Chapter 27: Fossil Roo

After a few hours of walking we finally reached Qu's Marsh. We had just entered the frog pond area when we noticed a familiar face…Quina. Zidane stopped dead in his tracks and stared at her.

"Quina! You're safe!" he said. He was completely shocked. Quina turned to look at us, and her smile widened.

"Zidane, Vivi, Michael, long time, no see. Much trouble coming back from Cleyra alone."

Dagger spoke "You know this…thing?" We all nodded.

I spoke. "Yeah, we met her on our way to Gizamaluke's Grotto. She was pretty helpful."

Zidane decided to cut to the chase. He turned to Quina. "Do you know a way to the Outer Continent? We heard there was an entrance somewhere around here…" he paused.

"Outer Continent…" Quina was processing this in her mind.

After a few seconds she licked her face again. "Maybe I find more delicious frogs. Sound interesting. I help you, and I eat more frogs." She nodded her head decisively. "I come with you."

Zidane nodded. "Okay, now do you know about an excavation site near here?"

Quina waved her hand over to the east. "Maybe over there, somewhere."

I let out a sigh. "I guess we better start looking, huh."

Zidane nodded "yeah, let's start looking." We all nodded and walked into the long grass.

After a few minutes of searching, Quina pushed ahead of us. Zidane was surprised. "Quina! Where are you going?"

Quina stopped and sniffed the air. "I smell! I smell frogs!"

Zidane shook his head. "No, we have to look for the entrance to the Outer Continent!"

Quina wasn't listening. "I smell frogs this way!" she yelled, running northeast. Zidane sighed and we all ran off after her.

We followed her to what appeared to be a ruined building. It looked like it had been in the marsh for some time. It was obvious to all of us that we had found the excavation site.

Quina emerged from the inside of the site and walked towards us. As soon as she reached us she looked down to the ground. "They run away again." She said.

I spoke. "Don't worry about it, Quina. Look, you found the entrance to the excavation site."

She turned around and looked at the ruins. "First time I see this. We going inside?"

Zidane nodded his head "of course. It might lead to the Outer Continent. Let's go!" we all nodded and walked into the ruins.

We descended to the lower level of the ruins and found a cave. We entered the cave, and I noticed a caged area to my left. I peered into the darkness and saw movement. Something was in that room…something big.

"Are you alright?"

I shook myself from my thoughts and turned to see who was talking to me…it was Dagger. "I'm alright. We better catch up with them." She nodded and we both followed the others.

We didn't get far before the entire room began to shake. We all started to stumble and Vivi fell to the ground. I got over there as quickly as I could and helped him back up.

After a few seconds, the rumbling stopped and we were able to set our feet, firmly, on the ground. That's when we heard the sound of something opening up behind us. We turned around and saw Armodullahan turn the corner. I can't even describe this thing. It was one hideous mechanical monster.

"Run!" Zidane shouted, and we ran off down the tunnel. Armodullahan quickly pursued.

As we entered the next room I noticed we were on a narrow walkway that ran across a huge chasm, and several bladed pendulums were swinging around in our path. I decided to take point and dismantle these traps the fastest way I knew how. With Armodullahan closing in on us I jumped into action.

I jumped into the air and cut down the first pendulum. It swung off into the chasm below. I continued to cut down each pendulum until I reached an area of the path that had collapsed. I could easily jump the gap, but I was worried about Vivi. Zidane came up behind me and, without hesitation, jumped over to the other side. Garnet came next and she jumped the gap as well. Vivi came up to the gap and froze.

Knowing that this was going to happen, I picked Vivi up and we jumped across together. Quina came last and was able to clear the gap as well.

I could see that Armodullahan was still coming. We all turned and continued to run down the pathway. We heard a loud crash behind us, but none of us looked back. We continued to run.

I was the first to enter the next room. Vivi came in after me and stopped right before he ran into my legs. Dagger came next and bumped into Vivi, who bumped into my legs.

I stumbled forward and looked back at them. Dagger looked apologetic. "Sorry guys."

I nodded my head. "No problem" that's when I saw Quina coming up behind her. "Look out!" I yelled grabbing Vivi and jumping out of Quina's way. Dagger did the same thing and narrowly avoided being trampled over.

That's when Zidane came running in and ran into Quina. Quina fell flat on her face. Zidane looked down at her. "Sorry about that." he said. Quina slowly got back up and Zidane looked over at us. "That was a close call."

"Geez…that didn't do much good." said a feminine voice behind me.

I turned around and saw a woman walk up the stairs towards us. I backed up to give her some room. I knew who this woman was. I saw her in Lindblum. It was Lani the bounty hunter or rather bounty huntress.

As soon as she reached us she looked over at Dagger. "I've been looking for you, Princess Garnet." I turned my head to my left to see that Zidane was giving her 'the look.'

"H-have we met?" he asked in a charming voice.

Dagger turned to him and gave Zidane an angry look. "Stop flirting with her."

Zidane looked downcast "yes, ma'am…" he said.

