Final Fantasy: Ancient Divines

by Diran Jiru

History's dangers return. Bereit and his companions must fend against a rising anomaly that is returning long forgotten dangers.

4. Chapter 4

p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: large;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Chapter 4/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"3/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"rd/span/span/span/sup/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;" person/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit, Imbir and Vanessa were all following the military man to wherever it was they were being escorted to, yet to be told to them. Currently, they were in the middle of the open dunes of Holhen. /span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"To Vanessa, this was her first time she got in trouble with the authorities and got caught. "And the reason we're coming with you, is?" Vanessa asked the military man, her hands in her coat pockets./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"That's classified information. It will be explained to you in time." The military man answered, keeping his eyes forward./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa groaned, rolling her eyes. She leaned to Bereit, placing her hand on the right side of her mouth, to cover it from the military man. "Do you always get in trouble with authorities?"/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Not often. But when we do, it's usually me getting in trouble." Bereit answered honestly./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Wonderful." Vanessa said sarcastically. She then looked at the military man, finding a crest on the back of his armour familiar, it being a lion with it's mouth open, and a claw reaching out to the back, making it look like it was reaching for her. She recognized the symbol, knowing where they were heading now. "Are there any questions we're allowed to ask, or is it all classified?" Vanessa asked./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I'm unauthorized to tell you anything until we arrive to Mauer." The Military man answered./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa groaned again. "Sheesh."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"A good amount of the travel was complete silence, just the sound of their boots against the sandy grounds. The military man stood to a halt, his hand coming out, to signal the others to stop. They remained silent for a second, until they felt a slight rumble on the ground. "Get back!" He shouted, as he drew the sword to his side./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The ground then erupted in front of them, rocks and sand flying all over, as a creature made of dark brown stone came out. It landed on the ground, half of it's body revealed. It had a jaw made of stone, along with it's body. It crawled out, showing it walked on four legs and it's eyes being a bright orange./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The others drew their weapons, the military man spotting what they had. "You, girl! Fire you gun! You too, for yours as well!" First talking to Vanessa then Imbir./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa looked at him. "That was the plan!" She said, then firing her gun, the bullets breaking through the stone on his body./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir did the same, but loaded a bullet with a clear line across it, and fired it, the bullet digging into the side of it's head then exploded, it making a loud ringing sound for a second. The monster roared, and ran away immediately, digging back down the hole it came from./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa holstered her gun, having a slight confused look on her face. "For a big monster, it really was scared of a few shots."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"It has highly sensitive ears. So the sound of gun fire and..." The military man then turned to Imbir, unfamiliar with Imbir's weapon. "What is that weapon you have, sir?" He asked, dropping the explanation./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I made it myself. Call it a pistol." Imbir said, being vague, holstering it./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The military man nodded. "I see. It's an interesting weapon. Perhaps you would be willing to share it's schematics?" He asked, then sheathing his sword. "You would be paid handsomely."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir shook his head. "The last people I would trust a weapon of my own creation is to the military of Holhen." Imbir said. From the sound of it, he was completely honest about not giving it up to anybody./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I see, that's unfortunate." He then turned forward. "Anyway, let us continue." He added, continuing forward./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The travel took sometime, Vanessa beginning to complain about her legs getting sore, and Bereit and Imbir being far from sore. They came across more monsters on the way, now coming across new ones. One being a formless sand being, coming from the sands, a vulture like bird, and more of the wolf like monsters, some being bigger or having a different fur colour./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"After all of that, they made it to the city of Mauer. The entrance had a massive draw-bridge, two guards standing by the front of it. The city was surrounded by giant walls made of stone. "Whoa..." Bereit said in awe, all standing under it's shadow./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir and Vanessa didn't seem to have impressed looks. They simply waited for the draw bridge to come down to be let in./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Welcome back, Sargent. I see you retrieved the suspects." One of the guards said, bowing to him./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Suspects?" Bereit spoke up, not knowing that was what they were seen as./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The Sargent turned around. "We have heard about the recent shooting in the hideout of The Terror Bringers in The Koloss. Or at least one of their hideouts. They were targets of the military, and we have reason to believe you three have caused the recent event." The Sargent explained./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"We had a job there, but we didn't kill anybody." Imbir pointed out, he was about to explain more, but the Sargent's hand went up./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"You can explain it to The General." The Sargent said, then turning to the two guards. "Bring down the bridge."