Things should get more interesting now, I hope.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX and its characters. Square Enix owns them.

Chapter 7: Influence

Just for the fun of it, Kuja redirected the Invincible above Conde Petie. The fearful eye under the airship glared straight to the Dwarves who were set into panic upon seeing it in the sky. The Genome commanded it to prompt the same storm that had decimated the Summoners, but nothing came out of it. The giant red eye induced more fear than harm among the Dwarves. Kuja wished Garland had been wrong about the Invincible taking years and even decades to recover its destructive power, but unfortunately, the old man was right.

How could such a technological wonder take so much time to recover?

Well, a war, then.

They had been observing every nook and cranny on this bare continent. With the opportunity of a Zidane growing up to his seventh year now and speaking and holding up to longer conversations, Kuja judged it was time to visit the other continents of Gaia. Trusting the old hologram map given by Garland and deducing the trajectory of the migratory birds, his best bet was to head South to the other side of the vast ocean to find new civilizations. According to Soulcage, this was where most of the roots of the Iifa Tree headed to spread the byproduct of the soul flow called the Mist. If the birds made their way to that continent, then surely, that area should be bursting with life. This meant more chance to meet these true Humans who led on the planet.

With both being more familiar with the basis of Gaian culture, Kuja was now confident enough with his social skills to get closer to its planet's sentient inhabitants. This was the only way to gain trust from them.

Things should get more interesting, hypothetically, with more Gaians around them.

Unfortunately, Kuja was not sure if their dragon companion could cross the ocean without resting. Thankfully, she had been trained for long flights and soaring above the ocean should be a breeze with few stops. Nevertheless, Kuja would rather be prepared with various supplies to sustain themselves as he had no idea what awaited them on the new continent and how long their trip will last. His supply consisted of dried meat and fruits, few potions and ethers. Of course, Zidane could not leave without these two new shiny daggers he had just discovered in the Desert Palace. These weapons should be convenient since Zidane had become a dagger prodigy fast.

Surprisingly, their trip only ended on their second day after resting on one of the tiny islands of an archipelago for one night. That day, as soon as they saw a wide land and a mountain chain, they knew their destination was near. For the first time, they were able to get a glimpse of the spreading Mist in a mass quantity to the point it appeared like a thick poisonous fog. However, thanks to their Genome nature, neither Kuja nor Zidane were affected by the corrupting and hardening effects the Mist had on the Gaians' minds over time. From the ground, they noticed the Iifa Tree roots scattered around at random spots, though without proper knowledge, it was quite difficult to distinguish the Terran tree's roots from a regular giant tree. Certainly, no Gaians suspected these roots to be the cause of the Mist or to take their origin from another far-away continent.

Unfortunately, with the Mist floating around, the ground level of this continent was bare of sentient lives. Only few monsters and animals could survive without going insane from too much Mist absorption. This was not so different from the wildlife they found on the Outer Continent. The ground level of this new continent was of no interest.

However, on the higher grounds of the continent where the Mist was too scarce to represent a threat to the Gaians, life was spread with so much greenery and living things. This looked nothing like the rare forest's spots on the Outer Continent. The woods were filled with a rich wildlife and infinite amount of edible vegetation, the plains where bursting with vivid vegetation and smaller animals, and more interestingly, towns and cities were established everywhere. When Zidane seemed more interested into finding new fresh preys and sweet fruits to devour in the wilderness, Kuja sought to meet these true Humans Garland had spoken of back on Terra.

But meeting with them exposed the brothers to danger. Kuja dreaded that another incident like the one with the Summoners could happen with Zidane again, if the boy was not careful enough. As they were both oblivious to many Gaian customs, Zidane might still be, in some way, an innocent brat who could act like an annoying devil to the Humans at anytime. He could commit into more crimes that were unknown to the Genomes but obvious to a Gaian.

