Final Fantasy: Rise of Despair
When we last left off, a number of mysterious disappearances occurred as well as the mysterious death of one of the gate guards. After some investigation, it was revealed that General Mali had sent several sleeper agents over the span of ten years, spreading the seeds for Baguba to be destroyed from the inside while at the same time, organizing a large army to attack from the outside.
Now Casey prepares to face down three thousand soldiers on his own, our other heroes are going to fight off the many sleeper agents, while Matt goes to help evacuate civilians. Can Matt cope with this incident? Can they save Baguba? Or will Mali's sinister plot reign triumphant?
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance, I do own the characters and plot.
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Ties of the past
"Hmmmmm…" Casey was still standing atop the wall of the city gate overlooking the charging army. "I may not want to spend too much time… but at the same time I had best not end this too soon." Casey thought out loud. "Alright, here goes!" Casey hopped over the edge of the gate and began running straight down.
"Hey something's coming!" A soldier shouted.
"Like what?" Another one asked. The next thing they knew, a purple and gold blur dashed through a number of soldiers, cutting a straight line to somewhere near the center of the army before a medium sized whirlwind formed and disappeared quickly. In the middle of where the whirlwind formed, Casey was standing there.
"Well… what are you waiting for? I'm right here and I'm ready for battle." Casey dared as he prepped his sword. Almost immediately the entire force started to converge on him.
Meanwhile…
"Laura! Be careful with your summons! There are still some genuine civilians among them trying to escape!" Hunter warned as he picked off a few soldiers.
"Don't worry about it weakling! Fira! Thundara!" Laura fried a number of soldiers with both fireballs and lightning bolts.
"Jump attack!" Kyle started jumping around in short and quick leaps between numerous black soldiers to the point that it looked like a blur bouncing all around them. All around the three of them, chaos was unfolding around them. Homes were on fire, people were running around screaming, and black soldiers were attempting to kill anyone in reach and burn down any homes they could.
"Ha ha ha ha! Burn! Bur-HACK!!!" A black soldier was enjoying the chaos right before he got speared.
"No! Stay away!" A woman shouted as two black soldiers approached her. Before they could reach her, both of them had arrows pierce straight through them with the points protruding from their chests.
"Go! Get to safety!" Hunter urged as he got in front of the woman firing more arrows at black soldiers.
"No!" Two nu mou children were running for their lives as some black soldiers were pursuing them. One tripped while the other one turned around and stood between the soldiers and the other child. "Don't harm my sister!" Laura heard that and it seemed to strike a chord.
"Grrrrr… Carbuncle!" Laura cast an orange magic circle that caused a small, almost curled up creature with massive wing-like ears and a ruby in its head to appear. The creature flew towards the children and got in the way of the attacks. The attacks didn't even seem to harm it.
"Hey! What is this thing?" A black soldier asked.
"You… bastards…" Laura hissed at the black soldiers. They all turned around to find Laura, her eyes practically on fire with pure malice towards the black soldiers. "Ramuh!" Laura summoned Ramuh and had him strike them all down with lightning bolts. When both espers disappeared, Laura ran to the children. "Are you alright?"
"Yes ma'am." They both said.
"Go! Run!" Laura urged as she quickly turned around, blocked and countered an attack.
Meanwhile…
Syack ran for a little while but then stopped to catch his breath. "Whew… I'm… too old…" Syack griped.
"Run!" The old bangaa from the hot spring urged a much younger bangaa to run from some black soldiers.
"But grandpa!" The youth argued back.
"Run!" The older one demanded once again. Black soldiers readied their weapons to strike him down.
"Freezeblink!" Syack caused numerous icicles to erupt from the ground, enveloping the whole street in front of the old bangaa, impaling the black soldiers and harmlessly covering any innocent civilians.
"You!" The bangaa gasped.
"You need to live for your grandson… now go!" Syack urged as more black soldiers came from another street. The bangaa did turn and run while Syack teleported to the top of a building while preparing another spell. "Deluge!" Syack caused water to erupt from nowhere and form a wave that crashed over the black soldiers and at the same time put out a number of fires.
"Set them off now!" A viera ordered. A moogle pressed a button that had a wire attached to it that trailed in to the building Syack was standing on. The building promptly caught ablaze and started to collapse.
"Wah!" Syack shouted as the building started to collapse with him on top of it.
