Disclaimer – I do not own Final Fantasy XII or any of its characters. They are the property of Square Enix. I'm not making any money from writing this, so please don't sue me!
AN –This is set shortly after the party returns from Raithwall's tomb. It makes references to some of my other FFXII stories, but you don't need to read those to understand this one.
Bombs Away!
"Hey guys, check out what I got in the Bazaar today!" Vaan exclaimed as he burst into the Lowtown quarters the party currently shared with several members of the Resistance.
"It better not be another one of those stupid monograph things!" Penelo snapped, glancing up from her mending.
"Those monographs are not stupid! We've scored tons of great loot because of them." Vaan retorted. Balthier rolled his eyes. It looked like the orphans were on track for another prolonged spat about Vaan's shopping habits. The two of them bickered nearly all the time about how the boy wasted the party's gil.
"And besides, this is way better than a monograph." Vaan continued with eyes alight with mischief. Balthier exchanged a worried look with Fran. In the short time they'd known the boy, the pirates had learned to read his facial expressions well. This look always meant trouble.
"Let's see it then." Balthier cut in, hoping to get to the point without having to endure another extended argument.
Vaan uncovered the loosely wrapped parcel in his arms just enough to expose the contents. It appeared that he had discovered hand bombs. Balthier nearly groaned aloud. This was a disaster waiting to happen.
"Those aren't toys, Vaan. They're dangerous." Basch voiced Balthier's thoughts for him. Both men stepped closer to examine what types of ammunition Vaan had purchased for his new weapons. Balthier had a brief flashback to the way he'd seen the Imperial Army use chaos bombs to cause confusion in enemy ranks during his time as a judge. Those things in Vaan's hands would be a catastrophe. Basch was probably thinking the same thing. At least Vaan hadn't bought that particular type of bomb. It appeared he'd purchased generic onion bombs, poison bombs and oil bombs along with two quality launching devices.
"I know they're dangerous, but they're super cool." Vaan replied, waving off Basch's concern. "I can't wait to bust 'em out on a monster." He had a specific monster in mind, but he wasn't about to tell the rest of the party.
"If you're going to insist on using those, you're going to learn the proper technique first. I don't want any accidents." Basch lectured, sounding too much like Balthier's grumpy boyhood tutor for comfort. The old knight was protective of Vaan, likely from some sense of duty he felt toward the boy's deceased brother.
"Will you show us how to use them Basch?" Ashe inquired from her corner. Everyone looked toward her in surprise. It was the first time she'd expressed interest in anything in days. Balthier suspected that Vossler's betrayal and subsequent death hurt her much more than she wanted anyone to know. She'd been quiet and withdrawn since their return to Rabanastre. Balthier wondered exactly what kind of relationship the princess had shared with Vossler Azelas before the betrayal. He knew better than to ask, though. Lady Ashe did not appreciate personal questions from curious sky pirates. She'd been holed up in that corner with the Dawn Shard for days, purportedly trying to figure out her next move. She snapped at anyone who tried to talk to her, so the rest of the party resolved to leave her alone until she came up with a plan.
"You wish to learn how to use hand-bombs, Your Majesty?" Basch queried, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice.
"They look like a useful ranged weapon. Plus, they're small and light and won't be a bother to carry with us." Ashe pointed out, pragmatic as ever.
"Very well, if Your Majesty wishes it, I will teach you and Vaan how to use them."
"Yeah!" Vaan cried in excitement. He'd been afraid that Basch would confiscate the bombs immediately, but Ashe had his back.
"Let's go now!" he said to Ashe. The princess nodded in agreement as she donned her armor for the first time in days. She needed to get out of this dim, depressing room. Sitting in Lowtown pondering her mistakes only made her feel worse.
"To the Estersand!" Vaan shouted.
Balthier sighed. He'd known from the moment he'd seen the hand bombs in Vaan's hands that he'd get his way somehow. It would do the princess some good to get out into the sunlight, and perhaps they could keep this excursion from being a complete disaster.
"Well, I'm coming too!" Penelo declared in the no-nonsense tone she always used when trying to stop Vaan from carrying out a bad idea. She marched over to Basch and asked him if he'd accept a third student. Her tone suggested that she wouldn't take no for an answer. The knight glanced over at Balthier, clearly hoping he'd offer to help.
Balthier decided to be helpful this time. "I can help. I've used them before too." He was reluctant to let Basch go out into the Estersand with the three teens by himself. It appeared that Ashe was no longer inclined to stab the alleged Kingslayer or, in this case, blow him up, but Balthier didn't want to take any chances.
Asking Basch for help was a big step forward for the princess, who'd tried to avoid interacting with him as much as possible since her falling out with Vossler. She had a lot to think about over the past few days. Perhaps this was a sign that she was ready to move forward. She needed to come up with a plan soon. The party couldn't sit around in Lowtown forever, not if she wanted her kingdom back.
