Final Fantasy: Rise of Despair

When we last left off, Harris and Heidi managed to stave off an invasion using the teleport rush combo even thought it left Harris barely able to walk. Kyle and Laura used devastating combination attacks that annihilated the black army, Hunter proved his keen strategic mind in a battle of wits, and Adam managed to emerge triumphant over Colonel Shawn. But even with Shawn's defeat, the black army continues to march. Now can the Bangaa Racemaster Casey handle five-hundred soldiers on his own?

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance. I do own the characters and plot.

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The Bangaa Racemaster

Casey observed the charging black army, his eyes narrowed as he focused his vision. "Run him through!" A black soldier shouted.

"Hmph." Casey kneeled down low, until his lower robes covered his feet and then… "JUMP!!!" Casey rocketed high in to the air, the sheer force of him jumping from the ground sent a mighty gust of wind all around him.

"Whoa!" Monty yelped.

"Man… that guy can jump." Mendoza gasped.

"I can't even jump that high." Kyle commented. Casey kept going and going and going, and now he wasn't even visible in the air anymore. "Uh… when's he coming back down?"

"Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaarge!!!" The black army charged onward.

"Uh… that doesn't help us…" Gilbert cringed.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!" The black army gave off its battle cry. Suddenly fireballs rained down on them from above. "Gwaaaaaaaaa!!!" The fireballs gave off fiery bursts as they hit the ground. Then they found icicles raining down on them, skewering them as they struck them. "What's going on! AUGH!" Lightning bolts were now raining down on the black soldiers.

"Where is that coming from?" Heidi asked.

"Master Casey is using his breath attacks from mid-air so that he can attack from the air." Adam said.

"Resourceful…" Harris commented as he shakily stood up, Heidi supporting him somewhat.

"Hey! Here he comes!" A black soldier shouted, pointing at Casey as he was coming down.

"Get him when he lands!"

"How can he use jump with a sword anyways?" Hunter asked.

"Jump isn't quite as effective without a lance, that is true. But Master Casey is proficient enough to use his sword just as effectively as a lance." Adam continued to explain.

"Here he comes!" The black soldiers readied their weapons as Casey drew closer and closer to the ground.

"Tremor!!!" Casey slammed both his fists and stamped his feet in to the ground as he landed. The earth started to quake violently, a massive crater formed where Casey landed, cracks in the rock expanded up the cliff walls, and numerous black soldiers died from the tremor.

"Rush him!" All of the black soldiers ran at Casey from all sides.

"Now this is more like it!" Casey declared. Casey blocked several attacks from the front and slashed his way through all of those soldiers. Casey spun around and deflected several projectiles to the side. Black mages attempted to hit him with several spells at once but… "Greased Bolt!" Casey seemed to slide backwards as he slashed through ten soldiers at once in the blink of an eye. The black soldiers didn't even notice where Casey was for a moment, but then several attempted to rush him from behind.

"Hiyah!" The black soldiers naturally missed as Casey hopped over them.

"Aeroga!" Casey cast a spell on the group that just tried to rush him that caused a large tornado to form and wreak havoc among them. As Casey landed, he stomped his foot behind him. "Earth Render!"

"Argh!" Someone cried as an earthquake traveled in a straight line behind him.

"Waterga!" Casey caused a pillar of water to rise up beneath another group of black soldiers and kill them. The black soldiers attempted to rush him front all sides. "Fiery whirlwind!" Casey used fire breath while using whirlwind, essentially spinning around and breathing out flaming death to the black soldiers.

"AAAAAAGH!!!"

"AARRRRGGGHHH!!!"

Four ninjas attempted to rush Casey from the sides. Casey jumped above them and aimed a fist downward. "Far fist!" Casey sent a fist of compressed air straight downward, the resulting blast from where it struck the ground sent the ninjas sprawling. Casey landed, and looked around in each direction. The remaining black soldiers were backing off in fear.

"Whoa…" Everyone, minus Adam was staring wide-eyed at the sight.

"How can he do all of that?" Gilbert asked.

"Master Casey even knows some spells that were lost years ago." Adam said.

"So fast…" Laura gasped.

"And the strength from those attacks was incredible…" Heidi continued.

