Welcome back~ Being searched for by the Galbadian Soldiers, we take refuge in a lady's home

Turns out the lady is a member of another resistance group fighting for Timber's freedom



Selphie asks the all important question about what the heck happened last time



And Rinoa explains that she told Seifer all about the Forest Owls and she thinks he showed up to help



Meanwhile, soldiers show up at the house



The lady's daughter ushers us upstairs and assures us that her mother will be alright



Selphie says that the beauty part really makes it sound like a legend because she just can't help herself.

Thankfully, Galbadian Soldiers apparently don't know how to go up stairs so we're safe to converse about what's going on

Quistis says Seifer was talking about going to Timber but she didn't think he was serious



Reason #1 Quistis was fired: Lacks Leadership skills
Reason #2: Apparently doesn't know anything about her own students
Reason #3: Acts like crazy girlfriend towards her student when he dances with a pretty lady at his graduation party

Don't you worry, there will be more

They ask what happened to Seifer and Squall says he may already be dead. Because of the whole assassination attempt on the President thing





Rinoa does not take kindly to his considering the possibility of his death and says she hopes he's okay. Squall says what she wishes for is her business



At this point, it seems the Galbadian Soldiers have withdrawn



So we head back downstairs to consider our next move



Quistis points out some Garden SeeD rule number



And because Squall is a surprisingly good student, he knows what she's talking about



With our destination in mind, we head over to the train station where we run in to our old friend Zone who is disguised as an old man. He informs us that all of the train tickets are sold out buuuuut



Unfortunately, he didn't know Quistis would be showing up, so he kindly offers her the ticket he had planned to use to escape. She tries to reject it but



He fakes one of his stomach aches and shoos us away



So we hop on the train for a short time. Selphie interrupts Squall's motivational speech a few times to ask for the pass to be let in to the train hallway to gaze out the window. Shortly afterwards, we arrive at our stop and head through a forest to get to our destination



Unfortunately morale is low and Selphie worries about them getting arrested while Zell worries about Balamb Garden being attacked because of his earlier slip up



He's so worried that his speech bubble is way on the other end of the screen

He asks Squall is they would really attack Garden and Squall says maybe



Squall says that they might




Rinoa once again doesn't approve of the military student giving a realistic rundown of possibilities instead of telling them what they want to hear. She says that he needs to give words of support and encouragement to Zell instead



But before Rinoa can fuss at him more (I'll give you a rundown of their early game relationship: Rinoa fusses at Squall and Squall gets confused and exasperated) the high pitched noise starts up again



And while it may seem like he faked a headache to get out of an argument, Selphie and Quistis soon pass out as well




"Oh, okay, that explains it"

Sure enough we do end up back with Laguna and co.




Anyway, we head down to the weird place where weird mining is being done and find ourselves surrounded by Esthar Soldiers. One can only assume these are soldiers from a place called Esthar



They're weird lookin

So we head deeper in to this weird, unattractive, and somewhat maze like area



You can also find two Old Keys which Laguna will promptly drop




This may seem pointless but all of the extra little things you do here that seem to have no effect do end up having an effect later on

Here's a quick note in case you play the game!
*Pick up the Old Key near both entrances
*Remove a lever from a floor panel
*Find the detonator and flip the red switch followed by the blue switch
*Move the boulder away from the tunnel to reveal the Cure Draw Point

After doing all of that we find an exit. Unfortunately some Esthar Soldiers find us and the exit led to a cliff. Roc and hard place



So this leads to a battle with some creepy Esthar Soldiers



When you defeat the last one, he will render two party members to 1 HP before he finally kicks the bucket



Unfortunately, Ward sustained a heavy injury



"I can tell magically without properly examining him because this is a dramatic moment"

Ward manages a few last words before becoming mute





................................

Moving on

Laguna spots some boats in the ocean and decides to throw the others off the cliff to safety

As you do





Laguna then tries to gingerly ease himself off the cliff before he falls off



With their fate undetermined, we return to Squall and his companions who have finally woken up



Quistis is confused about what the heck just happened but we all decide its best to put it out of our minds for now and keep going to Galbadia Garden. But not before Rinoa apologizes to Squall



Stay tuned for next time when we get another party member!