Final Fantasy VI-2 - Part II: Clyde's Odyssey
Chapter XIII – The Beast of Darkness
The group promptly began to make their way back through the caves, all of them assisting in the burden of transporting of Locke's new treasure, while he very openly admired his new weapons.
"I'll be so amazing with these…" he muttered half out-loud.
The others were slightly vexed, to say the least, at the timing of his 'treasure hunting' compulsion, and did well to keep any snide remarks to themselves while he rambled on about his glorious new toys. As they walked, however, their surroundings suddenly seemed to grow dimmer, and it was not long before a surreal, unsettling darkness enveloped them. They halted immediately to address the issue.
"What's going on? Guys! I can't see anything!" Locke cried.
"Me neither!" said Sabin.
"Have we been blinded?!" Cyan gasped.
"Silence…" came a resonant voice.
"That voice. Thade… where are you?!" Clyde growled.
"K-kupo?" Mog murmured.
"You have taken the bait. The legendary Arcturax have beckoned to the one with treasures on his mind, as the esper smith Ignus would have expected from his beautiful creations," Zirgen Thade said, his voice coming from no particular direction, disembodied in the cave while the darkness remained.
"You wanna fight, you cheap putz?! I'll take you on blind as a bat! Mog, hold this!" Sabin called with a confident grinding of his knuckles, dropping his burden of Locke's treasure on his right side.
"Kupo! I'm over here…" Mog said to his left.
"Obviously you can see so well in the dark, Figaro. I'm actually going to entertain you with a pet of mine… and perhaps this trick of darkness is a little unfair. But, it matters not whether you can see, for this creature will surely tear you to pieces regardless…" he replied with a small chuckle before relieving them of the dark and adding a strange, pearly white glow to the cave walls.
None of them were concerned as to whether this would be beneficial or not. They could all see, but only as if in a very dimly lit hall, where the slightest movement could not be detected. The swordsmen quickly sought their weapons from their belts, dropping the treasures to the floor, and Locke prepared himself with the Arcturax in hand. There was a second or two of silence, until they heard something from around a nearby passage… a steady, creeping sound accompanied by a clicking, rasping breath. With the minor illumination along the walls, all of them could make out the shape of a foot emerging from the darkness. It bore three long, clawed digits up front and two shorter ones emerging from the heel, resembling the talons of a bird, covered in black, thorny flesh and scales.
The beast that followed the foot was just as fearsome, covered in the thorn-like protrusions all over its body, with a slender, insectoid-reptillian tone to its shape. It was a large creature, and its black, horned face possessed a fixed upper jaw and a pair of separate mandibles as a lower jaw, translucent slime dripping from its bottom fangs. The glowing orange eyes watched the armed heroes carefully as it slinked out of the darkness, slender like a feline, sizing up its prey in its approach.
"I've never seen anything like it… but I definitely don't feel like fighting again…" said Locke.
"Where's the way out?" Clyde wondered aloud.
The beast, having sensed their apprehension, snarled viciously at them, flashing its knife-like teeth. The group had limited time to react when it charged forward with swinging claws. Clyde was the first to make contact, and his sword flew from his hands when slashed by the monster's fierce nails. Sabin came to his aid and landed a hard punch on its shoulder, but retracted his fist when it was pierced by its body thorns. Cyan hesitated a moment, and was whipped in the side by the creature's slender tail, crouching to the ground with a sharp sting across his ribs.
"Come on guys! Just run!" Locke said after being shoved to the ground by a fierce kick from the creature.
Meanwhile
"Ok, I'm starting to get worried now," said Edgar.
"Locke wouldn't have been stupid enough to go too far away… and the others wouldn't have been stupid enough to go too far out to look for him. They have to be close!" Setzer said as he came out of the ship.
"Shall we seek them out now?" asked Siegfried.
"A search party for a search party…" Daryl commented.
"Setzer's right. Dey can't have gone too far," said Malain.
"Oooh…"
"Terra… are you alright?" asked Celes as Terra dropped to her knees weakly, the others quickly running to her.
"I… I have a terrible feeling that they are all in great danger, and they're very close by…" she gasped, a look of horror upon her face.
"You can sense that?" said Edgar.
"A sense is good enough for me. We have to go," Celes declared, drawing her sword and heading down towards the thick of the mountains.
In the Cave
"Damn! Damn! Damn! There's no way out! I can't find it!" Locke called as the roars of the wild beast followed them through the caverns.
"Bah! You and your stupid treasure hunting! Thade knew exactly how to lure us into the dark!" Sabin cried, clutching his bleeding fist.
"No one is to blame! We're a team, remember? Whatever trouble we get into together, we get out together!" Clyde declared.
