Hello…cough….it's been a few months…but I'm back, and I have a freaky-long chapter this time. Hope you enjoy it. Oh, and I forgot last time:
I don't own any SquareEnix or Disney characters.
I don't know if that's actually legally needed…I'll check into it later. Anyway, enjoy.
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The Adventures of
Leon and Yuffie
Episode 2: The Gummi Adventure
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Leon mulled over his choice of potions at the item shop. He had been bored out of his mind lately, the heartless seemed to have left the town alone for the last week. With nothing else to have to deal with, little matters were becoming more important.
"….Blue or Green potions? …. Hm." He looked up when he heard the duck proprietors chatter about a set of marbles they had recently acquired. The dark colored balls did seem to be of a higher quality than their earlier set. Huey mentioned that he hoped their uncle would find them more 'neat stuff.'
Leon frowned, he had met their Uncle Donald when he had first talked to the king, he did not recall him being the trinket giving type. Shaking his head, he looked back at the shelf of potions. I've never tried the green…
The SeeD finally purchased two blue and a green potion and left the shop. As he stepped out of the building, he heard the squeal of metal on rock coming from the direction of Cid's shop. He dropped all three potions as he found the source of the noise.
Before him the Ragnarok was being dragged to Cid's Gummi store. The massive ship seemed to have damage to the hull, one of the 'hands' was missing a claw, but it was definitely his space ship that was being towed to the gummi shop. Leon ran over, potions forgotten.
"Where did you find the Ragnarok?" He asked Cid. The older man looked up from a clipboard.
"Space. Where'd you find that ninja who keeps following you around?"
"Hell…" Leon replied. "That's my ship."
"It's whoever wins the auction's ship, son," Cid laughed, going back to his clipboard and looking over the damages to the hull.
Leon frowned, "How much do you expect to sell it for?" Leon tried to recall just how much money he had managed to hide from Yuffie.
Cid laughed again. "Well, that all depend on how much you and McDuck want it."
"Who?"
Leon's attention was directed further down the street. A duck with a top hat was giving Huey, Dewey and Louie candy. He started fanning himself with money as he walked over to Cid and Leon, grinning.
"Hello lads, getting my ship ready?"
Leon glared, "That's MY ship."
McDuck started laughing. "Ah, Laddy, maybe you don't know who I am." The duck held out a hand. "Scrooge McDuck."
Leon stared at the hand indignantly. McDuck withdrew, unfazed. "I plan to fix this old thing up and go after a few pieces of treasure."
Leon looked at the wad of money the duck had been fanning himself with. It was more than he had made as SeeD commander for a month. "How much are you willing to pay for it?"
Scrooge laughed. "Laddy, you never give your strategy away ahead of time."
. o . o .
Yuffie had noticed the gigantic ship being towed by Cid. Grinning, she snuck towards the shop. Just as she suspected, there was enough commotion to distract anyone from her sneaking. She went in.
Behind the counter, in a small box (with a crappy lock), she found a gummi piece. Attached was a small card. "Caution: this gummi is extremely dangerous and awesome," it read.
"Extremely awesome?" the ninja wondered aloud. Yuffie took the gummi and went back outside, looking around for something to try it on.
She remembered the ship in front of Cid's.
. o . o .
Cid was standing in front of the Ragnarok as the bidding began. Leon looked glum. He had managed to get together three thousand gil for the auction. Hopefully Scrooge wouldn't want his ship that bad.
"All right, the bidding starts at a hundred gil," Cid said. Leon raised his hand to bid.
Scrooge looked at him, then his wallet, then at Cid. "Twenty Thousand."
. o . o .
Yuffie placed the gummy piece on the Ragnarok's hull. Nothing happened.
"What a piece of junk…WOW!" she exclaimed as the ship started to change.
The crowd gasped as the huge dragon-shaped ship lurched and came to life. Its color changed to green with purple wings. The crowd made a few 'oos' and 'awws' at the friendly-looking dragon. It smiled at the crowd, eliciting a few more 'awws.'
The huge dragon looked down at the crowd again, then let out a roar loud enough to break the glass of surrounding building's windows. It sunk it's claws into the ground and started taking a deep breath.
Leon didn't like the way that looked. "EVERYONE RUN!!"
