The First Grimoire: Final Fantasy Tactics A2
Chapter 9: "Cat Thief"
Adventurer's Rest. An aptly named field that occupies most of the northern region of Camoa. The field is well known for being a calming, peaceful place that any weary traveler can feel safe enough to simply lie down in the grass and lazily snooze the day away. Sadly, that statement no longer holds true for this beautiful field.
"AAAGH!" One visibly frightened Hume soldier tore out of the field screaming. His blue hued clothing was stained with a bright, vibrant crimson color. "This is impossible! Forget this hunt, I prefer my life!"
He took out the hunt request from his pack and crumpled it up hastily. Tossing the wad of paper away, he ran away from the field and back to Camoa. Once the man was away and out of sight, a girl came out from her hiding spot behind a tree. She brushed back her silver hair and picked up the ball of paper. Smoothing it out, she took a cursory glance at it and smiled.
"How disappointing." She commented, "And here, I thought that one was strong enough to take out at least one of them. In the end, he ended up being a coward. I would've thought the reward of twenty gil per stalk was enough to drive any man to do anything. Then again, I would've taken it all anyway!"
Laughing to herself, she looked back at the field in front of her. True to her word, the field was essentially swarming with large, red vegetables. In her eyes, the vegetables might as well have been large sacks of gil. Licking her lips, the silver–haired girl placed her hand on her weapon, a small, curved knife called the khukri. Right when she was about to draw it, a couple of voices nearby drew her attention and she ducked back behind the tree.
Peering out from behind her cover, the cat–like girl could see three people walking down the road towards the field, a Hume, a Revgaji, and a Viera. She smiled when she saw the Hume boy.
What a coincidence! She thought, fingering the small pouch of gil hanging from her belt, It's my benefactor! I should go and give him my thanks.
Laughing silently to herself, the girl began to discreetly follow the group.
"I wonder why that guy was running away?" Luso turned around and gazed back at the road towards Camoa. Cid scratched his head and took out the hunt request he obtained from the pub.
"Well," He flicked the paper with his finger, "The hunt involves taking care of a supposedly massive tomato infestation. This must be the reason, aye."
Luso put his hands behind his head and smirked, "It's just vegetables, right? What's there to be afraid of?"
"These aren't just garden variety tomatoes here, Luso." Cid shook his head, a serious expression on his face, "It was a lucky sign that you ran into us while we were heading here. What were you thinking? Taking on a hunt like this without any help?"
"It's just tomatoes!" Luso argued back. He didn't want to admit that he had his gil pilfered and had to take on this hunt to make it back. "Besides, I used eat tomatoes all the time back home!"
"Like I said..." Sighing, the Revgaji scratched the back of his head in exasperation, "We're not talking about your everyday garden variety tomatoes here, Luso."
Luso shrugged and turned around to face Melanee, who was now carrying a small bottle containing several small, spiky green fruit. To Luso, they looked particularly unappetizing, even if it was supposedly a fruit.
"Is that the thing you need for that Ocktor guy's medicine?" Luso asked, staring warily at the small black spikes covering the fruit, "It doesn't look very delicious."
Melanee lifted the small bottle and inspected the contents, "It's not supposed to look appetizing. And, as a matter of fact," She said, smiling at the boy, "It's inedible. The juices inside the cactus fruit can be used make a powerful curative when it is properly extracted. But if you just eat it in the wild, the juices will become a powerful poison instead."
"Ack...I guess this is something that even Lynd wouldn't want to eat, huh?" Luso joked.
"You never know. I do wonder about that Bangaa's stomach at times." Cid replied with a serious tone in his voice.
"Does Lynd really have that big of an appetite?" Melanee wondered, "He seems like he would enjoy eating anything, like that Dreamhare...or even that Wolf."
"Aye, that he does." The Revgaji said ominously, "I once found him attempting to devour a Malboro, of all things."
Melanee involuntarily shuddered and covered her face with her hood. She appeared to be trying to cope with some sort of trauma.
"What's a Malboro?" Luso asked curiously, oblivious to Melanee's grief. Shaking his head, Cid simply patted Luso on the shoulder and pointed at the shivering Viera.
"Sometimes..." The Revgaji said, "It's best to put a stopper on your curiosity, for other's sake."
Cid walked ahead of the two and stopped. A large wooden sign was erected in the middle of the road, with a large warning scrawled on the wood with white paint. Detailing the dangers that lie ahead.
