Well...we're moving ever closer to the ending. A good bit of action in this chapter, though it will still pale in comparison to the fight with Vegnagun and Shuyin. So, without further ado...let's get to it!
Chapter 29—A Path Of Sorrow
"How long is this road, anyway?" Lenna complains, as our group continues to walk further into the Farplane.
"Beats me," I reply, shrugging. "Last time I was in the Farplane, I went through Guadosalam with Yuna and the others. As for down here...your guess is as good as mine."
"Lot of help you are..." she says, and I roll my eyes at the younger girl.
"I don't mean to interrupt, but you might want to look at this," Drante cuts in, diverting our attention before an argument erupts. A large group of pyreflies are swirling around the center of a platform directly in front of us, which can only mean one thing.
"Another aeon?" Rikku asks, and Paine nods.
"Probably."
"Let's take care of it, then," I say, drawing my sword and holding it tightly. The six of us begin to step towards the platform, the pyreflies swirling more rapidly as we approach. As we set foot on the platform, the pyreflies seem to react, splitting into three smaller groups that begin to take shapes.
The first is a large creature, resembling a ladybug. Two antennae extend from the top of its head, and a large, dotted shell covers its back. The second is a taller form, looking like a mantis-type creature. Two blades are retracted below its forearms, one to each, and it looks at us menacingly. The third is a tiny creature, hovering in the air. It appears to be some sort of hornet or wasp, from the stinger and small wings. The trio of Cindy, Sandy, and Mindy, better known as the Magus Sisters.
(Play Star Ocean 3 theme Beyond The One)
'One of the most powerful aeons that exists...in the same league as Anima. Just what we don't need.'
"So...anyone have a plan?" Lenna asks, looking at the trio somewhat warily.
"Simple. We beat them down and move on," Paine replies.
"My kind of plan," I say, taking a stance and facing Sandy, the mantis.
Drante makes the first move, a quick lunge from a light saber aimed at Cindy, the ladybug. Cindy takes the hit, not even seeming to flinch, before spinning and slamming the shell on her back into Drante, sending him stumbling back. My split second of distraction costs me, as I face Sandy again to see the blades below her forearms extended and blazing with fire. Leaping towards me, she slashes outward, the flaming blades rocketing towards me in her Razzia attack. Spinning, I slice through one of the blades, the other cutting a gash in my shirt and left side.
"Take this!" Yuna yells, firing rapidly at Mindy, the hornet. The agile aeon dodges several of the shots, but some still hit, inflicting some damage on the airborne creature. Landing for a moment and turning, Mindy's stinger begins to glow, before glowing projectiles begin to fire rapidly at Yuna. Yuna staggers with the rapid-fire shots, falling to the ground in pain as the attack finishes.
Paine stabs her sword into the ground, spherechanging as she does so. When the light around her clears, I look over, a bit shocked at her new appearance. A blue outfit, with shoes and gloves resembling animal claws now adorns her body, as well as some kind of headband with horns. Giving a battle cry, Paine charges in with her Berserker dressphere, slamming a powerful punch into Cindy. Cindy staggers from the attack, as Drante rushes in to attack again.
Rikku darts in alongside me, slashing Sandy across the waist. Lines of red energy run from Sandy's body to Rikku's as she slashes, Rikku's attack draining energy from Sandy to replenish her own.
"Not a bad idea..." I mutter, quickly spherechanging to Dark Knight and stepping back. "Drain!" The spell hits Sandy, sapping away some of her life force and increasing my own. Looking over at Lenna, I see that she has spherechanged to Gunner, knowing her status afflicting skills will do nothing against aeons.
With careful aim, Lenna begins firing rapidly at Mindy, the Trigger Happy attack connecting and slowing the aeon's flight some. Still, Mindy flies down to Lenna and stabs her with the stinger, sending the younger girl staggering back and holding her chest in pain. Yuna sees this and aims carefully, a powerful shot sending Mindy to the ground, weakened.
Another battle cry from Paine turns my attention, as red energy gathers around Paine. I recognize this as the Berserk skill, and Paine proves me right by blasting Cindy in the face with a powerful uppercut, nearly taking the aeon off its feet with the increased power of the attack. Cindy stands tall, though, and leaps into the air, slamming back into the ground in a sitting position. A geyser of water erupts from the ground, propelling her back into the air for her Camisade attack. As she hits the ground again, a fountain of energy throws Paine and Drante away.
Sandy leaps into the air then, both hands aimed for me in a slashing movement. Her hands meet the flat of my sword, her attack knocking my sword down and breaking my guard. Stepping back quickly, I begin to channel some of my own energy into my sword, wincing as the sword begins to glow with dark energy. Slashing outward, a wave of dark energy hits all three of the aeons, pushing them back as the Darkness attack hits. That gives Yuna an opening to blast Mindy again, the smaller aeon falling over and beginning to dissipate into pyreflies. Rikku leaps past me and cuts into Sandy as well, sending her kneeling to the ground in pain.