The citizens looked at him, confused.
He glared and yelled at them to go again. They began to back away, but finally started to run as the dragon's nose began shooting fire. It looked at the running crowd and spewed fire from it's mouth after them. Then it turned to Leon, glaring.
The SeeD gritted his teeth and drew his gunblade. It was times like this he really missed his Lion Heart blade. The dragon brought its head down, aiming to grab Leon with its teeth. Jumping out of the way, Leon dodged again as the dragon continued to bite at him. On one attempt, the gunbladist dodged and quickly jumped onto the huge neck of the monster. Trying to ignore the fact that he was about to attack his own ship, he brought his blade down hard into the dragon's flesh.
It roared and thrashed, knocking Leon off his feet. Trying to stay on the dragon, Leon grabbed a lump in the monster's skin. It felt squishy. He looked up and found that it was actually a gummi piece. A gummi piece that couldn't support his weight. He let out a yelp as he went flying off, landing on a stack of boxes, gummi in hand.
The dragon stopped moving suddenly and started turning back into the ship it had been. The people who had stuck around to see what happened, sighed in relief. Leon slowly got to his feet, rubbing his head where it hit a box. He walked over to the ship, leaving the forgotten gummi on the ground. Yuffie snuck over as everyone went to see if Leon was okay.
Scrooge McDuck looked up at the 'neck' of the ship, which had moved as a real dragon in a way the ship was unable to, and was now mangled. A few other spots on the body were freshly damaged as well.
"I withdraw my bid," said McDuck, putting away his money. Cid jumped as he did.
"You can't do that!" Cid yelled, balling his fists.
"I bid on a slightly damaged ship, not this mangled mess," the millionaire duck stated, adjusting his hat. Cid glared, but said nothing. The former astronaut looked at Leon, who for the first time since he got to Traverse town, smiled.
"I bid 100 gil," the SeeD stated. Cid glared and grabbed the money out of Leon's hand, giving him the key card to the ship. Leon was pleased, until he looked at the wreckage.
Yuffie snuck away, gummi piece in hand. Losing interest in it, she randomly slapped it on a mail box as she walked by. A moment later, the box shifted and moved, then stilled itself as a man went to mail a letter. There was a short yelp as he was eaten by the mail box.
. o . o .
Leon was still looking at his ruined ship, thinking about how long he'd have to work off the debt to fix it. He hoped Cid would just let him pay it off in labor, but he got the feeling the man would prefer money.
"Ah Laddy, who's gonna pay for all those repairs?" McDuck had yet to leave, glancing between the SeeD and his ship.
"I guess I will…" Leon's frown returned. He wouldn't have money like that for years.
McDuck walked towards the ship again, looking it over. He then turned to an angry Cid.
"How much to fully repair this thing?"
Cid immediately perked up. "I don't know…. around say, twenty thousand?"
The duck's grin grew, he turned back to Leon, who was looking even less happy. "Tell you what, I'll pay for the repairs, if you run a few…errands for me."
"What kind of 'errands'?" asked Leon, still looking unhappy.
"Just a few treasure hunts. I'm sure the citizens of this town can survive without you for a few weeks." Leon's frown stayed where it was.
I'm supposed to watch this town… he mulled, However, I'm also supposed to find out about the keyblade… I suppose I could find information if I go. He looked at the duck, frown still apparent on his face.
"Fine, I'll go."
Scrooge McDuck grinned broadly, rubbing his hands together. "I knew you would, Laddy."
. o . o .
Three weeks and twenty thousand in repairs later, the Ragnarok was space ready. Leon didn't smile, but was pleased. He wondered if Selphie would have been happy with the new gummi additions.
"Ah Laddy, I see it's ready to go," McDuck walked up from behind, "We can finally start the first treasure hunt."
"First?" Leon said, frowning. The duck laughed.
"Yes, first. You never specifically said how many missions you're to go on." Leon glowered at the duck, who smiled, again unfazed.
"Don't worry, Laddy, I know you have other business to attend to. It's just a little treasure hunt here and there." Leon's scowl didn't fade, but he was relieved to hear that Scrooge had half a clue of his importance to the town's safety.
"Now, our first stop is going to be Agrabah. We are going to recover the ancient 'Eye of the Tiger'."
"What's that?"