"Aye, this must be it." He said, reading the sign, "'Adventurer's Rest, careful of tomato attacks.'"
"Tomato...attacks?" Luso repeated skeptically, "It sounds a little ridiculous when you read it like that."
"Aye, but it won't be ridiculous once we begin the hunt." To emphasize his statement, the Revgaji drew his sword and strode past the sign. Following his actions, Luso drew his new broadsword. Melanee placed her bottle of fruit inside her rucksack and took out her staff. Raising his sword, Cid pointed the blade out in front of them.
"And that, Luso, is a tomato."
Instantly, the boy recoiled at the sight. The 'tomato' was not the juicy red vegetable he had imagined it to be. Instead, the 'tomato' was a small, disturbing little creature with a head much like the juicy red vegetable he enjoyed so much. The head of the tomato was what made Luso step back in disgust. A wide row of oversized, uneven fangs extended from out of the face of the tomato's head, giving the already–strange creature a vicious appearance.
"Agh...you weren't kidding when you said they weren't 'garden variety'..." Luso shook his head, trying to expel the disgust inside him, "I don't think I'll ever be able to eat a tomato again after this..."
"One of the many hazards of taking on a hunt such as this, Luso." Cid said, patting him comfortingly on his shoulder. "You'll have to settle for other things to eat. We're only here for the stalks, now keep quiet. We don't want to attract any unwelcome attention."
Luso shook his head again and looked around. There were nearly hundreds of these mutated produce populating the field. All gnashing and snarling with their horrendous fangs, some were even trying to fight each other, splattering red tomato juice all over the ground. However, one certain thing stood out in this pandemonium.
"Hey, Cid?" The boy asked curiously, "What's that blue thing over there with the funny looking head?"
The Revgaji looked at where Luso was pointing. There was a small, similar creature standing on a rock, towering above the rest. It appeared to be surveying the mayhem below, as if it was a leader of the pack. Unlike the rest of the flock, the single one standing above had a blue, spherical head. Contrasting with the red, lumpy heads of the tomatoes. Notably, a large, silvery spike protruded out of the top of this creature's cranium.
"Why, that's an alraune!" Cid yelled surprisingly loudly. He sounded uncharacteristically ecstatic. He even raised his hands up into the air, as if praising some sort of deity. "Hrrah! Our luck is strong today!"
"Why's that?" Melanee asked timidly. She was slightly cowed by the Revgaji's sudden change in demeanor.
"That drill fitting the top of that alraune's head fetches a pretty price in the market!" He explained, pointing at the shiny spike on the creature's head, "This is definitely good news for us, unbelievably good news!"
"Then we just have to chop it off, right?" Luso swung his sword and cleaved a few blades of grass in half. Cid nodded and was just about to run through the tomato horde and towards the alraune when a new voice had drew their attentions.
"Why, hello there!" Suddenly, a silver–haired girl walked out from behind the group. She turned around and faced them, smiling sweetly. "You all weren't planning on killing all of these poor tomatoes, were you?"
"Hey! You're–" Luso's eyes widened in recognition as he raised his hand to point at her.
"Who are you?" Cid interrupted impatiently. "Don't even think of poaching our kill, girl. We were here first!"
"Me? Poach?" She looked affronted. The girl leaned forward and placed a hand on her heart, "Never! I just want to lend you three a hand...for which I expect a reasonable cut of the rewards, of course."
Her smiling expression was suddenly replaced with a forlorn expression. She fidgeted slightly with her clothes and scuffed the ground with her boots, "Money's tight these days...why, I was just wondering where tonight's supper was going to come from."
She looked up at the Revgaji with wide, imploring eyes, "Is there anything more piteous than a growing girl such as I being driven to the brink of starvation?"
"Think of it as a, I don't know, a good deed?" She took her hands and grasped Cid's arm. "Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with sugar?"
Cid roughly pulled his arm away from the begging girl and motioned for Luso and Melanee to huddle. They turned around and faced the Revgaji.
"Right..." He grumbled, "What do we do about her?"
"She seems like a good girl." Melanee reasoned, "It can't hurt to have a little help."
"We have more than enough tomatoes here to share, it should be fine." Luso added, "Besides, I know her. She helped me out earlier back in Camoa."
"Oh? What is it that you know about her then?"
"Well...I guess I don't really know much." Recalling his experience back at the lowtown, all Luso could remember was that girl giving him directions to the smithy. But Luso wasn't someone to distrust another without a reason, "But I think she's trustworthy."
