Chapter 10

"No way!" Zidane shouted. Jason smirked.

"Yes way!" Jason responded, feeling giddy and light-headed as a combination of exhaustion and sudden elation.

"How'd you pull it off?" Zidane asked, practically leaping with excitement.

"I don't know...there was this girl, Reiko, and we started talking, and before she left to go make dinner, she kissed me on the cheek," Jason explained. Zidane sat down on his bed and laughed.

"Wow. You're smoother than I thought, Jason. Did you use some sort of spell on her or something?" he joked. Jason shook his head.

"I couldn't have, even if I'd tried. It was like she turned off my psychic abilities somehow. No girl has ever been able to do that before. It's kind of got me worried," Jason mentioned. Zidane wore a thoughtful look.

"I can understand why, but I wouldn't let it bug you. It's easy to lose yourself when a pretty girl talks with you," Zidane said. Jason nodded.

"And she was pretty. Legs that looked like they could kill a Mu with a single kick," Jason remembered.

"Wohohohoh! Jason scored a hottie!" Zidane exclaimed. Jason smirked.

"I guess I did. Hey, that reminds me, for some reason or another. Why are you back so early? Shouldn't you be taking Dagger for a night on the town or something?" Jason remembered.

"Ha! Like Rusty would ever even let me take her out of the castle unescorted, much less to some restaurant in town. And anyway, I kind of slipped up, so she's a little upset with me. I did manage to convince her to go on a date with me if I won the Festival of the Hunt tomorrow, though. So I signed both of us up and decided to come back here early for some rest," Zidane explained.

"Sounds good to me," Jason agreed. The two of them grabbed a quick bite to eat from Bobo's and then went to bed. Tomorrow would hold many tiring events.

Just as the sun was rising on the next day, the black mage army had been assembled outside of Gizamaluke Grotto. Even the famed General Beatrix had come to accompany this skirmish. She, Kuja and Megan were given guard duty to the Queen, who in her mercy had spared Zorn and Thorn, despite their failure with the Black Waltzes. Zorn and Thorn were leading the charge with the mages, but they didn't have to worry; the Burmecian soldiers were barely strong enough to hurt the twin Jesters, much less defeat them, especially with the mages swarming around everywhere.

Megan had noticed a single Burmecian soldier make it out of the Grotto alive, but she didn't think twice about it. He was wounded and could not possibly make it far enough to warn Lindblum with all of the Mist monsters roving about. Besides, she had other matters to tend to. For instance, she needed to find Kuja and have a talk with him. She had mentally overheard something very interesting in Brahne's mind, and as his assistant needed to inform him of it. It figured, she thought, that when she finally had something to say to him, he would be off somewhere. Probably gone off to start terrorizing Burmecia on his own, she guessed. He seemed to enjoy that sort of thing.

"Sorry I'm late," Zidane said as he entered the guestroom of the castle with Jason. "What's up?"

Of course they both had a good reason for being late. When they had left, Jason decided he could stand a trip to the weapons store, since he was for the most part unarmored. While there, Jason noticed a strange looking, silver headpiece in the back, and it had taken a while to convince Dragoos, the owner, to let him buy it. It seemed to be worth it, though, because Jason noticed his psychic senses seemed to be keener after he put it on. Then of course there were the beasts that had been released ahead of schedule. That certainly didn't speed up their trip - the town seemed in a state of sheer pandemonium.

"Good," said the man in charge. "The hunters Freya, Zidane, Jason and Vivi are all here," he declared. Vivi jumped back, shocked, and gripped his hat in frustration.

"What do you mean? I never signed up!" Vivi shouted. He had just been there to cheer the others on.

"Oh, I thought you'd do good, so I signed you up, Vivi," Zidane said. Vivi looked at him angrily.

"What?!"

"That was very inconsiderate, Zidane," Steiner said.

"Come on, Vivi, with your black magic, it should be a synch," Zidane said encouragingly. He knelt down next to him and whispered something in his ear.

"Me and the Princess?" Vivi shouted. Zidane shushed him under his breath.

"What about the Princess? What evil are you plotting now, Zidane?" Steiner accused.

"Nothing, right Vivi?"

"R-right."

Jason was highly entertained by this interaction, but at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder about Reiko. She was supposed to be participating, so where was she? Probably starting from some other place. Still, the beasts had been released early, and she could've been caught off guard or something. Worrying, he decided, would not change anything, so he focused himself on the task ahead.

