Chapter 25: Pinnacle Rocks

"I'll never figure this out."

I turned to my right and noticed a girl sitting at a table. My eyes widened in surprise "I know this girl. She's…" I stopped and looked around at my surroundings.

I was in a classroom. There were three rows of desks and four desks in each row. There were also ten more desks near the right wall. There's a large table in front of the room that serves as the teachers desk. There's also another large table to the right of that table that holds the computer. Students are only allowed to use the teachers' computer for academic reasons only.

"I'm back in high school" I said, aloud, looking around the room. This room functioned as my study hall. It was a perfect place for me to complete my work and to think deeply on certain matters that interested me.

The teacher usually always changed with each period, and there was always an adult there that could help out in certain fields of study. But not all of the teachers or helpers knew how to handle all the fields.

I turned my attention back to a round table that stood at the left of the room. A girl was sitting at the table trying to get her work completed, and, judging by her expression, she wasn't having an easy time with it. "I remember this. This is when I-"

"What's wrong?"

I turned in the direction of the voice, and sure enough; sitting there in the first seat of the second row was a seventeen year old me.

My past self turned to look at the girl and repeated his question. The girl turned to look at him. "I'm having trouble with my geometry."

My past self thought for a moment "let me see it. Maybe I can help you."

She smiled at this. "Could you really? That'd be great." She handed him her homework and he began looking it over.

He smiled and turned to her "this isn't hard. What you need to understand is…" the vision faded.

I was left alone in a black abyss thinking quietly. "Mary…" I said, thinking about the vision. Suddenly a wave of dizziness overtook me and all went black.

"Michael…Michael, wake up." I slowly opened my eyes and saw two large amber eyes staring at me.

"Vivi…what happened?"

I could see relief in his eyes now. "You're okay. I was afraid you…" he paused.

I smiled. "I'm tougher than that, Vivi. Now if you could please get off me."

Vivi obliged and got off my chest. I slowly started to get up, but immediately felt an intense throbbing in the back of my head. I instinctively reached behind myself and touched the back of my head. I felt something wet and sticky and knew that I must have split the back of my head open. I quickly took a potion and could feel the wound heal.

After that I slowly got back up to my feet. I looked around and saw the remains of the cart, but there was no sign of the Gargant. I noticed Dagger was lying on the ground unconscious. I looked over and noticed that Zidane was lying a few feet away from her, unconscious as well.

I looked down at Vivi. "Let's wake Zidane up." Vivi nodded and we both walked over to Zidane. As soon as I got to Zidane I opened his mouth and gave him a potion. He began to cough and sat up. He started to open his eyes and looked around the area.

"Michael…Vivi, what happened?" he asked as he slowly got back up to his feet.

"The Gargant crashed and we were all flung into the air from the impact. It's a miracle that we're still alive." I said.

Zidane looked around the area and then looked at us. "I'm gonna go look around the area. You guy's stay here and watch Dagger." Vivi and I both nodded and Zidane turned to leave.

"Zidane, wait" Zidane turned around and looked at me. "I just want to say thanks. You saved my life back there with Beatrix."

Zidane smiled. "No problem, but next time try not to be so stubborn." I nodded and he went off to explore.

Vivi and I both walked over to Dagger's unconscious body. Vivi looked up at me. "Should we wake her up?" I thought about this for a minute.

"No…we'll let her rest for now. She's been through enough. I don't want to disturb her." Vivi nodded in agreement and we both sat down waiting for her to wake up.

After five minutes Vivi spoke. "So where are we?"

I looked down at him. "We're at Pinnacle Rocks. That's right near Lindblum, so as soon as Dagger gets up we should head there."

Vivi nodded his head and spoke again. "I'm sorry I didn't help you back there with Beatrix."

I smiled. "If you had helped me, Vivi, I would have lost the duel due to outside interference."

Vivi tilted his head to the right. "But didn't you already lose because of that?"

I frowned, slightly. "Well yeah, but…" I paused.

Vivi looked saddened. "I wish I was stronger so I could help you guys, but I was so afraid."

