Chapter six:

Yes, I have taken way too long to get back to this. Anyway, to answer some questions. How does Jason keep from going insane? He chooses who's thoughts he listens to and who's he doesn't listen to. And why does Meg want to conquer things? Oh, you'll just have to keep reading. Wouldn't want to spoil the story, would I?

"I was so scared... I couldn't do anything..." Vivi said, looking down at the floor. Zidane and Dagger tried to comfort him while Jason kept looking around somewhat nervously. This place stank of Megan's psychic presence. What had she done down here?

"Next time, try saying something aggressive. It surprises the attacker and empowers you," Zidane offered. Vivi looked up at him.

"Like what, Zidane?"

"Like... Get off me, you scumbag!" he shouted, jumping into a defensive stance. That caught everyone by surprise, even Jason, who hadn't been concentrating. Vivi nodded.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind," he said softly. Zidane nodded, looking proud.

"Anyway, Vivi, why don't you go back to the hotel. I'm going to go on ahead to see what's going on here," Zidane said. Vivi shook his head.

"I wanna come with you... I wanna find out more about this place. They thought I had something to do with it, so..."

"I got it, Vivi."

"I, too, would like to come along. It's obvious this place has something to do with Alexandria Castle," Dagger said, glancing to the barrel with the mark of her castle.

"What about you, Jason?" Vivi asked, seeing the nervous look on his face.

"Oh... sure, I'll come with," he said, knowing perfectly well what this place was all about, but thinking it would be better to keep it to himself. He couldn't give that much thought though, because he knew that Megan was about to make her next move. He had a sneaking suspicion that they would have an encounter soon.

The group moved through the hallway to the next room, where they saw the strange machine making... eggs?

"What is that thing?" Zidane wondered aloud. Jason repressed the urge to blurt it out. His gut told him it would be better this way.

"It seems to be making-" Dagger began.

"Eggs. I agree," Jason cut in. She was off put for a moment, then remembered he was supposed to be psychic.

"Where did you find Jason, anyway?" Dagger asked Zidane.

"The Evil Forest. No clue how he got there-"

"I was dropped there by an inter-dimensional mix up," Jason put in. Everyone sighed. Jason pointed to the door leading behind the machine.

"Look. Something's coming out of the cracks in that door," he said, trying to change the subject.

"Mist..." Zidane said. The group approached the door and flung it open. They were immediately attacked by a group of ghosts.

"Ahh! I'm scared of ghosts!" Vivi said. Dagger patted his shoulder reassuringly, and Zidane and Jason got rid of the things. Jason found that his attack had little effect, which made sense; how could a ghost have a brain? However, he did have a bit of fun tying it up with the silk from a Carve Spider he created. With that out of the way, they moved into the back room.

"That machine is sucking up mist... and turning it into those eggs?" Zidane speculated. The others were at a loss for words. Jason nodded in agreement, though. They headed on through the building, examining the various parts of the assembly line. Meanwhile, Steiner badgered the Old Man Morrison for information. Finally he was informed that the cargo ship had already landed, and with that he dashed off. Meg was overseeing the crating of the Black Mages, and would soon be commandeering the ship for her own purposes. First, she would move on to Treno and rally support from the nobles... she would need funding for her mission. Eventually she would sneak into Alexandria Castle and take over the Queen... then it would be easy enough to defeat the other nations of this continent. Yes... funding for infiltration supplies. After that, it would be simple conquest. Little did Meg suspect that Brahne was already being used as a puppet.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" Dagger exclaimed as Zidane shoved the others into the assembly line.

"No time to explain, someone's coming!"

Before anyone had a chance to argue, the four of them had been crated up and placed in a barrel. If Megan had been paying more attention, she might have noticed the psychic presence of the others in that last barrel, but she was busy getting up to the helm of the ship. She did see that man, Steiner, though, trotting toward the loading dock with the look of a determined ball of lard, bouncing as he went with his elbows plastered to his side. She chuckled at the funny sight, but paid him no mind. Just as soon as that last barrel was loaded, she could leave. Knowing the people here would be competent enough to load it themselves, or at least hoping it, she returned to the helm to prepare for takeoff.

The appearance of Steiner, waving his sword about like a madman, screaming "PRINCESS!" at the top of his lungs, scared the men out of their wits.

"That guy's crazy!"

"Run!"

They abandoned the last barrel and rushed underground. Steiner reached it, huffing and puffing, grumbling about mendicants. Suddenly, the barrel moved.

"What's this? A moving barrel?"

He examined it further, seeing that the mark of Alexandria Castle was plastered on it.

"What could her Majesty possibly be doing in a run-down village like this?" he wondered. The barrel shook again.

"I've had quite enough of this!" Steiner declared, poking it with his sword. It shook violently and fell over, spilling out Zidane, Dagger, Vivi and Jason. Zidane rubbed his ribs.

"OUCH! You stabbed me, Rusty!" he jested. Steiner was infuriated.

"You'll have much worse done to you when I'm through with you. Princess! What were you doing in that barrel?" he demanded. Dagger stood and shook her head out.

"It's kind of complicated. You see-"

"I cannot allow any of you to go any further," a cold, mechanical voice declared. All eyes turned to the floating form of Black Waltz 2.