"You will all start from different districts. Hunter Freya will start in the Industrial District, Hunter Vivi will start from the Business District, Hunter Zidane will start from the Theater District, and Hunter Jason will start from the Residential District. What do each of you want as a prize?"

Jason became confused at this point, because the air cabs had never offered the Residential District before. And didn't people live with their businesses? It had to be rich folk, Jason gathered.

"I'll have an add-on," Freya said.

"I'll go with gil, all the way," Zidane said.

"I'll take a card, please," Vivi said. Jason wasn't sure.

"Um..." His mind raced. What might Reiko want? What?! That wasn't like him. Snap out of it, he told himself.

"A ruby," he said, without really knowing why. Probably because it would make his headpiece more powerful.

"Alright, so that's an add-on, gil... a card.... And a ruby. Hunters, to your starting points! You will have twelve minutes once you get there. Good luck!"

The four of them headed out, each boarding the appropriate air cab. Steiner and Garnet got on the last air cab, which took them to the observing platform. They cheered for Vivi, since he was the only one that both of them knew and really liked. It didn't matter to any of them, though, because they were completely absorbed with the battles.

Just as Jason departed from the air cab, he thought he saw a flash of brown go past the doorway that led out into the street. He rushed out and turned, and indeed a Fang was rushing after some helpless person. Jason concentrated on the Fang and used his psychic attack. The thing fell over dead without so much as a whimper. Jason was amazed; this new headpiece was amazing! Then again, he had probably gotten a lot stronger since when he first fought with Fangs, so his attack was not that much stronger. It only seemed that way.

The person turned around and thanked Jason with a yelp before rushing indoors. With that, Jason headed off in search of more creatures to defeat.

Freya was hopping from rooftop to rooftop, striking down any beast she saw on her way. It was almost too easy for her.

Vivi started off afraid, but when he saw how effective his magic was against the monsters, he gained confidence and became a deadly competitor.

Zidane was doing well; the only thing holding him back was that the beasts seemed to be very well dispersed. But when he did find them, they didn't last long.

And Reiko had found her way to the same district that Jason was in. She had started quite a distance away, but she moved quickly as there was almost nothing to defeat where she was. And they almost ran into each other as Reiko turned a corner, but Jason had stopped to use his attack on a trick sparrow that was flying at him. When Reiko appeared in his line of sight, he almost flinched, but instead just shouted.

"Duck!"

She raised an eyebrow but did so, and the trick sparrow flew right through where her head at been, then fell down dead. Jason took a heavy sigh.

"If you hadn't ducked, I might have killed you right there. I don't know if line of sight affects my attack," he said. Reiko looked down at the dead bird, then back to Jason.

"You did that? How? I didn't even see you move!" Reiko demanded. Jason smiled.

"My mind, remember? Call it a psychic attack," he said. Reiko tilted her head to the side.

"Psychic... attack?" she said, trying to make sense of it.

"Yeah. Basically, it... well, let me demonstrate," Jason said, seeing a Mu scuttling off somewhere. He focused on it and his eyes dilated some and suddenly the Mu fell over, dead. Reiko could barely believe what she was seeing.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" she shouted. "How did you..."

"I was born with it," Jason explained. She stared at him, dumbstruck.

"I never knew that such power existed in the mind," Reiko said, staring into the distance.

"Well, I would've explained it to you earlier, but I couldn't focus. I think this headpiece here helped," he said, indicating the piece of silver on his forehead. "It helps me concentrate."

"Wow. Well... I guess the hunt goes on! I'll see you at the finish, Jason!" Reiko shouted, starting to head off.

"Wait," Jason said. Reiko turned and approached him.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Here's one for good luck," he said, leaning in and placing a quick kiss on her lips. Then he turned and dashed off. "Good luck!"

Reiko stood there stunned. What a mysterious boy this was...she would like very much to see him again. But right now she had beasts to fight. She turned and headed down the street, spotting a Fang that seemed to be asking for a beating.

As Jason ran around the corner Reiko had come around, he had to wonder what he had been doing back there. He shouldn't have even stopped to talk, much less kiss her! It seemed Zidane had been right; the body's wills were very difficult to overcome. But he could worry about that later. There was a Festival to be won.

The Burmecian soldier retracted his sword from a creature that looked like a pumpkin and a hedgehog combined in some overall very unattractive form. He was bleeding and his vision was blurred with sweat and weariness, but he pressed on. He needed to ask Lindblum for help. The fate of both countries could very well depend on it! He had just finished climbing the unbearably tall mountain, since the Dragon's Gate had been shut tight. Something resembling steps had been carved into the stone, so the climb had not been much different than a long climb up a ladder. A very, very tall ladder.

