The Legend of Talon
Chapter 4
There was a long silence as Talon stood there holding the sword high in the air, before his Arestolite spoke. "Order the reincarnation department to postpone everything. He will pick his men and be off."
Talon looked confused. "Pick my men? What's that supposed to mean?" The Director seemed to gather himself and speak.
"Talon, when Barda removed the sword from the stone, he could barely hold it off the ground. By legend, this means he is a Chosen minion…an ally of the Chosen one. The legend also says that he who wields the sword with ease shall be declared as the Chosen one. Talon…you are the Chosen one."
Talon just stared. It took seconds for the full force of what he was saying to sink in. "You mean…I have to travel to the fabled Lost Castle of Power, unlock the 10 remaining weapons, and with my allies destroy Leif and Shela? It's not possible. I am but a meager warrior! I can't be the Chosen one!"
"Accept it, Talon. The only other person to pull the sword from the stone and be sent back to Plague was Barda. You are to choose your remaining eight allies from our strongest warriors. Come, they are already waiting on my command." He waved Talon along into the room where he had fought Wayne.
Along the wall there were thousands of dead warriors, all talking amongst themselves. Some were armed with swords, some with nothing, some with mage rods, and one man had what seemed to be a gun attached to his right arm where his hand should've been. Talon tried to act important, but failed miserably and contented himself with leaning against a wall.
"So I get eight of these warriors?" The Director nodded. At the sound of his voice, all heads turned. The large black man with the gun approached him and seemed to size him up. Talon was about the same height as him, but the man looked much stronger, and the gun looked like it could hurt too.
"Is THIS our Chosen one?" The man said gruffly. "I woulda thought he'd at least had a bit of muscle instead of being some scruffy little twerp –"
There was a loud bang, and dust sprung up everywhere. When it cleared, Talon had his fist out, and the man was lying on the floor on the opposite side of the room, with an imprint of his body on the wall. He gave a soft moan and looked up at him through a black eye. "I take that back. Big things come in small packages…" and then he passed out.
Talon turned to the crowd. "Anyone else wanna make any smart remarks?"
"Yeah, I got one for ya." The voice came from beside the black man. Talon's eyes darted over the source of the voice, a boy seemingly about his age, with blond hair much like his own, but only sticking out in one direction. He picked up a gigantic sword from against the wall. "It's an old saying…how's it go? Oh yes…all for one, and one for all." He waved a hand behind him and two others stood up. Another man, with blond hair sticking straight up, smoking a cigarette, and holding a lance, stepped forward and blew smoke in his face. Talon ignored him. His eyes were trained upon the beautiful girl standing next to him, about his height, about his age, and wearing brass knuckles. She approached him.
A smile crossed her face, and she put out a hand. Talon took it cautiously. She smiled even wider. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I've been waiting a long time for something like that to happen to Barret. He deserved that more than you know." She let go of his hand and whispered something to the two blond haired men, who in turn glared at her and sat down. Talon stared at the four of them.
He pointed. "Them. Those four, I want them to come with me." All four heads whipped around to stare at him.
The boy with the sword approached him. "Us? Why us? He haven't shown you our skills, and you don't even know our names!"
Talon grinned. "You're my kind of people. Call it a gut feeling. But speaking of your names and skills. Why don't you run through those real fast?"
The boy nodded. "I'm Cloud. You already know Barret," He grinned. "Tifa," He nodded to the girl, "and this is Cid." He nodded to the man with the cigarette. "As for skills…we've already gotten that sorted out. I am a good fighter with basic elemental magic, and mediocre summoning."
Talon stared at him. "Summoning? But no one on Plague can summon anymore, it's an ancient magic!"
Cloud shrugged. "Well, I'm an ancient person. Tifa, shoot the list off to him."
Tifa put up her hand and counted off on her fingers. "Let's see. Mediocre fighting, mediocre summoning, and some skills you've never seen before, that I won't bother explaining now. Yeah, that's about it. Cid?"