"Kupo! We can't get out though!!"
"We shall find a way!" said Cyan, turning around and heading back the way they came.
In the dim light, he had little time to duck beneath the mysterious creature's swiping claws, and for a moment they worried that it had finally cornered them. Luckily, when it struck the rock, the monster fell forward to the ground in a stupor, allowing the others to quickly leap across it and dash out of the area. It recovered swiftly and gave pursuit with a snarl.
"You think the others are worried about us yet?!" Sabin called as he dashed through the darkness.
"I'm sure they're close by! Just worry about finding some outside light first!" Clyde responded.
He was about to follow Sabin down another passage, but a large rock in his path caught his foot and sent him sprawling across the ground, Mog and Locke passing right over him without realizing. He hastily pulled himself together as he heard the beast coming closer from behind. It wouldn't be long before he was within grasp of its jaws, and he practically pitched himself forward to avoid the snapping teeth. Clyde stumbled around on the earthen floor for a moment, but reeled around a corner just as the creature lunged past.
"Damn! Turn back!" Sabin shouted from up ahead.
Clyde whirled around just as the beast head butted him right in the chest, knocking the wind from him and tossing him right into Locke. The two collapsed backwards against the others as they attempted their exit, Clyde clutching his bruised and scratched front with his hand. The pain was intense, and he was positive some of the horns had pierced his flesh.
"Kupo! We gotta move!"
Clyde gasped from the stinging pain as he grabbed someone's sword and hurled it through the darkness, hearing the blade slice right through the monster's tough scales, followed by a yelp and the sound of its wounded thrashing. The team moved fast and continued their blind dash across the caverns, bumping into each other again and again while stumbling about the darkness.
"Light!" Cyan cried.
"Where?!"
"Look!"
"Hey, what's that sound?!"
They came upon a thick pile of rocks, where a small beam of sunlight barely peeked through, and from the outside they could hear a very dull drone. With little regard of what might be waiting, they scrambled to shovel the heavy stones away from this potential exit, each of them looking back periodically to scout for the beast. It was disturbing enough that it had grown silent as they began digging.
"Come on guys! We can do this!" said Locke, attacking the rocks with his new weapons.
Mog gave out a small yip as the heap grew loose and began to slide apart. Sabin cried out joyously as sunlight began to filter in as more rocks were drawn away. It was an urgent business, and Clyde helped as best as he could, but still felt very weak from the soreness in his chest from the monster's attack. He vowed not to let his injury diminish their progress, however, and urged himself to work faster as the others began to pick up their own pace.
"We're almost there! Just a little bit more!" Clyde said, hoping to boost his own confidence in their escape.
"Kupo! I hear voices!"
They did not bother to stop, but listened carefully to the outside to discern what was occurring.
"Guys! Over here! I hear something from behind these rocks!" came the familiar voice of Edgar.
"No way! Edgar! HEY! IT'S US!" Sabin shouted.
At that moment, a terrible roar sounded just behind them, and the black creature came charging forward. Clyde grabbed Mog and pulled him back against the wall, while Sabin, Cyan, and Locke flattened themselves to the other side. The beast realized this too late, and slammed head first into the stones, loosening the pile further. More sunlight entered the cave, and Edgar jumped back in fright upon sight of the creature, knowing that it was certainly not friendly.
"Oh damn!" he shouted, falling back as the others came to him.
"Edgar! Did you find- AH!" Celes screamed as she saw the beast, shaking its head madly from the impact.
"Ugah! We save friends!" Umaro growled fearlessly, running forward and pummeling the rocks.
The power of his fists made the pile fly backwards into the cave, hammering the monster of the dark. It roared its discomfort as heavy stones flew into its hide, forcing it backwards through the caverns as a heavy cloud of dust filled the area. With barely enough room to climb out, Sabin was the first to escape, followed very swiftly by the others. They all came to Clyde's aid as he hauled himself through, and quickly carried him back to the waiting airship, Setzer ready to take off at a moment's notice. Umaro took one last chance to hurl a thick boulder at the monster before rejoining the group, and Clyde was quickly loaded on board and placed in the cockpit to rest, Interceptor greeting his master with a considerable amount of love.
"Setzer, take care of him, and keep the ship running," said Celes as she bolted from the cockpit to join her friends.
"Chest hurt?" Setzer asked.
"…" Clyde gave him a curt glare, wondering how obvious his discomfort really was now that his cuts began to bleed.
