Final Fantasy: Rise of Despair
In case you are curious, updates will come pretty frequently, I've had this story planned out for a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time. So I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing. Well, I hope that you guys enjoy it, I'll admit this chapter really isn't going to be spectacular because it'll only lead in to the next one.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance, I do own the characters and plot.
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Short Trek
Harris, Heidi, Gilbert, Monty, and Mendoza were walking out of the woods and coming in to a field of sorts. "Say clanmaster Harris?" Mendoza started to ask.
"Yes?" Harris turned his head as they walked.
"How long will it take to reach our destination?" Mendoza asked.
"Hmmmm… one and a half days…" Harris said.
"Oh that's not so bad." Monty sighed.
"… Under normal circumstances." Harris finished.
"Huh?"
"We would normally cut through Muscadet but…" Harris began.
"But because Muscadet is populated, we don't want to draw any black soldiers in to the city in case a squad decides to pursue us." Gilbert finished.
"So how long then?" Monty asked.
"It could be about two and a half, maybe three days before we get to Salikawood." Harris answered.
"Ugh…" Monty groaned.
As they kept on walking, Harris thought to himself "Heidi and I both know that Muscadet has suffered enough…" Harris turned to his right and saw Heidi's eyes looking sad at the mention of Muscadet. After a whole lot of walking, the group came up to a river. "Alright, let's stop and take a quick break for now." Harris said. Everyone sat their bags down and slumped on to the ground next to them.
"Man I'm thirsty." Monty said. He took out his canteen and began drinking fervently. Everyone else followed suit, although Harris and Heidi weren't drinking that much. After a few minutes of sitting, Harris finally stood back up.
"Everyone refill your canteens, and do it one at a time and upstream from where the last person refilled theirs." Harris instructed.
"Right." Heidi agreed. Heidi refilled her canteen first, then Harris refilled his, then Mendoza, then Monty, but as Gilbert was refilling his, it slipped out of his hands and got caught in some rocks on the other side a short ways away.
"Oy… you guys go on, I'll get it and catch up." Gilbert sighed. The others nodded and walked east while Gilbert crossed the river and got his canteen.
"You there! Nu mou!"
"Hm?" Gilbert turned around unenthusiastically to find a human soldier, a bangaa white monk, a viera archer, and a moogle mog knight from the black army standing behind him pointing their weapons at him.
"Who are you?" The soldier demanded.
"…"
"What was that? We can't hear you when you whisper." The soldier said, suddenly medium sized lightning bolts crashed down on him and the viera as Gilbert ran away.
"I said thundara in case you were wondering!" Gilbert shouted back. Gilber caught up to the others, they looked at him and he gave them a nod.
"Monty, take care of this." Harris said calmly as everyone turned back toward the direction they were walking and picked up the pace. Monty stopped and aimed.
"Fireshot!" Monty fired a flaming bullet at the white monk and caught his clothing on fire.
"Gaaaaaaahhhh!" The White monk screamed as he fell back down on top of the mog knight.
"Nooooooooo!" They both burned to death.
Later that night…
Everyone was setting up sleeping bags around a campfire before they all sat around the fire and began eating some light food they brought with them.
"Man… I'm beat." Monty said.
"Well you're going to have to get used to it, we'll be doing a lot more walking than this in the future I'm sure." Harris said.
"Ugh…" Monty groaned.
"Cheer up Monty, at least you get to knock some heads." Mendoza said to him.
"You know what, you're right." Monty laughed. After a few minutes of silence, Heidi finally broke the silence.
"Harris? What exactly are we going to do after we unite with those clans you mentioned?" Heidi asked him.
"Well, I haven't entirely thought of that." Harris admitted. "We might go and find other clans but… besides clan Liberation there aren't too many other noteworthy clans." Harris said.
