Final Fantasy: Rise of Despair
No real comments as this chapter basically explains itself.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance. I do own the characters and the plot.
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Clan Falcon
In an area of the Lutia pass closest to Nubswood, making this part of Lutia pass somewhat forested. At a higher elevation of the pass in a fairly grassy clearing in the trees, there was a smooth boulder near the center and a human sitting on it with his eyes closed and the palms of his hands put together, deep in meditation.
The human was a paladin, he wore the traditional outfit of paladins, white and bluish robes, but the orange sash was missing and instead a orange cloth belt wrapped around his waist holding two golden-handled knight-swords to his left waist. His brown hair was mostly hidden under his white turban, but it came down from under it in a brown ponytail. His left forearm was completely wrapped in bandages, as was his hand, but it still somehow didn't affect the outfit. Instead of the usual fancier earrings most paladins had he was wearing small blue hoop earrings.
The man opened his brown eyes and stood up, reaching about 6'1" in height. "It's about time for everyone to be awake by now." He said simply. He then walked out of the clearing. After walking a little ways downhill around the rocky hill path he turned one corner then stopped next to the stone wall. He then turned around and walked in through the somewhat narrow crevice in the side of the wall. With the way the rocks were facing and the way the rocks winded in a path through the crevice you would never have seen it if you were just passing by and not looking for it.
The man walked a short way through the winding, nearly secret passageway and drew near to the mouth of some cave, it was then he stopped abruptly when a faint screaming that was growing louder was getting closer.
"Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!" A female moogle shouted. She was about 3' 6" in height, average for a female moogle, her gender was indicated by having no antennae attached to her red pompom. She was apparently a black mage by her outfit, despite the high collared robes that reached down to her knees being pink in color and having no hat and just a pink ribbon instead. She had white fur and brown eyes.
"STACYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!" Came two deep and gruff voices from the cave. The figures that came running out were both bangaas, one was a traditionally dressed white monk, blue shirt that reached over to the top of his head along with blue gloves and brown baggy pants, with green eyes reaching 5'9". The other bangaa was a gladiator in a yellowish helmet that matched his yellow scaly skin, overall shorts were under his power sash and his sword being at his left side. He reached 5'10".
"sigh" The human sighed. The moogle that was apparently Stacy hid behind him and as the bangaas were about to pass by the human. The human thrust his arms out to the side and the two bangaas hit their chins against his arms and slipped on to their backs with a thud.
"Ooooooohhhh… that hurt…" The white monk moaned. His eyes then popped open along with the gladiators. They both crawled backwards and got to their feet quickly. "Oh! I am ssorry clanmaster Harris!" The White Monk said to the paladin.
"Never mind that Will." Harris said, not agitated in the least. "However, Mendoza, Will, I would like to know why you two are chasing Stacy this early in the morning." Harris said, not in a harsh tone of voice, rather inviting but at the same time still asserting that he wanted an answer.
"I am ssorry for thiss clanmaster Harris, but Stacy called us lizardss!" The gladiator that was Mendoza said while pointing at Stacy.
Harris then turned to Stacy. "Stacy, how many times do we have to tell you not to do that?" Harris asked disapprovingly.
"Sorry…" Stacy said sheepishly.
"Oh well, Stacy, you get ready to prepare a breakfast. Will and Mendoza, you two do as you will. I'm going to check on the others." Harris told the three of them.
"Of course clanmaster Harris." Mendoza said taking a quick and deep bow along with Will. Harris then left them to their business. Harris walked down some wooden steps in the cave and pushed away a brown cloth that was over the door, the room was quite expansive, there was a long wooden table, ten seats and the room was surprisingly well lit for being in a cave. The seat to the left of the seat at the head of the table had someone sitting at it.
It was a nu mou alchemist. He had gray fur with a slightly pink nose, his half-moon spectacles in front of his black eyes narrow with intelligence. He was apparently an alchemist with the tall red hat on his head and matching red robes over top of some white robes visible from the front. If you had to guess, he'd probably be about 5'2" if were standing. Harris walked up to the side of the nu mou and said, "Good morning Gilbert."
"Oh, good morning Harris." The nu mou said pushing the book to the side. His voice showing respect for Harris.
