Tsubasa: Mysterious Version
Chocobo Trek
The morning grew warmer as the sun rose higher above. Sunrise ended. Cait Sith, and the giant moogle he used as a vehicle, remained with Reeves and the Professor, but Chii decided to travel with the outlanders. The Gang, now on a mission to reach Midgar and retrieve Sakura's feather, successfully purchased four Chocobos—feathery birds appearing gigantic and yellow, each having hard orange beaks and rapid brown legs. Emerging from the city gate of Avanah with these flightless birds, the gang sped past the guards and raced across the sandy landscape of the desert, soon riding over dusty dunes and venturing through clusters of wild bushes.
A warm breeze blew through Fae's blond hair as he smiled, enjoying this thrilling ride on the back of his Chocobo. The thriving power of the Lifestream, he felt it, flowing through every fiber of his being. If what the Professor told Syaoran and Kurogane is true, then this mystic sensation proved to be the same for everyone who inhabited this planet, but even more so for anyone adapted to magic use.
Kurogane felt it too, every since he used his souhi sword to execute what the Professor called a 'limit break'—building up strong mystical power, solely for the use of performing powerful attacks and critical blows when in the midst of danger. Strange. It worked well with the magic of his sword, and he wondered what other abilities he could acquire in this world.
Syaoran, with a flaming heart of passion against the ones who abducted Sakura, kept silent and enjoyed the ride, eager to reach Midgar. When the Professor educated them about Kurogane, he wondered what his limit break technique would be. He could already feel the forces of magic welling up within him from the Lifestream.
Chii came prepared, armed with a pair of handguns that Reeves built for her. Her long flock of golden hair flowed as a drape of mystic yellow while she rode her Chocobo with expert skill. A thought came to mind, and she said to the males, "The Chocobos will quickly adapt to your riding style, so be not afraid to test out your potential, especially in battle."
"Oh," said Syaoran. "So that's why I'm able to ride this thing. Never rode on the back of a bird before."
Chii simply squinted her eyes with a girlish smile in response.
Just a moment later…
A large group of marauders traveled across the dry landscape, dressed in dark clothing and shrouds of black and brown, grungy, both male and female, all armed with some kind of bladed weaponry but mostly scimitars. Traveling with them marched a giant version of these desert marauders, carrying a huge axe in his hand. Shrouds covered their faces as if to protect them from sandstorms, all except for the giant who wore a facemask over his mouth with a pair of goggles. And he did not mind the heat, appearing sweaty and shirtless with hulking muscles. The desert marauders rode on the back of large lizards, but the giant marauder rode a huge rhino. They all spotted the small group of Chocobo riders, already tempted to pursuit them by intercepting them head on.
The Gang ceased, slowing to a quick stop with their Chocobos. Clouds of dust populated the air from all the movement in this vicinity. Chii did not look too happy about this, gazing quietly at the marauder that now surrounded her and the outlanders.
Syaoran paused, looking around at all the cloth-masked men and women with scimitars. "What's going on here?" he said with apprehension.
"It's a passive ambush," said Kurogane. "They obviously have something to say, or they would have attacked by now."
"Well what do they want?" said Fae, ready to test out his Materia abilities.
"Where are you people headed?" said the leader, the guy traveling at the front of the marauder group.
"Is that any of your business?" Chii snapped.
"If you're headed to Midgar, then I guess its everybody's business. Someone's turned off the lights in this region, and we would like to know why."
"You say that as if it's our fault," said Syaoran.
"It could be your fault. Then again, it could be not. Gottah blame somebody for it. Right?"
Kurogane snarled, "I don't like the sound of this mess." He unsheathed the Blue Ice. "I think you better get out of our way."
"Whooo," the leader said mockingly. "I'm soooo scared."
The marauders laughed in unison.
"Start nothing," said Syaoran. "And there will be nothing."
The giant's hulking chest bounced from his deep and hideous laugher. "Oh, look. The little boy almost sounds like he's tough." He tilted his head back and chuckled even more.
Irritated, Syaoran unsheathed the Scarlet Flame and growled, "We don't have time for this."
"Agreed." Chii pulled the twin handguns from holsters strapped to her thighs, and she aimed at the chuckling giant, firing off shots. Hot swift rounds plunged into his thick chest, splattering blood from bullet holes, but damaging him enough to stop him.
"Fae!" Syaoran commanded.
"I'm on it!" Fae generated mystic power from within his being, hurling a snapping bolt of lighting at the wounded giant.
That giant screamed madly, badly electrified.
The marauders charged, attacking with their scimitars and other weapons.
"Forget riding the Chocobo," Syaoran thought, leaping high off the bird's back to engage the marauder with aerial kicks. His foot struck the face of a marauder when he landed, now crouched on the back of the giant lizard after his enemy fell off from the blow. Slashes from his flaming hein sword did the rest, even blocking the strikes of swords from surrounding enemies while he performed a whirlwind attack. A burst of magical power enveloped Syaoran, empowering him with stronger defense potential—thanks to Fae's magic. Syaoran leaped from lizard to lizard, relentlessly kicking and slicing enemies.
Chii remained on the back of her Chocobo, swiftly aiming in random directions with clever moves, using both hands with equaled skill while blasting away marauders. One attacked from behind with a flying leap, but she aimed backwards without looking, blasting him away with a bullet that flung him back through the air.