"Well, aren't you going to attack me?" Casey asked the remaining black soldiers. "If not then I will!" Casey hopped up slightly and then slammed a fist in to the ground. "Earth Tremor!" Casey sent an Earth render attack in four directions and plowed down several soldiers. Casey then dashed straight in to a crowd of black soldiers.

"Rah!" A gladiator attempted to strike him from behind. But Casey raised his sword above his head and blocked, followed by a spinning counter-attack. Casey then used Bangaa cry to wipe out a crowd charging at him. Casey back-flipped waaaaaaaaay back all the way to the cliff wall and stamped against it hard before jumping off the wall. The rocks in the cliff proceeded to collapse down on top of the black soldiers. Casey landed on the ground and sheathed his sword.

"Alright… Fire Sword! Bolt Sword!" Casey created a fire sword in his right hand and a bolt sword in his left hand. Casey jumped in to another crowd and began slashing through black soldiers left and right. Two tried to attack him from the sides, he rolled forward, let them crash in to each other and then dashed backwards and slashed them with his swords. He flipped over an attack from two assassins, and then threw his fire swords and thunder swords at the attackers.

"Such… speed, such grace…" Mendoza started.

"Oh just marry him already." Monty said.

"Hey!" Mendoza slammed Monty over the head.

"Wild Whirlwind!" Casey spun around and around with his sword outstretched. Anyone standing around him was sliced apart by the wind coming from his blade.

"ARGH!!!"

"Now!" The second Casey stopped spinning…

"Ifrit!"

"Shiva!"

"Ramuh!"

"Firaga!"

"Thundaga!"

"Blizzaga!"

"Aero!"

"Water!"

"Heh…" Casey stood still and let all the spells hit him.

KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM

"Hm?" Harris looked on in curiosity while everyone else was looking on in concern. "Unless my senses are still buggy… I do believe he'll be fine." Harris said.

"How so?" Syack asked. The smoke cleared, Casey stood there, arms crossed and completely unharmed. "What?"

"Expert guard works wonder doesn't it?" Casey asked snidely. "Return magic!" Casey flung his arms out, and every spell that the attackers tried to hit him with was cast back at them, only due to Casey's much higher magic power they were much more devastating.

"Come on men! Stand your ground!" A black soldier shouted.

"Are you nuts! He'll kill us!" Another guy shouted.

"Just charge!" The black soldier from earlier shouted. Another group charged at Casey. Casey sighed and jumped towards the rocks he made collapse on a group of black soldiers earlier. He grabbed the largest one, easily more than three times his size, and picked it up with a single hand, revealing the crushed corpses beneath the boulder. The black soldiers stopped charging immediately when they saw Casey pick up the boulder.

"Among the Racemasters, I was tops as far as raw physical strength is concerned." Casey said. "Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrah!" Casey spun around once and hurled the boulder at the group of black soldiers and bowled them over in one toss. Casey then leaped above a barrage of projectiles that were coming at him, once he landed multiple black soldiers attempted to hit him with their swords and lances. Casey raised his sword and easily blocked them all. "Strikeback!" Casey spun his sword around and slashed away all of the black soldiers. "Holy!" Casey cast a holy aura on another group of black soldiers.

"He's… he's…" A black soldier stammered. There were now only fifty left, and Casey wasn't even scratched.

"Well… let's finish this." Casey said. "Judge!"

"What's judge going to do? That spell only weakens opponents." Gilbert said.

"Just watch." Adam said. An image of the Judge sword appeared above Casey, Casey then put his hands together.

"That… mana flow… how unusual." Heidi said.

"Sword of the Judge!" Casey released a large amount of mana that gathered at the Judge sword. The sword then turned solid and slowly descended down toward Casey. Casey sheathed his Sequence sword and let the gigantic judge sword rest its blunt edge land on his right shoulder. Casey wrapped his right arm around the handle and put his left hand down lower on the handle. Casey then pushed on the lower handle and held the handle on the hand. "You have all been judged…" Casey started.

"We… are… screwed…" A black soldier said as they stared at Casey, holding the massive sword in front of him.

"GUILTY!!!" Casey cried.

"Get down." Adam said.

"Why?" Mendoza and Monty asked.

"Just do it." Harris said as he stopped leaning on Heidi and got down. Heidi followed suit; everyone else did so as well.

