to the horizon and held up the transparent outline of the battle plans. There was land. The ships all bumped over a large slab of concrete, and skidded to a stop on the beach. Dollet beach. He, Seifer, Zell, and Quistis all ran onto the shore. Swarms of other candidates were also running to go to their stations. Quistis held the boys back for one more note. "Remember�this is real life�don�t do anything foolish." Then she went with Xu to meet with the other instructors. The three boys ran up the stairs leading into the town, not stopping to talk with anyone on the way. As soon as they entered, two Galbadian solders shouted, "SeeDs! SeeDs are here!" Squall sliced through one of them, making sure that the other was being taken care of. They kept on running. The streets were deserted, other than a few solders and left dogs and cats. After battling a few more Galbadian solders, they finally got to their destination: the town square. --To Be Continued -- |
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