"Hm..." Cid contemplated the situation for a moment, "All right. I'll trust your judgment then, Luso. But keep your eye on her in case she tries anything suspicious. I don't buy that piteous act."
Melanee raised her head and glanced at the alraune standing on the rock, "If we do manage to catch that alraune, couldn't we split the earnings and give her a small donation? She sounds like she's going through a rough patch."
Although he appeared to still have some objections to using the gil he could get from the alraune, Cid grudgingly nodded and broke the huddle. He turned around and faced the girl, who was patiently fixing her ribbon while they were conferencing.
"Right, we have made a decision."
"Oh?"
Cid looked back at his two clan members, then turned back to face her again. "We'll split the reward." He said, "Three fourths of the gil will go to us, and the last part...we'll give it to you for whatever you need to do with."
"Four to one?" The cat–like girl replied jubilantly, clapping her hands together and smiling, "Well! That's very generous of you!"
She placed a hand on her belt and deftly retrieved her weapon. She nimbly spun it in her hand and caught it in a reverse grip, pointing it towards the alraune.
"Let's teach these rowdy vegetables a couple lessons in table manners then, shall we?" With that, the silver–haired girl suddenly dashed off in a sprint towards it. Running past the horde of tomatoes in her way.
"Oy!" Cid yelled after her, "That alraune is ours! It's off limits!"
Right when the Revgaji was about to chase after her, the crowd of tomatoes that the girl had leaped over had noticed them standing there. Deciding that attacking the non–moving group of peoplel would be less effort than chasing the speedy catgirl, the horde simultaneously bared their fangs and began to charge Cid, Luso and Melanee.
Cursing, Cid raised his sword to chest level and began to hack away at the oncoming produce.
"Luso, you're much faster than I am!" Cid called back, "You go and chase after that girl and make sure she doesn't run off with that drill!"
"Will you be okay?" Luso replied, blocking a row of fangs from biting into him with his sword.
"I'll take care of all the rest!" He punched aside a tomato, breaking several of it's fangs in the process before cleaving it in two with his sword. "Use my back as a springboard and take a leap over this swarm!"
"You got it!" Luso kicked aside another tomato. Sheathing his sword, he ran towards the Revgaji's broad back while repelling several tomatoes with his fists. Cid bent down slightly to give Luso a more broader platform. The boy leaped onto Cid's back and jumped off. He flew into the air and landed on the other side of the horde. With the silver hair of the girl in his sights, he quickly dashed off with alacrity.
Nodding approvingly, Cid jumped back and placed himself between Melanee and the oncoming horde, acting as a shield. Swinging his sword in a wide arc, he lopped off several tomato heads from the crowd. Despite having their numbers suddenly thinned out, the tomatoes still advanced towards the two, undeterred.
"Stay back, I'll take care of this group." The Viera nodded and moved backwards away from the Revgaji. Once she was out of harm's way, Cid held his sword up in front of his face and closed his eyes. He began to regulate his breathing, focusing his energy inside him. Slowly, his body began to emit a faint, but noticeable red aura. He could hear the scuffling sounds of the tomatoes rushing towards him, growing louder as they got closer. Regardless, he kept his eyes closed and concentrated on maintaining his aura.
He suddenly opened his eyes, and in that instant, the red aura around him exploded and became a full fledged flame. The red fire covered his body, making him look like a massive, human–shaped fireball. He stared down the oncoming horde of monsters, his sword at the ready. A large grin spread across his dark face.
"Right then, let's rumble."
"Why, hello there alraune!" The girl took her khukri and nimbly cut down several straggler tomatoes surrounding the rock. "You'll make me a fine profit in the market tonight!"
She reached down onto the ground and picked up a tiny pebble. She drew back her arm and lightly threw the rock towards the alraune. The pebble struck the small creature on the head and bounced off. While it didn't exactly do any substantial damage, the pebble had served it's purpose. Veins popped out of the alraune's head, visibly angry at the sudden attack. It quickly scanned around from it's vantage point on the rock, trying to discern who was the one that hit it.
The girl whistled sharply and drew the angry alraune's attention. The blue–headed creature suddenly reared it's head backwards and made a strange guttural cry. Following that, the alraune dropped onto all four of it's limbs like an olympic runner, its drill pointed straight at the girl. In response, she adopted a defensive stance, with her khukri ready to parry the oncoming attack.