Cid approached, exhaled smoke, and thought for a moment, before saying icily, "Good fighter, only the best of magic and good summoning." He grinned. "I'll have to introduce you to Bahamut sometime."
Talon looked impressed. "What's this about magic? Only the best?"
A moan came from the floor, as Barret awoke, put his hand in the air and all his wounds disappeared. He jumped up, popped his neck, and extended a hand to Talon. "Tifa's filled me in. Good fighter, best healing magic anywhere, and no summons whatsoever. And as for Cid's magic…he can't use anything below the best. So, say, if we somehow found the legendary spells Ultima, Flare, Holy, and Meteo, he could use them, but otherwise, he can't even cast a Fire spell."
Talon shook his head. "A shame. But who knows, we might stumble along the spell tablets somewhere. Oh, and sorry about the…you know…" He nodded at the wall. Barret laughed.
"Eh, I deserved it. Tifa's right. I'm too cocky for my own good. No hard feelings."
Cloud, who had been talking to Tifa, turned to Talon. "We still need 4 more, Talon. What are we to do?"
Talon jumped and realized there were other dead warriors watching them, some talking to each other. He scanned the faces and approached a man with white hair and a huge red overcoat, leaning on a glowing red sword. "What's your name? You look promising."
The man looked up, and stared at Talon. He cracked a grin. "Dante. Son of Sparda…ever hear of me?"
Talon's eyes widened as a recollection came to him. He straightened and walked away. Dante's eyes followed his back for a good 10 seconds before dropping back to the floor.
Talon's eyes caught a man whose head was wrapped in a cast, and recognized him immediately. He shouted to Barret, who hurried over.
"What?"
"Heal this man. He's a friend of mine."
"No problem." He approached the man and tugged off the cast, jerking him out of unconsciousness with a cry of agony. Barret placed his hand on the man's head and he quieted. When he looked up at Talon, the blue eyes pierced into his once again.
Talon extended his hand. "Need help, Wayne?"
Wayne grinned and took the offered hand, and Talon tugged him to his feet. "Thank you, Talon. How am I to repay you?"
"By returning to Plague with me."
"Haha. Good joke, Talon. I'm a worthless mage; I would only get in the way."
"I'm serious, Wayne. You nearly beat me. If my sword hadn't absorbed your Fira spell, I'd have been toast. You must come with me."
"Alright, alright, I'll go." Talon introduced him to Cloud, Barret, Tifa, and Cid. When he was introduced to Barret, he thanked him over and over until Talon tugged him away.
Talon sat down on the floor to think. "We need three more." His eyes scanned the crowd. His eyes fell and lingered upon another man in a gigantic red overcoat, wearing pitch-black glasses, with black hair that seemed to have gray streaks. He approached him curiously. "Glasses are forbidden by Leif on Plague. How did you come by those?"
The man looked at him. "Plague, you say? I come from another planet, named Spira. My name is Auron." He extended a hand. When Talon took it, it seemed like a strange energy were flowing into him from this man's hand. He was relieved to let go.
"So tell me, Auron. What sort of skills do you have? What weapon do you use?" Talon had a strange feeling that this man was incredibly powerful.
Auron grinned and stepped to his side. Behind where he had been standing was a gigantic sword, even bigger than Cloud's. It was a strange sword…The end of the blade was U-shaped and there was tentacle-like pieces sticking out of the end. "Nice sword. I'm guessing it hurts?"
Auron nodded. "More than you know. It's called Masamune. I am a much stronger fighter than your friend Cloud, and I have much better skills than Tifa. I have no summoning skills, and only one magic skill that takes immense energy to perform. It is known as the Banishing Blade. And yes, I taught it to Barda," He said, knowing what Talon was going to ask. "Though he used a small sword, much like yours," he nodded at the flaming sword that Cloud had just burnt himself on. "But it wasn't flaming. If you are about to ask if I will join you, like I think you are, then yes, I will."
