Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Square Enix.
Note: Hehe, thanks for the kind reviews Zakuo, Chiharu Chan, and the Lady of the turning sands. And now, it's time to continue on the next episode chapters of Will! :D
Chapter 4
The Beast of Kilika
Am I...dead? Or am I in a dream? Supposedly from my 'fuzzy' vision, I'm in a dream. Whew, that's good. If I was dead...then I would be crying wanting to go home. But anyways, this dream is STRANGE.
I'm actually standing on some kind of black, inky water. And across from me, like 20 feet away, is a village full of docks, wooden planks, and several huts. But the village was burning bright red. Everything was falling apart, smoke billowing into the dark, night sky. In the middle of it all, was a huge, buff looking...what the, what is that? It looks like some kind of werewolf. I dunno, my vision is fuzzy, so I can't really discern its appearance.
And then, before I could even take a step, I suddenly started getting sucked down into the water below me. Wait, I don't want to die! NOOO, WAAITTT!!
Slap!
I opened my eyes and quickly covered my throbbing right cheek. Glancing to my right, it was Anuy, with a wet rag in her hand. She was looking at me with worried eyes.
"Are you...okay, Will? You were screaming in your sleep." My heart was pounding hard. Huh? Pounding hard? That wasn't a scary dream at all! Even though I was drowning. Heh.
"I-I'm okay. Ah, god." I got up from my bed, but from the pain at my side, I just fell back down. Turning my head to both sides of the room, it was obvious that I was in the Crusader's tent. AGAIN. Which means...hey, where's Movaak and Zelferd? I didn't need an answer when Zelferd skipped into the room.
"Yay! Will is awake! I was so sad when I heard that you guys have fallen. But because of Anuy's potent white magic spells, you guys are ALIVE! Woohoo!" Zelferd started to act all weird and jittery. Don't ask me, I'm not gonna describe his 'unusual dance moves'.
"So, how long have I been out?
Anuy wrung the wet rag and placed it on my forehead. "I think you've been out for like, 3 days. Those Hunter people are getting really dangerous. Movaak was out for only a day though." Dang, I got beat by Movaak.
Zelferd walked up beside my bed, and handed me some kind of dark brown tea. Yum, barley tea. My favorite.
"Hm, so, maybe we should help rebuild this village? I mean, those Hunters destroyed several of the tents." Zelferd shook his head.
"No, no need to worry. The villagers and Crusaders will be rebuilding it. You, Movaak and Summoner Anuy should get going with the Pilgrimage." I nodded. In the game, all the Summoners had to go on pilgrimages to each temple, to obtain an aeon, and use it against Sin. Huh, I wonder if I'll ever get to THAT part.
"I'm guessing I'm fully healed? Ah, I'm gonna get up. Err..." I stuck out both my legs onto the ground, and stood up. Bad thing too. I fell down on the ground stomach first and dropped my mug of barley tea, which broke. All the tea spilled onto the ground, seeping through the dirt ground. "M-my tea!" Zelferd shook his head again and took out a mop from somewhere, wiping away the broken trash. Anuy helped me get up.
"You okay?" I nodded. Me and Anuy got out of the Crusader's tent, and boy, it was sure a good day. The place was kinda trashed, several pieces of wall was broken down. The temple entrance caved in. 2 tents were blown away. And the ground where Movaak and Zakuo 'supposedly' fought at was cracked and burnt. I looked down to see Anuy shaking in her wheelchair.
"Hey Anuy, are you cold?" Anuy shook her head. Huh, quiet type? She does talk alot in fights though.
I saw Movaak approaching us. "Heh, you finally woke up Will. If you didn't wake up today, me and Anuy was about to ditch you and continue the Pilgrimage." I narrowed my eyes at him.
"I'll kill you Movaak." Anuy gasped and smacked me in the head with her wand.
"Don't...ever say such things, Will!" I held my head and bowed down to her.
"I'm sorry Summoner Anuy!" Anuy smiled and giggled. Movaak laughed.
"Bowing down to the ground? I've never seen such a thing. She's not Yevon, you know?" Yevon?
"Well, that's how I bow. No need to make fun of it." Movaak chuckled and pointed back towards the hill near the Besaid Village Gates.
"We're gonna have to go right now. Or else, the Hunters might come back." I nodded. Good thing I had my clothes on though. If I was naked again...I can't think of what Zelferd might've done.
Anuy wheeled her way to the gates. "I'll wait for you guys here, okay?" Movaak and I nodded. Wait, I already have all my stuff with me.
"Actually, I'll wait with you Anuy." Anuy smiled. I jogged to the gates and went besides Anuy. Looking at her, sitting in a wheelchair. Oh yeah, I haven't asked how she lost her legs.
