Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy VIII: Extended Quest ❯ Ch. 1, A Run In With Someone New ( Chapter 1 )

As Squall exits Ultimicia's lair, he wonders to his next doings. He has just defeated the greatest sorceress the planet had to offer. As he loads his lionheart gunblade, he looks towards the people he has come to know over his venture. He looks on them with pride, knowing they have done a fine job.

 

BOOM! A Firara spell was just launched nearby. Then the familiar sound of a gunblade attacking it's enemy. "What the heck?" Irvine whips his head around to see the explosion. Squall looks to the direction of the sound noticing a huge fireball arising from the ground. "Should we check it out?" Irvine asked the leader of the group. More spells where being unleashed, this time a Thundaga (sp?), as well as an Aero. "I think we should check it out" he fingers the spell to bring forth Eden, making sure that he can arise, if need be "Let's go then," Irvine said as he waited for Squall to make a move. The spells became fiercer, the sounds of gunblade strikes becoming fiercer as well. "Lets go" They move through the underbrush, trying to move with all available speed.

As Squall and the others moved closer, the sounds got louder to the point where you could hear a female voice calling out the names of the spells. As they near the site, they see the ground had been cleared for several yards and was scorched beyond recognition. Standing in the middle of the scorched wasteland was a female of their age holding a gunblade. She had shoulder length auburn hair and green eyes; wearing black lowrider jeans, a red tank top with a black wind breaker jacket, a belt hanging off her right hip with a holster for her gunblade on the left side. She was standing over a talisman, glaring at it, her left fist clenched so tight that her knuckles where white. As Squall approaches he wonders who this person is

"Whoa. Who are you?" Irvine voiced everyone's question.

She looked over to the group and stared for a moment. She composed herself and placed her gunblade in her belt. "My name is Angelita. And you?" "I'm Irvine." “I'm Squall. What are you doing all the way out here?" "That is none of your concern," she said and picked up the talisman, which was cut in half. She placed it in her pocket and looked over to the group. "I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing out here?" "We just came from defeating the sorceress, Ultimicia, and we heard your battle. So we came to see if you were in over your head, which you weren't, and bail you out if necessary." She sighed, "Your concern is appreciated. Now, I must get back to my garden. I'm sure it's in extreme chaos right now."

 

Squall looks and sees no garden's nearby, so he assumes it's far beyond here. “Where is it?” She sighed and brushed the bangs out of her face. Great, she thought. She looked to Squall. "Underwater," she said simply. Squall is absolutely confused by this. "Where?" "Underwater. My grandfather wasn't stupid when he started it. He built an underwater garden. It's safe from everything that happens up here." Squall has never heard of this kind of garden, but there had been weirder things in the world. "Interesting. How do you get to it?" "There's a special tunnel that can only be opened by a member of the gardens staff." "Which is a good security measure, in case you don't want anyone in", or out, he thought to himself. "Only our SeeD members can leave the garden," she said, like she knew what he was thinking. She sighed and brushed her hair out of her face. "You wanna rest up? Battling a sorceress isn't easy." "Sure" piped Rhinoa. "Couldn't hurt" said Squall. "All right. Let's go." Irvine is the most enthusiastic. She nodded. "Follow me," she said and headed off towards the coast.

 

As they traveled, Squall wonders as to how high a SeeD member she is, and if she has accumulated any GF's of her own. This occupies his thoughts until they near the coast. As they reached the coast, a little black Carbuncle (sp?) ran up and jumped into Angelita's arms. She chuckled, "Hey there, Kuro." Squall notices this. "Seems you know this area pretty well, and know its inhabitants" She looked back at Squall. "I've known Kuro since he was a baby," she said as she petted him. "And I'm also one of the few from my garden allowed up here." "So your garden has few SeeD members, or do you not involve yourselves in the matters outside?" "Both, actually. Once you enroll in my garden you rarely see the surface until your training is complete. Then you get transferred around the word to organizations that require assistance. Once your mission is completed, you can return to the garden or stay on the surface." "Interesting. That sounds like a good way to keep a garden."

 

She smirked. "Have any of you seen a Instructor in you gardens that seemed a bit.... unorthodox with their training methods?" "I've seen a few yeah." Irvine states "Yes. I was surprised because all their students had the highest SeeD exam scores I had ever seen," Quistis stated. She smirked again. "I can tell what garden they trained in, but I think you can figure it out for yourselves." "Let me guess, yours" Squall states, obviously figuring the comment out. She nodded. "Yeah. See. Told ya you could figure it out." She brushed her hair out of her face and Kuro jumped on her shoulder. "Our training methods are a bit different from yours, but it easily rounds out the trainee's skills. They'll be ready for anything."

