Disclaimer: I do not own any of Squaresoft's or Final Fantasy's rights….but I do own the game!
So, it's my first REAL chapter! Sooo, waddya think? TELL MEE!
note: If your reeaaly a tough critic, I'd just like to let ya know that some of the lines aren't perfect because I don't have a perfect memory and I'm not playing the game as I go. So ya. Have fun reading!
The Ninth Hero
"We're in Alexandria!" The young girl cried happily, leaning over the edge of the Theatre Ship.
"Daddy! Daddy! We're in Alexandria!" She repeated, running over to 'Daddy'.
"Gwahahaha!" The man, you guessed it, Baku, laughed, "that we are, Ari! But, I aint your Daddy."
"I know, Dad," the girl, Arianna, grinned. "But isn't this awesome! I've always been left behind on the good trips!"
"Ye're only just old enough, an' tha's why!" Baku bellowed. Then, "Oh, I'm gonna be late for my meetin' with the boys! Gwahahaha!" He laughed, grabbing his dragon mask and heading downstairs.
"Bye!" Ari yelled after him, then ran right back to the rail. Looking down, she grinned and waved at the people gazing up at the ship. One person in particular caught her eye, a small kid, only about…ten or eleven, twelve at the most. His face was completely dark and he had glowing yellow eyes...weird. Ari laughed and waved at him, and he waved back. Looking back, she could see a Rat Kid run into him, knocking them both over. "Ouch," she muttered, leaving the rail and heading down too see how the meeting was going.
"So, what's our objective?" She heard Baku ask.
"To capture queen Brahn?" Zidane joked.
"Yep, we're gonna capture the fat, ugly, queen-HEY! That's not right!"
"To capture Princess Garnet," Zidane admitted in a slightly defeated tone.
"Yep, we're gonna capture the most babe-elicious princess in the whole Kingdom, Princess Garnet!"
Ari opened the door suddenly, running into Cinna. "Heya Cinna! Sorry 'bout that!"
"Ari, what're you doing here?" Zidane asked, laughing.
"I wanted to see what you were talking about. Hey Dad, can I help with the kidnapping? Pleeaase!"
"Ah, sure….Zidane, you get to decide what she does! But, this meeting is over! Get back to rehearsing, everybody!" Baku ordered.
"Well….what can you do?" Zidane asked thoughtfully.
"I can cook," Ari joked. "But, if you're being serious, I…" she turned slightly pink, "I've been training for the last three years, and I can fight a little, and I can do some white magic." She muttered.
"Well, that's good for a start." Zidane grinned. "You can hang out with me, seeing as you probably don't want to help Blank with the Oglops!"
"Heck no!" Ari shuddered, thinking of the gross slimy creatures. "I'm fine with going with you."
"Alrighty!" Zidane laughed.
In the Castle
The little boat tossed and turned, whirling in the deafening wind. A small child and her mother held onto the sides desperately, gazing in horror at their home. A huge eye hovered above it, blinking down at the village. Several twisters had touched down, completely destroying everything. The girl and her mother watched in despair, still clutching onto the sides of the boat, tiny, insignificant, and tossing in the waves of the huge hurricane up above. Up one wave down another…
Princess Garnet shook herself. It was just another dream, though it had seemed so real…she needed to put it out of her mind. She got up, trying to banish the despair from her features as she threw open her window, gazing out. The Theatre Ship that was to perform for her Sixteenth birthday was here. The one that she…but never mind. That could wait.
LATER—AT THE PREFORMANCE
"….Tantalus proudly presents, 'I Want to Be Your Canary'!" Baku bowed and left the stage just as Ari ran to the front of the audience, sitting down next to a couple kids, barely glancing at them.
Ari watched the play, barely seeing it; she's watched them rehearse too many times. Suddenly it was at the fight scene, and she ran off to the side just as Blank and Zidane jumped down where she'd been a moment ago. Glancing back, she saw Zidane's eyes fixed on Blank, not even glancing at her. Wow, I could never have that much stage presence…Ari mused as she ran into the guardroom, sitting in the corner watching the sleeping guards and waiting for Zidane and Blank to run in.
Which they did. Ari jumped to her feet, watching them promptly beat up the guards. She grinned, already in her maid's outfit. She'd gone into denial when they'd tried to put her into one of those 'Beatrix outfits' as she'd called them, the outfits that Beatrix's guards wore. So, she was stuck being Zidane's maid. Not that she cared much.
"…My outfit stinks" Zidane muttered.
"Well, my outfit-" Blank started
"We don't want to hear about your outfit, Blank," Ari smiled mischievously.