Meanwhile…
"Hang on!" Adam shouted as he entered a burning building listening for anyone that was trapped inside.
"That's Adam the Liberator!"
"Kill him!"
"You must be insane to follow me in to a burning building." Adam said a tad shocked as two black soldiers approached him. Adam didn't even draw his sword, he grabbed their weapons, deflected them to the side, wrapped his arms around their necks and promptly snapped them.
"AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" A young voice shouted.
"I'm coming!" Adam ran towards the voice and found a moogle child. "Don't worry!"
"Look out!" The child cried.
"Augh!" Adam cried as the whole building started to collapse on top of them.
Meanwhile…
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" An apparently pregnant viera cried as a large chunk of rubble started to fall towards her and her husband.
"No!" Harris dashed towards the couple raised his hands above him and caught the chunk of rubble. "Heh… no sweat… now go!" Harris demanded. He tossed the rubble aside on top of some black soldiers that were attempting to assault a bangaa female and her child.
"Hang on!" Heidi was trying to lift a large piece of rubble off of a nu mou trapped under it. After a few seconds, Heidi managed to pick it up over her head and toss it away. "Look out!" Heidi quickly jumped in front of the nu mou while drawing her bow. She spun it in front of her and deflected a number of arrows while notching a few of her own. "Try this!" Heidi fired some arrows at the attackers and killed them all with one arrow each. "Go!" She demanded while covering him with more arrows.
"There's more of them!" Harris shouted while drawing his swords and blocking a number of attacks from the front. Harris pushed against them, caused them to lose their footing while Harris quickly dashed past them leaving large gashes in their stomachs.
"Get her!"
"No chance!" Heidi disappeared and just as soon as she did, a number of black soldiers fell dead from a number of sword wounds.
"Help!" A viera child cried. "Help my mom!" She cried. She was sobbing over a woman who was bleeding severely.
"Hang on!" Heidi quickly dashed towards the two. "What's wrong?" She asked with concern in her voice.
"Someone hit my mom with a sword." She cried.
"Don't worry. Look out!" Heidi got in the way of a rapier thrust, she took a wound to the shoulder, but she retaliated with a stab of her wrist knife. "Harris!"
"I heard!" Harris shouted as he dashed past three black soldiers, killing them along the way. As soon as he arrived, he raised a glowing white hand and pointed it at the three. "Cura!" Harris healed all of the wounds on the woman and Heidi. "Now run!"
"Right." The woman sobbed as she ran.
"This is… too cruel." Heidi said as her eyes watered up. She quickly drew her katana and rushed a crowd of black soldiers.
"And I can only imagine how Matt feels about this." Harris thought as he drew his swords and stared down a crowd of black soldiers that were throwing explosives in to buildings.
Meanwhile…
A burning building was now just a black silhouette among the blazing fury of massive orange flames. Just before it collapsed, a figure leaped out holding two bodies over its shoulders. Matt landed and laid the two unconscious bodies of a nu mou and moogle on the ground. "Grrr… I'll save you." Matt focused mana to both hands and pressed his hands against their chests. "If I were an ordinary mog knight I couldn't do this but… Mog Aid!" Matt channeled the mana used in his mog aid ability in to the two unconscious figures and healed them.
"Ugh! Mr. Mayor!" The nu mou woman cried.
"Whoa!" Matt turned around and did an upper X-block that stopped a mace from striking him in the head.
"What are you doing?" The nu mou woman cried.
"Sorry Victoria, but this is my destiny." The nu mou with the mace replied coldly. "So what now mister Mayor? Can you really kill me?" The nu mou taunted.
"Grrrrrrrrr…" Matt cringed angrily "I…have to but… I can't…" Matt thought angrily. "Rah!" Matt kicked the nu mou in the stomach violently. As strong as he is, he probably could have killed him such a kick, but Matt held back and only knocked him out. "I'm sorry." Matt said sadly. He helped the two up and urged them onward.
"Help!" A human male cried while being chased by a number of black soldiers.
"Unlock vents one and two." Matt slid open two vents on the sides of his gunblade's handle. "Stop shot!" Matt aimed carefully and the gunblade began rapidly firing bullets made of mana at the pursuing black soldiers, causing them all to stop, frozen in time. "Rah!" Matt back-flipped over one attacker from behind and was sailing over a large group of black soldiers, Matt threw several throwing knives at them, but instead of killing them, he threw them so the knives would pin them to the street by their clothes. "Grrr… I can't be sparing them like this but… AUGH!!!" Matt ran off, leading any civilians along the way.