As Paine continues to attack Cindy, Drante begins to focus, seemingly speeding up after a moment as he darts around Cindy. Slashing quickly, Drante lands a barrage of strikes from all angles around Cindy, before Paine smashes a fist into the aeon's face, finally knocking her down and out. Even as Cindy begins to fade back into pyreflies, Yuna and Lenna turn on Sandy, blasting the aeon with a volley of shots and making her fall, dissipating back into pyreflies as well.
(End Star Ocean 3 theme Beyond The One)
Reaching to my left side, my hand comes away bloody, a result of the Razzia attack from Sandy. Silently, I watch as Rikku spherechanges to White Mage and begins casting healing magic on everyone. That was the toughest fight yet. The Magus Sisters were both resilient and powerful.
'And the only aeon left...'
A shiver runs down my spine at the mere thought of the last aeon. I spherechange back to Warrior as a spell washes over me, healing the gash in my side, before walking over to Yuna.
"We have to hurry. He's getting close..."
Yuna simply nods, turning back to everyone as Rikku spherechanges back to Thief.
"Let's go!" she says, beginning to run quickly along the path. All of us follow, and I spare a glance backwards at the platform, seeing the pyreflies beginning to vanish. Shaking my head, I continue to follow the path, steeling myself for the fight ahead.
"Scared?" I ask, looking over at Lenna and Drante.
"...A little," Lenna admits, the same neutral expression staying on her face.
"There is a lot at stake here, I'll admit. I suppose I'm more afraid of what will become of Spira should we fail, rather than the enemies we face," Drante comments, and I find myself nodding.
"You're right. There's a lot riding on us. I'm not going to say I'm not scared, because I'd be lying. But I push it aside. Because, like you said, what happens to Spira if we fail?"
"Well, it's not good. I thought you two knew that," Lenna says, smirking.
"Once again, I find myself outmatched by your superior wit," I say sarcastically, prompting a chuckle from Drante.
"Guys? We've got trouble," Yuna says, prompting all three of us to face the direction that Yuna, Rikku, and Paine are facing. Another platform lies in front of us, with a different path beyond. On the platform is a large mass of pyreflies, bigger than any we've come across yet.
"Everyone ready?" I prompt, a round of nods signaling everyone's awareness and readiness. "Good. Let's go!"
The pyreflies on the platform seem to react to my cry, swirling and melding with each other, as well as growing to a large size. As the glow from the pyreflies fades, the figure on the platform is one that is very familiar to me. A large creature, partially mummified, with its hands and body bound in chains. A terrifying screech erupts from the creature's maw, as its one eye flashes red. Anima, the dark aeon, is reborn.
(Play FFIX theme Dark Messenger)
"Can't afford to play around with this thing...need to hit it hard and fast," I mutter, shifting into Dark Knight. Everyone else goes on the offensive against Anima, a barrage of attacks being launched.
"Blizzara!"
"Flametongue!"
A duo of attacks from Lenna and Paine strike Anima, the aeon seeming to not even feel the attacks, before Yuna follows it up with a hail of bullets from her Trigger Happy attack. Rikku dashes in, slashing and draining some of Anima's life force, and Drante follows it up with a powerful attack from a broadsword.Rikku begins to shift to White Mage, Yuna also spherechanging in order to advance to their special dresspheres. Quickly, I begin to shift to Blade Knight as Anima turns its attention to Paine.
Raising its head slightly, the dark aeon begins to gather energy in its one eye, the eye glowing blood red as energy swirls around it. With a flash of light, the Pain attack is released, blasting into Paine with the force of a rocket and sending her to the dirt.
"Paine!" Yuna exclaims, running over to her friend, now dressed in her Black Mage robes. Rikku also runs over, ready to heal her fallen comrade.
"Watera!"
A second spell from Lenna hits Anima in the face, and Drante stands tall, focusing energy into his sword. With a swipe and a flash of light, Drante mimics the Pain attack, the copied attack slamming into Anima with equal force. Anima bellows as the attack eats away at its body, and I grab both my swords as I finish spherechanging, ready to help out.
"Rough Divide!"
Running up to the aeon quickly, I slash upwards, an energy wave trailing my swords as I leap nearly to the top of the aeon. The wave hits Anima, doing less damage than Drante's attack, but still a decent amount. Anima looks at me then, a beam sailing from its eye and sending me crashing to the ground, dazed from both the force of the blow and the height of my fall.
"Ben!"
Rikku's yell is followed by a Blizzaga spell from Yuna, who then begins spherechanging into her Floral Fallal dressphere. Rikku does the same, her shift into the Machina Maw dressphere beginning a moment later. Paine stands up, still stunned some from the blow, but spherechanges into Berserker, charging back up to Anima. A powerful jump gets her into the air, before she slams a fist into the aeon, a grunt of pain coming from the dark creature.
Slowly, I get back to my feet just in time to see Anima charge and release another Pain attack at Lenna, sending the girl into the air to land hard a few feet away, close to the edge of the platform.
