Thanks, people.
oOo
…and with a satisfied grin, the Herald said "Go."
Startled by the noise, the two teams ran off in opposite directions, and the only one who did not stumble or give a panicked cry was Bill. Chevaultaire lagged behind, and when everyone was gone, he walked back toward the Herald. "Yes… Herald… if I could have a word…"
The Herald looked up from his copy of Jeunoan Journal he had pulled out and said in a casual voice, "Yes?"
"I was wondering… what is your real name?" Chevaultaire inquired.
"Harold. But everyone just calls me 'Herald', no idea why." He replied, looking down at his Journal again and flipping a page.
"What?" Chevaultaire cried, taken aback. The Herald didn't seem to know why.
"I suggest you start playing the match… I'll be here if you have any serious questions", the Herald said.
"What? Oh… yes…" he turned around and walked toward his teammates, now gone in the distance, seemingly confused.
When the Herald finally heard the metallic clang of Chevaultaire no more, he chuckled and said to himself, "'Harold'. Gets em every time."
oOo
When Chevaultaire found his teammates, they had found a group of trees in which to camp in until their third member had arrived. Tony was busy snapping a twig in two while Bill was examining the bark of a nearby tree.
"I don't mean to pry, but…" started Chevaultaire, "what are you doing?"
"Oh it was Bill's idea." Said Tony, cracking a broad smile. "We're 'examining our surrounding to find any advantages we can'. Amazing, right?" he finished just as he snapped his next twig, sending splinters in every direction.
Bill piped up, not looking away from his muse, the tree, "Patience, m'boy, patience… this forest is teaming with living things that we can observe and learn to use their natural relationships to give us the edge!" with a sudden ferocity at the end.
"And my quiver is teeming with bolts that we can observe creating a relationship with the Bastokans' faces… can we fight yet?" said Tony, without the slightest tone of patience in his voice.
Chevaultaire didn't know what to think. Tony didn't seem to have the slightest clue what he was talking about, yet Bill's idealisms about the ecosystem seemed unlikely to come to fruition. "I have an idea…" said Chevaultaire. Bill looked up from his tree and Tony hastily brushed the twigs out of his hair. "What say we spy on the Bastokan team… see what they're up to." Bill and Tony just stared at him, and for the first time in his life, Chevaultaire felt nervous.
"An excellent suggestion, elvaan!" said Bill as he sprung up and walked toward him. "One of us should go see things out… I daresay they aren't expecting it… and if they seem unfit for a full assault…" he slammed his fist into his other palm. "We make a full assault, then, don't we?"
"Finally!" moaned Tony, as he tilted his head as far back as he could. "One question though… what killing power do YOU have? It's a nice axe and all, but…"
To answer, Bill gave a short whistle, and from behind some of the near trees, Chevaultaire and Tony both saw something moving. As it came into the moonlight, they both yelped as they saw it was a sharp-toothed, large, black tiger. "I have my ways. Now, as for a spy… we need someone who is good at looking at things from a distance. Preferably someone with darker clothing. Not very easy to spot in the darkness, you see." Chevaultaire and Bill both looked at each other and said in unison, "Tony."
Tony hadn't been paying attention, or at least had been pretending not to, and choked as he said "Huh! Oh…. Well, can I nominate the tiger instead?"
"Now, Tony, do you want to fight or not?" said Chevaultaire with an actual smile. Tony gulped.
oOo
Once Hound, Pulo and Lah had found a suitable patch of grass that was no different than any other patch of grass, they all sat down and tried to think hard.
"Alright, aye, I've got a plan…" began Jumping Hound in a commanding voice.
"No no no! My plan will work a hundred-bazillion time's better-wetter!" cried Pulo-Wajulo. Lah Mhokot again started giggling incoherently while rolling on the grass.
"Ooooookay…" said Hound as he slapped his forehead with his hand and wiped his face downward. "What's your plan, little man?"
"Well, I suggesty-westy that we talk a walk-y to the middle-y of the forest-y, and when-taru they come to try and hit us with their puny-wuny weapon-tarus…" he began, and they he stood up and said a little more loudly, "I casty-wasty Firaga and they all burn uptaru!"
