AN: starting from here, some really big deviations!

Chapter 7 - Conde Petite - Rally Ho!

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Fossil Roo was a twisted maze of creaking gargants and tunnels. Insects, twice the size of a man, shook and hobbled along the special trunk-like green tubes. They munched happily on the yellow flowers and would chirp imploringly for more at its passengers whenever they finished the flowers. They were, for the most part, tame. All the gentle gargant wanted was a nice yummy yellow tulip-like blossom in exchange for transportation and happiness. Its size, though, hardly convinced the other three to attempt a feeding. Nope. Zidane was the only person willing to sacrifice his fingers for a chance of artificial upside-down vertigo. He took his task with pride too, saying what scaredy-cats the rest of his group were.

Plodding along the tunnels, however, was another tedious task altogether. The tunnels were complex and often lead to dead ends. They would come upon a significant looking crevice, structure, anything that resembled a possible passage only to be disappointed. Sometimes, they would come upon a treasure chest, only to frown at the meager spoiled potion that practically poisoned them.

Eventually, Vivi and Dagger began to understand and memorize the failed routes. They had to backtrack many times, each time more frustrating than the next. The random moogle did not help either, as it never went through the entire cavern either. Quina finally learned not to put the strange blue goop it found in their dinner meal. The only good thing that had happened was that they bumped into an archeologist at some type of transfer station. Now that man had some idea of directions.

"The Outer Continent, huh?" said the archeologist named Jeebers. He scratched his thick beard. He was a typical middle aged man, wearing a head-light and had several pick-axes strapped to his waist. His head was completely bald and he wore a pair goggles much like the flying goggles Baku would wear. His hands wrung themselves surreptiously as if he was constantly nervous.

The group of Zidane, Dagger, Quina, and Vivi found him sitting near the center of a junction, facing several tracks that lead to equally dark tunnels. The acheologist was engrossed in an ancient tome when he finally noticed the motley travelers.

"Yes. Outer Continent. Lot's of good food to eat," said Quina enthusiastically.

"I wouldn't say there's anything to eat out there other than sand," muttered Jeebers darkly. "It's a fair size desert. There's a dried up forest, a marsh, and that giant misshapen tree. Actual civilization is difficult to discern. There's the dwarves but they are retarded compared to the Mist Continent."

"Then you've been there!" observed Dagger with aplomb. "Please tell us how to get there without getting lost."

"Well..." Jeebers hesitated. "I am not sure how much help I can give there. Why do you want to go out there anyways?"

"We're chasing after a criminal," said Dagger.

Jeeber raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want to go there? That single criminal might already be dead. The elements are absolutely dreadful and last time I went, some of my team died."

There were several hesitant nods.

"Well..." Jeeber sighed as he motioned toward the tunnels with his hand. "I think quite a few of the tracks go out there, but you'll have to recognize the correct symbols."

"Symbols?"

Jeebers pointed to the squiggly symbols on the sides of the tunnels. "They mean something, I'm fairly sure."

"Who put them there?" asked Vivi.

"The Ancients," answered the archeologist, a sudden sparkle coming to his eye. "That is what I am researching right now. Whoever built this must have had some sophicated understanding of geology, gargant behavior and maze design."

"The Ancients?" asked Dagger. "Who are they?"

"Glad that you ask," said Jeebers with a pendantic air. "The ancients were a race of people who dominated Gaia over two thousand years ago. It was said that they learned to trap the battle essence of creatures and use them to create marvelous wonders such as the Chocobo air garden and the Ispen Castle. This place is one of their awesome structures, left over from that time. And here's the best part: everything here still works! Think about it. Two thousand years, no maintenance and still operational." He went on to describe what he had learned about the ancients, and the great achievements of that era.

It was a fascinating topic to be sure. A princess, a mage, a cook and a thief rarely had the chance to learn about archeological digs and findings of old civilizations long past. It was like sitting through Ramuh's ramblings about hero and human.

After about ten minutes though, Dagger showed signs of impatience. She wanted to leave and take out Kuja as soon as possible, not stand here and listen to some bumbling man talk about people long dead. Still, from what the archeologist was saying, she discerned that the Ancients he spoke of must have been summoners. It was a silent tug of war between interests.

Vivi was entranced for sure. Jeeber's way of story telling was much like Grandpa's. That and the Ancients sounded like a fantastic people with all the answers to a world of questions. Vivi thrived on the idea that somewhere out there lay the answer to his existence.

Quina wandered off as usual. The Qu was always thinking about food, and there seemed to be living fish in the underground waters.

Zidane himself listened intently. He too, seemed to be spellbound by the archeologist's find. He sat down on a random rock and proped his face by the cheeks with the butt of his hands, absorbing whatever Jeebers said with rapt attention.

