Chapter 9: Doubts at the Sunleth Waterscape
"Oh great," Chance sighs at the feel of the wet surface on the pads of his feet. "Never would have thought that we were gonna cross a swamp. I'm getting really sick of swamps."
"Sounds like you had your share of bad swamps." Sazh said. "And this isn't a swamp. It's more of a marsh." Sazh pats the tabby on his back. "Don't tell me you're afraid of an inch of water?"
"Leave him alone Sazh." Vanille chimed in and had a finger pointed at Sazh. "He was more help to us so I wouldn't go around making fun of him, pops." Chance laughed at the look on Sazh's face when he was called 'pops'.
"Hey, hey…" Sazh raised his hands defensively.
"Besides, we have to keep going unless we get discovered by PSICOM." Vanille turns to face the beauty of the waterscape. "Let's keep going, this place seems like a perfect place to explore." She then rushes to a patch of wild flowers and inhales the air.
Sazh and Chance stare at Vanille. "Boy, that girl has a lot of energy." Sazh rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know how a kid her age has so much enthusiasm."
"Vanille is a free spirit, I can tell you that much." Chance began to walk to the girl motioning them to move. 'Even so, her face tells me another story. Something is bothering her.' He thought.
"Come on!" Vanille hollers, "I think I see a road we can walk on further ahead!" She notices the two males run towards her and smiles. Then she looks confused by their worried expression. A gurgling sound could be heard from behind her.
"Get down!" Sazh ordered. She obeyed and Sazh fired bullets infused with fire. The flan like creature screeches in pain. Vanille quickly moves towards Chance and pulls out her Binding Rod.
"You okay?" Chance asked. She nodded and took her stance. "Alright, let's take care of this slime ball." Chance rallied. 'If only I had my glovatrix, I would have used a mini-match head missile, which would dispose of it quickly.'
The flan yells again. The ground around them began to sprout more of the flans from the patches of wild flowers. "More Flandragoras!" The group was surrounded. "This is not our lucky day." Sazh said worried.
"Looks like slime ball here called for back-up." Chance sheeted his claws. "Look out, here they come!"
One Flandragora makes for Vanille but she stops it with a successful chain of fire and aero spells. Then the rest made for the group. Chance quickly dodges a wild punch and lands a fiery punch of his own, earning an awarding screech from the flan monster. Chance gasped when he was grabbed by the very Flandragora he hit. The tabby struggled to get himself free. Then the flan opens its mouth to eat the trapped tabby.
Fire bullets hit the Flandragora's arms and released Chance. "Thanks Sazh, I owe ya one." There were three flans left. Vanille and Sazh took care of one but these monsters won't take so much damage.
"Deshell!" Vanille yelled. They were all hit by the debuff spell. "It's now our chance to strike with magic; Sazh, focus on using fire and Chance with firestrike." The two males nodded. Vanille did the same as Sazh. Soon they dispatched another flan.
"Alright!" Chance chanted. The remaining Flandragoras hiss in fear. "It seems they realized who they're messing with. Now let's…" The three gasp when one of the flans consumes its partner. "What the…?"
The three stare at the flan grow into an even bigger Flandragora. Its screech was more head splitting. The screech paralyzed the chosen l'Cies in place. It then swung its huge flexible arms and sent Sazh and Chance flying back hitting the wet surface on their back.
"Vanille!" Sazh yelled for her to move. She just slouched there, still affected by the daze. The giant flan raised its arms again to smash Vanille. The flans attack was blocked by Chance's steelguard.
"Pull yourself together Vanille!" Chance ordered. Vanille heard the tabby's voice. She shook her head and regained her stance. Sazh came back to help stop the giant Flandragora.
The Flandragora swung its arms wildly in the air. Vanille began to cast spell after spell of Deshells while Sazh gets a good chain of fire spells. Chance did his best to stay alive while taking most of the damage from the flans wild swings.
Chance falls to his knees and is breathing faster. 'I can't take another hit.' He thought. He sees a green light from Vanille's position. Soft white lights land on Chance and he regains his strength. "Thanks," Chance smiled dumbly at Vanille. "I should have said something."