Meanwhile…
"Go go go!" Gilbert urged as he led a number of civilians down the street towards the factory. "Mendoza! Monty! Guard this street!" Gilbert commanded as he cast thundaga on a number of black soldiers.
"But there's another street leading to the factory." Monty pointed out as he used ice shot to impale about three black soldiers at once.
"I'm sure that street is already being covered." Gilbert said.
"Understood!" Mendoza shouted. "Rush!" Mendoza slammed in to one black soldier and sent him flying back in to a small crowd of black soldiers.
Meanwhile…
"Come on… I'll take ya all on." Cid dared as he stood in front of the factory gates by himself. A large crowd of black soldiers was rushing straight at the gates with Marty leading the way.
"Ha ha! Do you really think you can take me?" Marty asked. Cid sighed.
"Mog Lance!" Cid opened his hand and pointed his fingers at Marty while thrusting his arm forward, creating an improvised Mog Lance that pierced Marty through the heart. "Sorry Marty, but I never liked ya. Hiyah!" Cid rushed the crowd throwing his fists forward and knocking out Black Soldiers or killing them with one or two punches.
"Got ya!" A bangaa with a sword tried to strike Cid from behind, but Cid caught the sword with one hand and gutted that bangaa with his fist.
"Alright! Mog Peek!" Cid focused his vision and then… "Pandora!" Cid flipped a coin with a sun on one side and a crescent moon on the other, Cid stared at the coin intently and after a few seconds of waiting, he reached out and caught it. "Ha! Chroma Gem!" Several images of multi-colored magnets appeared before the black army before most of them fell asleep. "Now to take care of the rest of you."
Meanwhile…
"Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee!!!" Brently shouted as he ran at the black soldiers. Most of them were moogles armed with guns, thus it seemed as though Brently was rushing to his doom. As one pulled the trigger, Brently leaped towards one of the nearby buildings in one amazing bound.
"Whoa!" One soldier gasped as Brently sprang off the side of that building and jumped to another building while throwing knives down on top of them. "Shoot him!" One shouted before getting a knife in his head.
"He won't keep still!" A gunner shouted while firing at the bouncing Brently as fast as he could before getting fried by a molotov cocktail.
"Ring!" Brently created several rings that were twirling around his arms before tossing them in to the air and landing.
"What'd you do that for?" A soldier asked, pretty sure that he had Brently.
"Three, two, one." Brently counted down. After the count of one, the rings fell on top of the black soldiers and tightened around their bodies.
"Gah! I can't move!"
"Steal Weapon!" Brently dashed past the soldiers and relieved them of their weaponry as he dashed by. "Eat this!" Brently then hurled every sword, lance, and knife that he looted off of the black soldiers back at them and ended up sticking them full of weapons before they fell dead in a bloody mess. "Okay, looks like I'm done here. Time to get out of this town." Brently said.
"Hey! Get that short guy!" A black soldier shouted.
"Stop calling me short!" Brently shouted angrily pulling out an assortment of throwing weapons.
Meanwhile…
"Did that get him?" Someone asked as they observed the building Syack was standing on when they blew it up.
"Think again. Tempest!" Syack said from behind the black soldiers. He raised his hands above his head and called down numerous lightning bolts to strike any black soliders he could see.
"Help!"
"Hm?" Syack ran as fast as he could in his old age towards the source of the noise and found a moogle crying over a dead body. "What's the matter?" Syack asked.
"Someone killed my dad…" The moogle cried.
"With what?" Syack asked as he observed the body.
"Some wave of water washed over and caused him to drown." The boy cried.
"Hm…" Syack observed the body some more and found a concealed weapon. "This moogle… was another agent. But he had a son in this town?" Syack thought. "I could revive him but… he is a black soldier, what would happen if I did revive him? I'm sorry lad." Syack thought. "There's nothing that can be done. Just get to safety." Syack urged the boy.
"But…"
"Just go!" Syack barked as he stood up and blocked a sudden sword attack with his rod. The boy tearfully ran away.
"Pretty… strong for an old man…" The human holding the sword said.
"Tell me… how many of you had families? How many of you made friends? How could you just throw it all away just over some orders you didn't even know you had for ten years?" Syack asked the soldier as he struggled to fight back.
