Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with Final Fantasy
Chapter Nine - Frog Hunt!
The team was happily heading toward Mount Ulhr. Well, mostly happy. The two knights sulked along as they traveled through the vast landscape.
"I still can't believe you snuck out, your Highness…" Wymond moped. They now had to worry about her safety along with the mission. They also know how much of a handful she can be.
"Oh, get over it!" Rhea said. She smiled as she breathed in fresh, cold air and admired the outside world around her. Vyncent noticed how happy she looked and nudged Wymond to make him understand.
Neal shot his fist into the air. "Alright!" Everyone turned toward him.
"What is it?" Mirabelle asked.
"I can see the mountains up ahead!" He exclaimed excitedly. He pointed far ahead, and they could see the peaks of the mountains barely visible.
"Hmm… We could probably make it by sundown." Vyncent said, nodding. It was just barely past noon, and a thin layer of clouds covered the blue sky. It was chilly enough to where they could see their own breath.
"Its c-c-cold…" Midahn said, shivering.
"Well maybe you should have thought of wearing more than just those robes, silly." Rhea said. She was wearing a thick furry coat and mittens.
"Y-y-yeah. I g-guess so…" He said, chattering his teeth.
"Here ya go, buddy." Neal pulled the string to remove his cloak and tossed it over to Midahn.
"Aren't you going to be cold?" Rhea asked.
"Ha! This is nothing!" Neal snorted. She looked at Sevrin. "We trained a lot in the winter. We're used to it." He said, shrugging.
"Wow, that must have been hard." Rhea said. The tip of her nose was pink. She was still cold even with her thick coat on. Suddenly, a group of goblins appeared.
"Stand back, your Highness!" Vyncent immediately drew his sword, jumping in front of her. She was frightened at the sight of the monsters, and scattered back behind Neal.
"Don't be afraid! These shrimps are dumber than doorknobs!" Neal laughed, drawing his huge sword. The goblins wielded crude, dull, and rusty blades. They are not intelligent, so they wouldn't be expected to dodge or counter at all, making them easy targets.
"Neal!" Vyncent said as Neal was about to charge at them. He stopped. "This would be an opportune moment to practice your technique!"
"Oh yeah! How do I use my blade correctly then, Sir Vyncent?" Neal asked. Vyncent gripped his sword with two hands, like Neal was.
"Now, try to have more control when you swing your sword. I've noticed you often wobble with it or even completely miss a non-moving target." He said. Wymond was in front, holding his large shield in front of them, blocking the goblins' poor attacks with Sevrin.
"It is mostly in your wrists. Turn your hands more inward, so your wrists aren't bent while gripping it." Vyncent said, showing him how he was holding his own sword. Neal copied it, aligning his wrists properly.
"Woah! Now that feels more secure!" Neal said. His eyes were wide and he was looking at his grip.
"Now, when you're going to attack, don't yank the blade back like you usually do. Pull it back slower, and use momentum along with strength to strike more efficiently. Are you ready?" He asked. Neal thought about it for a moment, then nodded. He pulled his sword back with more control, then strongly slashed out into the air. "Excellent!" Vyncent said. He turned toward Wymond and Sevrin.
"Prepare to create an opening! Right in the middle!" He shouted to them. Mirabelle, Midahn, and Rhea were watching from a short distance away.
"Now!" Vyncent directed to both Neal and the defenders. Neal pulled his sword back, and started running toward the goblins, completely focused. Wymond and Sevrin then jumped to the side, creating an opening for him. He dashed through, and leapt toward the goblins, slashing horizontally and cut all three perfectly. They fell to the ground and withered away.
"Did you feel more in control, Neal?" Wymond asked. He turned toward them.
"Yes sir! I felt even stronger just by doing that!" Neal said. Vyncent chuckled.
"That would be because you would often almost lose your balance when bringing that heavy sword back, causing your attacks to be more inefficient." He said.
"Yeah, I guess so! Man, I've been doing it wrong this whole time and haven't even noticed…" Neal said.
"That was great, Neal!" Rhea said encouragingly. He grinned and waved.
"Alright, let's group back up. I don't want anybody too far away from each other now. There may be more monsters up ahead." Wymond said. Everyone came closer. They began to start moving again.
After a few minutes, a small group of monsters emerged from behind a few trees. The two knights drew their swords, but Sevrin held up his hand.
"Hey," He said to his three friends. "Let's show them what we can do!" The four Warriors leapt forward. The knights nodded, and stood back with Rhea. They were interested in seeing the four Warriors of the Light in action.
Neal and Sevrin took their position in the front row, on the outside, with Midahn and Mirabelle in the back row, but on the inside. They drew their staffs. They looked at Neal, expecting him to wildly charge right away, but he stood his ground, holding his sword defensively in front of him.