 

"So, with all this training, how many GF's have been found in your halls?" "We have a few, but they're limited to the SeeD members, which are few”. Squall wonders on a question. "And their amount of power?" "They've mastered all their abilities and are level 80 or higher." Squall is impressed. "Whoa, they're good. Though their no match for my Eden." She smirks. "Think so?" "So long as were on good terms, I wouldn't want to bring him out to see for just you."

 

She smiles and looks at Kuro, who is snickering. "Good, `cause Kuro here can easily prevent you from using any type of GF." Squall is visibly surprised. "What?" "Just as I said. Kuro can prevent my opponents from using GF's. In case you haven't figured it out yet, Kuro is one of my GF's." "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........................" Squall gives a blank stare. She chuckled, but she couldn't help it. Kuro chuckled as well. "New to this aren't ya?" "Maybe, but if I'm new, then I'd hate to see the classification you'd give Ultimecia. She smirked. "If your GF cares for you enough, it can break free and travel around with you, like Kuro." Kuro then nuzzled Angelita affectionately.

 

Squall thinks on this, maybe he could get Shiva to do that "Is there anything tricky to it?" Angelita thought about it. "Hmmm.... I've had Kuro since I was little and it's been awhile since my last GF broke free." She paused, "Well, there's nothing really that tricky about it. It's just like making friends with people. Respect them and they'll respect you. That kind of thing." She smiled then quickly added, "Oh, and it helps if you fight with your GF's instead of just letting them fight on their own." "Good to know, but I don't think all of my GF's are sizably useable in that purpose."

 

Zell just can't stay quiet any longer. "Dont mean to nag, but when are we gonna get there?" "They can still live in the cards they where originally in and still come out whenever they please. Or you can teach them a special skill with a scroll that we have in the garden." An opening appears in the ground in front of Angelita. "And we can go now." She jumped into the hole, even if there was a ladder to climb down.

"Bold, isn't she" "Yes, but at this moment, she's invited us, so we might as well follow" He climbed down the ladder and quickly discovered that the tunnel was so high-tech, it made his head spin. There was an underwater subway system. The plastics around them where see through and undetectable due to the fact that it was surrounded by rock. Angelita looked at them. "All aboard," she said, her hand on a panel. They boarded the car and settled in for what appeared to be a long ride

She smirked and held onto a railing that was in the car. In a few seconds, the car stopped and the door opened. "Well, that was a bit slower than normal." Squall , for the ump-tenth time today has been totally surprised. "And I thought that was gonna be a long one." Zell is just plain confused. "Wait, that was long? "Yeah, just a bit. It's normally an instant trip. This one took a few seconds. I'll have to tell the maintenance guys to check on it."

 

She got off and signaled them to follow her. As they followed, Squall took in the sights, and noticed there was a different air down here. Restless, yet secure.

Angelita escorted them throughout the garden. "Well, there are a few things we can do. First off, is anyone hungry?" Zell just loses it. "ARE YOU KIDDING? What kind of question is that to ask when I'm around" "I guess it couldn't hurt" Angelita is surprised by Zell's outburst. "I just met you, so I wouldn't know." She sighed and Kuro's ears perked up. "I see, they're practicing." Everyone looks around, and several groups of people are doing things, such as acrobatics, music, or writing presentations. Squall asks, “What are they practicing for?” "Oh, the Garden Festival. The groups are each practicing."

 

" So are you doing anything? "She sighed, "Yeah. Tyler's making me sing for the festival." "Then I am to assume that if Tyler is MAKING you do this, then he must have some pull over you." "Yeah. The fact he's been my best friend since I came here and the fact he has a lot of dirt on me." "So is it someone that we want to meet or avoid?" "He's a teddy bear normally. He's not really that bad of a guy." "And yet you still won't go out with me," Tyler said, walking over to the group. She shook her head, sighing. "I'm guessing your Tyler. I'm Squall" "I'm Zell" "Irvine." He blinked. "Not often you bring upper world people down here." "They're SeeD's. I offered them a place to stay." "And before I'm surprised again, do you have any GF's roaming around on their own?" Tyler nodded. "I have a few roaming around."

"We also have a special training center where you can capture GF's." "IIIIIIIIII think were full at the moment." Zell interrupts. "Speaking of full, where's the food you promised. I'm nowhere near that mark right now." "Zell Zell Zell, THINK OUTSIDE YOUR STOMACH RIGHT NOW! Sorry 'bout that." She chuckled. "It's all right. Come on, I'll take you to the cafeteria." "Hey, you better not forget about the Festival tomorrow!" "I won't!" She lead the others to the cafeteria.

