Final Fantasy: Rise of Despair
Sorry for the wait guys, I was taking a little break and then for some reason my Microsoft Word program was acting screwy so I was constantly losing this chapter. But here it is at last.
When we last left off, after some discussion and the throwing out of some decent suggestions and some that were not so decent, the party finally came to a decision. With Harris having told them that no man would be able to match the Black King, Syack told the tale of the legendary Race Masters. Although there was some slight objection from Harris due to the unlikelihood of even find them, Harris agreed after hearing a lead that Syack had. Now they make their way to Sprohm.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance, I do own the characters and plot.
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Ride to Sprohm
The Five chocobos carrying our heroes were making good ground, the group was already entering Aisenfield, not long after they had set out. "Ah… I haven't taken a ride on a chocobo in a long time." Harris sighed.
"How much longer ago could it have been?" Hunter asked.
"Do I even have to tell you guys again?" Harris asked.
"Right." Hunter said.
"Sheesh, you shouldn't have to make him repeat himself weakling." Laura said.
"Gah! Don't make me shoot my bow at you!" Hunter yelled.
"Just try it." Laura dared.
"You asked for it!" Hunter yelled as he drew his bow.
"Wait a minute Hunter… think it through a bit won't you?" Gilbert asked.
"Now you've done it Laura…" Kyle moaned. "What will we do if he misses and hits our chocobo?"
"Oh… I didn't think of that." Laura said.
"Take this!" Hunter fired and missed. However he did hit Monty and Mendoza's chocobo in the butt.
"Sqwwwwaaaaaark!" It yelled as it took off like a rocket.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! HOW DO YOU STOP THIS THING?!?" Monty yelled.
"DON'T ASK MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Mendoza shouted.
"Would you whippersnappers keep it quiet!" Syack shouted. "Sheesh, how do you remain sane with this group?" Syack asked Harris and Heidi.
"You get used to them." Heidi answered.
"I don't see how." Syack said.
"Well, it only takes a little time. Like children in a class eventually get to know some of their classmates." Harris said.
"Say how old are you anyways?" Syack asked. "You've alluded that you are older than you look a few times since I met you and I guess you've had to repeat that." Syack said.
"Uh well… that's a secret." Harris said.
"He won't even tell me." Heidi said.
"Hang on guys!" Hunter yelled. "Just tell it to halt!"
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLT!!!" The two shouted desperately. The Chocobo then made a sudden stop and sent the two of them flying over its head. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Monty and Mendoza hit the ground hard and went tumbling in to a pile of wood. "Ooooooohhhhh…" They groaned.
"Hey! That was our firewood!" A viera archer sitting nearby shouted.
"Oops, sorry about that." Monty said sheepishly.
"It took us a long time to gather all of that firewood you know." A nu mou white mage told them.
"We said we were sorry." Mendoza said as they stood back up.
"What's going on?" A human blue mage asked while emerging from the nearby blue tent.
"These two wrecked our firewood." A bangaa warrior told him.
"They did huh?" The blue mage asked.
"Hold!" Harris shouted as the rest of the party caught up. Everyone looked up at him on the chocobo. "You'll have to forgive our companions here, they lost control of their chocobo due to somebody's carelessness." Harris said putting emphasis on "somebody" while clearly looking at Hunter.
"Heh heh… my bad." Hunter said.
"You better be sorry weakling." Laura said.
"WHAT!"
"Regardless, we apologize for our companions." Heidi said.
"Hmmm… fine, I don't want to really fight over some lousy wood anyways." The blue mage said.
"Wait boss, don't these guys look like…" The viera started to say.
"Hm?" The Blue mage looked at them for a moment. "Now that you mention it…" The blue mage started to say. As Monty and Mendoza got back on to their chocobo… "Halt!" The blue mage said.
"Hm?" Harris looked back at the blue mage.
"I'm sorry, but I won't be letting you leave." The blue mage said.
"And why not?" Syack snapped.
"Because, you guys will make us rich." The blue mage said. "We're bounty hunters by profession you see, so by capturing you guys the black king will make us wealthy."
"Augh… this is a waste of our time." Laura sighed.
"Monty, Mendoza, you two can handle this." Harris said. "We'll go slower, so just catch back up with us." Harris instructed.
"Faster!" The archer fired an arrow at Harris, however he titled his head backward just in time so that the arrow went zipping past him. "Dang, the pricey ones got away." She said.