Talon grinned. "Thank you. Now," he turned away. "Two more. But who? He paced back and forth along the line of warriors (carefully avoiding Dante's eyes) when Auron spoke.
"If I may make a recommendation, I too have some friends we could bring along." It was strange the way he said this…almost hesitant.
Talon nodded. "Lets see them. Who are they?"
Auron whistled and two people in a corner of the room stood up and walked over. One of them wasn't even a man; he seemed like a beast, covered in blue fur, holding a spear. The other, a man with wild red hair and a large strand of it sticking up in the front, approached him and spoke with a strange accent, as if he came from some sort of exotic island. "Don't tell me, brudda. You landed us wit da Chosen one, and now we gotta go and save da universe again. Why is it always me…I wish Tidus had died so he could come along instead of dissappearin' like 'dat…" He looked up and saw Talon, and his face lit up. "Tidus! Tidus! Oh, Tidus, it's you! Welcome to death, brudda!"
He charged at Talon, preparing to bury him in a gigantic bear hug, when Auron thrust his sword between them. "Wakka, that is not Tidus. This is Talon, the Chosen one. I too thought he was Tidus for a moment. But Tidus never existed, remember? He was merely a solid apparition."
"Oh, right. He was some dream of da fayth, ya? Or something like dat." Wakka scratched his head and turned to Talon. "Sorry bout that, brudda."
Talon shrugged and turned to the beast. He looked up at him (He was a good two feet taller than he) and saw on his forehead where a horn had been cut off. "May I ask your name?"
The beast looked down at him and grunted, "Kimahri." He stalked off and sat down.
Wakka slapped him on the back like an old friend. "Don't worry yourself 'bout it, brudda! He trusts ya, I can tell. He's always kinda quiet."
Talon nodded, but he could not help wondering just what Kimahri was. When he asked Wakka, he simply waved it off saying, "Ronso. Old race, ya? Wiped out by an old enemy of ours, Seymour. He's been quieter than ever since then."
Talon shrugged and turned to the Director. "I've got my men, and I am ready to leave."
The Director nodded, and snapped his fingers. All of the Arestolites instantly appeared in front of him. "Alright. It's time for final stasis." Some nodded, some just stared, and some began to concentrate. The Director turned to Talon and his minions, who had walked up and were standing beside him. "I trust you all know your statis-protective mood by now. It will be crucial that you fall into this mood. Otherwise, the pain will crush you. We are going to put our powers together and put you all into one gigantic statis crystal. Brace yourselves."
All of the Arestolites, excluding the Director, closed their eyes and concentrated. Then, the Director gave the order, and as one, the Arestolites put their hands out and the entire party was enclosed in the crystal.
The pain was unimaginable. Talon had thought one Arestolite's statis had hurt, but that was like a paper cut to this. Then he remembered: tranquility. He closed his eyes and relaxed his body, closing his mind to everything, and his entire body shut down as he fell asleep. Instantly, the pain lessened. It was still there, faintly, but was only bad enough to give him bad dreams.
Suddenly, Barret, who was standing over him, grinning, awaked him. "Was it sleep or tranquility? You were snoring like you were sawing logs, Talon. I've never heard anyone snore so loud…oh, except for Cloud." He extended a hand and hauled Talon to his feet.
Talon brushed himself around and looked at his minions. He scanned his eyes across them, and then spoke. "I want you all to know. You are not my minions," They looked confused and surprised. "You are my friends."
They relaxed and Wakka wiped sweat from his forehead. "Don't kid like dat, brudda."
Tifa took off her brass knuckles and punched him in the shoulder playfully. "You're a good kid, you know that?"
Talon smiled, knowing he had just made eight new friends. And, he thought to himself, one of them is the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. He chuckled.
Tifa looked up at him knowingly. "What was that for?" she said with a wink.
"Oh, nothing." He punched her in the shoulder. She feigned a hurt look.