"Fine, then. I got the Oglops here," he added, letting one bounce about, making Ari jump back before he grabbed it again, grinning at her.
"Alright, we're even." Ari said, sticking her tongue out at him. "Happy?"
"…Yeah."
"Good."
"Hey guys, are we ready to go?" Zidane asked, looking between them.
"Yeah" they answered in unison, then stared at each other in horror.
"I'm going to pretend that never happened," Ari announced, following Zidane as he headed out the door, rolling his eyes.
Zidane walked ahead, glancing both ways before crossing the hallways and heading up the swirly twirly stairs. He ran to the top of them, taking them two steps at a time, but at the top he had to stop. Ari came up behind him and ran into him, and opened her mouth to yell at him when she saw the teen in front of him. Her mouth stayed wide open, now gaping. Wow, that was one pretty chick.
"Excuse me; I need to pass by…" The girl pleaded.
"H-have we met?" Zidane asked, eyes as wide as Ari's mouth.
"I don't believe so."
Zidane walked around her, examining her. He came back to the front, stating, "no, you're right, I'd never let someone as pretty as you get away."
"Zidane," Ari hissed, "just let her go!"
The girl nodded at Ari, then said, "I-I have to go!" Running into Zidane, Ari, and then Blank who'd apparently tripped on the stairs. Zidane jumped up and followed her, exclaiming, "Come on! That was Princess Garnet!" as he jumped over Blank. Ari ran down, jumped over Blank, and followed Zidane as quick as she could. Down the hallway, up the stairs, breathe deep, 'cause I'm gonna faint from exhaustion, and then around the tower, around and around and then…
Garnet climbed up onto the edge of the tower, smiling. Zidane ran up to her, reaching out to grab her as she fell backwards. He missed and watched in horror as she swung away safely holding onto a streamer….thing. Zidane tossed on of them to Ari, and then jumped after her. Ari held her breath, and then jumped over the edge. She followed them both to the cloth roof for the band, though some knight tried to grab her as he passed.
"That was really weird," Ari stated, watching him go. Then she returned her attention to letting go at the right time, landing with a soft "oh!" then following Zidane and Garnet down. She landed next to Zidane, and then fell over again as Garnet knocked her down. Ari, now fuming, jumped up to her feet and ran directly behind Zidane, then ran into him again, as he stopped. This time when she looked past him she saw Ruby. "Let me thru-" Zidane started, but he stopped as Ari slipped under both of their legs and ran after the retreating Princess, restraining herself from calling out some kind of war cry.
Zidane ran past her, again, and Ari leant against the wall, panting, as she viewed a scene between the two of them which ended with her coming with them.
"So what do we do now?" Ari demanded.
"We get outta here," Zidane announced, running past her and around an unnoticed room that they'd all run right past, then Cinna ran into the room that they were all standing in, making Garnet take a step back, unsure who he was.
"It's alright, Princess, he's one of us," Zidane assured her. "But, with a face like his, I'd be pretty scared, too."
"Aw, that hurts, man!" Cinna complained, "I wash up every morning, you know?"
"Cinna, we need to get outta here," Ari said nervously, looking back and forth from the door she'd just come through and him. "Someone's coming."
"Alright, everyone follow me!" Cinna ordered, going back out the way he came. And so the did. Right into the next room, this was a dead end. Ari thought she heard someone in the room behind them, clanking around, but she turned her attention back to Cinna, who was saying, "Haha, I thought something like this might happen." Then, turning to the table he said, "open!" while kicking it, and it sprung up, then, "sesame!" while stomping on the floor and the floor under the table sprung up too.
"Whoa," Ari muttered, "how did you know that was there!"
"I have my ways, little Ari, which you shall never know about!" Cinna announced."
"Pfft" Ari snorted, "yeah right." Cinna glanced at her, and then jumped into the hole.
Ari watched as Garnet jumped in, and then turned slightly pale. That tower swing had really taken all her guts. And now they expected her too-?
"C'mon, Ari!" Zidane muttered in a slightly teasing voice, grabbing her arm and jumping down. Ari took a deep breath and jumped down after him before he dislocated her arm. As she jumped, she heard the door open and she twisted to see that it was the same knight who'd tried to grab her, and behind him, Blank, who panicked slightly then winked at her, a plan forming.
She saw all that in half a second, and then she was down in the boiler room with the others.
"Someone's up there," Zidane stated, gazing up at the roof. "Cinna, can't we close that hatch?"
"It's alright, Zidane," Ari informed him, tearing her arm away from his tightening grasp. "Blank's up there with some freak in way too much armor. They'll never get down here," she finished with a grin.