Scrooge fixed his hat, smiling broadly. "It's a diamond the size of your hand."
Leon's eyebrows raised at that. "That's worth more than twenty thousand gil," The gunbladist glared.
McDuck smiled. "And a percentage finder's fee will be deducted from your debt… of course, with added interest from this loan, it may take you a while to pay it all back."
Leon's glare grew colder. McDuck didn't seem to notice and fixed his hat again.
"Go pack. Remember, we're going into the desert."
. o . o .
Leon stood in the cockpit of the Ragnarok. He mulled over the controls, fairly confident he could fly the spaceship that had saved his life all those years ago. He thought a moment about that time, and shook his head. He had other things to worry about now…
"Ready to go?"
…mainly McDuck's bidding.
The gunbladist nodded and began powering up the ship. As the metal doors started to close, a lone figure snuck aboard. Yuffie rubbed her hands together, having overheard Leon talk about the diamond he was to go find earlier. The ninja snuck into the meeting area of the ship and looked around.
Bored, she poked at a gummi piece that had been added to the ship. She looked around and quickly took a bite.
"Mmm….gummi."
The ship took off as she contemplated eating more.
. o . o .
Dry, searing desert greeted Leon as he opened the Ragnarok's hatch. Scrooge handed him a map and a few supplies. Leon frowned.
"I thought you were going with?"
McDuck laughed, "No no, Laddy, this is your end of the bargain. I'm going to stay here and watch the ship."
Leon looked at the map, it displayed a nearby town and the temple beyond it. He looked at the duck again. "How dangerous is this temple?"
Scrooge chuckled. "Nothing you can't handle." With that, the Ragnarok's hatch closed. Leon groaned and started walking toward the nearest town. Yuffie had managed to sneak out and was now slowly following him, still drooling about the diamond and leaving a spit trail.
A large city met Leon's eyes as the sun reached the top of the sky. He moved into the bustling marketplace and contemplated getting some information about the temple. He approached a vendor selling fruit. The vendor looked up at him, glancing at his clothing and back at him.
"What would you like?" he held up a basket. "I have the finest dates to offer."
Leon tried not to scowl and shook his head. "I need to know about the temple of the Survivor."
The man nearly dropped his dates. He glanced around quickly and leaned closer to Leon. "What do you want to know about the sacred temple?" the man asked in a hushed tone.
"I need to know how to get there, how to get in… everything,"
The man frowned. "What will you give me?"
Leon fished a rock out of his pocket. "This shiny rock?"
"…Deal."
. o . o .
Aladdin the professional thief had been enjoying a few 'borrowed' fruits on a rooftop when he heard an interesting conversation below him. Looking over the ledge, he found a man in strange clothing talking to the vendor he had just 'borrowed' from. Abu squeaked at him, inquiring as to what he was looking at.
"Looks like some stranger's treasure hunting," Aladdin explained to his pet monkey. The monkey peeked over the edge as well. He squeaked again.
"Doesn't look like he's from around here," the thief commented.
"The temple is a dangerous one, full of traps. No man has come out alive who has entered," The vendor continued.
At hearing his words, the stranger frowned further. "What kind of traps?"
"Doesn't sound like he's from around here either," Aladdin added. He looked back down.
The vendor had finished explaining that he didn't know of the temple's dangers and warned the man not to venture into such a foolish endeavor. The man scowled and thanked him for his time, leaving. Aladdin jumped down from the building's roof, following the strange man.
"Come on, Abu, let's find out what this guy's up to."
. o . o .
Elsewhere, another thief was wondering around the town. Yuffie milled about, waiting for Leon to leave the town and move on to the temple. Her stomach growled, and she looked around, spotting a cart full of dates. Grinning, she checked the merchant once and grabbed a few, walking off with them.
She popped them into her mouth, grinning. Soon the dates where gone, and the ninja's patients with them. She groaned as she saw Leon looking at his map again. Time to speed things up Looking around again, Yuffie found a cart with a few different colors of cloth, she grinned and artfully grabbed one away while the vendor wasn't looking.
She quickly snuck up to Leon and poked his right shoulder. The SeeD looked up and to the right. While he did, Yuffie draped the cloth on the other arm, quickly and smoothly enough for Leon not to notice. She quickly got away and poked a woman near the cloth cart.