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The guard to the left nodded and turned to the draw-bridge. "Let down the bridge!" He called out./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Inside, there were two more guards that turned giant valves, making the bridge slowly come down, loud metal chains grinding could be heard. The four watched the gigantic draw-bridge come down, the ground gently shaking. "Come with me." The Sargent said, walking forward./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa looked at Bereit. "If we get arrested and put in the same cell, I'm kicking your ass." Vanessa warned, pointing at him./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Don't worry, we've got our story." Bereit pointed out./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa didn't really want to put her trust in him, but she didn't have much of a choice. "Yeah, I guess we do."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The three followed The Sargent into the city, to Bereit's amazement, he saw tons of buildings everywhere. Compared to the last town they were in, this one was way more lively, and filled with all sorts of signs and people. Smiths, Tailors, shops, there were so many. "Wow..." Bereit whispered to himself, looking all around him./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"1/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"st/span/span/span/sup/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;" person/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I was so disappointed that we weren't here on our own. The city was so huge, and sprawling with life, I was amazed. I wanted to see it all. It wasn't like anything back at Ozean./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"3/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"rd/span/span/span/sup/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;" person/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Aww, man." Bereit said, seeing there was a bakery shop to their left. "Can we at least stop to eat?" Bereit asked, looking at the Sargent, sounding like he was begging./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I'm afraid not." The Sargent said, then walking forward./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit slumped forward, sighing. "Fine." Bereit had quite the sweet-tooth, especially with stuff from other places in the world./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"If you somehow get us out of this mess, it'll be my treat." Vanessa offered, although her tone wasn't very serious./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I'll hold onto that." Bereit said, then standing properly./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"They continued their way to where The General was suppose to be, making their way to a castle, thinking The General was in there. Bereit saw that there were some people that were looking at Imbir. He remembered that Imbir did mention he used to live in Holhen for a while, so he figured these people knew him. It made him a bit nervous, hoping nothing bad would happen./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"There's people looking at you." Bereit whispered to Imbir./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Ignore them. They'll only cause trouble." Imbir said./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The Sargent then got hit on his back by a rock, as he turned to see somebody standing, his stance and expression showing he threw it. "What are you doing, arresting Imbir!? He couldn't have done anything wrong!" The man shouted, clearly defending Imbir./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yeah, Imbir would never do anything like that! You're clearly just looking to arrest him for doing some good but seeing it as a crime!" Another man spoke up. Bereit looked around, seeing that these people were really defending Imbir. As nervous as he was getting, thinking that a riot could start, he was glad that Imbir was seen as a good person./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Stop! Everybody!" Imbir spoke up, there being total silence from the people. Bereit had a surprised expression, from how quick that came out of him. "It's all just a misunderstanding. We're going to explain everything to The General. Don't take it out on him, he's just doing his job." Imbir explained to the crowd, showing his hand to The Sargent, taking full responsibility of the situation./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"1/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"st/span/span/span/sup/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;" person/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"That was about the first time I heard Imbir raise his voice. He was usually quiet all the time, or spoke in a low tone. It was interesting to watch. He handled that crowd so well, it made me wonder if he should do the talking to the General./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"3/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"rd/span/span/span/sup/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;" person/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The person that threw the rock nodded, dropping his defensive stance. "Okay. After you come back, be sure to drop by, it's been a while." He said, as more began to say the same thing./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir remained silent, then continued to walk forward with the others. "Sorry about that. The people here are more about the common folk than the military." Imbir explained to Vanessa and Bereit./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Honestly, I was pretty impressed. I would have thrown a few rocks at him myself." Vanessa said./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"So, these people know you?" Bereit asked./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yeah. I worked here for a while, helping others. I never got gil out of it, but I always gave a helping hand when it was needed." Imbir explained, showing his history with Holhen, or what little there was of it./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit actually found that nice of Imbir, to help people and expect nothing in return. He could only wonder why he gave such a cold shoulder to them now./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The rest of the walk was mostly everybody being silent, and Bereit admiring the scenery. There was a fountain that had Alexander in the middle, spraying water out of it's body. They also came across a group of people making music, all women using a violin, using a drum, and another singing. He spotted there was a violin case, where there was gil inside of it. Bereit really wanted to give gil to them, but he didn't bring any. "Maybe when we get the cash for the last job" He whispered to himself, trying to remember that./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa pulled Bereit by the collar. "We aren't sight-seeing." She said in an annoyed tone./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Ow, ow- okay, sheesh." Bereit said, pushing her hand away. "I was just looking at the musicians."