The Evil Forest Arc-START:

"...Ooou…owww…? … ! !? w-wha!? where-where am I-OUCH!?" awaking in the surroundings of a darkness covered forest...is Zidane! soot shown completely all over his body. Upon waking, he accidentally hit his head into a branch above. After regaining his composure and wiping off the soot head to toe, Zidane stretches and then decides to go look for potential bearings. "Oh, my head. Geez...what have I gotten myself into now? …" says Zidane, talking to himself with a rhetorical question. He looks up whilst brushing his head to see rain pour down rapidly. Seeing the rain, Zidane looks at it before seeing something in nearby distance. "! H-Huh? wait, is that...n-no, it couldn't be!" says Zidane, wanting to get a closer observation. "I can't stand around here, I've got to get a closer looksee!" says Zidane, jumping off a small hilltop.

He makes his way around the forest, seeing if he could get towards his destination. Brushing his arms in coldness, Zidane next says the following. "Brr! this place is freezing! ! wait a sec. This couldn't be...the Evil Forest that Blank told me about, could it!?" says Zidane. He recalls a flashback involving his Tantalus brother, Blank. In the flashback, Blank had given Zidane a warning that he most probably shrugged off, back at the Tantalus hideout. "Okay listen, Zidane. Before we get to the kingdom of Alexandria, you need to hear this. I already told Marcus and Cinna before you, so that makes you the last. Listen up, cause I hate repeating myself. At the very bottom of the cliffs near Alexandria's boarders is a place called the Evil Forest. All kinds of fiends live and lurk there, monsters and plant-life, you name it. They say that criminals were chased down there by old Alexandrians and then the tree-leaves had soaked up the blood of those offenders. Giving rise to evil spirits that eventually became the fiends aforementioned. You get what I'm saying? don't go wandering off there by some divine prank or whatever!" says Blank.

"Okay, okay Blank! can we get going now? the airship's going to leave the port docks soon and I don't want to miss this operation going down! hehe, I can't WAIT to snatch ourselves a beautiful looking princess! talk about lucky." says Zidane, rushing on ahead. "...Yeesh! what a slime-ball monkey." says Blank, following after. The flashback ends and Zidane then gulps to himself. "S-S-SO...this-this place is...h-haunted!? GULP!" Zidane regrets not heeding Blank's warning when he should have. Still...Zidane could not falter just to stop and hide. There was somewhere he had to get towards, no matter what would appear and stand in his way. Speaking of such, suddenly-

"!? A Goblin!? riding...atop a Wolf!?" says Zidane, making his way to an open area, surrounded by humongous living organisms-giant plants, to be precise. Here, he encounters two enemies blocking his passage. A Goblin and a Wolf, the former riding on-top of the latter. The Goblin seems to be a bandit that jumps people "stupid enough" to enter the Evil Forest, the Wolf is his cohort. Seeing Zidane and standing in his way, the Goblin taunts the monkey like youth to try and past it. "...Oh ho-ho. So...you think that you can rob a thief, eh? alright then. Let's see how good...you are pickpocketing!" says Zidane, drawing his daggers and preparing, to fight!

Battle 1 by Kunning Fox-da:embed id="AOkraASWiMM" height="315" width="560" profile="youtube"

"Gotta strut my stuff. So let's see what you got!" says Zidane, making a comeback taunt. The Goblin becomes enraged, issuing an order to the Wolf it rides upon. The Wolf heeds the command and goes straight to attack Zidane, however. He makes a backflip, dodging the forwards charge. "Come ON! that it? I'm just getting started here!" says Zidane, amidst a downpour of rain. The Goblin is further enraged, hitting the Wolf on it's head several times with a mace the Goblin carries in hand. Deciding to work separately, the Goblin jumps off the Wolf and goes to attack Zidane by itself. Zidane smirks, intending to block. Suddenly though, the Goblin surprises Zidane by catching him off-guard. It throws a Goblin Punch right at his face, giving him a good smack (and for one time where he DIDN'T deserve it no less).

"Ooh, ouch! that hurt! geh. Guess that will teach me to keep my guard up and never underestimate my opponents, no matter how weak they seem. I guess I've got to Stagger this Goblin if I want to outwit it." says Zidane, mentioning Staggering of some sort. The Wolf decides to follow up on the Goblin's example and aim directly at Zidane, trying to bite into one of his arms. "Oh I'm sorry, do you think I make a light snack? well guess what! here's a hammering of tail, just for you Wolfie!" says Zidane, as he then lets his slight ego take over. Using a minimal amount of anger to his advantage, Zidane whacks his tail against the attacking Wolf. Causing it to hit a nearby tree and become Staggered, the exact kind of result that Zidane was just looking for.

"! Huh, guess I made it wobble. Alright! Wolfie goes down first! hold that posture Goblin." says Zidane, cheekily waving at the Goblin and making it wait for it's turn to fight. Zidane makes his own forwards charge at the Wolf, struggling to stay stable on it's feet. "Alright, here goes! duck and roll, duck-and-roll!" says Zidane. As he charges, he curls himself into what looks like a ball and then uses his tail, as a spring to leap himself right up in the air! afterwards, he breaks his curling and "flies" straight down to attack the Wolf. "I like to call this manoeuvre the "Monkey Warfare" acrobat technique!" says Zidane, having taken advantage in the current battle by using his "short" but nimble body to jump around...and then. Strike!

Unable to move because of still Staggering, the Wolf is forced to experience a downwards swing of two daggers used simultaneously, creating an X shaped attack. "X Daggers!" says Zidane, giving this attack a simple...yet effective name. The Wolf faces the full brunt of the X Daggers strike and ultimately loses, vanishing into a both strange and mysterious black coloured mist of some sort. Though it appears no surprise towards Zidane, apparently having seen this occurrence first-hand elsewhere prior. "Okay! got it! next up is you, the one whom picked this fight in the first place!" says Zidane before pointing one of his Daggers straight at the Goblin, the other remaining combatant. Cowering in fear from the defeat of it's ferocious pet...the Goblin tries to make a both quick and cowardly getaway.

"Ha! running away are we? where's your resolve dude!? … ah forget it. I hate fighting those that have lost the will to battle...sigh." says Zidane, not happy with the fact that his opponent left, running away from him. "...Still-" at any rate, this does not stop Zidane from making a "Victory Dance". "Oh YEAH! I'm the best." says Zidane, making another backflip, this time holding up one of his Daggers in sheer proudness.

Victory Fanfare by Lindaru-da:embed id="ofAR-wGidTM" height="315" width="560" profile="youtube"

Zidane sheathes his Daggers and then cleans off the dust on his hands from holding them. "Now then, gotta get going. I've got to head where I saw that fire...I just hope...things aren't, as bad as they look." says Zidane, thinking about what he saw earlier. Continuing trekking across the forest, finally. Zidane sees another small hilltop and jumps on it. Giving him a good overview...of...the remains of the Prima Vista, caught on fire. Because of the rain having appeared for not too very long, the fire from the airship was disappearing in quantities. Though there are still smaller fires inside the ship that need attending. Zidane decides to jump down further, seeing if there was anyone alive from the crash...

TO BE CONTINUED.