FFVIII – Part 44: Fractured into Factions

Summary: The SeeDs try not crack under the stress as they learn that the B-Garden fractured into factions. They smack each other in the halls and don’t print retractions. Team Cid vs Team Norg (??).


Balamb Garden

-The team sees something happen at the silo from a distance, but still doesn’t know whether the missiles are in the air and on the way. Let’s find Cid.

-Huh? A faculty member is yelling to “kill him,” “seize him.” Who? Did Seifer return? Students are running around the school willy-nilly.

-The music is nervous too. Anxiety-inducing.

GARDEN FACULTY: “Are you with the Garden Master, or with Cid?” ??? Who’s the Garden Master? I know that the Sorceress was intent on taking over the Galbadia Garden. (Which, if it happens, I’d envision as like Hogwarts when Voldemort and the Death Eaters took over.) Could it be her?

-He asks if we swear allegiance to “Garden Master NORG.” Wtf dude. I get the option to say yes or idk. I’ll go with idk, since for all I know this faculty member is against Norg.

-lolnope, he’s a Norgite.

He summons some plant monsters and leaves us.

-Fujin and Raijin are here, as confused as we are. The Garden Master started “rounding up” SeeDs.

-Aw. When the team asked which side F & R are on, they said “We’re with Seifer. Always.” I wonder if they know he sided with the Sorceress.

-Some kids are holed up in the library, trying to make the Norgites spread themselves thin by making them think Cid is in the library. XU! It was her idea.

-The faculty all seem to be on Norg’s side. Some chase down a bunch of little kids and a SeeD to the training center, but the kid kicks one of the attackers in the shins.

Go kid!

-Son of a… the faculty member summoned a T-Rex. SUPER close fight, with Squall the lone survivor, but he eventually took dino down.

-Went into the Training Center in the hopes that Cid might be hiding out in the Love Nest, but can’t access it.

-Holy crap! Just tried Darkside on Squall, and at the cost of a bit of health, it turns him into an absolute BEAST.

-Just saw the Scan on another T-Rexaur. The description tells me to run, but screw that. It doesn’t know that I have Squall with Darkside doing 9999 and Rinoa with Shiva doing 7,500.

-Man, this place isn’t fucking around. A faculty member summoned a Grendel on me, a dragon-type, and it whomped me.

I won, but barely survived.

-There was a holo-Cid in the parking lot. Xu is pretty great at protecting him.

-Working my way around the school. Now on my way to the dormitory. Every time I talk to one of the faculty members, I get nervous for what fresh hell they’ll unleash.

-You know, I think siding with Cid is right, but perhaps my experience with the FF series should warn me that Cid doesn’t always make the best choices in the early game. On the other hand, Xu is with Cid and she’s awesome, so go team Cid!

-Found another Weapons catalogue in Squall’s room. Some awesome looking weapons in there, and it strikes me that Squall is still using the first weapon. If he’s such a monster already, the newer weapons must make him unstoppable.

-Got “Meltdown” from a bomb that the faculty summoned. I wanted to farm that, but I really didn’t want it to cast it on me.

-A girl in the cafeteria hopes her brother is alright. Zell’s sister? Hm. Dunno.

-It’s especially interesting that a lot of the students here don’t really know what’s going on. Cid evacuated the SeeDs when this started so I guess he was prepared.

The “true battle?”

-The last wing on the lower level is the Infirmary. The faculty guarding it calls down some huge wasp thing that we fought before as a boss iirc. Drew new magic from it, “Pain.”

(Small note: I really like how when combat starts, you hear the monster before you see it to give you a brief hint about what you’re about to see. Adds a new element to the sensory interaction of combat that I enjoy.)

-Dr. Kadowaki! She’s okay. She stops to help one of the injured Norgites.

DR. KADOWAKI: “What is all this faction mumbo-jumbo? It’s ridiculous.”

Adds to the sense of confusion that it even snuck up on her.

-God, she’s SUCH A BADASS. We say that missiles may be on the way (the slowest-flying missiles ever I guess) and she says she has to stay then to help with any wounded.

-One of the Cidites outside the Infirmary is Nida. Totally forgot about him, but apparently he’s Squall’s SeeD-mate. Maybe he’s the guy who Cid told would be a background character or something.

-We see Xu going up the elevator and move to follow.

-Encountered a T-Rex upstairs, but I just ran. No save point in a while and a bit nervous.

-Xu allows us to see and pass the news onto Cid. LOLOL – Cid was in his office the whole time. Hiding in plain sight.

-What the fuck? I went out to a balcony and some dude in a bandana is out there enjoying the breeze, napping, utterly oblivious to the chaos inside.

-We head upstairs, where Cid awaits. He seems fatalistic, desiring to go down with the ship if it comes to that. Orders Squall to help Raijin and Fujin and Xu evacuate.

-He seems to have a plan to save the Garden maybe, but doesn’t tell us.

-SQUALL FEEELINGS!!!! Squall thinks why he wants to save this place, and gives a litany of reasons internally. This is his Garden. This is his home.

-Cid and Quistis get on his case a bit about him not sharing his feelings, and now he feels judged. And now I feel guilty for judging him earlier.

-The plan. The Garden used to be a shelter, and Cid thinks that in the basement we’ll find controls to reactivate Shelter Mode. (Figaro Mode maybe?) Worth a shot.

-The music starts to really kick ass again as we climb into the elevator. I heard it before, but can’t remember the name.

-Camera cuts to missiles flying through the air.

Well… shit.

-The elevator stops near the bottom. We climb out down the stairs and just narrowly avoid it hitting us.

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Next time: into the basement.

p.s. btw i found out the best strategy if attacked by a t-rex is to throw your dog at it