"H–hey!" A breathless voice came from behind her, "Why'd you run off like that?"
"Oh, perfect timing!" With a swift turn, she dodged behind the boy and pushed him forward, replacing him as the alraune's target, "Be a dear and take out this alraune for me, will you?"
"Huh? Wha–?!" Luso's surprise was cut short as a blue streak speedily flew towards him. The alraune had launched itself off the rock like a missile, it's drill was aimed directly at his chest, ready to pierce him through it if hit him.
With a yelp, Luso quickly rolled away, avoiding the alraune's attack. The blue monster nimbly somersaulted in the air and landed firmly on it's small feet. It turned around and snarled at it's missed target. The girl whistled again and applauded.
"You have pretty good reflexes, I'm impressed!" Luso looked up and saw a smiling face in front of him, "Keep it up!"
"What was that for?!" He said angrily, "You tried to use me as a shield!"
"I'm sorry..." She said apologetically, staring at him innocently with her large yellow eyes. She extended a hand to help him up, "I was just a little scared, that's all. Will you forgive me?"
"Rrgh..." Luso turned his head away from her gaze. She sounded slightly fake, but a part of him didn't want to think bad of her just yet. Letting out a large sigh of frustration, he rubbed the back of his head and turned back around, accepting her helping hand. "Fine, I'll forgive you."
"Really? You're pretty kind!"
"Just don't do it again!" Luso warned. The girl nodded and gave him a thumbs up, smiling. Luso couldn't help but smile back at the pretty girl. Almost instantly, he began to blush furiously. He pulled off his hat and began to mess up his hair to try and hide his red face.
"Oh, but just a warning to you." She said, looking over the boy's shoulder, "You might want to pay attention to behind you."
"Huh?" He spun around and glanced at where the blue creature had landed. His vision was suddenly filled by a mass of blue and silver. "Wagh!"
He fell backwards on to his backside, just barely dodging the surprise rocket attack. The alraune snarled again as it pass over him. It spun in midair and landed on the side of the rock. With incredible agility, it kicked off the rock with it's tiny legs and rebounded into another rocket attack.
Luso scarcely had enough time to get up and react. Plopping his cap back on his head, he hastily raised up his sword and swung down hard on the alraune. His broadsword bounced off the hard drill on the alraune's head. However, his strike had managed to stop the alraune's charge, knocking it down onto the ground.
"Haah!" Taking advantage of the alraune's momentary disorder, he swung the sword down point first. Planning on piercing straight through the blue beast's head. Unfortunately...
"Ooh...so close." The cat–eared girl remarked amusedly as the alraune managed to deftly avoid the thrust and retaliate with a headbutt to the boy's shin. Hopping around on one foot, Luso cut a comical figure as he bounced around the field while holding onto his bruised shin. The girl giggled as she watched his pained antics.
"That's it! I won't let you embarrass me any more!" Luso said through gritted teeth as he firmly laid his foot back down on the ground. Only to have his entire body back up in the air as he jumped up to avoid another rocket headbutt from the alraune. He was becoming incredibly agitated at this annoying monster. He picked up his sword and charged towards the alraune. This time, he would be the one that attacks first!
As the alraune landed from it's recent attempt at attacking the boy, it quickly turned around to mount another attack at him. However, if the alraune had a mouth, it would've opened it wide in surprise as it saw a sudden flash of silver steel slice across its vision. The slash from his sword left a long gash on the large round head of the monster, defacing it's perfectly spherical shape. A viscous green liquid began to secrete from the wound in place of where it would normally be blood.
"Ugh...ew!" Luso retched as he pulled back his sword and wiped the green goo off. "I should be glad I didn't eat breakfast today..."
The wounded beast let out a pained screech. More of the thick green liquid dribbled out as it raged furiously from being attacked. In it's anger, it began to jump up and down, as if it was trying to stomp the grass flat. At the apex of it's third jump, it suddenly turned upside down and landed on it's head. Impaling the soft dirt with it's drill, it stared angrily at the boy while it's entire body was completely inverted.
"Huh?" Luso edged closer to it to see what it was doing. Once he was right in front of it, the alraune let out a loud shriek and threw itself forwards, kicking it's small legs into Luso's stomach with surprising force. The boy was knocked off his feet and fell onto his back. The alraune righted itself up immediately and leaped on top of the grounded boy's chest, beating and stomping with it's tiny arms and legs. Green goo splattered all over Luso's clothes.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!"
