Sorry about yet another late update. My muse, you see, went on a two week
vacation to Florida, and I couldn't find much inspiration. But now, for
your viewing pleasure, here is chapter seven! All cell phones and beepers
must be turned off at this time. Both exits have been checked and are clear
in the case of an emergency. Please don't dump popcorn on the floor, or
stick gum under your seats. The underpaid, overworked people who clean this
place will thank you.
Chapter 7
Lord Ochu
"This would be so much easier if we had chocobos." Nyk rubbed the back of his neck in thought. "We'd be there by noon today, and without any fiends bothering us."
"You don't see any chocobos around here, though, do you?" I said, gesturing to the trees around us. We had gotten up early in the morning, hoping to get to Luca quickly. When our path led us into a forest around noon, we had chosen speed over the route around the woods that would take at least a day.
"Well, no. I was just thinking out loud. Since it's kind of hard to think in my head, with Sakura being loud enough to wake the dead!"
Sakura looked at him and stopped humming, like she had been for at least half an hour. "You trying to write a poem? I like to hum. Why should I stop, anyway? Liya appreciates my talent." She looked at her sister, who nodded.
"I like that song. It's pretty."
"You might attract fiends," I pointed out. We, luckily, hadn't encountered any fiends since we entered the woods. When they finally did come, we were all expecting something big and nasty that we all wanted to avoid. "If they come when people yell and annoy them, who knows? They might think the same about humming."
"Oh, sure. Let's all pick on Sakura now!" But she did stop humming. Nyk grinned and looked over his shoulder to ask Sky something that I couldn't hear, and she looked down at the map she was carrying.
"...not sure," I heard her reply as I walked over to where she had stopped walking. She frowned. "Rai? Did we stop here-"she pointed-"or here for lunch?"
I looked. "That field there, I think."
"I think so, too. Now, that would mean...we're in this forest, here." Nyk let out a strangled sound and I grimaced as we realized where we were-the woods that the captain of the ship had pointed out as being especially full of dangerous fiends.
"I wouldn't overreact," Sky told us calmly. "We've been here for over an hour, and haven't been attacked once. It's probably been a while since the captain visited these woods, anyway. Let's just keep going, and we'll deal with any fiends we encounter when we get to them."
In the face of that advice, it would have seemed kind of childish to be scared. Besides, she was right-we'd handled the fiends in the plains. How much harder could they be here?
We got our answer an hour later.
By that time, we were all convinced that the captain had been wrong. After all, with no fiends in two hours, this place was hardly dangerous.
"Look!" Sakura called, and pointed up ahead. "We're almost out." Sure enough, she was pointing at an opening in the trees up ahead. Bright daylight shone through, and lightened the area around us. Impatient, Sakura started to jog to get to the daylight faster. Liya tugged on the edge of my shirt, and I kneeled down to look at her.
"Are you an' Sky gonna leave when we get there?"
I paused. "Not right away. We'll be there a couple days, to rest and stuff. But yeah...we'll have to leave sooner or later."
Liya frowned. "I wanna come."
"You can't, Liya. You're not old enough."
"Why?"
"It's going to be dangerous, too much for you."
"Why-" She was cut off by Sakura yelling from up ahead and a loud boom that shook the ground. Liya covered her ears. I looked around desperately for a place to...the trees!
"Liya!" I said. She looked at me, plainly scared. I picked her up and put her on a low branch of the tree next to us. It was high enough that nothing would hurt her up there, I hoped. "Stay there," I told her. She hugged the tree trunk and stared at me as I dashed towards the opening of the woods.
What I saw there almost made me drop my shuriken, which I had pulled out while running. The fiend there was like a giant plant, with dozens of whipping tentacles. It was tall as the trees around us, and outlined by the sun like it was it looked pure black.
The rest of my party was warily standing under a tree, poised for battle. I joined them, and we began to fight.
Sakura loosed an arrow at the monstrous fiend, who seemed to shrug it off like I would a paper cut. Sky quickly cast the protect spell on herself, then on Nyk-magic users were much more vulnerable to attacks. The giant fiend swept a tentacle at me, which I easily dodged-to be hit by another coming up from behind. Nyk cast fire spells like there was no tomorrow, as Sakura loosed another arrow.