"Ha ha ha…" Harris chuckled. "You know, I'm glad that you and Heidi don't call me clanmaster." Harris said with a slight smile.
"Well, the others just won't call you anything else." Gilbert said picking his book back up. That's when there was a bit of a racket and a viera fencer came up the steps from some opening in the room and tripped. She had brown eyes, and was about 5'2" in height.
"Gah!" She shouted as she hit the ground.
"And the others…" Harris began. "I'd prefer they did call me clanmaster…" Harris sighed.
"Huh? Oh! Clanmaster! I'm sorry was I too loud?" The viera asked.
"No Louise… you weren't… say do you know if Jason has come out of his room yet?" Harris asked.
"No I don't." Louise answered.
"Well knock on the door to the male member's room and tell him it's time to go hunting." Harris said as he walked toward another opening in the cave. This time Harris was in a fairly dark hallway of sorts with two doors on each side of it making four doors. The end of the hallway led up to a set of stairs. Harris went to the closest door on the left and knocked.
"Huh…" came a tired female voice on the other side of the door.
"Jessica, it's time to go hunting." Harris said.
"Oh, clanmaster Harris." The female voice said a bit more awake now. "Okay let me get ready." Harris then moved to the door across the hall and knocked.
"Monty, it's time to wake up." Harris said.
"Okay! I'm ready kupo." Came a high-pitched voice typical of moogles. Harris stepped to the side and let the door open. A moogle gunner walked out. He stood 4'0", fairly tall for a moogle. His large beret-esque hat covered his ears but allowed an antenna with his red pompom on it to come through. He had on a brown and white shirt and pants and a blue sash that had bullets on it. His gun was on his right side. "Good morning clanmaster Harris." The moogle that was Monty said cheerfully.
"Good morning."
"So, time to go hunting huh?" Monty asked.
"Yes, you'll just have to wait on Jessica." Harris said.
"Ah great… I'll be here all morning then." Monty joked. That's when the door across from them opened up.
There stood a female human about 5'4" in height. She was ninja by class, although her robes were pink and the tight pink shorts were partially covered by a pink skirt. Her long blonde hair was in a net that formed a long ponytail that reached down past her back. She also had thin red lipstick on, blue eyes, and basically flawless skin most likely due to carefully applied make-up. "Sorry, how long was I?" She asked.
"Never mind that. Go meet with Will." Harris said as he walked toward the stairs. At the top of the short set of stairs were two doors. The door to the right was his room, and the door to the left, was the room of his second in command. He knocked on the door lighter than he had done with the other doors.
"Oh! Is that you Harris?" Came a female voice. "Here come in." Harris gave a smile and opened the door. The room was well lit, there was a fairly small bed that was quite soft and a dresser. And of course her.
She was a viera, her class being assassin. She reached about 5'6" in height, her dark purple assassin's outfit a little slimmer than the usual assassin's outfit. The boots reached above her knees, and her fingerless, dark purple gloves reached her elbow. She wasn't wearing her mask and hat right now, but she had it in her left hand. Her long white and soft hair reached down in a ponytail between her shoulder blades on top of her short cape that reached to the top of her legs. Almost horizontally was a sheath beneath her cape that held a katana that had a red and golden handle. She turned to Harris and smiled a warm smile and looked at him with her blue eyes. "Good morning Harris." She said.
"Good morning Heidi." Harris said. "Anyways, Stacy should be going to get a fire started and the others should be out hunting by now." Harris said.
"Alright then, I guess I should go help with preparing breakfast." Heidi said as she put her hat and mask on.
"Alright, I'll be in my room. Come and get me when it's ready." Harris said as they both left the room.
Meanwhile…
Monty was in some tree branches looking through a pair of binoculars. "Let's see… I spot three chocobos." Monty said in to a microphone attached to an earpiece.
"Alright! Let's start already!" Came Jessica's voice excitedly and loudly.
"Ouch… sheesh as brash as always…" Monty said.
"Ah… well don't mind him Jessica…" Came a fairly timid male voice.
"Hey! Watch it Jason, you're forgetting that I am one of the elites." Monty said. "Never mind, Jessica are the traps ready?" Monty asked.
"Yep."
"Good, I'll fire a shot to scare them, Will you hit as many as you can and if you miss any that's where Jessica comes in." Monty instructed.