Jumping Hound's jaw was dropped; after a few moments he said, "Uhhh… eh?" He didn't quite hear what Pulo-Wajulo just said. "Alrigh'… I say, we go up ter the weakest of em, and just rip em ter shreds, that way we get gate breach without havin' to fight too much…"
Lah Mhokot stopped laughing for a moment and said, "Whateverrr you say, captain!" and gave a salute before giggling loudly again.
"Ehh… right…" mumbled Hound as he got up and brushed himself off very dramatically. Suddenly Lah also got up very quickly, her catlike reflexes finally showing; she had stopped laughing.
"Do you smell something?" she asked, her nose wrinkled. "I smell another perrrson nearrrby…" she said as she seemingly sniffed the air.
"Another person-y!" said Pulo, panicky. "It's an enemy! Run away!" but before he could indeed run away, Hound picked him up as Pulo's legs kicked the air. Hound held him shoulder-level as he said "We ain't gonna leave cause-a one Sandoid." as he ignored Pulo's cries of 'Put me down-y!'. "Ya know which one it is, Lah?" Hound asked.
"I'm not surrre." She said, pacing in different directions. "I smell…" she sniffed. "I smell… wood."
"Well, a lotta good THAT does us, we're ina freakin' forest…" mumbled Hound.
"Nooo… this is… new wood." She explained.
"New wood? What the heck ya mean by 'new wood'…?"
"IT'S A CROSSBOW!" shouted Pulo in a stroke of genuine tarutaru cleverness, still kicking the air with his feet, and out of surprise, Hound dropped him. This was fortunate, because just as he dropped Pulo, a bolt went whizzing by Hound's hand, where Pulo had been milliseconds before. All three turned to look where the bolt had been fired, and sure enough, in the moonlight, they saw a clear orange blur of hair on a person that was quickly running away from behind some trees several yards away.
"Don't let that Sandoid get away!" bellowed Hound in an angry voice. He unsheathed both his claws and chased after the assassin. Pulo quickly recovered himself and started running behind Hound, with no weapons to draw himself, as fast as his small legs could carry him.
"You guys go on ahead…" said Lah in a mischievous voice, "I'll be rrright therrre…"
oOo
"…and you see, Chevaultaire, that's why fungi are a vital part of the forest." Bill had finished explaining, as they were both waiting for their reluctant spy to come back with a report.
"Mmm…" mumbled Chevaultaire. The sun still had not risen yet. Just as he thought he couldn't get any more bored, he saw Tony running as fast as he could towards them. When he was nearly there, Chevaultaire exclaimed, "Ah, Tony! What news have you of the enemy's po…si…tion…" he trailed off, as Tony was panting heavily and seemed to want to say something.
He began, "I… screwed up… tried to… hit the taru… missed… galka chasing… I think I'm gonna…" but before he could finish, he passed out on the ground.
"What in goddess's name!" cried Chevaultaire.
"He wasn't supposed to shoot." Said Bill calmly. He walked over to Tony, crouched down, and slapped Tony's face. Before Chevaultaire could ask what in Vana'diel he thought he was doing, Tony sat straight up and sputtered.
"OUCH! What in the heck did ya do that for!" he complained.
"You fool!" Bill began, "Why did you shoot! And I know you didn't really pass out."
"Well, I thought that'd be cool and dramatic if I pretended to pass out, yeah…" Tony said as he gazed off into the distance again.
"I don't mean try pry…", interrupted Chevaultaire, annoyed and completely unaware that his introductory statement made no sense at all, "but it seems that galka is heading our way." And sure enough, Hound had not given up his chase on Tony, as he was running towards them with both claws drawn, making the ground rumble with every footstep. Tony sprang up and turned around just in time to see Hound strike him once with each claw; the skirmish had begun.
"What should we do!" Chevaultaire asked Bill, panicky.
