Biddett: Hi, hello…
Choco: ::peeps in from side:: You done stalking me yet?
Biddett: Yeah.
Choco: Goodie. ::walks in:: Biddett doesn't own FF's 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10-2, Tactics Advance, Kingdom Hearts, Bahamut Lagoon, Seiken Densetsu 3 and Chrono Trigger! Kweh. And none of the OC's either. But…besides that, everything is hers!
Biddett: You're trying to suck up to me, aren't you? - -
Choco: Well if it'd stop you stalking me…!
Biddett: And I like it! ::hugs::
Choco: EEK! OO;; Oh, wait…huh? :S
Biddett: ::stops hugging:: Oh, and you can still send in your bios! Not too late!
-Biddett da Pigeon Stalker-
The Chaos Realms: 4-The Siege
Cheesy Overvoice: Last time on The Chaos Realms...
Mark arrives at the HQ, and learns more about this underground faction while Bridget is handed over to Rosa to rest for a while after their colossal battle with the fierce dragon Arkna. The HQ is split into different caverns named after certain spells, for instance the training area is called Quake Cavern, and the infirmary is named after the spell Curaga.
He finds out that there have been other people from Earth that have been transported here, and meets some of them. These earthlings have been on Drinnae for a long period of time- they have mastered combat skills similar to those you'd find in any Final Fantasy game. They practically know what it's like to be a game character!
After a while Bridget finally wakes up, and Mark heads out to see how she is doing. His new friends follow along, and so now Bridget is going to meet these other beings from her world. What will they think of her? What will she think of them? And why do Drinnans blow up their sodas?
…Find out now on The Chaos Realms!
----------------
"Mark! There you are!" Biddett exclaimed as her friend arrived by her bed.
"Yeah. Are you feeling any better? That was brave you know, saving me from Arkna and all." He paused for a moment and then added, "You know, I never really thanked you for it. If it wasn't for you, I guess I'd be dead right now."
Bridget flushed a little. "I'm sure Zidane and Wakka would have looked after you anyway." She adverted her gaze downwards. Bridget was never any good at taking compliments. "I'm still feeling a little sore and my muscles are a little stiff, now that you mention it, and I'm still a little tired."
Suddenly Relm said, "Are you two love birds finished? That's kind of rude leaving six people at the end of your bed and ignoring them!"
"Love birds?!" Mark exclaimed and Bridget shrieked, her eyes shooting back up and opening wide.
"EWWWWW!" She yelled.
"Well, now that we have your attention, I think you should introduce yourself to us." Serenity grinned at the recent arrival's reactions.
"Ehehe…I'm Bridget."
"Right. Well I'm Serenity, nice to meet you." Bridget's eyes quickly surveyed the sixteen-year-old and doing so, she thought to herself, I know I've seen her eyes from somewhere…but where?
Atheon caught Bridget staring at Serenity and waved a hand over her eyes. "Look, I know she's ugly and all, but you really should try not to stare." He sniggered.
"Hey!! Why you…!" Serenity shot him a glare. In one quick swift motion, she unsheathed a dragon-shaped sword and whacked him over the head with the flat side of it. Mumbling to herself, Serenity sheathed it again and shot Atheon a couple more icy glares.
Atheon rubbed his head and smirked. "By the way, I'm Atheon. If that's all, I'm going to go to the training area before Ms. Smiles here gives me another beating." Promptly, he turned and left.
"You know, I think I might go too. By the looks we're just standing here anyway." Ian said.
"Wait!" Aiko tugged on his arm. "You haven't even introduced yourself to Bridget yet!" Ian broke free of her grip and walked away. As he did so, he waved a hand and called back, "Meh. I'm sure she'll find out who I am eventually."
"Oh, fine!" Aiko yelled after him. She quickly turned to Bridget and said, "I'm Aiko and that was Ian. Better get going before he leaves me behind! See ya!" And with that, she smiled and raced to catch up with the young man with silver hair.