"SLICE OF THE JUDGE!" Casey spun around once with the sword, as he swung it, a massive wave of energy swept over the battlefield from the sword. "RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!" Casey put all his strength in to swinging at the black soldiers.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!" They shouted as the black soldiers were swept over by the wave of energy and vaporized. The sword seemed to fade in to glittering white dust and carried off by the wind as Casey finished the swing.

"Ha ha ha ha… that was fun." Casey laughed.

"That… was… awesome…" Hunter said as he raised his head.

"Ugh… he's… so strong." Laura sighed.

"So… are you people alright?" Casey asked from behind the group.

"Gah! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Syack shouted.

"We're fine Master Casey." Adam answered.

"Hm? Say haven't we met before?" Casey asked Syack.

"Yes… we met almost ten years ago." Syack said.

"Oh yes! But… I suppose you broke your promise." Casey told him.

"I'm sorry bangaa Racemaster, but without you, we have no hope." Syack said.

"How so?" Casey asked. Harris sighed, and stood up, he seemed to stagger a bit, but he managed to find his balance and keep it.

"I can explain that." Harris said softly. Casey looked at Harris, their eyes met, the air seemed to increase in tensity.

"Hey… is it getting harder to breathe?" Hunter asked.

"Only for you weakling." Laura said.

"What!" Hunter shouted.

"And who are you?" Casey asked.

"My name is Harris, I am the clanmaster of Clan Falcon." Harris told him. "Master Casey, I would like to talk to you."

"Very well." Casey said. The two turned to walk away from the group, Adam turned to follow but… "No Adam. I would like to speak with him alone." Casey said.

"Of course Master Casey." Adam said.

Later…

"Gee whiz, they've been talking for a long time." Monty said.

"Oh well, it gave us time to rest after all of that." Gilbert sighed.

"I am curious as to what they're talking about though." Hunter said.

"So… you were hiding that you still knew the Racemaster then?" Heidi asked Adam.

"Yes… you see, Master Casey… is my teacher." Adam said.

"WHAT!!!" Everyone shouted.

"My parents were students of him as well, and now I follow their footsteps and follow him." Adam explained. "You see, Master Casey hid behind the scenes because he feared that if the Black Army knew of his presence, it would only make the Black Army more desperate to destroy us."

"So that's why you hid that information from us." Syack asked.

"Yes, he hid behind the scenes, passed on information, advised me, and whenever he felt it was needed, he trained me." Adam said.

"Wow… I bet training with one of the Racemasters is awesome." Hunter said.

"Ah yes, it most certainly is." Adam said.

Flashback…

"Adam! You're moving too slow!!! You need to move faster than that!" Casey shouted. Adam had his arms bound, a weight strapped to his back, and weights wrapped around his ankles with several dragons chasing after him up a steep hill and Casey was ahead of him rolling boulders down the hill.

End of flashback…

Everyone was staring at Adam wide-eyed and mortified. "Yes, that was indeed invigorating training. A great way to get some fresh air." Adam said.

"Is he… for real?" Monty asked.

"I can't say…" Gilbert said.

"Well that certainly would be training." Kyle commented.

"Look they're finally coming back this way!" Mendoza said. Indeed, Harris and Casey came walking back toward them.

"Harris has explained the situation to me." Casey told them. "And I must say, you all really are in trouble."

"…" Everyone looked at him hopefully.

"Hm? Oh, did you think I was going to miss out on a fight like this?" Casey chuckled. "Ha ha ha ha ha! Of course I'm willing to help." Casey said.

"Yes!!!" Monty and Mendoza shouted.

"That is great news!" Gilbert said, unusually estatic.

"Laura! Do you know what this means?" Kyle asked excitedly.

"Of course I do! We're well on our way to wiping out that black army!" Laura cheered.

"However…" Harris started.

"What is it?" Heidi asked. Everyone stopped talking excitedly.

"Regretfully… Casey's mana… doesn't compare to the Black King's mana." Harris said.

"What?" Everyone asked, faces sunk.

"The Black King back then had more mana than Casey does now." Harris sighed sadly.

"What!!!"

"And what Harris felt was ten years ago." Casey said. "So… quite frankly I doubt that I'm even a match for him."

"Master Casey! That can't be." Adam said.

"So… I've proposed that we find the other Racemasters." Casey said with a smile.

"Hm?"

"You see, maybe he can defeat me on my own, but his strength couldn't have possibly increased significantly enough to match more than one of us." Casey said wisely.