"What? We fight, elvaan!" answered Bill in a battle-ready voice; he had drawn his axe already. Also, Tony had his crossbow out and loaded and was running away from Hound's deadly hand-to-hand weapons. After a few yards of running, Tony turned around quickly and launched a bolt at Hound, who ignored it and kept running.
Meanwhile, Bill had noticed the tarutaru that had followed Jumping Hound and was running toward him. Pulo simply yawned and started casting Sleep on Bill. Just before the spell was cast, Bill called out his tiger with his short whistle and pointed at Pulo; that was all the tiger needed. While Pulo was laughing wildly at the asleep-while-standing Bill, the tiger was charging him.
"BAD KITTY!" Pulo was yelling as the tiger chased him over a bridge, occasionally making a strike at Pulo, who couldn't take many hits.
Chevaultaire turned his head from the conflict between Hound and Tony, to the sleeping beastmaster, to the tiger chasing the tarutaru across the river, and didn't know what to do. Those bolts were taking their toll on Hound, however, and he seemed badly hurt, but still punching Tony as much as he could, who also seemed hurt. Finally Chevaultaire remembered in the back of his mind that Sleep could be healed with Cure. So, hastily, he ran over to Bill and started casting Cure on Bill. In a few moments, Bill was awake.
"Damnation" Bill spat. "Where has my tiger gone?" Chevaultaire motioned to the chase scene across the river, Pulo taking more and more damage even though he was running away as fast as he could, in circles, zigzagging, trying to lose his predator. "Ah, excellent, the taru should be taken care of soon! Now…" He looked in the other direction to see Tony and Hound still feuding steadfast. "Come, we must help Tony!" Chevaultaire simply nodded and followed Bill, who was already running to the fight. In a few moments, Hound was surrounded, badly hurt, and Tony was even worse off. But the combined weaponry of Tony, Bill and Chevaultaire was enough to take Hound down before he could finish off Tony. With a "Godangit, three against one, ya Sandoids…", Hound fell to his knees and he fell facedown onto the ground, his arms sprawled at his sides, still holding his claw weapons.
Barely alive, Tony thanked his teammates. "Phew, that was like… real close… thanks gu…" but before he could finish, a thunderous spark erupted in the air above them, dealing serious damage to all three of them, and paralyzing them as well. It was enough to finish Tony, who fell to the ground limply, and lay there face-up, defeated. Bill and Chevaultaire looked shocked (no pun intended) and turned around slowly to see the frightening image of Ramuh, the god of Thunder, staring down at them through black cold eyes. He wore violet and black tattered robes and carried a long black staff, his hair was fiery yellow, and he was levitating a few inches off the ground.
"Um…" stuttered Chevaultaire. They both backed away, as Ramuh advanced, still staring. Suddenly they heard a voice from behind Ramuh.
"Attack the tallerrr one, Rrramuh!" said the voice, apparently Lah Mhokot. Ramuh bowed deeply without turning around and glided over to Chevaultaire, who raised his shield automatically. Ramuh dealt an attack with his staff, Chevaultaire blocked, and returned with a swipe of his own sword. Chevaultaire doubted he could take the god alone. However, Bill characteristically came up with a plan.
"Keep him distracted, Chev, I'll get the mithra!" Bill shouted as he ran over to Lah, standing a few yards away, and drew his axe, and dealt a mighty critical hit.
"Ouch! How darrre you! Rrramuh, help me!" she cried. Ramuh turned away at once from his fight with Chevaultaire to assist his feline master, but Chevaultaire thought otherwise.
"Come here, your fight is with me!" Chevaultaire yelled as he provoked Ramuh. Unable to change his target, Ramuh continued his assault on Chevaultaire while Bill chased Lah across the clearing. Chevaultaire was used to receiving no help, and he had quite a lot of vitality to and Cures to keep himself alive for a while, but he could not defeat Ramuh alone. His only chance was for Bill to take care of Lah, so Ramuh would be defeated as well…
oOo
Bill's tiger was annoyingly persistent.