"Riiight…" Sariah said, watching after her. She turned and faced Bridget. "Well, welcome to the HQ then. I suppose nobody's actually welcomed you guys yet, hey?" She noted.
"No…not really." Mark replied.
"Well, welcome you two. Bridget, I'm Sariah." She said.
"Hey…you're from Earth too, aren't you?" Serenity asked Bridget.
"You should know that already, Serenity. Mark's from Earth and she's his friend." Sariah interjected, before Bridget got a chance to speak.
"Oh yeah…" Serenity looked a little embarrassed.
"So are you guys going to join up with us, or what?" Relm piped up from the bottom of the bed.
"Join?" Mark questioned. "Join what?"
"Us. The fight against Tiroth." Sariah explained.
"I dunno. I just want to get home, really. And well, what help are we going to be anyway?" Mark answered.
"Well, I don't know if you guys can get home anytime soon. That's what Cameron did for a while, but he gave up when he realised that if he didn't help, there was going to be nowhere to get home from! In the end, he joined us." Sariah told them.
"Cameron?" Bridget asked. "I have a brother called Cameron…" She said.
"I doubt it was the same guy. He never said he had a sister called Bridget." Sariah said bluntly.
"Oh."
Mark had a puzzled expression on. Seeing that, Serenity assumed and said to him, "You haven't met Cameron yet. He's the only other Earthling you haven't."
"So…are you?" Relm asked once again, her voice starting to take on that annoying tone you get from little bossy girls.
"I don't really think I'd be much help." Mark said.
"Well I think it sounds cool! I'd love to learn the kind of stuff you guys know! And to fight monsters! I've always wanted to do that!" Bridget said excitedly.
"Well…on second thoughts, if Bridget is going to, I suppose so." Mark re-answered.
"Oh, yeah, just because Bridget's going…" Serenity teased.
"Serenity." Sariah said.
"Yeah?" She answered.
"Be quiet. You wouldn't like it if they teased you." Sariah said frankly. Serenity gave a click of her tongue and remained quiet. Relm jumped up in excitement.
"Yay!" She exclaimed.
"Whoa! Calm down there!" Serenity tried to calm the little artist.
"Well now we gotta have a celebration! We got new members!" She cried, and was about to run off when Sariah grabbed her by her green shirt.
"But I've gotta go tell everyone!" Relm whined.
"Well, just because they've said they want to join, doesn't mean we go have an inauguration ceremony, you know. Their jobs have to be announced at the celebration, and we don't know what they want to be yet." Sariah explained.
"Nawww…"
Suddenly a red light began flashing.
"The hell?" Bridget looked around wildly.
"Where's that coming from?! I thought this place was lit by torches!" Mark noted.
"Up there!" Relm pointed. It was the red light- the kind you'd see in a high-security place used as an alarm. About fifteen were placed throughout the upper walls of Ultima Cavern.
"Well if can run these lights, why don't you use electricity to light the rest of the caverns!" Mark questioned.
"You'll be surprised how much those stupid alarm lights cost, just them! The electricity bill here is really high…stupid Tiroth…we ought to vote him out…I say the interest rates are too high, and there are too many stupid taxes…" Serenity grumbled.
There was a yell from the entrance to the tunnel leading to the other caverns. "MONSTER ALERT!!" She looked to where it had come from. Bridget almost fell over herself when she realised the person who had yelled was none other than Irvine- the gun-wielding so-called "ladies man" from FF8!
He looked pretty tense thought.
"Where?" Sariah called back.
"Near Flare Cavern! Hurry! They've just breached the first line of defences!" Irvine yelled back, his voice sounding urgent.
Serenity muttered a curse. "The shrine!" She cried. "We've gotta go! Come on, Sariah!" She gave a tug on Sariah's shirt and without anything else, they ran flat out and drew their weapons.
"What's going on?" Bridget asked, her voice shaking.
"I don't know…monster attack, I think." Mark said.
Bridget looked spit-scared. "Monsters?! Eeep!"
"You're the one who just said you would love to fight them…" Mark said sarcastically.