The soldier wiped the sweat from his brow.

"I must endure! For the King's sake," he said to himself. He pressed onward to the castle gates.

"Hey pig! Turn this way!" Zidane shouted. The Zaghnol turned to him and roared.

"Damn, you're ugly!" Zidane said. From out of nowhere, Freya appeared.

"Allow me to assist," she offered.

"Fine, but I get the final blow. I've got a date with Dagger on the line!" Zidane said.

"...As you wish," Freya said. Before blows were flung, Zidane noticed something shiny in the creature's salivated maw.

"I'm gonna regret this!" he said to himself as he rushed up and pulled out a pair of Mythril gloves. Before he could return to a safe distance, though, the Zaghnol heaved its mighty tusks and sent Zidane skidding away.

"Damn... that hurt," he said. Freya skillfully plunged her javelin into the giant pig, and it let out an agitated roar. It followed up by blasting Zidane with a bolt of thunder. Freya looked at him in disdain.

"You fool, Zidane. You should know better then to attack a beast like this when not in full health," she thought to herself. Zidane wasn't moving much. By the rules, that meant he had retired. While Freya dealt with the beast, Reiko was having a dangerous encounter of her own.

The first thing Reiko had noticed about this district was that it was huge in comparison to the other districts - she had spent ten minutes in it, never running out of things to kill. But now, with two minutes left, there was a problem: a group of angry Fangs had cornered her. There were five of them, and she was getting low on energy.

"Damn... these things are gonna rip me apart," she thought. "Well, at least I can go down fighting!"

The first Fang leapt at her, but she stepped to the side and sent a punch into its head. It fell to the ground, and the other four decided to rush at her. She picked one, ran at it, and used its head as a springboard to jump past them. Two Fangs ran into each other, but that just got them angry. The leader was back up, and another one had already circled around her. Now they were going to come from all sides.

"Won't my dad be upset," she thought. The circle tightened and the Fangs growled at her. But just when she thought all was lost, the Fangs turned their attention away from her. She followed their gaze and saw that Jason was coming! She smiled wondrously; though she detested being helped by anyone, this was a special circumstance, and a special person. But something was wrong. Apparently Jason's attack had a cool down time, because he was only able to shoot one of them down before the other four leapt on him.

"JASON!" Reiko shouted. She ran to him, hoping he could concentrate enough to get some of them off. She felt a huge surge of fear and anger that these Fangs would take away her good friend, the first boy she had ever kissed and ever wanted to kiss. In her heart she was sure of it. The emotions swirled, and suddenly, she was glowing a bright purple. She didn't have to ask herself what it was, even though she wasn't sure. The words, as they tended to in Trances, came to her.

"Burning Rave!" she shouted. She found her hands cupped in front of her, and a fire seemed to be growing in between her palms. A ball of fire shot from this blaze and seemed to enter a Fang, freezing it. Another three fireballs shot out and froze the others. With that, the fangs caught ablaze, and fell off of Jason, all dead. Reiko was exhausted, and the purple energy left her. She fell to her knees, breathing heavily. Jason got up slowly, bite marks all along his arms and legs. He hobbled over to her weakly.

"Reiko... you saved me back there," Jason said. She smiled weakly at him.

"Only after you saved me," Reiko reminded him.

"So then, I guess we saved each other," Jason said. Reiko grinned.

"I guess we did."

Then she noticed his wounds.

"Jason, you jerk! You promised you wouldn't get hurt!" she jested. Jason laughed.

"No I didn't, I only said that I wouldn't, there's a difference between that and promising something," he explained. She smiled at him, enjoying his very different personality. He didn't seem like he had anything to hide, about himself or anything he had been involved in. That kind of brutal honesty about oneself was something that could get a person to hate you; obsessing over small details like that instead of pleading guilty in front of the girl was not something you would normally expect. But Reiko valued this in a person; it made for a good martial artist, or for that matter, any other kind of warrior. It was a quality not many people had.

"Come on, we've gotta get you to a doctor," she said. Jason dismissed it with a wave, though.

"The Festival's over. Let's go to the castle and find out who won. I know someone there who is a white mage," he said.

"Really? Who is it?" she wondered.

"Princess Garnet Til Alexandros."

WOH! I bet Reiko's surprised! What ever happened to that Burmecian soldier? Who won the Festival? Freya, probably, Zaghnol is worth a huge amount of points. But nuking four fangs at once is pretty powerful stuff! You'll just have to read the next chapter to find out!