"But… where would we find the others?" Hunter asked.

"Tell me, you ever heard of Matt?" Casey asked.

"Yeah… wasn't that guy's name on the wanted list?" Laura asked.

"Yes it was Laura." Kyle answered.

"What about him?" Syack asked.

"Matt, is the moogle Racemaster." Casey said.

"Huh?" Everyone minus Harris said in unison.

"Ah Matt." Casey said as if going through nostalgia. "He was always such a weirdo… he went to Baguba yeeeeeears ago and helped contribute to the invention of the airship."

"But the airship was invented eighty years ago…" Gilbert said.

"Hm? Oh right, sorry. Sometimes I forget our age." Casey chuckled.

"Uuuuhhh… how old are you?" Laura asked.

"I'm two-hundred and twenty-eight chronologically." Casey said.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTT!!!" Monty, Mendoza, and Hunter shouted.

"But Bangaas can't live that long." Heidi said, clearly shocked.

"I'm twenty-eight biologically." Casey continued.

"How is that…"

"Gah! I'll explain later!" Casey interrupted, realizing that he has strayed off of his point. "Anyways, he openly stated his presence when the black king took over and has since defended Baguba expertly as a show of defiance of the Black King." Casey said.

"So then, our next destination is Baguba." Syack said.

"Yes." Casey said. "Now then, this could be the most fun I had in over a century." Casey said.

"Master Casey… the clan." Adam said.

"Right." Casey said, calming down.

"What is it?" Kyle asked.

"Before we leave, we need to pay our respects to those that have given their lives." Casey said.

"It's… only fitting." Harris said.

"We'll leave tomorrow." Casey said. The group moved forward, all of them thinking about the battle, but they couldn't help but feel excited that they were traveling with one of the legendary Racemasters. Well, almost all of them. Harris stopped walking and let the group get way ahead of him. Harris looked back at the battlefield, and then looked ahead and sighed. He picked up his pace and caught up with the group.

The next day…

"I'm… sorry." Syack said. One of the headstones carved out had the name Stro written on it. "Hmph… you fought well, for an old windbag." Syack said with a smile.

"John, I'm trusting you to move the clan to a safe location." Adam said to John, behind the rest of the mourning clan.

"Clanmaster Adam, you aren't going to…" John started.

"John… I know that you are a capable leader. You have been my second in command nearly the full ten years." Adam said.

"But, I'm not near as capable a leader as you." John said.

"John… I trust you." Adam said putting a hand on his shoulder. "But… I must follow Master Casey. There is a lot I must learn, I feel that I need to be more directly involved with freeing Ivalice." Adam said.

"…" John sighed. "I… want to come as well… but I know, someone needs to stay here." John said. "Alright, I'll have the clan moved to our secondary base." John said.

"Thank you John." Adam said as he smiled. It almost felt to John, that Adam was looking at him. "Take care John."

"Take care, Clanmaster Adam." John said.

Later…

Harris was waiting outside of Sprohm, his stuff was gathered and he was ready to go. He looked ahead with a solemn look on his face.

"Harris!"

"Hm?" Harris turned to find Heidi running up behind him. "What is it?"

"Harris, you aren't leaving without us now are you?" Heidi asked jokingly.

"Of course not." Harris said with a smile. "So… do you know about the clan?"

"The clan is moving to another base." Heidi said. "Although there was something unusual."

"What was it?" Harris asked.

"They said that the base they had set near Roda Volcano isn't usable since Roda Volcano recently erupted when the reports said that it wasn't due to erupt for a few months." Heidi said.

"How unusual." Harris said. Harris breathed in and then said "Move."

"Hm? Oh!" Both she and Harris jumped back just in time to avoid Casey landing on top of them.

"Well, it seems that you two have keen senses." Casey said.

"You were… testing us?" Heidi asked.

"Of course." Casey said. The others caught up.

"Master Casey, we're all ready to go." Adam said.

"Very good Adam." Casey added. "The journey begins with the first step. So, let us take that step now everyone." Casey told them.

"Hey, sounds good to me." Mendoza said.

"…" Harris smiled at Mendoza's comment.

"So, what are we waiting for?" Laura asked.

"Yeah…" Harris said.

"Let's go." Casey said. "It's time to meet with an old friend."

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Ugh… this is how I planned it but… somehow this doesn't feel right. What do you guys think?