[ Chapter III: "The Scoundrel" ]

"So what did happen to you over there Zidane?" Baku asked him.

Zidane shook his head and replied, "I don't know. One minute I was about to jump from that window, the next moment I couldn't remember a thing."

"Strange..." Marcus mumbled, he rubbed his chin.

"And you said you saw a purple light, Blank?" Baku asked turning his head to Blank.

"That's right, Zidane was just staring at it." He replied.

"Well we're going to have to talk about this later. Right now we have to get this ship to a safe spot. They're checking airships all across Lindblum for the stolen stone. We've caught attention with this..."

Wedge had all of Lindblum looking out for "the scoundrel that caught his valuable stone. Regent Cid had a meeting with Wedge and the other politic members of Lindblum. Cid didn't know that Wedge had such a valuable stone in his possession. After the stone was stolen by Tantalus, Wedge couldn't sit down quietly for even a minute! He was so irritated by the matter that he had summoned bounty hunters across the land to find this scoundrel that stole his priceless stone.

A man entered the hallway of Regent Wedge. He looked around with a suspicious eye. The regent's wife Dorothy was talking to her husband in his office which was on the upper level of the mansion.

"Dear, that man downstairs looks really frightening. Why of all bounty hunters in the world did you choose him? There where plenty of others..." She asked.

Wedge slightly turned his office chair to the window behind him, he raised a glass of brandy and replied, "Because he looks the most experienced. That's why."

"But..." Her voice grew arrogant.

"No buts! Since when do you dare question my choices? Especially when it comes down to something like this! When did you get a talent for spotting good bounty hunters?!" He yelled raising his fist and almost breaking the glass.

Dorothy took a step backwards, "I'm sorry dear." she replied.

"Good, now send him in. When he deals with the scoundrel that took my stone, he'll be useful in eliminating other pesky matters. Such as..." Wedge was interrupted the bounty hunter from downstairs was no in the office.

He walked in slowly, Dorothy took quiet steps behind him and left the room. Wedge fully turned his chair to face his desk, he was a little bit surprised. But not angry for the bounty hunter's rudeness.

"So...would you care for a drink?" Wedge asked, as he stood up to reach another one of his many liquor cabins.

"A drink would be fine." He said while sitting down in a classy chair. The hunter was rubbing the leather, he never saw such a beautiful chair before.

"So, let's get down to business shall we?" Wedge impatiently asked.

"If you'd prefer that, fine by me." He coldly answered like he didn't care.

"I think you have heard the news about my priceless stolen stone?"

"That I have." He replied while putting his right leg over the other one, taking big sips of the glass.

"You will have to track this person or persons down and bring him to me. No one steals something from me and gets away with it. Plus I want the stone back in perfect condition."

"What about payment?"

"I can pay you 50,000 Gil. How does that sound?"

"What can I get in advance?"

"I'll pay you 10,000 now. The rest later off course."

"Sounds like a deal to me old man." He replied while standing up, finishing his glass of brandy.

"Thanks for the liquor, it was a bit soft though." He said.

The bounty hunter left the room and left the mansion. Wedge was looking outside of his window. Thinking of how he'd become ruler of Lindblum one day, and after that the world!

"You...you'll be very handy to me... Amarant." He said while looking how Amarant was walking to the street.

*********

"Not again!" Someone shouted.

It appeared to be Blank who had just won his Hedgehog Pie card back from Marcus. Well it wasn't Blank's card to begin with, it was originally Marcus'. But they had gone trough so many battles that they forgot who was the original owner. Tantalus was in their hideout, safe and sound. Blank and Marcus where playing Tetra Master again. Cinna was doing nothing as usual, Baku was out. Probably drinking. And Zidane just pondered over the incident with the stone. He wanted to look at it again, but Baku had hidden it.

How could this have happened? What attracted him to the stone so much? And why did it start to glow all of a sudden? So many questions, no answers at all. A door slammed, Blank and Marcus looked at the door and saw Baku was back.

"Alright guys, get your asses down here right now!" Baku shouted, clearly drunk.

Everyone gathered around the table to see what was the problem.

"So what's the matter boss?" Cinna asked.

"It's madness outside! Seems that Wedge has put a bounty on our good friend Zidane here. They even have frigin posters hanging outside, with a robot picture!" He explained.

"Wow, I have to see that. I love robots!" Cinna yelled while running outside. Baku and the others raised their eyebrows. They where used to Cinna's stupidity, but he meant well.

"Zidane, I think it's best if you stay inside for a while." Baku said.

Zidane nodded his head in silence. Blank walked towards him, slapping him on the shoulder.

"Hey Zidane, stop acting like this! We'll get trough this! And find out what that lousy stone is!" Blank yelled.

"Yeah!" Was all that Marcus could add.

Baku nodded his head, he was getting more and more sober. Suddenly Cinna came in.

"You guys, you won't believe what's outside! I didn't found the robot picture, but a picture of guy that looks just like Zidane!" Cinna yelled.

The entire room was suddenly filled with silence. Then Baku punched Cinna.

Author's Note: Next one will be longer then the second chapter. Amarant will make a bigger appearance next. Chapter IV: "Red-Haired Threat" (oh and I won't get any work done in the weekend, maybe on Sunday.)