Wow, I haven't updated for a long time, I guess right now is the right time to do so. It's been hard writing here since I get the case of writer's block and inspiration constipation (yeah, that's what I call it.) My inspiration is kinda somewhere else, and I'm kinda tempted to temporarily put this story on hiatus so I could use that inspiration. Still undecided on that though.

Oh yeah, thank you for the newest reviews I got, two of them actually, Cherie R. Lynn and Potato1. Onto the story!

Anyway, here comes the next chapter! We're in for a big fight!

Disclaimer: I do not own the game Final Fantasy IX, Squeenix does. I, however, own my OCs.

Chapter 10 – Doing Bad in Evil Forest

*-Eliot Fletcher – Chapter start-*

"AAAAAAAH!"

It looks like we found our damsels in distress.

"Come on!" Zidane yelled before running off. We rounded the corner and past the clearing, lo and behold, we had arrived. Apparently, we were too late (not that I didn't complain since it is the story). Princess Garnet was inside the prison-like bars of the vegetable experiment gone wrong. Steiner was holding his weapon firmly, ready to attack while Vivi was frozen in fear on the ground, barely even moving, if you count the shaking. "Sh-she's in trouble..." I heard the black mage stutter. We ran to the knight's side, he looked like he was already prepared to slice open the vines that held the princess captive.

"Release the princess at once!" Steiner demanded. The plant shook menacingly, lifting its tentacles in the air. Zidane took that as his cue, taking out his daggers from his sides. I imagined the screen of my television being sucked into black and Battle 1 began to play, starting my very first battle in this universe. But I didn't have the luxury of having both. I didn't have a moment to get ready when the plant lashed out. My teammates dodged its tentacles by a single jump to the side. I, on the other hand, was staring at the incoming limb stupidly. Then it hit me...

"Oh, shit..."

...literally.

One of the tentacles made contact and I was on the ground a few feet away. "Eliot!"

I pulled myself back onto my feet and held the part of my mid section that was hit. Wow, I expected that to not hurt. I saw Joshua, who was checking me if I was okay. I waved at Joshua dismissively. "I'm fine," I said. He nodded and turned, just in time to duck an incoming tentacle. I grabbed my sword that was sprawled at the ground. I managed to get a glimpse of Vivi, who was still not moving from his spot. I turned to the others, who were now trying to kill the monster without including Garnet. But there was something wrong. In this battle, Zidane should have gone into Trance. And there he was, fighting the Prison Cage without the colourful transformation and the pink fur. Without Trance, we wouldn't beat the plant easily.

Zidane, ever the nimble thief, jumped and twisted over the incoming tentacle, with Joshua following him, surprisingly. The two were trying to close in the Prison Cage, but were denied with every opportunity when another tentacle whipped back, sending them back. Steiner was being slowed by other tentacle, defending himself from its strikes. Okay, I need to find an opening. I could charge from behind while it's busy with the three of them. But knowing this kind of situation from many TV shows and animes, it only worked in your head. No, this needed a bit of planning. I got that opportune moment when Zidane was sent to my feet and Steiner was hit by the plant, making him kneel in pain.

"Look out!" Garnet yelled from her prison. Joshua, who heard the loud noise of tentacle colliding with metal, looked back. The Prison Cage wrapped its tentacles around the distracted Joshua and the knight. Good timing!

I took a step back and then charged. Zidane, who was just recovering from an attack, saw me run. Then I jumped over Steiner, parkour style, and readied my sword for a strike. The Prison Cage saw me rushing for it and tried to attack, but Joshua drove his short blade into the tentacle, making it screech in pain and releasing him. It didn't waste time trying to recover. It quickly whipped its injured tentacle at me. I rolled under it just in time to avoid the appendage. I pushed off the ground and used the momentum to go faster. A blur landed beside me perfectly, it was Zidane, with daggers ready. At the corner of my eye, I saw the other tentacle coming, with Steiner in its grip. I tried to go faster since I didn't want to get hit by a big man in metal. Then Joshua came rushing with weapon in hand from behind it, attacking the plant with a quick slash. The plant tried to whack him deep in the ground, but he ran, towards us with the tentacle in tow!

Whoa! Other way! Go the other way!

I wanted to turn back, but if I did, the effort would be wasted. So I went on and ran as fast as I can, with Zidane in tow. Joshua nodded at us, smirking. Whatever he had planned, I hoped it was going to work. Then when he was a few feet in front of us, he went under our legs with a slide that would make any baseball coach proud if it won the World Series. But then the tentacle followed. Zidane jumped from behind and brought his daggers down, cutting off the tentacle before it made contact.