"Not this time! Show 'em your magic first, Mirabelle and Midahn!" Neal said. They nodded. Midahn began concentrating quickly, and raised his staff. "Fire!" He shouted as a burst of flame struck the group of monsters.
"Oooh!" Rhea exclaimed in awe.
"Check this out! A little trick I learned from a few white mages!" Mirabelle said. "Haste!" A whirling wind flew in Sevrin's direction.
"Woah…" Sevrin said, looking down at himself. "I feel…lighter!" He dashed forward with his knives, and slashed multiple times at a goblin at blinding speed.
"Yes! That's amazing, Mirabelle!" Neal said. A winged, bat-looking creature with one large eye swooped toward him and struck him weakly.
"That's not all!" Mirabelle said, raising her staff again. "Libra!" Her staff flashed for a moment.
"What happened?" Sevrin asked, confused.
"That monster is known as an Ahriman, a one-eyed bat-like creature. It's weakness is ice!" She said.
"Libra, the analyzing spell. You can learn what weakness something has by casting that spell on it." Vyncent said. Rhea was amazed at seeing their magic. "Wow!"
"Oh! Well, in that case," Midahn raised his staff. "Blizzard!" Ice shards rained down onto the Ahriman, killing it instantly.
"Two left! My turn!" Neal shouted. He spun around and swung his sword, cleanly cutting the remaining two monsters in half before they withered away. The monsters were defeated.
Rhea clapped at their performance. "Yay! You did it!"
"That was very impressive! I see promise in all of you." Wymond said. Vyncent nodded.
"Keep working hard. Your teamwork is good, so focus on becoming stronger." He said. "Then you could be unstoppable."
Neal smiled, looking determined. He liked the idea. Soon enough, they were nearing the beginning of the mountain range.
"Which one is Mount Ulhr? Is it that humongous one?" Midahn said, pointing to a mountain that was much taller than the rest. Vyncent shook his head.
"No. It's the one right next to it." He said. They looked at him, uncertain.
"Uh… Are you sure?" Neal asked. "If you ask me, that one stands out the most…"
"That's why the Crystal Cave is on Mount Ulhr, not that larger one. If it was so obvious, then the cave entrance wouldn't be so hidden. Wouldn't you agree?" He asked them.
"Now that I think about it, it makes sense, I guess." Neal said.
"The cave entrance is extremely well hidden on the mountain as well. It's difficult to just find it." Vyncent added.
"So you don't even know where it is?" Sevrin asked. He shook his head.
"I have never seen it before, but that's not why we are here. We have to slay the large bird that nests on the sacred mountain." He reminded them.
"Right." Mirabelle said. They continued on, trekking through the rough, mountainous terrain. Mount Ulhr was deep inside the Northern Mountain range.
"It's really close now!" Midahn said as they passed through a harsh valley, encountering several monsters along the way.
"Finally..." Mirabelle said. She was exhausted from travelling on so much uneven ground.
"Well, ready to start climbing?" Wymond said, pointing his thumb toward the base of the mountain. Mirabelle and Rhea nearly fainted when he asked.
"We need to get some rest first… I can barely move my legs." Rhea muttered. Mirabelle groaned in agreement.
"Ha! What a bunch of sissies!" Neal said. He took a step forward, but Sevrin grabbed his shirt from behind and pulled him back.
"They're right. We should recover before starting to climb it. Look how steep that is…" He said.
"Eh. I guess you're right." Neal said, and immediately passed out on the ground, snoring.
"Well, that settles that." Vyncent said, and they all laughed. They set up two tents and a campfire at the base of the mountain. It had become dark outside, but the clouds faded away, leaving the night sky completely clear and starry.
"You know," Neal said, munching on cooked venison as everyone sat around the fire. "It actually wasn't too bad on the way here. I expected much worse, to tell you the truth…"
"Don't bring back luck onto us, Neal." Sevrin said. "Saying that usually means something bad will happen really soon." Neal laughed.
"You believe superstitions like that?" He asked. He nodded.
"Almost every time that people say that, something bad always happens." He said, shaking his head.
"You sure?" He asked, smiling. He was doubtful.
"Yes, I'm sure. So shut it." Sevrin said. Neal laughed. "You sure are in a bad mood, buddy."
"I'm sure we'll be okay." Rhea said, smiling. "We have all of you here." Neal swallowed some more food, and curled his hand into a fist."
"You bet!" Neal said. "Hey guys, let's go look for frogs by that river in the forest back there!" He jumped up, beckoning his friends to follow. Midahn immediately joined him.