"But no one knows what happened to them," finished Jeebers. "These Ancients all died off at some point, leaving only their works that you see here."

There was a moment of awed silence when the archeologist finished his sentence. Vivi was quiet for a moment, before breaking out into applause.

"Thank you for the story," said Zidane, standing up from his rock. He patted off his pants and yawned. "But we must be going."

"Wait!" objected Dagger. "We still don't know which tunnel."

"This one," said Zidane, pointing to an indistinct tunnel. The symbols covering the sides of the tunnel looked just the same as the others. "Let's go on this one," he said, walking over to pick up a fragrant yellow flower. "Jeebers did say all of them lead to the Outer Contient, right?"

"Most of them," corrected Jeebers airily. "And you have to understand the symbols. The tunnels may diverge later on, so you must know which way to go. Some of my colleagues never made it back."

"So what are you saying?" asked Dagger.

"I can show you the way, if you are willing to spare some gil," said Jeebers, a hopeful grin on his face. Being an archeologist was not a big money maker.

"Ehh...That's alright. I think I know where we should go anyways," said Zidane. He gestured toward the coming gargant.

"Well, I trust Zidane," said Dagger. "Let us press on."

The group of adventurers all left with the gargant, leaving Jeebers alone at the junction.

Jeebers watched them hop on the back of gargant. The fat one made the gargant click in obvious strain. The little dark thing with a bent hat had difficult putting its arms around the gargant's neck, but eventually made it. The other two humans made it on the large insect without difficulty. It was only on the trailing did Jeebers note a long furry blonde tail sticking out of the boy's rear end.

"Hum...another type of demi-human?" thought Jeebers. He had seen the musine people of Burmecia and variations of animal like humanoids. Some of his fellow men in Treno had a lion's head. At least one of the engineers in Lindblum was an ant-eater. Perhaps that boy was just one of the many demi-humans; his group of four certainly had an interesting mix of intelligent creatures. The scholars had said that it would take more than a lifetime for a person to categorize every single type of intelligent form there was on Gaia.

Jeebers returned to studying the ancient tome he found only days ago. It was in a sealed compartment within a fossilzed dragon ribcage. Jeebers hooted when he discovered such a treasure. The book itself had remained unmutilated over the eons, even though the pages were made of an unfamiliar material. But the most important aspect was that the symbols were still clear and sharp as the day it was printed.

"Their loss," murmured Jeebers when he flipped to page thirty. He had half a mind to remind them of a Gizamaluke guardian subspecies down one of the tunnels. Then again, they didn't seem to need help. He began to purse through the ancient text. The words were like tiny swimming minnows, simple and complex at the same time. Over decades of study, Jeebers had managed to decipher some of their convoluted grammatical structure. There seemed to be a difference in reference to people with rank, age, and formality. Jeebers would give everything if he could learn how to speak it.

"Ah, an image," commented Jeebers to himself, pleased. It was a black and white image of a scantily clad woman, wearing less than what was considered immodest. However, she wore the few pieces of clothes with grace and challenge. She was mighty proud to be who she was. He frowned at it, realizing with amazement as he concentrated on the relaxed appendige that barely peaked out from her side. It was the same as that boy who was so certain on the tunnels.

"Oh my Atmos! He's one of the Ancients!"

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True to Zidane's words, the group of four adventurers arrived on a sandy beach. They squinted their eyes as the bright sunlight stabbed their eyes most painfully. Otherwise, each breathed the dry air most deeply. It was good to leave the damp and heavy air of Fossil Roo. The pressure on their lungs was lifted. The firm ground was comforting to their feet.

"See, I told ya," said Zidane with a self-satisfied smirk. His already pale eyes looked white in the bleach whiteness of the beach. He seemed completely at home. "This is Outer Continent!"

"I guess you are right," agreed Dagger reluctantly, shielding her eyes. It was awfully bright here, enough to make a man blind. She turned to the sea only to flinch away. The sun light reflected even more painfully off the waters. She could only respond by keeping her eyes opened in thread-thin slits.

"It's hot," complained Quina. The Qu was feeling its weight more than ever in the heat. Sweat the size of marbles trickled down its blue skin, already soaking a part of its shirt.

"Relax. This continent is mostly desert," said Zidane with his usual effervescence. He held out his arms to soak up the heat. "It will freeze at night."

"And you're from here?" asked Dagger incredulously, remembering some of their conversations in Lindblum. She used her hand to block out the brilliantly white lifeless dunes before her. Mirages of water were everywhere as the deflections of heat bounced off the land. Though the dry air was a relief from all the dampness, she was feeling her throat starting to scratch. She hope that there would enough water in their flaskins. "I cannot imagine anyone even surviving here," said Dagger.

