Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX or any characters within this document.

Note: I have made 2 changes to the plot:
1. Dagger never cut her hair short
2. Zidanee does not go back to save Kuja

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THE ETERNAL SHADOW~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

------------------------Chapter 1: Minor Turbulence-------------------------

The Hilda Garde III cut through the clouds like a knife. The heroes had been successfully extracted from the Iifa Tree area shortly before the tree's violent reaction began. Now, they all had an opportunity for some much needed rest. The sun was high in the sky, casting the ship's shadow upon the ocean below. The clouds rolled over the skip as water would over the hull of a boat.

Zidane stood at the very front of the Hilda Garde III, letting the water vapor in the clouds cool him off. He stared out at the vast clouds before them. He smiled slightly to himself. Vivi stood nearby, observing the "windmills" as he called them. He looked the same as he always did. Amarant was also nearby, keeping to himself. The rest of them were inside, getting some rest after a long while of fighting.

The airship was now over the vast ocean separating the Outer and Mist Continents. The sun sparkled upon the rich and clear waters, though it was very hard to see from their current cloud-borne position. Zidane stared out upon the surrounding sky for a few moments and then turned to go inside. Vivi's eyes followed him into the airship, and then returned to the clouds. Amarant glanced at him indifferently.

Zidane arrived at his cabin after a few moments. He was tired after having fought with Necron, and would have liked nothing more than to take a long rest. He stretched out on his bed and began to doze off.

On the bridge, Cid, Erin and the other crew members were focusing on getting back to Lindblum. Ordinarily the flight would require little effort, but the shockwave of Iifa's reaction damaged the engines to a degree, and managed to damage the fuel tanks, and the ship was now leaking a small amount of the hot water required to produce the steam that powered the ship. They now had to carefully monitor the gauges and needles to be sure the pressure didn't overwhelm the machine. They spoke together about a possible problem. About five miles ahead was a large cloud that occupied several square miles. It spanned to the water's surface and high into the sky.

"Bur Regent, they're just clouds!" One of the crew members said.

"That they are, but they are thicker than normal, and that could put an extra strain on our already damaged engines..." Cid replied.

"What does the thickness of the cloud matter? It's still a cloud."

"...I've been monitoring the pressure of clouds as opposed to mist. They are similar alone, but I found that if large quantities of mist are absorbed into a single cloud can cause a massive change in pressure and mass."

"Well, we could change our altitude sir..." Erin interjected.

"This particular mist-cloud can not be avoided simply by changing our altitude...and we can't go around it either, we barely have enough steam to get to Lindblum as it is...guys, prep the engines, this is going to get a bit bumpy."

Vivi and Amarant were still on deck, and the rest of them rested down below (Except for Quina who kept trying to eat the clouds). Vivi looked at the dark mist-cloud on the horizon. "It sure is big..." Vivi said, trying to make conversation with Amarant, who pretended not to hear him. After a moment of Vivi expecting Amarant to say something, Cid came out on the deck.

"Vivi, Amarant! You guys had better come in, that mist-cloud is going to rough up our ship a bit and we don't want to lose you." Cid gestured for them to come in. Vivi nodded and walked inside. Cid stared at Amarant, who hadn't moved from when Cid spoke. "What are you waiting for? Come on!"

"Don't bother me," Amarant said sternly. "I do things my own way. I'm fine out here."

"Suit yourself," Cid said as he walked inside himself. Amarant stared out at the mist-cloud. The darkness of the cloud seemed to spread. About two-thirds of the sky were blotted out by dark storm clouds.

A bolt of lightning split the darkness ahead of the Hilda Garde III. Amarant looked on as a spray of water erupted from the sea. The mist-cloud yielded lightning twice more before it began to rain. The rain was much heavier than was averagely seen on Gaia, about ten times as heavy as it was in Burmecia. Amarant looked upon the scene unfolding. 'Maybe I SHOULD go inside...' He thought to himself as he turned away from the storm.

As Amarant walked through the doorway to the bridge, Cid, Vivi and Freya looked over to him. Cid smiled and laughed. Freya snickered. "I thought you said you'd be fine out there."

Amarant just glared at Freya and went downstairs. Freya fixed her gaze at the storm ahead as they prepared to enter it.

However, beneath the ship another presence existed. The water was disrupted as if an entity moved beneath the surface, dividing the surface. Not only one entity, but five traveled across the sea, tailing the Hilda Garde III. The entities surfaced momentarily, and revealed themselves to be vines, from the Iifa Tree, tinted blue by a dark and arcane power. "It's time to settle the score...prepare to die!" Necron's voice echoed across the ocean as the vines went skyward and flew straight towards the Hilda Garde III.

Amarant reached his cabin after a minute. His cabin was situated in the very back of the airship. He sat down on his bed and looked at the storm outside. As he looked out the window, he saw five separate vines like those from the Iifa Tree following the ship. As he watched, one of them flew right towards him. He knew exactly what was happening. He slipped on the claws that were on the table next to him and jumped towards the door as the large vine crashed through the back of his cabin, shattering the wall. Amarant braced himself as the vine plowed into him. He fought desperately to fight back the vine, but as it forced him against the door, he realized that it wasn't an ordinary vine. The "vine" emitted a growling sound and opened its mouth, showing off a row of teeth that were double pronged, and glistened in the light.

"Damn!" Amarant yelled as the vine-creature pulled back. It screeched through its teeth before lunging at him again, and sinking its teeth into his left arm. Amarant screamed in pain as he tried to fight it off his arm. After a moment of struggling, Amarant pierced the creature's side with his right claw. Green ichor leaked from its side as Amarant twisted his claw to inflict greater pain. The creature screeched again and pulled back just enough for Amarant to slash it across the face with his left claw, sending it backwards. Amarant clutched his left arm in pain. The creature got in a ready stance and screeched at Amarant. Amarant scowled at the beast and let his arms hand low, in his traditional fighting stance. "Bring it on."

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A/N: Perhaps "Minor" Turbulence wasn't the best title for this chapter, anyways R/R. More soon...