"Say how come you're in charge anyways? I'm an elite too." Jessica whined.
"Because Harris has explicitly stated that I'm the one in charge of hunting parties." Monty said annoyed. "Ugh here goes." Monty fired a shot in to the air.
"BRAWK!" The large yellow, chicken/slash ostrich birds shouted. The Three chocobos began running from the source of the noise, one was shot by a few arrows from the trees and fell, but the other arrows missed the others, but then those two chocobos fell in to two pits dug in to the ground. The three hunters jumped down from the trees.
The one that was Jason was a human archer, he had brown hair under his yellow, pointed, feather hat, yellow tunic and brown breeches and sandals with his bow and quiver on his back. He also had brown eyes and stood about 5'7" in height. "Well, this should be enough." Jason said.
"Sheesh Jason, you only hit one?" Monty mocked.
"Heeeeeeeyyyyy…" Jason groaned.
"Oh well, let's go." Jessica said pulling the two chocobos out of the pit with some effort.
After a while everyone was in the central cave room eating some chocobo meat for breakfast. Harris was at the head of the table with Heidi to his right. The Elites, Gilbert, Mendoza, Monty, and Jessica sat close by. While the regular members, Will, Jason, Stacy, and Louise sat at the other end. After everyone had eaten Harris cleared his throat. "Alright everyone, take a few minutes to relax, then we're going to meet at the training grounds for work-out routines." Harris explained. "That will be all." Harris immediately left the table. The others got up, some followed Harris immediately, namely Heidi, Mendoza, and Will. While everyone else went to their rooms.
After a little while, the most clan was sprawled over a large clearing doing some workout or another. Harris had discarded most of his clothing, he was in baggy gray shorts and still had the bandage and glove on his left arm. He was standing between two trees with thick branches that had ropes thrown over them with large boulders attached to the ends of the ropes. Harris was alternating pulling the ropes to life a boulder in succession, and he was lifting them quite high as well. In case you're curious, you wouldn't call Harris ripped, but his arm muscles and pecks were noticeable, just not huge. He also did have a slight six-pack.
Heidi wasn't in the clearing, but she was hanging from a really strongly rooted tree over the side of a cliff near the clearing with a rope tied around her currently bare legs and a boulder dangling from her legs. She was in a black top and black shorts that left her belly revealed doing chin-ups on the tree.
Gilbert and Stacy being mages and not really needing too much physical prowess were simply running laps, with some light weights around their legs. "Say why are we even doing this?" Stacy asked.
"So that we don't slow down our clan in cases in which we have to travel." Gilbert answered.
Mendoza had only discarded his sword and was doing push-ups with a boulder tied to his back. "89…90…91…" Mendoza was counting getting exhausted. Jessica was doing some sit-ups and stretches with Jason and Louise doing the same thing, and Will doing push-ups from a handstand position. Monty was doing some push-ups and jogs.
Several minutes passed with everyone doing there respective work-outs. Harris finished off by pulling on both ropes and lifting both rocks and then letting them drop. "Whew… new record for me today." Harris sighed. Everyone then met in the center of the clearing.
"How did everyone else do?" Heidi asked exhausted. "about 200 chin-ups for me." Heidi sighed.
"I managed to get in a good 300 lifts." Harris said stretching to loosen up a bit.
"147 push-ups." Mendoza said.
"100." Will said.
"Alright then." Harris said. "Okay everyone loosen up and we'll proceed to basic practices."
After a few minutes everyone was practicing at something. With wooden swords, Harris was showing Jessica, Mendoza, and Heidi basic two-handed sword style, since wielding blades with two hands and katanas regularly are similar. They were doing routine slashes to the sides, vertically, some spins and slashes, everyone basically playing follow the leader closely with Harris' movements. "Alright, Heidi, drill Mendoza on this while I drill Jessica on nitoryu." Harris said. He then grabbed a second wooden sword and handed another to Jessica and they started doing some drills while Heidi drilled Mendoza further.
All the while Gilbert and Stacy were off by themselves. "Now then, Stacy, tell me the basics of magic that I told you about." Gilbert instructed.
"Alright, to do magic requires mana. Mana exists in everyone's body as a source of power used for certain abilities. To perform certain spells you must mold the mana to produce the effect you want. To do that you have to say an incantation to mold the mana for you." Stacy said.