"Thanks!" I said as I went on. The Prison Cage was preoccupied with the others, leaving it open for an attack. I held my sword back and jumped towards the plant. It screeched at me, as if it was yelling at me to not do it. I thrust my sword at the monster, eviscerating it. Its tentacles went limp, as well as the rest of its body, save for the bars that kept Garnet on the plant. I pulled out my sword and let it rest on my shoulder, the metal coated with some strange vegetable oil not fit to be eaten with food anytime soon. "Gardening was not my specialty," I said coolly at the dead plant.

Beat...

"Uh, what?" Garnet asked from inside her cage.

Facepalm. "Nothing, it's nothing," I said. "Step back, I'm gonna cut it open."

I reared back, intending to swing at the bars. "Eliot! Watch out!" Joshua yelled out.

What?

I looked at the monster, which jumped back to life and smacked me right in the face with its injured tentacle, reintroducing me to the earth. Hello, ground. I missed you. How's the missus?

"Damn, that hurt," I muttered.

"Uh, guys," Joshua said, getting our attention. "That thing's still alive."

"Yeah, I noticed," I deadpanned, pointing to the red spot on my face left from the monster's 'love tap'.

"That's not all," he pointed out. He was right about that one. The plant was shivering, like it was cold. Well, I would be cold if a breeze came by and I had a hole in my abdomen. Cold as a corpse, that is.

Then it raised its only tentacle at the cage, grabbing Garnet's arm. Oh no.

A pink light swallowed the area. Along with the light came a goosebumps inducing scream. It lit up the area, making me cover my eyes. Once it was over, the light slowly died. In the middle of it was the Prison Cage, good as new as if it was just uprooted from the backyard. Oh man, now we had to fight it again. And I just delivered a sweet one-liner! Now that's considered null and void...

"No!" Zidane yelled from behind. A bright light lit as I turned around and saw Zidane change as well. He was now in his Trance form. Pink fur covered his entire body, and the rest was glowing with a low pink glow. The light died down a moment later, with Zidane bewildered.

Trance. Why do you have to Trance now? Why not minutes earlier? "Wh-What is that light?" asked the knight, looking at him with surprise and awe.

"I don't know," he replied. "Somehow, it raises my power."

This could not go any slower. "That light is Trance," I told them.

"Could it really be Trance...! I've heard of it before!" he realized. "Trance is induced by a-"

"Yes, yes, a surge of emotion." I added hastily. "I don't know about you but we can't talk forever with this thing keeping her in there." For that interruption I earned a glare from the knight, but I didn't care. If he wanted to save the Princess, he shouldn't go and open his blowhole while we have a monster in front of us, who I might add, had just healed itself using Garnet's own life.

"Alright, let's take him!" declared Zidane. The monster didn't like that and attacked. The thief, who was now a literal ball of energy, charged forward. The monstrous plant saw the color pink and immediately thought of it as a red cape as it was to a bull, focusing its attacks on him. He was a blur. He wove his way to the monster and slashed at it a couple of times. It couldn't get its tentacles on him, always on the move, doing a hit and run style on it. But when it did caught Zidane, it was our turn to go in. Steiner attempted to stab the monster with his sword. Joshua and I followed him and kept the other tentacle away from the big man. A slash later, it was again left with only one limb.

"Zidane!" I called the thief. "Use that Trance to kill it!"

"On it!" he said. "Just keep it busy until I could get one ready!"

"Oh my god! Really?" I whined. Joshua's response was more positive than mine. "Okay!" Great, in the game, he could do that in a snap but here when I can experience it he has to wait a moment? That's just total bull-

"Get down!" Steiner yelled. Joshua pulled me down to meet the ground for the third time in this fight. Seriously, I didn't need to be reacquainted with it anymore than it did.

We stood up and saw the knight did his best to keep the creature busy –with Garnet cheering him on – as Zidane was back in the sidelines trying to use a Dyne attack. I took this time to formulate a short plan. "Okay Joshua, here's the plan. While Zidane is trying to figure out his Trance attacks, the three of us – what the hell?" When I looked back to my side, he was not there. If this was an anime, I should be seeing his outline blinking on the empty space. I groaned. "Yeah, good plan. Ready... break. Like diversions needed any plans, just run around all willy-nilly and –ack!" I ranted when I felt something collide with me. "Oh how nice of you to join me again, Joshua. Should we talk about that diversion, now?"

"No time, just go in guns blazing!" he declared as he went back in the fight. "There are no guns in this place, you know!" I told him. Ah, to have guns. It would be a miracle to get one in this world. Since the closest to a gun they have is a massive cannon that shoots harpoons instead of bullets. I'd like to have a handheld one. Again, I digress.

I joined the two as much as I could. It could hold its own against the three of us. But we were stuck between trying to save her and killing the damn plant. If we damaged it more, it would have absorbed more life out of her. It already did it three times and we didn't know how long she would last. I wasn't sure if we could beat it back for more. "Zidane! Now would be a good time!"

