Eight months had passed since Fratley had first arrived in Lindblum, each day filled with the hard work of slaying monsters that strayed too close to the city and occasionally patrolling the inside of the city and stopping thieves and other criminals. Thanks to that he nearly had enough money to buy the airship ticket he so desperately wanted. He wanted more money than he needed for the ticket though, for he knew he would need to pay to stay at inns and for buying more supplies at Dali and Alexandria.
Fratley got up and dressed himself before continuing his usual routine, consisting of feeding himself and making his way to the place where he was to stand post at, usually around the city gates. However, today had a difference as he spotted several flyers dotted around the city advertising something which caught his interest.
FESTIVAL OF THE HUNT!
Think you have what it takes to become the Master Hunter? See how you fare against the monsters that are let loose throughout the city! The stronger the beast you slay, the greater your score! The hunter with the greatest score at the end of the time limit wins the title of Master Hunter and a prize of their choosing. For those interested, please sign up at the registration booth located at the entrance of the Grand Castle.
"This must be Lindblum's equivalent of the Dragon Knight tournament." Fratley mused to himself. "I suppose I should enter, it would be a good test of my training and if I win, I could get that airship ticket I need."
Fratley continued to go to his post, where news of the festival had already taken some affect as Fratley was ordered to capture monsters and place them in cages rather than kill them so they could be used in the festival.
Fratley's day of work finished and he proceeded to get an air-cab to the Grand Castle, where he signed up to enter the contest. He decided to choose the airship ticket for his prize; he hoped that it wasn't too much to ask for.
A few more days passed and eventually the day of the festival arrived. Fratley had already witnessed a taste of what he was up against; having caught a lot of the monsters he was going to be up against. He knew there wouldn't be anything that would prove too much trouble for him and he fancied his chances of winning the contest. However, he knew better than to grow too confident and he had no idea of what the other participants were like.
As Fratley made his way to the castle for instructions, he noticed citizens being lead by the city guards up to the rooftops and safe, secluded places where they would be away from the reach of any monster. He also spotted other hunters making their way to the castle.
A short amount of time later, Fratley was at the castle entrance gathered with other hunters, many of which were strong bandits and bounty hunters, all hoping to claim the top prize.
After everyone had gathered at the entrance to the castle, an old man with a long grey beard appeared upon a balcony above them. It was Master Artania, the adviser and right hand man of Regent Cid, ruler of Lindblum. A hush filled the room as he began to speak.
"Greetings hunters." Master Artania began. "I am glad that so many of you wish to participate in this year's festival. The rules are simple. You have 30 minutes to find and kill as many monsters that are roaming the city. On each monster there is a wooden tag with a number on it. That is the number of points you receive for killing that monster. The stronger the beast, the higher the score you receive. You must collect as many tags as you can in the time limit. The winner is the hunter with the most points at the end of the festival. There is also one super-strong beast that will give an enormous score to the one who manages to kill it." Master Artania then made a stern look. "Also, attempting to hurt or kill any of your fellow hunters will result in a disqualification and a possible punishment by law." He paused, shortly before smiling and continuing. "I wish you all the best of luck. The guards will escort you to your starting positions."
Various guards then came and lead the eager hunters to random places in the city. Fratley was lead to somewhere in the Theatre District, an area he wasn't too familiar with. He would be keen to get to another district, but he knew that would take precious time.
Fratley's ears picked up the loud boom of a cannon being fired, and he could monsters growling and running from around him. He knew this signified the beginning of the festival. Tactics would play a key part into Fratley's score, this area was new, and so he knew no good locations nearby to scout monsters or to be safe from being ambushed. Using the air-cabs to get to a district he did know would waste precious time, and every second counted. He needed a strategy to have a hope of victory.
Fratley thought for a moment, before the growl of a Fang some distance behind him caught his attention. He turned around, before approaching slowly to the location of the source of the noise. Sure enough, a Fang was prowling around, looking for any unwary hunters. By some luck, it hadn't noticed Fratley's approach just yet. It turned and caught a glimpse of Fratley, but before it could react Fratley had already slashed at its neck and seen to the creature's demise. The Fang fell, dead. Blood began pouring profusely from its neck due to the near decapitation. Fratley quickly checked it's body and found what he was looking for, a small wooden tag was attached the fiend's leg, labelled with a small piece of parchment with a number fifteen written on it.