"Correct. Additionally, after a while you'll get used to the way the mana molds and you'll be able to mold it yourself without the incantation, which is useful in battle. Also it is important that you control your mana well so that you don't use too much mana just trying to do a weaker spell." Gilbert lectured. "Now then try casting blizzara on that rock without saying the incantation."
"Huh? But I've only learned how to do that with fire thunder and blizzard." Stacy said.
"You can do it." Gilbert insisted in a somewhat dull manner.
Will was off by himself striking a post with various kicks and punches in a combo in rapid succession. "Heh, I'm just getting better and better." Will said to himself.
Louise was practicing basic thrusts with a wooden stick. Monty and Jason were practicing their aim on trees that had targets carved in to them. Monty was using some kind of crossbow thing that launched small pebbles. Jason was using some crudely made arrows from sticks. Monty was getting a few bullseyes while Jason wasn't. "Ohhhh… why am I not getting it right?" Jason complained.
"Maybe your aim just stinks." Monty suggested.
"That doesn't help." Jason griped further.
"You really shouldn't say things like that Monty." Heidi said as she walked in on them. "Here Jason, let me show you a trick someone taught me." Heidi said. She pulled out her own greatbow from under her cape and the ends lengthened at the press of a button so that the string tightened. "As you pull the string…" Heidi pulled the bowstring. "You feel the pull of the string and the way the bow bends…" Heidi said. "And then release." Heidi then let go of the bowstring. Despite there being no arrow, a small white glowing arrow appeared from where she released and hit the center of the tree target perfectly.
"Whoa! That was cool! And what was that arrow?" Jason asked.
"This is the Gastra Bow, it can make arrows made from mana without using any of your own." Heidi explained.
"Can I get one of those?" Jason asked.
"Nope, this is the only one known to exist." Heidi said.
"Then where did you get it?" Monty asked.
"It was… a gift." Heidi said looking away, you could see her mask move a little as a smile formed underneath it.
"Alright everyone! Time for a sparing session!" Came Harris' voice. Everyone quickly gathered in the center of the clearing. "Alright, first the regular members will spar." Harris instructed. "Louise and Jason." The two stepped in the center of the clearing facing each other.
Louise immediately lunged with her practice rapier, Jason jumped back and prepared a padded arrow. "Faster!" Jason fired the arrow and it flew incredibly quickly, too quickly for Louise to react.
"Gah!" She fell to the ground.
"Jason and Stacy." Harris said. Louise got up and walked away while Stacy took her place. Jason backed away and fired an arrow but missed.
"Thunder!" Stacy cast a spell that caused a lightning bolt to crash down on top of Jason.
"Gwaaaaaaaaa!" He shouted. "Oh no… what will Jessica think of me now?" He thought.
"Here…" Harris said as he raised a hand and pointed it toward Jason. "Cure." He said. A white aura surrounded Jason and healed him. "Alright, Will and Stacy." Harris said. Will took Jason's place and immediately rushed for Stacy.
"Blizzard!" Stacy made an icicle rise up from underneath Will, but he did a front flip toward her long before the icicle actually managed to rise up. "Fire!" Will landed and rolled to the side quick as a flash before a small fireball could hit him. "Ugh… Thunder!" Will then dashed forward in time to avoid a lightning bolt.
"Hiyah yah yah!" Will landed a three hit punch combo on Stacy and then took a stance. "Whirlwind!" Will then spun around and hit Stacy with a punch rapidly as he spun around finishing with a punch that knocked her to the ground.
"Cure." Harris healed Stacy. "Alright Will, you've been waiting for this. Will and Jessica." Harris said.
"Alright! Now I shall reclaim the position of being an elite." Will said.
"If you can beat me." Jessica taunted pulling out two wooden swords. Will rushed at Jessica and the two began trading punches and swings and dodging each and every one between them at a furious pace. Will attempted a sweep kick but Jessica flipped over it and was about to spin around and hit Will with her sword but…
"Whirlwind!" Will spun around swinging his fists as he went. Unfortunately Jessica jumped back and avoided it.
