A...date!?

Let the side quests begin...later.

So we crashed into a makeshift city built on an offshore solar farm. Meeting with the mayor, Dobe, has him acting very aggressively towards us. He doesn't like Garden because we're a war faring group. Our presence will only attract further violence. Squall assures him we'll only stay once we figure out how to use our boat. Dobe okays the engineers of FH to fix it up and asks us to leave. As we walk the long walkway back to town, we hear someone yelling about Galbadian soldiers! Dobe goes ahead of us because he thinks diplomacy can save FH. Follow him to see he's getting harassed by a guy in red who wants to burn the town down. He's looking for Ellone.

When we save Dobe, the army attacks us with the remains of the Iron Clad, the thing Selphie fought before. I spent the whole fight Drawing Stop until it exploded again. As the mech drops into the sea, we see our not dead friends claw out of it! Selphie, Zell, and Bob Sr. are alive! Even Squall's glad, but we only know because of his thought bubbles. Q escorts them home, but Rinia hangs back. She noticed how happy Squall was, but I played it off as a responsibility thing. We can speak to Dobe, who still hates us. We can try to bring him around, but who knows if it worked?

Return to Balamb to see Irvine waiting for us. He says Selphie is sad at the quad and asks if the engineers can set something up for him. As long as it doesn't distract from fixing Garden... Head to the quad to see it in ruins. It was fine before... Selphie is upset that her high school dream of putting on the Garden Festival seems to be gone. We have the option to cheer her up, but I let Irvine do it. Sorry, Selly. We're called to Cid's office.

Cid makes an announcement about the future of Garden. We're all going to focus on killing Edea, and Squall's in charge!. Squall is mad that he's leader now. Q was fired for lacking leadership qualities...

Squall goes to bed to mope, and he does a lot of questioning. Why him?! Why does Cid want to kill his wife? Who is Ellone, and how does she let us experience Laguna? During this time, Selphie and Irvine plan something for Squall's coronation. We form a band! We choose from eight different instruments to make one of three songs. A slow song, a fast song, or one that sucks. I've always gotten the bad one, so I cheated. The slow tune is a 1950s variation of Love Grows. Q said she has no musical tallet, but she sure played a great sax!

Squall wakes up later that night because he's bored and takes a walk. We see Rinoa in a white, skimpy dress. I tried to walk by, but she stopped me. I attempted to get out of it, but we're going on a date. After Irvine tells us he left a "special" magazine in a spot for us, and we ruin his attempt to hit on Selphie, we make our way to the mayor's house. The song is pretty okay, but check out the "naughty magazine" Irvine left for us. Squall and Rinoa talk with that in the middle of them, while Rinoa takes a rather provocative stance. She tries to get Squall to open up more, but he's hesitant. Eventually, he agrees to try, but Rinoa doesn't believe him. He's just saying things to get out of the conversation, so she runs away, asking him why he's like this. That's a very good question, Rinoa! Why are so many people trying to be around this guy? Squall has that Charlie Brown dream again.

Cid calls for Squall and gives another speech. Garden is now controllable, and our mission can begin! He tries to let Squall say something, but he doesn't want to. We don't know where Edea is, but we know she's looking for Ellone. Perhaps we should check out Balamb!?

Or, we can explore the world! We have a ship and can see a lot more than before. The first thing I did was explore the southern continent to get Odin. Without random fights, the time limit was a mere suggestion. I also did something I've never done before: get Tonberry King! It took two hours, but I killed twenty tomberries. They were not worth the stress. I don't know if TK is good, but I think he's adorable. I can't believe he apologized for attacking us. All he was doing was protecting his kin. I feel so bad...

I also visited Winhill and found two vase pieces. Finally, I did a bunch of CC Club card games on Balamb. Why won't Xu fight me! Anyway, we'll see why Galbadia Garden is anchored off the coast of Balamb...

...tomorrow!

I used to think Garden being a flotilla was a stupid concept when I was young. Now that I know about cruise ships and megayachts, I see it's pretty chill, actually.