"But…not…so…soon! I meant once I learnt how to defend myself!! I wouldn't have a clue how to defend myself if somebody handed me a Final Fantasy-Style Fighting For Dummies book!" She stuttered.
Somebody overheard Bridget's wailings and leant over to her. "Here you go!" They handed over a brightly-coloured book. Bridget flipped it the right way, and the cover read Final Fantasy-Style Fighting For Dummies.
Bridget sat there and stared at the book for a good while.
"I said that I still wouldn't know even if you handed me the book!" She finally spat.
"Fine then!" The person said. They snatched the book away.
Mark gave a twitch. "I COULD HAVE USED THAT!!" He practically yelled.
"Whoops…sorry." Bridget sweat dropped.
"We'll be okay here anyway. The monsters are only near Flare Cavern, and that's a good ten minute walk from here." Relm said soothingly.
Bridget cocked her head to the side. "Hey…what was that noise?" She said, her voice quivering a little.
"What was what? I don't hear anything." Mark replied.
"It sounded like a growl or something…" Bridget told him.
"What if it's a monster?!" Mark shrieked. Relm giggled her little head off.
"What?! What's so funny?" Mark snapped.
"You're so paranoid!" Relm giggled.
"Mark paranoid? You haven't seen me yet!" Bridget said.
"I mean, Eiko normally uses Red XIII as a babysitter for her moogles. He hates it. She's probably annoying the crud out of him just so she can go annoy Zidane or something for half an hour…" Relm informed.
"Oh. See Bridge? We're okay." Mark comforted her. "No monsters here!"
Bridget, like always, still panicked. "I don't know! Really! It really sounds like a monster!! Like that wolf-thing that attacked us when we first got here!" She said, alarmed as a meerkat on guard of its young.
"Look, I'm going to go walk over to the entrance, and I'll prove to you that there are no monsters!" Mark said, and walked over to the entrance. He poked his head in, then looked out, and shook his head.
"Go further!" Bridget called to him. Mark shrugged and walked out of view.
"You're paranoid, Bridget." Relm said simply.
"Well, what did you expect? I'm a pigeon stalker for crying out loud!" She retorted.
"A…what?" Relm asked, puzzled.
"Never mind." Bridget replied.
Suddenly there was a scream. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! MONSTERS!!!" Mark came running back out. Bridget shrieked, jumped out of bed and ran over to her friend."Are you okay?!" She asked worriedly. Mark looked at her and snickered.
"Errr…" She looked even more worried.
"I was only kidding!! God, you should have seen the look on your face!!" He roared with laughter.
"You…little…" Bridget shot him a glare. "THAT'S NOT FUNNY!!" She slapped Mark over the head.
"Ow!" He rubbed his head. Mark looked at Bridget's furious look and muttered quietly to himself, "Uh oh…" And he ran.
"YOU GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!!" Bridget screamed and chased after him.
Relm sat there and stared at the two of them. "Are those two okay?" A voice asked from behind. Relm turned around and saw a canine creature, with fiery red fur.
"I think so." She replied. "Hi Red. Looking after the moogles, are we?" She added.
"No." Red XIII replied.
"Huh. Well you sounded pretty annoyed earlier. We could hear you growling from here!" Relm grinned.
"What do you mean? I've been at Poisona Cavern all day." Red looked a little confused.
"…I didn't know you were the kind to go hunting. I thought Cloud and Seifer took care of that kind of stuff." She noted.
"That's Esuna Cavern. Poisona Cavern's the forest cavern. You don't find anything to eat in there." Red told her. "You've been here how long and you still don't know all the Cavern names?"
"Come on…I'm a kid! How do you expect me to remember all the names of all these places? There's literally millions of them!" She argued.
"Oh, so when we go to push back Tiroth from the villages, all of a sudden you're 'old enough to help out' but now you're 'just a kid'?" Red arched an eyebrow.
"Grrr…" Relm folded her arms across her chest. Red smirked and watched as Bridget slowly dragged herself back and retired to her bed.
"So did you give Mark what he deserves?" Relm asked.
