Chapter 3

Mission: Flan Control

Dan

Ritz, Shara, and I walked along a dirt path, heading for Giza Plains, the very place they found me. We were talking about stuff, like what our hometowns looked like, what we did in our spare time, stuff like that.

"So," said Ritz, "You're from the real world as well, but not from where I live."

"Yeah," I told Ritz.

"Where do you live?" asked Ritz.

"I come from a place that's knows as the U.S.A.," I responded.

"Wow," said Ritz with a small hint of amazement on her face, "You live that far away?"

"Yeah," I said, "Why, where do you live?"

"Oh, me?" Ritz responded, "I live in St. Ivalice in England."

"Cool," I commented. We continued to talk about stuff like that for a while, until we became bored, and walked in silence. Eventually, it began to darken, and we had to set up camp. We unpacked all the tents and stuff. "Hmm," I surveyed the camping equipment, not noticing anything wrong.

"It seems as though something is missing," stated Shara, looking at the camping gear. "But I can't quite put my finger on it."

"We're short one sleeping bag," pointed out Ritz. My eyes widened slightly as I mentally slapped myself in the head. How could I have been stupid as to not buy a sleeping bag for myself. I sighed, and went to go practice using the sword I had with me.


Ritz

So, he's from USA... I thought to myself as he went to go do something. Well, I'll have to see if I can visit him sometime when... no... IF we get back to the real world. I sighed, and stood there, staring off into space, when the sound of Shara's voice jerked me from my dreamlike state.

"Hey Ritz," called out Shara, "Aren't you going to help us set up the tents?"

"Oh," I responded, shaking my head slightly, "Coming," I went over to help Shara set up the tents. From somewhere nearby, I heard the sound of Dan cutting some wood.

Thump... swish... THHWACK... thud.

I smiled to myself. He's practicing using his sword. I finished setting up the tents, and I went to see where Dan went off to.

Thump... swish... THHWACK... thud.

I found him setting some logs onto a tree stump, and slicing them into pieces using his sword. He picked up another log, put that on the tree stump, and cut that one.

Thump... swish... THHWACK... thud.

The pieces of wood fell to the sides with a dull thud, muffled by the grass. "For not knowing how to use a sword, you certainlly know how to cut wood." I said, watching him get ready to cut another piece of wood. He jumped, causing the sword to miss the wood, and get stuck in the ground.

"Ritz!" said Dan, turning around to face me, "Please don't scare me like that..."

"Sorry," I giggled slightly, "But don't you think you've cut enough wood?" He turned to the pile of wood next to him, and nodded.

"You're right," he said, "It is getting late,"

"Yeah," I said, starting to walk back to the camp."But then there's the issue of the sleeping bags."

"I'd be willing to sleep outside," he offered. I'm sure that he was doing that just to be nice.

"You don't have to," I said, "Since there are only two sleeping bags, you can sleep in mine." I offered him, smiling.


Dan

Since there are only two sleeping bags, you can sleep with me. Her words echoed in my mind, as I continued to help her carry the wood to the campsite. Had she really just offered me the chance to sleep with her?

"Thank you," I responded to her. After all, I wasn't exactly the type that would turn down an offer from one of my favorite characters.

"After all," she said, "I'm sure that sleeping in a sleeping bag would be better than sleeping outside." I chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, you're probably right," I responded, and we stepped inside the tent where we would be sleeping. Shara had a tent to herself, since Ritz, apparently, liked to bring two tents with her. She unrolled the sleeping bag, while I set my sword, hat, and boots down on the ground next to the sleeping bag. It was the first time I had let my hair out of my soldier's had since I had found myself in Ivalice. I ran my fingers through it a couple of times, scratching the top of my head, as I held the sleeping bag open for Ritz. She thanked me, and crawled inside. I followed shortly, after peeking my head out of the tent to get a good idea as to how much of a hike we had left to Giza Plains.


The Next Morning...