"What?" chirped both Vivi and Quina. They both turned to face Zidane. "You're from here?" They both glared at Zidane with accusative eyes. "I thought you were from Lindblum."

Zidane blinked innocently. "Did I forget to mention that?"

There were several nods. Zidane could be so absentminded at times.

"Yeah..." he said, shurgging nonchalantly. "This is an uninviting sort of place and rather boring. You can walk for weeks and see only sand. So I didn't stay for long. I left as soon as I could."

"Hot," complain Quina again.

"Kuja is here," said Vivi, reminding them again of their purpose here. He was suffering from the light and heat the most. His head drooped and he pulled the wide brim of his hat down to shield his eyes. "And we are gonna find him, aren't we?"

"Maybe," said Dagger mutely, than she turned to Zidane. "Do you think your brother, Angeli can help us?"

Zidane blinked as if not understanding what Dagger was saying. He frowned slightly before saying, "I dunno. He's usually not in a very helping mood."

"I thought you wanted to go see him," said Dagger.

"Yes, I do. But we're angry with each other."

"You mean, he's bad tempered?" offered Vivi.

"Not exactly bad tempered, he's actually rather urbane. It's just that once he's pissed off at you, he stays pissed off," explained Zidane, then added. "For a long time."

"And you had somehow made him mad?" asked Vivi.

Zidane nodded guiltily.

"How did you do that?"

Zidane grimaced. "I would rather not talk about it."

"No Mist," observed Quina in its usual short sentences. It hobbled a few paces further and waffed the air though its mouth, like a chef testing his culinary creations.

"Then no Mist Monsters?" asked Vivi hopefully. There were plenty of misshapen creatures on the lower grounds of the Mist Continent.

"Nope," said Zidane. "Only cute little evil things called Cactaur and Tonberries. Oh and sandworms, plenty of them in the eastern dunes."

"Sandworms?"

Zidane nodded vigoriously. "Ever seen the sandworms underneath Treno gargant route?"

Dagger nodded.

"Well, think of that, then make it bigger than air ships. They can swallow entire grand dragons whole! But we don't need to worry about that just yet. We'll need to get to town."

"Town?" quierd Vivi. "There's even a town here?"

"Yes," said Zidane. "It's called Conde Petite."

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After eight days of traveling, the adventuers had finally came to an unique structure nestled in the air, between a cliff and a mountain. It was made of rough pale bricks, held up by two massive roots. Thin subroots, branching from the two main roots, dug deep into the stones. Section of the wall had fallen off due to the intrusion of the roots. Most of it, however, was held in place by the roots.

"This place?" asked Quina. It was sweating buckets and the sun was barely a quarter across the sky. There was an indistinguishable smell coming from the Qu, partially like anchovies and partially like spoiled milk. No one knew how in the world Quina could smell like that when sweating. Most of them considered ignorance the wiser choice than knowledge.

"Looks to be," confirmed Zidane with a smile, memories flashed before his eyes. "I learned so many things from here." Then he shaped up a little more seriously than before. "Let's go in. Oh, when you meet the entrance guards, say 'Rally-ho!'"

"Wr-Wraly-ho...?" repeated Dagger uncertainly.

"Rh-Rhallie-who...?" said Vivi with an even worse accent.

Zidane grinned. "Perfect!"

They approached the village as normally as a drunkard would approach a convent. They came upon a short little green thing with broad brows, protuding teeth, and large feet. The creature was holding a well used club.

"Rally-ho!" cried Zidane cheerfully.

"Rally-ho!" cried the little fellow.

"Follow my lead," said Zidane to the side.

Dagger and Vivi greeted haultingly. Quina did not even bother and stood there like a pack mule.

"Ye can enter Conde Petie," said the green fellow at the entrance. "En' Walcoom back Yoong Mashter."

"Good to see you again too, Ironshaper," said Zidane.

"Hohoho!" laugh Ironshaper. He stumped around Zidane looking at him up and down. "Ye grown. Ye look mo an' mo like yir broother day be day."

Strangely, Zidane frowned at that comment. Then he asked, "Has he come by recently?"

"Nope," said Ironshaper sadly. "But, da Pyntie-Hets come often."

Zidane nodded, his smile turning into a frown. "I see."

"Aye! It Seem they moved tae Sootheast Forest," Ironshaper twirled a curious eye at Zidane. "Oui heard yir broother booted em' Pyntie-Hets. Ye know why?"

Zidane shook his head. "I don't know." He made a face then grumbled something unintelligible.

"Pointy-Hats?" chirped Vivi, his interest perked. "Did he just say Pointy-Hats?"

"Yes," said Zidane distractedly.