"Hey Anuy, can I ask you something?" Anuy looked at me and nodded.
"Um, how did you lose your legs?" I guess that wasn't a really good question to ask, but she answered it anyways.
"Well...when I was little, fiends invaded my home, Luca. My parents were both warriors. When the fiends attacked, my parents tried to protect me, but they died trying. I also tried to fight back, but failed. These huge fiends crashed into our house, bit my leg, and took it off. I was almost dead..." Anuy started sobbing quietly. Ah, great, what am I gonna do?! Pat her on the back? Er...say kind words? Whatever, I have to try something.
I wrapped my arms around her neck and quietly soothed her with words like, "It's okay, no need to continue" and "Just calm down". Surprisingly, my words actually got her quiet. Whew, I didn't really wanna make a scene.
"Wow, your life must've been hard then, huh?"
Anuy nodded. "It has. This wheelchair can't really do as much as legs can. But Zelferd custom-made this wheelchair to do 'some' actions of what legs can do." I raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah? Like what?" Anuy pressed a button on her arm rest. What the, I didn't see that before. All of a sudden, these weird sproingy looking feet appeared under the seat of the wheelchair. And Anuy started to bounce.
"See? This is jumping." JUMPING?! I smacked my own forehead to this absurdity.
"Hehe, really...interesting Summoner Anuy. Really interesting." Anuy giggled loudly. Well, atleast I'm making her smile and laugh, right? That's a good thing. I hate it when people are sad.
We both then heard footsteps approaching us. It was Movaak. "Hey kids, having fun? I hope by now you know each other's names?" We both nodded.
I looked up towards the hill. Shouldn't there be some kind of stone thing there? "Okay, LET'S GO!!" I started running but Movaak caught me by the neck of my shirt.
"Hold on their Will. You're gonna have to walk with the Summoner group. To protect the Summoner, remember?" I sighed and nodded. We walked up the entire hill until we got to that huge boulder thing. Movaak and Anuy went in front of it, and started doing that Yevon sign, while praying. Maybe I should join them.
I walked in front of the boulder, and knelt down on my knees, and bowed down. I pray...for our protection throughout the Pilgrimage, for me to get stronger, and to see if I can find my way back home. I haven't really thought about that yet.
I got up from my bow, and noticed that Anuy and Movaak was waiting for me. Well, I guess we're gonna have to get going.
About 15-20 minutes later, we finally arrived at Besaid Beach. There were kids and adults already there, getting ready to bid their farewell to the Summoner group. As we walked past them, Anuy usually did the simple bow and wave. Me and Movaak...we weren't getting any attention. Aw man. Hey, that ship! It was the one that Summoner Yuna's group went on! What was it called? Oh yeah, the S.S. Liki.
There were sailors pulling up the masts, scrubbing the deck of the ship, and even carrying boxes of food and stuff for the sailing voyage to Kilika. I wonder if there will be any fiend attacks there. That's when I heard someone yelling out...for help? Looking back towards the forest path, we saw...the young priest from before! He was staggering alittle, with a little bit of blood pouring from his leg and arm. Looks like he got a scratch on his cheek.
Movaak got to him. "What's wrong kid? How'd you get injured?" The young priest was panting heavily, and fell into Movaak's chest.
"Fiends...fiends ambushed me and several priests while we were arriving to bid farewell." Fiends?! Anuy wheeled over to us, and looked at each of our faces.
"This isn't good news, is it?" I shook my head at Anuy.
"Not good at all. Fiends are probably going to arrive here. Summoner Anuy, bring the young priest towards the ship. Me and Movaak will fight them off." Anuy nodded and took the young priest away. Me and Movaak just stood, looking at the forest path for any signs of movement. Wait, there IS movement!
5 Dingos came out of the path, followed by 3 Flans hopping with them. 4 Condors were above them, circling like vultures searching for prey. Great, there's ALOT of fiends here. Movaak should be able to take em. But how about me?
The 5 Dingos and 3 Flans came at us first. I activated my scythe blade arm, and stabbed right through the first Dingo's head. Ripping my blade out, I then slashed at the Flan that tried to jump at me. It split into some kind of liquid blob, but then reformed back. What the, I can't kill it?
"Will, Flans are mostly affected by elemental attacks! Let me face em off!" Elemental attacks, huh? I got one, heh.
"Don't worry Movaak, I know how to kill the Flan now." I plunged my blade into the ground, and flicked my wrist up. A line of sharp stalagmites impaled 2 Flans and 1 other Dingo. Nice. "Hehe, I call that my Stone Wave technique."
