This finishes up their activities on Gran Pulse…you will notice I skipped a lot of detail about the missions of the Cie'th Stones. I only included events that I felt were relevant or interesting to the story, adding small events that came to mind.
The next chapter will start with their encounter with Barthandelus on the train bridge and events will significantly start changing from that point on.
Please don't be shy to review, it helps to know what you liked about the story.
The Chocobos were grazing on the Gysahl Greens of the plains, enjoying the cool breezes that rustled through their soft, yellow feathers in the early morning light. Their cackles echoed across the awakening landscape, infusing with the faint sounds of the other Pulsian wildlife, arousing to confront the new day.
The l'cie needed the Chocobos to reach their destination of the newly discovered area, so each of them slowly approached the birds to find a mount. Sazh had a difficult time securing a ride until the Chocobo chick popped out of his afro and chirped wildly at the other Chocobo's. Whatever the chick had said apparently worked, as one of the Chocobo's walked up and stood patiently while Sazh leaped up onto the birds back.
"Good job!" Sazh told his little friend, "Nice to have someone in my corner!" The little bird made some cute little chirps and disappeared back into Sazh's afro, securing itself for the upcoming ride. Sazh guided the bird over to where the rest of the group was waiting, noticing they had found the event rather amusing.
"The Chocobos giving you the bird?" Snow asked factiously, his eyes twinkling with delight, as Serah turned her head to conceal her snickers from Sazh. Hope and Vanille both looked down trying hard not to laugh and Fang laughed out loud, not caring whether Sazh liked it or not.
"Think that's funny, huh?" Sazh replied sarcastically, "Real comedian, you are!" He raised his arm and tilted his hand in a questioning gesture "Can we get on with this?"
"Right!" Snow smirked, turning his Chocobo towards the open plain and urging the bird into a high speed pace. The others followed and it wasn't long before each of the Chocobo's, along with their mounts, where jumping up onto a high cliff to reach the new area. Upon reaching a meadow, they were very cautious to avoid the huge plant-like creature protecting its young in the far corner, as they entered the opening that would take them to the town.
When they reached their destination, they urged the birds slowly ahead, coming to a halt where they could overlook the small valley. Very little was left of the town, the buildings were in shambles and pieces of the stonework lay strewn along the ground. Its only inhabitants were Cie'th of all kinds, wandering aimlessly about and occupying every corner of this sad and forgotten place.
"Shesh!" Fang exclaimed, "This place is overrun with Cie'th. There isn't even enough left of the town to investigate. Do we really need to go down there?"
Snow pulled out the map chip and examined it closely, "There are two more Cie'th stones down there and another path beyond the town with a Cie'th stone" he informed them, as he turned off the chip and placed it back into his coat pocket.
"Let's use the Chocobos to reach the other side" Lightning suggested "We can investigate the town on the way back."
"Yeah, what's left of it" Fang added "OK, Let's get this show on the road", turning her Chocobo to start the descent into the ruins.
"I have a bad feeling about this" Sazh commented, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yeah, me too" Hope confessed to him, "Something's different about this place, but I just don't know what it is. It's making my skin crawl"
They rode the birds as fast as they dared through the ruins, dodging the Cie'th, and then jumping the high wall at the end of the town. Pleased with their accomplishment, they paused shortly to overlook the place from a different perspective before proceeding forward, but quickly found the path had a barrier placed on it.
A red Cie'th Stone stood upright outside of the barrier, which meant they could go no further until the focus of the stone was defeated and the barrier would be removed.
When Vanille reached down from her mount and touched the stone, the focus it displayed was to defeat another of the Undying. The stone called it Zenobia, the Butcher, and told of the unmerciful havoc it dispensed on the Haerii Archaeopolis.
"Well, now we know the name of this place", Lightning stated, seemingly unfazed by the kind of monster they were going to have to engage and kill to clear the barrier in front of them.
Sazh sighed heavily, shaking his head back and forth, "How many of these Undying things are there, anyway?"
"Keep it together, old man" Fang snorted at him, "Don't need you falling apart now."
"Snow, where's the target supposed to be?" Lightning asked, looking inquisitively at him while he examined the map.
"It's in the town" he said as he turned his Chocobo to head back to the cliff. "It's supposed to be right there" he pointed to the center part of the ruins, which was surprisingly void of Cie'th.
"But" Serah questioned, "there's nothing there…are you sure?" as a look of confusion came over her face.
"Yeah, see…" Snow replied, turning the hologram towards Serah so she could examine the location indicated on the map.
"You're right" Serah continued, "I don't get it, there's nothing there and there's nothing around it."
"Well, only one way to find out" Lightning said, as she prompted her Chocobo to jump down the wall and back into the town. "Stay alert!" she warned, as the others followed her lead.
Snow slid off his mount and walked over to Serah to help her off her Chocobo, sneaking a kiss from his beloved before setting her down to the ground. The others also started to dismount, allowing the birds to flee the area back to the safety of the meadow.