"Throw!" Jessica threw some rocks at Will once he stopped spinning, but he managed to dodge them. She was expecting this and dashed in to attack Will, however he was expecting this. He quickly snapped back up and managed to get a solid punch on her cheek.
"Ha!"
"Grrr…" Jessica then kicked Will in the chest.
"Gwah!" She then did a cross-slash of sorts that knocked Will to the ground. She then placed the tip of the practice sword on his chest. "Grrrr…"
"Looks like I win again." Jessica smiled.
"Cure." Harris healed them both and smiled. "Sorry Will. Alright, Jessica and Monty." Monty immediately ran in to the trees around the clearing.
"Hey!" Jessica looked around. She suddenly felt a prick on her shoulder. "Gah!" She turned to where she knew it came from and threw a rock in to the tree only to hit leaves. "Darn it, he moved. Gah!" She got hit again, and again, and again until finally.
"Okay that's enough." Harris said. He used cure once again on Jessica. "Monty and Mendoza."
"Ready when you are." Mendoza called out. He felt a prick on his shoulder and turned to where it came from and began running for it. He then suddenly changed directions and slammed his shoulder in to a tree and caused it to topple over. He then rubbed his shoulder.
"Waaaaah!" Monty cried as he fell from the trees. He quickly got back up and pointed his practice gun at Mendoza's face while Mendoza had his practice sword as Monty's throat.
"Alright then that's enough." Harris said. He once again used cure. "Gilbert and Mendoza."
"Here goes." Mendoza charged at Gilbert.
"Thunder." Gilbert cast a spell that caused a lightning bolt to drop down on Mendoza, Mendoza dodged like his younger brother, but Gilbert curved the bolt somewhat and still hit Mendoza. "Fire." Gilbert then hit Mendoza with a small fireball.
"Gah!"
"A little harsh don't you think Gilbert?" Harris asked lightly.
"Well, I don't think so." Gilbert said.
"Cure." Harris healed all of Mendoza's injuries. "Alright, Heidi and Gilbert." Heidi instantly disappeared. Gilbert stood there for a while.
"Blizzard!" Gilbert cast blizzard to his left and apparently hit nothing. Then Heidi's wooden practice sword appeared next to Gilbert's throat with her holding it.
"Nice try Gilbert." Heidi said nicely.
"I thought as much." Gilbert sighed with a content look on his face.
"Alright, I'll call you all one at a time to spar with me." Harris said. "Louise." Louise walked up and then dashed at Harris with her rapier ready. "Drop Weapon." Harris stepped to the side and slapped the rapier accurately out of Louise's hand. "Alright, Jason."
"Here it comes. Faster!" Jason aimed at Harris and let if fly. In an instant Harris side-stepped it and then zipped toward the distant Jason and ended up right next to him with his wooden-sword at his throat. "Gulp…"
"Stacy." Harris said.
"Blizzard!" Stacy cast.
"Shell!" Harris cast a spell that caused a light blue aura to appear on his body. Stacy's magic attack wasn't strong enough to get through Harris' already high resistance coupled with shell. Harris ended it the same was he did with Jason. "Now then, Will."
"I won't hold back clanmaster Harris." Will said. "Air Render!" Will punched his fist forward at the air. Harris ducked as a strong gust of wins made his cape flutter. He then dashed at Will and got him in a neck hold. "Heh… as strong as ever clanmaster Harris."
"Not bad Will, Jessica." Harris called. Jessica ran at him swinging her wooden swords. Harris kept dodging back and forth studying her swings carefully and then, "Drop Weapon." Harris tapped her wrists accurately and made her drop her wooden swords.
"Oh darn it! Again?" She asked.
"Monty." Harris called. Monty immediately went for the trees. "Protect." Harris this time cast a small yellow aura around him. Monty's shots were basically having the same effect as Stacy's spells, none. Harris then dashed for the trees and leaped in to them and came back down holding Monty in a neck hold.
"Aw darn it." Monty said.
"Alright, Mendoza." Harris called. Mendoza stepped forward. "Don't make this easy for me." Harris told him.
"If you insist clanmaster Harris." Mendoza said. He rushed forward and swung his sword accurately. "Blitz!"
"Defense!" Harris took a defensive posture as Blitz hit its mark, but it didn't seem to have a lot of effect. "Counter!" Harris instantly drew his two practice swords and struck Mendoza with them quite hard.
