Young Writers Society

Chapter 22:

Everyone met outside one of the prison’s garages. The others were happy to see Rinoa and Squall.

“You guys made it out!” Zell exclaimed.

Quistis looked around. “Where’s Tylor? Wasn’t he with you?”

Squall and Rinoa looked at each other for a moment. As they tried to think of the right words to use to break then news, Selphie spotted something weird growing in the sand nearby. She approached it while the others were talking.

“He didn’t make it.” Squall told them.

Zell shouted, “WHAT!?”

“What happened to him?” Irvine asked.

Rinoa told them, “He fell off the bridge while the prison was digging itself underground.”

They were all silent. Zell was the first to break the silence. “Man… How could he just die like that?”

“Hey, everyone!” Selphie called. “Take a look at this weird plant!” She pointed to the plant that she spotted. It was brown and it grew in very thin strands. The strangest thing about it was that it glowed with a bright yellow aura. “What do you think it is?” Selphie asked as she pulled on it.

“Hey, Selphie. You shouldn’t go near that thing, it could be radioactive.” Irvine warned her.

Selphie ignored him and continued pulling on it. She stopped when she heard a muffled sound coming from under the ground. The plant jumped out of the ground and Selphie screamed.

“Would you stop pulling on my hair, please!?”

Everyone stared; they couldn’t believe their eyes. Squall said, “…Tylor?”

The plant was actually Tylor’s hair, and the glowing was from the protect spell he had cast on himself before he hit the ground. He was buried from the neck down. “If you guys are finished gawking would you mind giving me a hand?”

Everyone rushed to his side and started digging him out. After a few minutes they were able to pull him out. Rinoa asked, “Tylor, how did you survive? We saw you fall. You should be dead by now!”

“Oh, thanks. I missed you too.” Tylor brushed the sand off his body with his left hand. “Before I fell I cast a Protect spell on myself to help break the fall. Don’t get me wrong, it hurt like hell. But at least I’m still alive.”

Zell laughed. “There’s nothing that can keep you down, is there?” He gave Tylor a playful punch in the right arm.

“AAAAAGGHHH!!!” Tylor grabbed his arm in pain.

“Tylor! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you, I just…”

“It’s OK, Zell. I’m fine.”

Irvine gently grabbed Tylor's arm. “Mind if I have a look?” Without waiting for an answer he put pressure on his arm.

He let out another scream of pain. “Knock it off! That hurts!”

“Yeah, definitely broken. Sorry Tylor, but it looks like you’ll be fighting with only one sword for a while.”

“Well, that’s just swell. Let’s just get going.”

Rinoa held Tylor’s unbroken arm and led him to one of the trucks in the garage. “We’ll take care of your arm. Selphie, I’ll need your help. Quistis, you drive.” The four of them climbed into the yellow truck.

“Hey, hey, hey! Ladies?” Irvine was obviously planning on riding in the same truck as the girls.

Zell grabbed Irvine’s arm and grabbed him to the green truck. “Let’s go, Irvine.”

They drove for a few minutes before stopping at a fork in the road. Tylor had forced them to stop. One road led to the train station and the other led to the missile base. They all filed out of the car, one-by-one. During the ride Rinoa and Selphie had but Tylor’s arm in a sling to keep it straight while it healed. They tried casting a few Cure spells, but it would still take a while for the bone to completely mend.

Once they were all out Squall asked, “Why did we stop?”

“There’s one small thing I forgot to meantion, the sorceress is about to launch a few missiles at Balamb Garden.”

Quistis shouted, “The sorceress is about to launch missiles at Garden!?”

“It’s true.” Rinoa told them. “Irvine told me.”

“The only thing we can do now is go back to Garden as soon as possible and warn the students.” Squall told them. “Let’s get in the car and go.”

“It’s not just Balamb Garden.” Tylor told them. “They’re also targeting Trabia.”

Selphie started jumping up and down. “We have to interfere with the launch! We have to stop the missiles!”

“Calm down, Selphie.”

“I just transferred from Trabia Garden. I can’t just sit around knowing that Trabia Garden is in danger!” She looked at Squall. “So Squall, please! Decide who’s gonna go to the Galbadia Missile Base, before it’s too late!”

Squall crossed his arms and thought for a moment.

“Let’s take a vote!” Rinoa suggested. “Squall will decide on the party. Squall will return to Balamb because he’s the leader. And Tylor will have to go with him anyway because he can’t fight in his condition. Anyone against this plan please raise your right hand!”

“Hey!”

“Oh, sorry Tylor.” She looked back at Squall. “I don’t mind which team you put me on.”

“You’re the leader, Squall. What are the teams?” Quistis asked.

Suddenly, the missiles launched from the base. Irvine told them, “I… heard they were hitting Trabia first, and then Balamb.”

Selphie sat down on the ground. “Trabia… I’m sorry… I couldn’t stop it… Please let everybody be all right. Please…” She stood back up and looked at Squall. “That was a miss… right…? We have to report to Balamb! Who are you taking?”

Squall sighed, “Selphie, I’m choosing you to lead the team going to the missile base. Irvine and Zell, you’re going with her.”

“I won’t let you down!” Selphie shouted.

“Rinoa and Quistis, you’re coming with me and Tylor to warn everyone in Balamb Garden. This mission is unlike any other. It’s not an order or a request from anyone. Selphie, do you have some kind of plan?”

“I think if we take this Galbadian army vehicle, we should be able to make it inside the base. But… that’s about it. I’ll have to think about the rest once we’re inside. Do you think that’ll be OK?” She corrected herself. “I’m sorry… I mean, thanks. There isn’t much thime! You better hurry to Balamb Garden!”

“See you there.” Squall told them.

The team heading to the missile base went into the yellow truck and the team going to Balamb Garden piled into the green one. Before they got in Tylor put his hand on Selphie’s shoulder. “We’re all counting on you.”

“Don’t worry, just leave everything to me!”

Tylor leaned in to whisper something in her ear. “When there’s no where else to run, hide in the blue tank.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

As Tylor walked to the green truck he said, “When the time comes, you’ll know what it means.”

The closest train station was a ten-minute drive away and built in the middle of nowhere. The only train at the platform was an old fashion coal train used for transporting cargo.

Squall pointed to the train when they got out of the truck. “Let’s take that train.”

Tylor warned him. “This train is being used by Galbadian soldiers. If we go on the platform they’ll see us. Let’s sneak around the other side.

As they quietly ran to the engine Quistis whispered. “So far your predictions have been on the ball.”

“Yeah. Pretty soon we’ll be sailing across the ocean on a floating fortress.” Tylor said.

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

As they approached they saw a soldier inside the engine. They waited a few minutes for him to get out before climbing on. Quickly, before the soldier got back, they got the train running.

“Wait! Stop the train!”

They looked out the side of the train and saw the Galbadian soldier trying to catch up with the train. Tylor shouted, “Sorry, buddy! You snooze, you lose!”

The man started running faster. “WAIT!!! STOOOOP!!!”

“Wow.” Quistis said, “He sure can run.”

Tylor looked behind him and saw a bucket of coal sitting next to the furnace. He grabbed one and said, “Hey guys, watch this.” With his left hand he chucked the piece of coal at the guy’s head. He landed face first into the sand.

“Tylor! That wasn’t very nice!” Rinoa told him.

“Oh, come on! You can’t tell me that wasn’t funny.”