"Fifteen points from the word go." Fratley thought happily to himself. Then, something dawned on him. He had detected the monster from the noise it made, just like he had to when travelling on the plains. If he relied on sound rather than sight, he would have a big advantage over the other hunters as to detecting monsters thanks to his Burmecian ears, which were naturally better than those of a human.
Fratley left the monster and began exploring the district, with his lance ready to strike and his ears trying to detect any movement, growl or roar from a nearby monster. It wasn't long before Fratley found another monster, which he made light work of. About a minute later, Fratley made a third kill for more points.
"I only wish it was easier to make my way around." Fratley mused to himself, before glancing skyward.
Yet another idea hit Fratley, as he saw the rooftops of the buildings in his gaze. "Why hadn't I thought of it before?" Fratley asked himself before putting another natural advantage to use and taking a giant leap onto the top of a nearby rooftop.
Leaping across the rooftops as if they are skips in a park, Fratley cast looks at the areas below the rooftops between jumps whilst still keeping his ears in good use. He found he was finding and killing monsters at a much faster rate by jumping across the rooftops. Also, by doing this he was practically immune to ambush attacks from monsters and could even catch them off-guard very easily. It wasn't long before Fratley racked up an impressive collection of number tags.
Scouting the other rooftops, Fratley couldn't see anyone else using the rooftops like he was. Evidently there were no other Burmecians who were in the contest, which wasn't much of a surprise to Fratley; nearly all of the few Burmecians he saw in Lindblum were there for trade. Fratley thought there would be no-one who could beat him; he had what would seem an unfair advantage against the other hunters. However, Fratley pressed on, he knew he needed all the points he could get and he had been keen to find the super-strong beast that Artania had mentioned. He wanted a good challenge from this festival, something he hadn't got from the monsters he had slain so far.
After fifteen minutes or so, Fratley began to hear something different to the regular growls or chirps from the enemies he had slain so far. He began hearing roars and stomps, and he was almost certain that this was from the monster he was searching for. Yet, something seemed familiar about these roars, it was as if Fratley had faced the monster before, but Fratley couldn't recall exactly what it was. As he drew closer, it began to become more evident, and Fratley realised what it was.
"It couldn't be..." Fratley thought, but his idea was proved wrong as he saw the beast on the street below him gliding across the ground.
A slightly larger than normal Ironite was gliding through the streets, growling and desperately trying to find a way back to it's original habitat.
Fratley had enough experiences with Ironites to know exactly how to slay the beast. He took aim, and threw his spear at the dragon's skull, the lance hit the beast exactly where he targeted and the beast was severely weakened and blood began to pour out of its skull. The monster screamed with pain and staggered for a moment before collapsing to the ground.
Fratley jumped down from the rooftop and retrieved his lance from the creature's skull. He searched the Ironite's body for the tag he needed, and once again found it on the creature's leg. As he examined the tag, an expression shock filled Fratley's face. This Ironite had given him one-hundred points.
"This can't be...!" Fratley thought to himself. "This is the super-strong monster? A creature which I had to face as a student in my first real battle!"
To Fratley, an Ironite was hardly considered "super-strong"; there were many dragons that surrounded Burmecia which were far more powerful than a mere Ironite. Fratley had faced one or two them in his days as a Dragon Knight. Although many of the other contestants were just bandits, and many did not have the basic training as a knight, and an Ironite would prove a formidable foe to the untrained or unskilled.
Fratley hadn't moved far away from the Ironite before the firing of a cannon caught his attention. Shortly afterwards, he could also hear the marching of the guards into the city. The time limit had expired, the competition was over.
Disclaimer: Must I keep doing this? You guys don't believe I own Final Fantasy 9 do you? Do you actually think I try and earn illegal money from this story? No? Well, stuff this...
Author's Rants: I'm thrilled to see some new readers giving me comments and enjoying the story, I just hope they stick with me. Everyone seems to have forgotten about this story. You don't have to read all 35 chapters at once you know! Just drop me a review! Also, I'm thinking of splitting this story into two parts, seeing as this seems to be more of a back story, and I didn't expect for this to last so long. What do you think?
Valdris and Red Mage Hikaru: Thanks! I'm glad you like it! Just don't vanish!