Balthier looked toward Fran as the others readied themselves for an afternoon of munitions lessons. She gave him a curt nod to indicate that she would join them. Like most Viera, Fran got restless if she stayed indoors too long. She welcomed most any opportunity to go outside, especially if that opportunity involved target practice with a new bow, like the one she'd just bought. Staying underground in Lowtown was stifling for her, and she was irritable after several days of it.
The entire party made their way to East Gate at a brisk walk. Basch had to restrain Vaan from running off on his own. Ashe didn't say a word until they were out in the desert, when she demanded that she be given the nicer of the two bomb launchers, the Tumulus, to use for her lesson. Vaan obliged, and begrudgingly handed the Fumarole over to Basch for his demonstration. Balthier busied himself by explaining proper technique to Penelo using a stone in place of a real launcher.
"You flick your wrist like this, see?" He said, releasing the stone. "It doesn't have to be perfect, as the projectile does explode, but better aim will cause more damage. Your aim will improve with practice." Penelo paid close attention to the demonstration and took a few practice shots at a cactus with some rocks. Vaan came over to join her as it became clear that Ashe didn't plan to let him take a turn anytime soon. The princess dedicated herself to the task of destroying a small clump of cacti with a kind of enthusiasm that Balthier had never seen her show for anything else. The Archadian wasn't sure whether he should be pleased or disturbed at this development.
A foolish wolf wandered too close to the party, and Ashe took it out with a single oil bomb. She gave a small cheer of triumph before walking down the dune in search of other prey.
"Well, I'd say your student passed with flying colors." Balthier said to Basch. It was good to see the princess in better spirits. Perhaps an afternoon of blowing up monsters was what she needed. The old knight handed the Fumarole to the pirate so that he could demonstrate for the orphans. Basch drew his sword and followed his future queen down the slope at a safe distance to supervise her taking out her frustrations on the local fauna. Hopefully she wouldn't target the Wild Saurian that frequented these parts.
Balthier loaded the Fumarole with the plain onion bombs before handing it over to Vaan. He'd prefer to avoid giving him anything messy or poisonous to experiment with. The boy bombarded a cactus before getting bored and darting off to find a more interesting target. The pirate shook his head and followed at a distance with Penelo.
"Ha ha yeah!" Vaan hooted as he took a shot at a cockatrice and feathers exploded all over the place.
Penelo rolled her eyes. "Must you always make such a mess?" she grumbled at her friend. "It'll take us forever to pick those feathers up, and by 'us' I mean me." Another Cockatrice rolled across the rocky terrain nearby, and Vaan took off after it as the girl went to pick up the feathers.
Fran launched an arrow at a clump of herbs growing high on a cliff above them, knocking them to the ground. Balthier would never cease to be amazed by his partner's archery skills.
After collecting the herbs, the Viera joined Penelo in stuffing feathers into a bag as the Archadian examined what was left of the cockatrice. "One downside to hand bombs is that the meat of anything you hunt with them is completely useless because of all the shrapnel. What a pity. I'd like some cockatrice stew tonight."
"A bunch of these feathers are singed too." Penelo griped. "I'll have to sort out the good ones for sale later. I don't like these bomb things, especially when combined with Vaan." Her friend had only let her toss a couple bombs before snatching the launcher from her to go blow up the "rolly birds," as he called them. Honestly, was he five?
"The cockatrice population of Ivalice may never recover from this purchase." Balthier joked. Fran snorted a laugh.
"It's not funny. He's wasting tons of good meat just because it looks funny when they blow up! We could have fed ourselves and a bunch of the orphans in Lowtown with this meat." Penelo grumbled.
"I suppose it is rather wasteful." Balthier remarked as Vaan caught up to his quarry across the ridge. "But you must admit, it is entertaining when they explode like that." He said as the other cockatrice met its violent end and Vaan cackled with glee.
The boy trotted back over to them with the bombs. "You've got to try blowing up a rolly bird, Penelo! I haven't had so much fun in years!"
"I'll pass." She replied before going to collect the loot from his other victim. She had no intention of blowing up any birds today, rolling or otherwise. She'd only come along to try to keep him out of trouble. Explosives weren't her thing. Too many things could go wrong. Later she'd regret passing up the chance to get the dangerous device out of her friend's hands. Vaan darted off toward another ledge to get a good view of any remaining monsters in the area.
Meanwhile, Ashe dashed after an oil-splattered wolf that had the good sense to flee after seeing several of its packmates slain by the bombs. She'd already wasted a few of her precious oil bombs by taking ranged shots at it when a low growl and the sound of large, stamping feet stopped her in her tracks. The docile Wild Saurian that lived near Rabanastre had decided to make an appearance. Her father had quit trying to have it exterminated after observation proved that it only attacked those who provoked it. He appreciated how it kept the wolf population in this part of the Estersand under control even if it did scare first time merchants silly when they saw it.
