Chapter II - Sneaking Out

"Hey you! Come on, wake up!"… SLAP! "Ow! What the…!"

Someone had just waked up Oztamin rather harshly, and it couldn't have been Firewing, he's never attacked him. Then as he turned around he saw a young brown haired Hume boy looking back at him with a grin.

"About time you woke up, I've just come back from getting the things I looked for, and if I might say I'm quite pleased with what I've found" the Brown haired Hume told him.

"Would it kill you to just tap on my shoulder and not slap me across the face next time Runex? I almost leaped and attacked you" Oztamin said while holding his forehead.

"Ah don't worry, a slap won't kill you if that's what you're worried about, now come on, the others are waiting for you to see if anything fits"

"If what fits?"

As Oztamin said the last word, he just grinned and grabbed his arm and dragged him out of Firewing's den onto the main cave. Runex dragged him and let him go near the others. Oztamin still half asleep looked over to see the rest of the gang, but something was different about them.

Neither of them had on their rag like clothes anymore, instead, they all were wearing completely different clothes. Vivini was covered in a black and white robe and some black slacks. He still had his raggedy gloves on, but was adjusting brown leather shoes that he didn't wear usually, also an Ash Staff laid next to him.

Merlexa was in what looked like a full "Scale Armor" because he had seen that on display before, but it wasn't every piece, she seemed to be wearing all but the helm, but still looked better than her last clothes. She was also practicing cutting techniques using what seemed to be a mid sized knife. She also had a small but tough looking shield on her back.

Celerity's appearance had also changed, but not much, if it weren't for the brown tunic and pants, not counting the Onion Club and same looking shield Merlexa had, she looked the same. As Oztamin looked as his friend's new appearance, he completely forgot about Runex and turned around not to see a raggy looking boy, but what seemed to be a full Kenshin outfit, complete with a Samurai sword!

"What? Never seen a Samurai this close to you? Don't worry, I won't kill you" Said Runex shortly after grinning to hide what seemed to be a forced laugh.

"I'm not shocked by that, I'm just wondering, where the hell did you get all this!"

"It's not that hard really, when the shops are closed, they change to a charity to anyone that just happens to know a backdoor" Runex said still with a big grin on his face. "Getting this beaut was tough on account the Tenshodo sort of own that shop" He said with another forced laugh.

"You robbed the Tenshodo! Are you crazy? They'll be looking for us by daybreak, Noon if we're lucky!" Vivini broke out, quickly taking off the tunic he was wearing. Celerity and Marlexa never seen a near nude boy this close and immediately covered their eyes, despite his height size."

"Don't get all jumpy on us now, it was only this Great Katana and these clothes I took from them, besides, they looked to be one of the lowest one inside. They'll be thanking me for taking them, not killing me." He said holding the blade up high.

"I still say they'll come looky-wooking for us, the Tenshodo's don't deal with any-wany mercy when someone robs them" Vivini said this time in a higher, more trembling voice.

"Ah don't worry, I place a fake I.D on the ground so they think it's someone that doesn't exist who supposedly lives in Selbina that robbed them. Besides, I made sure these were one of the low grade but good quality weapons, you just can't rob a place of it's prized possession and expect to get away clean now-a-days"

"There see? He made sure that we couldn't possibly have anything to do with it, now just put on your damn clothes!" Celerity shouted at Vivini who still had her eyes shut tight.

"I still don't feel any safers, but might as well take what I have" Vivini said slowly putting on the cloak. Making Celerity and Merlexa feel safe enough to take off their hands from their eyes again.

"Hey wait, I almost forgot! I got you something too Oztamin, now this I had a hard time to get" Runex said while he reached for a leather bag. Runex gave the bag to him and when he opened it he didn't believe his eyes. Inside was a Centurion's Scale Mail with all parts, well, no headgear either like everyone else's, but this armor was way higher quality than any of the others and this was something you just couldn't find anywhere in Bastok now-a-days.

"How did you get this!" He asked still looking at the stolen armor.

"Ah it's not that hard when you have what many adventurer's these days want to trade things like this"

"What exactly did you trade for this?" Celerity asked looking suspiciously at Runex.

"What every Adventurer wants but sometimes too lazy to get." As he finished saying this he put on what seemed to be a red hat with a white ball on the end."

"Is that a Dream Hat? Those are only given to specific people on the Starlight Festival, and that only happens once a year!" Vivini said looking at him shocked.

"Moogles don't like seeing "little" boys sad, so they gave me a few of these as a gift."

"Man, you make me look horrible, and I'M the Thief" Merlexa shouted looking at him with a cold stare.

