CHAPTER

(-8-)

The Octopus and The Resistor

The air was cool, but not cold. It was an overcast day, which threatened rain, but never carried out that threat. All in all, it was a good day for a rafting trip, it would have been enjoyable, if only there weren't such powerful rapids. For the first few hours, they had to dodge their way through the rapids, but after that, the water calmed down and became a stream.

They flowed lazily along, tired from all the paddling they had just gone through. Edgar snapped his fingers "Ah dangit, I forgot to refill my stock of bolts at the Hideout. It's a good thing they handed me a spear."

Terra sat down on the edge of the raft, and was about to stick her feet in the water, when Bannon suddenly yelled "No!"'

Everyone froze.

"Do not stick your feet into the water," he said.

"Why?" asked Terra.

"Let me show you," he said, and took a crossbow out of the raft's supply pack, aimed, and shot a bird of some sort out of the air. It fell and landed in the water, about fifteen feet from the raft, when suddenly there was a flash of light, and the air was charged with static electricity. "In this part of the river, there are fish called azpiks, which are known as the most deadly fish on earth. They wait for something foolish to land in the water, and zap! The foolish animal is dead, already cooked, and ready to be eaten. The only fish which are found in this river are those who have adapted somehow to absorb the shock that the fish packs, they eat whatever the azpiks are too slow to get to, or the azpiks themselves, if they can somehow manage it."

"Wow! Some fish!" Said Locke, "How come these things haven't been used as weapons?"

"They're known as the most dangerous fish for more than that one reason."

"Oh." Said Locke.

They rested until their energy had returned enough, and then started paddling down the river. They kept on going until they reached a cave with a bit of ground to rest for the night in. Terra claimed that there was also a protective barrier around this bit of land.

"We are now leaving azpik territory." Said Bannon, "Azpiks cant stand the lack of light here during the day, or the incredibly cold temperatures during the night. This tunnel is probably the only reason why they haven't taken over the world's oceans."

They unpacked their possessions, had a dinner of dried meat and bread, for there was no dry wood for a fire, and went to bed.

***

Meanwhile, in a city farther to the east...

King Fredrick of Doma looked out from the castle's tallest tower. To the west, he could see the empire's camp. He sighed, The Empire was trying to take over the land of Doma, but Fredrick was not going to let The Empire beat Doma as quickly as it beat other nations. Doma had a formidable army, and had the resolve never to lose. If the rest of Doma were to hear of the fall of Doma Castle and City, their spirits would probably be crushed, and would probably surrender to the enemy, even if they only wanted the one city.

The King vowed never to let that happen.

***

The next morning, they had some more of the dried meat, then broke down their tents and got ready to go. Sabin, Locke and Edgar got in the boat, but just before Terra got in Bannon stopped her.

"Wait, Terra! Before we continue, I want to give you gift." He reached over and grabbed a pair of gloves. "These are genji gloves, they are supposed to help you fight better with your sword when you wear them, but it will not help you if you decide to use a shield."

"But I thought that magic disappeared after the War of The Magi." Terra said.

"Everyone knows magic exists. It's just that the ability to use black and white magic and the other obscure forms of magic by humans disappeared with the war. Many animals have the ability to use a little magic, like the azipk, or the rhodox, which is known to sometimes heal its own mortal wounds just before it dies. And relics from the War of The Magi are rare, so many people haven't heard of them. And some people have re-learned, if it's possible to learn, how to use magic. Like some advanced forms of martial arts. Has Sabin shown you any tricks yet?"

"Well, he did seem to move impossibly fast when he was fighting Vargas."

"Yes, though his magic isn't as controllable as yours, and almost always can't damage from a distance, it still is a sort of magic, even though some would call it something else."

"Hmmm... Well thank you for the gift, I'll use it often?"

"Not too often. You should rely on your magic, not your sword. But, just in case, wear them. Use your sword as a last resort. Perhaps it would be a good idea if you trained with your sword without wearing the gloves as soon as possible. Especially in these times, you can never learn to fight too well."

"Well we should get going."

The day was clear and sunny, there were no rapids, and everyone's moods were very good. Today was a good day to be rafting. The current wasn't too strong, so they had to paddle to keep up a good speed. Eventually, the river widened out and went into a V-shaped fork.

"We need to take the left fork." Said Bannon.

Suddenly, there was a great rumbling noise and a purple creature rose to the surface. "What is that thing?" Asked Locke.

"It's Ultros, baby!" It said "And I'm hungry. It takes a lot of food to sustain a member of octopus royalty." Only the creature's purple head, and the tips of his tentacles poked out above the water. It had big eyes, and an even bigger grin. His voice sounded annoying and spoiled, but not dripping with pride. His eight ugly tentacles looked as if they were long and powerful.

"Just look at these delicious morsels, people." He said "Just let me get my bib.

" "What is that thing, Bannon?" Asked Terra. "I don't know. I've never heard of anything like this."

Edgar got out a spear and waited, Sabin went into a stance. Ultros laughed "Hey! Don't tease the octopus, kids!" And with that, he lunged. Luckily, Edgar was fast, and he managed to stab one of his tentacles with his spear. Terra yelled "Fire" and a ball of fire struck Ultros' head.

"Yaouch! I 'aint going to become seafood soup!" He struck out with a tentacle, this time towards Sabin. Sabin sidestepped out of the way, then jumped onto Ultros' head, punched him a few times in the head, before his tentacle reached back to grab him, then he jumped cleanly back onto the raft.

"Argh." Ultros said "I hate muscle-heads. Well, I guess I'll be leaving now. That's all friends." then he submerged undre the water.

"Yes! We thrashed it." Said Sabin

"I wouldn't bet on it." Said Bannon "It may just be hiding."

Suddenly Terra screamed. "Hey Something's stuck to my leg!"

Edgar jumped at it and stabbed the tentacle with his spear. Terra was caught off balance and fell backward. Bannon caught her and said soothingly "It's all right now."

Sabin stepped back "Watch out!" He said "I'm going to hit it with a blitz technique!" Edgar got in front of him.

"No, don't Sabin! You'll land in the water and we'll have to fish you out.

"Get out of my way, please, brother." Edgar slowly stepped out of the way and Sabin jumped out at him, yelling "Aura bolt," suddenly, one of Ultros' tentacles grabbed him and pulled him underwater. "Sabin!" Terra yelled "Don't worry about him." said Edgar "He's always been a tad zealous."

Bannon looked worried "You sure that he's okay?"

"Oh, Sabin just likes to keep people in suspense. I'll bet that at any moment he'll flop right onto the raft!" They waited. And waited. They waited for what seemed like hours, though in reality was probably only a minute, then Sabin flew into the air, and landed in the wrong half of the river. He was unconscious, and was heading the wrong way. He seemed to regain consciousness long enough to grab onto a large branch that happened to be floating by, and lost consciousness again.

"Sabin!" Terra yelled "Sabin!"

"Sabin!" Said Edgar "You better take care of yourself!"

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