The great bipedal beast snapped the oily wolf up with relish, leaving Ashe short a target. "Hey, that was mine, you big jerk! I hope it gives you a tummy ache!" Ashe shouted, hands on her hips. Eating a wolf covered in flammable oil whole couldn't be good for any creature's digestive system. The great beast ignored her and the princess stomped away with a huff.
Vaan peered down at the scene from the ledge where he'd first fought the Rogue Tomato just a few weeks ago. He'd known that Wild Saurian was trouble when it hadn't bothered to eat the malicious Rogue Tomato. He'd thought the beast was going to eat him when it charged at him during the Tomato hunt. He' sworn to get revenge on the menace someday, and these bombs were the perfect medium. He'd bought them for this purpose, as he believed that revenge was a dish best served explosive. He crouched as near to the edge of the ledge as he dared, and waited for Ashe to be well away from the many-fanged menace before taking careful aim.
"Vaan, no!" Penelo screamed from downhill when she realized what he was about to do. She usually had a sixth sense for when Vaan was about to get a bad idea, but she'd been too distracted by putting away the loot from his second cockatrice to catch him in time today. The onion bomb arced gracefully through the air and descended toward the Saurian's back before exploding on impact.
The Saurian snarled in rage and swung its head around, trying to find its assailant. It wasn't smart enough to look up. Vaan snickered as he backed away from the edge of the cliff. Penelo was on him in an instant, ready to light into him about this latest act of stupidity, but Fran hissed at her to keep quiet. The thunderous footfalls of the Saurian were getting closer. It clambered up the hill, sighted the party, and let out a furious roar before charging. Ashe reacted the fastest and started pelting it with oil bombs. Fran loosed her fiery arrows on the irate carnivore as the party backed away. Basch put himself between the princess and the threat with sword drawn and his best shield on his arm. Vaan, of course, just had to try to steal something from the beast. Penelo cringed and readied her healing magicks for the inevitable injury.
"Retreat!" Balthier shouted after blasting their foe once with his gun. The irate creature looked like a living, breathing nightmare now that it was oily and aflame. "It's too strong!" Vaan ignored Balthier and jumped up and snatched something from the creature's spindly arms. He was rewarded with a slash across his bicep. Fortunately, that was enough to persuade him that retreat was necessary this time. The party made haste for the monster-repelling wards of the city.
The Wild Saurian thundered along behind them before it halted abruptly on the outskirts of the city. Vaan sat down on a boulder by East Gate to let Penelo tend his injury.
"You brought this on yourself, you know." She scolded after a cursory examination. "This won't heal without stitches. We'll have to take you to a proper healer. Maybe this will teach you not to steal from monsters that large and angry." Penelo scolded. A Cure spell would ease his pain, but perhaps the suffering would make the lesson sink in for once. She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at him.
Vaan shrugged. "I guess I'll keep this for myself then." He said before showing her a tiny yellow gem. He knew that Penelo collected these Zodiac gems and didn't think she had this one, a Leo gem, yet.
Penelo huffed at his blatant attempt to manipulate her. She did need a Leo gem, but knew he'd drop it in the loot bag soon enough because he was too lazy to keep up with something that small. She still couldn't believe he'd attacked the Wild Saurian with a bomb. Instead of becoming savvier as the adventure progressed, Vaan was more reckless than ever. She suspected he wanted to impress Balthier or Ashe with his daring, but they both just thought he was stupid, if sometimes amusing. No one was laughing right now, and Penelo thrilled when the princess stepped in to give Vaan the requisite lecture.
Vaan felt like his revenge was worth the trouble, even if it got him hurt too, so Ashe's scolding washed off of him like water off a cockatrice. Once the party caught their breath, they returned to their temporary home to rest, regroup, and summon a healer to do Vaan's stitches.
"It was worth it." Vaan declared later, flaunting the Leo gem in front of his friend again. "But I think I'll stick to bombing cockatrices next time."
"Not unless you want to sort feathers like this!" Penelo returned, looking up from the work of picking out the sellable feathers from the cockatrices Vaan had bombed earlier in the day. "I say we vote to ban Vaan from using hand-bombs at all. All in favor say aye!" She raised her hand and was pleased that everyone except Vaan himself was quick to agree with her.
"Hey, no fair!" Vaan whined, cradling the Fumarole possessively to his chest with his injured arm before Balthier snatched it away.
The pirate cupped his hand to his ear. "I think I just heard the sound of every cockatrice in Ivalice breathing a sigh of relief."
AN: Pretty please leave me a review as an early Christmas gift!