"And Still the Darkness Grows"
A/N: Holy crap! An update? No waiii! …Well, yes wai, actually. It's taken me four years to get back into Breath of Fire, but now that I am, the show must go on! Let's pick up right where we left off, shall we? Hyah!
VIThe trip through the southeastern valley had been uneventful. Ryu and Nina walked hand-in-hand most of the way, stopping, of course, when they had to slay monsters.
"You know, it's amazing that after all this time, the monsters are still so violent," Ryu said as he speared a Blurb.
"I know what you mean," Nina agreed. "I guess they're just gluttons for punishment."
"Know who else was a glutton for punishment? Well, actually just a glutton… Gobi."
"Really?" Nina inquired, kicking aside a deflated Slime.
"Yeah. Did you ever see him eat? He's like a BiruBuru."
"A what?"
Ryu chuckled. "I don't know, I made it up."
"I knew that," Nina said, smiling. "Although it would be a cool monster name."
"But anyway, because of his little appetite, whenever he would use Eco or EcoX, nine times out of ten: gas."
Nina laughed. "Really?"
"Really." Ryu said jovially. "Why do you think I wanted Karn to be Shin or Puka so much? Just to keep the smell away."
"A method to the madness," Nina said with a smirk. Then she looked around. "Okay, I don't see any more monsters around here… Are we done?"
"I think so," Ryu said, sheathing his sword. They set off again towards the south mountain, until Ryu heard a low snorting sound.
"Oh look!" Nina said. "It's a wild boar!" And indeed, there was another large pig rooting around in the underbrush. "It's a shame Bo's not here, or we could kill it."
"Well heck, we can kill animals without Bo," Ryu bragged. "Watch me." He tossed his pack aside and got down on his knees and began to crawl towards the pig.
"I'm gonna be very quiet as I approach the fella," he said in a low whisper. "Otherwise, he might get frightened and he could attack me. I'm ten miles from the nearest Inn, so it could be dangerous…"
"Just shut up and kill it!" Nina groaned.
"Right then." Ryu said, and he raised himself up on his knees a little and drew his sword. But then, the pig disappeared into the bushes, and the bushes began to shake very violently, and the horrible squealing of the pig could be heard.
"Damn it, looks like something else already got it," Nina said with disappointment.
"Not if I can help it," Ryu replied, and he stood up and kicked the bush hard.
A large, black silhouette rose from the bush. At first it seemed to be almost oval in shape, but then it spread two large, black wings and screeched horribly.
"Ryu, run!" Nina called. Ryu turned to run, but the large bird zoomed forward at incredible speed and plunged its long, pointed beak into Ryu's side.
"Aaaaagh!" Ryu screamed, clutching his hip and falling over. Blood was beginning to flow from the wound.
"Ryu, can you get up?" Nina cried.
Ryu tried to stand, but the pain was too great for him. "I… I can't…"
Nina was going to run to help, but the giant bird had noticed her and had an evil gleam in its eye.
"You're going to pay for what you did…" Nina said menacingly, and harnessing the powers of the royal family, she transformed into a huge, glittering bird with large white wings.
The black bird shot straight up into the sky, and Nina followed it, and for several seconds they faced each other in mid-air. The black bird lunged forward with its beak, but Nina elevated herself further, dodging, then aimed a bite at the black bird's leg. But the black bird turned around fast and swatted her aside with his wing. He kept the wing over her eyes for several moments, blinding her. Then when he took it away, he lunged forward and managed to bite off one of Nina's wing feathers. Nina screeched in pain and flew higher, but the black bird followed effortlessly. It swooped in a broad circle and came up behind her, biting her tail.
Nina's eyes watered from the pain. She knew she had to end this battle now, before Ryu's condition got worse. She turned and began flying in the opposite direction of the black bird. The black bird, thinking he had won, turned and began slowly circling down towards Ryu. But then, Nina came streaking back at unbelievable speed, and with her talons, sliced right down the black bird's back. The bird shrieked, and turned around in the air, trying to fight back, but Nina bit onto his leg and shook it for several moments before releasing it. The bird fell to earth, and Nina gracefully came to a landing and transformed back into a human. Seizing her Sky Rapier, she waltzed over to the bird and plunged it into his chest.
"Nobody messes with my man…" she whispered menacingly. Then she ran over to where Ryu was laying, bleeding.
"Ryu, speak to me!" she said, propping him up on her knee. "Don't leave me yet!"
Ryu coughed, but couldn't speak.
"Okay, I'm going to get you to medical help right now!" Nina said, and she turned into a bird again and gently picked him up in her beak. Rising into the air, she began flying southwards towards the Kingdom of Gold: Auria.
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"Another potato puff, Master Gobi?" asked a bipedal fish creature, offering a tray.
"No thanks," replied a similar creature, sitting in a large chair. This creature stood on two legs and had all the features of a fish, but wore clothes and spoke the common tongue. He was surrounded by servants at the moment, as well as a few musicians.
"As you wish," the first creature replied, striding away.
"Ahh, life is good!" Gobi said with euphoria, leaning back in his chair. Only five short years ago, he was able to pool the money he made on a small business trip with his life savings, and open up the biggest store in Prima. He sold everything: Weapons, items, potions, armor; as a matter of fact, his store had such a great variety that nobody was shopping anywhere else, and a lot of the smaller stores in the underwater kingdom were going out of business.
But this didn't bother Gobi a whit: he was filthy rich and he loved it. He rang the bell for the chef, and within two minutes another fish creature wearing a chef's hat appeared.
"Chef, I'd like a platter of cocktail franks," Gobi said. "But, could you color them red and green so they look festive?"
The chef scoffed. "I hardly think it's possible to change a food's natural color to something…" He was silenced, because Gobi passed him a big pile of Zenny notes. With a defeated sigh, he said, "Yes, sir…" and he left.
After a few more minutes, a formally-dressed fish creature strode in and said, "Master Gobi, there's a messenger for you in front of the mansion."
"Send him in," Gobi said.
"Actually, he really prefers that you go to him."
Gobi grumbled massively, but got up and strode through the main hall and exited his house. But to his dismay, he saw nobody.
"Hello?" he called. "Anybody here? You disturbed my peaceful rest, you know!"
"Hey…" muttered a scratchy voice suddenly. Gobi whirled around, but saw nobody.
"Who said that?" Gobi demanded.
"Come over here," the voice said, and Gobi could barely make out a shadow crouching in the alley on the side of his house.
"Who are you?" Gobi called.
"Come over here and you'll find out," the shadow said.
Shrugging, Gobi walked into the alley, but when he got to where he saw the shadow, it was gone.
"Hey! Are you playing tricks on me?" he snarled. But then, a hand reached around him from the back and placed a cloth under his nose. Gobi barely had time to struggle before he passed out.