I'm Barret. That's pronounced Bear-et. I come from the village of Spontaneously Combusting Bovines. Yes, just by the name I bet you know, it's a very exciting village. I hate excitement. It makes me have to run. And running is too troublesome.
I left this exciting village on the 13th day of Madmoon. I brought only the essentials, and set out to find a place where I could lounge around. Of course, it's annoying to wander so much. I had been traveling for quite a few days, and I was exhausted.
I stopped by a pub in Sphrom. Then set out, to find there was a battle going on in the streets between a clan consisting of a soldier in pink, a soldier in blue with nothing but his fists, a vierra with a bow, and a white monk with brass knuckles.
The other clan was mainly monsters. Strange monsters, Tonberries they appeared to be. It wasn't looking good for the clan with the humans. But they took out one Tonberry. Then another. It seemed to be mainly because of the uncanny teamwork of the bangaa and the human in pink. The bangaa would distract the Tonberry with air render and the human would stab the Tonberry in one stroke. That didn't mean the others weren't helping too.
The other human with the fists was attempting to go one on one with a Tonberry while getting sliced by its dagger. The Tonberry was getting close to fainting, but so was the boy. As the weakened Tonberry moved in for the kill, an arrow was shot through its chest. The vierra had shot it, and tossed a potion to the boy, then turned and shot the last Tonberry that was trying to sneak up behind her.
'Interesting clan,' I thought. Sure, they seemed to have a lot of action going on, but looks could be deceiving. I followed the clan back to the Sphrom Inn. They took a spot in the back of the inn, counting the money they gained. The vierra distributed it equally among the group. Then they all slinked off in different directions. Only one remained behind. The soldier in blue.
I walked over and stated my business.
"I'd like to join your clan. I'm Barret, a white mage." I stated.
"Sure." He said, and got up and headed for the door. Before he walked out, he said, "You were watching the clan enough, you go tell them Marche said you could join. They'll accept you." Then he walked out the door.
Odd, usually clans ask more before blindly letting anyone in their group. Oh well, at least I wouldn't have to roam so pointlessly.
I introduced myself to most of the clan members but the vierra. She creeped me out. Well, since Lucas said we were on our own for meals, and just be back by nightfall, I went off to explore. I had never been out of my village.
Turns out, Sphrom isn't that big. I checked out the supplies shop, and the bangaa clerk showed me the merchandise. I didn't see anything I wanted, so left. Sphrom was a pretty boring town. Not much to do. So I went back to the pub. It was already late when I left, so it was almost nightfall when I got back.
I walked into the pub to see Montblanc drunk, lying on the table, half asleep. Marche was sitting, laughing at the predicament of Pablo. The vierra had gotten drunk too, and was rubbing up against him. He must have had something in him too, because he was giggling.
"Marche, are you sure we should let them stay like that?" Questioned the bangaa as I sat down.
"They'll be fine. But if Babette starts stripping, stop her." Marche said, still laughing.
"How come they're drunk? They're going to have a horrible hangover tomorrow when it's time to leave," I said dryly.
"We're celebrating. We successfully completed our first mission with minimal injuries." Yawned the bangaa. "I don't know about them, but we should go to bed. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow. Did you get that other tent?"
"Yeah, I got it right after the battle. No more awkward situations." Said Marche. Then he got up and went upstairs to the bedrooms.
By now, Babette and Pablo had slumped on each other in a drunken slumber. The bangaa, though slim, lifted them up on his shoulders. Then nodded his head toward the Moogle. I picked up the bat-eared creature.
We put Pablo and Montblanc in one room, and the vierra by herself. Then I found an empty room and went to the first bed I saw. The bangaa came in shortly afterwards and took the bed on the far side of the room.
I woke up by the bangaa throwing my luggage on me. Startled, I started swinging my staff, which was sitting on the side of my bed at the nearest thing: the bangaa's head. Eyebrow twitching, the bangaa took a few deep breaths.
"Time to go. Marche is waking up the others." He said, eyebrow still twitching. (Do bangaa have eyebrows? Well, that space above his eye where an eyebrow should have been was twitching)
We started on our way on the path to the Nubswood. We had a mission there, and it was a great place to relax. Montblanc had the uncanny ability to think with most of his brain while still partially drunk. But the other two seemed less than their full selves. They didn't remember anything, which was probably better for their egos.
When we reached Nubswood, we took a break by a large oak tree. It was a wonderful day. The birds were chirping, sweet scents from flowers were blowing around, a giant ball of fire was coming toward us. WHAT!
I jumped out of the way of the oncoming ball, only to have it curve in mid-air to singe the hair off the side of my cheek. Our battle had begun. So much for the beautiful day.
This time, the group was caught completely unprepared. Before anyone had reacted, a judge showed up and started the match. I looked at our enemy which consisted of only 3 people. One was an odd person. He was sort of dressed like a soldier, but ruined the effect if it weren't for his giant yellow clown shoes. His companion must have been a fighter. He was gazing at Marche intently with his cold eyes. The last one was a girl, a white/black mage probably. She was the nicest looking of them.
"We came to do battle with the Kingdom Key Clan. I am Marche. Co-leader of Clan Nutsy" Marche boldly stated, talking to the soldier.
"I'm Sora. The boy is my friend Riku. The girl is my other friend, Kairi." Said the brown haired boy. "We will have a 3 on 3 battle with you."
"Okay. Lucas? Barret? Time to pull your weight" Marche teased.
The battle continued there. Marche headed for Sora, while Lucas aimed for Riku. I was left trying to dodge and smack Kairi with my staff, since I had no offensive magic. I actually was defeating the girl until I felt a fire spell explode next to my head. Not a fatal blow, but enough to daze me. I looked at Kairi, but she seemed confused also.
Sora had cast a fire spell while fending Marche off with his odd key shaped blade. I was on my back. Not good. I saw the girl's cute face above me, then blacked out.
I awoke to seeing Babette bandaging Marche's bloodied hands. Then she started treating a number of cuts on Lucas' arms.
"Win or lose?" I asked groggily. Judging by the solemn looks on their faces, I knew the answer. "Where are they?" Pablo, now completely sober, pointed at three figures walking away, deeper into the forest.
"Alright people, let's just move on. If you're in a clan, you can expect some wins and some losses. We just have to get up and walk away, knowing we tried our hardest." Said Lucas. We smiled. Lucas had that quality to him. He could make you feel good just by a few words. Most bangaa were cold and jerky.
We left for another town later that night. We didn't enjoy the idea of staying the night in a forest where there were known to be a lot of wild creatures. We reached Baguba Port about noon the next day. Montblanc had to see his brother to borrow some money. So once again we were on our own. This time, Pablo joined me. We went to the port and watched some ships. We also pointed out the ones we were gonna get once we became rich clansmen. It wasn't too bad hanging out. Until we ran into Babette.
She had ran into a gang of bangaa. They grouped up on her in an alley. She defeated them, but wouldn't be able to use her right hand for a week. After this, we decided to always have a buddy when going off in town.
But that wasn't enough for Pablo. He tracked down the group, challenging their leader to an engagement at noon the next day. One on one.
Things didn't look good for Pablo when some gang members separated him from me and Babette and roughed him up a bit.
This was getting ugly...
Yes, Sora, Riku, and Kairi from Kingdom Hearts just made a guest appearance and kicked ass. I couldn't make Riku lose. It wouldn't seem right. So, this gang is going to turn out to be headed by someone you wouldn't expect...more final fantasy people...