I looked at him and smiled. "Vivi, you are by far the most powerful and most courageous 9-year old I have ever met."

Vivi looked surprised. "You mean that?"

I nodded. "Of course I mean it. Most kids would have run away screaming from the terrors you've had to face, but you stand up to them even though you're afraid."

Vivi looked unconvinced. "But I could never have done those things without your help."

I continued to smile. "And I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for your help. I think the problem you have is that you show your fear far too much. You can't let your enemies know that you're afraid of them. They'll use that fear against you."

Vivi looked worried. "What should I do?"

"You should use your fear against them. Fear can be an asset; it can make your reflexes quicker and make you more cautious in your approach, but fear can also be a great enemy if you can't control it. It can make you careless or make you far too easy to read in battle. My instruction for you, Vivi, is that I want you to learn to control your fear. Once you can control your fear you'll find it easier to fight." I said.

Vivi nodded his head. "O-okay, I'll try."

I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Vivi. You'll learn to control your fear, and remember this 'a fool knows no fear. A hero shows no fear.'"

Vivi nodded his head. "Okay, I'll remember."

I smiled. 'I will try to help you get stronger' I thought.

After a few more minutes, Dagger's body began to stir; she was waking up. She rose to a sitting position and looked at us. "Michael…Vivi…we made it?" she tried to get up, but I stopped her with my hand.

"Easy there, Dagger. You took a pretty nasty fall. Here, take this." I said, handing her a potion.

She drank its contents, stood up, and looked at us. "Where are we?" she asked.

Vivi spoke. "We're at Pinnacle Rocks. It's supposed to be near Lindblum castle…" he paused.

Dagger tried to take this all in. "Pinnacle Rocks…? Lindblum…? The Gargant took us this far?" Suddenly a look of realization dawned on her face. "Where's Freya, Steiner, and Beatrix?" She looked around at us before continuing. "And where's Zidane?"

I spoke. "You must have fallen harder then I thought. Freya and the others were left behind, remember. I'm sure they're at Treno by now, and as for Zidane, he went off to scout the area."

"Dagger, you're awake!" said a voice to my left.

I turned and saw Zidane jump onto the lower branch of a tree. From there, he jumped onto the remains of the Gargant cart, and then he jumped right at me. I quickly ducked and avoided getting knocked over by Zidane.

I turned towards Zidane. "Hey! Watch were you're going, Zidane."

He smiled, innocently, at me. "Sorry, but I knew you'd duck."

I just waved my hand dismissively. "Whatever…forget it."

Dagger spoke. "Zidane, Michael says that the others have probably made it to Treno by now. If we can borrow an airship from Lindblum we should be able to get there in time to meet with them." Zidane nodded his head in agreement. That's when I felt a strange presence behind me.

I turned around and was starring at a bent-over old man holding a strange staff. The odd thing about this sight was that he was floating over a cliff. "Ramuh" I said, without even thinking.

"Do you know this guy, Michael?" Zidane asked.

I inwardly cursed myself again for speaking without thinking. I decided to wing it. "Not personally. He's Ramuh, the Thunder God; an Eidolon. I read about him in a book about summoning magic."

Ramuh turned to look at me. "You are correct. I am Ramuh, and I have come to speak with you, Princess." he said, turning to Dagger. I was the only one who noticed that Ramuh gave me an odd look, and I felt that it didn't have anything to do with knowing his name.

I already knew what was going on, so I decided to zone out for a while. While Ramuh was speaking with Dagger I decided to think a little more about what I saw. 'Does Ramuh know that I'm not from this world? If he does then maybe he knows how I got here? I guess there's no harm in asking. I just have to make sure that no one else is listening.'

"Michael, are you with us?" said a voice to my right.

I was shaken from my thoughts and looked at Zidane. I regained my composure, but a little too late. "You weren't paying attention, were you?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No, no I was listening. We have to find the pieces of the story and tell it to Ramuh; then he'll join Dagger as her new Eidolon."

Zidane looked surprised. "I guess you were paying attention."

