REDG: WOW!!! I'M BACK!!!! In case ya didn't read my bio, I wasn't allowed near any electronics cos of some dumb test I failed (it was only a practice test!!!). Well anywho, I wan't harp on that anymore.

Chapter 9
The Ice Cavern

Zidane, Aiko, Vivi, and Steiner headed deeper into the Evil Forest, leaving Tori behind. They had dodged several monsters to save their strength for whatever was ahead.

"... is this even a good idea?" Aiko asked, " Maybe we shoulda brought more people with us"

"we'll be fine"

They walked in silence to a giant cave, where all the trees where growing weird.

"Th-this is kinda creepy" Vivi whispered.

Steiner came barging in yelling "PRINCESS" at the top of his lungs and scaring the crap out of everyone else. He stopped and pointed to a figure in the middle of the cave, "But this time its true! The princess is right there!"

"Yeah, and theres also a giant plant thingy!!!!" Zidane yelled pointing at a giant plant with a pink flower on it.

"Oh...so, do we fight it?"

(sweatdrop) "No duh..."

Zidane and Steiner charged at the plant and started to hack the thing to pieces. Vivi stayed far enough away to not get hit, while casting a fire spell, and Aiko just stood there.

"C'mon Aiko! Fight!!!" Zidane yelled.

"I don't have a weapon!" She yelled back and looked around frantically for a rock or a stick that she could use as one.

"Oh, for the love of...here!" Zidane tossed her something, "They're spares, so you can keep 'em!"

Aiko looked down and saw that he had thrown a pair of small daggers. She picked them up, grinning, and ran towards the plant to help fight. Vivi casted a few more fire spells before the plant shriveled up and was burnt to a crisp (A/n: crispy! Lol).

That over with, Steiner ran to Garnet to give her the medicine. He kept pouring it down her throat until she bolted up and started coughing.

"Geez, you need to cut back to a pack a day!" Aiko said cheerfully.

"Uhhh...guys?" Blank said nervously, "I think we'd better get outta here!"

There were hundreds of plants , that looked like spiders, crawling out of the hole where the boss plant had died. But that wasn't what Blank was talking about. The forest was being turned to stone! So they ran.

The forest was petrifying quickly, and Blank was still way behind. As one of the plant-spiders was starting to turn to stone, it grabbed Blank and held on. There was no way he was going to make it out.

"BLANK!!!" Zidane yelled.

"Run you moron! RUN!!!" Blank said and threw a piece of paper at him.

Zidane turned and ran, picking up the paper as he went. Everyone else had already reached the exit, and the forest was closing in on him. He picked up the pace and ran flat-out into the clearing where everyone was waiting.

Tori and Aiko were setting up a tent for Garnet to rest in, while Vivi took a nap, and Stiener and Zidane 'decided' to start arguing.

"hey, Rusty? Did ya get the princess out okay?" Zidane asked, opening the piece of paper Blank had given him (turned out to be a map)

Stiener turned beet red and said, "I am Captain Steiner of the-"

"Yeah yeah...whatever. Anyways, the quickest way of getting to Lindblum is through the Ice Cavern and past Dali"

"LINDBLUM?! The princess is NOT going to Lindblum!!! She's going straight back to Alexandria Castle, where she belongs!"

Zidane ignored him, "yup! Off to the Ice Cavern tomorrow! Better rest up, Rusty!"

The next morning, Zidane was up and ready to go. The three girls, Vivi, and Steiner were a different matter all together. Zidane was going around trying to wake up Vivi and the girls, while trying to convince Stiener to go to Lindblum with them.

"I REFUSE to go to Lindblum!!!" Stiener shouted for about the 50th time.

"Aww...give it a rest Stiener! Please!!!" Zidane shouted.

"NEVER!!!"

Zidane gave up and started trying to wake up Vivi again, "C'mon! we gotta get going buddy!"

"J-just 5 more minutes..." Vivi said sleepily.

Tori yawned and sat up, "Whats with a the noise?"

"We're TRYING to leave..." Zidane said, losing patience, "I can't get anyone up"

"oh, that's easy" Tori said and shouted, "You all better get up or we're gonna leave ya here for the monsters!!"

That got everyone up VERY quickly. So, in no time they were up and ready to leave the forest. Outside, the Mist wasn't as thick. They could see the Ice Cavern was a fairly short walk away.

"That wasn't funny" Aiko muttered.

"I thought it was" Tori said and skipped on ahead of everyone else.

Zidane shook his head, "is she 16 or 6 years old?"

After about an hours walk, they reached the Ice Cavern. Inside it were all kinds of plants and flowers that had frozen. Garnet ran in to look at the flowers.

"They're so beautiful!" she said.

"Yeah. Pretty." Zidane said, shivering, "Can we get a move on? I'm freezing here!"

"Which was do we go?" Aiko asked, looking around.

"well, there's a stong wind coming from that way" he said, pointing, "So maybe the exits that way"

They all followed Zidane through the cavern, with Garnet stopping every once in a while to look at the flowers. The winds started to pick up.

"I feel...kinda numb..." Tori said and collapsed. Vivi just kept walking until he tripped and didn't get up. One by one, the group went unconscious and the winds kept blowing snow and ice over them.

Hours later, Zidane slowly got up, "What the hell was that". He heard a noise and stopped to listen, from in there?"

He walked past the group into a large area. There was a mage that looked like Vivi, except he was taller and looked a lot older. Behind him was the exit.

"Who or what the hell are ya?!"

The mage looked down at Zidane, "I am the Black Waltz. And I was sent here to retrieve the princess, so get out of my way."

Zidane pulled out his daggers in response.

"Alright then, have it your way." The mage snapped and rang a strange-looking bell, "Come Sea Lion!!!"

Out of nowhere, a creature made purely out of ice came.

"Shit, it'd be really handy to have Vivi here right about now..." Zidane muttered.

The Black Waltz threw spells at Zidane. He ignored it and kept slashing at the mage with everything he had. He was fighting alone, so he couldn't rely on help from anyone else. He was used to that, but it didn't make the fight any easier. Finally, the mage collapsed.

"S-sea Lion! Kill him for me!" he called, and disappeared.

Zidane had been watching the mage and didn't see the Sea Lions attack, a powerful Ice spell. He saw a familiar light around him after the spell.

"Trance!!! Awright!" Zidane said happily, and sent a wave of fire towards the Sea Lion.

The wind had stopped after the mage had died. He went back to the group, to find everyone already waking up.

"Geez, sleeping on the job" Zidane joked, "The exits just ahead! C'mon!"

They got up and moved out until they were finally outside again.

"The sun feels so nice!" Tori and Aiko cheered.

Zidane pointed, "See that village over there? I think its called Dali. I'm pretty sure I've been there before"

"Sounds like you've been everywhere" Garnet laughed.

"Nah...just a few places. I think we should give ya a different name, if people are out looking for you"

Stiener was about to say something, but Garnet nodded, "Okay, may I borrow that?"

"What, this?" Zidane asked and pulled out one of his daggers.

"What is it called?"

"A dagger...careful! Its sharp!"

Garnet handed back the weapon, "Dagger...from now on, that will me my name"

"Okay, we need to work on your speech next!"

Garnet/Dagger gave him an odd look, "My what?"

"Your speech. Try and say something like Vivi would" he looked at Vivi, "Yeah, how about 'alrighty'?"

"Alright"

"...we'll work on it" Zidane said and started heading towards Dali.

REDG: well, that took forever and a day to write! Honestly! Lol anyways, I'm gonna put up another chapter with Kuja (its kinda short tho). Thank ya for reviewing even though I haven't updated in a month! please R&R! thanks!