Before they settled for a new place to call home on this continent, the brothers spent the next month visiting each village, town and city. They were making sure there was no dislike of foreigners among their citizens by the fear their tails might strike more fear into the minds of the people as with the Summoners of Madain Sari. However, they realized their extended appendage might not bring that much attention from the Gaians when there were so many diverse sentient creatures roaming in this new world. Aside from Humans, those ones looking like Genomes without a tail that made up most of the inhabitants, there were other creatures walking and communicating among them. These anthropomorphic personages with humanoid bodies bore physical features of animals, mainly their heads, limbs and skins. They were just as any walking animals that were parts of the civilization and that were equal to Humans. As they were part of humanity as well, Kuja decided to call them Anthropomorphs, a term which was shared between him and Zidane.

Still, Humans dominated this planet, and with such a rich diversity on the continent, two "Humans with a tail" might not be looking so abnormal after all, even when most of these anthropomorphic creatures sported no tails.

They began their trip to the beautiful country of Alexandria and its capital of the same name, where a rustic, yet gigantic and majestic castle with a giant sealed sword stood erect over a big town filled with excited lives. Around the town, the rich landscape provided them infinite number of crops and food. In the same kingdom, bathed in the eternal night, the city of Treno hosted entertainment and excitement to both noble and poor ones of this land.

Then they stopped to the country of the most powerful nation on the continent they now knew as the Mist Continent. This was where stood the gigantic city of Lindblum, where a peaceful regent ruled, despite its biggest military and its most technological advancements. According to Garland, this was where the technology of airships fueled by the Mist took birth, which caused the peace to rise among people and wars to stop.

Then lastly, they visited the kingdom of Burmecia, the only land on the continent that was not led by Humans, but rather anthropomorphic rat-like people sworn by honor who held peaceful relations with the Humans and all others. Poured under eternal rain on the ground level of the Mist Continent, this was the only part of the lower lands where there was no Mist thanks to the constant rain. In this country also stood another gigantic tree surrounded by an unconquerable sand tornado sustained by magic from within.

Now that they had visited all these places, how to start a war? Kuja could not simply request the people to fight each other and then be good with it. He had to find a way that will involve all these three grand nations without the need to stain his own hands with the blood of so many.

Having a younger brother of seven who was now speaking more fluently than ever, here came the never-ending questions from a bratty child.

"What's a war?" Zidane asked his brother who sighed at him. As they were stuck together sitting on Mahila's back in the sky, Kuja knew he could not escape the questions this time. At this point, he better just played along.

"According to Garland, a war is when two nations or more fight each other because of conflicting beliefs and ideals, involving the people from each nation in a way or another." Kuja tried keeping his explanation as simple as possible.

"What's an ideal?"

"Hmm, it's like a life goal."

"Oh," the boy added, lost and uninterested by the answer. "Why you want war?"

Despite his constant progresses with his speech, Zidane still spoke broken sentences at times.

"Because…" Kuja stopped for an instant, realizing that Zidane will not understand whether he kept his explanation simple or not. The boy's attention span and even his short-term memory for these kinds of long informational sentences were shorter than the hairs of his tail. "That's it! We are just following Garland's orders!"

"So, we can murder?"

It'd been always intriguing, and even funny, to see this innocent-looking child who had taken the habit of using the word "murder" rather than "kill". To Zidane, "murder" was as casual as "tree" or "animal". He must truly share that same curious passion as his older brother to watch things die. It must be an instinct that Garland had anchored in them as Angels of Death.

"No, we won't kill," Kuja said. "We will prompt the war, but we won't kill. The others will."

"Oh."

That "Oh" sounded rather disappointed. Whenever Zidane said that word, Kuja knew the boy was not certain to understand anything. However, Kuja was pretty sure Zidane grasped at the "no kill" part. In these times of peace and observation, there had not been much actions going on in their lives. A monster kill or two might bring him back to a better mood.

"How we start war?" Zidane inquired.

"I… still do not know…" Kuja admitted, taking an embarrassed gulp.

"Why we not use Invincible again to murder?" The child's face lit up at the idea he thought to be the brightest ever. How funny the boy was not aware that he could control the Invincible as well, but Kuja would rather not tell him how. Despite his memory worthy of a flea, Zidane remembered well each details of Madain Sari's destruction with the Invincible.