"Oh well, we can get a partial reward for these two." The blue mage said as he looked at Monty and Mendoza, the only ones who stayed behind.
"Hiyah!" The warrior tried a vertical slash on Mendoza that was easily blocked and countered while Monty used Silenshot on the white mage.
"Cupid!" The archer tried to hit Mendoza with an arrow that had a pink aura on it but she missed quite miserably and it went flying past him.
"Charmshot!" Monty hit the blue mage who turned around and faced the archer.
"Lv. 5 death!" The blue mage cast a spell that caused the archer to see an image of the grim reaper appear in front of her as she passed away.
"Stopshot!" Monty used a bullet that stopped the blue mage while Mendoza charged at him.
"Beatdown!" Mendoza struck the blue mage with a super-powerful slash that killed him in one hit.
"Gah!" The Blue mage shouted.
"Too easy." Monty scoffed.
"Some bounty hunters." Mendoza mocked. "Well let's… huh?" The two turned around to see their chocobo staring at them evilly. "What's wrong with…" Mendoza started to ask.
"Uh… look right there…" Monty said as he pointed to the arrow that the viera archer tried to hit Mendoza with earlier that was stuck in the chocobo's side.
"Oh…" Mendoza groaned.
Later…
"They are taking a long time." Kyle said. The group was now somewhere near Cadoan in order to avoid going across the hot desert.
"Maybe they got beaten, I wouldn't put it past them." Laura said.
"No… I doubt that they'll have lost." Harris said. "Ah… here they are." Harris said as Monty and Mendoza caught back up with them.
"What took you two so long?" Heidi asked.
"Uuuuuuuugggghhhh…" They moaned as the bruises on their bodies continued to sting.
"Good grief… you two whippersnappers couldn't even handle a few measly bounty hunters?" Syack asked.
"It wasn't the bounty hunters…" Monty moaned.
"Then what could it have been?" Gilbert asked.
"Don't ask…" Mendoza moaned.
The group took a brief stop in Cadoan once again to get some water for their chocobos. Although that was all they stopped for, once they got the chocobos watered they began to leave town. On the way out though, the group noticed something. "Hey, aren't those the wanted posters?" Monty asked.
"Yes and they seem to have changed." Gilbert said.
"Heh… looks like they gave me quite a high bounty." Laura said.
"Heeeeeeyyyy… mine is lower than Kyle's." Hunter whined.
"Which just goes to show you just how weak you are." Laura said.
"Would you stop that!" Hunter yelled.
"Laura… please…" Kyle sighed.
"Hey… how come mine and Monty's are so low?" Mendoza asked insulted.
"Mine is low in comparison and you don't see me complaining." Gilbert said.
"Well Heidi, they seem to have deemed us a much larger threat." Harris said.
"Indeed they have." Heidi said. "We shouldn't stay here any longer." Heidi said.
"She had a point, come on everyone we need to at least get out of town." Syack said. They left around sunset and got a few miles in to a somewhat grassy and somewhat rocky area before night fell and blanketed the sky in a star decorated blanket. The group got a fire going and they sat down and ate.
"Ah… I must say… I haven't traveled in ages." Syack said.
"What? Can't handle it?" Monty asked.
"No you whippersnapper! I was about to say that it's nice." Syack said.
"No Harris, I'm not letting you take the night watch." Heidi said from a small distance away from the group.
"Heidi, I got some rest before and during our stay with clan Phantom while you took watch two nights in a row so therefore I should take the watch this time." Harris said.
"What are they arguing about over there?" Syack asked.
"Ah… Harris usually volunteers for the night-watch and Heidi rarely lets him." Gilbert explained.
"Harris, I know that you didn't sleep while we were at Clan Phantom, I was awake for a moment and I saw you sitting on top of the wall." Heidi said.
"Well you didn't get a lot of sleep either if you saw me." Harris said.
"Maybe one of us should take it instead." Kyle suggested.
"Not on your life." Both Harris and Heidi said to him somewhat tensely, having apparently heard him even all the way over where they were.
"I'm beginning to wonder why they always argue over night-watch." Hunter said.
"That is beyond me. I just met you guys." Syack said.
"Fine, we'll do rock paper scissors for it." Harris suggested.
"Fine." Heidi said. After slamming their fists in to their palms three times, Harris did scissors, Heidi did paper. So it looks like Harris got the night watch.
