REDG: Agh...I'm back again! Hehe...sorry for the delay again. Life threw a few curves at me. Lesee...oh, I know that this chapter doesn't exactly follow the game at most points, cos I can't remember what happened. So I'm improvising a little! XD
Note: this site is being evil! no underlining, bold print, or italics! wassup with that?
Anywho, hope ya like the new chapter! Enjoy! (btw, review responses are at the end of the chapter for some unexplainable reason.)
Chapter 18
Follow the Leader
The group was now heading out of the Dragon's Gate. The Mist was everywhere, making the scenery around them murky and hazy. Zidane climbed on top of a tall rock and looked around for a few minutes.
"See anything yet?" X called.
Zidane jumped down from the rock and grinned, "Sure. Gizamaluk's Grotto isn't THAT far off, and there's this marshy-looking place directly ahead"
"Qu's Marsh" Freya corrected. "I suggest we go around it"
"But it'd take up less time if we just went through it. Its like a shortcut" Zidane argued.
"I wanna go to Qu's Marsh!" Tori said childishly, tugging at Freya's sleeve.
"Plus, if it means we'll get to Burmecia quicker..." Aiko said.
"Alright! Fine, we'll go!" Freya said, exasperated, "But don't blame me!"
They walked through the Mist a little more, luckily not encountering any monsters. Within a few short minutes, they had reached the edge of Qu's Marsh. It was dead silent, except for the sound of the wind passing through the thick tall plants.
"Its...k-k-k-kinda creepy" Vivi stuttered.
"Feh" Tori muttered, and started plowing her way through the plants. She looked back at everyone and called, "C'mon! Dagger ain't gonna wait for us to find her!". They all followed her into the marsh, careful to stick together and not get lost.
"I can't see anything except PLANTS! Everywhere!" Aiko said nervously, "what if we get lost?"
"We won't!" Tori said brightly, "Anyways, we'll hafta get to the other end some ti- AGH!"
She had tripped and falled face-first on the ground. Aiko stepped over her and pushed back some of the plants, "Hey...it's a clearing!"
"REALLY?" everyone said at once and ran out into the clearing, trampling Tori.
She got up and glared at Zidane.
"What? You shouldn't have been lying around there." He said simply.
She threw a rock at him, "I fell, you ass!"
They stopped arguing when Vivi pointed at something and asked, "...whats that?"
There was a fat person (if that's what you wanted to call it ) that was chasing after frogs and pouncing of them. Or tried to at least; it missed most of the time.
"That...is one of the Qu's" Freya muttered.
The 'person' looked up at them, and they could see it was completely covered. You couldn't see its face, or even a centimeter (A/N; for my American readers, that would be 1.2398724972947 inches. Lol) of skin showing.
"who are ya?" Zidane called.
"Quina" the thing said simply, and went back to chasing frogs.
"Ummm...you wouldn't know if we're heading the right way to go to Gizamaluk's Grotto, would you?" he asked.
Quina shrugged, ignoring him. "C'mon, let's go then" Zidane said, and started to walk towards the plants on the other side of the clearing, when another person walked out, that looked like Quina. It walked passed Zidane and the others and went straight towards Quina to hit it on the head with a giant wooden spoon.
"Quina no catch frogs!" It yelled angrily, "Quina stupid! Baka!"
"Quina no baka!" Quina argued.
"Yes baka!"
"No baka!"
"Yes baka!"
"No baka!"
The other person hit Quina on the head again and looked at Zidane, "Can Quale talk to you for a minute?"
"sure" Zidane said, "Who's Quale?"
The person pointed at itself. Zidane shrugged and walked off with the person to talk with it.
Freya paced back and forth impatiently, "See? I told you we should have gone around! This is just a waste of time!"
"...Do they all talk in third person?" X asked, and Freya nodded and rolled her eyes.
A few minutes later, Zidane skipped back and said proudly, "I offered to take Quina with us! Quale said he would want Quina to see the world!"
"WHAT?!" Freya yelled, "no! I will not allow it!"
Zidane ignored her and walked up to Quina to tell it the good news. They started walking again, with Quina going on and on about frogs, and Freya muttering about her getting a really bad headache. They trudged through the marsh for another hour or so until they were back in an open field.
"Look! Gizamaluk's Grotto is right up ahead!" Aiko said, pointing.
#Inside Gizamaluk's Grotto#
"It kinda smells in here" Tori complained, "like something's rotting...or burning"
She heard Aiko shriek in horror, and turned to see several Burmecian guards lying dead on the cold stone floor. Most were badly burned. She tried to swallow that nauseous feeling. Freya was pleading with the guards to get up.
"Freya..." Zidane said worriedly and put a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off and ran farther into the Grotto. Everyone else ran to catch up with her. As they walked on, they heard two people talking to each other.
"Who is that?" the first voice asked
"That, I don't know." The second one said.
The group looked around and saw two short people, both dressed in clown costumes; one red and one blue. X tilted his head to the side and said in a confused voice, "Clowns...?"
The red one ignored him and pointed at Zidane "I know I have seen him somewhere before."
"Somewhere before? I have not seen him. I know." The blue one replied.
"I guess it is not important. Let's kill him."
"Yes, kill him, shall we?" the other agreed.
From the shadows of the cave, several black mages came, muttering, "Kill..." in a monotone way.
Zidane's tail flicked in annoyance, and he started to run further back into the grotto.
"Hey! Aren't we going to fight them?" Aiko asked frantically, "What if they catch up?"
"We'll just hafta make sure they don't!" Zidane said, grinning, "Don't worry, I'll protect you!"
X shot him a quick glare, and Zidane decided it was time to shut up. They could hear the black mages getting further and further behind them, and eventually they couldn't hear them at all anymore. Everyone gave a sigh of relief and stopped to catch their breath.
Freya knelt down next to one of the fallen guards, and was surprised when his eyes shot open and said, "Freya! ...be careful! Master Gizamaluk...is not himself..." and died.
They silently went into the next room, which was just a short walkway to the outside, with water on either side of the path. If they were lucky enough, they wouldn't disturb Gizamaluk and would make it outside safely. They heard something from in the water growl menacingly and were certain that making it outside without a fight was out of the question.
Out of the water rose a giant monster, for a lack of a better word. Zidane glared up at it and yelled, "Ya gonna let us through or what?"
Gizamaluk answered by trying to bite Zidane's head off.
"Aright, that's how its gonna be, huh?" Zidane snarled, "Fine you little bastard! Your going DOWN, !"
REDG: well, that took a while! XD anywho...
Yunie-chan: Yay! Thankies for all the reviews! Glad ya like the story so far!
Jenn Yukina: I was SUPER lazy on writing this chapter! I need to get better about updating! XD
Kyoko: Kuja should be coming up in the next few chapters or so. :3Lady Yunalesca88: Hmmm...will Tori see Kuja in Burmecia? (grin) you'll hafta wait and see!
Hugs for everyone! Until next time!
Red-chan