Kurogane didn't mind the Chocobo, riding it like an expert while swinging his ice sword, blocking away the multiple attacks of scimitars coming at him. Unfortunately, for Kurogane, the curse caused him not to kill needlessly or he will lose his great ninja strength, so all he could do was exploit the defense spell Fae cast on the entire party earlier. "Damn this curse," he growled, remembering what Princess Tomoyo did to him as punishment in his home world. Riding his Chocobo, he simply ran swift circles around the Chocobo-mounted Fae, fending off marauders so the white-sorcerer could continue casting spells. His souhi sword flung enemies left and right, even freezing them with ice magic.
However, Fae helped him out, casting a thunderstorm spell that first cause a sheet of black clouds to roll over the battlefield. And those cloud suddenly struck a great number of attacking marauders simultaneously. Many marauders took a nasty hit, electrified and brought down on their knees in utter agony. That spell lessened the number of enemies in and instant.
Of course being that the giant stood to large to engage in battle at this moment, he sat back and waited until his time arrived, occasionally using healing spells to recover the wounded. The leader of the marauders waited beside the giant, armed with a mega-bladed sword and shouting out commands.
Chii seized this opportunity to blast away at the giant again, but a temporary magical shield protected him this time from the bullets. Sparks ignited with each hit. She frowned, for the giant laughed at her.
Syaoran sent enemies falling with his unearthly kick-style of martial arts, leaping from one place to the next in attempt to reach the Leader. Bullets came flying from those twin handguns while Chii covered his back, blasting away marauders he could not reach.
"Thanks," he shouted.
"Not a problem," said Chi, firing those guns like a madwoman.
Syaoran finally reached the Leader, that cloth-masked man with wild black hair and ominous eyes that narrowed when Syaoran arrived. The kid landed before him, facing the Leader in a clever battle stance and a flaming sword in hand.
The Leader simply stood there with his huge sword in hand and its blade sitting across his shoulder. He looked down at the kid and said, "Nice sword. Where did you get it?"
Syaoran's eyes narrowed threateningly. "Shut up and fight."
The man chuckled. "Very well." That huge sword slammed down, striking sand that splashed where the kid once stood. Realizing he missed, his eyes scrolled to the left, seeing that the boy had sidestepped. A lightning fast kick struck him in the left side of his face. Airborne, the Leader flew to the right and slammed to the ground. Dust cloud rose from the hard landing.
Syaoran had already leaped high up into the air before the Leader returned to his feet, preparing to come down fast with a somersaulting hammer-kick, but the blade of a gigantic axe cut fast through the air to slice him in two. Syaoran somersaulted at the height of his leap, barely dodging the giant's swift axe. His flaming sword sliced right through it before Syaoran dropped down to a crouched landing.
The Leader seized this opportunity, striking down with another chop, missed, striking dirt instead because the kid had flipped away backwards. From a swift throw, the flaming sword came spinning through the air and struck him through the chest. The Leader irked, for the sword had lodged itself into his flesh, and its flaming blade protruded out from his back. That look in his eyes trembled with embarrassing defeat as he glared at the clever kid.
Syaoran silently glared back, watching the magical flames of his sword consume the Leader with an angry bonfire of redness.
Furious, the giant wanted to destroy Syaoran with a mighty chop of his axe, but the Scarlet Flame's blade had already halved his weapon into a useless stump. Looking at the battlefield, most if not all of the marauders had been slain, and those lizards scattered out into the desert with fear. Now his temporary magical shield dissipated after reaching the end of its duration. Not knowing what else to do, the giant panicked, causing his gigantic rhino to charge forward with great speed.
Wind brushed through his hair and loose parts of his clothing when the rhino rushed past Syaoran, and he yanked his sword from the charred and ashy remains of what was once the Leader. Syaoran watched as the giant charged towards the rest of the group.
Kurogane noticed this giant's desperate move and executed a limit break, hurling a blast of ice at the rhino to freeze it in its tracks, but that did not cause enough damage, for the rhino's nose-horn shattered the ice blast into a scattering shower of crystal splinters, yet none of it could not penetrate the rhino's tough armored-skin.
The Gang scattered, dodging the rhino's charge.
A mystic lightning both shot out from Fae's hand and claimed the giant's life from behind, sending his electrified body falling off the back of the rhino.
The rhino came to a skidding stop, kicking up large dust clouds before turning around and performing another charge attack, but Syaoran had waited for the perfect time for this, for it was long over due to use his limit break.
Seeing that the rhino headed straight for Syaoran, Chii blasted shots, but those bullets could not damage the rhino's armor enough to stop it. It did not matter, for Syaoran generated mystic energies from the Lifestream flowing strong within him. Just before the rhino could skewer Syaoran, the boy strafed to perform a somersaulting kick. and he did it with such mystical force that rhino became skyrocketed from the blow. Covered in flames, the rhino collided with the ground. Lifeless.
Syaoran landed from midair and straightened, watching the flames dissipate from the defeated rhino. "I didn't think that would finish him with one blow."
"He was already weak from by thunderstorm spells," Fae explained. "It strikes multiple targets, including the giant and his rhino pet."
"Then that would explain how I was able to beat the Leader so easily."
Kurogane shook his head. "Not just that. He also underestimated your martial arts, thinking that your swordsmanship was not enough to beat him."
Fae smiled looking at his Materia-equipped arm. They glowed brightly, one blue and the other green, even though they sat within his flesh. "This Materia is no joke. I can feel their strength growing each time I use a spell successfully."
Chii looked to him after holstering her twin handguns and said, "That's because they grow with experience."
Together, the Gang gathered and continued the journey on their Chocobos, for they could already see the top of towering skyscrapers from Midgar in the far distance ahead…