The fire spells seemed to hurt it-or at least annoy it. It turned most of its tentacles towards Nyk, who now looked rather worried. He looked at Sky, shrugged, and shook his head-he didn't have enough energy to cast any more magic.
Sky turned to me and called, "Distract it! I need to summon!" I didn't want to get too close to it, in case I was caught in the summon spell, so using my shuriken was out. I looked around distractedly, and found a small rock. The fiend had turned to Sakura, who was hastily gulping a potion, but when I threw the rock, it jerked and came at me. Dodging behind a tree, I picked up several more rocks and threw them one by one.
The fiend, having blocked most of my rocks with its waving tentacles, returned to harrying Sakura. I shot a distressed look at Sky-how long could it take to summon!? Just as I was thinking that, what seemed to be a pillar of fire erupted from the ground.
The pillar of fire rose about twenty feet, but strangely didn't scorch any of the trees. The larger flames died down, and I could see that what I'd thought was a pillar of fire was actually a large, flaming lion-like Aeon.
The Aeon landed on the ground, and Sky patted its neck like I might pet a puppy. Like the trees, she wasn't burned, even when her hand went through the fire. She pointed, and the Aeon-Ifrit, it must be-leaped forward.
This Aeon didn't harry the fiend first, like Valefor had done with the Sinspawn in Besaid. Instead, Ifrit launched right into what must have been its most powerful attack. It shot a ball of flame at the fiend-out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sakura hastily scramble out of the way. The fiend floated up in the air, encased in flame, and Ifrit threw spears of earth at it. The fiend roared, dropped back down to the ground, and dissolved into very few pyreflies for a monster so big.
There was silence for a moment, then Ifrit dissolved into a bonfire, then a small flame, then a wisp of smoke.
Sakura whistled. "Well. Good thing we didn't have to fight more than one of those." I nodded agreement. While she was walking over to Nyk's healer's basket for a couple of potions, I trotted back down the path to get Liya.
She was still sitting in the tree, though several branches higher. I looked at her curiously.
"A mean plant wanted to hurt me," she explained seriously, "so I climbed." So there were other fiends in the forest, then. As she climbed down slowly, I realized how lucky she had been-the tree had many low branches, which made it easy for even her to climb.
As I lifted her down from a low branch, Nyk ran up. "Oh...phew. I figured Rai would put you somewhere safe," he said, kneeling down to look at Liya. He smiled at me. "Thanks."
"No problem." We walked back to Sakura and Sky.
"Let's move on, shall we?" Sky said. She handed the map to me. I looked at it, and saw that we were very close to Luca.
"I thought it was supposed to take three days," I said, confused.
"We probably cut off a day and a half, just by going through the forest." She pointed to the map. "See, it's not very wide, but it's half as long as Mi'ihen."
Sakura shifted her weight from foot to foot. "Come on, let's go then!"
It took another half hour to cross the wide plain between us and Luca. Fiends were back in force, but we were all glad that they were relatively harmless, compared to what we had fought in the forest. It was Liya who first saw Luca.
Sakura had been giving her a piggyback ride, but just as we reached a small hill, she scrambled down and ran ahead.
"Hey, Liya! Wait!" Sakura called. Liya ran over the hill, then turned and came back.
"Cummon! Look!" And with that, she ran ahead again. Sakura shook her head, shrugged, and followed, while the rest of us walked at a slower pace.
We reached the top of the hill to find that Liya had plopped down on the grass, Sakura next to her. They were staring hard into the distance, at something that glittered and shone in the sun-
It was a city. It was glittering white and silver, with splotches of color here and there, and tall spires rising up every so often. To its right was the darker glittering of the ocean, with boats draped with colored flags sailing in to the port. The south of the city had a tall, round structure, half full with shimmering water-although I had never seen one before, I knew this must be the Blitzball dome. We could hear the screaming and cheering of the fans even from where we were standing. A winding green path stretched away from it to the north. The city could have fit Kilika and Besaid combined, and probably several other small villages, too. It was the biggest city I had ever seen-I was nearly speechless with excitement at finding we were finally there.
