Arriving in Timber, the party will be approached by the representative of the resistance faction and you need to respond with the third option "But the Owls are still around", which was the message you got from Cid to confirm you are the hired SeeD members. You will be meet and can follow him to the group's train.
Squall will introduce themselves and you will meet Zone, as well. Unfortunately, it seems everyone is too afraid to go to the back of the train and wake the "princess", their leader, which now falls on Squall.
Climb the stairs into the next room and save your game, then return and play cards with Watts. He carries the rare Angelo GF card for you to obtain. If you don't get this now, you will have to wait quite a long time to do so again, so make sure to pick it up now.
At the back of the train, Squall will be reunited with Rinoa; the girl he danced with at the SeeD graduation party. She was at the party to personally request Cid's assistance with SeeD. Rinoa will join your party and you'll get a tutorial about how her limit break works, then you can return to the front of the train.
Follow them inside the briefing room and you will get an overview of the mission: to kidnap the President of Galbadia, Vinzer Deling. Although it's fairly simple, make sure to pay attention to the details of what will be forthcoming.
After the briefing, return to Rinoa's room and you can find the Pet Pals Vol. 2 magazine. Make sure to read it and the one you got on the train to Timber to add them to Rinoa's list of limit breaks to learn. Also, you may not have realized, but after the Laguna dream, you lost your junctions, so you will have to reset them. Save your game and then talk with Watts to begin your mission.
Note: if you complete the following mission without failing, your SeeD rank will go up by one. Like stated previously, raising your SeeD rank isn't a big deal, so don't feel like you have to do it perfectly. Follow Rinoa across the top of the train and when she directs you to drop down to enter the passwords, do so. For the first set of passwords, Selphie and Zell will warn Squall that a guard is coming and you need to stop entering the pass-codes and hit "up" to return to the top; then back down again when they leave. On the second set, Squall will have to use R1 to see if a guard is coming, which makes things annoying, but that's it. Once you set both pairs of codes, watch the scenes, save your game, and tell Watts you are ready to confront Vinzer.
A Fake President? Nothing to see here. He can only bite you and will fall after just a few attacks.
Then he will show his true form: Gerogero. This is also fairly easy. I highly recommend stocking up on the Esuna and Double spells that he has to draw before starting the battle. Gerogero's only threat is his ability to cause status effects; which you can overcome by drawing and casting Esuna from him. Do this each time a character becomes inflicted with one, especially berserk, and this battle should prove to be no challenge at all. He's weak against fire and curative spells, just to note.
It will be revealed that the real Vinzer is on his way to Timber to broadcast some sort of message from the TV station there. Rinoa will want to head for Timber but Squall will demand to see the contract between the Forest Owls and Balamb Garden. Looks like we are in this for the long haul...You'll need to decide between Selphie or Zell who will go with Squall and Rinoa to Timber. I would recommend Selphie as she is more than likely a couple of levels below Zell, but you decide for yourself. This is your last chance to win the Angelo card from Watts until later on in the game, too. When you are prepared, tell him you are ready to leave for Timber.
On the streets of Timber, you will have to deal with random encounters from Galbadia and Elite Soldiers; both of which have basic spells to draw, but if you're over level 20, use this chance to stock up on them as the Soldiers are little threat to you.
While not rare, you can steal Tents, and rarely, Cottage items from the Elite Soldiers. Cottages can only be obtained elsewhere through refining or very late in the game via shop. Load up on Tents so you don't need to purchase them. Of course, it's not like Gil is hard to come by in this game, but still useful.
To the west-side of town you will find the Timber Pet Shop. This is important as several items here can only be obtained by buying them in this shop. They include: the Pet House, Magic, GF, Draw, and Item Scrolls, the Amnesia Greens, and lastly the Pet Pals Vol. 3&4. The Amnesia Greens are of particular note: you will need these to remove a Guardian Force ability so that it can learn a new one.
To the far-east of town, near the exit of Timber, you can fight an optional battle with two Elite Soldiers harassing the Timber soldiers here. There is also a save point inside the inn and a remodel shop nearby.
When you pass back by the overview of the train tracks, there will be a man here you can talk with, and if Rinoa, or later Quistis, is in your party, he will give you a Potion everytime you enter town.
Take the path just beside the platform you exited off after fighting the Fake President and head inside the Timber Maniacs building. Check behind the second stack of magazines on the right for a Girl Next Door magazine item. This has a use later on, but for us item collectors, it will be staying in our inventory. Entering the Timber Maniacs building is also a requirement for the "Timber Maniacs" section in the tutorial/information to unlock; otherwise you will miss it.
The small room to the left of that holds a hidden Blizzaga draw point.
In the back room of Timber Maniacs, check here to pick up another older issue of Timber Maniacs magazine.
Take the path east of Timber Maniacs, and the next east again, and enter the house near the bridge. You can use the water faucet on the left-side of the room to replenish your party. The cupboard in the center of the room Squall can bang on the stuck door and then give it a final search to obtain 500 Gil, however, you cannot use the Owl's Tears anymore afterward; but with being able to draw Cura from the enemies outside, you don't need them. Return to the screen beside the Timber Maniacs building and take the stairs down to outside of the pub. You will have to fight two Galbadian Soldiers and they will leave behind a Buel card Squall will pick up. There is a basic shop to the left, if you need to use it.
Inside the pub, to get to the back alleyway, you will need to move the drunk in front of the door. You can talk to him and tell him about the Buel card you just found and he will move and give you a Tonberry card in addition to you keeping the Buel one, or you can buy him a drink. If you elect to buy him a drink, you need to select the Reagan one. If you'll recall, all the names of the drinks here are references to the chocobo greens from Final Fantasy VII.
Head through the alleyway and ascend the stairs on your way to the television station. The party will stop before a large screen and you will witness several scenes culminating with Seifer rushing inside the studio and taking President Deling hostage. Continue climbing the stairs and into the station where the party and Quistis will try to reason with Seifer, with Zell, unfortunately, letting it slip everyone here is from Garden.
With Seifer's hand forced and a threat from Galbadia to the Garden now emanate, the Sorceress will appear and give Seifer a way out...Deling will escape and Seifer will disappear with the Sorceress leaving the party behind.
Quistis will permanently join your party now and you will need to head back to the house beside the Timber Maniacs building to regroup. Talk with your party members here as the owners of the home hide you from the searching Galbadian Soldiers. Quistis will explain that Seifer came all the way to Timber with Quistis in tow to help (?) Rinoa and the Forest Owls. With nowhere else to go, Quistis will suggest that the party visit the nearest Garden, Galbadia, for their next instructions.
Before the party leaves, the madam of the house will give several helpful items to the party. Outside, the party will say goodbye to Watts, and then Zone to the east, who will hand over his tickets on the last train out of town. When you are finished in Timber, board the train on the east platform. Continue to talk to your party inside until the train reaches the first destination, East Academy Station.
Make sure that you get off at the first stop and it will deposit you directly in front of the forest you will need to head through to reach the Galbadian Garden. With a large amount of this continent now available, there is a myriad of different items and areas to explore, but before we do that, I suggest that we continue with the story a little farther and pick up our final party member. You may want to take some time to gain a few levels for Quistis whom has rejoined, but it's not necessary. When you are ready, give your party junctions to Squall, Selphie, and Quistis and then enter the forest centered between the two mountain ranges.