As they walked towards the space indicated on the map, everyone stayed closely together not knowing what to expect. Suddenly, loud rumbling noises could be heard and the ground under their feet starting shaking violently. They all jumped back away from the area, as they watched the ground start to crack and break apart, emitting a large cloud of dust.
Multi-colored tentacles, of crimson and white, began to appear through the dust cloud, pulling a gruesome crimson-colored figure to the surface. Serah and Vanille gasped at the sight of this creature, as Snow quickly stepped in front of Serah to protect her.
"Ohhh, this is just great!" Hope nervously mumbled to himself, pulling out his boomerang and stepping a little closer to Sazh for some reassurance.
The l'cie readied their weapons for the encounter, when Fang yelled "Tonberry!" pulling Vanille behind her so quickly that Vanille almost fell to the ground. "They're nasty little demons" Fang loudly warned the others, "with powerful magic spells. Don't underestimate these guys because of their size", positioning her weapon in front of her and preparing for the worst.
In front of them was a little green creature with solid gold-colored eyes, only two feet tall and holding a butchers knife and a lantern. It looked like a lizard that walked upright, wearing a brown monk-like garment with a thick green fish-tail that poked out from beneath it.
They watched the Tonberry as it quickly scurried towards the Undying Cie'th, sticking the knife into its ankle. The Cie'th screamed and shrieked in pain, while blood sprayed out of the wound in all directions. It then shook violently and fell backwards to the ground with a large thud, stone-cold dead.
The sight stunned everyone, one stab from a knife and this little green monster had taken down a powerful Cie'th. Fang yelled at them all, "It's an evil, wicked demon and now it'll be coming for us! Stand ready everybody!"
He stood in silence as he displayed his knife to them, turning it back and forth so they could see each side of the blade. He then touched the knife to the lantern, as a look of evil spread over his little green face.
"Hope, Sazh….we need protection!" Lightning shouted quickly, "Snow, throw Libra on it….find out how to fight it!"
The Tonberry began his attack on the l'cie just as Snow threw the Libra technique on him, allowing them to find out it was susceptible to Daze. Fang wasted no time in throwing her Daze magic on this evil little creature she despised so much. Hope and Sazh cast every protection and enhancement spell they had onto the team, while Snow and Lightning started relentlessly attacking to bring it down.
Hope and Sazh then started casting their Ravager magic, along with Serah and Vanille. They all worked in unison, switching from one type of magic to another to keep the Tonberry at bay and everyone's defenses intact. Fang was quick to keep the Daze spell on this beast, as it prevented the Tonberry from conjuring up his ultimate grudge spell that would kill them all in a matter of seconds.
Lightning yelled "Out of my way!" as she lashed out with her blade, striking the green demon its last blows, sending it back to hell from whence it came.
"Oh, yeah!" Snow shouted, raising a clutched fist to his face, "Way to GO, sis!"
Snow's enthusiasm brought a half-crooked grin to Lightning's face, "Geesh" she thought "Wonder what got into him? He actually made me feel good for once without screwing it up."
Vanille fell to her knees, coming to rest on her legs "We survived" she quietly said, looking up at Fang, with an expression of relief in her voice. "I never thought we would survive a Tonberry attack."
"Team work, Vanille" was all Fang could say to respond, also relieved that they survived the dreaded attack of a Tonberry.
"Looks like we have some climbing to do" Snow said to the others, pointing to the debris-ridden wall they had just come down from. Snow proceeded to rest his knees to ground, calling for Serah "Come on, baby! Hop aboard!" he lightheartedly shouted, "Uh…just watch the daggers, OK?"
Serah loved piggy-back rides from Snow and carefully wrapped her arms around his neck and secured her legs around his waist, making sure the daggers were well out of the way. Snow rose to his feet and started for the wall, taking the lead to start climbing.
Fang followed Snow while she assisted Vanille up the rubble-strewn wall and Lightning was helping Hope. Sazh just shook his head and grumbled "getting too old for this sort of thing" as he started his ascent up with the others.
The butcher was defeated and the stone glowed in contentment as its focus was at long last fulfilled, removing the barrier that blocked their progression, enabling them to enter this mysterious area. The Cie'th Stone blazed a beautiful red color, emitting red sparkles, and Snow knelt by the stone to allow Serah to slip back to the ground, wondering what happens to the stones after their focus was complete.
"Uh, what happens to them?" Snow asked, pointing to the stone, "You know, after their focus is completed…."
"Oh, they'll glow like that for a while" Fang answered "Eventually, they'll just disappear. It's said that they find peace and their spirits move on." Snow smiled at the thought of this, it made him feel good they were helping spirits to finally find peace after suffering for so long.
Following a twisting and debris-filled trail, the group approached a sheer cliff, thousands of feet down. Across the gorge was a creature so enormous, it prompted Snow to immediately comment "Look at the size of that thing! What does something that big eat, anyway?"
Fang replied calmly, "He's a biogenitor. He swallows one species and spits out another, stronger than the one before it"
Bhakti started whistling and beeping, and then the chip in Snow's coat began vibrating. Snow quickly pulled the chip from his coat pocket, holding it firmly in his gloved fist until it became still and displayed a hologram…
Titan is the name of the biogenitor and he will test your strength and endurance to its limits. Once you begin, do not cease, else you will start from the beginning again. One failure will lead to your doom by his hands….