No wonder, its destruction was a sight of marvel.

"We cannot," the young man told. "Remember what Master Garland said. It will take years to be recharged and restored."

"Why?"

That was it! Zidane was doing this on purpose, he knew it! It had to be! His patience having left him, Kuja took a huge breath and put up his most infuriated expression. "Stop it! Spare me of your dumb questions!" Kuja yelled, and expectedly, a bratty, satisfied grin crawled up to Zidane's happy face. Watching his big brother lose his temper over silly things amused him, as if Kuja's impatience triggered his satisfaction. Perhaps this was Zidane's rebellious phase or he saw this as a game which he always won.

As the researches had taught Kuja, one of the better bases on how to start a war was to amplify the corruption in the minds of the world's leaders. Corruption had triggered several wars in the ancient Terra, and Kuja was certain this basis will work on Gaia as well. As all the grand nations were enjoying a lasting peace, he had to find a catalyst, a weak point in their souls.

But how exactly will he approach a leader? Unlike most of the citizens, the leaders were out of reach from the commoners, and from a cultural point of view, both Kuja and Zidane were deemed as lowest commoners. Leaders were guarded and protected by countless of underlings, making them near impossible to meet from their stance, at least in good terms.

His guts were telling him that the best place to start studying for a possibility to meet a leader was to make home to an area full of nobles, these wealthy, important people of higher ranks among the society. Treno, that city radiating under the eternal night, should be his best bet. Unfortunately, having to remain in the city for long had to force them to hide their dragon Mahila from the Gaians with the fear of causing a commotion among the citizens. However, since they had no place to call home yet in the town, both brothers would come back to the woods where their dragon hid for the nights to set up their fortune camp. And when they'll find a home in Treno, Zidane reassured her he'll come to visit her every day. Kuja had never been sure if the Silver Dragon actually understood their speeches and language, but Zidane seemed to understand her feelings.

From her instincts, perhaps she understood Zidane's feelings too.

After a day walking around Treno, the first thing they made note was that no one truly paid attention to the brothers' presence in town as they were only part of the crowd. Unlike the Summoners who did not seem to appreciate foreigners, the Gaians here were more akin to the Dwarves who did not mind having outsiders roaming around with so many diverse sentient creatures walking among everyone. However, unlike the Dwarves who loved meeting new people, the Gaians here, Humans and Anthropomorphs alike, did not care of newcomers and they ignored the Genomes.

That was until they noticed their tails.

Even with such diversity among Gaians, there was something that all Humans and the Anthropomorphs lacked, and that was a tail. With the only exception of Burmecians who lived together as another nation, no other sentient races part of the humanity on Gaia actually sported a tail. Having the presence of two Humans with a furred tail had spurred few curious eyes on them. Sometimes when the brothers were looked at for their appendages, they might received negative feedbacks from the most talkative ones, whether the commenters were nobles or poor people living in the slums.

Seeing no one willing to cooperate with them, Zidane took the bad habit of responding to all with a hateful growl which usually scared away the others. Kuja had to teach him to calm down each time. Still, as most people chose to ignore them despite their tails, they were able to observe the ways of the nobles and the others without having to hide or cause a ruckus, which was a convenience for them.

And it was during these observations on nobles that Kuja learned what type of attires they liked to wear, and thus, he came with the idea to wear noble outfits. For years, the brothers had been wearing these cloaks on the Outer Continent or these simple garbs from Terra. Kuja's tailoring skills should come in a good use, but creating entire new outfits without the proper materials was beyond his reach right now. Because of their lack of sewing and tailoring equipment, Zidane's thievery skills came in handy when he was able to steal two complete outfits for them. Unfortunately, these clothes bore no holes where they could fit their tails, so Kuja had to tear a hole into their pants. He then used a sewing kit that Zidane had stolen to make sure these holes won't be torn apart from the continuous movement of their appendage.

Finally, after few days, each wore a proper attire that might draw the nobles' attention on them on a more positive means.

