Chapter 7: It takes effort

"It's hot."

"I know."

"It's full of sand."

"I know."

"Did I mention it's hot?"

"You did."

Chirox sighed and let himself fall on the ground, in the hot sand of the desert. He was annoyed by all the sand and the heat. His wrist blades reflected the sunlight right in my eyes and I turned away, shielding my eyes.

"Knock it off, you're blinding me." I said.

"Not my fault, blame the sun." He replied.

"You rather went with Spiriah and Mutran to Giza plains? I heard it's the rains there, they'll be soaked by the time they come back."

"At least it's cool there." Chirox snorted. I rolled my eyes and kicked him.

"Get up, the faster you do the faster we can find our beastie and the faster you can get out of here." I looked around while Chirox got to his feet. He dusted the sand of himself and sighed.

"Tell me again what we're looking for, brother Icarax." He sighed.

"A huge slug called a sandworm. They're rare in Ivalice, and even rarer in the sands of Dalmasca. People don't like them so we got hired to get rid of it." I replied, shouldering my Twin-Bladed Black Fire Sword. Yup, I still love that pose.

"I do wish I went with Mutran and Spiriah, at least they are hunting a bunch of criminals. Much more exciting than an overgrown worm." Okay, his whining was becoming annoying.

"Instead of whining, fly around and look for our worm. I'll look for it by going on foot."

Chirox shrugged and shapeshifted himself a pair of batwings that seemingly were growing out of his shoulders. Just as he was about to take off, he turned to me, a puzzled look on his face. "Eh, just one question brother. How do you know you've found a sandworm?"

"Isn't that obvious? You look for a very big worm, walk up to it and ask if it's the sandworm we're looking for. If it attacks you, you've found it." Obviously that was sarcasm. The fourteen year old lad grinned, then flew off. Finally, some rest.

It's been a week or two since my little talk with Mutran. I haven't found out much more about the past of my friends yet, but I'm not in a hurry to find out. We did a job here and there, sometimes doing a hunt when we found no job to keep us busy. Today we've split up into three groups, each doing a different kind of job. I split up because I decided the jobs that were offered weren't challenging enough for all seven of us together. As you probably noticed, me and Chirox are busy hunting a Sandworm. Another band of criminals is being hunted by Spiriah and Mutran on the Giza Plains, while Antroz, Teridax and Gorast were escorting a cargo of goods for a salesman in Rabanastre, from Nalbina to Dalmasca. Easy work, good payment.

As for me, I was doing pretty fine. I've been experimenting with the gigantic amount of powers I have – by now I had discovered I had more than 50 powers or so, as did the others – and tried to see which power I liked best. So far, I enjoyed Gravity-control. And density-control. It's fun letting your atoms drift apart, then together again. Or to let an enemy's atoms drift so apart until he dies. But in fact I liked all my powers, so I've been developing them all. The others all focussed on one power, but I'm not really into that idea. Diversity is the spice of battle and destruction, after all.

Just then, Chirox came back, looking somewhat excited.

"Found it?" I inquired.

"Perhaps. I noticed some huge holes in the sand not too far away. That could have been made by what we're looking for." My younger band-member informed me.

"Perhaps indeed. Let's check it out."

Well, to say those holes were large was an understatement. They had to be made by the sandworm. Hopefully it was still in a hole under the ground there.

"Let's see if he's home." I said. I looked at Chirox. "You want to do the honours?"

"Sure!" He smiled. "I'll ring the bell."

Calling upon his cyclone powers, Chirox swept all the sand away, so that a pit of a few metres deep was made. At the bottom, there was a layer of rock with holes in it. It made me realize how much sand Dalmasca had. I glanced at my younger 'brother' again.

"Nobody's answering. Perhaps I should knock instead of ringing the bell." I pointed my Twin-Bladed Black Fire Sword at the largest hole and charged up my shattering powers. Then I fired off a destructive energy blast from the tip of my sword. It flew in the hole and then exploded, sending huge chunks of rock flying everywhere.

When the dust settled, we both could hear rumbling in the depths of the ground. Something slithered upwards towards the surface. I smiled at Chirox.

"Looks like he's home after all."

The sandworm burst out of his hole, roaring. It was an ugly monstrosity, easily ten times my size. Stinking sliver dripped out of its gigantic, round maw. It was a wriggling, slimy mass of fat flesh and it was disgusting.

"I think I'm gonna admit you were right Chirox." I snorted. "Being with Mutran and Spiriah would have been so much better than this thing."

The worm noticed us and attacked, lunging at Chirox. The young lad chuckled and soared into the air, out of the sandworms reach. Then he used his specialty: lightning. His wristblades crackled with energy as he unleashed powerful bolts of bright blue lightning. Having not seen him use his specialty before, I was awed at the sheer size of his lightning bolts and their power. The lightning bolts rained down upon the worm, damaging it, but not killing it. It's slimy, thick skin protected it somewhat against Chirox' assault. Now it was my turn.

I raised my blade, pointing it at the sandworm. Then I slowly lowered it and as I did so, increased its personal gravity. Despite all its efforts, the sandworm could not win against one of nature's most powerful forces and it was pressed down in the sand.

"Chirox, fry it!" I commanded. My airborne ally nodded and unleashed his lightning again. Soon a blast of my shattering power joined his lightning. The sandworm could not stand against our combined powers and exploded into a million of slimy, stinking and disgusting pieces.

"Yuck." I made a face like I was about to vomit. I quickly used a cyclone to cover up the stinking remains with sand. Then I shouldered my sword again and watched Chirox land next to me and shapeshift his wings away.

"Now, that's that." I said, relieved. "The desert should be a bit safer again. Let's go collect our pay."

--

As we walked back to Rabanastre, we didn't really say much. Chirox was humming a tune I didn't recognize, looking quite happy. Yet a question was burning on my tongue. Perhaps now was the time to ask, since he appeared to be in a good mood.

"Chirox…" I began slowly. He looked at me.

"Yes?"

"A while ago… Mutran told me about how he came to join the Band of Seven… Told me about Vican…" Chirox' smile dropped, his expression changing to serious. "Did you know of Vican?"

Chirox nodded. "I did. Mutran and I are close friends. He told me, not that long after I had joined the Band."

Pressing on, I asked: "And what made you join, Chirox?"

Chirox sighed and shook his head. "Truly, brother Icarax, that is something I would rather not talk about."

I nodded silently and didn't ask anything else. But still, I was thinking… Why did it seem like all my fellow Band-members were carrying a rather painful past with them? And more importantly, why would they not tell me about it? They claimed to be my friends, they claimed to want me as their leader, yet whenever I want to learn more about them, they avoid the subject. I wonder… Why? I was determined to find out, even though it would take effort, obviously.

--

Next chapter: more stuff will happen.

Woah, where have I been?! I don't know. I didn't really feel like writing for a while. Ugh, I'm almost becoming like Kel, barely ever finishing a story. Still, the new King of the Dead chapter somehow inspired me to write a new chapter for this story. Dunno why. Oh well, perhaps I'll update again soon, who knows? I've been having ideas for a different story as well, but I shouldn't become like Kel, starting tons of new fics that barely ever get done. Sorry Kel, but that's the one thing about you that manages to annoy me! XD