As fast as a taru could run, Pulo-Wajulo dashed over the bridge in hopes of losing his foe, to no avail. Across the riverbanks, around some small hills, and finally out of sight from the others, the tiger never lost sight of his quarry. Pulo thought this was the end for him; until a sudden ridiculous, unexplainable, random sense of courage flowed within his pint-sized mind, and he stopped running. No longer faced with a moving prey, the tiger crouched and focused on finishing his small high-pitched target. However, between the next two attacks, Pulo-Wajulo cast Bind on the tiger, just quickly enough not to get interrupted. "Who is the fooly-wooly now, stupid tiger? BWAHAHA!" he jeered as he ran back to where he came, severely hurt, yet momentarily safe from the tiger, who uttered a low, angry growl in its bound position.
oOo
Defeating Lah was the only thing on Bill's mind as he chased her down. Axe in hand, he opportunistically attacked with his axe when she was closest. When she had all but a sliver of health left, she stopped running, turned around, and laughed hysterically. "You'rrre too late!" she said with a playful grin on her face, as his Raging Axe finished her off. She fell to the ground with a defeated cry, and Bill sheathed his axe.
oOo
Jumping Hound lay in the grass, defeated. However, his Reraise timer slowly clocked down to zero…
Shortly after Bill left to pursue Lah, Hound's body was lifted into the air by some divine magical force, and he was placed with both feet on the ground. Then he woke up.
"Argh, my head…" he growled as he stumbled around. He looked to his left and saw Tony's body laying there not far from him and smiled roughly; behind Tony, he saw Chevaultaire still conflicting with Ramuh. Because of his paralysis, he couldn't maintain himself nearly as well as he thought he could, many of his Cures interrupted, and eventually he fell to the ground with a metallic sound. Ramuh, looking as fit as ever, said, "I have failed." With his cold, wise voice, and bowed out of existence. Hound couldn't understand what he meant; surely he had just defeated Chevaultaire, but he didn't have any time to think about it because first of all, Tony was now being Rerisen and second of all, Bill was coming back from his successful chase. Deciding not to be outnumbered again, Hound ran away, loudly, back to the Bastokan camp.
oOo
Tony had just woken up from his Reraise, and was asking Bill a thousand questions.
"What the heck took me down? What happened to Chevy? Why hasn't your tiger come back yet?"
"Under the bridge, m'boy!" answered Bill simply.
"I can't tell if we're winning or not. Wasn't there something else we were supposed to do? How long have I been out? Is the galka up too? Is the taru dead yet? And where's the mithra?" Tony asked, getting more childish every moment.
"Alright, just shut up!" Bill finally yelled, fuming. "I suggest we regroup… your mistake has cost us much time and effort and has gotten us nowhere…" and once again, someone's talking is interrupted because of an attack. Bill and Tony both flinched as a crackling noise above them signaled a Firaga spell; the fire spread outwards and both of them erupted in flames that died as quickly as they came.
"Oh no he did NOT just do that…" seethed Tony, looking around for the black mage, finally spotting him near the bridge while he was rolling on the ground laughing. Apparantly his magic damaging others was greatly amusing to him. But he wasn't amused for long, because Tony soon launched a quick barrage of three, four, five bolts straight at Pulo in quick succession; it was an instant defeat for the taru. Bill, meanwhile, between the Thunderspark and Firaga, didn't have much health left.
oOo
This was the scene: Bill was badly hurt, Tony alongside him was slightly injured, and Chevaultaire was just presently getting rerisen. Jumping Hound was in full physical condition, safely at the Bastokan camp. Lah Mhokot would soon be rerisen after Chevaultaire, except several dozen yards away. Pulo-Wajulo was face down in the grass.
"ATTENTION!" boomed the voice of the Herald over the entire forest, "It is now 06:00; today's match is one fourth over. Do not forget that points may only be awarded to the team that has scored the most petras…"
"PETRAS!" every person awake shouted at once; apparently they forgot about petras.
"… by throwing them into the rook with the appropriate gate breach status." The Herald finished. To Tony's left, over the bridge, he could see the sun rising.
"It's a shame." Bill sighed as he shook his head sadly. "That magically amplified voice could be severely damaging the life of the forest." Tony turned around and stared at him.