However, that did not completely go as expected. Now, they looked like normal nobles that no one knew, so to the other nobles, they were wealthy strangers of no importance. Even when they'd noticed the tails, they would turn away without a word.

If using noble attires did not work, then perhaps they needed wealth. How will they earn money fast, then?

Taking advantage of his little brother's ability of thievery again, Kuja requested Zidane to steal money from the nobles. This was an easy task for him, but knowing nothing of the value of each monetary pieces, they discovered that each steal wasn't worth that much. For a day, however, they got enough to spend some times in a café where they might hear more gossips from the wealthy ones of Alexandria.

That time spent in the café had been more or less fruitful. Two noblewomen began to squeal with delight at the discovery of this strange, unknown noble child with a tail, saying how adorable he looked. This was the first time Gaians ever found an appeal on their furred appendage and Zidane did not seem to like the attention he was getting. When the women noticed the older brother, they were swooned over his endearing, delicate appearance despite his tail on his rear. Unlike the child, Kuja was rather pleased with that attention and praise.

So, not all Gaians were truly alike as they would either hate, love or ignore them. This meant they will have to find specific targets to influence… And this was no easy task, especially when they knew no one here.

Zidane was getting more annoyed by the two women until they decided to buy cakes and sweets for the brothers. Now, food was something Zidane liked, and as soon as they offered him the food, the child gladly devoured them, much to Kuja's shock.

Only at the eating part that the noblewomen began to manifest disgust and grimaces over the brothers. Watching Zidane eating the cakes like a mindless savage animal turned them away and they even felt offended. No noble should be eating like this, they told the brothers as they walked away with a snobby humph.

This was how Kuja discovered that their path to become part of the nobles will be harder than he had planned. Not only he will have to wear their attires and gain wealth, but he will have to act like them. While Kuja had always been more culturally refined than Zidane in everything, he was not certain how strict the nobles were with acting, speaking and even eating manners. Of course, Zidane's way of eating might have gone a little too far from a noble's point of view, but Kuja will have to do all he could to teach him how to eat slower and more delicately.

Zidane hated how he had to adapt himself to these wealthy Gaians.

Days followed, and all these times spent listening to others in the Treno cafés brought him few advantageous facts that might be useful to his goals.

To put it simple, should they get closer to a world's leader, they must become known influential figures. To be influential to the world, they will need wealth, great ideas that will please the leaders and be noticed by them. Currently, they possessed none of them, but Kuja will find a way. All these things together will not guarantee to meet a leader, but they will surely push the chance to.

But gaining money and rising his wealth won't be easy. Stealing money from the nobles was certainly not enough. People earned money by providing services in exchange for money, but even working hard will not be enough to rise among the nobles. They had to find something else more profitable.

Kuja and Zidane walked around, visiting all sorts of areas, and they discovered few work fields being more lucrative than others. But there was one part in town where they stumbled upon so many Gaians of all sort, most having attires that showed much of their skin bare. Kuja was not sure why, and Zidane decided to call these people wandering in this area dumb because the permanent night hovering over Treno caused the weather to be colder here. However, something about the people's attires in these parts of the town attracted Kuja's curiosity. Exhibiting their bodies as such seemed to appeal him as if he'd find himself endearing if he was to wear these kinds of clothes.

And when a passing older nobleman approached them and proposed to give Kuja a huge amount of money if he will spend the night at his home with him, Kuja seemed intrigued by the offer, especially with that much money involved. However, Kuja refused to leave Zidane alone outside and he requested that his younger brother accompanied him too. The man was surprised by the suggestion, but he was fine with the request. He responded something about getting "two beautiful tailed hookers for the price of one", which neither Kuja nor Zidane understood.

Everything went well when the brothers accompanied the man and his guards to his house. The home turned out to be more than a modest manor, nearly at the level of the Desert Palace, except much smaller and with pieces of arts and large rooms scattered everywhere. Instead of being allowed to observe the arts and everything else, the nobleman led them quick to what appeared to be a personal bedroom.