"Heh… we're soldiers of the black army." The human answered. "To us, these people we called friends for years are nothing but steps up a long set of stairs to Baguba's downfall!" The soldier said. Syack heard more soldiers approaching behind him.
"You really just want to get my goat don't you? Soil Evidence!" Syack slammed a foot in to the ground. The earth underneath the street seemed to ripple as the black soldiers were tossed in to the air by the force of the quake before they fell to their deaths. "Damn it…" Syack cursed under his breath.
Meanwhile…
"Icy whirlwind!" Casey spun around while breathing out an icy gale, freezing solid many black soldiers at once. "Expert Guard!" Casey immediately took a defensive stance as several arrows and spells came at him, all of which he effortlessly stopped from harming him. "Return Magic!" Casey returned the various fire, ice, thunder, and other high-level spells back at their casters.
"God he's strong!"
"So what? Just kill him!" Several black soldiers ran past their frozen comrades to get to Casey. Casey merely crouched down and leaped above them just before they were all about to jump him.
"Fire breath!" Casey breathed a tremendous blast of flame straight down that spread out once it touched ground. It not only roasted alive the many black soldiers that were rushing him, but it also melted the frozen soldiers. "Hm?"
"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!" A number of dragoons leaped at him from below, ready to run him through with their lances.
"Bring it on!" Casey said. One thrust his lance at Casey, but Casey merely grabbed it and pulled it so that he forced that dragoon to get in the way of another attack. Casey then spun around and kicked away another lance while thrusting his sword in to the chest of the other dragoon. Casey kicked off of those three dragoons and flew towards the remaining five that were coming at him.
"Here he comes!"
"Wild Whirlwind!" As Casey was flying at them he began to spin around and around with his sword in hand, creating a whirlwind around him as he flew upward. The whirlwind touched ground and devastated a number of forces waiting for him to come back down and sliced the dragoons to ribbons, raining their blood down below.
"Fire!" Several gunners aimed their bullets at Casey while he was in mid-air, but they missed horribly.
"Earth Tremor!" Casey dive-bombed towards the ground, diving faster than a peregrine falcon dives towards its prey. Casey slammed in to the ground and caused a massive earthquake.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" The soldiers screamed as small fissures opened up and swallowed them, or when stalagmites shot from the earth to impale them.
"Heh… is this all you've got?" Casey smirked, still unharmed. "Hmmmm… I've still got about two thousand to go though."
Meanwhile…
"Ha! That got him!" A soldier said confidently watching the building collapse on top of Adam.
"Wait look!" Another one shouted in horror. The flaming rubble suddenly went flying through the air before crashing down on top of some soldiers. Adam stood straight up clutching the moogle child, relatively unharmed despite having shoved off burning rubble.
"Gah… I haven't had to lift something that hot since Master Casey's weight training exercise in which he had me lift a boulder that he was constantly breathing flames on. What great training." Adam sighed in admiration while the child only stared at him. "Come on!" Adam carried the child close to him as he ran down the street as fast as he could. More black soldiers came rushing in from side streets at Adam.
"Get him!"
"Grrr… I can't endanger the child. I have to make this quick." Adam held the child over his shoulder while drawing his sword. Adam quickly deflected and countered a sword thrust while spinning around and decapitating another soldier. Adam then slammed the ground with his foot and caused a small tremor that knocked back a few soldiers before resuming running.
Meanwhile…
"Rah!" Harris slashed through a dozen black soldiers in three moves as several started to descend from the tops of nearby buildings. "Focus…" Harris focused inward.
"Harris is gathering his mana…" Heidi thought while impaling two black soldiers at once with her katana.
"SAINT CROSS!" Harris caused a larger than normal saint cross attack to occur and blow back a tremendous amount of black soldiers once he gathered as much mana as necessary.
"Way to go Harris." Heidi thought while slashing her way through a number of black soldiers. "Hm?" Heidi looked up a very tall tower. In fact, it was probably the tallest tower in Baguba. "I feel… something strange." Heidi looked around her before using conceal and jumping up the tower.
Meanwhile…
"AAAAAHHHH!!!" A human woman screamed as a number of black soldiers came surging from a side street towards her.
"I… have to…" Matt thought. "BLIZZAJA!!!" Matt cast a spell that caused ENORMOUS icicles to erupt from the ground underneath the entire street, easily wiping out the black soldiers. "Augh…"
Flashback…
"Wow Mister Matt, that airship truly is amazing." A young Cid the first, no older than sixteen said to Matt while taking a brief break.