"Meh…" Was all Bridget said before flopping down.
"I take that as a no then." Red noted.
"Nope. Too damn fast. Actually, I'm just too slow." Bridget replied. Just then Mark came back in, looking very bruised and battered and covered in bandages.
"I thought you said you never caught up with him…" Relm said.
"She didn't. I never saw the 'Caution When Wet' sign…" Mark said.
"Ooookay…" Red stared at him. Mark jumped when he noticed him. "Hey Biddett! Look! It's Nanaki!" He said.
"Huh? Red XIII? My god! Do you think Cloud's here too?" She grinned.
"Snap out of it, Bridget…" He said bluntly.
A growl suddenly caught Bridget's attention. "See? There's that growl again!!" She exclaimed, panicked.
"It's not me, so don't stare." Red announced, noticing Relm looking at him.
"See? It's a monster!! There are monsters here!" Bridget yelled.
"Come off it, Bridge! There aren't any! When I went and looked, there weren't any! Stop panicking!" Mark was starting to get annoyed now.
The growl became louder and clearer. "Ahhh…" Bridget's voice quivered in terror.
"Where is that coming from…?" Red searched the cavern with his eyes.
Whatever it was, snarled. Everyone looked around nervously.
"The entrance!!" Bridget squeaked, pointing in pure terror.
In the shadows of the tunnel leading above ground, was a silhouette. It was a ghastly form, and nobody needed an explanation of what it was. The fiend gave a horrid cry. It sent shivers up Bridget's spine. And then, in a rush of bodies, an army of monsters infiltrated.
"SEE?! I TOLD YOU!!" She shrieked.
Red yelped and rushed in, taking out about three monsters in one go. He growled at them and circled, spotting another group before heading in for another attack.
"Yikes! I'd better go warn everyone!!" Relm announced, and skittered off, dodging the occasional monster assault.
The whole of the Ultima Cavern erupted into chaos. People who were unable to fight- because of injuries or lack of battle skills-fled, and Mark presumed they were heading for Curaga Cavern. Everyone else stayed and fought on.
There were literally thousands of the creatures. They were of every size, shape, and colour. There were small dingo-like creatures, and Bridget thought they looked like the wolf fiends you could find on Besaid Island. There were monsters she recognised from Final Fantasy VI- creatures with one giant eye which she recognised as Blearies, large white maggot-looking insects reminding her of Crawlies and what looked like rabid rats, which she believed to be Were-Rats, along with Glacial Eyes and swarms of Bite Bugs from FF8. Then there was the kind of monster you'd recognise right away. Flans. Bombs. Goblins. And some sort of miniature Zuu.
One of the goblins came up behind Mark during the confusion and hissed forebodingly. Mark simply punched it in the face and grabbed its dagger. The Goblin took a couple of steps backwards, dazed. It then rushed forward and was about to slash Mark with its dagger…when it realised it didn't have one anymore.
Bridget grinned. "I think you were a thief in a past life, you know!"
"Ehehe…" He chuckled. WHAM! Mark was hit by a peeved-off goblin's Goblin Punch.
Bridget stared at her friend. "You okay?" She asked.
"No sweat!" He replied and went back to fight the goblin.
Bridget watched Mark battle on, and wondered to herself what it was like, beating the stuffing out of some vicious monster…Bridget felt a shiver going up her spine. It was cold and slimy…Bridget whipped her head around.
"AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" Bridget screamed. "CRAWLIE
She grabbed the maggot with the tips of her fingers and threw the monster like it was a diaper covered with a baby's…uh, wastes.
Bridget gasped as she sighted more white masses of flesh. Those things made her skin crawl. "EW EW EW EW EW!!!" She pulled herself right up the other end of her bed trying to evade the weird creatures. The off-white maggots hauled themselves up her bed and Bridget swore this was just like a nightmare.
On impulse, she leapt off the bed and ran over to the middle of Ultima Cavern, where the Cosmo Candle look-alike burned away, unaware of the utter chaos breaking out around it. Bridget took a piece of log from under the Candle and in her hands and waved the burning end and waved it at the Crawlies.
