Alright hey everybody! I decided to write a new fanfic for Final Fantasy XII. I expect this to be about 20 chapters long, so I hope you're all ready to come along for the ride. This chapter starts off kind of boring, but it's all part of introductions and setting up the kick-arse action to come in the later chapters. I've been planning a really intricate and complicated plotline, so just keep reading, reviewing, and enjoying these chapters, and hopefully you'll love my whole story. Thanks!!!
Vaan drove his sword into the belly of the wolf after he kicked it down to the ground. He slowly pulled the sword out of the stomach and then brought it down into the wolf's ribs violently.
He stared down at the carcass, nearly split in half, of the large beast. Blood, intestines, and semi-digested food oozed out of the belly onto the rocky sand of the Dalmascan Estersand. There was something interesting flowing out of the stomach though; a colored rock. Vaan bent down and picked the rock up and wiped the blood off of it. It wasn't just the typical old pebble that these beasts dropped, but it was large, shaped like a horn, and tinted red.
Vaan heard something coming from behind him fast. He gripped the stone with his left hand, spun himself around and swung his long sword at the wolf that was airborne, attempting to pounce on him. Vaan luckily caught the raging animal straight across the neck, and the beast landed hard on the ground, gurgling and sputtering blood. Vaan saw felt the animal exhale its last breath of life, and then decided to trek back to Dalmasca to see how much his stone was worth.
"Fran! Balthier! I can't believe you two are here right now!" Penelo cried cheerfully.
Penelo was practically bouncing as she jogged over to the two sky pirates who had just walked down the steps from the docking station of the Aerodome. She ran right into Balthier and give him a big hug. He was caught off guard, which was visible by the expression on his face, but he smiled, and then put his arms around her small frame. She quickly let go and give Fran a hug as well. Fran placed her hand on the back of Penelo's head, closed her eyes and hugged the young woman back.
"Vaan is going to flip when he sees you two," Penelo said joyfully. "What brings you back to Dalmasca?"
"What brings you to the Aerodome?" Balthier replied smoothly.
"I was going to get our airship prepared. Vaan and I were going to take a trip to visit Larsa and Basche," Penelo replied, still joyful. "So I'll ask again, what brings you two to Dalmasca?"
"Nothing in particular actually, we just fly around and enjoy ourselves, so we figured it's been about a month since we've seen you we'd drop by and check up on our junior sky pirates," Balthier replied, running his hand along the side of his head, stroking his hair back.
"Well, it's always great to see you two! Would you two like to come see Larsa with Vaan and I?" Penelo asked excitedly. "It'd be soooo much fun! It'd be a trip like old times!"
Balthier chuckled and said, "Are the 'old times' you're referring to our ordeal with Vayne four years ago?"
Penelo nodded, "Yep!"
"We'll see child, who knows where the wind will take us," Fran replied in her monotone voice.
"Well, let's get outta here and head over to the Sandsea. That's where Vaan usually is now. He takes up hunts all the time now for people, and he's practicing his social skills by talking with all the different kinds of people at the bar," Penelo quickly stated as she grabbed Balthier by the hand and started to pull him out of the Aerodome and onto the street.
Balthier let out a grunt of surprise and followed, as did Fran. The three of them quickly walked through the Dalmascan streets passing by many different kinds of people, all busily going to work. It was a loud city and always bustling with commotion, yet it was a comfortable place to be; very wide and open with plenty of space for everybody to roam.
They passed by the water fountain in the south district and kept going north toward the open entrance to the eastern side of Dalmasca. They pushed their way through crowds, and eventually came to the door of the Sandsea.
Penelo ripped the door open and quickly walked through the entrance with Balthier and Fran right behind. They let their eyes settle to the darkness of the pub, and they scanned all the people sitting and talking, looking for Vaan.
"It does not appear that Vaan is here," Fran spoke.
"Don't worry, he will be," Penelo said with a tone of hope. "Let's just relax and get something to drink."
"Agreed," Balthier quickly answered, winking at a nearby barmaid and ushering another one over to them.
The barmaid glided over to them as the three travelers sat down at a nearby table.
"Howdy Balthier," the barmaid said in her cute and friendly voice. "Can i get'cha the usual?"
"Absolutely. Glass of rum with ice. Same thing for Fran here too," Balthier replied smoothly.
Fran glared at Balthier.
"Hahaha I'm kidding Fran. But hey, if you don't drink it, what the heck, I will," Balthier joked.
"Can I just have a water?" Penelo asked.
"Comin' right up kiddo," The barmaid replied. "And Balthier I'll be right back with your drinks baby," she continued, and then she walked away toward the bar.
"God, I hate it when people still call me a kid," Penelo pouted.
"Well, you're 21 and still ordering water," Balthier joked. "Gotta let loose once in a while little lady."
Fran glared at Balthier.
"C'mon Fran!" Balthier laughed. "Quit starin' daggers at me, you're gonna turn me to stone or somethin'"
Fran smirked, "Well, Penelo, is there anywhere else we can find Vaan?"
"Not that I know of with any real certainty," Penelo replied. "He's usually here."