"Gaaaaah!" Mendoza went flying backward a few feet before he hit the ground. "Very good… clanmaster Harris." Mendoza groaned.
"My apologies." Harris said. "Cure." Harris cured Mendoza. "Gilbert." Harris called.
"Fire!" Gilbert cast a spell that sent a small fireball towards Harris.
"Shell." Harris cast a shell spell on himself but it didn't completely stop the attack from hurting him. Harris nonetheless dashed forward.
"Blizzard!" Harris dodged the icicle that Gilbert sent after him and Harris once again had his practice swords at Gilbert's neck. "Alright then, Heidi." Harris called.
"Alright then." Heidi drew her practice sword and Harris drew his practice swords and got them ready.
"This will be good." Jessica said.
"Yeah, Heidi-sama is the only one who can stand up to clanmaster Harris in a sparring match." Will said.
"Hiyah!" Heidi leaped at Harris and the two began swinging their swords at each other at an incredible pace. Where ever Harris swung, Heidi would dodge it and everywhere she swung he would either block or dodge. Finally Heidi concealed herself. Harris closed his eyes, waited, then turned around just in time to block an attack from Heidi.
"Counter!" Harris made a quick-counter attack that Heidi managed to dodge. She tried going in for another slash, but Harris spun around under her swing and ended up behind her about to try another attack, but she disappeared once again.
"Oblivion!" Heidi appeared behind Harris and thrust two fingers toward a specific point on his neck where the spine and skull connected. Harris barely managed to duck in time and took another swing at Heidi. Heidi stepped back then quickly stepped forward again spinning around and going for a vertical slice when Harris blocked with one sword and put his other one at Heidi's neck.
"Heh… you're getting better Heidi." Harris complemented.
"Thank you." Heidi said. They put away the practice weapons as Harris then spoke up.
"Alright everyone, I want Heidi and Mendoza to come with me while everyone else gets ready to eat." Harris said. A little while later, Harris and Heidi were in an area just off from the clearing with lots of trees and a few boulders around, one boulder had a few scratches on it. "Alright Mendoza, it's time to see if your training has paid off." Harris said.
"You mean I'm going to have to try and cut a tree with my sword?" Mendoza asked respectfully.
"Yes. Heidi, will you demonstrate for him?" Harris asked.
"Of course." Heidi turned to one tree, put her hand on her Katana handle and charged at it. She made some quick, unseen slashes. As she sheathed her sword, the tree fell apart in to multiple, evenly cut pieces, even the branches.
"Now you try." Harris said.
"Alright." Mendoza stared intently at one tree. He charged at it and slashed at it several times. When he sheathed his sword, the tree fell apart in to multiple pieces. They weren't as even or as clean of cuts as Heidi's, but he still managed to do it. "I did it! Thank you for training me clanmaster Harris." Mendoza bowed deeply.
"Alright alright you don't have to thank me that much." Harris said. "Now then, the next step of your training is something that's a step up from this." Harris said. "This goes for the both of you." He turned to face a boulder and then in the blink of an eye, took several slashes at it and then sheathed his swords. The boulder then slid apart in to evenly and cleanly cut segments. "Mendoza, I hate to tell you, but you are a long way off from this, but continue your training and you'll get there." Harris said.
"Of course." Mendoza said. He then bowed and left.
"Now Heidi, try once more if you would." Harris said.
"Okay, I'll try again." Heidi said. She charged at the boulder and slashed at it a few times not cutting through it but leaving more scratches on its surface. "Well, I can tell that I'm getting better." Heidi sighed.
"You are, don't worry." Harris said. "But Heidi I have something to tell you."
"What is it?" She asked.
"It's that time of the month." Harris said.
"Oh… so… how long will you be gone this time?" Heidi asked almost sadly. "Two or three days as always?" She asked. Harris shook his head.
"No, I'll be gone longer this time." Harris said. "I have to deliver these letters to the secret postal service. And you know how hard that is." Harris added.
"Letters?" Heidi asked.
"It is time."
"Oh."
"Well, I'm leaving you in charge of the clan again. Tell them that I'll be gone longer, but nothing more." With that, Harris turned around and leaped in to the trees.
Later…
"So clanmaster Harris is gone again?" Monty asked.
