Ace, Bea, Ci, and Jay had just materialized in a forest on planet Ragol. Ace had his blue photon Brand. Bea had the red Fire Scepter Agni. Ci had a basic photon handgun. Jay had an oversized sword, emanating a green glow.
"Jay, where're your guards?" Bea asked him, noticing the absence of the redheaded women with golden eyes. "You always have them around?"
"I'd rather not risk their lives in a place that just exploded," Jay answered dryly.
"Speaking of which," Ci said, looking around the clearing in the forest, "one wouldn't be able to tell that there was an explosion."
"Well, let's get to Central Dome before we think about it too much," Ace said, moving forward. A ring of brown, furry creatures popped out of the ground around them.
"Looks like they think otherwise," Jay said, readying his sword. "I'll take the ugly one."
"How do you know that they'll attack us?" Ci asked cautiously.
"I don't know, Ci," Jay said sarcastically. "Maybe it's the gnashing teeth, the huge claws, or the ominous approach that reminds me of a zombie. But ya never know. That could be just their way of saying 'Hello, welcome to Ragol'."
"Take it to 'em!" Ace shouted, lunging at the nearest Booma. His photon blade sizzled into the monster's flesh just before the Booma swung at him with its claw as he ducked out of the way. Bea was setting the Boomas on fire one by one with Foie. Jay slammed his sword into three Boomas, knocking them over. Ci stood in place putting a photon bullet in the head of every Booma she could. Soon, all of the animals were dead.
"That was interesting," Jay said, leaning on his sword.
"The explosion didn't kill the animals," Ci noted.
"But they aren't acting like the report said," Bea added, looking at the Inventory Status Link (ISL) on her left wrist. "The animals on Ragol are supposed to be peaceful."
"Let's keep going," Ace said, walking through a mechanical gate. They reached another clearing.
"Hey, this is the land I was gonna' buy!" Jay shouted, with hands on his head. "It's exactly like the brochure."
"Even the giant convulsing sac of pus over there?" Bea said, pointing to a Monest under a tree.
"Let's avoid that," Ace said, looking in another direction. "Let's go this way instead."
"You mean to the ominously dark cloudy area over that hill?" Jay asked. "Let's just take that transporter."
"I have to go with Jay on this one," Bea said, as Jay grinned teasingly at Ace.
"Ace and I will go this way," Ci suggested. "You and Jay use the transporter. Stay in touch," she said, pointing to her wrist.
"ISLs," Ace said, smiling as he and Ci continued on their path. "The best thing since…modern free-thinking androids."
"I don't why you're trying, Ace," Ci said, with a knowing smile. "It's not as if I'm…equipped for what you want."
"For me, it's close enough," he shrugged. "A girl's a girl." They came to another clearing, but this one had no other path.
"It seems we've reached a dead end," Ci said, looking around. She heard a peep and looked to the side.
"Hey, look," Ace said, kneeling in front of the small yellow bird that made the noise. "It's a baby Chocobo!" They heard several thudding noises all around.
"Those are not Chocobos," Ci corrected him, seeing the clearing full of the fowls, which were now approaching them.
Meanwhile Jay and Bea were just materializing into their next destination. They appeared in a dark, ominously cloudy place where it was drizzling.
"Aw crap," Jay slapped himself on the head.
"Way to go," Bea said sarcastically. "Well, at least we can see the Central Dome from here." They walked through a nearby gate and found themselves in a larger clearing with a small pond to their left. A pack of wolves leaped out the bushes and began to stalk them.
"Peaceful my ass," Jay said, readying his sword. He ran forward and slashed at one, which jumped out of the way. A bolt of lighting from Bea immediately zapped it.
"Try the spin-slash!" she called out to him.
"Good idea," Jay said, extending the sword to his side. Bea tossed Foie in his direction. Just before it hit, he spun around in a circle, spreading the flames into the wolves while hitting them with his sword at the same time. They all keeled over quickly.
"Team BJ strikes again!" Bea cheered.
"I like team JB more," Jay said.
"But B comes before J," she contended.
"Yeah," Jay admitted. "But who wants to be called BJ. Anyone could twist that straight into the gutter." Jay suddenly got a bad feeling and leaped toward Bea, just as a Hildebear landed where he had stood.
"Good instinct," Bea complimented, shooting a fireball at the large monster. The animal leaned back and blew its own fireball at the two, overpowering Bea's attack. Jay and Bea easily dodged it and stood side-by-side.
"Unexpected," Jay noted. He ran forward to slash it. The beast merely caught the blade with its hand, with little pain, and jerked it away from the Humar. Jay stepped back to Bea.
"Blast it?" she asked, pointing her scepter forward.
"Blast it," he said bitterly. A small flame floated toward the monster and exploded in a ball of fire. When it dissipated, the beast was still approaching, tossing the hot sword over its shoulder.
"Try ice," Jay said, taking out his handgun.
"Can't," she said, stepping back to the edge of the pond.
"That's right," Jay remembered, taking shots at the Hildebear. "You never could do ice. Any idea why?"
"Not the time," she said, zapping the Hildebear with more Zonde bolts. Just as the Hildebear was about to swing its fist at them, it collapsed, forcing them to jump into the pond before it landed on them.
"That was interesting," Jay said, wading in the neck deep water. He reached underwater and held Bea up so that her head was above the surface.
"Ack…sure," she said, spitting out the water. "Now let's get out of this dirty water." As soon as she finished that sentence, three Hildebears stomped into the clearing and began shooting fireballs at the two just as they ducked underwater.