They were aggravated by Biddett's "attack" and wailed some warped cry. Bridget gave a sharp squeak and moved away, but the little creepy crawlies just followed. "You little disgusting freaks!" She snapped at them. "It's because of creatures like you that I'm afraid of the bathtub!!" And with a cry, she drove the end of the wood into the fiend with a sickening squelch!
"LET THAT BE A LESSON TO THE REST OF YOU!! I CAN SQUISH YOU LIKE THE MAGGOTS YOU ARE!!" She yelled at them.
Just then Mark came up beside her. "Bridge." He said.
"Yeah?"
"They are maggots."
"Sh'up." And with that, she went back to spearing the filthy things. I never knew hearing such a disgusting squelch noise could be so nice! She thought, driving her makeshift weapon into another fiend.
Meanwhile, hiding in an overlooking tunnel up high in the wall of the cavern a figure stood, shrouded in shadow, and covered in thick armour. He watched the scene unfold beneath him, leaning on his spear and thinking. The girl…she shows promise. She is naturally one of us- she could have just easily used that piece of wood as a sword, but no, she uses it like a spear…I must train her. The spear-wielding man shifted his weight onto his feet and then turned and walked down the tunnel, his form being swallowed by the dim light of the dark path.
Bridget and Mark were starting to struggle now. Mark himself looked as if he couldn't take the brunt of the monster attacks, and Bridget was just simply overwhelmed. They were now surrounded by a group of bombs and flans. The flans couldn't be attacked, their jelly-like forms simply absorbed the attacks, and so the pair was left fighting the bombs.
"Are you sure we should be attacking the bombs? I mean, won't they just explode on us or something?" Bridget asked tentatively.
"Well, what else are we going to attack? The flans just absorb the attack! How the hell are we going to get out of this mess otherwise?" Mark snapped.
"Yell for help?" She replied hopelessly.
"Sure, like anyone can hear us! They're too busy fighting other monsters!!" Mark barked.
"Calm down!!" Bridget sounded edgy
"HOW?!" Mark retorted.
"WE'RE GONNA DIE!!" Bridget shrieked out of nowhere.
"Well, DUH!"
"No! I mean, LOOK THAT BOMB'S GONNA BLOODY EXPLODE!!" Bridget yelled at the top of her voice. A fiery explosion ripped through the air as the fire monster used its attack that it was known most for.
Bridget collapsed on the ground, her body searing with pain and blistering with the heat of the attack. "…Shit…not like this…" She breathed, her mind painfully just holding on to consciousness.
"Bridge?! BRIDGET!!" Mark hollered. "WHY YOU…!" Mark rushed forward to attack. He slashed through whatever was in reach. He stopped, breathing heavily. "Take that…" He muttered.
There was only one flan left. Mark shifted the dagger in his hand and went in for one last attack. But before he could do so, the flan cast a Thunder spell, rendering what was left of Mark's strength to nothing. He pulled himself up from the attack, but he knew that he had no strength left to fight it anyway…
Mark spun around and noticed more monsters grouping around him from behind. "Oh great…" He muttered. There were five bite bugs and two of the canine fiends. One of the wolves howled and they charged in for the attack.
Mark closed his eyes and waited for the attack.
And waited.
And waited.
But nothing came. Mark opened his eyes slowly. Maybe he was already dead…
No. The red lights of the alarms still blared. The light from the Cosmo Candle still flickered, and the sound of the monsters and fighters around him still came to his ears. But as he looked around him, he didn't see the monsters.
"Hey, you okay?" A voice asked from behind him. Mark jerked around and saw another person. In his hand was a sword and he quickly sheathed it.
"Did you…just…?" Mark barely got the words out.
"Yeah. They're easy. I guess you're just weak, that's all." The stranger said. Mark couldn't make out his face- he was wearing armour.
"Hey! Well, I suppose you've got a point, I just arrived in this world not long ago…thanks." Mark said.