"Don't mention it." Vanille said still focused on the Flandragora. She then surrounds herself in blue light and starts to cast fire spells. Chance joins her by landing in some firestrikes of his own. The Flandragora screams in pain. The deshells Vanille casted made the monster weaker to the l'Cie's magical power. With one last barrage of fire spells, the giant flan melts away and its ooze fall of the side of the path.
All three l'Cie relax. Sazh and Vanille put their weapons back in their place. "If only it was that easier back in Megakat City when Viper attacks us like that." Chance said. He turns and was given a strange look on both his friends' faces.
"Viper? Who's that?" Vanille asked.
"A mad scientist who want to turn the city Jake and I protect into a swamp." Chance said bluntly.
"That explains why you hate swamps." Sazh chimed in. "Don't worry; dry land is just beyond this area. I know of a place where the three of us can have fun after getting out of here." Chance gave Sazh a questioning look.
The party then continues forward through the waterscape. Vanille led them to a cliff that was filled with shelled monsters. Vanille told the others that they are too powerful, so they avoided them. They were spotted by the Scalebeasts, but the monsters were too sluggish to really catch them.
"Let's rest here." Sazh said as he lay down on the flat grassy rock near a small pond. Vanille walks to the other flat grassy rock next to Sazh's. She quickly closes her eyes and sleeps.
Chance sat near the rock Vanille was lying on. He took in the sight of the area, the feel of the wind and water vapor and the sound of crashing water from the small pond's water fall. All these sounds soothed and lulled him to sleep.
Jake and the others were panting heavily in the mountains. They were running away from PSICOM soldiers. Hope trips and was captured. Lighting and Jake fight to help Hope get free, but their efforts were meaningless. All three l'Cie were now captured. A PSICOM soldier placed a gun to Hope's head. BANG! Lighting tried to resist the soldiers hold on her. She gasps when the steel tip touched her forehead. BANG! Jake didn't do anything. He knew this was the end. The cinnamon tom gave Hope and Lighting one last look. Then he mouthed something. BANG!
Chance woke up instantly. His shaking and breathing was his indication of a terrible dream. The tabby placed his paws on the crown of his forehead. 'Don't give me that. Don't tell me you're sorry.' He slowly breathed and tried to calm himself down. He looked up and noticed Sazh and Vanille were gone.
There was a voice coming from down the cliff. Chance got up to see if it was Sazh. Sure enough, it was.
"…but the bird says no." Sazh puts his pistol away. He walks back and sees Chance is awake. Vanille stood there as Sazh passed by her.
"Everything alright?" Chance asked. The tabby was given a lazy nod from Sazh. Chance turns and sees Vanille was walking back towards them.
"Let's keep going." Vanille said. Her tone made Chance worry about her. It wasn't its usual cheerful tone. This tone sounded more of remorse.
The three l'Cie found themselves marveled by what the bubble in the path does. Vanille touched the bubble and it bursts. The sky turned gray and it began to pour rain. The bubble came back, but it was a different bubble. The new bubble was red.
"This bubble seems to control the weather of this area." Chance hypothesized. "And not just the weather."
"Yeah," Sazh looked up ahead in the path, "it also affects what kind of nasty monsters appear in dry and rainy weather."
"Look over there." Vanille points to another red bubble up ahead. "Maybe we should use them to change the kind of monsters we can easily fight to make it out of here easier."
"Now that's a plan." Sazh agreed. "An army of hedge frogs is a real threat. So if we change the weather to dry, we can clear the path for a different kind of monster. Then again…"
"We'll have to fight the new monsters to get past them." Chance finished Sazh's sentence. "Sounds like a plan that will work. Besides, the faster we get out of here the better."
The l'Cie made good work controlling the weather and monsters. Sazh was right about the hedge frogs. An army of those things can be real trouble. Not as much trouble as a pack of gremlins and flandragoras. Soon they were past all of the monsters and weather control bubbles.