Outside, the monster tore through the rocks to combat the almost full group in broad daylight, flashing its terrible teeth. None of them wasted much time. Terra quickly blasted it with Flare, the creature leaping out of the way just barely, getting its tail singed by the fiery blast. As it evaded her magic, Siegfried charged forward and brought his sword down upon its back, finding it difficult to slice through the thick flesh. He quickly jumped away before the creature's great claws took his head off.
"Quasar!"
Strago laughed in triumph as the Blue Magic struck the beast a powerful blow, causing it visible discomfort. This was immediately succeeded by an attack from Sabin's Holy Bolt, which agitated the monster further. Before any one could make a planned attack, the beast lunged straight into the group with its tail whipping ferociously. Daryl and Gau were both struck right away, the sharp spikes cutting through their arms as they tried to defend. Cyan made to slice its back legs, but was caught by a powerful kick to the ribs and sent sprawling back to the ground.
"Pearl!" Celes shouted.
The creature nearly dodged the magic had Edgar not been ready with his Chainsaw, swinging it across the beast's face. It bucked madly as the holy magic struck from above, but refused to cease its relentless assault even though it was very obviously weakening. Its manic behavior only increased from the attacks, Umaro receiving a deep slash across his back, leaving Locke open to thrust his weapons into the creature's shoulders. The blades sliced through with a sickening noise, and a screech of intense pain came from the creature's throat. Locke was flung from its back, and it began to twist uncomfortably from the agony, only intensified when it moved its front legs.
"Hey! Ugly face!"
The beast half-heartedly turned its attention to Relm, who swished and flicked her paintbrush across the air, replicating a perfect sketch of its terrifying form. The magic produced an invisible, vicious slash from nowhere that cut across the beast's face, its own power being used against it with such force that its neck twisted with a crack, and it fell dead to the ground.
They all stood silent for a moment.
"Are you kidding me?!" Relm said in shock at her own abilities.
"Kupo-po! That was amazing!" Mog said in delight.
"Forget it! Let's heal everyone up and get the hell out of here!" Locke said, pulling his new weapons from the corpse while Celes carefully led Gau back to the ship and Siegfried assisted Daryl, both bleeding fairly badly.
"Setzer! We're going! Set a course for Valorin!" Edgar called.
The ship lifted off the ground and rocketed up into the sky at Edgar's command when everyone had arrived. Terra ran into the cockpit and immediately began to heal Clyde with her magic, and other potions and curing spells had been dispersed quite liberally to everyone else. The wounds disappeared and everyone started to feel fairly healthy again, easing the stressful tension of the moment.
Unfortunately, a little to many potions had been applied, to the point that Gau was beginning to act a little loopy from a few extra drinks of the healing liquid. This was bad news when combined with the high speed of their jet, and when they finally landed in Valorin, the wild boy stumbled stupidly off the ship in an intoxicated state with Umaro following close behind to steady him. The others disembarked with sighs of relief at seeing the village still in fine shape. Though not completely in prime condition from the battle, they greeted the citizens with brave smiles and confident posture.
"Maaw! No help! I make it to…" Gau finished his sentence with an incomprehensible mumble.
"Good lord… remind me never to take him out for a REAL drink!" Sabin said in disbelief, watching as the village began to stare at Gau's drunken antics.
"We'll put him to bed for a while," said Locke.
"Yeah, he's not going to be of much use to us," said Edgar as they entered the Valorin area.
"I might have to try some more potions like that some time," Daryl joked.
"Ah ha… no ma'am!" Setzer replied.
"Friends! So good to see you returned safely, and with a new transport I see!" said the ever- friendly mayor, who was visibly uplifted by their arrival.
"We hit some trouble yesterday and weren't able to come back as fast as we wanted," Setzer explained.
"Quite alright! I'm sure you're off saving the world again, like you should be!" the man exclaimed.
"Mr. Mayor, we're here to help out in whatever way we can," said Celes.
"Yeah… just nearly got our ass kicked by a freaky monster, so I'm up for anything!" Sabin declared.
"Oh, but you've done so much for us already!"
"Nonsense! Those in need can never have too much help!" said Terra.
"Well… alright, if you insist!" the mayor said with a bashful grin.
"Where shall we start, sir?" asked Cyan.
"Just ask around and I'm sure you can be put to work!"
Author's Note: Good lord. Never have I pushed myself to finish something like this. I swore that I would see to the end of this story, and I will live up to that promise. The past few months have been fairly shitty, which has limited my time and abilities for a while, and though I will be kept fairly busy this summer, I hope that I can deliver much more efficiently and give you, my readers, the ending you deserve. Yeah, this chapter is a bit shorter than the others… but as I said before, it's been hell trying to push it past the finish line, and it's about time I just moved on with it. (Next chapter will be on its way very shortly. It's the most I can do for making you wait so long!)