At seventeen years old, shortly after the beginning of the game, Zell takes his SeeD exam. On this occasion he is officially introduced in the game as one of the cadets who will accompany Squall to Dollet. Unfortunately for both, their leader is going to be Seifer.
During the exam all sort of things happen (such as being abandoned by Seifer or running through narrow streets followed by a huge robot around), but that doesn’t prevent Zell from doing his job and passing the exam together with Squall, Selphie and Nida. Seifer instead, having defied the orders he had been given, will be rejected for the third time in a row.
That night all SeeDs take part to the graduation ceremony. During the party, Zell tries to communicate with Squall by congratulating him on the result of his exam (to no avail). He then meets Selphie, but quickly leaves her once she proposes him to get involved in the Garden Festival Committee.
The following morning Zell, along with Squall and Selphie, goes on his first mission as SeeD. Their task involves heading to Timber in order to help the Forest Owls, a resistance movement who wants to kidnap the President of Galbadia by hijacking his train. The plan prepared by Forest Owl’s leader Rinoa doesn’t work as expected, it turns out that the man on the train was only a double. Still, SeeD are bound by a legal contract to the Forest Owls until Timber is freed from Galbadia’s rule.
Back in Timber the group heads for the TV station. There they cross paths with Seifer, who wants to assassinate the President, and Quistis, who followed Seifer in an attempt to stop him. Chaos ensues: Zell lets slip they all are students from Balamb Garden; President Deling threatens to launch an attack on their Garden unless he is released; and finally Sorceress Edea appears out of the blue and goes away with Seifer while the President escapes.
Since the Timber Owls are no longer welcome in town, the group has to leave Timber and move to a safer location. The choice falls on Galbadia Garden. Zell is worried about the repercussions of what he said so he turns to Squall for support. Squall coldly replies that whether their Garden will go through an attack or not depends on the strength of the Galbadian army, something which leaves Zell dejected and frustrated.
Once arrived in Galbadia Garden, Quistis finds out there won’t be consequences for Balamb Garden. This lifts up Zell, though shortly after he plunges back into discouragement at the news that Seifer is going to be executed. In spite of Zell’s hard feelings over Seifer, he certainly doesn’t want something so bad happen to him.