Luca, the machina capitol of Spira.
Chapter 7
Lord Ochu
"This would be so much easier if we had chocobos." Nyk rubbed the back of his neck in thought. "We'd be there by noon today, and without any fiends bothering us."
"You don't see any chocobos around here, though, do you?" I said, gesturing to the trees around us. We had gotten up early in the morning, hoping to get to Luca quickly. When our path led us into a forest around noon, we had chosen speed over the route around the woods that would take at least a day.
"Well, no. I was just thinking out loud. Since it's kind of hard to think in my head, with Sakura being loud enough to wake the dead!"
Sakura looked at him and stopped humming, like she had been for at least half an hour. "You trying to write a poem? I like to hum. Why should I stop, anyway? Liya appreciates my talent." She looked at her sister, who nodded.
"I like that song. It's pretty."
"You might attract fiends," I pointed out. We, luckily, hadn't encountered any fiends since we entered the woods. When they finally did come, we were all expecting something big and nasty that we all wanted to avoid. "If they come when people yell and annoy them, who knows? They might think the same about humming."
"Oh, sure. Let's all pick on Sakura now!" But she did stop humming. Nyk grinned and looked over his shoulder to ask Sky something that I couldn't hear, and she looked down at the map she was carrying.
"...not sure," I heard her reply as I walked over to where she had stopped walking. She frowned. "Rai? Did we stop here-"she pointed-"or here for lunch?"
I looked. "That field there, I think."
"I think so, too. Now, that would mean...we're in this forest, here." Nyk let out a strangled sound and I grimaced as we realized where we were-the woods that the captain of the ship had pointed out as being especially full of dangerous fiends.
"I wouldn't overreact," Sky told us calmly. "We've been here for over an hour, and haven't been attacked once. It's probably been a while since the captain visited these woods, anyway. Let's just keep going, and we'll deal with any fiends we encounter when we get to them."
In the face of that advice, it would have seemed kind of childish to be scared. Besides, she was right-we'd handled the fiends in the plains. How much harder could they be here?
We got our answer an hour later.
By that time, we were all convinced that the captain had been wrong. After all, with no fiends in two hours, this place was hardly dangerous.
"Look!" Sakura called, and pointed up ahead. "We're almost out." Sure enough, she was pointing at an opening in the trees up ahead. Bright daylight shone through, and lightened the area around us. Impatient, Sakura started to jog to get to the daylight faster. Liya tugged on the edge of my shirt, and I kneeled down to look at her.
"Are you an' Sky gonna leave when we get there?"
I paused. "Not right away. We'll be there a couple days, to rest and stuff. But yeah...we'll have to leave sooner or later."
Liya frowned. "I wanna come."
"You can't, Liya. You're not old enough."
"Why?"
"It's going to be dangerous, too much for you."
"Why-" She was cut off by Sakura yelling from up ahead and a loud boom that shook the ground. Liya covered her ears. I looked around desperately for a place to...the trees!
"Liya!" I said. She looked at me, plainly scared. I picked her up and put her on a low branch of the tree next to us. It was high enough that nothing would hurt her up there, I hoped. "Stay there," I told her. She hugged the tree trunk and stared at me as I dashed towards the opening of the woods.
What I saw there almost made me drop my shuriken, which I had pulled out while running. The fiend there was like a giant plant, with dozens of whipping tentacles. It was tall as the trees around us, and outlined by the sun like it was it looked pure black.
The rest of my party was warily standing under a tree, poised for battle. I joined them, and we began to fight.
Sakura loosed an arrow at the monstrous fiend, who seemed to shrug it off like I would a paper cut. Sky quickly cast the protect spell on herself, then on Nyk-magic users were much more vulnerable to attacks. The giant fiend swept a tentacle at me, which I easily dodged-to be hit by another coming up from behind. Nyk cast fire spells like there was no tomorrow, as Sakura loosed another arrow.