I smiled. "I can pay attention to many things."

Zidane turned to the others. "Alright, let's go." We all nodded and left to find the parts of the story.

After fifteen minutes of searching we found four of the five pieces to the story. We were crossing one of the natural bridges when we spotted the last piece below us. Unfortunately, the only thing standing between us was a fully grown Zaghnol.

Zidane stopped the group and looked at us. "Okay we need to get rid of that thing, any ideas?"

I was quick to offer mine. "It hasn't noticed us yet and we're downwind. I believe we can catch it by surprise if we act quickly. We need to strike it fast and hard, or we'll have a needlessly long fight."

Zidane nodded his head. "Alright, Michael and I will take care of this. You two stay up here and provide support." We all nodded and jumped into action.

Zidane and I both jumped into the air. I executed a "Ryu Tsui Sen Zan" and pierced the creature's back. Zidane landed on the creature's neck and thrust his Ogre into the back of its neck. We had successfully crippled the creature; it was paralyzed due to its injuries. It collapsed to the ground and Zidane quickly slit its throat with his weapon, so it wouldn't suffer any longer. I removed my sword from the Zaghnol's back, wiped it off, sheathed it, and jumped down to join Zidane.

Zidane walked over to the bridge and motioned for Dagger to jump down. Dagger was hesitant, but she eventually complied. She jumped down and Zidane caught her in his arms. I smiled at watching this. 'Those two are so meant for each other' I thought. Dagger quickly walked over to Ramuh's apparition and he told her the story. After he concluded the story we heard a scream from behind us. We turned around and saw that Vivi was being attacked by four bats.

I looked at Zidane and Dagger. "You two go see Ramuh, I'll go help Vivi." They both nodded and ran up one of the natural bridges.

I quickly unsheathed my sword and ran to help Vivi. I jumped into the air and landed on the bridge; right behind Vivi. I was going to join the battle, but I stopped myself. 'If Vivi really wants to become stronger: than this is a good opportunity. I'll jump in only if things get out of hand' I thought. I kept my sword unsheathed and watched the battle.

One of the bats swooped towards me and I quickly ducked. I looked back up and saw a second bat swoop towards me. I couldn't move in time. I was knocked down to the ground by the bat. I turned over onto my stomach and slowly got back up. That's when I saw Michael. He was standing ten feet away from me with his sword drawn.

One bat was swooping at him but he just dodged it, in fact that's all he seemed to be doing. 'Why isn't he attacking' I thought. A high pitched screech brought me back to reality. I turned around and saw a third bat swooping towards me. I held out my staff and cast a Fira spell. It hit the bat and it was set on fire. I quickly dodged its blazing body as it fell towards me. Its body hit the ground, hard…it was dead.

I heard another screech from my right and saw the fourth bat, but I also saw that three new bats had come to join it. I was afraid 'I can't take all these bats on. I'm not strong. I can't do this' I thought.

'My instruction for you, Vivi, is that I want you to learn to control your fear. Once you can control your fear you'll find it easier to fight.' Michael's words ran through my mind.

'He's right I can't let them see that I'm afraid. I have to control my fear. I have to try' I thought.

I continued to dodge the bat that was attacking me. I saw the three new bats approach Vivi and I was going to jump in and help out, but that's when I saw the determined look in his eyes. I smiled. 'I think he's got it covered' I thought.

That's when I felt large fangs pierce my throat. I cried out in surprise at the sudden pain. I could feel the bat drain my blood. I grabbed the bats head and pried it off. With its head still in my hand I smashed its skull in with the hilt of my sword. Its body went limp and I threw it over the side.

I grabbed at my neck and felt the wound. Twin streams of blood ran down my neck. I was growing dizzy from the loss of blood. The bat had drained more blood than I had thought it did. My vision began to blur and I fell to the ground, finally losing consciousness.

I saw Michael fall to the ground. I had to help him. That's when I saw two of the bats break off from the others. They flew towards Michael's body. Fury all of a sudden took over. "YOU WON'T TOUCH HIM!" I yelled my rage building. Suddenly, I felt a great power rise within me. A power I hadn't felt since the cargo ship. I felt myself Trance, and it couldn't have come at a better time.