"That man stole from that guy!" she said to the woman, who looked and quickly alerted the cloth cart's proprietor.
"THEIF!!" the man yelled, pointing to Leon. Leon looked over, and saw people coming his way. He looked down at his arm, where a piece of thin pink cloth now hung. He looked up, confused, and found more people coming his way. He threw down the cloth and ran.
"Finally!" Yuffie started after Leon, who quickly made his way out of town and towards the temple, loosing the people chasing him rather quickly. The ninja followed, grinning.
. o . o .
Leon looked at stone walls all around him. There were symbols he didn't understand, explained by writing under them that he understood less. He groaned and started in, gunblade out. He walked into the next room, stepping on a tile that slid into the ground as he did.
"…" He jumped out of the way as a pillar fell out of the ceiling and slammed into the tile. The SeeD looked up and saw that the room was under at least twenty more pillars. Leon took a deep breath and sprung forward. Running in a zigzag pattern, he managed to dodge all the pillars and make it to the doorway at the other end.
He looked back at the room as part of the floor fell. The SeeD stood and turned to face the room he was now in, and was met by a punch in the face. Leon fell back into the first room and scrambled to his feet, jumping through the doorway again as another pillar nearly crushed him.
Leon looked up to see a huge heartless swing down at him. He rolled out of the way, baffled as to why a heartless was in Agrabah. He decided to mull on it later as the rounded heartless threw a barrel at him.
Ducking, the SeeD finally noticed the room he was in: there was a single narrow path to the next door in a straight line. Below the path was blackness. Leon looked up to see another fist coming at him. He jumped back and then charged forward, swinging his gunblade as hard as he could. The huge figure teetered on its large feet as the blow knocked him off balance. Leon pulled the trigger of his weapon. The heartless made a roaring noise as it fell to the blackness below.
. o . o .
As Leon moved on, Aladdin walked into the temple. He strolled into the first room, seeing all the traps that had been triggered by Leon. He looked to the side, where there was a door that Leon had presumably missed. He went through it slowly and found it was a simple hall. He walked through it, Abu following him.
As he reached the end, a lever and a gold elephant on a pedestal greeted them. Don't like the look of that, the thief thought, but at that point, Abu had already grabbed the elephant. The lever started moving down, and the room shook.
"!!"
The walls of the room were starting to close in. Aladdin grabbed his pet and jumped out of the room quickly, running down the hall. Before the opening to the pillar room closed, the thief jumped through. He panted for a moment, then glared down at his monkey, who meekly backed away.
Getting up, the man found that there was a catwalk above him. He climbed up one of the pillars and got on it, walking into the next room and following Leon.
. o . o .
Meanwhile, Leon swung his gunblade into three small heartless at once, sending them flying. One crashed into a lever, which lowered and caused a noise that sounded like gears
turning. Spikes started coming out of the walls and ceiling.
"…"
The remaining four heartless started for the SeeD, heedless of their own safety. Leon started running, then jumped and slammed his weapon down on the first heartless. He quickly dislodged the blade from the ground and rolled forward, swinging as he came to his feet, taking out two more. At this point the spikes had almost reached the center of the room. Leon jumped over the last heartless and through the door. The spikes crashed together moments later.
. o . o .
Yuffie started into the temple. She had found another opening that neither thief or SeeD had noticed. Before her was a long corridor with a few pictures on the wall.
"Some 'dangerous temple protected by the gods,'" she remarked as she casually walked along the path, stealing a few trinkets as she did, and finding no adverse response.
. o . o .
Leon looked at the room he was in. Light from openings in the walls made a pattern on the floor. Picking up a stone from the floor, he tossed it into the room. As the stone passed through the light, arrows shot from the wall into it, breaking the rock into pieces.
"…"
Leon heard a screech and turned around. A mean looking heartless had dropped from the ceiling and was coming towards him. There was no way to fight the thing and not get shot by the arrows. The heartless jumped at him, and he leapt up, landing on the monster's shoulders. He pushed off and jumped over the pattern in the floor, tumbling through the doorway to the next room.
As he rolled forward, a panel in the floor slid open, and Leon fell through. He slid down the rock slide for at least a full minute before tumbling to a stop in another room. Coughing, he shook the sand out his hair and put a hand on the ground to lever himself up. He heard a clink and looked at his hand, which was on a pile of gold coins.