"Yes Monty." Heidi said. Everyone was sitting at the eating and meeting table.
"I still want to know what he does every single month." Jessica said.
"Hey! It's none of our business!" Mendoza snapped.
"Well it is kind of puzzling. I mean he does this every month." Stacy said.
"I don't know about you guys but I'm not helping you find out again. Not after last time." Louise said.
"Last time?" Jessica asked. "What happened last time again?"
"You don't remember? You were the one who dragged us in to it!" Will shouted.
"Oh boy, here goes that story…" Gilbert sighed.
Flashback…
Harris was leaping between the trees quickly with the speed and agility you wouldn't expect of a paladin. Meanwhile Jessica, Will, Louise, and Jason were following him.
"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Louise asked.
"Well aren't you curious?" Jessica asked.
"Yes I am." Jason said. "Maybe if I help Jessica she'll start to like me." Jason thought.
"I'm not. I just came along to make sure you guys don't get in trouble." Will grunted.
"Say shouldn't he be ahead of us?" Louise asked. As she said, Harris was nowhere to be seen.
"Where did he go?" Jessica asked.
"Oh I don't know, why don't you ask him?" Harris' voice said from a tree branch above them. The four of them froze in place. Harris leaped down on to the tree branch ahead of the group and he stared at them with a fierce angry glare they had never seen in his eyes before.
"Uh… well… uh…" Jessica tried to say.
"Jessica, Will, I would have expected better of you two." Harris said trying to hid the anger in his voice. "But listen here!" Harris shouted, no longer trying to hide his building anger. "What I do every month is my personal business and NONE OF YOU have any right to intrude on that!!!" Harris shouted loudly, making the four start shaking in their boots. Out of sheer anger, Harris slammed his fist against the tree and left a gigantic crack in the tree.
"Yipe!" Louise managed to squeak out.
"We're in trouble…" Jason moaned.
"NOW THE FOUR OF YOU GET BACK TO THE BASE AND DON'T LET ME CATCH YOU FOLLOWING ME AGAIN!!!" Harris yelled.
"Yes sir!" They all said fearfully and leaped away.
Back to the present…
"Oh yeah… I remember that now." Jessica said.
"How could you forget?" Will asked.
"I still don't believe that story." Stacy said. "I mean, clanmaster Harris has never gotten mad at us before. We've earned some disapproval, but he was never mad." Stacy said. Heidi was kind of tuning it out looking at a red tulip she held in her hand. Jessica took notice of this.
"And he brings you back one of those every time he gets back too." Jessica said. If you could see under Heidi's mask, she was probably blushing. "I still wish I knew…" Jessica sighed.
It was about five days later. Heidi had kept things running in the clan. Right now she was meditating in her room while everyone else was doing various stuff. Including Monty and Mendoza doing some fairly late night hunting. "Man… he's never taken this long before." Monty commented.
"I know. I hope he comes back soon." Mendoza said. Mendoza then froze where he was with a look of shock in his eyes.
"What is it?" Monty asked.
"Quiet…" Mendoza whispered. He motioned for Monty to follow him in to the trees. "Look ahead that way." Mendoza said pointing in some direction. Monty pulled out his binoculars and looked in the direction Mendoza indicated.
"Oh my… no way… not now…" Monty moaned.
"Is it really?" Mendoza asked.
"How many do you smell?" Monty asked.
"Um… about… 300…"
"This is bad, this is bad…" Monty said. "We have to alert Heidi."
"Right." The two then leaped back toward the base.
"Where are Monty and Mendoza?" Heidi asked Gilbert, who was in the eating room reading.
"Out." Gilbert answered. "You know, things have been really uneasy as of late." Gilbert said.
"Even more so than usual considering the times we live in." Heidi said.
"You've known Harris a long time haven't you?" Gilbert asked.
"Yes… for eight years. Even before we started this clan." Heidi answered.
"I see." Gilbert said. That's when Monty and Mendoza rushed in.
"Heidi-sama!" Mendoza shouted.
"What is it?" Heidi asked.
"The… the… THE BLACK ARMY IS MARCHING RIGHT TOWARD US!!!" Monty shouted.
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With the clanmaster away, will Clan Falcon be able to hold off the black army? We can only hope. Read and Review.