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa looked at the women making music, as they were growing distant from them. "Like I said before, if we don't land a spot in jail, we'll look around the city. Maybe then you can watch them."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit rubbed the side of his neck, where his collar pushed again when Vanessa pulled on it. "Okay, okay." He said, in a disappointed tone./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Does Mauer really interest you that much?" Vanessa asked, really wondering what it was with him./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"What's it matter to you?/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I'm new to big cities. ====/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yeah. I'm not used to big cities like this. I live in Ozean." Bereit answered./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"You live in Ozean!?" Vanessa asked, in a surprised tone. "I've always wanted to see the beaches there! Are they as beautiful as they say!?" She asked, getting close to him./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I've seen them many times./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"They're gorgeous. ====/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit took a step back, from her standing so close. "I never get enough of them. Sure, the sand is crazy hot at day, but the sights of the ocean are just the best." Bereit answered, starting to think of home. "Along with the wilderness and that waterfall near home..." Bereit started to feel a bit sad, wanting to see home again. He could whenever he wanted to, but it was such a travel to get there./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Wow... do you think you could take me there?" Vanessa asked, holding his hands, starting to blush./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit started to blush as well, seeing how she held his hands. Not exactly something he was used to feeling. "I-I... uhh..."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I'll have to see with The Captain./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Of course. ====/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Y-yeah. I could take you someday." Bereit said shyly./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yes!" Vanessa shouted, jumping in excitement. "Yes, yes, yes! Oh my god, if you weren't such a trouble-making weirdo I would kiss you right now!"/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Weirdo?" Bereit asked./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Hey, hurry up." Imbir called out, interrupting their moment, The Sargent standing right next to him./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"C-coming!" She called out back to Imbir, then going to them, then turning to Bereit. "Can't wait." She said, then turned again to catch up with Imbir and The Sargent./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Weirdo..." Bereit repeated to himself, then catching up as well./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"They eventually made it to the castle, Bereit surprised by the size of it. He came across a few when in his years of work, but this one was different. It was made of stone, and he could see pipes coming in and out of it./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Sir." The two guards said, seeing The Sargent./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I have the suspects. I'll be taking them to The General for questioning." The Sargent told them./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Very well. The General is inside, at the barracks." One of the guards said. The Sargent looked at them and motioned his head, telling them to follow./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"They walked through the door, to see the throne room, the main hall of the castle. The banners of the lion symbol were all over, with big windows on the walls. There were guards all over, in different parts of the room./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Sheesh. How much security do you need?" Vanessa commented, finding the amount they had ridiculous./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"This way." The Sargent said, leading them to the left, where there was stairs that lead lower inside the castle./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit saw somebody sitting on the throne, and another one, although nobody sat on that one. He followed the others again. "You there, in the black coat!" A female voice called out./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit figured it was him she was talking about. He turned to look where he heard the voice, it being The Queen on the throne. Bereit looked at the others, The Sargent motioning his hand to The Queen. "Oh crap..." He whispered to himself, then walking to her, to see why he was being called out./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Standing in front of her, he could see her in detail. Her white dress, her long orange hair, and her blue eyes. He could also see some wrinkles, and some earrings on her, being big red jewels. "You're a Frozen Heart, are you not?" She asked, seeing her blue eyes look at him./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Y-yes ma'am, er, your highness." Bereit said, bowing awkwardly./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Good." She then looked at the guard to her side. "Retrieve the letter. You, stay where you are." She said, first talking to the guard then Bereit./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa was watching with an eyebrow raised, wondering what this was about, Imbir wondering the same./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"A minute passed, and then the guard returned with a letter in his hand and handed it to Bereit. He looked at it, seeing the same seal as the banners in the room. "Deliver this to your captain. That is all." She said, dismissing him./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"br /"Uhh, thank you." Bereit said, bowing again and walking back to the others./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa looked at the note. "What was that about?" She asked./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. But it's for The Captain." He explained, at least what he knew./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Well, remember to show it to him when we get back." Vanessa said. "Or... if." Still iffy about them getting out of trouble./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The four then walked down the steps, to come across two hallways. One with a sign that said, "Barracks" and another that said "Jail cells."