"I got it!" the thief shouted. We felt a strong explosion of energy in front of us, blowing all of us off our feet, even the monster fell. That must have been Free Energy. But the attack didn't even touch it. "Be careful of that!" Steiner said.

"Not us, the monster!" I told him.

"I'm trying!" Zidane said. He focused once again and delivered another Free Energy at the plant. It managed to hit it dead on. It screamed in agony and tried to retaliate. But the captain had used this to get up close and personal with it and finish it off. Zidane used another attack at it for the final blow, blowing it off its roots again, this time, it didn't rise. They cautiously approached it, weapons and Trance powers ready for a sudden attack just like last time. I, on the other hand learned my lesson and stayed back. Steiner saw me and spoke up. "Quick, free the Princess!"

"Oh no, I'm not taking one step towards that thing," I said. "Last time I did that, I nearly got my head knocked off my shoulders. You do it!"

Steiner grumbled and took a step forward. "Don't worry Princess! I will have you out of there."

"Hurry..." she gasped. "I can't..." But before she could say anything else, the Prison Cage rose and reached above, climbed away and disappeared into the forest.

Steiner ran to the spot where it ran from. "Princess? PRINCESS!"

Zidane's Trance faded as the light on his body died down. He and Joshua joined the knight in the clearing. "What the heck? Where did they go?"

"She's gone," Vivi said. He was still trembling a bit, but he could stand. "I was too scared to cast spells... That monster's probably gonna eat her..."

Ooh, not the best thing to say when there is an overprotective knight around the area.

Instead of arguing his statement, Steiner's eyes went to his feet. "How could I let this happen!"

"Don't worry. She's not dead yet," said Zidane, trying to salvage the moral of the two. "That monster was probably a minion. He's probably going to take her to his master."

"Who knows, maybe she'll just be kept alive when we get there," I said, almost sounding optimistic.

The knight caught on. "That means the princess might be–"

"Or she'll be dead before we arrive." Almost being the magic word. He glared at me and shook his fist. "Shut up, you!" he said.

"Besides, we're outmatched and exhausted. We're gonna need supplies if we want to get her back." I told them. I saw Joshua stepping closer to the clearing, but I pulled him back. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Confused, he asked. "Why not?" I began counting down. Three. Two. One...

Vivi screamed as another Prison Cage came down on him and captured him. I gestured at the poor captured boy. "That's why..."

"You knew there were more? Why didn't you say so?" Joshua scolded me.

Zidane called out in concern. Steiner gasped at the sudden attack of the plant and raised his sword. Joshua did the same while I looked at it with indifference. "Another one? So much trouble..." I said tiredly that I wanted to drop my sword and take a dirt nap.

Vivi futilely tried to escape the bars. "Let me go!" Despite his effort, it didn't budge. He looked terrified inside that monster's prison. "Help me!" he yelled, holding out a hand from inside the cage, desperate for anyone to grab his and save him. His whole body trembled in fear. It was just like earlier when Garnet was captured, he was literally unable to do anything.

"Don't worry!" Joshua tried to calm him down. "We'll save you!" He charged the new monster with his ninjatō held up for a strike. It whipped one tentacle at him. Joshua saw it coming and jumped over it. What he didn't see coming was the other tentacle slamming into him and sending him onto some bushes.

I saw Zidane and Steiner run forward side by side. The monster turned in time to see them advance. It smacked Zidane onto the ground and the knight was being slapped around like it was rejecting a date that was too persistent. Zidane saw me standing like a fool and shouted. "Hey, don't just stand there, do something!"

"Alright, fine," I replied. "I'm telling you, this is not a good idea." Time to get my ass kicked. I attacked the plant by my usual attack pattern, swing like a madman and hope for a critical hit, complete with the text appearing in big letters. I didn't even get close enough when it managed to grab my wrists, stopping the would-be assault. "Uh-oh..." The Prison Cage lifted me off my feet and threw me up the sky. Along the way, I was screaming my head off. Usually, I would say that I was having the time of my life. All I could say, it was not fun.

A tentacle grabbed my foot in midair and slammed me onto the ground like I was a sack of potatoes. I heard a loud crack come from my chest. Pain shot through my body so suddenly that I was about to yell. But the Cage wasn't done yet. It lifted me off again and slammed me right back. My head hit the ground with an ear ringing thud that made me dazed as it repeated it again and again for how many times I could count in my state. There were sounds that I couldn't distinguish. It may be from my body or someone yelling their lungs out. Then warmth was suddenly blasted around. It stopped. Whatever it was, it made it stop. Soon, I was finally dropped and gravity did its job discreetly, and for all I knew, my dazed vision was cut to black.

*- Chapter End -*

Wow, that fight scene was a lot shorter than I imagined. Oh well, at least it's not overly long than what I actually written before. It took me almost two rewrites to finish this. Reviews please!

Wyxlan signing out!