"No problem. The name's Cameron."
"Oh, right. I'm…"
"Mark. Hehe." Cameron laughed softly to himself.
"Wha…? How'd you know my name?" Mark asked, a little frightened.
"I'll tell you later. For now, you should head to Curaga Cavern, and get you and your friend there, fixed up." Cameron gestured towards Bridget.
"Oh…yeah. Okay."
"I'll finish up here and meet you back there." And with that, Cameron went back into the fray.
Mark moved over to Bridget and picked her up. Quickly, he picked his way through the ongoing battle. Most of the fighters were easily mowing down the lines of fiends- it was just the sheer number that was annoying. And yet he and Bridget could barely beat ten of them…
Mark was walking briskly through the tunnel towards Curaga Cavern, when a figure blocked his way.
"Hey…would you mind moving? I need to get to Curaga Cavern." Mark told him.
"Let me carry the girl for you." The figure said. He was clad in armour, and carried a spear with him.
"Uh…I don't know... I'm fine, really." Mark told him, and pushed past.
"My name's Kain. I'm quite intrigued by your friend there." The man told him as he walked past.
"Kain? The dragoon?" Mark turned.
"The very same."
"Well…okay." Mark agreed. Kain took Bridget from Mark and they walked along.
"What job are you thinking of taking?" Kain asked him as they walked along.
"What…?" Mark asked.
"You know, a job. Black mage, warrior, thief, archer…I heard from Relm you're going to join us in the fight against Tiroth." Kain explained.
"Oh. If anything, I want to be just like Dagger or Eiko." Mark told him.
"Uhh…" Kain stuttered.
"What?" Mark asked.
"You're going to need a sex change--"
"I MEAN JOB WISE!!" Mark yelled.
"Ugh…please…be quiet…my head hurts…" Bridget groaned from over Kain's shoulder.
"Sorry!" Mark murmured.
"Do you know what Bridget wants to be…?" Kan asked.
"She's right over your shoulder, you know." Mark told him flatly.
"I…don't…know…black mage…?" Bridget could barely speak.
"Hush. Come on, we're almost at Curaga Cavern…" Kain told them.
Biddett: By the way…there are two Camerons in this story. There's Cameron, the one you met in this chappy, and there's my older brother Cameron…but I'll try to keep him more known by his nickname, Jimmy.
Choco: Uhh…Biddett…
Biddett: Mmm?
Choco: You never answered the question 'why do Drinnans blow up their sodas?'
Biddett: Oh. ::whistles:: These two can explain it for you!
Drinnan #1: Well, you see…
Drinnan #2: It's hard to get the little fizzes in the fizzy drinks here. It's a different atmosphere and all. Watch.
Drinnan #1: ::opens a can of soft drink:: Look, no lovely little fizz like you get on Earth. It's like every can of Coke or Fanta is permanently FLAT!!
Drinnan #2: So…to get this fizz, you simply cast Ultima on it!!
Drinnan #1: ::casts Ultima on a can of soft drink::
::Can blows up::
Drinnan # 2: AHHHHHHH!!! I GOT A PIECE OF CAN IN MY EYE!!! YOU IDIOT!! THE PAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!
Choco: O.O SOMEBODY CALL AN AMBULANCE!!
Drinnan # 1: Wait, it didn't work! Let me try again! ::casts Ultima on another soft drink can::
::it blows up::
Biddett: STOP IT!! YOU'RE GETTING ME COVERED IN FLAT SOFT DRINK!!!
Drinnan # 1: WAIT!!! I'll get it!! ::does it again::
Choco: AHHHHHHH!!! ::runs and hides under the desk:: I don't wanna blow up, mummy!!!
Drinnan #1: Watch! ::opens cans and it fizzes all over him:: Oops. Bit much.
Biddett: ::smacks forehead:: Oh brother. Anyway, time for me to go…and don't forget to REVIEW!! PLEASE!!
...In the next chapter we'll find out what happened to everyone else...so sorry to everyone who's characters didn't play a big part!