Final Fantasy: Rise of Despair
When we last left off, Harris and co. had met with Kyle and Laura of Clan Laura, however Laura quite flatly refused to provide aid. However after Kyle revealed his and Laura's tragic past to the group, Harris came up with an idea. Heidi and Laura were engaged in a duel with each other, at first it seemed as though the favor tilted in Heidi's favor, but Laura then revealed her ability to use summon magic and now things are looking grim for Heidi.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance, I do own the characters and plot.
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Strength and Weakness
Ramuh loomed over the battlefield. "Clanmaster Laura's resorting to summoning!" One of the elites shouted.
"This is bad!" One of the normal members said.
"Judgment Bolt!" Laura shouted. Ramuh raised his staff and gigantic lightning bolts fell from above.
"I can't get hit by that." Heidi thought. Heidi quickly dashed around the room as lightning crashed all over the room. Heidi could not stand still or move in one direction for even a second if she was going to have any hope of avoiding this powerful lightning attack.
"Ah!" Monty, and Mendoza ducked as lightning bolts crashed around them while all the other guys just stood there as the bolts harmlessly missed them.
"I thought Ramuh couldn't cause such a wide area lightning storm." Gilbert said curiously.
"I've heard rumors that summoners can use their mana to give an esper different instructions." Harris said. "But that requires top-notch mana control since if it's too weak the esper won't listen and if it's too strong the esper will feel as though you're trying to overpower it and won't listen."
"She truly is a powerful summoner then." Gilbert concluded.
"Help us!" Both Monty and Mendoza shouted while the lightning crashed.
"Alright… here goes." Heidi finally used conceal as the attack proceeded.
"Where could she hide where the attack wouldn't hit her?" Laura thought. Then realization struck her. "Of course!" Laura spun around in time to block a slash from Heidi.
"I…won't…" Heidi started to say as they locked blades. "I… won't… lose that easily!" Heidi said. Heidi shoved Laura as Ramuh disappeared then charged Laura slashing her katana rapidly. Laura had to move faster than ever to try and block these rapid slashes, but even so she couldn't avoid every slash. Laura leaped back.
"Double cast! Cura!" Laura healed herself. "I call upon thee! Shiva!" Laura created a magic circle that was glowing a light blue in color. The room darkened once again, this time a large female knight in a diamond coat and helmet with an ice sword and shield loomed over the battlefield. "Spread!"
"What's she doing now?" Hunter asked. Shiva embedded her sword in to the ground and ice spread over the whole battlefield, causing the ice to trap Heidi at her ankles.
"Gah!" Heidi yelled.
"I have you now." Laura said. "I call upon thee! Ifrit!" Laura this time cast a red magic circle and from it what looked like a red Minotaur with flames bursting from its body appeared. "Fira!" Laura then cast a fireball on Ifrit and the flames on it only intensified.
"Damn it! I haven't seen such resourcefulness with summon magic since…" Harris thought to himself as he cringed. "Heidi…" Harris thought.
"Now cast your most powerful fireball!" Laura commanded. Ifrit began spinning his hands around in front of him as if he were holding some sphere, and slowly a fireball began to appear and grow larger, and larger, and larger until it was nearly as big as Ifrit was.
"HOLY CRAP!!!" Monty shouted.
"YOU'LL FRY HER ALIVE WITH THAT!!!" Mendoza shouted.
"Clanmaster Laura… are you truly willing to go this far?" Kyle asked under his breath, barely even audible.
"This is my strength!" Laura shouted. Ifrit hurled the fireball. It blazed a path in the ground as it flew for Heidi, melting all the ice in the room since it also practically spiked the room temperature. The people watching could barely stand the heat in the room.
"I… won't let you down Harris…" Heidi thought. Heidi drew her Katana, gripped it tightly with both hands and took a low stance with her sword behind her despite being trapped where she stood. The fireball was getting closer and closer, and finally Heidi did an upward vertical slash that split the fireball in half in one mighty swing.
"AH!" Everyone besides Harris gasped. The fireball still left a few singe marks on Heidi, but she avoided the worst of it. Now the ice was melted, and Heidi could move freely again.
"Double shot!" Heidi fired two arrows that Laura barely avoided. "Double Shot!" Heidi once again fired two arrows that hit Laura this time.