Vanille had taken Bhakti from his pouch to find out why he was making all the noise, "Bhakti, what's wrong little friend?" she compassionately said while patting its head, "Why all the fuss?"
Bhakti then displayed a message across his screen 'One more of the Undying remains to be defeated, the fiercest and deadliest of them all. The Cie'th is known by Attacus, the Soulless'
At that moment, Titan began to speak to them, "Whoa!" Hope shouted "It talks!?" He told them that only the strongest can survive and the l'cie must prove their strength to continue to exist. When Titan concluded, a stone rose in a corner by the cliff, enticing them to accept the challenge of the giant fal'Cie.
"Boy, wasn't that batch of good news!" Sazh sarcastically commented, turning to look at the stone that had just risen. "So, do we take on the trials now, or go back to the town?" he asked the others, not particularly caring for either choice facing them.
"We're here now" Lightning told them, as she walked towards the stone, "Let's finish this." There were no objections, so Lightning touched the stone which transported them to beginning of Titan's Trials. There were four tiers to trials, each tier added difficulty and opponents. They fought bravely and fiercely through each level, reaching the fifth and final challenges at Titan's Throne.
They thought they were done, that they had won their right to survive, but Titan had one more conquest they would have to overcome to win that right. He placed a King Behemoth in front of them, one of tremendous strength and endurance. "Talk about survival of fittest…." Sazh blurted out, as the beast stared them down and let out a tremendous roar.
A figure appeared on a rocky cliff, jumping down to the flat area in front of the l'cie. "A Cie'th?" questioned Snow, as everyone watched the events unfold. The Cie'th looked like no other they had encountered before. It had four arms on each side of its body, which was an eerie color of light-silvery blue, and wielded a sword that was as big as the Cie'th himself.
The Cie'th ran for the Behemoth and unmercifully ran the beast through with the sword, then proceeded to lift it off of its feet while still impaled on the sword, and dumped it over the edge of the cliff.
"Uh…I'm going to go out on a limb here and say he's not here to help" Snow commented, not really caring for what they had just witnessed. They all noticed the red eye in the middle of Cie'ths chest and knew this had to be the last of the Undying Cie'th, the one Bhakti had warned them about.
Serah quickly threw Libra on it, and they found this Cie'th to be only slightly susceptible to four different de-buffing spells. They would have to destroy this thing using brute force and as much defense and enhancements spells as they could muster.
Attacus had another unpleasant surprise for them for when it felt it was the losing the battle, the thing would miraculously pull a bigger sword from the red-eye on its chest, delivering more damage than the previous weapon before it.
Victory finally came after one of longest battles the l'cie had fought up to this time and had tested every skill the team had among them. Titan approved of their strength and endurance, giving them all his blessing to leave and to continue to exist. Their power and strength had grown tremendously as they absorbed the energy of all the defeated combatants during the trials.
"Well" Sazh remarked "If our little friend is right, that's the last of those Undying things we'll see, which suits me just fine!"
"Yep!" Vanille replied to him, then turned to Hope and shrieked "See, we did it! We can do anything when we put our minds to it!" as she excitingly shook Hope by the shoulders. Hope smiled broadly at her enthusiasm, but was hoping she would stop shaking him soon since it felt like she was going to snap his neck at any time.
"Hey, Snow, how many of the Cie'th Stones are left?" Fang asked, anxious to finish this quest they were on and start figuring out what to do next.
Snow took out the map chip and tossed it to Fang, as he rushed over to Serah, picking her up and swinging her around in victory. They both laughed then embraced in a passionate kiss, as they drifted off into their own little world for a moment.
Lightning had already started walking back to the town, she saw no need to celebrate just yet. There was still so much to do, still so much they didn't know. Serah had hinted that she had an idea of what was going on, but didn't want to elaborate on it to her just yet.
"Hey!" Fang shouted to the others as she started following Light back to the town, "We're getting left behind and we've got a town to clear out. Come on…there's only a few more stones to finish."
"Suppose we should go, Huh?" Snow softly whispered to Serah, still embracing her with her feet dangling in the air.
"Yeah, I suppose so" she replied, with reluctance in her voice. She secretly wished she could stay where she was, securely held in the arms of the man that she loved so much.
"You know I will always love you, don't you Serah?" Snow cooed to her, hugging her tightly to him.
Tightly hugging him, she lovingly responded "I'll always love you…I'll always be there for you…no matter what. You can count on that."
He kissed her again before gently setting her back on the ground, then taking her hand, they started off to catch up to others, each gripped in the warm and wonderful feeling of the love they felt for one another.
More battles, more victories….The Cie'th Stones were all completed….There was nowhere else to go, except back to Oerba. They were able to move about Oerba more freely, as they had cleared most of it out of Cie'th. The only place left to clear was the old rusty train station and what was left of the tracks. They decided this was their next task, to completely clear the entire area of Cie'th, as this was the most habitable place they had found….