And this was when it went downhill, when the man shut the door behind him, enclosing both Kuja and Zidane with him in the room. The noble invited them to sit on his gigantic bed, which they did. Soon, the man began to caress Kuja's slender cheeks, smiled at them and gently asked them to strip naked.

Not understanding the situation at all, Zidane began to take away his clothes by starting with his pants. Now Kuja finally grasped what truly was happening. He had seen this in Madain Sari before, though he had never paid any heed to it as it didn't concern him nor his goals for world domination. He knew exactly what the man intended to do with them.

"Put back your clothes," Kuja ordered Zidane in their telepathic link. Astounded by the order, Zidane complied, and suddenly, rage waved over the nobleman.

They were going to leave without a word until the man called a guard, ordering the tailed brothers to stay and comply with his commands if they wished to earn the money. Kuja let him know that he was no longer interested with the money, but this did not discourage the man from stopping. The man gone mad, he threatened Kuja to keep Zidane as a slave after killing Kuja. Both brothers oddly calm, they did not retort until a guard caught Zidane by his collar.

Before the child did anything against the guard, the silver-haired young man raised a hand, whispering something the noble and his guards couldn't understand, but Zidane heard Kuja in his mind.

"Zidane, get away from them, now."

Zidane promptly moved away from the guard by kicking him in the stomach and he rejoined his brother. Without waiting for the Gaians to move, Kuja shouted, "Flare Star!"

A carnage, a burning house, no survivors and especially no criminals for this crime found; a twisted fate that brought satisfaction to the Genome brothers. They watched from afar as the nobleman's mansion crumbled under the raging flames, wherein his roasted body will be part of the new ruin within the city and his disgusting soul will join the Mist.

The only regret Kuja came with this incident was that they should have stolen the man's wealth before murdering and destroying the mansion. If they did, perhaps they would have acquired enough wealth to become true nobles.

Thanks to this strange experience, Kuja discovered the meaning behind the word "hooker" and the concept of prostitution. Even if this meant easy money by selling their bodies to provide body pleasure to another, Kuja refused to ruin his own body or his brother's for the sake of money. They will never stoop that low for such puny things like riches. They were special Genomes. They were Angels of Death!

Funny, though. This was also how Zidane learned the concept of "modesty". While Kuja already possessed some level of it programmed into him, growing under his older brother's care for his entire life didn't help Zidane as the siblings had shown themselves bare a lot of times without shame.

Well, thanks to this, they had learned more of the Gaian culture.

It was during another daily stroll that they took interest into the widest structure of Treno. Standing over a clear crystal lake and opened to the public, the place welcomed a crowd from all countries. Kuja had taken notice of this place before, but he paid no attention. However, the bigger gathering grabbed his curiosity this time. Zidane had never been too keen of crowded area, which might be why they never put more interest into this place, but Kuja had learned that they must get used to being part of a crowd. Even if Zidane was to become a violent bratty kid again against all these Gaians, Kuja should always be available to control and appease him.

In this crowd, even with several tailed Burmecians present, Kuja and Zidane's tails did not go unnoticed.

And this was what Kuja wanted; to be noticed.

Kuja was taught this stadium hosted a great card game competition the Gaians called Tetra Master. This might be the most popular game among the sentient creatures of this planet, whether they were collectors, competitors, casual players, noble people and poor folks alike; a game reuniting everyone as equal opponents wherever they came from. It was a game so huge and grandiose even the leaders of the world sometimes came to this card stadium to compete against the others.

Leaders of the world, right. Exactly who Kuja sought to meet.

But to meet a leader by competing, they must learn how to play this game, a game Kuja had never heard before. Surely, none of the books from their home in the desert ever mentioned the game anywhere, being a game created by the Gaians… Thankfully, the competition was free of charge. This stadium only served as a way to win bragging rights if one won through all the games, of course. Basic cards were provided to all new players to get a good start. From now on, Kuja decided that he and Zidane will learn how to play Tetra Master. If it'll take years to meet with one leader, then that will be enough for Kuja's plan to begin.

Sadly, the day had yet to come. However, the most unexpected occurred after their first weeks of games.