The barmaid came back with their drinks and set all three drinks down gently on the table. Balthier picked up his rum and started to sip it, and to his surprised, Penelo grabbed his other glass of rum and took a few large gulps.
"Thata' girl!" Balthier cheered. "Not so bad is it?"
Penelo coughed and her face scrunched up like she had just taken a gulp of lemon juice.
"Woah! Balthier! Fran!" A voice called from across the room.
The three friends glanced up at the entrance and saw Vaan walk in. His clothes were speckled in blood and his hair was falling over his face.
"Vaan! Where've you been?! You're a mess!" A concerned Penelo immediately asked.
"Went out training for a while," Vaan replied calmly.
Vaan had changed quite a bit since their journey four years ago. His voice got deeper, he got much taller, and after the past few years of intense training and mark-killing, he bulked up quite a bit. He was now just over six feet tall with broad muscular shoulders, and his triceps and biceps bulged out of his arms all the way down his arm to where his forearm muscles were, and they too were round and thick, like tree trunks. His hair had grown out a few more inches, but he still wore it in the same style. He wore the same outfit from four years ago, but he had it tailored so that it would fit him better. He still had the same defined abdominal muscles as his younger years, and his presence was now that of a real warrior.
He pulled a chair up to the round wooden table and plopped down on it right next to Penelo, waving over to the barmaid.
"A beer, please," Vaan said in his matured voice.
"Well, well, training hard as ever I see," Balthier greeted.
"You're coming along very well," Fran added. "I'd like to see your skills in combat sometime soon. You have much potential, and I want to make sure you're utilizing it the right way."
"Yeah, why not? Gimme anything and I'll split its head open," Vaan laughed out loud.
"Well, have you found anything fancy, my fellow sky pirate?" Balthier asked, very interested in what Vaan had to say.
"Nothing out of the ordinary, but that doesn't mean I'm not finding anything good. I'm still getting some decently rare items which I can sell in bulk to the bazaar, but I haven't really traveled much as of late. I go through the Estersand, Westersand, Giza Plains, Zertinan Caverns, and Barheim passage just slaughtering as many beasts as I can," Vaan replied.
"You go into the Barheim passage yourself?" Fran inquired.
"Oh yeah, way down into the depths of it. The beasts are getting easier and easier to kill," Vaan replied proudly.
Balthier glanced over at Penelo who had an uneasy look on her face.
"You okay sweet thing?" Balthier asked. "You don't look very good."
"Vaan! You know I hate it when you go to that place!" Penelo spoke loudly. "You're going to get really hurt someday and nobody will know where you are!"
"Don't worry Penelo, nothing will happen to me. I can easily handle myself around those creatures," Vaan said assuredly.
"It's not even that, you've become so violent. I really don't like the idea of you going out and just killing animals by the masses. It's so awful!" Penelo rebutted.
"I'm sorry that it upsets you Penelo, but I gotta do it. It's part of getting stronger," Vaan said apologetically. "But anyways, did Penelo tell you two about our trip?"
Fran nodded, "We'll see about coming. It sounds like a nice idea, and it'd be my pleasure to check up on Lord Larsa."
"Eh, what the hell, why not," Balthier added. "We gotta keep our eye out for some Archadian treasure on the way though, right?" He joked, lightly punching Vaan's massive shoulder.
The barmaid came back with Vaan's beer, and he he reached into his pocket to get out his money to give her. His eyes narrowed when he found that he couldn't get a good hold on the gil. He took the red stone out of his pocket and then reached in again, this time with more space to grab the proper gil.
Fran's eyes lit up when she glanced at the stone.
Vaan paid the barmaid and took a few large gulps of the beer.
"Child, where in the world did you get that stone?" Fran asked.
"I found it in the belly of some wolf in the Estersand just now. I thought I'd go get it appraised, see what kind of stone it is. It looks kinda precious, so I thought I'd keep hold of it," Vaan answered, looking at the red stone he held in his palm.
"May I see that?" Fran asked calmly, extending her hand across the table toward Vaan.
"Yeah, definitely," he replied cheerfully, handing the stone over to her.
She inspected the stone, turning it over in her fingers, smelling it, and looking at the grooves and shape of it.
"I do not know how this got here," Fran said after half of a minute of inspecting.
"Do you know what it is?" Vaan asked excitedly.
"Or how much it's worth?" Balthier added even more excitedly.
"I cannot say at the moment. But it's value is priceless, and its use is discouraged," Fran replied to both of them.
"Is it dangerous?" Penelo interjected. "It's just a rock."
"Child, this is more than a rock. This is the stone of Aries, created thousands of years ago as a vessel for the zodiac brave, Velius. These stones are all supposed to be in western Ivalice. I do not know why one of these would be this far across the continent, or who would bring it here. This is very dangerous though, and we must inquire more about where it came from, how it got here, and who knows about it," Fran said gravely.
Definitely more action to come, more characters, more plotline, and more everything. This is just my intro chapter, giving you a little clue as to how the story might unfold ;). Chapter 2 should be up later this week!