Chapter 38: Treno

After riding for a few minutes, we reached the Gargant station at Treno and ascended the ladder. Dr. Tot went up first, followed by Freya, then Amarant, then Eiko, then Vivi, then me, and then Zidane. After I got to the top of the ladder, I climbed out of the hole, leapt down the ladders, and stood next to Vivi.

Amarant spoke. "I never knew about this secret passageway…" he paused.

Tot spoke. "I apologize for the lack of space."

Amarant shook his head. "Its fine…" he paused.

Zidane looked at Amarant. "Hey, Amarant, have you been here before?"

He turned to look at him. "What about you?"

Zidane smiled "Me? I've been to everyplace where there are beautiful women!" Amarant just stared at him.

Eiko turned to Dr. Tot. "Can we talk about Madain Sari later? I wanna go sightseeing."

Tot nodded. "Oh, of course. There's no hurry."

Eiko turned towards Vivi. "Come on, Vivi. Let's go!" Vivi looked surprised at the invitation, but quickly agreed. The two of them ran down the stairs.

I smiled as I watched them leave. 'Those two are so right for each other, and they're cute together' I thought.

Freya walked past me. "I shall go, as well. I'll take this time to relax." She walked down the stairs.

I turned to look at them. I smiled. "I guess I'll see you guys later, oh and Zidane; if you're entering the card tournament take these with you." I handed him a Shiva and Ramuh card. I found them in the bell at the steeple in Alexandria.

Zidane looked at me. "Hey, thanks Michael." I nodded, turned, ran down the steps, and ran out of the tower.

I walked out of the tower and entered Treno for the first time. I breathed in the warm night air. The temperature was just right. I loved walking at night, but I also knew to be weary. Treno may be called the city of nobles, but it's also a great place for thieves since the nights here last for months.

I decided to go near the entrance to the city. I stopped when I saw Vivi speaking with a guy I hadn't met before. I kept my distance and watched them talk. I couldn't really pick out what they were saying because other people were speaking around me as well.

The man eventually left, and Vivi walked towards the city gates. Vivi was leaving Treno. 'Where's he going' I thought. After a second, realization struck me. 'Ah, of course. He must be going to Quan's Dwelling. …Hmm…I think I'll follow him' I thought. I walked out the gates and followed Vivi.

As I followed Vivi, I made sure to keep him in my sights, but to stay far away enough so that he wouldn't sense me. I followed him through a forest, and decided to watch him from the trees. I started jumping from limb to limb, always making sure that I kept him in my sight.

Vivi stopped, suddenly, and I thought that he had sensed me. I kept perfectly still in my position in the tree, and waited. That's when I saw a Giant Spider emerge from the trees; that's why Vivi had stopped. Vivi readied his staff and prepared for battle. I decided to sit back and watch, rather than reveal myself.

The spider launched its webbing at Vivi. Vivi quickly jumped to the side and avoided the attack. Vivi cast a Fire spell. The spell hit the spider and it was set aflame. The spider danced around trying to put out the flames. Vivi quickly cast a Blizzard spell. The spell hit the spider; the flames were put out by Vivi's attack, and the spider was frozen. Vivi cast a Thunder spell and the frozen spider shattered. After that was done, Vivi moved on.

I smiled as I watched Vivi walk away. 'Very good, Vivi. You're getting stronger. I remember the last time we faced a Giant Spider. It took the both of us working together to take it down, and now you make it seem like child's play' I thought. I quickly started following him again.

I saw him enter a cave. After waiting a few minutes, I entered the cave as well. I found myself in a vast cave. There is, well, what appears to be, a hot spring at the bottom of the cave. I also noticed a pole you could go down to get to the bottom.

I walked over to the next part of the cave. I found myself in, what appeared to be, a dinning area. There was dust all over the table top, the chairs, and just about everywhere else. No one's been in hear for quite some time. I walked over to the wall, and read, what appeared to be, a height chart. "let's see…six months after I adopted Vivi. Still to small to eat." My eyebrows rose at that. 'I better not mention that to Vivi' I thought. I walked out of the room.

