Mission: One

The tickets for the train are 3000 gil. Take a guess if our child mercenary organization will reimburse us.

We get on the train and learn Selphie is really into trains. She loves looking out the window as we travel under the ocean. Apparently, she can feel a breeze? Right behind her is SeeD's personal cabin. It's well furnished, and we even get a complimentary pet magazine. But we don't have any pets.

After Zell stops butt bouncing the couch and Selphie joins us, everything gets weird. Selphie collapses on the sofa as Zell begins to fall asleep himself. What Squall lacks in personality, he makes us for in status resistance. But even Mr. Stonic gives in.

Suddenly, we're playing three strange men running through a forest. Laguna, Kiros, and Ward are three Galbadian soldiers during the Timber special military operation. Rather than be on the front lines, they're going home. We learn this as they get through the underbrush and talk to each other. Occasionally, shadow text boxes pop up, which are the thoughts of our first main characters. They get through the forest, find their car, and desert their position to go to the capital city of Deling City!

Laguna parks the ATV in the middle of the road, little to the chagrin of the bus they blocked behind them. You can explore a little of the city now, but I don't want to see the sewers yet. I have enough of the shadow cards, anyway. More soldiers are blocking other paths, so all we can do is visit the high class inn. There's a certain pianist playing tonight.

In the basement is where the local talent, Julia, is playing. After Laguna's group orders the usual, proving they've left their post before. Before we're served, though, a woman in a red dress descends the stairs and sits at the piano. As she starts playing, Kiros and Ward encourage their leader to talk to her. Laguna must have been crushing on this girl for a long time. She's playing, though, so why now? Laguna awkwardly walks up to the piano and stands there, thinking to himself. This is a trait he does often. While he stupidly stands there, his leg cramps up. He tries to walk it off, fitting the scene, but his nervous tick remains. He returns to his booth and encouraging friends, even though Kiros called it a -3 on the manliness scale. The piano has stopped, and the two underlings head out. The camera pans out to reveal Julia standing behind Laguna. She tries to talk to him, but Laggy is really...uh...odd. Charming, though. Julia asks if he'd like to converse in a more private room as we see everyone creeping around them.

So it's off to Julia's room. Laguna remains awkward but manages to talk Julia's ear off. It took some wine to do so, but he tells her about his dream to be a writer. He's in the army to visit new locations and hang out with Kiros and Ward. After too much wine, Laguna falls asleep. Julia wakes him up just for Kiros to knock on the door. Our orders have changed. But, despite being weird, the date went well. They each want to see each other again. Before he leaves, Julia tells Laguna she wants to be a singer but sucks at writing lyrics. But, after tonight, she might have an idea.

We're back to SeeD, just as the train system warns us that we're reaching Timber. Selphie tells us about her dream, which involved someone named Laguna. Zell remarks that he also had a Laguna. Squall thirds it after he says, "I dreamt I was a moron." He plans to file this under the mission report when this is over.

We finally reach Timber, and some dude mentions a key phrase. I responded accordingly to the report Cid gave me. This is a member of our client, The Forest Owls. Watts takes us to their hideout, which is a train. He introduces us to Zone, but that's all he can do. Zone tries to shake Squall's hand, but Squall ignores it because he's a great leader! Anyway, Watts wants us to wake up the Princess down the hall. The SeeDs get upset because we're not here for busy work. Squall heads down the aisle anyway to find the girl from the party. After another weird conversation, where she's sad Seifer isn't here, she finally tells us her name is Rinoa. And then she gives us a tutorial on her dog. Seifer gave them an in with Cid, somehow, so she thought he'd be here. At least Squall shook her hand.

But on to the mission! We all head into the briefing room. We're given backstory on Timber and our target, President Victor Deling. Eighteen years ago, Galbada invaded Timber as a way to show force to the empire. Deling was very unpopular, being a tyrant and all. Now, though, he's come to the city for some reason. He's traveling by train, and we're gonna take that train car through a convoluted method that shouldn't be possible. We'll use three parallel tracks to combine our two trains, switch out a decoy president, and confront Deling away from prying eyes. We'll have to avoid detection and sensors to unlock two passcodes in five minutes to accomplish this goal.

It's all pretty easy. Just make sure to look over when unlocking the cars. During this time, we'll see a poor soldier lose his monthly paycheck twice. I did it perfectly, and my SeeD rank went up to nine! Alas... Also, for some reason, Zell and Sell's junctions are off.

When Rinoa leads the charge into the president's car, we see it was all a trap! A body double begins to talk stupidly before attacking us. This is a two part battle, but part one is easy. And part two can be finished in one turn by using a phoenix down on it. We failed, after all.

While overlooking what's next, we get annoyed. The Forest Owls sit on the floor to plan their next moves. This is unprofessional in our eyes, but not shaking our employer's hand isn't. This makes us want to see the contract. Essentially, we're stuck working for Rinoa until Timber is independent. Why did Balamb take this? Why was it so cheap? I don't remember if this is ever explained. Also, how did Seifer help?

I blocked out in rage, but Rinoa now has to be in the main party. The hideout drops us off in Timber and takes off with Selphie still on it. Apparently, the real Deling is still here and at the TV station. Seventeen years ago, all radio waves broke, and they've never been repaired. But they're being turned on now. Maybe it's good news? Make your way past the porn, violent soldiers, a bar, a drunk, and two kids who know we failed. But we can't get to the station. There are too many soldiers, so we'll wait outside the giant screen. Squall eventually gets mad because this whole thing is rushed and unprofessional. Rinoa thinks about canceling the contract and runs off, just as a homesick Selly rejoins the party.

The TV flips on as Deling calls for world peace. He's teamed himself with a "The Sorceress," but then it goes bad. Seifer rushes the place and takes the president hostage. Quistis is with him and asks us to join them. Good thing all the soldiers are gone. When we get there, Zell starts getting wordy. He accidentally lets slip we're from Garden, much to everyone's dismay. Seifer retreats to a backroom, and we give chase. A portal and another woman from the opening cutscene appears to mind freak Seifer. She convinces him to join her, and they go through the portal. Rinoa comes back, and we're still working for her. But we need to leave town. After hiding out in another resistance fighter's house, we reach the last train leaving Timber. Fortunately, it's heading for Galbadia Garden, which fits with Garden code. Happenstance!

Sell wants to look out the window.
Rinoa is there.
Quistis is there.
We have the option to talk to Zell about how he screwed up, but I don't think Squall has the leadership skills to do that, so I let the scene end. I didn't get off at Galbadia Station and carried on to Dollet Station. So I'll explore the aftermath of our SeeD exam...

... tomorrow!

I hate Squall.