CHAPTER 3
STERONN JUNGLE
"Ughhhhhhh..." Ramza groaned as his eyes opened. The first thing he noticed was that the sun was at just the right angle to be right in his face. He covered his eyes and sat up. He winced as a sharp migrane slashed through his forehead. He looked around and saw that he was in the middle of an exotic jungle. Palm trees grew up all around, bearing strange fruits of even stranger color. Bits and pieces of metal and wood lay all around him; probably what was left of the airship.
"Oh, no..." Ramza groaned as he forced himself to stand up. "Where is everyone?"
"So, you've come around at last."
This new and strange voice almost made Ramza jump ten feet. He whipped around to see a strange figure indeed. He was dressed in the armor of a Lancer, but this armor was unlike any Lancer Ramza had ever seen. This man's armor was pure black. The only things with any color on him were his face and his spearhead, which was silver. His piercing-blue, womanly eyes looked straight through Ramza and seemed as if they could see his past, present and future.
"Who're you?" Ramza asked.
"A stranger," the man said. "Your craft crashed in the thickest part of the jungle. You landed here. I've been watching you for a few hours."
"...Where's everyone else?" Ramza asked. "I was with other people!"
"Some others are nearby," the man said. He pointed to a little path between the palms. "They are washing by the river."
"I see," Ramza said. "Thanks."
Ramza left the man and walked through the bushes until he saw the river. Orlandu and Alma were sitting on the bank, filling their canteens and drinking from the crystal-clear stream. Worker No.8 was filling more canteens a lttle further downstream.
"Alma! Orlandu!" Ramza called.
"Ramza!" Orlandu said. "You're alive!"
"Brother!" Alma cried as she ran and hugged Ramza. "I'm so glad you're safe."
"There's only three of you?" Ramza asked. "Where's everyone else?"
"Don't you remember?" Alma asked. "Delita abducted most of them. Before we crashed, Orlandu and Worker No.8 were the only two people I remember seeing. I thought he had gotten you, too..."
"No," Ramza said. "I bet he has bigger plans for me."
"Have you seen anyone else?" Orlandu asked. "Do you know who else was taken?"
"I just came around," Ramza said. "A black-armored Lancer was with me, but he didn't bother to tell me his name. When Delita appeared on the airship, I know for certain that he took Rafa and Davis... I'm not sure about the others, though."
"Oh..." Alma said. She knew how much Ramza loved the caramel-tinted Heaven Knight. "I'm sorry, Ramza."
"It's all right," Ramza said. "We'll get her back... We'll get them all back."
"Master! You are safe," Worker No.8 said as he lumbered over to Ramza. "I am glad."
"Nice to see you too, Worker No.8," Ramza said with a chuckle. "Still, where are we, anyway?"
"You are on the continent of Steronn," the black-armored Lancer said as he came up behind them.
"Oh, him?" Alma asked Ramza. "I've never met him either."
"We're in Steronn?" Orlandu asked. "That IS where we wanted to go, but not like this..."
"Steronn is a desolate continent," the Lancer explained. "There are no humans anywhere on it, and no villages either. The only law is kill or be killed."
"Well, that's just great," Ramza muttered.
The Lancer walked over to the stream and looked into it. "You are the ones that possess the Chinese Zodiac Stones and the 'Taurus' Zodiac Stone, am I correct?" he asked.
"Yeah..." Ramza said. "So?"
The Lancer was silent for a while. "While we're on the subject of killing, I think you may want to go upstream. There's an item of business you might want to attend to."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Orlandu asked. Suddenly, the jungle's silence was shattered by a girl's scream.
"Good Lord, what was that?!" Alma asked.
"It sounded like a girl screaming..." Ramza said.
"Let's go see!" Orlandu said. Followed by Worker No.8, the trio ran off upstream.
"Your Majesty, I have converted all of Ramza's friends into loyal soldiers with the Sheep Stone as you asked," Gideon said as he opened the doors to Delita's master bedroom. As he looked up from his bow, his eyebrows raised quite high. "Oh!" he exclaimed.
"Hey!!! Have you ever heard of knocking?!" Delita roared as he gently pushed Rafa off of him and got out of bed. He quickly slipped on his underpants and a shirt and then walked over to Gideon. "Next time, make sure I know you're coming," he hissed at the zealot.
"A thousand pardons, your Majesty," Gideon said sheepishly. "But I had to tell you of the next part of my strategy."
"What would that be?" Delita asked. "You've already given me back my throne as well as new and powerful soldiers. What else is there?"
"Though we are able to control Ramza's followers with the Sheep Stone," Gideon explained. "...A few blows to the head will break the spell. We must find a way to make the manipulation last longer."
"How?" Delita asked, glancing back at the slumbering Rafa. He didn't want this golden opportunity to go slipping through his fingers like other ones had. Besides, he liked the way Rafa felt on him.
"The Chrono Zodiac Stones, my leige," Gideon said.
"The Chrono Zodiac Stones?" Delita asked. "Sheesh! How many sets of Zodiac Stones ARE there?"
"The Chrono Stones are fairly new," Gideon said. "They were created when Ramza used the Rooster Stone to send one of his friends back to his own time. The temporal field affected some mountains nearby and mutated some of the rocks inside of them into the 12 stones. Each one represents an important element in the planet's cycle; fire, earth, steel, electricity, sand, ice, forest, ruby, water, alloys, curses and love. Also, like the Zodiac Stones before, these stones can summon demons into the bodies that hold them. If we can get ahold of the stones and make the demons enter the bodies of Ramza's friends, the mind control will be almost permanent!"
