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After leaving the Secret Area in the Training center, Squall and Quistis are attacked by two monsters, the Granaldo and the Raldos. These opponents are no threat to Squall and Quistis and are quickly subdued. Afterwards, Squall returns to his dorm room. Zell is waiting for him in the hall. SeeDs get their own room, remember? Zell shows Squall to his new room, and then it's lights out, bedtime. In the morning, Squall, Selphie, and Zell are given their first mission. They are to go to Timber and help the Timber Owls liberate the land from the Galbadian forces. After their briefing, Cid gives Squall a small token... The trio heads to Balamb to board a train to Timber. The train has a special cabin for SeeDs. Cool, huh? The three sit down in their cabin and begin to speculate about the mission. Then, something strange happens... The three fall asleep by some unknown means and are put in the minds of Laguna Loire, Ward, and Kiros--three Galbadian soldiers. They are running through the forests nearDeling City. They finally arrive at the city, and Laguna takes them to a nightclub. Apparently, Laguna has a crush on the pianist...Kiros dares him to go up to her. Laguna takes the challenge, and the pianist, Julia by name, invites him to come and speak with her in her room. Laguna does this, and their conversation inspires Julia to write a song... Squall and Co. wake up, confused. But, they have arrived in Timber. A Forest Owls member is waiting for them at the station. After giving the correct response, he leads Squall to the Timber Owl's headquarters. Once there, the two Owls ask Squall to go and wake up "the princess." Squall does this and is greeted by a familiar face. The woman he had danced with the previous night is the leader of the Timber Owls. She takes Squall to the Strategy Room where she and Zone and Watts outline the mission. Hijack the President of Galbadia's train, kidnap him, and kill him. The young woman, Rinoa, explains in detail how this will be accomplished. The Forest Owl's HQ will catch up with the President's train. Then, they will get on top of the cars, uncouple car 1, move in with the "dummy" car, go back and uncouple car 2. Then, the Forest Owl's HQ will take another track, carrying the President's car along with them. All goes as planned, but the President is not aboard. He has sent a dummy, a look-alike, in his place. Squall and Rinoa quickly subdue the Fake President. Then, Rinoa leads the SeeDs back to the Forest Owls' HQ and debriefs them. They decide to take another shot. Rinoa turns around and leads them to Timber. They go to the Pub, and defeat the Galbadian soldiers there. Then, the group heads for the TV station. The President is casting a TV announcement. The Sorceress is there to help bring and establish peace. Seifer appears at the broadcast and takes the President hostage. The Sorceress then takes Seifer off. The group, Squall, Selphie, Zell, Quistis and Rinoa assume that he is dead. They head to Galbadia Garden. Upon exiting the train from Dollet, the crew takes to the land. They come to a forest they must pass through to reach the Garden. Suddenly, Squall, Zell, and Quistis are overcome with sleep and are transported into Laguna and Co. again. Laguna and Co. are trapped by the Esthar soldiers in Centra. They must navigate and escape through a mysterious excavation site. After doing this, the trio reaches a cliff. The only way out is to jump into the ocean and swim. A final battle leaves the crew in dire straits, and so they leap into the water and hope for salvation. Squall and the other two awaken, confused. They shake it off and head for Galbadia Garden. Once there, the crew heads for the 2nd floor reception room. At the reception room, while they are waiting for Martine, they discuss the loss of Seifer. They miss him, even though he was a bit of a pain in the neck. Rinoa is especially sorry for his death. It seems that she and Seifer had a relationship of sorts. It was Seifer who allowed her to meet Cid and recieve SeeD's assistance. Rinoa is upset, but she is soldiering on. Squall seems to be taking Seifer's demise the hardest. Not because he was especially close to Seifer, but because Squall does not want anyone to speak of him in the manner they are speaking of Seifer. Squall has an emotional outburst, yells "No one will EVER speak of me in the past tense!" and then leaves the room. He meets up with Rajin and Fujin outside. They are shocked over the loss of their friend and fellow Disciplinary Committee member. Squall moves on to the Front Gate where Quistis is waiting for him. She takes him to the rest of the group. New orders have come. Squall is to help in an asassination on the Sorceress. A Galbadian student, Irvine Kinneas, is to help. Irvine is a sharpshooter. The mission is simple. The six will split into two groups. Group A will sneak into the palace and climb the clock tower. Group B will hide in the tunnel and close the gates when the sorceress's car is inside the tunnel. Then Irvine will snipe her. Simple, huh? Not really... The six head toward Deling City. Once there, they are told to go to the Tomb of the Unknown King and retrive a student ID number. They do this. And General Carraway will see them. He keeps them waiting for a while, which irratates Rinoa. She and Quistis get into an argument and then Rinoa stalks off to drag the General down to them. She leaves the room, telling them, "Make yourselves at home. This is my house." Surprise, surprise! Rinoa is the General's daughter! Quistis thinks that they may have just gotten in the middle of a family feud. The General takes them on a tour of the city, explaining and showing the group exactly where they will be and what they will be doing. After the tour, the crew returns to Carraway's mansion and splits into the two teams. Squall and Irvine are the Sniper Team. Quistis, Zell, and Selphie make up the Gateway team. Rinoa then presents an alternate strategy. Quistis blows up on her. Then, the two groups head toward their designated areas. When the Gateway Team gets outside the mansion, Quistis begins to think she was too hard on Rinoa. The team turns around to apologize. They return to the room. Rinoa was about to be locked in. She ran out before the Gateway Team arrived, and thus, the Gateway Team is now trapped in the mansion... Rinoa sneaks into the palace and tries to give the sorceress a "gift" of a braclet that will make her unable to use her sorceress powers. That was Rinoa's alternate plan. Rinoa goes into the sorceress's room to "pay her respects." She is quickly enthralled by the sorceress, and can do nothing. Back at the mansion, Quistis and Crew find a way to escape. Waiting in front of the palace for their chance to sneak in, Irvine and Squall watch as the Sorceress gives her speech. The Sorceress kills the President. Irvine notices that Rinoa is up there, behind the Sorceress. After the speech, two monsters appear, leap to the top of the palace and attack Rinoa. Irvine and Squall find their chance to sneak in, the same way Rinoa did. They reach her in time to defeat the monsters. Then, the trio climbs through a hatch that leads to the clock tower. They watch the parade while waiting for the tower to rise. Seifer is there, on the Sorceress's car. He is very much alive! All they can do now is wait. Rinoa is shaken from the encounter, and Irvine is nervous about what he must do. Squall speaks to both, and tries to calm them down. The time for action is coming... The Gateway Team quickly navigates the sewers and make it to their position at the Gateway in the nick of time. Quistis throws the switch, trapping the sorceress in the tunnel. Squall gets Irvine calmed down and Irvine shoots, his target the sorceress. The Sorceress Edea uses her powers and deflects Irvine's bullet. Squall jumps down from the tower and rushes to the entrapped car. He attacks and defeats Seifer, the Sorceress's Knight. Then, Irvine and Rinoa come in to help Squall do battle with Edea. The trio defeats her, but Edea is not dead. She summons large ice-javilens and throws them at the party. Squall catches one in the chest and falls off the car. Rinoa screams. Her scream of anguish can be heard from miles away. Squall can see her clearly as she leans over the edge of the car, tears in her eyes, mouthing "No! Not this!" Then everything goes black... End of Disc 1
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