While everyone was asleep, Harris watched over them, sitting on a nearby rock. "I must say… this group has gotten larger. And very colorful as well." Harris thought with a smile. He looked at Syack and sighed. "Amazing… even though I try to avoid doing it… I end up having to resort to that anyways. Will I be able to handle this?" Harris asked himself. Harris looked at Heidi once more, watching her with her closed eyes and the rest of her face under that mask as she slept always seemed to bring him comfort. "…she really is just like…"
The next day…
"So how much farther is Sprohm from here anyways?" Monty asked.
"Another day or less." Mendoza answered.
"Great." Monty said. "These Chocobos really are fast." Monty added.
"Of course they are you twit." Syack said.
"Well, it is great that we are near Sprohm… but…" Hunter started.
"But what?" Kyle asked.
"But where the heck are we now?!" Hunter shouted as his voice echoed through the small canyon they were now in. Everyone turned to look at Harris.
"Hm? Oh right… well to be honest I never traveled this area a whole lot." Harris admitted. Everyone let his or her head hang low in disappointment. Harris sighed, "Oh hang on… I'll scout from up top." Harris said. He jumped off of the chocobo and ran toward the cliff wall. He jumped up a good distance and found a small foothold that he used to jump upward further and further until he was at the top of the cliff.
"Sheesh, how can he stand to do that?" Syack asked.
"You really shouldn't be surprised." Heidi told Syack.
At the top of the cliff, Harris looked around him a bit. He bent downward and observed the rock the ground was made of. He then looked up at the sky and took a look at where the sun was. "Considering this rock is similar to the rock around Sprohm and yet has some topsoil content similar to the fields around Cyril then that would make Sprohm a little ways southeast from our position. And considering the height of the sun at this time of day…" Harris stood up and was preparing to go to the cliff edge when he jumped to the side to avoid an arrow that was about to hit him in the back. "And just who the hell are you?" Harris asked, as if nothing had happened.
"Our names aren't important, but you're that guy that's worth 100,000 gil and that money is as good as ours kupo." A moogle time mage threatened as a viera sniper, a bangaa white monk, and a human thief got ready to attack Harris. Harris crossed his arms, stood straight up and passed off a completely disinterested look.
"Cover." Harris teleported in front of the time mage and was essentially amidst those four. "Saint cross." Harris then cast a ring of holy magic around him that instantly killed all four of them. "Too easy." Harris sighed as he uncrossed his arms and walked toward the ledge. "It's that way!" Harris shouted as he pointed in some direction to his right.
Later the night…
This time around Harris lost the argument with Heidi over who would take night watch and she was watching over them this time. Heidi laid out some water for the chocobos in small bowls and chuckled quietly when she heard Monty and Mendoza talking in their sleep.
"Take that you black soldier…" Mendoza moaned in his sleep.
"No… no Mendoza… your foot is disgusting…" Monty grumbled in his sleep.
"Oh those two…" Heidi sighed. "Boy… Harris and I seem to be fighting a lot more like we're a married couple, oh Heidi don't think like that, that could never happen. Although arguing over the night watch really is such a silly thing." Heidi thought to herself. "But I'm beginning to wonder though… Harris still seems troubled, even if he does hide it well. No… perhaps I had best not pry." Heidi thought. That's when she heard a low rumble and crash. "What was that?" She asked out loud. Heidi walked toward the source of the noise.
"Hiyah! Yah! Yah! HAH!" Heidi found Harris near some boulders slicing them in half with each swing of his swords and taking a break after each series of slashes. While he was catching his breath, the boulders would slide apart and crash in to the ground.
"Oh… he snuck out of bed again." Heidi thought to herself, although with concern in her eyes.
"I… don't know if I can handle this…" Harris thought. "HIIIIIIIIIIYAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Harris slashed at one large boulder about a dozen times. Harris waited for the pieces to slide apart. With a look of what seemed to be either anger or concentration, or maybe both, he dashed past all of those pieces. The pieces broke apart in to multiple pebbles that sprinkled the ground as Harris landed on the ground slamming his feet in to it and leaving a large crack in it.
"Harris…" Heidi thought to herself before she headed back to the camp.
"They… must never know…" Harris thought to himself.
The next day…
"Say… what doesn't make sense to me is how Clan Liberation's base is here when Sprohm has suffered the worst under the Black King's oppression." Monty said.