"Hmmm..." Delita said as a sick smile curled on his face. "I LIKE it. I shall take my strongest troops and go to Zeratul to get these stones! You are in charge while I'm gone, Gideon."
"How will you get there?" Gideon asked.
"How do you think?" Delita chuckled as he pulled out the Rooster Stone and the Rabbit Stone. He donned the glistening gold armor of the Rabbit Stone and ran down the stairs.
"Wait!!!" Gideon yelled after him. "traveling a distance without traveling through time with the Rooster Stone will cause a serious temporal distortion! Your Majesty!!!"
Delita rounded up about 600 soldiers (none of which were very happy to see him) and used the Rooster Stone to transport them all to Zeratul. As they vanished from Zeltennia Castle, lightning flashed in the sky (this was very odd, considering it was a bright and sunny day).
"Hello! Who's there?!" Ramza called out as the foursome crashed through the underbrush into a clearing.
"There doesn't seem to be anyone here..." Orlandu said. Suddenly, the scream repeated itself.
"It came from over there!" Alma said as she pointed to a rather large bush. It kind of looked like an artichoke.
"Where are you?" Ramza said.
Suddenly, the bush started to move. After a few moments, eight huge, leafy tentacles shot out of its bottom and the leaves of the bush sank down to form a spider-shaped plant with a cage in its back. And inside of that cage was...
"Ramza, help me!" Ovelia cried.
"Ovelia!!!" Orlandu shouted. He pulled out Excalibur and faced the horrible beast. It hissed menacingly.
"What the heck is that thing?!" Ramza asked.
"I've heard of those before!" Alma exclaimed. "That's a Plant Spider! It traps animals in its abdominal cage and drains them of their bodily fuilds to feed itself... It's a really nasty creature!"
"We'll help you, Cid!" Ramza said as he pulled out his Chaos Blade. Alma yanked out a Gold Staff and Worker No.8 went into a battle stance.
"STASIS SWORD!!!" Orlandu yelled as he swung Excalibur and the Holy Sword attack shot down onto the spider. Unfortunately, it hit Ovelia too.
"Owww! Hey, watch it!" Ovelia yelled. "You want me to die again?!"
"Sorry," Orlandu muttered sheepishly.
"MBarrier!" Alma said as she cast the Clerical spell on Ovelia. "That should help."
"Attack!" Worker No.8 said as he ran up and punched the spider in the face. It recoiled back and then stomped forwards again.
"DASH!!!" Ramza yelled as he body-slammed the beast in the face. Sap dribbled from its mouth and it grew very angry.
"IVY THREAD!!!" The Plant Spider shouted as it opened its mouth and spewed vines all over the group.
"Aaaaagh!" Orlandu yelled as the vines flopped all over him. "I can't move!"
"Motor functions are ceasing," Worker No.8 said. "Initiate long-range attacks. CRUSH!!!"
Worker No.8 opened his chest and fired a huge blast of energy. The spider was hit so hard that tons of leaves flew out every which way. The monster growled again, and something very strange happened; little vines started wrapping themselves around Ovelia.
"Aaaahhh!!!" Ovelia yelled. "Helllllp!!!"
"He's sucking energy out of Ovelia and healing himself!" Alma said angrily. "What a sneak!"
"Hyarrrrrgh!" Ramza yelled as he slashed out of the web and stabbed the Plant Spider right in the face. Sap and leaves flew everywhere.
"GRRRRR!!!" The Plant Spider growled as it used its fangs to knock Ramza down.
"Ramza!!!" Alma cried.
The Plant Spider put one of its legs on top of Ramza to hold him down. Its two venom-loaded pincers clashed together as it leaned forward to give him a fatal kiss.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere a voice echoed through the jungle. "STOP," it said. Suddenly, the Time Magic spell materialized around the spider. The beast gave a sort of whine and ceased its movements.
Everyone watched as the black-armored Lancer flew down from out of nowhere and knocked the beast's head off. The rest of the body shuddered and dissolved. Ovelia sank to her knees and panted. "Whew... I'm free..." she coughed.
"Are you OK, Ovelia?" Ramza asked as he got up and walked over to her.
"I'm all right," Ovelia said. "Are you all OK, too?"
"Never felt better," Orlandu grumbled as he cut the vine webs off of himself. Worker No.8 lifted the other flora off of Alma and himself.
"Hey," Ramza said as he looked at the Lancer that still stood nearby. "Thanks for helping us."
"...My name is Everhart," Everhart said.
"My name's Ramza Beoulve," Ramza said as he offered his hand. Everhart took it and weakly shook it.
"I'm Orlandu," Orlandu said.
"I'm Alma," Alma added.
"Designation is Worker No.8," Worker No.8 beeped.
"My name's Ovelia," Ovelia piped up.
"This continent is very rough," Everhart said. "I will guide you to a place where we can escape it. Once we are off of this land we must return to Zeratul and recover your friends."
"All right," Ramza said. "Please, lead the way."
"Follow me," Everhart said as he walked off into the bushes. Ramza looked at his friends. They all shrugged, then everyone chased after Everhart.
"Can we trust him?" Orlandu asked.
"Well, he DID just save Ovelia," Alma smirked. "I think he's OK."
"I hope so..." Ramza said as they continued to walk through the jungle.
