Chapter 6 – Mash – Brave Bear

Everyone is fine, now. I suppose it's worth explaining the days events, it has been a rather eventful day after all.

Yesterday morning, I awoke in my usual manner. I brewed some of my favorite tea, I didn't eat though. Eating in the morning is bad for my training. I regularly perform early morning meditation and stretching exercises and wait until about noon to eat. I have trained by a very strict code for a few years now. I met Master Duncan about eight years ago. I wasn't in much of fighting condition then but since I suppose you could say I've developed into quite a "bear" as one of Edgar's friends called me (chuckles) I don't know, I guess it was cute. She seems nice but confused and that's ok with me. I didn't really take the time to get to know her but I look forward to it someday.

Anyways, Master Duncan met me years ago and saw great potential in my spirit and decided to train me. Master has a unique way of training that is different and more powerful and dangerous than any other training in the world. He specializes in the hand to hand martial arts focusing on inner, almost magical, abilities that grow in strength with the fighter. He already had a group of students whom he had been teaching for several years but he threw me into them as if I were quite the little prodigy. He made sure to take great care though as he knew I was still physically inferior to all his other students, especially Vargas. Oh Vargas, he was a wonderful peer. No one could best him in combat. In fact, towards the end of my training I witnessed the Master himself having trouble taking down Vargas. I'd always wondered what he was fighting so hard for. Master says there's no point in fighting if you have nothing to fight for. So I've always wondered what it was.

When I was ready to find lunch yesterday, I went to South Figaro to treat myself as I do every now and then. The news I heard chilled me to the bone. Everyone who knew me in town told me that my Master had been mysteriously killed and was nowhere to be found. Not only that, Master's star pupil, his son, Vargas, was missing as well. Actually, now that I think of it, it wasn't until halfway up into the mountains where Master's wife said he was training that I realized a personal truth. Vargas wasn't the Master's star pupil…..I was...The thought of what that meant chilled me as well. I realized what fate could have dealt based on my actions. I realized what Vargas was fighting for….

Although everyone said that Master was dead, his wife didn't believe so, so at least I had one person who believed him to be alive as well. I could sense Master was still there…somewhere…and I was going to find him. My day of searching turned up nothing, so I stayed in a cave within the mountains and decided to continue tomorrow.

When I awoke that day, that day being this morning, I noticed someone else's presence on the mountain. Eager to see if it was indeed Master, although I didn't sense Master's spirit anywhere, I ran out of the cave and continued my frantic search of the mountains. Oddly enough, while looking around I did see a foreign party entering the mountains. Later, I identified one of them as my brother, but instead of pursuing him I decided to continue on the trail to this mysterious person on the mountain. Whoever it was had a very strong spirit, almost as strong as Master's. He/she also had to at least have the skill and agility of one of Master Duncan's students. There are no other martial arts students in the world like Master's and we pride ourselves with that knowledge. The day was coming near an end and I still hadn't been able to catch up to this person. It was about this point that I realized that this person was ACTUALLY trailing and watching my brother and his companions. How ironic? I guess it was a good thing I was following because when I finally caught up to everyone……

Edgar and his two companions were struggling in combat against….Vargas? I had no idea why Vargas was fighting these people but I certainly wanted answers. When I presented myself before him he didn't offer much reason besides spite for me. He believed in all of his heart and mind that it was I, and not he, who was chosen by Master as his favorite, and this decision of choosing someone else over his own son must have made Vargas snap. I….cared for Vargas…he was a great martial artist but I guess the power consumed him and he couldn't embrace his own acceptance. He may not have been Masters favorite, but he was still a wonder student. Although I may have been Master's star pupil, that's no obligation to murder your own father, and he appeared not to be done with his homocidal streak. He's a sick creature now, and unfortunately, left me no choice but to put him to sleep….

With one patented technique that Master Duncan devised to be impossible to dodge or block I fell Vargas. With that blow, I unleashed all the feelings that I'd pent up inside the last two days and night. His blood was all over my hands, but I felt no guilt. I paid my final respects to what could have been the greatest martial artist in the world and then inquired as to why my brother was here…so far away from home.

Turns out that do to Cefca's attack at Figaro Castle he's decided to aid the Returners 100 percent and without any affiliation to the Empire. At last Edgar! You've made me proud of you again. You truly are a remarkable king.

With that brief conversation, I decided to fulfill what I then felt to be my ultimate destiny. I have been in royalty since birth, I spent the last eight years in martial arts training essentially on my own in the wilderness. Now, I felt it to be my mission to aid the Returners and crush the Empire at any cost. I've already paid with my father's life, I think it's time for us to get our revenge…first hand! Master Duncan would rest easier...

Author's Note: Ok, just gonna get right to the point...japanese version of names on the left, and american on the right...anything not mentioned is the same in both.

Japanese/American

Mash/Sabin
Cefca/Kefka