"That's why no one would ever suspect them of being there. Although we would act to protect the town, we were most careful to let some less significant events happen so that we wouldn't give away the location of our base being here." Mendoza explained.
"Well that would be the smart thing to do." Hunter pointed.
"Pretty keen observation for a weakling." Laura commented.
"Grrrrrrrr…" Hunter growled.
"So… we're officially in Sprohm now." Kyle said. All around them were abandoned houses on the mountain edges. Not to mention a few of the houses were destroyed. There was very little hustle or bustle in the town but a few people were wandering the streets, and they were quite weary of our travelers.
"Maybe we'd best leave the chocobos here." Syack suggested. Everyone left the chocobos at the ruined gates of the town. They started to walk around the streets, looking around, although most of the townspeople would clear the way from them.
"It's… so sad." Heidi said. She felt a slight tug at her cape. She turned around to find a small human child holding his hands out to Heidi with a hopeful smile on his face. The others stopped and looked at this. Heidi's mask moved a little bit, indicating a smile and she gave him a few gil that the child happily took after giving her a grateful bow.
The group walked in to a pub and found a decent number of customers. "How may I be of service?" The pub master asked. Everyone looked at Gilbet, Gilbert nodded.
"We are looking for clan Liberation." Gilbert whispered to the pub master. The pub master opened his eyes a bit in surprise and then leaned away.
"I'm afraid I can't help you with that request." The pub master said.
"Hmmm… maybe we'd best look elsewhere." Kyle said.
"Yeah I guess we should." Laura said.
"Hey you." A gruff voice addressed Laura.
"Yes?" She asked.
"Hand over your money." The bangaa threatened.
"Well…" Laura seemed to think it over.
"Well?"
"… get real." She said. She kicked the bangaa in the abdomen and then punched him down the stairs.
"You probably shouldn't have done that." Hunter said.
"Why?" She asked as that bangaa's friends got up from their tables and pulled out weapons. "Oh…" She said.
"No… I just cleaned this place." The pub master whined as he sunk behind the counter.
"Augh… we don't have time for this… Wild Tornado!" Syack cast a spell that caused a tornado to appear in the midst of the bar customers and knock them around while slicing them with blades of wind. However Syack failed to notice that he was knocking them in to tables and sending dishes flying everywhere. Once that was done, the pub was littered with unconscious bodies and broken dishes, bottles, and tables.
"Great… now you've done it." The pub master sighed.
"Here… this will pay for the bill." A stranger that just walked in said as he laid a sack of gil on the counter. The figure was in a tattered brown cloak, making it impossible to tell who was under there.
"Ummm… thank you." Heidi said. The figure turned to leave the pub and then stopped for a moment.
"…Travelers aren't welcome in this town anymore. Perhaps it is best if you leave." The cloaked figure told them." The voice said.
"We can't leave until we find Clan Liberation." Harris told the figure.
"…" The cloaked figure said nothing. He walked out of the pub and down the street. Everyone looked at Heidi.
"Oh… alright." She sighed. She used conceal to make herself invisible before pursuing the figure.
The figure went down a number of streetways, rounded several corners, with Heidi following him closely. "Just where is this guy going?" Heidi asked herself. The figure finally came to one house that appeared abandoned and entered through the door that appeared to be ready to fall off of its hinges. Heidi peeked through the door and saw the figure stand before the wall opposite the door.
"Alright… you can stop following me." The figure said.
"What!" Heidi was amazed that the figure knew that she was there. Heidi did make herself visible. "So… how did you know?" She asked.
"I didn't know, I just had a feeling that one of you would follow me in hopes of finding clan Liberation." The figure said.
"I guess you assumed correctly." Heidi said.
"Well then, as much as I don't wish for this, but it may be for the better, if you die right here." The figure said.
"So… you're challenging me." Heidi said simply.
"No… he's challenging me." Laura said. The rest of the group caught up with Heidi. Heidi backed away from the building as the cloaked figure came from the building. "I'll take him myself." Laura said.
"… very well then." The figure said.
"Harris, is this a good idea?" Heidi asked.
"I don't know… this guy… he may not have a tremendous amount of mana, but that isn't always a good indicator of strength." Harris said. "I can feel as though he is powerful." Harris finished.
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Well, what do you guys think? By the way… to all my readers, be patient for updates, I'm sure all of your questions will be answered in due time. As I like to say, there is a method to my madness.