"I know this is going to sound strange, but why did you bother in getting me an armor of this quality? I'm no one special" Oztamin broke in.

"Well, let's just say it's to say thanks for letting me hand with you guys, and since you were kind of the one to find this sweet location, I guess this is my way of saying thanks"

"Ah, don't say that" Oztamin said looking at Runex with a smile.

"But don't get any ideas, I still don't think you're stronger or better than me in any way, this is just so you don't think I owe you a favor later" Runex said as he put the Katana on the sheath.

"Well, I'm going to put on this to get the feel for it" Oztamin said with a big grin as he grabbed the bag and left for the den. As he entered the den he could still hear Runex bragging about how stealthy he was to get all these things, but there was something running in Oztamin's mind. People don't let thievery go so easy in light of current events, and people would search for whomever stole these things.

If things got to worse, the hideout entrance would be discovered, and they would all be sent to work in the mines for all their criminal acts. Not only that, but they would probably take Firewing away to either keep him out of "danger" or just to kill him. Oztamin wasn't going to stand by and let this happen, he needed a plan to escape, no for all of them, but what?...

As he opened the bag and took out the pieces of armory, he found at the very bottom a Bronze Spear. It looked to be in fine shape but it wasn't new, that didn't matter though, since with this Spear, he though of a plan. He then put on the Armor over his raggedy clothes while Firewing looked at him with curiosity.

As he slip on the second glove, he stood up and didn't feel much different. The armor wasn't as heavy as he though; he didn't feel much different and then took the Spear, swung it around a bit and placed it on his back where a holder was.

"Well Fire's, how do I look?" He said to Firewing while he looked at him back and simply just went back to sleep.

"Not impressed huh? Well, come on, let's go, we're going out of town for a while"

With that, the young wyvern's head spun up and then stretched his wings, and flew up and landed on Oztamin's shoulder, like a parrot if you will.

"Ok, let's go get the others, I'm sure they feel confident enough now to put our plan to action"

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As Oztamin walked out of the den, the other's stopped arguing and looked at the Dragoon with his wyvern by his side.

"Wowie, you look just like a real adventurer." Vivini said with his face in awe.

"So do all of you, which is why we're going out into the plains tonight" Oztamin said in a commander like tone.

"What for? You really think we're ready?" Celerity asked him, her face too in awe.

"Of course, tonight while the moon is still dark, we are to sneak out of Bastok and live our lives just as Adventurers do. Killing Beastmen and taking names, and I know we're good to go since we have a decent party." He told at them, with the same tone as before in his voice.

"Alright, let's get going then, but first, we need to get some supplies" Runex said aching to go.

"Already ahead of you Runex." Merlexa said holding on to 3 bags full of food and supplies"

"Not bad, everything seems to be checked, so let's not stand here any longer and move on out! If we hurry, we can make it out of the gate before sunlight hits" Runex said with sword in hand.

"That's not a bad idea, we need to get away from here as fast as we can since they'll be on the lookout for these things once the shop owner's find out that Runex took them." Oztamin commanded.

"Well, ok, let's go," Merlexa said, and with this, they all grabbed their weapons. Oztamin, Runex and Merlexa took the bags on their back (like backpacks if you will) with Vivini and Celerity taking up the rear. As they opened the door leading from the sewers to the alleys, they found the night was almost over as a hint of blue was peaking from the East part of the sky.

Once they were all out in the alley, all of them (even Firewing) kept as quiet as possible. Walking through the shadows, moving fast but quiet, and almost never had to walk through light, as the back alleys were darker than the sky itself. As they finally reached the slums of Bastok Mines, Oztamin took the bag that previously had his armor in it, and it put Firewing inside the leather bag. Firewing didn't move much but wasn't that comfortable either.

Oztamin only put the bag to cover Firewing, but didn't close the bag. He held him as if it was a baby, and they all continued, walking as casually as they could. As early as it was, people were beginning to wake up for the day of work ahead of them. Only once were they spotted, but the Child Galka that spotted them only waved in greeting, so they waved back and kept on moving.

As they went to the upper part of the slums and went behind the Auction House, Vivini went ahead and looked to see if the coast was clear. He saw the Chocobo Stables to the far left side, a small man-made river on the right, and straight ahead of them he saw the Gate, and only 1 guard standing near it! It was a perfect time to move.

He moved back to inform the others that the coast was clear, and they all moved as fast as they could towards the exit but not running so it didn't seem suspicious. As they reached closer for the gate, the guard looked at them but instead of simply greeting them, he charged at Vivini with his shield, knocking the small Taru aside, and charged for the rest of the Party.