Chapter 30: Conde Petie Mountain Path

We began our five day journey back to Conde Petie from the Black Mage Village. This whole going back and forth nonsense was really starting to bug me. Things went so much faster in the game.

On a brighter side, however, this gave me a great opportunity to train Vivi. He had made great progress on the lessons I had taught him so far. On the third night of our travel, I decided to take his training to a higher level. These lessons were much harder for him, but I knew that, in time, he would get the hang of it. If only my Master could see me now. Finally, on the fifth day, we reached Conde Petie.

As soon as we entered the structure Zidane stopped us. "So the sanctuary is on the other side of that valley…" he paused.

Vivi turned to look at Zidane. "But the exit leading there from the upper floor is guarded by a dwarf who won't let us through."

Now Quina looked at Zidane. "Twin dwarfies block way out from shop on right side. No can get through."

Zidane thought about this for a minute. "Hmm…well, let's just try to go as far as we can."

I decided to save us a trip. "I spoke with those twin dwarves Quina mentioned. They said that in order to pass you have to go through some kind of ceremony."

Vivi nodded his head. "He's right; the dwarf guarding the upper level said the same thing."

Dagger spoke. "Did they say what the ceremony was?" Vivi and I both shook our heads.

I spoke. "They said to go see 'his Holiness' and ask him about the ceremony."

Zidane spoke. "Where is 'his Holiness'?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm not sure, but if he's a priest of some kind; my guess would be that he's in the upper levels; in that altar area with the ship like platform suspended over a pit by two large roots."

Zidane nodded. "Alright, let's go find him." We all nodded and walked towards the upper level.

As soon as we reached the upper level Zidane stopped us again. "What does this guy look like anyway?"

I spoke. "My guess is that since he's a priest; he'll be dressed differently from the common folk."

Zidane thought about this. "So, we basically look for someone who has a strange sense of fashion."

I shrugged my shoulders. "If you want to look at it that way, yeah."

Zidane nodded. "Alright, let's split up and look for him. Dagger and I will look over there" he said, motioning to the left of the room. "Michael…you, Vivi, and Quina will search this end." We all nodded and began searching for 'his Holiness.'

Vivi, Quina, and I were searching for five minutes, and neither of us was having any luck. After five more minutes, Zidane and Dagger came to meet us.

We all turned around to see them. I spoke "find him yet?" Zidane and Dagger both nodded. "And…what did he say?" I asked.

Zidane looked nervous, but before he could say anything; Dagger spoke. "Zidane and I are going to be married."

I stood their stunned. I knew this was coming, but I had to act surprised or it would look strange. I looked over at Vivi and Quina to see their expressions. Quina's wasn't that remarkable, but Vivi's was quite laughable. He was leaning forward, both arms dangling in front of him, and his eyes were wider than I'd ever seen them. If I could see his mouth, I'm sure it would be hanging wide open. "What?" he asked completely stunned.

Zidane spoke, he still seemed nervous. "Yep, were getting married. As soon as the preparations are made, I'll cease to be a bachelor."

I turned towards Dagger. "Are you two sure about this?"

She nodded. "Yes, it's the only way we can get to the sanctuary."

I nodded. "So when is it going to happen?"

Zidane spoke. "In fifteen minutes…that doesn't even give me time for a bachelor party."

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it."

After fifteen minutes the preparations were finished and the ceremony was underway. Vivi, Quina, and I stood off to the side of the platform, and watched the ceremony take place. As soon as David Heavenguard arrived at the altar, the ceremony began.

David Heavenguard said the usual sermon on marriage. I wasn't paying attention to it and was instead looking over at Zidane and Dagger. Dagger seemed calm about this, but Zidane looked tense. As the sermon continued the light in the room grew more intense and Zidane seemed to become less tense. As the sermon was coming to its end, I could see that Zidane had regained his confidence. Finally, the sermon ended, and the light faded back to normal.

Zidane turned to Dagger. "Dagger! Now we're man and wife! Time for a kiss…" with that said he jumped at Dagger, but she was too quick for him and managed to avoid him. Zidane hit the ground and looked over at Dagger's retreating back. "Playing hard to get, eh?"

It took quite a bit of restraint for me to not laugh at Zidane's attempt at a kiss. I just resorted to silent snickering. I could tell that Vivi and Quina were laughing silently as well.

