::Okay, this is a FF fic set in a totally fan-made world, with totally fan-made characters. Still…
Disclaimer: I do not own anything Final Fantasy, only the characters I've put in this story.::
The young man walked casually through the thick forest, down a well-beaten path. He was a human of average height with a slim but muscular build, with long black hair tied in a ponytail, some of it hanging loose on the left side; he had hazel eyes and a faint 5-o'clock shadow. He wore a blue breastplate, shoulder and forearm guards, all armor of a samurai style, over a dark-grey tunic and leggings. His legs were in a pair of tall, black leather boots, and over it all he wore a sleeveless, hooded black long coat, and a black sash tied at his waist held the coat and his daisho in place, and a band held four kunai knives on his left arm. He was Ryu Sorano, the wandering swordsman. Entranced by the beauty of the natural world around him, he failed to hear the faint rustling in the brush beside him.
'Thought ya' could sneak up on me, huh? We'll see about that!' The figure whose head housed these very thoughts suddenly leapt from the surrounding brush. He was a half-goblin, taller than an average human and a bit thinner than Ryu, with a Mohawk dyed black and blue and blue eyes that peered through a pair of glasses, as well as multiple piercings in his slightly pointed ears. His lower jaw held two slightly long fangs, and there were tinges of green on the tips of his ears, elbows, shoulders and jaw line. He wore grey-blue pants and knee-high black leather boots, a white sleeveless shirt tucked into his pants, a black jacket with the sleeves torn off, fingerless brown leather gloves and a large brown leather belt covered in pouches and tools. It also held a gun holster, albeit an empty one; he held the gun in his right hand. In the other he held a small sledgehammer that he was currently swinging at the traveling swordsman.
Ryu turned in time to have that very same hammer slam into his stomach with enough force to wind him. He fell to one knee, clutching his struck abdomen, and looked up coughing to see a revolver pointed to his face.
"Though you could mug me, eh?" said the tall half-goblin. He cocked the guns hammer for added threat. When Ryu was finished coughing he glared at the man.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" he yelled as he stood quickly, the gun following. "Damn it, Jorn, you told me to meet you here!" The half-goblin, the engineer who was indeed known as Jorn Skemeist, looked up for a moment in thought. He then nodded and laughed.
"Oh yeah," he replied, holstering his gun and hammer before helping up his friend. "How's it goin'?" Ryu cocked an eyebrow but couldn't help but chuckle.
"I'm fine, Jorn," he said. "I'm just fine. Since it's getting late, how about we set up camp and you can tell me what we're doing out here?"
"Sounds like a plan, boss," he answered. Given the two companions' experience in traveling and the number of trees in the area, it didn't take long for them to set up their small campsite. "…and that rabbit was the reason I had to set back my the development on my bicycle invention," finished Jorn as they sat opposite each other by a small fire.
"Damn," said a surprised Ryu. "That's pretty screwed up. But anyway, what's the plan for this little trip?" Jorn finished cleaning his glasses and replaced them on his face. He sat up and cleared his throat.
"Well," he started, "I got a tip at the pub from some mercenary that the fabled Cavern of Thieves isn't far from the very city we live in. In fact, it's supposed to be in the deepest area of this very forest!"
"The Cavern of Thieves?" he asked. The raven-haired samurai was quite interested but also a bit disbelieving. "The legendary cave of treasures that rivals the treasury of the greatest kingdom? Sounds like a great find, but even if it is here in the forest, it's said to be guarded by a band of greedy thugs, any one of whom would slit their momma's throat for a single gil."
"Very true," Jorn replied. "But I did some research; at best, that seems to be just a silly superstition, and even if it was true, the tale is hundreds of years old. There's almost no chance that anyone would even be living in the Cavern anymore." Ryu nodded as he gazed into the fire and considered his friend's information.
"Sounds reasonable," he said. "But what if there is someone guarding it? How would we go about getting our hands on the treasure?" Jorn gave a small laugh. He pulled out his gun and spun the cylinder for dramatic effect.
"Either they give us the treasure, or we give 'em hell," he stated with an evil grin. Ryu lifted his still sheathed sword and studied, a smile of his own forming.
"Ah, the subtle way, I see," he said, mouth dripping with sarcasm, and they both began to laugh.
*****
Not far from where the two friends sat, in a large system of caves, sounds of anguish could be heard echoing off the stone walls. Inside, in the inner-most cave, stood three figures: one holding up the other from behind as the third continuously swung her wooden staff into the held man's face and stomach.
The attacking woman was a half-elf and short of stature, with long brown hair and blue eyes that glared from behind their glasses. She wore a black tunic that was tucked into a pair of white baggy pants that had a thick, light green stripe running down either side and a thick brown leather belt and matching boots and gloves. Over it all she wore a long blue cloak, and held a twisted wooden staff, the aforementioned beating implement. In short, hat aside, she wore the robes of a witch of the Black Order: a black mage.
Her companion, the one holding the suffering man from behind, was a cat-girl who was slightly taller than her with short, bleached brown hair and hazel, cat-like eyes which were also covered by a pair of glasses, only with thicker black frames, and brown-furred ears and a tail. She was dressed almost entirely in black: a slightly loose black shirt tucked into a matching sash and leggings, with black wraps around her lower legs and a pair of soft black shoes with a toe split in each one, as well as a light, black jacket whose sleeves were tucked into the wrappings on her forearms, holding her fingerless black gloves in place. On her back were two straight, single-edged blades, and on her forehead was tied a black headband with a foreign character on it. It all marked her as a ninja.
"And this is for trying to leave after sneaking in!" cried the mage, once more bashing the poor man's face with her staff.
"Um, Sarasa?" asked the cat-girl. The furious half-elf stopped long enough to give her a questioning look. "I think this is the guy who was delivering the supplies we ordered. And he didn't sneak in, we invited him in to unload all the stuff, remember?"
"Oh," was the mage's only reply. She stood in hard thought for a moment before looking up at the battered man again. "Well…he's ugly!" she proclaimed before ramming the large head of the staff into the poor merchant's belly. The ninja girl sighed, and no sooner, Sarasa halted her assault and closed her eyes. A moment later they shot back open and she had a wicked grin on her face.
"Sakura!" she exclaimed happily. Sakura, the dark-clad assassin, tilted her head in question. "Forget this guy! My babies found something!"
*****
Back at Ryu and Jorn's campsite, the two sat eating the dinners they had prepared. Unknown to them, a pair of angry, bloodshot eyes watched from the bushes. The creature these eyes belonged to saw them as one thing, and one thing only: food.
::What will happen next? Hope you all enjoyed this, please R&R, and I'll have more up soon! Later!::