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa gulped in nervousness, as The Sargent lead them to the Barracks. After walking down a few more stairs and hallways, coming across other guards that wore different armour, greeting The Sargent. They then came across some people training, that all had only pants and tank-tops on, and seeing a woman with an orange pony in a strangely fashionable outfit, thinking that was The General. They walked in, as The Sargent brought his hand to his chest. "General. I have brought the suspects."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The General turned to look at them, her having a few scars across her face, and her brown eyes staring at them. She walked up to Imbir, looking at him. "Imbir, I'm surprised to see you in Holhen again."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir remained silent./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"br /The General moved to Vanessa. "You are?"/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa stood straight, her arms and legs straight as well. "V-Vanessa, ma'am! I am one of the witnesses of the recent shooting in The Koloss!" Vanessa said, speaking loud and clear./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"She raised an eyebrow, and then looked at Bereit. "Turn around." Bereit was getting nervous again, but did as he was told. The General got a clear view of the symbol on his coat. "I knew it." She whispered to herself. "They're innocent." She announced, looking at The Sargent./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit was surprised to hear her just say that, rather than demand proof./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa sighed relief./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir had a suspicious look. "What brings to that conclusion?" As much as he was glad to hear that they were innocent, he wanted to know why she didn't want proof./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa had a nervous look, wondering why Imbir would ask that./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The General looked at Imbir. "Our scouts reported the sound of automatic rifle firing. You're carrying a revolver, and I know how you work, Imbir." The General explained, first looking at Vanessa then Imbir. "And as for you." She said, looking at Bereit. "Your crew doesn't work with murder. So you're all proven innocent."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The three looked at each other, Vanessa sighing in relief again./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"However..." The General spoke up./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Oh come on." Vanessa whispered./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"In all technicality, you have intruded with Military work. As much as a crime this can be seen as, we can come to an agreement, should you accept it." The General explained./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"It depends on what this 'agreement' is." Imbir said, crossing his arms./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Nothing shady. Just a simple monster exterminating." The General answered. She then turned to the people training. "Push-ups." She called out to them, the people then all lied on the ground and started with their push-ups./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Up in the mountains, more scouts have spotted monsters that have been acting strange. From what they said, they've been foaming from the mouth, and staying near hiking roads. We're lucky there have been no reports of citizens being attacked." She explained./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"And we're tasked with exterminating them?" Bereit asked./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Correct. We will have chocobos prepared for you shortly outside the city. Take care not to be bitten by them." The General warned. "They've been located near a hiking path towards the mountains. You'll see it when you get there." The General said, reminding of their location. "You are dismissed."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Thank you, General." Imbir said, then turning around. "Yeah, thanks for not arresting us." Vanessa added, then walking off too./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit didn't say anything, but felt a hand on his shoulder, then looking to see The General's hand on it. "I heard what happened to your chocobo. I'm sorry." She said./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"It was a rented chocobo, but it was horrible to watch it die like that." Bereit said, looking down./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Don't worry. We'll give it a proper burial. You have my word." The General vowed. It was completely a waste of an army's time, but it seemed The General had a love for chocobos, or so it seemed./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit smiled. "Thanks." He said, then walking off to catch up with the other two. They left the castle through the entrance, as Vanessa threw her arms in the air. "Thank... GOD we aren't going to jail!"/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"You seem to really hate the idea of going to jail." Imbir pointed out, looking at Vanessa./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Well..." Vanessa put her arms down. "I don't really like the idea of being in a cell with a criminal, you know?" Vanessa said, looking back at Imbir, then at Bereit./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I get it."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Anyway, about that hunt." Vanessa said, changing the subject. "Do you think we should hunt for them on foot, or do we run in there on chocobo?"