23rd April 2005

A/N: The third chapter of the epic tale of banjo man! Madness and chaos ensue! Please read and review!

Gecko strike!

"Wait! My banjo sense is tingling!" cried Tidus, or rather Banjo man, for the 17th time that day. Yuna and her guardians were on the highroad, and so far there had been 17 'endangered citizens'. The first had been a ladybird that was in the middle of the path, the second a blitzball that was in danger of getting a puncture, so our intelligent hero kicked as far as he could. The most dramatic one was when he had saved a young child from the hands of evil (her parent was giving her a piggyback ride).

"Argh! What da hell is it this time!" said Wakka, almost screaming with frustration.

"Banjo man- to the rescue! Vrooooooom!" exclaimed Tidus, as he 'flew' off to save the spider from the clutches of Lulu's stuffed mog.

"If we leave now, maybe he wont notice were gone." Whispered Wakka to Lulu, who giggled. Few people know that their annoyance with Tidus is what brought them together.

A few minutes Tidus returned, looking very proud of himself. "Well, Banjo man is once again- victorious!"

"Tidus, I think we need to have a little chat about this whole 'Banjo Man' thing. You see, the thing is-" Yuna started.

"Aaeeiiiii! Someone! Please! Heeeelp!" a woman screamed, shrilly.

"Not now, Yuna! This looks like a job for Banjo Man!" said Tidus, running in the direction of the scream, the other side of over hill.

"I think that we'd better go help- I think this is a job for people who can actually lift a sword!" stated Auron.

So the gang headed off after Tidus, with a strange feeling of dread in the bottom of their stomachs. Something was wrong, the air felt different. Now more screams joined the woman's, and they could hear the war cries of Banjo Man filtering through the air "Hah! Take that! You want some! Banjo Man shall conquer you evil scum! Back to the shadows from whence you came!"

They reached the crest of the hill, and looked down upon the chaos that was below. Scaled fiends were running amock, chasing after civilians. In the midst of the havoc was Banjo man, fighting of the beasts. They looked to be some sort of lizards, they had sticky pads on the ends of their fingers, their eyes glinted with pure malice, and their razor-sharp teeth glinted manically in the sunlight.

"What is this new devilry!" cried Auron, despairingly.

"It is the Geckos." Said Wakka, quietly. "An army from the shadows, their hearts twisted and black, servants of the evil Mikka Becko."

"Mikka what? Who's that?" inquired Lulu.

"Mikka Becko, the humanoid Gecko. Long have my kind and I dreaded this day. Many years ago I helped overthrow him and his army in the battle of Yuliam. We have always hoped that was the end of his evil reign, but we have always known deep down that only the one prophesised about could mean his downfall."

"What are you on about? What do you mean 'your kind'?" Lulu asked, suspiciously.

"There's something that I need to tell you, but first of all, we must aid Banjo Man- I mean Tidus." Wakka corrected himself.

It was a long and hard battle, but the heroes managed to come off the better, and won with only a few superficial wounds. They sat down to rest, but Wakka spoke out.

"NO! We cannot rest! More will come, Mikka Becko knows of our presence. And… I need to find out something, I think the answer may be closer than I first realised."

"Where are we going?" piped up Rikku.

"To Yuliam, we must consult Ermalily."

So they left, more than a little confused (as I'm sure you all are, just bear with it, you will soon discover the truth…), and followed Wakka. After a few days journey, they had travelled a fair distance. They kept Tidus quiet by slipping mild doses of tranquillisers into his drinks. They were walking when Wakka stopped abruptly.

"Here. This tree." He walked over to the ancient oak and began studying its surface.

"Heeheehee! That's one HILARIOUS dragonfly! Look at it! It's flying all over the place! Hahaha!" exclaimed Tidus, tears of laughter running down his face as he chased after the poor insect.

"Got it! Watch this, ya! Krimalis Yokuchen!" Wakka cried, making a complicated hand signal in the air. With an almighty, crack like the earth was splitting, a gap appeared in the tree trunk. "Quick! Follow me!"

They all followed Wakka through the gap, and down a winding passage. There were a number of side passages branching off, but he ignored them completely. There was an earthy path in the air as they followed the passage gradually sloping downwards. Just as they thought it would never end, a faint light was dimly visible, getting gradually lighter. Finally, they could see a carved archway up ahead, beyond which was what appeared to be an underground forest. They reached it and, and it was indeed what they had thought, but the trees were different colours, and different shades.

"Welcome to Yuliam, ya?" Wakka said, looking enthusiastic.

"Wakka? Is that you? It is! We've missed you so!" the speaker was a man, of sorts. He had pointed ears, hair exactly the same shade as Wakka's, and was clad in a green garment. There was something odd about the way he spoke as well. He spoke words that were completely strange to them, it could have even been random babble, but somehow they knew exactly what he was saying.

"Hi, pa!" cried Wakka, joyously, embracing the… thing. Then he caught the stunned looks that he was receiving from his friends. "Err, guys, I think it's time you knew." He pulled of some rubber from the sides of his head, revealing a pair of pointy ears. "I'm a leprechaun."

A/N: Hah! Weren't expecting that, huh? We like to keep you on your toes! Anyways, please review!