"Get away from him!" I yelled sending two fireballs at the bats. The bats spontaneously combusted as soon as the supped up fireballs hit them. I turned my attention back to the other two bats. "You won't harm him!"

The two bats tried to escape, but I wasn't going to let them go. They had attacked me and hurt my friend. I couldn't let them go. I held up my staff and summoned Thundara spells. Each spell hit their intended target and both bats exploded. The battle was over.

I was breathing hard after using those powerful spells, but it got the job done. I changed back to my normal form and ran over to Michael. He was laying face-down on the ground. I quickly turned him over and saw the wounds on his neck. I was scared 'no…I must control my fear. I can't help Michael if I'm too afraid. He's counting on me to help him' I thought, calming myself down. I looked at Michael "Michael, you'll be okay. You have to be okay."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a potion. I tilted Michael's head forward and poured the potion into his mouth. I could see his wound close up, and I wiped away all the blood.

"Vivi are you alright? What happened to Michael?" it was Zidane.

I looked up at him. "H-he was hurt by one of those bats, but I think he's gonna to be okay."

Zidane knelt down next to Michael. "Let's get him over to the exit. We can leave once he wakes up." We all nodded, Zidane picked Michael up, and we went towards the exit.

I woke up in a dark place. No one was around. "Where am I?" I said, aloud.

"You are in my world."

I turned around and came face to face with Ramuh. "Ramuh, you brought me here?"

He smiled. "Yes, I wanted to talk to you away from the others."

I nodded. "I think I know what you want to talk about."

He nodded. "you're not from this world, are you?"

"Yes, I'm not from Gaia. I'm from a planet called Earth." I said.

Ramuh nodded his head. "Before you ask, I don't know how you got here."

I was disheartened. "I see" I said.

"You have not told the others this. Why not?" He asked.

"I don't even know how I got here. How can I explain it to them if I don't even know how I got here? I won't tell them unless I have to, and I beg you not to tell them either."

Ramuh nodded his head. "You're secret is safe with me, but I still think they should know."

I nodded. "I will tell them…one day. Besides even if I told them they probably wouldn't believe me."

Ramuh nodded. "It's time you woke up, but beware Michael, if you have unresolved things in your past they will find a way of haunting you."

I nodded. "Thanks for the advice." Ramuh disappeared and all went black.

I woke up and saw a cave ceiling above me. I sat up, and looked around.

"Michael, you're awake."

I looked over and saw Vivi. "Vivi, you're alright. Where are the others?"

Vivi looked worried. "Zidane said Lindblum was under attack. We have to meet up with him and Dagger."

I stood up. "Where are they now?"

He pointed down the tunnel. "They're already outside. We better go see them." I nodded and we both ran down the tunnel.

As soon as I reached the end of the cave I looked over towards Lindblum…and saw a huge monster rise up from the edge of the cliff. The monster was just a head and it had a mouth almost as big as Lindblum Grand Castle. Suddenly, it let out a horrible screech which shattered many buildings. Then, the vacuum created by the displaced air, pulled everything towards the creatures mouth.

I stood on the ledge, shocked, as I saw debris, Black Mages, and even people get pulled into its giant mouth. I knew what this creature was; Atomos. Suddenly, he disappeared and all debris and people that weren't pulled into its mouth either fell to the ground or were flung over the side of the cliff.

Vivi walked over to my side. Neither of us spoke. We just stood there in silence. Eventually, I picked Vivi up and jumped off the ledge. We ran from Pinnacle Rocks and into the fields that surrounded Lindblum. Eventually we found Dagger and Zidane.

Zidane saw us approach and spoke "you guys saw…" he paused. I nodded, I knew what he meant. He changed the subject "how are you feeling, Michael?" he asked.

"I feel fine. Come on, we should help the people out."

Zidane and Dagger both nodded in agreement. We all walked towards what was once the thriving community of Lindblum.