"Lenna!" My shock quickly turns to rage, my eyes hardening as I glare up at the much larger creature. "I don't care how big you are...I'm going through you!" My pain momentarily forgotten, I leap into the air, aiming carefully for Anima's scarred face.
"Crescent Strike!"
My sword flashes outward, a wave of red energy erupting from it and cutting through the air towards Anima. The energy wave cuts into Anima's face, nearly blinding it completely in its one good eye. A screech of pain lets me know the extent of my attack, and I step back for another strike as Yuna suddenly floats beside me, now dressed in her Floral Fallal dressphere.
"Flare Whirl!"
I watch in silent amazement as a chain of non-elemental explosions go off in Anima's face, the once mighty aeon roaring in agony as the energy eats away at it. Slowly, Anima seems to slump slightly, pyreflies beginning to float away from its now-defeated form.
(End FFIX theme Dark Messenger)
Quickly, I run over to Lenna, not bothering to spherechange back just yet. The girl is slowly getting up, for which I'm silently thankful, but she still looks quite shaken from the attack.
"Are you alright?" I ask, helping her up. With a wince, the girl shakes herself out of my grip, nodding.
"I'll be fine...I'm tougher than I look, you know," she retorts, and I sigh.
"Good," I say, turning back to Yuna and spherechanging back to Warrior. As everyone begins to spherechange back to their regular dresspheres, the fayth suddenly fades into view in front of us.
"You..." Yuna begins, the fayth nodding slowly.
"Yuna. I'm sorry. We weren't strong enough to stop him. We wanted to at least warn someone...but instead, we were dragged into the darkness," the fayth explains, hanging his head slightly. "We're no better than fiends."
"It's all right," Yuna replies, causing the fayth to shake his head.
"Forgive us."
"It's not your fault," I say, stepping up beside Yuna. "You did all you could." Slowly, Yuna steps closer to Bahamut, the question spoken barely loud enough for us to hear.
"Please, tell me...what is he?"
"Shuyin? Just a shadow. It may look like him, but the real Shuyin died long ago. Even after a thousand years, his hate and misery linger on. His feelings grew so strong, they began to act on their own...eventually, they became a shadow—a shade that wants only to vanish, but cannot."
'Just a shadow, huh...he's not real. He's just an image...a representation of Shuyin's hate...of his feelings because of their deaths.'
"Just a shadow...I can handle a shadow," Yuna replies, nodding.
"Are you sure?" the fayth asks, causing Yuna to nod once again.
"Yes. Leave it to me," she tells Bahamut, who nods slowly, fading away without a word. "I'll banish shadow with light."
"Light?" Rikku asks, Paine interrupting before Yuna can say anything.
"Lenne's feelings."
"That's right. Call it...love."
"He hasn't won yet...we're not out of this just yet," I mutter, beginning to run down the path into the Farplane once again.
"Hey, wait up!" Rikku yells, everyone else following me quickly. Almost ignoring them, I continue to run, my body moving almost of its own accord.
'I told you I'm coming for you...can you see me? Can you see me running? I'm not far now...'
"I'm not far now..." I whisper, seeing a figure far off in the distance. As we begin to approach, I can see that the figure in question is actually three figures. The figures of Leblanc, Logos, and Ormi slowly come into focus as we get closer, and Rikku yells out to the trio as we near them.
"Hey!"
With a snort, Leblanc spins to us, her fan held lazily in her right hand.
"You certainly took your sweet time."
"Stifle it, Leblanc," I retort, brushing the comment off.
"Why are you here?" Yuna asks. Leblanc opens her mouth to respond, but Logos beats her to it.
"Because the boss never goes against Lord Nooj's wishes."
"You found him?" Paine asks, almost hopefully.
"As we was headin' in, we found a sphere addressed to the boss," Ormi says, causing Logos to nod.
"He said, 'Don't follow me. Turn back now and wait for my return,'" Leblanc explains.
"Actually doing what you're told?" Paine asks, crossing her arms. "How novel." I resist the urge to snicker as Leblanc continues.
"What can I say? One look at Noojie-Woojie's dashing visage on that sphere and I was charmed! How can I say no to such a kyootzie-wootzie face?" Leblanc says, looking around at us. "What if he..."
"Don't worry," Rikku cuts in. "If he knows you're waiting, he has a reason to come home."
"And wait I shall," Leblanc says, looking skyward.
"We'll tell him that you're waiting like a good girl," Rikku continues, causing Leblanc to snap back to reality.
"You do that, love. And don't forget to stress 'good girl.'"
'Well, we've got a shadow to stop, three leaders to find, and a giant, hideously powerful machina to destroy. It just doesn't get any better than this...' I think to myself, before nodding to Yuna and beginning to dash down the path once again.
Ben's inching closer to Shuyin by the minute...I smell a showdown. But, they have to get through Vegnagun first...what other surprises does the Farplane have in store? Just have to keep reading to find out! As always, please read and review!