"Now you're gonna get it." She put on her brass knuckles and threw a punch for his shoulder. He tensed to absorb the blow, and when Tifa was about to hit him, she stopped. "Wow. Have you always been that buff, or did statis do that?"
Talon looked down and his eyes widened. His arms were huge, at least 3 times as big as before. Everyone else saw him and checked their own as well. Cloud and Wakka, who were not very muscular to begin with, grinned. Barret (who was huge) shrugged. Talon laughed. "Yeah, that was statis."
He turned to the Director. "When do we leave?" he asked.
"Whenever you're ready."
"One quick thing, then," he said. "What do I do with this?" he held up the holy sword that he had put into his sword's sheath.
The Director looked at it with adoring eyes. "Take it with you and present it to the guardian of the Lost Castle of Power. He will in turn give you the legendary weapons."
"Thank you." He turned to the rest of the Arestolites. "Thank you, all of you. Especially you," he said to one Arestolite in particular.
The Arestolite blinked in surprise. It was his. "How did you know it was me? I look no different from the others here."
Talon pointed at his fist. "It's still smoking from when you punched me, and I had some sort of gut feeling. Back to the point," Talon grinned. "Thank you."
"You're welcome for everything."
Talon turned to the Director. "We're ready to go. Ok. I need a sword. Cloud, may I?"
Cloud nodded and tossed his sword to him. The Director caught it and it began to glow red. He put it into the air and swung it downward with full force. The air seemed to part, and a bright red portal opened. He tossed the sword back to Cloud. "In you go. This will take you back to Plague."
Cloud was the first to dive through. Literally. Barret followed, then Wakka, followed by Kimahri and Auron. Wayne stepped through cautiously. Cid tossed his cigarette on the floor and ground it out, lighting another one at the same time. He fell through the portal backwards.
Tifa hugged Talon tightly. "See you on the other side. I'll be waiting," she added. With that, she turned around and fell backwards like Cid.
Talon turned to his Arestolite. "Thank you, and goodbye." He leaped through the portal.
Chapter 4
There was a long silence as Talon stood there holding the sword high in the air, before his Arestolite spoke. "Order the reincarnation department to postpone everything. He will pick his men and be off."
Talon looked confused. "Pick my men? What's that supposed to mean?" The Director seemed to gather himself and speak.
"Talon, when Barda removed the sword from the stone, he could barely hold it off the ground. By legend, this means he is a Chosen minion…an ally of the Chosen one. The legend also says that he who wields the sword with ease shall be declared as the Chosen one. Talon…you are the Chosen one."
Talon just stared. It took seconds for the full force of what he was saying to sink in. "You mean…I have to travel to the fabled Lost Castle of Power, unlock the 10 remaining weapons, and with my allies destroy Leif and Shela? It's not possible. I am but a meager warrior! I can't be the Chosen one!"
"Accept it, Talon. The only other person to pull the sword from the stone and be sent back to Plague was Barda. You are to choose your remaining eight allies from our strongest warriors. Come, they are already waiting on my command." He waved Talon along into the room where he had fought Wayne.
Along the wall there were thousands of dead warriors, all talking amongst themselves. Some were armed with swords, some with nothing, some with mage rods, and one man had what seemed to be a gun attached to his right arm where his hand should've been. Talon tried to act important, but failed miserably and contented himself with leaning against a wall.
"So I get eight of these warriors?" The Director nodded. At the sound of his voice, all heads turned. The large black man with the gun approached him and seemed to size him up. Talon was about the same height as him, but the man looked much stronger, and the gun looked like it could hurt too.
"Is THIS our Chosen one?" The man said gruffly. "I woulda thought he'd at least had a bit of muscle instead of being some scruffy little twerp –"
There was a loud bang, and dust sprung up everywhere. When it cleared, Talon had his fist out, and the man was lying on the floor on the opposite side of the room, with an imprint of his body on the wall. He gave a soft moan and looked up at him through a black eye. "I take that back. Big things come in small packages…" and then he passed out.