Shara

I was the first to wake up. I sat up in my sleeping bag, wondering why that boy was with us. Then I remembered that we had found him in Giza Plains, being swarmed by Goblins. I got out of my sleeping bag, and I went to wake Ritz up, but when I opened the flap of their tent, I saw them sleeping peacefully in each other's arms. I smiled to myself, and decided to let them sleep. I went out to get breakfast for the morning. It was a panther. They were supposedly high in protein. After killing the pather, I came back to cook the meat. I used the camping skills I had gained over many weeks of experience, and started a fire. As I was cooking the meat, I heard the flap of Ritz's tent open. Dan yawned.

"Morning," he greeted me.

"Morning," I replied, "Did you have a good sleep?"

"Yeah," responded Ritz, "We slept well,"

"I'm sure you two got to know each other during the night," I said, grinning slightly.

"Hey!" complained Dan, "And just what's that supposed to mean?"

"I think you know what I mean," I smirked. Dan just sighed, and shook his head.

"Never mind." he muttered.

Dan

How could she think something like that? We had only known each other for a day. Shara continued to turn the meat so it wouldn't burn. I cut the meat into three pieces, and we ate in silence. After we were done eating, we packed up the tents, and continued the hike to Giza Plains. When we got there, there were about nine Flans there, three of each color.

"Geez," commented Ritz, looking around at all of the flan, "I think we have our work cut out for us."

"Yeah," I agreed, "Looks like it." I looked at Ritz, and she nodded in silent agreement. She took a few steps forward,

"ENGAGE!" she shouted. A judge appeared.

"Today's laws forbid the use of Confusion." said the Judge. "Reccomendation of Berserk. Ready?" He blew his whistle, starting the engagement. We started to move towards the flans as they moved towards us. It took about an hour, and 12 potions, but we eventually reduced the original 9 flans down to 1 flan and 8 multicolored piles of a substance that resembled jell-o while partially gelatinized. Unfortunately, we were out of potions, and Ritz looked about ready to pass out from exaustion. The last flan was advancing upon Ritz.

Now, while Flan may not be that smart, they were smart enough to recognize an easy target when they saw one. Ritz was an easy target, so the remaining flan went after Ritz. I turned around, saw this, and started to chase after the Flan.

50 feet...

It was moving closer to Ritz, and it stopped...

30 feet...

...squatted down, and started to gurgle strange sounds...

20 feet...

...that sounded like a spell. A thunder spell

10 feet...

If the flan finished the casting before I could get there, Ritz would not be happy with me. We needed a flashy comeback, and I was just the man to provide it

5 feet...

I crouch down, coiling my leg muscles, ready to lunge at the Flan

2 feet...

I release the energy just as the Flan begins to cast the spell.

I rammed my sword into the back of the flan's head, and it exited somewhere between its eyes. I swung my sword up, practically cutting the thing in two. It then spun end over end, and repeatedly hit the Flan, and bounced back up, where I grabbed it, and brought it crashing back down onto the Flan's head.

The force of the last attack was too much for the flan. The thunder spell tried to come down, but spluttered out half-way down. The flan gave out a loud cry of agony, and turned into a pile of goo. I turned to Ritz & Shara. Their mouths were hanging wide open. So my attack had the effect I had wanted... That was good.

"The winner for this engagement is Clan Ritz!" shouted the judge, blowing his whistle again. He healed us, then teleported back to Bernivia Palace. I collected some of the Flan jelly in a couple of empty jars that we had. After I was done collecting what I could carry, I walked over to Ritz and smiled.

"What did you think of that?" I asked, still smiling.

"That..." commented Shara, "Was great..."

"Thank you..." said Ritz, "When I first met you, I thought you just wanted to get the job done, that you didn't care about anyone but yourself. But now I see that you care about the safety of your friends more than you do your own safety."

"I think he's ready," said Shara, nodding. Ritz nodded back.

"Yes, he is." agreed Ritz, "Dan, welcome to Clan Ritz."