The fire spells seemed to hurt it-or at least annoy it. It turned most of its tentacles towards Nyk, who now looked rather worried. He looked at Sky, shrugged, and shook his head-he didn't have enough energy to cast any more magic.
Sky turned to me and called, "Distract it! I need to summon!" I didn't want to get too close to it, in case I was caught in the summon spell, so using my shuriken was out. I looked around distractedly, and found a small rock. The fiend had turned to Sakura, who was hastily gulping a potion, but when I threw the rock, it jerked and came at me. Dodging behind a tree, I picked up several more rocks and threw them one by one.
The fiend, having blocked most of my rocks with its waving tentacles, returned to harrying Sakura. I shot a distressed look at Sky-how long could it take to summon!? Just as I was thinking that, what seemed to be a pillar of fire erupted from the ground.
The pillar of fire rose about twenty feet, but strangely didn't scorch any of the trees. The larger flames died down, and I could see that what I'd thought was a pillar of fire was actually a large, flaming lion-like Aeon.
The Aeon landed on the ground, and Sky patted its neck like I might pet a puppy. Like the trees, she wasn't burned, even when her hand went through the fire. She pointed, and the Aeon-Ifrit, it must be-leaped forward.
This Aeon didn't harry the fiend first, like Valefor had done with the Sinspawn in Besaid. Instead, Ifrit launched right into what must have been its most powerful attack. It shot a ball of flame at the fiend-out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sakura hastily scramble out of the way. The fiend floated up in the air, encased in flame, and Ifrit threw spears of earth at it. The fiend roared, dropped back down to the ground, and dissolved into very few pyreflies for a monster so big.
There was silence for a moment, then Ifrit dissolved into a bonfire, then a small flame, then a wisp of smoke.
Sakura whistled. "Well. Good thing we didn't have to fight more than one of those." I nodded agreement. While she was walking over to Nyk's healer's basket for a couple of potions, I trotted back down the path to get Liya.
She was still sitting in the tree, though several branches higher. I looked at her curiously.
"A mean plant wanted to hurt me," she explained seriously, "so I climbed." So there were other fiends in the forest, then. As she climbed down slowly, I realized how lucky she had been-the tree had many low branches, which made it easy for even her to climb.
As I lifted her down from a low branch, Nyk ran up. "Oh...phew. I figured Rai would put you somewhere safe," he said, kneeling down to look at Liya. He smiled at me. "Thanks."
"No problem." We walked back to Sakura and Sky.
"Let's move on, shall we?" Sky said. She handed the map to me. I looked at it, and saw that we were very close to Luca.
"I thought it was supposed to take three days," I said, confused.
"We probably cut off a day and a half, just by going through the forest." She pointed to the map. "See, it's not very wide, but it's half as long as Mi'ihen."
Sakura shifted her weight from foot to foot. "Come on, let's go then!"
It took another half hour to cross the wide plain between us and Luca. Fiends were back in force, but we were all glad that they were relatively harmless, compared to what we had fought in the forest. It was Liya who first saw Luca.
Sakura had been giving her a piggyback ride, but just as we reached a small hill, she scrambled down and ran ahead.
"Hey, Liya! Wait!" Sakura called. Liya ran over the hill, then turned and came back.
"Cummon! Look!" And with that, she ran ahead again. Sakura shook her head, shrugged, and followed, while the rest of us walked at a slower pace.
We reached the top of the hill to find that Liya had plopped down on the grass, Sakura next to her. They were staring hard into the distance, at something that glittered and shone in the sun-
It was a city. It was glittering white and silver, with splotches of color here and there, and tall spires rising up every so often. To its right was the darker glittering of the ocean, with boats draped with colored flags sailing in to the port. The south of the city had a tall, round structure, half full with shimmering water-although I had never seen one before, I knew this must be the Blitzball dome. We could hear the screaming and cheering of the fans even from where we were standing. A winding green path stretched away from it to the north. The city could have fit Kilika and Besaid combined, and probably several other small villages, too. It was the biggest city I had ever seen-I was nearly speechless with excitement at finding we were finally there.
Luca, the machina capitol of Spira.