Talon turned to the crowd. "Anyone else wanna make any smart remarks?"
"Yeah, I got one for ya." The voice came from beside the black man. Talon's eyes darted over the source of the voice, a boy seemingly about his age, with blond hair much like his own, but only sticking out in one direction. He picked up a gigantic sword from against the wall. "It's an old saying…how's it go? Oh yes…all for one, and one for all." He waved a hand behind him and two others stood up. Another man, with blond hair sticking straight up, smoking a cigarette, and holding a lance, stepped forward and blew smoke in his face. Talon ignored him. His eyes were trained upon the beautiful girl standing next to him, about his height, about his age, and wearing brass knuckles. She approached him.
A smile crossed her face, and she put out a hand. Talon took it cautiously. She smiled even wider. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I've been waiting a long time for something like that to happen to Barret. He deserved that more than you know." She let go of his hand and whispered something to the two blond haired men, who in turn glared at her and sat down. Talon stared at the four of them.
He pointed. "Them. Those four, I want them to come with me." All four heads whipped around to stare at him.
The boy with the sword approached him. "Us? Why us? He haven't shown you our skills, and you don't even know our names!"
Talon grinned. "You're my kind of people. Call it a gut feeling. But speaking of your names and skills. Why don't you run through those real fast?"
The boy nodded. "I'm Cloud. You already know Barret," He grinned. "Tifa," He nodded to the girl, "and this is Cid." He nodded to the man with the cigarette. "As for skills…we've already gotten that sorted out. I am a good fighter with basic elemental magic, and mediocre summoning."
Talon stared at him. "Summoning? But no one on Plague can summon anymore, it's an ancient magic!"
Cloud shrugged. "Well, I'm an ancient person. Tifa, shoot the list off to him."
Tifa put up her hand and counted off on her fingers. "Let's see. Mediocre fighting, mediocre summoning, and some skills you've never seen before, that I won't bother explaining now. Yeah, that's about it. Cid?"
Cid approached, exhaled smoke, and thought for a moment, before saying icily, "Good fighter, only the best of magic and good summoning." He grinned. "I'll have to introduce you to Bahamut sometime."
Talon looked impressed. "What's this about magic? Only the best?"
A moan came from the floor, as Barret awoke, put his hand in the air and all his wounds disappeared. He jumped up, popped his neck, and extended a hand to Talon. "Tifa's filled me in. Good fighter, best healing magic anywhere, and no summons whatsoever. And as for Cid's magic…he can't use anything below the best. So, say, if we somehow found the legendary spells Ultima, Flare, Holy, and Meteo, he could use them, but otherwise, he can't even cast a Fire spell."
Talon shook his head. "A shame. But who knows, we might stumble along the spell tablets somewhere. Oh, and sorry about the…you know…" He nodded at the wall. Barret laughed.
"Eh, I deserved it. Tifa's right. I'm too cocky for my own good. No hard feelings."
Cloud, who had been talking to Tifa, turned to Talon. "We still need 4 more, Talon. What are we to do?"
Talon jumped and realized there were other dead warriors watching them, some talking to each other. He scanned the faces and approached a man with white hair and a huge red overcoat, leaning on a glowing red sword. "What's your name? You look promising."
The man looked up, and stared at Talon. He cracked a grin. "Dante. Son of Sparda…ever hear of me?"
Talon's eyes widened as a recollection came to him. He straightened and walked away. Dante's eyes followed his back for a good 10 seconds before dropping back to the floor.
Talon's eyes caught a man whose head was wrapped in a cast, and recognized him immediately. He shouted to Barret, who hurried over.
"What?"
"Heal this man. He's a friend of mine."
"No problem." He approached the man and tugged off the cast, jerking him out of unconsciousness with a cry of agony. Barret placed his hand on the man's head and he quieted. When he looked up at Talon, the blue eyes pierced into his once again.
Talon extended his hand. "Need help, Wayne?"