The girl giggled at the sight of the boy being brutally beaten up by a small monster about one fourth his size. She walked over and kneeled down beside him, picking up his fallen hat and watching the fiasco with her shiny golden eyes.
"Don't just–ack!–sit there and–ow!–watch!" Luso yelled in between beatings, "Help me–ow!"
"Oh, but it's so funny seeing you play with it like that." The girl replied, a hint of amusement in her voice. She placed a finger on her chin and pondered for a second. Then, as if a bolt of inspiration had hit her, she said gleefully, "How about this? I'll help you and you'll give me that drill on the alraune's head, is that a good deal?"
"Wha–oof!–no!" Luso took one of his hands and tried to grab the alraune off, but only received a painful headbutt in retaliation. "I can't do that–ow!"
"Why not?"
Trying another tactic, Luso rolled over to try and knock the alraune off him. Unfortunately, it didn't work out as planned and it only allowed the alraune to attack the back of his head instead. Although the strikes still hurt painfully, he felt a little solace in that at least it wasn't using it's drill.
"Aren't we–ouch!–splitting the–agh!–reward?!"
"Oh right," She said, "Four to one, was it?"
Standing up, she gave another sharp whistle. As soon as the alraune turned it's head to see what it was, a boot flew straight into it's face. The small blue monster made a shrill cry as it flew through the air from the power of the kick, landing on it's head a few feet away. Feeling the absence of weight on his back, Luso sat up and rubbed his head, trying to get rid of the pain.
"Thanks..." He said as he pushed himself up and instantly fell back onto the ground as the girl stepped on him like a stepping stone, "Ow, hey!!"
"Well, if it's four to one...I'll be glad to accept the four! Why, that's even more for me!"
Landing gracefully, she tore off after the stunned alraune. Leaving Luso digging himself out of the ground again.
"Hey wait!" He quickly picked up his sword and ran after her, "You're the one!"
"I know I am!" She crouched and leaped up high above the dazed alraune, her tail swinging in the wind. Right as the alraune pulled itself up from the dirt, a shadow was cast upon it. It looked up, and for the second–and last time–in it's life, it saw the shiny glint of a blade. It's green innards splattered everywhere as the her khukri pierced through its head.
Pulling her dagger out of the now–green head, she allowed it to stumble around for a bit before the impaled alraune fell down and became still.
"Hm...I'm the one, huh?" She giggled to herself and bent down to prise the drill off the alraune's head. A small glint next to the dead alraune's neck caught her eye.
She bent down and inspected it. There was a small metal chain tied around it's neck, and something akin to a nametag was hanging off it.
'Carm?' Was this alraune once domesticated or something? She removed the chain and held it up.
"Hey!" While she was busy pondering the strange name, Luso had caught up and was now staring at the dead alraune. She ignored him.
Well, I guess it doesn't matter to me. All I need is the drill. She pocketed the mysterious chain and returned to dislodging the tough drill. It was proving to be a difficult object to extract, even with the help of her trusty khukri. Grr...I didn't expect it to be this hard to dig out...hm, maybe...
"Hey!" She turned around and beamed at the goo–covered boy, "Can you please help me with this? I'll give you one thirds of the rewards if you do."
"One thir–hey!" He spluttered, "We agreed on giving you one fourth! And besides, we were talking about giving you the tomato stalks, not that alraune drill!"
"Hm...then." She rummaged around the small pouch hanging from her belt, "How about we trade for...this!"
From inside her pouch, she withdrew a long, flattish looking book. The paper inside the cover appeared to be loosely bound with a series of metal rings protruding out of the spine. Luso recognized it immediately.
"That's my notebook! Where did you find it?!" He tried to take it, but she moved it out of his grasp. She held out her index finger in front of his face and made a disapproving sound.
"Tsk...tsk...tsk..." She said, "I'll let you have this book if you dig out that drill for me, do we have a deal?"
"Rggh..." Torn between wanting his notebook back and following Cid's orders, Luso ran his hands through his hair again. Unfortunately, he forgot that even his hands were coated in the disgusting green goo, giving his brown hair a strange green tinge.
"Nice style." She commented sarcastically, "So do we have a deal or not?"
"Fine! But you're telling me how you found my notebook!" He walked past her and took out his sword. He crouched down and began to wedge out the drill with the point of his sword.