Lani began to speak to Dagger, and while she was doing that I moved closer to Zidane and leaned my head over to his ear. I made sure Lani hadn't noticed before I said anything. "Zidane…" he turned to look at me, but I shook my head. He got the message and turned his head back to Lani.

"Zidane, look at her weapon."

Zidane looked at it and whispered to me, "Notice anything about it?"

I nodded. "It's a large weapon, and is no doubt heavy. In fact, it's probably the heaviest weapon I've ever seen. Heavy weapons have a lot of power, but they leave the wielder wide open to a counterattack if he or she misses."

Zidane nodded. "I take it you have a plan."

I smiled. "I do. Here's the plan." I began to whisper the plan into his ear.

After I finished telling him my plan, he nodded. "Sounds like a good plan."

Our talk was cut short by the sound of someone striking the ground with something heavy. I looked over and saw that Lani had struck the ground with her axe. "Give me the pendant. You're trying my patience." She said.

I decided to speak. "Sorry, but we're not giving you anything."

She pulled her axe out of the ground and swung it to regain her balance. I smiled at this, it was just as I thought; the axe was indeed heavy.

She looked furious. "Stubborn fools! Have it your way!"

I drew my sword and charged at her. "Alright you Amazon, let's go."

She raised her weapon and swung it down at me. I immediately jumped into the air. I had successfully dodged her attack. I landed behind her.

I turned around and saw Zidane charge at her. She couldn't move in time and Zidane slashed her across the waist. She grunted in pain and swung her axe at him. He jumped back and managed to dodge the blade. Seeing my chance I ran up behind her and struck her in the back with my reverse blade sword.

She gasped in pain and spun around, axe in hand, and tried to strike me again. I jumped back and avoided her blade. I saw Zidane slash her in the back. She stumbled forward and I smiled. The plan was working perfectly. She tried to strike Zidane, but he dodged her blade, again.

Lani was getting frustrated with our tactics. She was getting desperate. This was what I was waiting for. I quickly jumped into the air and executed a "Ryu Tsui Sen." She had no time to dodge. My blade came crashing down on her shoulder.

She cried out in pain and collapsed to her knees. Zidane quickly rushed in and slashed her across her chest. She had suffered three cuts and a dislocated shoulder. If she was frustrated before; she was furious now. She got back up, popped her shoulder back into place, and began swinging her axe around like a mad woman.

My plan was working perfectly. She was too angry to even think straight. I looked at Zidane. He nodded and we decided to try the next part of my strategy. Lani was still swinging her axe around, but I knew Zidane and I could get past her attack.

She started moving towards us, still swinging her axe around. Zidane and I readied ourselves for her attack. She approached Zidane first and tried to strike him with her swinging blade. He easily dodged her attacks and while she was distracted with him I snuck up behind her.

Zidane finally saw a break in Lani's attack. He punched her in the gut and then roundhouse kicked her in the head. She spun around from Zidane's attack and was now facing me. I kicked her in the face, punched her in the gut twice, jumped behind her, and hit her in the back of her head with my sword. She fell flat on her face.

I looked at Zidane and sheathed my sword. He nodded his agreement and sheathed his daggers as well. We stood side by side; Zidane stood at my left side. Lani slowly got back up and turned to face us. Before she could react, Zidane and I charged at her, still side by side, and began our attack.

I punched her in the gut with my left fist at the same time Zidane punched her in the gut with his right fist. She doubled over and both of us uppercut her with those same fists. She stumbled back. Zidane and I then delivered a roundhouse kick to her gut; Zidane used his right leg and I used my left. Our attacks sent Lani soaring through the air. She landed on the ground ten feet away from us.

Zidane and I now stood back-to-back and looked over at Lani. Zidane spoke "beat it Lani-" I spoke the rest "while you can still walk."

Lani slowly got back up and looked at us. She placed her axe back on her back. "You guy's are pretty good…what a drag. I'll let you guys go for now!" she said, and ran down the stairs away from us. Zidane and I had won.

We turned around and looked at the group. All of them were starring at us. "What?" Zidane and I asked together.

Vivi was the first to speak. "That was amazing. How'd you guys do that?"

Zidane smiled. "It was all Michael's idea."

I smiled. "I couldn't have done it without you, Zidane."

Dagger spoke "when did you have time to plan that?"

I told all of them about the strategy I had planned out with Zidane. They listened to every word, and when I finished my explanation…none of them had any questions.

Quina spoke first. "Michael smart." I smiled at the complement, but tried to remain humble.

Dagger still looked skeptical. "I still can't believe you two pulled off those unison attacks."

I shrugged my shoulders. "That was the hardest part, but thankfully Zidane and I had the same ideas."

Zidane waved this all aside. "Anyway, we should get going. No telling how long we'll be in here." We all nodded and followed Zidane down the stairs.

We reached the next room and managed to ride a wild Gargant to another area in the caves. We met an excavator in the next room who told us how to get out of the caves. It mainly involved flipping a bunch of switches and riding Gargants back and forth. After about four hours we finally saw daylight at the end of the tunnel. We emerged from Fossil Roo and gazed around us…we had reached the Outer Continent.