"Gah!" Laura fell backwards. "No… I am not weak…I won't lose to her!" Laura pressed both hands against the ground and this time made two magic circles under the thin layer of water in the room. One circle was brown in color, the other was yellow. "I call upon thee! Titan!" This time a real giant came from the brown magic circle. The giant had light brown skin, was completely ripped, and was wearing only a loincloth. "Strike!"
"Grrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Titan slammed a fist in to the ground that caused stalagmites to rise from the ground.
"Ah!" Heidi managed to avoid the stalagmites, however as she dodged one she jumped straight backward and slammed in to one hard, effectively stunning her for a second, which is all Laura needed.
"Ramuh! Now!" Laura was standing on the tip of one of the stalagmites as Ramuh appeared. Ramuh then slammed his staff in to the water and electricity was conducted throughout the water.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…" Heidi screamed as the electricity coursed through her body.
"Heidi-sama!" Mendoza shouted.
"No!" Monty shouted. Heidi had collapsed in to the water. "Is she…" Monty started.
"No…I…Harris…" Heidi thought.
Flashback…
It was about six months since Harris and Heidi met. This time Heidi and Harris were in the Deila Dunes while Harris left for his monthly trip. Heidi did as she was told every month and stayed in the general region. "Hmmm… I wonder how long he'll be gone." Heidi thought. Harris then appeared at that time. "Oh Harris!"
Harris sighed hesitantly and then handed Heidi a red tulip. "Here." He said with a smile on his face.
"This flower… it's… a tulip." Heidi said. She slowly took the flower and smelled it.
"It's… your favorite flower isn't it?" Harris asked.
"Yes but how did you…" Heidi started to ask.
"I can bring you one every month if you like." Harris said.
"I would… like that."
It was about one year since Harris and Heidi met. They were somewhere in Giza Plains, Heidi was in her workout outfit having weights tied around her legs and arms, doing chin ups on a lone tree in the plains. "I… can't afford… to slow Harris down." Heidi said to herself as she did her one hundredth chin-up.
"Hm… hello Heidi." Harris said as he just appeared.
"Whoa!" Heidi was a tad startled and she lost her grip, but thankfully she managed to land on her feet. Heidi caught her breath for a moment, "You… really are good at sneaking up on me…" Heidi laughed a little bit. Harris said nothing to this but handed something wrapped up in leather along with a tulip to her with a serious look on his face.
"Here." He said.
"What is it?" Heidi asked as she slowly took it.
"Go ahead… open it." Harris said. He sighed as Heidi opened it. "Those used to belong to… a friend of mine."
Heidi gasped when she opened it. Inside were a Gastra Bow and a Masamune 100. "But this is… Harris this is incredible!" Heidi said as she looked at them. "But… are you sure you want to give them to me?"
"Yes… I believe that you'll make good use of them." Harris said with a smile.
It was now a few moments before the battle Heidi was currently engaged in. Harris was talking to her in the hallway. "I think I know one possible way to convince Laura to help us." Harris told her.
"How?" Heidi asked.
"She must realize that not everyone is weak. We must show her face to face in a battle." Harris said.
"Are you suggesting fighting her?"
"Yes, and there are only two among us that might be capable of that." Harris said.
"You mean… you or me?" Heidi asked.
"Yes." Harris responded. "I won't force you, I'll give you that choice and if you won't then I will fight her." Harris said.
"… I'll fight her." Heidi said after a little thought.
"Then, I'll believe in you." Harris said with a smile.
End of flashback…
"No… I won't let him down…" Heidi thought. "This is not a battle of strength or weakness…" Heidi thought as she slowly stood back up much to Laura's surprise.
"What! How is that possible? You're still standing?" Laura asked her with a hint of frustration in her voice.
"Harris… has trusted me to win, and I won't lose!" Heidi said. Heidi then disappeared from where she stood.
"She used conceal again." Laura scoffed. Her eyes then opened. "What! No… it's not conceal!" Laura shouted as she noticed a brief image of Heidi landing on one of the stalagmites. "It's…"
"Her speed." Kyle said in awe.
"I won't lose!" Heidi shouted as she jumped from stalagmite to stalagmite at high speeds toward Laura. Heidi then kicked off of one stalagmite and used the momentum from the bounce to add much more force to her slash.