/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit put a hand on his hip. "Well, maybe with a well placed shot, Imbir could use one of his bullets to take one all down in one go." Bereit suggested./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"It depends on the terrain. If they're under something destructible, I could use a high explosive shot. Or, a flame bullet to set them on fire, then Bereit you two could finish them off while they're in a panic, rather than have them run towards us." Imbir explained./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I'm good with that." Bereit said, then looking at Vanessa./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"That could definitely work." Vanessa said in agreement./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Then that's our plan." Imbir said, then motioning his head, telling them to follow./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit and Vanessa followed along, Vanessa placing her hands in her coat pockets. "You know, you guys really are good at handling situations like this without showing any sort of weakness." She walked in front of them and turned to look at them, walking backwards. "I mean, that General chick kinda scared me, and yet you two kept your cool like it was nothing."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit shrugged. "I just see her as another person, nothing special." Bereit's tactic seemed to be seeing everybody as a person rather than what they were, but really, it was ignorance, not knowing what The General could have actually chosen to do for punishment./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I knew she wouldn't do anything rash, because I know her." Imbir answered. "She's in power, but she judges fairly."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"You know a lot of people, don't you?" Vanessa pointed out./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I lived here for a while, but I moved." Imbir explained./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"But how do you know the General?" Vanessa asked./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir paused for a second. "We knew each other when we were younger. Not for long." Imbir answered./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Oh, okay." Vanessa said. "Not what I was expecting, honestly."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"What did you expect, a love story?" Bereit joked./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Well, it would be cute." Vanessa said, blushing a little, her eyes turning to the side slightly. She then looked behind herself, seeing she nearly bumped into somebody. "Oh, sorry." She apologized, then seeing the entrance of the city, and their Chocobo that waited./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Okay, let's get this done. I'm starving." Vanessa said, walking forward./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"1/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"st/span/span/span/sup/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;" person/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I was honestly really glad we saved Vanessa. She really was energetic, although sassy. Then again, what girl doesn't have a little sass in them?/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"3/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"rd/span/span/span/sup/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;" person/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"They looked at the Chocobos, these ones looking different. They had armour on their body and head, with the lion symbol on their chests. They got on the Chocobos then rode off to their destination. Like the last time, some monsters tried to catch up to them but none could even get close. But they noticed that these Chocobo were faster, and seemed to be more tough on the feathers./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit knew that these Chocobo were trained to fight, run, and endure. He could tell because he heard of their method of raising their Chocobo. They were given poisons to endure, to toughen them up. They were never injected with enough to kill, but enough to hurt them a lot, to get used to the pain. They were also put through tough obstacle courses. But when all of that was said and done, they would then be given food, a nice wash, rinse and repeat, until they were ready to be used./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"He pet the Chocobo's neck, seeing it didn't have any sort of reaction. He sighed. "Sorry buddy." He whispered to it. He understood that it made them tough, which meant they were stronger, but Bereit saw them as companions, not tools for fighting./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"After some more travelling, they arrived to the hiking path that the monsters were sighted. They all stopped and got off their Chocobo, looking at the mountains that towered over them./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Great... more walking... up a mountain..." She complained. "I change my mind... I want to go up with a Chocobo."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir looked at Vanessa. "Well, we could always used you as bait."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Oh, give me a break." Vanessa said, narrowing her eyes. "Okay, I'll climb it on foot." Vanessa changed her mind again, beginning to go up the hiking path, then looked behind, to see Bereit petting the Chocobo. "Bereit, let's go."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit had his hand on the neck of the Chocobo, scratching it, hoping he could get some reaction, but it didn't even look at him. Bereit sighed again. "I'll see ya soon." He said to it, then walking to Vanessa and Imbir./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Something wrong?" Vanessa asked./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit looked back at the Chocobos. "They don't even make a chirp." Bereit said, in a tone that made him seem sad./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Well, they're trained by the military, right?" Vanessa asked./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yeah, I just don't like the methods they use." Bereit explained to her. "Hard training, poison enduring... I just don't like that stuff being used on a Chocobo."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"It's the way the military of Holhen are." Imbir pointed out. "But if we just stand here and talk about it, it'll just bother you more. Let's finish this as soon as we can."