"Come on! It's still pretty early." He said persuasively. "Bet I could catch more than you, Sev!"
Sevrin stood up, accepting his challenge. "That's a bet you'd lose." He pointed to his eyes. "There's nothing more keen than these two eyes." Neal laughed.
"Yeah sure man. It takes more than just your eyes to catch 'em." He said mockingly. Sevrin's eyes widened. He had an idea.
"Midahn, you're on my team. Let's go!" He grabbed his arm and dashed into the forest. Neal balled his hands into fists.
"Ah! That cheater! He wants to get a headstart! Mirabelle, let's hurry! I can't lose to that guy!" He said. She got up.
"Fine. It's only fair, I guess. Let's go, dummy!" She said jokingly as she ran off behind the other two. Neal started to follow her but stopped and turned around.
"Come on, Rhea! Join my team!" He beckoned her to join. She really wanted to play with them, but wasn't sure if they were going to ask her. When he did, she immediately became excited.
"Yeah! Let's win!" She jumped up and ran over to him. They caught up to Mirabelle.
"Be careful!" Vyncent called out. After they disappeared, the two knights sighed. It was peaceful and quiet now. Wymond smiled. "They may be warriors, but they're still children. They still want to have fun." They chuckled.
Neal, Rhea, and Mirabelle ran toward the small river flowing between the trees. Bugs chirping, the sound of water flowing, and crunching of leaves from footsteps filled the small forest.
"Alright, let's stand really still so we can hear any frogs croaking!" Neal whispered. They stopped moving, and started listening. In the near distance, they heard running footsteps fading away.
"We're gonna beat those guys! I'm an expert at frog-catching!" Mirabelle whispered. Neal smiled. "Me too!" Rhea looked back and forth between the two of them, seeing how passionate and fun they were. It made her heart melt being able to have some real fun. She had never done anything like this before. She loved the feeling of this excitement.
"I hear one!" Neal and Mirabelle whispered at the same time. They turned toward each other.
"I heard it first!" They said at the same time again. "No you didn't!" Again. All three laughed.
"It doesn't even matter! Let's go catch it!" He said, and they started creeping toward it. They peaked around a tree, and saw it on top of a log, croaking away.
"I'll get it." Neal started to slowly approach the frog. He readied his hands to quickly reach out and grab it. When he was only feet away, He lunged for it, but right before he could catch it, it jumped out of the way.
"You idiot! It's gonna get away!" Mirabelle said frantically, and she started running after it.
"Man, that's a quick one!" Neal said. Rhea laughed.
"You almost had it, Neal!" She giggled. He scratched his head.
"Eh, I let it get off easy." He said confidently. She giggled again.
"Yeah right!" She mocked. Mirabelle returned, holding the frog in her hands.
"That's how you do it." She said, smirking. Neal balled his fists.
"Agh… shown up by a girl…" Neal said in defeat. Mirabelle scowled at him. He looked up, grinning.
"Just kidding!" He said. "You haven't got the best of me yet!" He started searching around the area for more frogs.
"Well, we have one. I wonder how many they have?" Mirabelle wondered. "Do you think they found any yet, Princess Rhea?"
She shook her head. "Just call me Rhea!" She said reassuringly. She didn't like any formalities, especially between her friends. Mirabelle's eyes widened a little.
"Oh, ok!" She said.
Further down the river, Sevrin and Midahn were searching just as hard. "So what's your plan, Sevrin?" Midahn asked him. He turned around, smirking deviously under his mask which covered his face below his eyes.
"This is how we're going to win. We use your magic!" He said. Midahn tilted his head.
"Huh? What do you mean?" He asked, confused. Sevrin began to explain.
"These are fast frogs, so it would be tough to catch them. I could hear Neal having trouble over there. So when we find one, you're going to cast blizzard on it!" He said. Midahn opened his mouth in horror.
"I don't want to hurt the frogs!" He shook his hands in denial. Sevrin shook his head.
"No, you're not going to hurt them. You don't have your staff on you, so it won't even be powerful. And when you do it, just freeze the frog in a small shell of ice!" He explained. Midahn was still uncertain.
"Once you freeze it, I'll hold it, and then you cast a small fire spell to melt the ice. It wouldn't burn or hurt the frog at all. Are you able to do that?" He asked. Midahn visualized it for a moment.
"Yeah! I can do that! Wow, that's a good strategy Sevrin!" He said excitedly. Sevrin patted him on the head.
"I knew I could count on you, buddy!" They started wildly searching for frogs in the dark.
"Hey, hey! I found one!" Midahn whispered. Sevrin immediately turned around and looked to where Midahn was pointing. A frog was there, right beside the river.