"What can I say?" Matt asked him. Matt reached in to a toolbox to get a tool out but as he pulled his left hand out, the glove got caught on the handle of the toolbox and fell off. "Gah!" Matt grunted in a panicked fashion.
"Oh let me get that for you mister… ho… ho… holy… mackerel…" Cid saw Matt's left hand and noticed the symbol on his hand. "That means you're… you're…"
"Shush!" Matt hissed as he snatched his glove and put it back on his hand.
End of flashback…
"AAAAHHH!!!" A number of civilians screamed as a nu mou cast a firaga spell, sending the large fireball at them.
"Mog guard!" Matt jumped in the way of the fireball while defending himself, hardly getting burnt by the attack. "Return… oh… Stop!" Instead of returning the spell at the caster, Matt simply cast stop on the attacker and froze him in time. "I can't do this… not after everything that attached me to this city." Matt cringed.
Flashback…
"Mister Matt! Where are you going?" Cid the first shouted as he saw Matt walking down the street towards the gate.
"I'm sorry Cid, but I can't afford to have anyone outside of the boss, who I didn't even LET him find out who I am, find out who I am." Matt told Cid. "Oh how many people must know by now…" Matt thought out loud.
"Only me, I haven't even told my fiancé."
"Really?" Matt asked surprised.
"Of course not, a man is entitled to their secrets. And I'll keep yours." Cid said as he offered a hand.
"…" Matt smiled, touched quite deeply by this. "Okay." Matt shook his hand.
End of flashback…
"Look out!" More rubble began to fall towards the group.
"Grrr… Mog lance!" Monty drew his gun blade and thrust it forward rapidly, sending two pronged lances made of mana flying out with each thrust and obliterating the rocks as they fell. "Come on!" Matt shouted as he led on the citizens.
Meanwhile…
"Yes Matt… Master of Moogles… let the destruction of your precious Baguba sink in. Let the many lives that you failed to preserve seep in slowly… let your doubt be your downfall." Mali said slowly, savoring her words. Mali then sighed somewhat happily as she took a step to the side, reached out a hand and grabbed something.
"Gah!" Heidi cried, as she became visible. Heidi had her wrist knife out, having apparently attempted to kill Mali only to have Mali gripping her tightly by her hair.Mali then spun around and hurled Heidi on to the floor.
"Tell me girl… what did you hope to accomplish?" Mali asked.
"Are you… General Mali?" Heidi asked.
"And if I am?" Mali asked.
"Then prepare to die." Heidi drew her bow and fired a few arrows at Mali. Mali quickly caught one arrow and used it to deflect the other arrows before tossing the arrow in her hand to the ground. "Wha! She's fast…"
"Listen girl… I suggest you go back down there now." Mali said.
"Hm?"
"The difference between your abilities and mine is far to great, but I'm willing to let you go. After all, now is not yet the time for me to fight." Mali said.
"Why you…"
"But if you do attack, I will defend myself." Mali said, still keeping perfectly cool.
"Grrrrrr… ha!" Heidi drew her katana and lunged at Mali.
"Very well." Mali said.
Meanwhile…
"Ice breath!" Kyle breathed out as much icy wind as he could to blow out the flames on one house to allow the hostages to escape.
"Look out!" Hunter cried as he shot two black soldiers attempting to jump Kyle from behind.
"My thanks to you." Kyle said. As he struck another black soldier with his lance.
"No problem." Hunter said. He turned and fired a single arrow at a group of about six black soldiers. "Sonic boom!" The arrow struck the ground at the feet of those soldiers and caused them all to go flying backwards. Hunter turned again and found a house completely ablaze as a man made for the door. "Ah…" Hunter gasped slowly as the flames reflected in his eyes.
Flashback…
"Dad! Dad!" A young Hunter cried out as he saw his father make for the door of his burning home, only to see a support beam fall on top of him.
"Go!" The dad cried out.
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!!!" Hunter cried.
End of flashback…
"Look out weakling!"
"Huh? Whoa!" Hunter raised his bow up in defense as a bangaa with knuckles on knocked away his bow. "Damn it." Hunter dodged another punch and kicked that bangaa in the gut before throwing several jabs at his face. Hunter then ran for his bow and retrieved it.
"Get a grip you weakling!" Laura shouted as she used thundara to fry more black soldiers.