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit nodded. "Yeah, sorry about slowing everything down."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Frankly, Bereit, I don't agree with their ways either. There are much tougher creatures they could use for fighting, but I am in no power to change their minds. And neither are you." Imbir said, looking at Bereit./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Agree. ====/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Disagree./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yeah... I guess you're right." Bereit said, then started going up the mountain. The other two followed along. After a bit of time, they could hear growling, snarling, in packs./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir looked at the two and placed a finger on his lips, telling them to stay quiet. They quietly snuck up to a crater, to find a group of chameleon monsters all together, at the bottom of the crater. From what they could see, there was seven, two big and the rest rather small. "Sneakers..." Imbir said, revealing what they were named. He then looked at his gun, thinking what would be the smartest bullet to use./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Okay, like we planned." Imbir said, turning his head to Vanessa and Bereit. "But this will go differently." He said, then pulling out a pullet with a dark green line. "I'm gonna roll this down there, and when they all gather around it, Bereit, you cast fire on it, and they'll cloak themselves into the ground, but they'll be on fire, so you can then use lightning and Vanessa can shoot at them."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa checked her gun, making sure it was loaded. "Got it." She said. Bereit charged fire around his hand, ready to throw fire./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit twisted the top of the bullet, then rolled it down, staying as low as he could./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The Sneakers all stared at the bullet that rolled down, all starring as it reached around them. "Do it." Imbir signalled./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit peaked and lunged his arm forward, fire charging around the bullet, and exploding, causing the chameleon monsters to light on fire, all running around very fast, cloaking, however the fire latched onto them showing where they were. Some died to the explosion, but some survived./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa then got up and fired her six shots, aiming for the two big ones, or what she thought was, getting at least one of them./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit aimed his shots of lightning carefully, missing three shots, until he got one, killing it./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir loaded an explosive shot and fired it to the side of the crater, and watched it explode, seeing two silhouettes of fire going out./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa reloaded her gun, but then felt the ground rumble. "What was that!?"/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The crater then erupted, as a stone monster, similar to the one they drove away while they were with The Sargent, came out from the ground. It then ate the chameleon monsters, and roared at the three, foam emitting from it's mouth./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Looks like we found another strange one." Bereit said./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Hey, our job's over, let's hightail it!" Vanessa suggested, backing up, not wanting to fight this./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"This thing is probably the one infecting the other monsters. We need to kill it." Bereit said, drawing his serrated sword and putting the fire away on his left arm./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"What!? How!?" Vanessa asked./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"We'll figure it out. Just avoid getting bitten." Imbir warned, then loaded his gun with a bullet that had no line on it./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"We could just drive it away, right!?" Vanessa suggested./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"We're killing it and that's final." Bereit said./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The stone monster charged at them, it's mouth wide open with foam flying out of the sides. The three jumped out of the way, Bereit reaching in to cut in the right side of the stone monster's body, leaving a small scratch./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The stone monster swung it's tail at Bereit, Bereit getting knocked back, landing on his back./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa fired her gun six times, seeing that each bullet only broke through the rock body a little, but she had a lot of ammo to use. She emptied her revolver, and placed 6 bullets in it as quick as she could, her reload however being slow./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The stone monster charged at Vanessa, her not paying attention for a second. She then moved away just in time, the monster turning immediately to her, going to bite her by the leg, but felt a large bullet pierce the right side of it's body. It jumped away and stared at Imbir, him being a good distance away, loading another bullet with no line on it. It dug it's hand on the ground and threw large rocks at Imbir./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir moved to the side, avoiding the large rocks. He fired another shot, nailing it on the arm, piercing right through the rocky arm. It fell to the side, roaring in pain./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit then jumped on it, and slashed at the back of it's head, trying to cut through as deep as he could./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The stone monster slammed it's own tail against it's body, trying to get Bereit. Bereit saw it was breaking through it's own stone, Bereit thinking he should make it continue to do that. The tail swings kept coming, Bereit avoiding them left and right, until the stone monster stood on it's back legs and leaned back, trying to crush him./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit jumped out of the way as quick as he could. He then rolled away and got back up./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit saw that underneath all that rock, was a pale white body."It's back is exposed!" Bereit called out to Imbir./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir nodded and loaded a flame