Wayne grinned and took the offered hand, and Talon tugged him to his feet. "Thank you, Talon. How am I to repay you?"
"By returning to Plague with me."
"Haha. Good joke, Talon. I'm a worthless mage; I would only get in the way."
"I'm serious, Wayne. You nearly beat me. If my sword hadn't absorbed your Fira spell, I'd have been toast. You must come with me."
"Alright, alright, I'll go." Talon introduced him to Cloud, Barret, Tifa, and Cid. When he was introduced to Barret, he thanked him over and over until Talon tugged him away.
Talon sat down on the floor to think. "We need three more." His eyes scanned the crowd. His eyes fell and lingered upon another man in a gigantic red overcoat, wearing pitch-black glasses, with black hair that seemed to have gray streaks. He approached him curiously. "Glasses are forbidden by Leif on Plague. How did you come by those?"
The man looked at him. "Plague, you say? I come from another planet, named Spira. My name is Auron." He extended a hand. When Talon took it, it seemed like a strange energy were flowing into him from this man's hand. He was relieved to let go.
"So tell me, Auron. What sort of skills do you have? What weapon do you use?" Talon had a strange feeling that this man was incredibly powerful.
Auron grinned and stepped to his side. Behind where he had been standing was a gigantic sword, even bigger than Cloud's. It was a strange sword…The end of the blade was U-shaped and there was tentacle-like pieces sticking out of the end. "Nice sword. I'm guessing it hurts?"
Auron nodded. "More than you know. It's called Masamune. I am a much stronger fighter than your friend Cloud, and I have much better skills than Tifa. I have no summoning skills, and only one magic skill that takes immense energy to perform. It is known as the Banishing Blade. And yes, I taught it to Barda," He said, knowing what Talon was going to ask. "Though he used a small sword, much like yours," he nodded at the flaming sword that Cloud had just burnt himself on. "But it wasn't flaming. If you are about to ask if I will join you, like I think you are, then yes, I will."
Talon grinned. "Thank you. Now," he turned away. "Two more. But who? He paced back and forth along the line of warriors (carefully avoiding Dante's eyes) when Auron spoke.
"If I may make a recommendation, I too have some friends we could bring along." It was strange the way he said this…almost hesitant.
Talon nodded. "Lets see them. Who are they?"
Auron whistled and two people in a corner of the room stood up and walked over. One of them wasn't even a man; he seemed like a beast, covered in blue fur, holding a spear. The other, a man with wild red hair and a large strand of it sticking up in the front, approached him and spoke with a strange accent, as if he came from some sort of exotic island. "Don't tell me, brudda. You landed us wit da Chosen one, and now we gotta go and save da universe again. Why is it always me…I wish Tidus had died so he could come along instead of dissappearin' like 'dat…" He looked up and saw Talon, and his face lit up. "Tidus! Tidus! Oh, Tidus, it's you! Welcome to death, brudda!"
He charged at Talon, preparing to bury him in a gigantic bear hug, when Auron thrust his sword between them. "Wakka, that is not Tidus. This is Talon, the Chosen one. I too thought he was Tidus for a moment. But Tidus never existed, remember? He was merely a solid apparition."
"Oh, right. He was some dream of da fayth, ya? Or something like dat." Wakka scratched his head and turned to Talon. "Sorry bout that, brudda."
Talon shrugged and turned to the beast. He looked up at him (He was a good two feet taller than he) and saw on his forehead where a horn had been cut off. "May I ask your name?"
The beast looked down at him and grunted, "Kimahri." He stalked off and sat down.
Wakka slapped him on the back like an old friend. "Don't worry yourself 'bout it, brudda! He trusts ya, I can tell. He's always kinda quiet."
Talon nodded, but he could not help wondering just what Kimahri was. When he asked Wakka, he simply waved it off saying, "Ronso. Old race, ya? Wiped out by an old enemy of ours, Seymour. He's been quieter than ever since then."