"That is true." Gilbert said. "As a clan, Liberation is the most wanted due to their high activity, we're second most wanted because of the members of ours." Gilbert let that sink in for a moment. "Then the other three clans aren't too far behind us." Gilbert finished. Harris then stood up.
"Hang on a moment, we've got someone listening in on us." Harris then made for the river and began rooting through the tall grass.
"Our clanmaster is such a great man." Mendoza said with much reverence. "He saved my life on that day I met him." Mendoza continued.
"That's right, you were being stupid and you disobeyed your previous clanmaster." Monty taunted.
"Hey…" Mendoza then chuckled. "But that is the truth, I was forbidden from attacking a black soldier camp but I did anyways." Mendoza paused for a moment, if you could see under his helmet, you would see a smile. "Heh… they nearly had me run through, but Harris jumped in the way of an attack and deflected it. He healed me and the two of us mowed down black soldiers like they were blades of grass."
"Is that what made you join?" Gilbert asked, as if he was expecting a certain answer.
"Almost… but it was a combination of my debt to him, and my awe at his swordsmanship when I fought alongside him. I had never seen such expert sword skill in my entire life. After that I devoted myself to him." Mendoza said.
"You know, he saved my life too." Monty said.
"We all know this one." Heidi said. "Well, for the most part, you had somehow broken out of the brainwashing and you attacked your own men."
"Yep… and I thought they would catch me after I passed out. But when I woke up, clanmaster Harris questioned me and let me join."
"Heh, I'm glad he did now." Mendoza chuckled as he nudged Monty on the shoulder with his fist.
"Heh… I can remember when those two couldn't stand each other." Gilbert thought to himself. That's when Harris came back with a moogle in his arms trying to get out. The moogle's pompom was hidden under his green and red jester's hat, but you could just somehow tell that this guy was a male. He was only about 3'0", short even for a moogle. Tufts of blonde hair came from under his hat, and his face was covered in clown makeup. His outfit matched his hat as far as color went.
"Who is that?" Mendoza demanded as he and Monty held their weapons at his head.
"None other than Ivalice's most famous thief." Harris said disinterested.
"You mean that's Brently the Joker?" Heidi asked.
"That's right!" The moogle known as Brently said.
"He's kind of… puny looking…" Mendoza said.
"So do you lizard." Brently taunted.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!" Mendoza shouted. "Give me a reason why I shouldn't run you through for saying that!" Mendoza demanded.
"Because I'm no longer holding him…" Harris sighed.
"Huh?" Everyone looked at his arms again. True to his words, Harris was now holding a doll replica of Brently.
"I'll remember this!" Brently called back as he ran away.
"Get back here!" Monty prepared to fire, but Harris put his hand on the gun.
"Leave him, he didn't get anything." Harris said.
"Say if he's on the Black King's wanted list shouldn't he be stealing from black soldiers instead?" Mendoza asked as he sat down.
"He's… indiscriminate." Heidi said. "I heard that despite his odd appearance and short stature that he is pretty tough in a fight."
"Indeed…" Gilbert said.
"Well, I'll be keeping watch, you guys rest." Harris said.
"I wonder how everyone at base is doing." Heidi thought to herself.
Speaking of which…
"Man… it is so dull now…" Jessica groaned.
"Don't complain, clanmaster Harris ordered us to stay here and stay here we shall." Will said as he practiced his stances, punches, and kicks.
"Well, maybe we could do something to relieve the boredom, I mean, Stacy's gathering herbs." Jason suggested.
"Hmmmm… I'VE GOT IT!!!" Jessica shouted enthusiastically. "We'll go search for a masamune sword!" Jessica said.
"Search? But that would mean leaving." Will said. "Do you honestly think that…"
"Let's go Jason!" Jessica grabbed Jason by the wrist and bolted out of the base.
"Wah!"
"Hey wait! Don't… doh…" Will growled and followed them. After a short while, Stacy came back in.
"Hey guys I'm… huh?"
The next morning…
"Hey, is everyone ready to go?" Harris asked. Heidi woke up and stretched.