bullet./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The stone monster then ran to the crater, where it came from, trying to escape. "Dammit! It's running!" Imbir said, running after it./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The stone monster was already going deep down the ground. It was almost free of them, but Bereit wasn't ready to let it run. He jumped down, charging lightning around his left arm. Bereit latched onto it's back, and rammed his fist into the broken part of it's stone shell, as he placed his hand on the open skin, and his hand blasted lightning right on it's body, the monster immediately stopping./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Everything went silent, hearing little rumbles of the rocks around him coming down, as then it was completely silent. Bereit stood up, as he watched the foam from the stone monster's mouth stop. Bereit sighed and wiped his forehead, and gasped as he felt shock from the lightning. He looked at his hand, seeing it was shooting small amounts of lightning, without him even doing it. He shook his hand, then looked up, realizing how deep he really was./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit! Are you okay!?" Vanessa shouted from the surface./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yeah, I'm good. Well, sort of. A way out would make me better." Bereit called out, cupping his hands around his mouth./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Hold tight, Bereit. I have a plan. It'll take me some time." Imbir called out. He turned to Vanessa. "I'm heading back to Mauer to get help. Stay here and watch over Bereit." Imbir explained. He then walked off to the chocobos, to ride off to get help./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa then sat down, looking down the hole. "So... what made you think it was a good idea?" Vanessa called out./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Hey, we killed it, didn't we?" Bereit pointed out./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"True, but now you're stuck down there. If it weren't for us, you wouldn't be able to get out of there." Vanessa pointed out as well, finding a bit of enjoyment in this./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Be cocky./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Be truthful. ====/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"If it weren't for you two, I wouldn't be alive. Or I might not even have put here in the first place." Bereit pointed out again, crossing his arms./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"1/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"st/span/span/span/sup/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;" person/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"But for real, I probably would have been dead if they weren't by my side. Either that, or The Captain would have been by my side for this one./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"3/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"rd/span/span/span/sup/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;" person/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"At least you can admit it." Vanessa said, smiling./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"With a bit of time passing by, Imbir made it back with two soldiers by his side, one carrying a portable ladder on the side of his Chocobo. They reached the deep hole Bereit was in, and threw the ladder down, the ladder being attached to a Chocobo./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit saw as the ladder came down, watching it hit the rocks and then stood still. He smiled and looked up. "Thanks Imbir!" He called out, then began to climb up the ladder./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The Chocobo stood completely still, as Bereit made his way back out. He climbed up the ladder, Imbir offering a hand, Bereit taking it and being pulled up./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Alright. Now, we can call it a mission accomplished." Vanessa said, looking at the two./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit nodded, smiling. "Definitely. Let's head back to Mauer, then head back to town, get our pay, and we can finally head to the ship." Bereit said, hiding his hand behind his back, hiding the lightning, feeling it begin to cool down./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"No need. We'll report to The General for you." One of the soldiers offered./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit smiled. "Sweet. Thanks." He said, then looking at the other two, seeing the foggy sun behind them, only realized now that it was sunset. "Hey, Imbir, don't you think this would make a good picture?" He asked, motioning his hand to the sunset./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir looked, agreeing with him. "Yeah, that looks amazing." Imbir said, then pulling out his camera and aiming it to the sunset. He then looked at Bereit and motioned his head. "Get in the photo."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit was had a surprised expression, seeing Imbir wanted him in it./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Get in the photo. ====/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Let Vanessa get in it instead./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Alright." He said, in a slight shy tone./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"1/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"st/span/span/span/sup/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;" person/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"What Imbir didn't know this was my first photo taken. Ever./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"3/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"rd/span/span/span/sup/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;" person/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit stood to the side of the picture, his hands on his side. Imbir motioned his hand to his right, telling him to move more in the direction. Bereit moved to the right, until he saw Imbir motion his hand, to tell him to stop. "There. Don't move."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Do a cool pose. ====/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Do a chill pose./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Do an edgy pose./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Stand normally./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit figured he should have some sort of pose for the picture, and he got one. He placed his hand on his hip and placed his hand on his sword, still in the sheath./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Cool pose. Nice." Vanessa commented, giving two thumbs up./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir gently placed his finger over the button, Bereit smiling for the camera. A shutter was heard from it, as then Imbir looked at it. "Come see it."