Kuja's bratty younger brother, the one who he claimed to have a horrible attention span, had discovered his hidden talent for this card game. Zidane had become an expert in Tetra Master among the champions.

Kuja questioned Zidane's talent for Tetra Master. For someone so young and so distracted, how did the child become such a fantastic player? Even Kuja himself, despite his preprogrammed genius mind, could not beat his brother in a simple card game. In all honesty, Kuja was only an average player, winning about half of his games. While Zidane had lost most of his games at first, he quickly rose in ranks the more he played. Months later, Zidane even came second in one of the biggest yearly competitions involving nobles from around the world, only beaten by a lady from Lindblum. Unfortunately, no leaders were involved in this competition, but Zidane's feat had rarely been accomplished by a child so young before. Child geniuses did exist before him, but currently, he was the only boy to rank as one of them.

Thanks to Zidane's newly found talent, people had begun to take interest into that tailed kid prodigy in Treno along with the tailed young man accompanying him all the time. People assumed Kuja to be his father, and when asked about it, Zidane tossed the comments away and corrected them by revealing that Kuja was actually his older brother. Since Zidane's rising popularity among Tetra Master's players and even beyond, Kuja and Zidane were soon known in the city as the famous Tailed Brothers.

Since then, rumors about them began to circulate among the citizens, some claiming that they were a hybrid of a human and a monkey. Another rumor that had yet to be confirmed was that they were outstanding magic users, which coincidentally was true for Kuja. Whether the rumors were of negative or positive natures, they amused Kuja.

Soon, outside this card stadium, nobles paid them riches just to try to take on the tailed kid, believing that a child could not defeat an adult in this card game. Unfortunately, Zidane won most of the games. Of course, he could not win all games, but most of the wins by the nobles were achieved by pure luck.

But one day, along their moments of games and times spent with competing against nobles, something was about to take another turn when a wealthy old Human lady invited them for a game to her home, above Treno's most famous Auction House.

When Zidane and the old noble lady sat together around the golden table, ready to start their card game, Kuja took a stroll around the immense living room, checking upon the sumptuous décor with pleased eyes. As in many past nobles' houses and mansions, there was a guard following Kuja wherever he walked. Kuja assumed this was a protective layer to avoid any thievery act or worse from any guest. Yet, having been the guests of so many noble houses recently, Kuja was used to the careful eyes the guards were giving him. Today was no different.

However, a voice in his mind brought him away from admiring the well-carved furniture he'd been looking at. "Kuja, she always smiles at me. I don't like her."

As if a silly joke was crossing his mind right now, Kuja chuckled, earning an odd blinking eye from the guard following him. The man questioned Kuja's sanity for laughing suddenly in the middle of nothing. "Don't worry. Just play along," Kuja told Zidane remotely, not the least worried.

"So…" the lady began, keeping up with her soft smile while adopting her most calming voice like she'd been tenderly caring for lost children. "Boy, you and your brother are known to all as the Tailed Brothers, but we have yet to learn of your name." She put up her first card on the table and she gazed at the child with the warmest of the eyes. "Would you be so kind to introduce your name to me?"

Narrowing his brows in confusion, Zidane pouted at the request. He appeared rather uninterested and unimpressed by her. Hesitantly, he laid his first card on the table while he said, "Zidane."

"Interesting, Zidane," the old lady commented on the boy's answer, amused by his lack of interest. Flicking through her deck of cards, she replaced each card carefully with her fingers, thinking of her next card move. "Don't you have a surname? Certainly, Zidane is only your first name, right?"

Once again, Zidane became lost in daze at the question. Did Gaians really have the habit to be given two names? This was a strange concept which shut him into silence.

Knowing the child was not willing to give a proper answer, she still had not shifted from her calm stance. The lady put her second card, at the same time asking, "And would you like to introduce me to your brother's name?"

It was only now Zidane noticed the lady's second card had actually bested his first card. Stunned by his first lost, Zidane stuttered for an answer. "Huh… K-Kuja…" he said, not paying much attention to the rest of his deck and he pushed a random card at a random case.