I found myself on a natural balcony. I also saw Vivi. "Hey, Vivi." He turned and looked at me.

He didn't seem too surprised to see me. "I knew you were following me."

I was surprised. "How?"

I could see the smile in his eyes. "I just knew. I could feel that you were near. I think it's because of our bond."

I shrugged. "Maybe…so what is this place?"

Vivi spoke. "I used to live here with my grandpa."

I looked at him. "Tell me about your grandpa, Vivi. You don't seem to talk about him much." Vivi nodded and told me his story.

After he was finished, I spoke. "So, your grandpa fished you out of the sky, huh. I don't know about you, but that's what I call fate."

Vivi shrugged. "maybe…my grandpa was very kind to me. He used to worry that I wasn't growing properly."

'I can't imagine why' I thought, sarcastically. I spoke "I saw you take down that Giant Spider on your own, Vivi."

He looked at me. "You did?"

I smiled "yes, I did. Your training with me is paying off, Vivi; I can tell. You're getting stronger, Vivi, and I couldn't be more proud of you."

Vivi looked pleased. "Thanks, Michael."

I smiled at him. "No problem, now we better get back to Treno. The others might be worried." Vivi nodded, and we went back to Treno.

After a half-hour we made it back to Treno. Vivi looked at me. "Well…what do you want to do, now that we're back?"

I looked down at him. "Let's head to the card stadium and see how Zidane's doing." Vivi nodded his head and we walked off to the card stadium.

The card stadium was enormous. It was definitely the biggest building in Treno. I knew the building was big, but I never knew just how big. It also had a large dome window on the top made of white colored glass. Vivi and I had arrived in time to see Zidane exit the building. He was followed by a woman in an airship pilot uniform, and…Regent Cid.

We walked over to them. I spoke. "Zidane, how did the tournament go?" He turned to look at us.

He smiled. "Hey guys. You're looking at the new champion."

I smiled. "Congratulations, Zidane."

Regent Cid spoke. "Don't be ridiculous! I'm the champion!"

Zidane turned to him. "Hey, Regent Cid. Still an Oglop, I see."

Cid looked offended. "And you still haven't learned any manners…" he paused.

I spoke. "So what are you doing here, regent?"

He turned to look at me. "Mainly to participate, but I also wanted to test the Hilda Garde 2."

Zidane spoke. "The one that flies without mist?"

Cid nodded. "Correct. We can't go very fast yet, but we made it to Treno."

Zidane looked puzzled. "Why now?"

Cid looked worried. "I have a funny feeling there'll be more trouble on the horizon."

Zidane didn't look worried. "Don't you worry. I'm sure our almighty Queen Garnet will take care of everything."

"Oh no! This is horrible!"

All of us spun around and saw Eiko and Mog coming towards us. Vivi spoke "Eiko, what's wrong?"

She stopped in front of us. "Oh, it's horrible! Mog just told me that-" Cid interrupted her.

"What's wrong?"

She looked worried. "It's Alexandria! Something horrible is happening!"

This news shocked everyone. Zidane quickly sprang into action. "Okay, Eiko, Vivi, you two go find Amarant and Freya. Michael, you come with me, we need to get to the Gargant."

Cid spoke. "Hold on, we can take the Hilda Garde 2. It'll be much faster."

I looked at him. "Yeah, but is it safer?"

He looked offended. "It's safe enough."

Zidane waved his hands. "Fine, we'll take the ship. I'm gonna go get Dr. Tot. Michael you go with Regent Cid to the ship." All of us nodded, and took off to our different tasks.

I arrived at the Hilda Garde 2. The ship looked trashy, but I was hoping that it could reach Alexandria. After a few minutes, Zidane and the others arrived. They all got on the ship, and we took off towards Alexandria.