Movaak shook his head and punched a Dingo's face, caving its face into its skull. He then activated his fiend weapon, his left black arm claw, and slashed at an incoming Dingo's torso, cutting it up in two. The last Dingo hitched a ride on Movaak's back, trying to bite his neck off. But Movaak just jumped slammed his back into the ground. And because the Dingo was on his back...that's right, I heard a squish sound. That was disgusting. One lone Flan was just standing there, staring at us.
"Hey Movaak, what's that Flan doing?" Movaak raised an eyebrow.
"I have no clue. It's probably stupidfied by our immense power." I scoffed.
"You're really funny Movaak. Really." Movaak glanced at me with narrow eyes.
"Don't be sarcastic. We're in a fight here, remember?" I nodded. Then, the Flan moved. Not like we expected though.
The Flan jumped and hitched a ride with one of the Condors. And then it casted a Water spell, soaking me and Movaak wet. But for some reason, Movaak was flinching as if the water 'burned'. I wonder why.
"Damn, the Flan escaped with the Condors." Movaak pointed his right pointer finger, and yelled out, "Firaga!" Boom! The Condor and Flan was blown into smithereens. The 3 Condors sensed their friend's death, so they dive bombed towards us. Just what I wanted them to do. Now it's time to see if my speed is good enough against these fiends.
I jumped as high as I can, and to my amazement, I can jump REALLY high! That's so sweet! But for now, gotta focus on the battle. I slashed at a Condor on my right, and clipped off a wing from a Condor on my left. I then spun around and cut off the last Condor's neck. Wow, that's amazing. I'm pretty fast. But...now that I'm in the air, I'm falling. NNNNOOOO!!
Blam! I had my eyes closed, but I felt something hard under my butt. When I opened my eyes and looked down, I saw that I was on Movaak's back. Oops.
"Will...get off my back. You're giving me backache." I muttered an apology and got off. I dusted off my shorts and reverted my scythe blade arm back to my human arm. Looks like Movaak already did that.
"Well, we did pretty good, huh Movaak? Let's go back to the ship." Movaak nodded and followed me to the S.S Liki. Anuy was at the railing of the ship, watching us fight off the Fiends. Wait, watching us? Why didn't she help us?
"You...did well, both of you." Movaak nodded his head once towards her, while I just looked up at the sky. Wow, it's a beautiful day today. I haven't really noticed. The sky is really blue with puffy, white clouds overhead. The sun's rays were hitting the surface of the water, which looks so...clear. You can see through the water, little fishes swimming around and little kelps swaying in the water's depths.
The ramp for the ship was gotten rid of, and the ship was off to the sea. Anuy waved towards the Besaid villagers and she had tears streaming down her eyes. She must've been very happy to be in Besaid. But leaving...must be really hard for her.
The ship was really quiet. The sailors must be in the lower deck area, opening those boxes they brought in. I didn't even see where Movaak went. But I spotted Anuy standing at the head of the ship, looking out at sea. The breeze of the sea felt really good. And it had some kind of dramatic effect to it, Anuy's clothes were fluttering, and even my clothes were fluttering. Coolness. I walked up beside Anuy and looked out at the sea. Wow, you can't even see anything for miles ahead. Just an endless expanse of water. Anuy inhaled, then exhaled.
"I love the sea. It makes me...feel very calm. Sometimes, I wish I can be part of the sea. Just drift aimlessly, just knowing that I'll atleast get somewhere when I land." I grinned.
"Hehe, the sea is great. Especially the fish. You know what's great about the fish. Knowing that they'll be made into sushi!" I raised my arms above me and laughed. Anuy laughed along.
"Sushi is good too. We should eat some sushi sometimes." I chuckled.
"Yeah...we should..."
Nighttime, probably 10: 36 p.m.
I was sitting at the head of the ship, looking out at the dark, moonlit sea. Hmmm, its already been 7 hours. I should get some sleep. Everyone else is sleeping. I started to get up when I heard a muffled 'boom' sound. When I looked out the sea, I saw a plume of red in the distance. An explosion? But where? I think the crew also saw this, as I heard someone shout 'Land Over Yonder!' Several of the night shift sailors were changing the mast's direction, and the other crew mates started yelling at the others to hurry up and stuff. 15 minutes later, we arrived to the dock. Yep, its Kilika.
When I got out of the ship onto the docks, Summoner Anuy and Movaak joined me. Movaak spoke up.
"Wow, we're finally here. I thought we'd never get off of that ship."
I looked around and spotted 3 men running towards us. A man with a green shirt and brown leather pants spoke up when he got to us. "You're the new Summoner group right? Please, you must come with us!" Anuy looked at Movaak, and then me. Yep, its time for a talk.