 

As they neared, they got the smells of some of the finest foods they had ever had, and some new scents that they assumed were only found in the underground

"Well, this is it." It was more like a five star restaurant than a garden cafeteria.

As Zell looked around, he couldn't find were to get his food. "Where do I get some food?" "Zell, these are the wrong type of questions to be asking in a place your just visiting. In other words, BE PATIENT!" She chuckled a bit. "Right over there," she said and pointed to the small line by a counter. "Just go over there and choose what you want." Everyone piled into line and got their food. As for Squall, he chose something that smelled good, but he had never seen it before. Angelita just got something small, but it smelled awesome. She held some up to Kuro, which he happily ate.

The group spotted a circular table big enough to fit them all and sat down. he looked over what everyone else had and it all looked appetizing. "Man this stuff is good! My compliments to the chef." "They're all Angelita's recipies." Tyler comes to the group. "Do you ever stop following me?" *Squall visibly jumps from startlement* "And could you possibly not make me jump like that again?" He chuckled. "Sorry about that. So, Angie, what are you gonna sing at the Festival?" he asked sitting down next to her. She sighed, "I don't know yet." Squall leans back. "We get to know more about you in each passing second, huh." She sighed. "Why do you keep nagging me about it, Tyler?" "Maybe because you're anti-social and need to actually participate in Garden activities instead of just sponsoring them." Squall wants to break the tension a bit. "So, uh, Tyler. How are you doing?" "I'm good."

"He's hitting on me. Of course he's good." Zell chuckles. "Zell, don't even start"

"Come on. Give us a sample of what you're gonna be singing." "I told you. I don't know yet." "Better make it up now. The Festival's tomorrow." "I wouldn't mind hearing it." "This ought to be interesting." "Bring on the music. Lights, camera, action!" She mumbled some curses under her breath. "Fine."

I woke up late
Guess I'm never really early
I hesitate, only to fail
I get so tired of procrastinating
I need a change

I can't do this
I can't do this
I can't do this by myself
I can't do this
I can't do this
Oh, God, I need your help

I'm standing still
I'm oh, so peaceful
I can't pretend that I'm fine
I get so ill, crazy agitated
When I've not really died

Press into Me
Breathe Me in
Bask in Me
You'll be free to do anything

 

Squall is amazed at the guts it would take to sing such a thing in public. "Interesting.” Tyler blinked. Angelita laughed. "Don't worry. I'm not singing that." "Now it's getting even more interesting." She smiled. "You'll have to wait `till the festival to find out what I'm really singing." Zell speaks up. "I can deal with that." Squall is disappointed. "Oh well" "Well, it's tomorrow so we don't have long to wait." She became a bit agitated that Tyler was still there, hovering over her. "Don't you have trainees to be watching over?" "Aw, shit. All right. I'll see ya later." He smiled at the group and then ran off.

 

"So he's after you. Can't help to admit he is rather like you" "Don't listen to him, he's nuts" "So I've noticed." She sighed and leaned back. "So, what do you want to do after this? We have a lot here." "Does your garden have a practice range? After Ultimicia, I've forgotten how to take down the smaller threats of the world" Zell makes a joke attempt. "You guys got a spa or somthin'?" Squall is very embarrassed right now. "Zell, this is the last time I'm going to say this. SHUT UP! Sorry for the outburst." "Ah, don't worry about it. Yeah we got a training center. It's got different areas for different levels." She turned to Zell, "And yes, we do have spas and stuff like that." "Thank you for your hospitality." "Dude, I was just joking, but I'll take the offer." "Tell me you guys have guards that can watch him."

She laughed a bit; it had been awhile since she had a chance to be just a normal person. "Well, are we ready to go?" Squall finishes his food. "Lets go" Zell yells excitedly. "Here we go!"

 

She got up and led them to the directory in the center of the garden. "To the left is the spa and to the northwest is the training center. Pick a type of enemy you want to fight and have fun. There's also a resting spot in each area if you need to use it." Zell faces the other direction. "Later" Squall is still minorly embarrassed. "Thank you, and tell me you can get those guards" She chuckled. "Don't worry. Every teacher and supervisor here are official members of SeeD." "Thank goodness" Angelita smiled. "Need a training partner?" Squall puts this to thought. "Maybe, if I wanna go hard on myself." She smiled. "I won't hold you back." It doesn't bother Squall any , so she lets her come. "Lead the way."