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit and Vanessa took a look at the picture, seeing Bereit standing the way he did in front of the sunset. It darkened Bereit's image, but it made him look even cooler./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Damn... I look like a badass." Bereit commented, having a big smile on his face./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir had a small laugh, then put his camera away. "Okay, let's head back to the ship. It's about time we called it a day."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"What about that bakery that Bereit wanted to see?" Vanessa asked./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit shook his head. "Honestly, I just want to get back on the ship. I just want to rest for the day."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa was a bit disappointed that they couldn't go, but she had an idea. "Okay, you guys go on ahead. I'll get you guys something. Anything specific?" Vanessa offered./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit was surprised she was willing to go on her own. He thought about what he would want. "Anything with cookie n' creme. If that's not possible, anything with chocolate or vanilla." Bereit answered./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Anything with honey." Imbir answered as well./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Vanessa nodded. "You got it. Like I said, go on without me, I'll catch up with you guys." She said, then walking to the Chocobos and rode off on one. Bereit and Imbir got on their Chocobos, and went back to town. They collected their reward from Ruhe, and made their way back to the ship./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"As they got back on the ship, they both saw that there were crates of cannon balls right next to the cannons, the crates being low enough to hide behind the ledges of the ship./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"So, did you have fun?" Bereit heard a voice, The Captain smiling at him and Imbir./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Be sarcastic. ====/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Be truthful./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Oh yeah. Escaping a shooting, being taken to the army's barracks and fighting a monster infested with some sickness was my favourite parts of today." Bereit answered sarcastically./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I heard about that. You two alright?" The Captain asked./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir nodded. "Yeah. It's thanks to him we both made it out." Imbir said, knowing that The Captain would like hearing that./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The Captain had an impressed look on his face, then looked at Bereit. "Keep that up, and you'll take on tough jobs without me."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit couldn't help but blush. "You're just being modest." He then remembered the letter. "Oh yeah, you got a letter. From the Queen of Holhen." Bereit said, taking the letter out and handing it to him./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The Captain took it and looked at the symbol in the middle of it, smiling. "Speaking of letters..." He handed one back to him./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit looked at it and opened it, to see it was addressed to him. He opened it and began to read it. It was exactly who it thought it was from./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Letter/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"To: Bereit/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"From: Shanan/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Dear, Bereit,/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"It's Shanan, the lady in the Shrine of Shiva./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"How are you? I'm sure the messenger bird found you well. She is doing very well. She woke up, but right now she's kind of woozy, from some medicine I gave her. She had a small headache, so now she's a bit out of it for the time being. She was calling you 'pretty boy' over and over. It was cute, but she then started screaming it, and then fell asleep. Then there was her mumbling in her sleep. Her saying things I couldn't understand. I'm not sure if my medicine actually worked, or it's a side effect I have no idea about./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"3/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"rd/span/span/span/sup/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;" person (Bereit)/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit raised an eyebrow, wondering what was the point of this letter. He also wondered why Shanan didn't use the Summoner's name. It was an odd detail to leave out, that was for certain./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Letter/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Anyways, if you have the time, I hope you can return. She has something she wants to ask of you. She also said it's entirely up to you to accept it or not. Also, if you come by, please be polite. Not for her sake, but the children really are mad at you. The last thing I want is for the to grow up hating a stranger./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Sincerely, Shanan./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"3/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"rd/span/span/span/sup/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;" person/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit looked at The Captain, seeing he was reading it as well./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"That'll be our next stop?" The Captain asked, turning his head to him./span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit looked at the note for a second, and nodded. "Yeah. I've got some things to tell her too."/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Save your game to this point?/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yes/span/span/span/span/p
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-weight: normal;"No/span/span/span/span/p