"Gah!" Laura barely blocked the attack, but the katana slid off of her rapier and still slashed her in the waist. "Titan!" Laura once again summoned Titan and this time he caused numerous stalagmites to erupt from the ground where Heidi was about to land.
"HEIDI-SAMA!!!" Monty and Mendoza shouted. Heidi barely stopped herself from getting skewered, however the stalagmites still left some nasty scratches on her. Heidi's hair was no longer in its ponytail and was now hanging down over her face as she gasped for breath.
"What! How is she still standing? She should be well beyond her limit by now. That Angel Ring isn't even reacting." Laura cringed. "I didn't want to use this… but you're proving to be too stubborn." Laura growled. She created two glowing white magic circles. "Double cast!"
"Summoning the same creature twice…and those runes in the magic circle and the color. Oh no… Heidi…" Harris thought. The magic circles joined together and formed a larger than normal magic circle. After the flash of light a different esper appeared. Its upper body resembled a large lion with a blue head and mane, blue arms, golden body and holy magic circulating around it and the golden ribbons flowing majestically.
"THAT THING IS HUMONGOUS!!!" Monty shouted.
"It's because she summoned it twice, she effectively doubled its power." Gilbert cringed.
"SHE'S SUMMONING THAT THING!!!" The clan Laura elites shouted.
"This is trouble." Hunter said.
"Clanmaster Laura, you're taking this too far!" Kyle shouted.
"Heidi look out!" Harris shouted.
"Now Madeen!" Laura commanded.
"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!" Madeen charged holy magic in to its mouth and finally fired a powerful blast of holy energy in Heidi's direction.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrr…" Heidi groaned. The light was forcing her to shield her eyes as it drew closer toward her. Finally the whole room seemed to explode with holy magic. When the light died down, the arena was torn up almost completely and Heidi was nowhere to be seen.
"Did she…" Monty asked.
"It couldn't be…" Mendoza gasped.
"Heidi…" Harris thought. His left hand was clenching tightly in to a fist, his normally calm or mildly concerned face was slowly turning in to a look of anger as a single tear escaped from his eye. "Damn… you…" Harris thought. His fist tightened around his sword when his eyes opened up wide suddenly. "Wait a minute…" Harris calmed down a little bit.
"It seems as though I've won." Laura said as she healed herself completely.
"Doom Archer!"
"Hm?" Laura turned around to find a purple arrow made from mana came flying toward her. "What!" The arrow hit her dead on with deadly force. "Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Laura shouted as the pain from the arrow spread through her entire body. Laura then fell to the ground dead.
"Yeah! That was a kupo battle!" Monty cheered.
"Well done Heidi-sama!" Mendoza cheered.
"I don't believe it… clanmaster Laura lost?" One of the elites asked.
"Gah! We can't leave her like that!" One of the elites shouted.
"Well done Heidi." Harris said with a smile. Heidi blushed a little when she heard that. "Life." Harris used a life spell to revive Laura, however he didn't use his full power, he only wanted Laura to be out of danger of being dead so he still didn't heal her enough to where she could stand up. Kyle, Harris, and Heidi walked up and kneeled down next to her.
"Uh… what happened?" Laura groaned.
"You lost clanmaster Laura." Kyle said solemnly. "She used doom archer to return the damage you did to her."
"Hmph… you had that planned all along didn't you?" Laura asked Heidi with slight disgust in her voice.
"No, only ever since I learned of your summoning abilities, not the whole time." Heidi said.
"Doesn't matter I guess." Laura said bitterly. "I lost…" Laura couldn't hold the tears back and a few tears leaked from her eyes. "… I wasn't strong enough, I was weak."
Heidi shook her head. "No, if you were weak you wouldn't have nearly beaten me." Heidi said.
"Don't lie to me!" Laura shouted. "I wasn't able to win, so I was weak. I'm… not strong enough…" Laura started to say.
"You know, losing isn't weakness." Heidi said. "It only means that you have room to improve. I used to be nearly as confident in my own strength as you." Heidi said. "Until eight years ago when I met Harris."
"I'm not sure I follow." Laura said.
"Back then, Harris was far stronger than I was. And to this day he still is even though I have improved my own skills." Heidi continued.