Looking up, Leon found he was in a treasure vault.
. o . o .
Aladdin had watched as Leon fell through the floor. Worrying for the man's safety, he jumped from his spot on the catwalk and slid down a pillar to the place Leon had fallen through. As he got to it, the tile slid back over, sealing him away from the slope.
Frowning, the thief looked up, now noticing a light up ahead. His jaw dropped when he saw the gold that was reflecting into his eyes.
. o . o .
Yuffie continued to trudge down the path, bored. She walked into another doorway and found a large pool-like area. Still bored, she moved on, not noticing the heartless that was following her. As she left the room, she found that she was in a treasure room. Her eyes lit up, and she threw the previously collected items over her shoulder, hitting the heartless into the pool as it was about to grab her.
. o . o .
Leon continued his search for the diamond. He stepped into another room, this one full of gems. Wandering further in, he found a pillar bathed in torch light. There were three buttons on the pillar. One with a picture of what seemed to be fire burning a person, another with a picture of a tiger eating someone and a last of what looked like a person getting pecked to death by a flock of birds.
"…"
Deciding on the only one that made any sense, he pressed the picture with the tiger. He heard levers move and a wall on the far end opened. Leon readied his gunblade.
The wall finished opening, and what looked like the skeleton of a tiger collapsed inside the chamber that had opened. Leon frowned and moved to it. It was indeed long dead.
Beyond the remains Leon found a pedestal with a large diamond on it. He looked at the tiger again and went to the diamond.
He picked it up, and the ground began to shake.
. o . o .
Aladdin felt the ground shake as he grabbed another handful of gold. Dust came out of the walls as he stood from the pile he was rooting through.
"Abu, let's get out of here!" The monkey nodded and grabbed a few rubies. As the thief and the monkey ran through the pillar room, one of the fallen pillars fell in the door way, blocking the path save the very top.
Aladdin looked at the treasure in his arms. There was no way he could get through with it all.
. o . o .
Yuffie had finished stuffing all the gold she could in her surprisingly stretchy shorts and was now loading her top with gems. Satisfied, she started back out of the temple. As she left the opening, she felt a gentle tremble in the ground.
"I didn't know deserts had earthquakes…" She shrugged and started back for the Ragnarok.
. o . o .
Leon ran through the treasure rooms, searching for a way out of the crumbling building. He found a small door in a corner and ran through it. Soon he found himself in the pillar room, watching a man dump an armful of gold and jump through the hole at the top of the doorway. Clutching the diamond, Leon followed.
Outside, Leon glared at the thief. "Who are you?"
The man brushed himself off and looked at the temple as it fell. "Out of a lot of money." He started back for the town. Leon rubbed his forehead and followed, the diamond still firmly hidden in his hand.
. o . o .
"I got it," Leon said, entering the Ragnarok. He held out the diamond for Scrooge, but it was snapped away. Leon growled and pulled his weapon at the sight of the ninja stowaway.
She backed up. "H-hey now…what would that cricket say?"
Leon's eyebrows knitted. "…Cricket?….CRICKET!" He pulled a bottle out of his pocket and opened it. A very angry Jiminy spilled out and immediately started attacking Leon's face with his umbrella.
Yuffie, who was laughing too hard at the attacked SeeD, failed to notice McDuck grab the diamond out of her hand and tuck it into his vest. He then chuckled at the sight of the cricket bashing Leon's face.
. o . o .
Elsewhere, Aladdin moped in his hideout. He sighed, thinking about all the things he was going to buy with the gold underneath the rubble of the temple. Abu walked up to him, grinning.
"What are you so happy about?" the little monkey grinned again and held out a jewel he had kept in his vest. Aladdin stood up and hugging his pet.
"All right Abu!"
End of Episode #2
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Like it, I hope so. Hopefully I won't take so long with the next one. Thanks again to my editor. And thank YOU for writing a review…that is…if you want to. Tell you what, if I get enough reviews I'll put everyone's favorite silver-haired, Masamune-wielding, nut case in. Don't let me down ;)
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Leon and Yuffie will return in:
Jiminy Leaves, or Leon Goes Drinkin'