Zidane and Dagger walked over to us, and together we walked towards the exit on the upper level. The dwarf guard greeted us. "Happy fit! Now ye need annoonce yer joinin' tae the twins at the other gate!"

This surprised Zidane. "What? You mean there's more?"

The dwarf nodded. "We have tae follow tradition, lad!"

Zidane turned around and looked at Dagger. "Ah, well…time for us newlyweds to make the rounds, Dagger."

Dagger shot him a piercing look. "Remember, we're only married while we're here."

Zidane looked disappointed. "Bliss is so fleeting."

Vivi looked at Zidane. "Zidane…what are we supposed to do?"

Zidane turned to look at Vivi. "Hey! You guys tryin' to ruin our honeymoon?"

Quina spoke. "But you no can just leave us here!"

Zidane thought about this. "Don't worry. I'll figure something out."

I spoke. "Don't worry about it, Zidane. I think I have an idea."

Zidane looked at me. "What is it?"

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it. You two just get down to those twins and announce yourselves."

Zidane nodded. "Okay, see you guys later." He and Dagger ran off to the lower level to announce themselves.

Vivi looked over at me. "So what's the plan?"

I smiled at him. "We're gonna wait for an opportune moment. Then I'm going to make my move." Vivi didn't seem to understand, but he nodded anyway. He's known me long enough to know that I usually know what I'm doing.

After five minutes, it happened. "THIEF!" I could hear it coming from downstairs. This was the opportunity I was looking for.

I quickly ran over to the gate guard. "Sir, the thief is escaping to the upper level. We need every dwarf we have to catch her. Your village needs you!"

The guard was surprised. "The thief's up hare. I'll cautch the lil' witch! Whare is she?"

I pointed to the opposite end of the room. "I just saw her run through that door!" With that said he ran off; leaving his post undefended.

I smiled. 'That was easier than I thought.' Vivi and Quina quickly joined me.

"That was your plan?" asked Vivi.

I smiled at Vivi. "Yeah, and it got the job done. Come on guys, before he comes back." They nodded and we ran down the stairs.

As soon as we reached the bottom of the stairs, we saw Dagger and Zidane. Dagger noticed us first "oh, hi, guys…"

Zidane looked at us now. "Hey, you guys snuck through during the commotion?"

Vivi straightened his hat. "It was Michael's idea."

Dagger looked at me. "I guess we didn't have to go through with that ceremony after all."

Zidane looked shocked. "What! But it's the stuff memories are made of!"

Dagger gave him another piercing look. "And we'll forget it all once we leave. Come it's time to press on."

Zidane looked defeated. "Yes, dearest…"

I couldn't help but snicker. 'Well, they certainly act like an old married couple' I thought.

We traveled down the root, but stopped when we saw a little girl stuck on a branch. She had purple hair, a yellow and orange one-piece suit, and a horn was growing out of her head; it was Eiko. She was talking to… a Moogle. 'So I finally get to see a Moogle, and here I thought I'd never see one' I thought. The Moogle eventually flew away from the girl. I listened in on what the girl was saying to herself.

"Stuck on a branch... betrayed by my own trusted moogle... Is this how I meet my end?" She suddenly started to swing her arms around and began yelling. "Mog... I'm gonna haunt you if I die here!" We walked up to her and decided to see if there was anything we could do.

I decided to mess with the story line a bit at this point. I walked over to the girl and looked up at her. I also made sure that Vivi was by my side. Zidane and Dagger stood back to the side and Quina was on the ledge above us.

She suddenly looked down at me. "Oh, am I hallucinating? That person has no horn. His friend looks weird, though." She suddenly shook herself out of her stupor. "Huh? AHHH! Help! Don't eat me! I won't taste good! It's true! I taste awful!"

Zidane looked up at Quina. "You heard her, Quina."

I looked up at Quina. She had a look of disappointment on her face. "I see. Too bad, but Moogle that ran away a very strange color. I go find and eat it."

The girl's eyes shot wide open at this statement. "NO, DON'T!" Quina jumped over to the other side of the cliff and hit the ground so hard it shook Eiko from the tree.

I had already positioned Vivi so that he would be in the spot where she landed. Vivi saw her falling and managed to catch her at the last second. Thanks to his training in balance, he managed to stay on his feet rather than fall over on top of her.

She looked up at him. "Th-thanks…" she paused.