The drill was stubborn. It was almost as if the entire thing was rooted deep into the alraune's cranium. Needless to say, Luso was having a tough time pulling it out, even with the help of his marginally larger broadsword.
Thinking up a different solution, he raised his sword instead of continuing his futile dig.
"That drill might be hard, but the head isn't!" He swung down.
Instead of what he expected–the alraune's head being sheared into two pieces–the head had completely erupted with a force of a small explosion. Flying blots of green liquid flew everywhere, covering the entire radius around them.
"...that could've gone better." He lamented as he wiped away the massive amount of goo that just splattered over his face. "Bleah...there goes my appetite for lunch now..."
The girl–who had wisely decided to take cover earlier –strode over to the mess on the ground and picked out the now–liberated drill in the middle of the gunk. She polished it with a small handkerchief.
"Ah...it's beautiful." She smiled as she held it up against the sun to inspect it, "I don't know how to thank you enough. So I'll just say...'Thanks, Luso.'"
"...huh?" He lifted his head suddenly, "How did you know my na–?"
"Luuuuso!" A loud voice came from behind him, he turned around and saw Melanee and a red–soaked Cid running towards them. The girl made a small noise of discontent. She moved back a few steps and reached into her pocket.
"Well...it's been nice dealing with you all." She withdrew a small yellow crystal and held it up. A bright white glow began to surround her feet, "But you know...windfalls do need to be spent! So long!"
"Wait!" Luso called out. She was still holding the alraune drill and his notebook. "Our drill! My notebook!"
"Oh, right! Our deal, I almost forgot!" She tossed the notebook onto the ground, but kept holding onto the drill. Luso scrambled over to prevent his book from being ruined by the goo. At the same time, the glow underneath her feet had intensified and had completely obscured her body.
"Hey wai–!" Luso began to say, but he had to cover his face from the blinding flash. When he opened his eyes again, the girl was nowhere to be found.
"Where'd she go?!" Luso patted at the spot where she stood. He looked at his notebook. It had his name printed clearly on the front cover. Recognition suddenly dawned on him. His notebook...his missing gil...
The boy fell to his knees and held his head in frustration, "I don't believe it! She was the thief! She was the one who stole from me back then!"
"Luso! What happened?!" Cid came pounding over, gingerly sidestepping the mess that Luso had made. He had a large bag in his right hand, it was slightly dripping.
"The alraune drill, do you have it?!" He asked hastily.
"Uh...um..." Luso quickly stood up and fidgeted nervously, "Well.. you see..."
Melanee came running up next to them. She looked around, "Hey, where did that girl who looked like a cat go?"
"Don't tell me..." Cid began ominously.
Luso gulped. The Cid that was standing in front of him looked like a demon. A really...really pissed off demon.
"She...um...took the drill." Luso broke the news nervously. Seeing Cid's expression make a turn for the worse, Luso quickly stood up and tried to mitigate the mood, "We were had! She never wanted to cooperate with us at all!"
"..."
"...C–Cid?"
"..." Cid dropped the red stained bag. His hands were beginning to tremble wildly.
Glancing at the dropped bag, Luso could see several green stalks poking out of the top, "W–well, at least we got those tomato stalks...right?" He clapped his hands together eagerly, trying to smile, "Lets go trade it in! The guy who made the hunt wrote that he was willing to pay for them...you know? We might even be able to make more than the drill...would..."
He trailed off. The Revagaji's face had darkened considerably. Luso and Melanee both backed up, afraid.
"I..." Cid's entire body was shaking now. It appeared as though he was going to explode.
Suddenly, he lifted his head and shouted into the air.
"I'LL KILL HER!"
Both Luso and Melanee were knocked backwards by the force of his yell. It was as if his voice suddenly grew a pair of fists was now punching them both.
"YOU HEAR ME GIRL?!" He continued, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!! I AM GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY!!!"
This was the first time Luso saw Cid lose his temper.
A/N: This chapter was originally much shorter, but I ended up writing more than I expected. I blame the silver–haired, cat–like girl. Also, I'm reverting back to capitalizing various nouns in the FFTA2 world from this chapter onwards, such as 'Hume' or 'Revgaji'. Leaving them uncapitalized left me a bad taste in my mouth.
A/N2: FFNet really wasn't being helpful to me today. Not only did it decide to log me out in the middle of an uploading session, it completely ruined around half an hour work of editing. If you spot any strange mistakes or errors in this chapter, Thank FFNet.