"Alright, are you ready?" He asked, concentrating on the frog. Midahn nodded. They started to tiptoe up to it, and Midahn silently began focusing his hands toward it. He was used to casting spells as powerful as possible, so he wasn't used to purposely casting it so weakly.
"Focus. You can do it." Sevrin whispered. After a moment of complete silence, Midahn whispered, "Blizzard." A small, icy aura encased the frog. Sevrin dashed over and picked up the frozen frog. He laughed.
"Look," He said, barely containing his laughter. He was pointing at it's mouth. "It's mouth is open!" They laughed at how funny it looked. "Okay, okay. Time to unfreeze it."
Midahn produced a small flamed under the ball of ice. After a few seconds, water began dripping off it. He released the frog from the ice, and Sevrin held a good grip on it.
"It worked! Your strategy is the best!" Midahn said, surprised. Sevrin grinned.
"Let's go find another!" He said, and they hurried off to another spot.
"I think I hear another one." Rhea whispered. Neal and Mirabelle turned toward her.
"Really? Where?" Neal asked. She pointed in the direction she was looking. Neal and Mirabelle faced their ear in that direction. They faintly heard the frog.
"Yes! Nice job, Rhea!" Neal said, taking off toward the frog. She excitedly followed him. When they were really close to it, Neal turned around. "Huddle up!" He whispered. They leaned in, and Neal put his arms around them.
"Alright, here's the plan. We're all going to surround it, so it has nowhere to go when we reach for it." He whispered. Mirabelle shook her head.
"I need my two hands to hold this one still…" She looked down at the frog they already caught.
"Ah, that's right… In that case, let's both surround it then, Rhea." He said to her.
"I-I don't think I'm good at catching frogs. I'll probably miss every time…" She said.
"Here, hold this one, then!" Mirabelle offered her the first frog. "Then we can go with the plan, Neal." Rhea grabbed it, freeing Mirabelle's hands again.
"Okay, let's go!" He said. He crept around to the other side of the frog. Mirabelle put up three fingers, and started to count down. After one, they both dove for it. It jumped to the side, and they collided into each other. Rhea gasped.
"Ouch! That was such a stupid plan!" Mirabelle said, rubbing her head. Neal laughed.
"Then why'd 'ya go along with it, dummy?" He said mockingly. She smacked him on the head.
"I thought one of us would get it!" She said. They both laughed. "That was a pretty bad plan." He said. "I'll get this one though! Watch." He crept toward the frog again, and calmly grabbed it before it could escape. He almost dropped it, but he had a good grip.
"That's two!" Rhea said.
Midahn and Sevrin caught a second frog. After minutes of not finding any after that, they were thinking of heading back.
"I haven't seen any more." Midahn said. Sevrin wasn't satisfied.
"I think we have this in the bag if we find one more. Don't give up yet!" He said. "Hold on, I'm going to focus and listen really hard. Don't move for a sec."
Midahn stood still, watching Sevrin. He clapped his hands together, closed his eyes, and began concentrating. After a minute, he opened his eyes.
"Did you hear anything?" Midahn asked. Sevrin grunted.
"Heh. I heard Neal's big mouth, that's certain." Midahn laughed. "But I think I heard another one over there." Sevrin pointed to another spot alongside the river. They crept up to it, and saw another frog.
"You're going to have to do this all by yourself, Midahn." He said after Midahn quickly handed him the two frogs that were struggling to escape. "My hands are full."
"I can do this." Midahn said. He repeated their capture method, increasing their total to three frogs.
"Alright, let's head back." Sevrin said. They returned to Sir Vyncent and Sir Wymond and the camp. After a few minutes, Neal, Mirabelle, and Rhea appeared from the forest.
"Hmm… Let's see who won." Vyncent said. They looked at each group's number of frogs.
"It looks like you each have three. Do we have a tie?" Wymond said.
"Ha. It took all three of you to get that many. I think we win!" Sevrin exclaimed victoriously. Midahn jumped up and down happily. But Neal, Mirabelle, and Rhea were all smiling.
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that!" Neal said. They all turned toward them. A fourth frog jumped onto Neal's head from behind.
"What?! Are you serious?" Sevrin said. Neal laughed. Midahn leaned downwards in defeat.
"We win!" Rhea said. Vyncent smiled, noticing how happy she looked. He knew that this was one of the first times that she had fun like this.
They released all of the frogs they had captured, and watched them hop away in different directions. Worn out from their fun, they went to sleep almost instantly. Vyncent and Wymond took turns keeping watch throughout the quiet night.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Here was a little break from the adventure, where frog hunting took place. Everyone deserves a little fun every once in a while, right? This was just what they needed before beginning their treacherous climb. Next time: The group encounters the griffin?!