"Princess, come with me. I will kill the others for you," it said, sneering at them. Dagger was taken aback, Vivi looked broken hearted from seeing something like a black mage being so mean, Steiner was has arrogant and ignorant self, Zidane got ready to beat it up, and Jason suddenly realized that Megan was onboard the ship. She really was commandeering an army of those Black Mages... but did it really concern Jason? Not as much as the Waltz did.

"Wait. Who sent you? Why are you here to take me?" Dagger asked.

"Princess, stay there while I kill the others!" it said.

"It doesn't want to talk... let's beat the stuffing out of it!" Zidane declared. Jason agreed, and prepared to use some creature forms. The Waltz zipped about them a bit before charging into them.

The battle progressed rather simply. Zidane stole some things from it, Dagger healed whenever necessary, Steiner and Vivi used magic, and Jason used his Goblin Form. He wanted to save some MP, because he had a feeling that another big fight would be coming up. Soon enough they had defeated it, and Jason looked up to see Megan staring down at him from on top of the airship. She smirked.

"Last chance to join me Jason. Looks like we're going our separate ways, unless you're coming to Treno," she said. Steiner cursed under his breath. This ship was supposed to be going to Alexandria, or to Zidane and Dagger, Lindblum.

Zidane looked at Jason. "You know who this crazy girl is?" he asked. Jason wasn't really listening, but he nodded.

"Meg, I want nothing to do with you. I happen to know that my friends here have some very important business to take care of in Lindblum, and I intend to get them there!" he shouted. She chuckled a bit.

"Catch me if you can!"

With that, she turned around and went to start the airship up. Jason was off in a flash, and Zidane, trusting his instinct that this was their best chance to get to Lindblum, followed. Steiner, not wanting Zidane to get away, chased after him. Vivi and Dagger didn't want to be left alone, so they headed in pursuit as well. They all managed to get up on the ship before it took off, but they encountered some problems. Meg had turned all deckhands to stopping them. With no choice other than defending themselves, the group slashed through the mass of Black Mages. Jason moved the fastest though, running past most of them. When he got up to the top of the stairs, a group of Mages circled around him, and suddenly he realized that he had made a serious mistake here. Meg left one mage to pilot the ship, and she approached Jason casually.

"Well, well. Didn't I tell you that your actions would land you in trouble, Jason? You don't seem to have a way out now. And of course, you've expressed a lack of interest in joining me. As such, I no longer have use for you," she said. Jason smirked.

"Don't lie to a fellow psyker, Mega. It's very unbecoming. I know that you can't accomplish your goals on Earth without me. Unless you can find a replacement here on Gaia, which really doesn't seem that likely."

Meg let a hint of rage show on her face. "I can always get some other psyker back on earth and train him," she said defiantly, but unsure of herself. Jason shrugged.

"Fine. Kill me. But keep in mind I can do the same to you instantaneously," he said, eyes dilating a bit as he focused on his attack. She showed a bit of fear, but once again did not let it stay.

"You can't kill me either, though, because you need me to get back to Earth," she proclaimed.

"And why would I want to go back? If you're going to be there, it doesn't sound too appealing," he responded. Voices came up from the floor below.

"What's going on up there?"

"Hello, Jason?"

"Are you okay?"

He took note of that, but more pressing matters were at hand.

"If that's how you feel, why haven't you killed me already?" Meg wondered.

"That's a good question. Maybe, because unlike you, I happen to have a sense of pity. Also, I don't think you can win in your bid for dominion, or in this little standoff. Call off the mages, or I might change my mind about pity."

"Jason, you really are stupid if you think I can't conquer this world. You have no idea what you're messing with-"

That was all she got to say. Jason had heard enough, and sent a blast of energy through her mind. It wasn't enough to kill her, but they needed to get to Lindblum. She fell limp to the floor, and the mages seemed disoriented for a while. But soon enough they went back to their tasks, and the mage at the helm changed course for Alexandria. Jason called down the ladder.

"Come on up you guys. The situation is stable," he said. The others climber the ladder, Vivi looking depressed as ever.

"None of them will talk to me. It's like they don't even notice that I'm there," he said softly. Dagger and Steiner tried to comfort him, while Zidane moved to the helm to change course to Lindblum; he knew this ship would be heading to Alexandria, both by instinct and by his knowledge of what the ground looked like from an airship. Jason looked over Meg's body.

"No, I don't want to get rid of her yet... I might want to go home when all this is over... and then I really could use her. I just hope she can stay alive and out of trouble until then," he said to himself. He went into the helm to speak with Zidane.

"We need to set down. Megan has to be dropped off here," he said. Zidane looked over at him inquisitively.

"Yeah? What's with her anyway?" Zidane asked.

"She's a very powerful psyker, like me. We have different qualities to our abilities, of course, but she is still very dangerous. I only stunned her for a while, because she's going to be of use later on, but only if she's alive. But keeping her with us will be a big mistake. So we need to drop her off here," he said. Zidane shrugged. "Sure. We probably should go back down to get some rest. Run it past the others."

Soon enough everyone knew what was going on. They all agreed that it had been a rough day and they could use some rest. But how to keep the mages from taking off with the ship? It probably had a schedule to keep. Zidane decided that he would stay there while the others rested up. After all, he only needed to drink a potion and was fine. Everyone else needed to rest up for his or her energy.

In a few hours, they were all back on the ship, and Megan had been dropped off in Dali. The rest of the trip would be quite an adventure.