"I'm ready whenever." She yawned and packed up.
"Yes so am I." Gilbert said.
"Mendoza, Monty… huh?" Harris stared at them. Mendoza was snoring veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery loudly, making it a wonder how he's not waking up from his own snoring while his foot was in Monty's mouth. "This is going to be unpleasant…" Harris sighed.
"He he he…" Heidi couldn't help but giggle.
A little while later…
"I can't believe you stuck your foot in my mouth." Monty griped while brushing his teeth.
"Why were you even biting my foot?" Mendoza asked. "And you can stop that now, you've been brushing for over six hours."
"I can still taste your foot." Monty said while pointing his toothbrush at Mendoza. The group had now arrived in to the Koringwood, although the Ulei River still flowed through it.
"Alright that's enough boys." Heidi said to those two. Harris stopped and crouched down. Harris laid the map down on the ground and everyone gathered around in a circle.
"Okay then, if we head straight North we'll be in the Salikawood, but that will take another day and a half I'm sure." Harris said.
"Well, we have few other options right now, so we should get going." Gilbert said.
"A good point, but for now we'll take a break and refresh ourselves." Harris said. Everyone once again drank from their canteens and refilled, and then they waited for Monty to finish brushing his teeth.
"Finally! I can't taste your foot." Monty sighed in relief.
"Come on, aren't you exaggerating?" Mendoza asked.
"Quite honestly, no." Monty said to him.
"What! Now that's just ridiculous!" Mendoza yelled.
"Yeah well…" The argument continued on. Harris was a few feet away thinking to himself, staring in to the woods.
"Hmmmm… what will we do afterwards? Heidi does have a good point…but then again… gathering these clans… it won't be enough…but what other alternative is their?" He asked himself.
"Harris?" Heidi asked.
"Oh!" Harris was a tad startled and he turned around to face Heidi, instantly regaining his composure. "Yes Heidi?"
"Is something wrong?"
"No, it's nothing. Let's get moving." Harris said.
"Hey! You there!" Came some unfamiliar voices.
"Oh great…" Harris groaned, clearly annoyed. The five turned around and found a small regiment of black soldiers across the river.
"What are you guys doing?" A human blue mage asked.
"Traveling to rebel against the black army." Harris said smiling.
"Oh, well then… wait a minute! What was that?" The Blue mage demanded.
"You heard us." Heidi mocked, smiling sinisterly under her mask. She then vanished.
"Where'd she go?" A beastmaster asked. Suddenly a huge gash appeared on his back and he fell down dead. The same thing happened with all the other soldiers around.
"Gah! Where'd you go!" The Blue Mage demanded. "GAH!!!"
"Last Breath…" Heidi hissed, her wrist knife stabbed through that guy's lung. He gasped for breath, and then died. Heidi then stopped pressing on her palm and her wrist knife slipped back in to the sleeve of her glove.
"If those guys were around, there might be more." Harris said. "Let's get moving, and quickly." Harris ordered.
"Right." Everyone nodded. The five of them hopped in to the trees and began leaping between branches, gaining a whole lot more ground than they would have by walking. They kept on with this for several hours, not taking a break until they came to a clearing around twilight.
"Whew… that… was… traveling…" Monty said between breaths.
"Hey Gilbert… are you alright?" Heidi asked. She was the least exhausted besides Harris and Gilbert on the other hand was gasping for breath harder than anyone else.
"Well… I'm… not… as… swift… as… you… guys… wheeze…" Gilbert said. He then collapsed on to his rear and sat down.
"I guess we should camp here for the night." Harris said.
"Of course… clanmaster Harris…" Mendoza breathed.
Everyone was asleep, except for Harris; he once again volunteered for the night watch. Harris looked at his clan mates as they slept peacefully. "Hm…these guys… are really something…" Harris thought to himself while smiling. Then his face immediately turned to a frown. "It's almost as if…no Harris… those days are long gone…I just wish that these memories would be gone with them…" He thought to himself. Harris then stared at Heidi, the fire making the shadows on her face dance about. Harris sighed and then smiled as the fire died, letting the night sky cover them in darkness.