The 3 men led us to a green hut. Lights were filtering out of the closed shutters in the windows. When we got in, I saw 2 men and a woman sitting around a fire. The 2 men were old people, while the woman was probably in her 20's. Me, Anuy and Movaak sat down with them.
The woman spoke up. "It's good timing that you came. The last Summoner group, Summoner Yuna, left 3 days ago." Anuy nodded. I looked around the interior of the hut.
Everything was all made out of wood. Very easily flammable. There was a bookshelf at a corner there, with a little table.
Anuy spoke softly. "So, what's happening now?" The old men fidgeted in their seats while the woman gulped.
"Well, after Summoner Yuna's group left, strange incidents has been happening. Every night, 3 of our villagers would be kidnapped or killed by some kind of beast. Some kind of...werewolf." My eyes went wide. My dream...a docked village burning with some kind of animal in the middle of it all.
The old man then spoke in a raspy voice. "And we're guessing that tonight is the night that the werewolf will appear to kidnap and kill yet more of our villagers. Please, Summoner...Anuy, please help us!" Anuy had on a serious expression on her face. I probably figured out what she's gonna do. She's obviously gonna say yes.
Anuy nodded. See what I mean? "Okay, we'll help." The old men and the woman all had relieved expressions and bowed to her, Yevon style.
"Ah, thank you, Summoner! We are most indebted to you!" But just at that moment, the hut broke apart. We all stared at the broken door of the hut...and saw a huge, beast. IT WAS HUGE?! It was probably 6 foot or something. I couldn't really see its appearance, as it was dark outside. But I could see its red eyes glaring at us. This isn't good.
The woman was stuttering like crazy. "It's...IT'S HERE?! AAAHHH!!" Movaak, Anuy let's fight it!" Movaak and Anuy nodded. Well, this may get messy.
The beast howled into the sky.
--
A/N: Wow, that ship talk with Will and Anuy may start a ROMANTIC relationship. I'll try to implement those as I continue along with the story. But now, Will and the Summoner group has started their Pilgrimage. And it looks like, they finally got to Kilika. But what's with this 'beast' problem? And is this beast dangerous? We'll find out on the next chapter! :D
This'll be an explanation of all the techniques that we've seen so far for this story.
Will's Techniques
--
Stone Wave
Element: Earth
Radius: Straight line
Speed: Medium
Explanation: Will plunges his scythe blade into the ground, and flicks his wrist into the direction he wants to attack at. The ground submerges abnormally, and sharp stalagmites protrudes out of the ground, racing towards anyone Will directs it to. If hit, the enemy will be impaled.
Sophia's Techniques
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Yoyo Net
Element: Fire, Thunder, Water, Ice, Earth, Dark, Light
Radius: Wide
Speed: Medium
Explanation: Sophia would weave and intertwine her yoyo strings until they're shaped like a net. Once she throws it at the opponent, he/she would be bound tightly by the yoyo's strings. But the strings are just string, so it's kinda easy to get out of.
Yoyo Prison
Element: Fire, Thunder, Water, Ice, Earth, Dark, Light
Radius: Wide
Speed: Fast
Explanation: Sophia would throw her yoyos all around her opponent. The opponent would think she's missing for some reason. But her plan is to trap them in an inescapable tangle of yoyo strings, which is why it's called Yoyo Prison. The strings are then solidified into iron, making it hard for the opponent to get out of.
Yoyo Around the World
Element: Fire, Thunder, Water, Ice, Earth, Dark, Light
Radius: Wide
Speed: Fast
Explanation: Sophia would twirl her yoyo around herself really fast in a circular motion. She would then swing it at the opponent. The yoyo would curve slightly, making the opponent's dodging quite...hard.
Zakuo's Techniques
--
Quick Draw
Element: Wind
Radius: Straight
Speed: Very Fast
Explanation: Zakuo would unsheathe his hilt and slash towards the opponent, but then he'll quickly sheathe it back to his scabbard. To the opponent, it seems to be only a blur. By slashing at high speed, the wind at the base of the hilt would push forward, sending out a quick burst of a sonic boom.
Hurricane Blow
Element: Wind
Radius: Wide
Speed: Medium
Explanation: Zakuo would first suck in a lungful of air, and forcefully push the air out, sending out a huge, powerful wave of air towards the opponent. The force is so strong, that sometimes it would have an effect of a hurricane.
End Draw
Element: Wind
Radius: Straight
Speed: Very Fast
Explanation: Zakuo would sprint really fast, and a trail of dust and debris would follow behind him. He would sprint past the opponent, and slash the opponent at the same time. He would appear behind the opponent, and sheathe his weapon back into its scabbard. The opponent would be confused, and would then get inflicted with injuries. To the opponent, it would look like Zakuo vanishes and appears behind.