"Stronger than…" Laura started to say.
"But that doesn't mean you're weak either. All that means is that no matter how strong you are, someone is always going to be stronger than you." Heidi said. "No one is the strongest."
"But… I…" Laura began again.
"Clanmaster Laura, I didn't understand until now. But you only caring about your strength and nothing else was just a cloak to hide underneath wasn't it?" Kyle asked. Laura looked at him. "The real reason you wanted to grow strong wasn't so that you could prove you were stronger than our parents, but rather so that you were strong enough to avenge their killers wasn't it?"
"Kyle…" Laura tried to stop him.
"You grew stronger pushing everything else away so that you could grow strong enough by yourself. But is that really the only way to go?" Kyle asked. Laura's tears were starting to leak through more and more as Kyle went on. "You always pushed away true companionship so that you wouldn't feel as if you were inferior, afraid that you weren't strong enough to avenge our parents."
"…" Harris and Heidi listened on silently.
"But that's not what companions are for. They aren't there to ridicule, but they are there to support you, there's only so much you can do on your own. And now they've come to give you that chance to help you." Kyle said.
"Oh Kyle…" Laura sobbed completely unable to hold back her tears any longer.
"Curaga." Harris healed both Heidi and Laura completely. "Now then Laura, what we observed during battle wasn't weakness because Heidi did win. Rather that only made us want your help even more."
"…" Laura stared at Harris.
"I've traveled for a long time, and I have seen and left behind many a battle. And rarely have I seen power such as yours. You no longer need to wonder if you are strong enough, you are beyond ready." Harris assured her. "So please, let us help each other fight against what your parents died to fight so that you would have the chance to live for a hopeful future."
"… I…" Laura started to say.
Several minutes later…
Harris, Heidi, Hunter, Monty, Mendoza, and Gilbert were walking out of Nargai cave with more supplies than they entered with. "Well, should we move on?" Hunter asked.
"Ha ha, very funny, you aren't about to leave without us." Laura's voice came as she came out of the cave with supplies on her back and Kyle right behind her.
"Hey, just lightening up the mood." Hunter said while giving a wink.
"But are you sure it's okay for both of you to leave?" Gilbert asked.
"Well, the clan can surely handle itself as long as they don't look for trouble. After all, they aren't entirely weak." Laura said.
"Well, shall we go then clanmaster Laura?" Kyle asked.
"Kyle, stop calling me clanmaster, we're like brother and sister after all." Laura told him.
"…" Kyle smiled. "Of course Laura." He answered. "Hmmm… It seems like the old Laura that I knew is coming back." Kyle thought while smiling to himself.
"Well, we're glad to have you along." Hunter said.
"I'm glad you are, a weakling like you will need my help." Laura said with a smile while looking at Hunter.
"Wait a second! What was that?" Hunter asked.
"Uh… somewhat." Kyle corrected to himself.
"Oh this is going to be good." Monty said.
"Heh heh heh…" Mendoza chuckled.
"You heard me." Laura told Hunter as the group started moving along.
"What are you calling me weak for? I beat Kyle didn't I?" Hunter asked.
"From my knowledge you only immobilized him, that battle still could have gone any way." Laura said back.
"Hey! I'm a clanmaster like you and Harris!" Hunter yelled back.
"Yes but we're clearly stronger than you are." Laura said in a rather ho-hum style.
"Heh, looks like this group has gotten more interesting." Harris said to Heidi giving a light smile.
"Yes it certainly has." Heidi said, clearly smiling as well under her mask.
"Well, we only have one more clan to join up with." Harris said. "Clan Phantom."
"Where are they supposed to be clanmaster Harris?" Mendoza asked.
"Uladon bog, it's a ways North from here." Harris answered.
"Isn't that place supposed to be haunted?" Monty asked with his voice shrinking.
"You don't believe in ghosts now do you?" Gilbert asked with a creepy tone of voice.
"Not funny kupo!" Monty shouted.
"Ha ha ha ha." Heidi chuckled. The group continued on, Laura and Hunter still arguing.
"Well, let's go." Harris said.
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Well, how was that everyone? Yes I've added Titan, just so you know don't be surprised if I do make additions to some skills, but all and all I'll still stay true to the class's abilities. I'll have the next interlude posted as well. So let me know what you think.