The next morning, the group was walking through Salikawood. "Well, it seems that dash through Koringwood cut the time quite short." Heidi said.
"Not fast enough for those two." Gilbert added motioning toward Monty and Mendoza.
"Well how was I supposed to know I reach for weapons while I sleepwalk?" Monty asked Mendoza, who had a few scratches on him.
"I'm just saying, you need to respect a warrior's blade and NOT try to take it from him while he's asleep." Mendoza said back to him.
"I'm glad those two sleep in separate rooms back at the base." Heidi sighed.
"Indeed…" Gilbert nodded.
"Well, we're nearly there." Harris said. Unbeknownst to even Harris or Heidi, a shadow was stalking them in the trees so silently that not even a cat would hear it. After a few minutes of walking, Harris stopped them abruptly. "Heidi…" He whispered.
"I know…" Heidi said as the two of them put a hand on their weapons. Suddenly a bunch of arrows came from the trees to the right of the group.
"Hello!" Monty shouted surprised, whipping out his gun. Harris slashed at the arrows and stopped them, then a bunch of arrows came from the left, Heidi intercepted those arrows with a slash of her katana.
"Look out!" Mendoza cried as a bunch of arrows came from the trees behind them. Mendoza moved to block the arrows, but he instead fell in to a concealed pit. "Huh? When did this get here?" Mendoza asked.
"Look out!" Monty got in the way and knocked a few arrows away while taking a few hits. That's when an arrow covered in a black fog hit Monty. "Gah! I can't see!" Monty cried.
"Blackout?" Harris thought to himself.
"There he is! Blizzara!" Gilbert cast his ice spell in to the trees where some leaves rustled, however he only hit some scarecrow that fell out of the trees.
"Capture." Came an almost inaudible voice. Four arrows came from the trees that were holding a glowing white net came out and the net ensnared Gilbert.
"Gah! I can't break free."
"No wonder, the net is made of mana." Harris pointed out. Heidi fired two arrows in to the trees, but she apparently missed the target. Harris quickly slashed at some arrows from behind him as Heidi disappeared. After a few seconds.
"Gotcha!"
"Whoa… okay okay, you've got me." Came a male voice. Heidi hopped down from the trees holding her katana at the neck of a human hunter.
His hunting cap was brown in color. He had blonde hair and blue eyes and stood about 5'7" in height. He was wearing a green vest over a red shirt that was tucked in to his white baggy shorts that were held up by a brown belt. He had brown breeches covering his legs and arms ending in black fingerless gloves on his hands, and black boots that covered half of his shins. His bow and quiver were on his back.
"Well met, Hunter the tactician." Harris said letting a smile get through.
"Hm? This is hunter?" Heidi asked a little surprised.
"Ha ha ha! Well met indeed Harris the White Paladin, and Heidi the Black Assassin." Hunter laughed.
"I must say, your alias is well earned, setting up arrow traps in the branches to conceal your location." Harris said.
"Why thank you." Hunter said.
"Um… clanmaster Harris, with all due respect, can we save the pleasantries for later?" Mendoza asked from the pit he was still stuck in.
"Oh right." Harris pulled Mendoza out of the pit and cast esuna on Monty while Heidi cut the mana net around Gilbert.
"So… this is Hunter?" Gilbert asked while dusting himself off.
"Yes I am." Hunter said while waving at them to follow him. The clan followed him a little deeper in to the woods. Hunter then held his hand out, asking them to stop. "And this, clan Falcon…" Hunter began while pointing up. Everyone's eyes popped open slightly at the many huts scattered around the treetops. "This… is clan Forest." Hunter announced with pride.
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That's all for now! Hope you'll read and review guys.