"Are you okay?" Vivi asked. He set her on her own feet.

She looked at him. "I'm fine, I'm not a child."

I spoke. "You sure you're okay, little girl?" That set her off

"I'm NOT a little girl."

I countered, "Well, if you're a grown woman, you're a bit on the short side."

Her eyes grew wide in anger. "How dare you-"

Vivi spoke. "Michael, don't pick on her."

I nodded. "I was just kidding, miss. I meant no offence, but if you don't want us to call you little girl, what should we call you?"

She looked us all over. "My name is Eiko, and maybe you guys should introduce yourselves first."

I spoke. "But you just introduced yourself first."

She gave me an evil look. "You got a problem?"

I smiled. "No, anyway, I'm Michael, she's Dagger, he's Zidane, the one that ran off to eat your Moogle is Quina, and the one who caught you is Vivi."

She smiled. "Nice to meet all of you."

"Tell me, Eiko. Do you live near here?" I asked.

She nodded her head. "Yeah, beyond this path. I'm sure Mog went home…if Mog wasn't eaten."

Zidane smiled, encouragingly. "I'm sure Mog's safe."

Dagger spoke. "Maybe we should take her home?"

Zidane turned and smiled at her. "Yes, yes…anything for my lovely wife."

This surprised Eiko. "You two are married?"

Zidane turned to look at her and smiled. "Yup. We're newlyweds."

Dagger shook her head. "No, no. We're just friends."

Zidane looked at the ground. "Well, I guess it's better than nothing…"

Eiko looked happy. "I want to be your friend, too!" The tone of her voice though suggested that she wanted to be much more.

My face fell slightly at this. 'Gotta nip this in the bud before it spreads' I thought. "I'm sure he'd love to be your friend and only your friend." I said.

Eiko looked over at me. "What do you mean?"

I pretended not to hear her, and turned my attention to Zidane. "What do you say we go to our new friend's house, Zidane?"

Zidane nodded his head. "Yeah, let's go to Eiko's house." We all nodded and walked down the path.

While on the path, we managed to get a look at the sanctuary. Aside from Eiko, I was the only other one who knew it was called the Iifa Tree. After getting a glimpse of it, we moved on.

We were walking down a root when the ground began to shake. "What the…?" we began running down the root, and stopped in the ravine when we came face to face with Hilgigars.

Hilgigars was a huge green giant. He stood fifteen feet tall and wore a large pair of brown pants. Where he found pants that size; I'll never know, nor did I want to know. I unsheathed my normal sword and saw the others do the same. It was time to fight.

I turned to look at Vivi. "This will be a good opportunity to show me how well you've learned from your lessons, Vivi. Make me proud." Vivi nodded, closed his eyes, and began to meditate.

Eiko looked over at him. "What's he doing?"

I turned to look at her. "Meditating, believe me, it will help. Until he's ready, though, I'll protect him."

Zidane nodded. "Alright, you do that, and we'll take on the giant."

I nodded. "Don't worry, if things look bad, I'll jump in and help."

Zidane nodded. "Alright, let's go." Eiko and Dagger nodded, and the three of them charged towards Hilgigars.

I stood there and watched the battle unfold. Zidane ran up the giant's leg and slashed his gut with his Ogre. It had little effect, however, since the Ogre did little more than break the surface of his skin.

The giant swung his fist and hit Zidane into the cliff wall. Eiko and Dagger both cast a Cure spell on him at the same time. Zidane was back up on his feet and ready to fight. Dagger seemed to be doing something with her rod, and it wasn't until the sky grew darker that I realized what she had done.

Dagger had summoned Ramuh, and he was going to use his Judgment Bolt. I looked up at the gathering storm, knowing full well that Ramuh was up there somewhere waiting to unleash his attack. Part of the clouds opened and Ramuh's staff came hurtling to the ground. As soon as the staff hit the ground it started blasting lightning everywhere, but it all concentrated on the giant, and steered clear of Dagger and the others. After a few seconds the staff disappeared, and the clouds returned to normal.

Although the display itself was impressive; it didn't do much to the giant. He walked over and swung his fist at Dagger, but she quickly cast a Protect spell which blocked the giant's attack. Frustrated the giant tried again, but the sky suddenly started to turn dark. It was another summoning, and this time, it was Eiko who was summoning something.