"Kuja, that's a sweet name," she hushed as she put her third card, which, strangely enough, had not touched any other cards. "You know, I might be old and cranky, but I find him to be a very good-looking young man, like an angel from heaven."

Kuja overheard their conversation and he pondered, lost in thoughts. He had heard the notion of heaven before, but he knew this was nothing but a tale to one with a privileged knowledge of the planets' cycle. Heaven did sound like an appealing afterlife, but unfortunately, he was aware where death led a soul to.

Unexpectedly, the lady continued to praise on Kuja's endearing appearance behind his back. "Yes, delicate-looking features, long soft hair, pale complexion… You know, Zidane, Kuja looks so much like my old best friend."

Now, this was getting intriguing. This might be a useful knowledge, to Kuja, at least.

"B-Best friend?" Zidane asked, more disoriented and not paying much concern to anything anymore. As he put his third card, he just discovered it was devouring up most of the lady's cards. The child was now leading the game, and joy rushed through him. "Yes!" he exclaimed with pumping fists up.

"Yes, a dear, beautiful young man, long ago…" the woman reminisced of her past, her caring calm turning into nostalgia when she seemingly lost herself in thoughts. However, her fourth card was placed with a certainty, away from the others cards like she was confident to win. "We were going to get married, but he had been killed in combat during the old war."

"Oh, okay," the boy said simply, unsure what kind of answer the old lady had expected from him. She was speaking of complex subjects and it was too much for him. He laid his fourth card, which won over two cards in a combo attack, but he couldn't get himself to feel delighted about his current lead. "Kuja, help! She noisy!" he begged his brother in their minds so he will continue this complicated conversation with the woman in his stead.

"This is a rather regrettable story." Kuja finally came to the rescue, sparing Zidane of more speech. Now Zidane could focus on the rest of the game, except with what to expect, he wasn't sure where his last card should be put on the board. He had lost so much focus over the lady's blatant speaking that he no longer was certain to win this game. Kuja continued, "I apologize for your loss."

"Oh, no, it is I who is sorry!" the lady kindly protested, turning to Kuja. "I am the one who's been ranting about the past. It's been so long. You both were probably not even born yet." She threw her last card which appeared to be the most powerful one. That card stole away all of Zidane's cards in a long chain of combos.

Blinking at his last card, Zidane confirmed that he had lost the game. Defeats were rare, but it always brought a disappointed pout over the boy's lips. He let the last card fall over the rest to admit defeat.

But the woman had not let her smile go. She did not look happier or sadder of her win. She patted on the child's head, saying, "Zidane, you should have won. Your cards were far superior than mine, but my advice is that you should never listen to your opponents' ranting, whether they are sincere or not." She then blushed with her next statement. "You know, I used to be a Tetra Master champion back in my younger years, but in these days, I am nothing but an old wealthy noble woman."

This certainly was a special old lady. With everything she had told them so far, she seemed to be filled with experiences.

Exactly the kind of person Kuja pursued and needed.

If everything went well, he might be able to influence her enough to let her teach them everything they must know about Gaians.

"Milady, may I ask your name?" Kuja asked, this time, putting on the most charming of his soft smiles.

Flustering from Kuja's words and mannerisms, the lady's smile turned shy. "My name? People know me as Lady Queen, the owner of Treno's Auction House. Rare are the ones who know me by my true name. I am Josephine Tribal."

Author's note: To tell the truth, I really suck at Tetra Master. The fact that this mini-game is mandatory during mid-game is one of the reasons I will never attempt a speedrun of this game.

Yeah, I know the term Anthropomorph is dumb, but I realized FFIX features so many anthropomorphic characters that are somehow still "Humans" in the world of the game (well, except the Burmecians and the Qus). The oddest ones are Baku (looking so much like a furred pig / bat anthro) and Doctor Tot (big beak bird nose with lot of fur and claws). Even though they got these animalistic features, we still think of them as full Humans.

The Don Corneo scenes from FFVII kinda inspired me for the scene with the nobleman and the Genome brothers, so I'm imagining that nobleman to just look like him, lol.