"Zidane, I want to go to the Southeast Forest and find them!" urged Vivi, getting his hopes up.

"Me too," agreed Zidane. "But let's go inside and rest a bit. I'm parched."

No one could argue with that.

Thus, the group of four adventurers went on their seperate ways to scout out the new town of Conde Petite.

Quina immediately strolled off to the shops in search of exotic cuisine. The Qu was as enthusiastic and absent minded as ever. Though it did follow Vivi on the side, keeping a concerned eye on the mage.

Vivi did not notice Quina's not-so-stealthy following, not that any Qu could be characterized as being stealthy. He went to talk to many dwarves about the pointy-hats.

Dagger wandered off to the chapel area where an old priest with a combover was conducting the rites of marriage. She observed the adorable wrinkly dwarves exchange blunt and sometime odd vows. Two dwarves, though uncomely in the eyes of a human, gazed at each other with hearts in their eyes, completely forgetting all that was around them. The scene reminded her of the time Uncle Cid and Hilda got married. The royals of Lindblum celebrated with showers of confetti from the air and an entire week of free liquor all around. The gifts were near uncountable as all of the Mist Continent sent their blessings and material gifts. Queen Brahne presented the royal couple with a gem called the "Falcon's Claw."

The memory made Dagger smile and gave her courage. Peace and happiness could exist out here, away from all the pampering of civilization. Here, at this place far from home, she was reminded of hope at best, and of duty at worst.

The rest of the day went on without incident. After the days of blistering sun, all of them received much deserved rest in a rather dusty inn overlooking the gorge below. They ate some dried bundt cakes, beef jerky and drank unbelievablely cool water that the inn keeper brought.

"Dere ye go," said a red-haired dwarf inn keeper named Sunwheat. She offered the travelers a dark wooden tray with four rough mugs of refilled water.

"Thank you," said Dagger. Her sentiments echoed through the rest of her companions.

"They are nice," said Vivi, in a semi-quizzical tone. "But they kept on calling me "pynty het.""

"I've talked to some dwarves in the wedding ceremony," said Dagger. "They talk about going to a sanctuary beyond the mountain gorge. Zidane, do you know anything about that?"

"The sanctuary?" Zidane tilted his head in question. "Oh. They must be refering to the Iinethalawyrpha Tree."

"Iinethawenf Tree?" repeated Dagger. The way Zidane said the word was foreign, with sounds that did not sound like anything a normal human could produce.

Zidane winced at her pronouciation. "Iinethalawyrpha Tree," he repeated again. "but it's been shortened to Iifa Tree. Easier to say."

"What's there?" asked Vivi.

"What it says. It's a giant tree," said Zidane.

"Maybe we should go see it," suggested Vivi.

"No," came a hollow voice from the dark doorway. It was a black mage.

"The Soul Cage of Iinetha is unstable. Elder advised no disturbance, least the beast frees itself."

All of the four companions turned around in surprise. The black mage was typical of those they saw in Lindblum and Cleyra. It's unblinking yellow eyes glowed with that unspeakable intelligence and emptiness. The feeling made Dagger's skin crawl.

"You!" cried Vivi. "You're a black mage, and you can talk!"

The said black mage snorted. "Speak not what you know not, prototype. I am more than a mere factory model."

"What are you talking about?" asked Dagger.

The newcomer tilted its head back, yellow orbs narrowed into ellipses, boring into Dagger's very soul. "I was created on the holy planet of Terra, unlike this inferior prototype."

"Watch it buddy!" challenged Zidane, already on his feet and his daggers drawn. "I will not have you insult my friends."

"Believe what you will," said the black mage coldly. The yellow orbs traced themselves to Zidane. "Elder also advised that I bring you to our forest. Elder has many words to offer you."

"What if we don't want to?" retorted Quina.

The black mage turned even darker, as if it was sucking in the light around it. Its gloved white hands were like black holes. "I will have to insist."

"Well, I don't like your tone," said Vivi defiantly. Black mages or no, Vivi would do anything to protect his friends. "And I won't go."

"I am not asking you," retorted the black mage. Its amber eyes bore into Zidane's features. "I'm asking him."

"Me?" chirped Zidane innocently.

"Yes," said the black mage. "I am to personally escort you back to the village as we doubt your knowledge of the location."

Zidane spent approximately two seconds to think about it. "Sure. Under one condition. All of us come."

"What?" cried Dagger, Vivi and Quina.

"We're about to go there anyways. Why not have a guide?"

"But as his prisoner?" objected Dagger.

"Guests," corrected the black mage cordially this time. "I was ordered to offer utmost courtesy."

"Then we will oblige that courtesy." Zidane seemed strangely pleased with himself. "By the way, what is your name?"

"Nima."

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