I heard a howl to my left and turned to see Fenrir positioned on the ledge. As he howled, a huge stone monster emerged from the ground. Fenrir was right on top of its head. The creature's eyes flashed, and a large stone arm erupted from the ground; right underneath the Hilgigars, and launched him high into the sky. The sky grew light again, Fenrir and the rock monster disappeared, and after a few seconds Hilgigars finally hit the ground.

Unfortunately, he hit the ground so hard that it started an earthquake. Everyone, except Vivi and I, fell over. The giant recovered from its fall and moved to attack its closest target; Dagger. She wasn't going to get up in time.

I quickly ran towards the giant, jumped into the air, performed a "Ryu Tsui Sen," and brought my sword down on its right shoulder. The giant screamed in pain as my sword cut into its shoulder.

Unfortunately for me, however, my sword got stuck in his shoulder. The giant immediately grabbed me with its left hand. I was now in the left hand of the giant. That's when he began to squeeze me. I let out a strangled scream of pain as I felt his hand slowly crushing me.

That's when I saw Zidane jump into the air and slash the giant's wrist with his Ogre. The Hilgigars cried out in pain and let me go. My body was too weakened from being squeezed. I couldn't land on my feet. I hit the ground hard and felt the wind leave my lungs. I started gasping in pain, trying to get air back into my lungs. Little did I know that the Hilgigars was about to perform its hiphop attack on me.

I turned over and saw it jump into the air. I couldn't move, my body wasn't responding. This was it, what a way to go.

That's when I saw a huge bolt of lightning strike the giant in its stomach. The force of the blast was so great that it blasted the Hilgigars away from me. I turned over and saw Vivi, staff outstretched, with a look of calm determination in his eyes. "You won't harm my teacher!" he said at the fallen form of the Hilgigars. His words touched me. I couldn't help but smile at Vivi.

I felt something refreshing course through my body and knew that either Dagger or Eiko had cast a Cure spell. My body felt much better now. I got back up to my feet at the same time the giant got up.

That's when I noticed my sword; it was still sticking out of the giant's right shoulder. Suddenly, an idea came to me. "Dagger, summon Ramuh again. Vivi, cast another Thundara spell; aim for my sword" I said, pointing at the sword lodged in his shoulder.

They realized what I had planned and acted accordingly. Dagger summoned Ramuh, but it wasn't until his staff touched the ground when Vivi cast his Thundara spell. These two attacks were aimed at my sword. As soon as the lightning struck the blade the electricity coursed down and entered the giant's shoulder.

The giant screamed in pain as it was being electrocuted from the inside. It started flaying its limbs around trying to stop the pain. Zidane and I managed to avoid his wild swings and retreated back to our friends. After a few seconds, the spells stopped, and the Hilgigars fell to the ground, charred and smoking. The smell of burnt meat filled the air. We had won.

Eiko looked at us. "That big monster just shows up from time to time. I usually just run away."

I smiled. "Well, now he's well done thanks to Vivi and Dagger, good work by the way, Vivi. Your meditation training really paid off."

Vivi adjusted his hat. "Thanks."

Zidane looked at me. "Since when are you Vivi's teacher, Michael?" he asked.

I looked over at him. "Since we arrived on the Outer Continent, why?"

He shrugged. "I just wanted to know."

Dagger spoke to Eiko. "Hey, how come you can summon Eidolons, Eiko?"

Eiko looked at her. "I thought you could, too, Dagger?"

Dagger was hesitant to answer. "Well…" she paused.

I spoke for her. "Not usually, have you always been able to do that?"

Eiko nodded. "Of course. My grandpa and everyone else did it all the time."

Dagger wondered about this. "What do you mean?"

I decided to speed this up. "Eiko, what's over there?" I asked pointing to my left.

"That leads to the Iifa Tree." She said.

Dagger spoke. "The Iifa Tree? I thought it was called Sanctuary."

Eiko looked at her "oh, that's what the dwarves call it. Everyone else calls it the Iifa Tree."

I spoke. "I suggest we get moving before this smell attracts predators."

Eiko looked at me. "Good idea, let's go."

Before we left, I retrieved my sword from the charred remains of Hilgigars. After that, we walked down the path to our right.

We eventually left the mountain path and found ourselves on a barren plane. Over to the North I saw the remains of a once prosperous costal town. We were heading towards Madain Sari.