Talon shrugged and turned to the Director. "I've got my men, and I am ready to leave."
The Director nodded, and snapped his fingers. All of the Arestolites instantly appeared in front of him. "Alright. It's time for final stasis." Some nodded, some just stared, and some began to concentrate. The Director turned to Talon and his minions, who had walked up and were standing beside him. "I trust you all know your statis-protective mood by now. It will be crucial that you fall into this mood. Otherwise, the pain will crush you. We are going to put our powers together and put you all into one gigantic statis crystal. Brace yourselves."
All of the Arestolites, excluding the Director, closed their eyes and concentrated. Then, the Director gave the order, and as one, the Arestolites put their hands out and the entire party was enclosed in the crystal.
The pain was unimaginable. Talon had thought one Arestolite's statis had hurt, but that was like a paper cut to this. Then he remembered: tranquility. He closed his eyes and relaxed his body, closing his mind to everything, and his entire body shut down as he fell asleep. Instantly, the pain lessened. It was still there, faintly, but was only bad enough to give him bad dreams.
Suddenly, Barret, who was standing over him, grinning, awaked him. "Was it sleep or tranquility? You were snoring like you were sawing logs, Talon. I've never heard anyone snore so loud…oh, except for Cloud." He extended a hand and hauled Talon to his feet.
Talon brushed himself around and looked at his minions. He scanned his eyes across them, and then spoke. "I want you all to know. You are not my minions," They looked confused and surprised. "You are my friends."
They relaxed and Wakka wiped sweat from his forehead. "Don't kid like dat, brudda."
Tifa took off her brass knuckles and punched him in the shoulder playfully. "You're a good kid, you know that?"
Talon smiled, knowing he had just made eight new friends. And, he thought to himself, one of them is the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. He chuckled.
Tifa looked up at him knowingly. "What was that for?" she said with a wink.
"Oh, nothing." He punched her in the shoulder. She feigned a hurt look.
"Now you're gonna get it." She put on her brass knuckles and threw a punch for his shoulder. He tensed to absorb the blow, and when Tifa was about to hit him, she stopped. "Wow. Have you always been that buff, or did statis do that?"
Talon looked down and his eyes widened. His arms were huge, at least 3 times as big as before. Everyone else saw him and checked their own as well. Cloud and Wakka, who were not very muscular to begin with, grinned. Barret (who was huge) shrugged. Talon laughed. "Yeah, that was statis."
He turned to the Director. "When do we leave?" he asked.
"Whenever you're ready."
"One quick thing, then," he said. "What do I do with this?" he held up the holy sword that he had put into his sword's sheath.
The Director looked at it with adoring eyes. "Take it with you and present it to the guardian of the Lost Castle of Power. He will in turn give you the legendary weapons."
"Thank you." He turned to the rest of the Arestolites. "Thank you, all of you. Especially you," he said to one Arestolite in particular.
The Arestolite blinked in surprise. It was his. "How did you know it was me? I look no different from the others here."
Talon pointed at his fist. "It's still smoking from when you punched me, and I had some sort of gut feeling. Back to the point," Talon grinned. "Thank you."
"You're welcome for everything."
Talon turned to the Director. "We're ready to go. Ok. I need a sword. Cloud, may I?"
Cloud nodded and tossed his sword to him. The Director caught it and it began to glow red. He put it into the air and swung it downward with full force. The air seemed to part, and a bright red portal opened. He tossed the sword back to Cloud. "In you go. This will take you back to Plague."
Cloud was the first to dive through. Literally. Barret followed, then Wakka, followed by Kimahri and Auron. Wayne stepped through cautiously. Cid tossed his cigarette on the floor and ground it out, lighting another one at the same time. He fell through the portal backwards.
Tifa hugged Talon tightly. "See you on the other side. I'll be waiting," she added. With that, she turned around and fell backwards like Cid.
Talon turned to his Arestolite. "Thank you, and goodbye." He leaped through the portal.