The three l'Cie were all chatting when they heard snoring. They got quiet. In their path were two large monsters. "What do you think we do?" Vanille asked.
"We sneak by them of course." Sazh answered in a low voice. He didn't want to wake them up. The l'Cie quietly walk to the path leading up the cliff. Chance's ears perk back when one of them woke up.
"So much for sneaking around." Chance said sarcastically. Then the other monster woke up when the first one roared. "We don't have a choice, we have to fight!"
Chance started to get the monsters attentions. He wanted to distract them while Vanille weakened them with deshell and deprotect spells and Sazh strengthening his partners with faith and bravery.
The tabby groans when the blue monster tackles and pushes him back. "Bet you can't do that again." Chance seethed his claws and jumped on the blue monsters back. Then the green monster blasts Chance with a thunder spell.
"Chance!" Sazh and Vanille screamed. The tabby still held on to the blue monsters back. Then Vanille noticed that the blue monster didn't like to be shocked either.
"Don't let go Chance!" Vanille said. "I'll heal you; just don't let those things knock you off!"
"What are you up to?" Sazh questioned the young girl.
"The blue monster didn't like the shock from the green monsters attack, so we should let the green monster hurt its partner for us."
"But Chance is gonna," Sazh pieced the plan together, "Provoke the green monster Chance! I'll back you up by hitting the blue monster with sparkstrick."
"No sweat." Chance managed to say after getting shocked again by the green monsters thundara spell. The blue monster roared in pain and tackled the green monster. 'Now I see what Vanille is planning.' The tabby struggled to grip on to the blue monster's back from the collision.
Vanille's plan was working perfectly. The blue monster tackled the green monster again and Chance fell over on the green monsters back. Vanille and Sazh gasp when the plan changed. Chance quickly recovered and jumped out of the way before blue monsters next tackle. It sent the green monster to its back and it stopped moving.
"One down," Chance said, "And one weakened monster to go."
The blue monster then surrounds itself in water. The water then turns to light. "It increased its defense and strength." Vanille gasped out. She groans in frustration. "This is getting really difficult."
"So much for weakened." Sazh said sarcastically. Sazh smirks when the tabby gave him a quick glare.
"Alright, this is the new plan." Chance said as the blue monster slowly got closer. "We shock the crap out of it. All or nothing."
Vanille once again shrouds herself in blue light and begins to cast thunder spells. Sazh and Chance focused on using sparkstrick attacks. The blue monster struggled from the attacks. Then it quickly panics and sends a powerful quake attack. The three l'Cie lost their balance and were hurt by the earth energy coursing from the ground up.
Chance got up to his knees. A big shadow hovered around him. He looked up and saw that the monster was about to trample him. Just then Sazh fired his bullets at the monsters face. Each shot pushed the monster back a bit. Chance used the rest of his strength to jump and send a spark infused punch to the monster's face. The punch sends the monster crashing hard to the ground and it too stopped moving.
Vanille quickly heals Chance with her cure spell. Even though Chance feels better, he can still feel the fatigue from the battle. "Let's not ever do a plan like that again." Chance breathed out. Sazh and Vanille both give him a light laugh.
"Come on big guy." Sazh helped the tabby to his feet. "Just a little further and we'll be at the docks."
The l'Cie then walk up the cliff they tried to sneak to. After a long day of traveling in the waterscape, they were all relived to see the docks. "Where are we heading?" Vanille asked.
"It's a surprise." Sazh replied too quickly.
Vanille pouts as she goes through the hole in the electric fence. When they reached the docks, it started to rain. Sazh and Chance sat on a bench. Vanille looked around with full curiosity.
"To tell you the truth, I wanted to take Dahj to the place we're heading after the fireworks from Bodhum. But then the purge started and he was taken." Chance saw Vanille's expression change to a poignant look. "If it weren't for those Pulse l'Cies, Dahj wouldn't have been made into a Cocoon l'Cie."
Vanille runs into the rain. "You're gonna catch something if you stay there too long." Chance said softly. Vanille just looked back at the tabby and gave him a soft smile. She then turns to look in the sky to hide her tears.