"We should get out of this room," Garnet commented, staring at the hole which now seemed to be clogged by Blank all of a sudden.
"Yeah," Ari agreed, "let's go, Zidane," she called to him as she ran through the door, into the room almost directly under the stage. Suddenly Blank ran in from behind them, Ari waved at him, grinning, and then felt all their eyes go past her and she turned around with dread. There he was, the… "HEY! It's that freak who tried to snatch me outta thin air – twice!"
"Don't worry about a thing, Princess," Blank said, smiling at her.
"Excellent job! This shall be remembered as the Pluto knight's finest hour!" The rusty old freak cheered.
"Hehehe. Don't worry, Princess, we'll got you outta here."
"What! You aren't one of my knights!" Freak exclaimed.
"You can just-"
"Leave the Princess-"
"TO US!" Ari cheered in unison with the others, grabbing the dagger that Zidane tossed at her and a white mage's Rod from the side of the room, dagger in right and rod in left hand. She ran up to the freak, snatching a potion from his belt pocket. "Ha!" She cheered, running back to the others. Zidane ran up and grabbed some stuff, then Blank, then Cinna whacked him with his hammer. Garnet just watched, though she could probably do some white magic as well.
Then it was Freak's turn. "HA!" He yelled, running right up to Ari and slicing the sword through her.
"Ahh!" Ari yelled, stumbling back slightly, then stepping forward again, watching some white numbers fall away from her body. "Great," she mumbled, "he's goin' for me…" Then it was Ari's turn again, and she ran up and sliced clean through a crack in that old, stinky armor. A tiny 30 fell from the Freak's body, causing him to glare at her. Ari waited for her turn again as the others alternately attacked and stole. Then, suddenly, the knight rushed at her and sliced through her again. "Dangit," Ari muttered, then came to her senses and cured herself. A green number fell into her skin. Ari let out a sigh of relief, that was better. Then she saw to her horror that Cinna had been KOed.
"H-hey!" she exclaimed, running over to him and desperately giving him a phoenix down. He rose to his feet, but he was obviously still weak. Ari quickly cured him, then ran over to Freak.
"HEY, FREAK! EAT THIS!" She screeched, slicing through him again. Freak glared at her, then ran over to Blank, yelled something incomprehensible, then sliced right through his armor, and suddenly there were Oglops everywhere.
Ari screamed and ran into the next room, the one directly under the stage. She was closely followed by Zidane and Garnet, then Cinna who said, "Hey, Zidane! Get on number nine!" And so he did, along with Garnet. Ari watched them go up, and then ran onto number seven with Freak close on her tail.
As they got to the stage, Ari could hear something and could easily imagine the fuss they'd be causing right about now. That made her smile, but when she got to the top and came to her senses, all she heard was, "(Just improvise, guys!)" from Baku. Everyone did the Tantalus salute, except for Garnet and Freak who just stared.
Ari stumbled over to her Dad, who was playing the evil king, bowed to him formally, and then stood by his side, watching the rest of the play go by with slightly dimmed vision. Still dressed as a maid, she could certainly pass for one. Suddenly a kid ran onto the stage, followed by a couple guards, yelling, "HEY!" and "COME BACK HERE!" Ari recognized the kid as the one she'd seen looking over the edge of the ship. Suddenly he jumped over Garnet, who appeared to have died, and Marcus was lying next to her. Strange,Ari thought. I've never seen that one before…Then, torn from her thought, she stared as the kid created a flame that flew towards the guards, but fell on Garnet instead. "Auch! That's hot!" She yelped, jumping up and throwing off her white mage's robe.
Ari could see Queen Brahn staring, and then quickly go into action. Then Freak came to his senses, he'd been rather bewildered up to this point, and started attacking them again. "OW!" Ari cried as he sliced her. Again. Suddenly Garnet ran up next to her, rod in hand. "Good," Ari muttered, stepping back from the battle to get some rest below deck. The play was dead, and reality wasn't going so good either. Suddenly, something behind her exploded. Ari turned in desperation to discover that there'd recently been a bomb there. Great. Just great. Ari ran to find Baku as the Airship flew off, but she was thrown of her feet again as some hooks shot into the ship's front.
Everything was in turmoil. Ari got up slowly, then was knocked down again as the ship ripped away from the hooks and flew over the evil forest. "Daddy!" Ari cried helplessly, running to find Baku. "Daddy! Daddy! Where are you?" She called out as the ship careened down. She screamed, watching from their burning craft as the ground loomed closer, and then…
So, what do you think? TELL ME! Oh, on a side note, I will write Vivi's intro if…say…5 people tell me they want me to. OK? OK! BYE!