"Right." Hunter said, hardly paying attention to the insult.
Meanwhile…
"Diiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeee!" Brently threw more random weapons at the numerous black soldiers and killed them all as he struck them with weapons before pulling out his own knife and jumping around, slashing black soldiers as he did so.
"You!"
"Huh? Oof!" Brently received a strong right hook in to his left cheek. "Ow… hey you're…"
"Give me back my watch you thief!" Cid threatened Brently.
"Hey you're the guy who pinned me to the wall! Why I ought to…"
"Get them!" More black soldiers came rushing at the two moogles from the side. The two looked at the black army, and then at each other.
"We'll finish this later…" They both threatened each other before throwing themselves at the black soldiers.
Meanwhile…
"Hiyah! Yah!" Heidi swung her sword at Mali to the best of her ability, only for Mali to easily dodge each swing.
"I must say… your swordsmanship is quite well refined." Mali noted as she ducked one swing and then flipped over top of Heidi. "But still, that doesn't make you a match for me." Mali said.
"Try this!" Heidi thrust her katana straight at Mali. She side-stepped the attack and gave Heidi a back hand behind the neck that nearly sent her flying off of the tower. "AUGH!!!" Heidi cried. "She's… strong…" Heidi thought to herself. Heidi stood up and once again attempted to thrust at Mali.
"If you insist…" Mali held out her hand, a purple puff of smoke occurred and then…
CLANG
"Huh?" Heidi found her Katana caught between two katana blades. The weird thing was that they were connected to the same hilt that Mali was holding. Mali had the unusual katana turned so that both blades were pressing against Heidi's blade, and Heidi found herself unable to push her katana forward. "Grrr… I'm pushing as hard as I can… and she's not breaking a sweat. What is that weapon?"
"Like it?" Mali asked as she gut kicked Heidi quickly and sent her flying back.
"AUGH!" Heidi cried as she went flying backwards.
"This is the yin-yang. Two blades… united together in to one sword. Much like how good and evil exist in the same world." Mali said. "Now then… as I said it is not time for me to fight, but if this continues I will kill you." Mali threatened.
Meanwhile…
"Holy blade!" Harris dashed past about fifty black soldiers, engulfing them in holy light as his blade passed through them.
"You're pretty good."
"Hm?" Harris turned and saw a nu mou standing there.
"But tell me… are you good enough to fight me?" The nu mou asked. Harris stared intently at him for a moment.
"Quite frankly yes." Harris said.
"Hmph… we'll soon see." The nu mou said.
Meanwhile…
"Mog peek!" Matt focused his already highly acute vision. "Pandora!" Matt flipped a coin in to the air and quickly caught it. "Chroma gem!" Several black soldiers saw the image of multi-colored magnets passing by them before they fell asleep. "Let's go!" Matt said. One bangaa stopped and turned to Matt.
"Mister Mayor, why didn't you kill them?" He asked.
"I… just go!" Matt demanded. The bangaa decided not to pursue it further and went on. "After all… how could I?" Matt asked himself.
Flashback…
"Hey you ever tried one of these?" Cid asked Matt while they were on break.
"No I can't say I have." Matt said while still drawing up plans.
"I know you don't need to, but you ought to take a break and eat something. Here try this." Cid urged.
"Fine…" Matt didn't even look at what Cid offered him and gulped it one gulp. "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!" Matt shouted.
"I forgot to warn you that it's spicy."
Another moment in time…
"Looks like I win the bet, now you have to buy me lunch." Cid taunted.
"Aw man… here." Matt gave Cid some money for lunch.
Later as they were eating, Cid's wife suddenly came up to them. "What is it Connie?" Cid asked.
"Um… there's no easy way to tell you this…" She said.
"Aw… what could be that hard to tell me?" Cid asked while stuffing his face with a sandwich.
"Oh… Cid I'm pregnant."
"Pbbbbbbttt! Hack… hack…" Cid gagged on his sandwich while Matt tried to stifle his laughter.
Another moment in time…
It was a few day after the accident at the factory. Cid jr. and Matt were the only ones looking at the memorial Matt made for Cid. The inscription said, "In memory of Cid the first, a loving husband, father, a great worker, and a wonderful friend."
"Daddy…" Cid jr. cried.
"Little Cid…" Matt started to say.
"Hm?"
"Whatever happens, I won't let anything bad happen to you. Or this city, I'll do everything in my power to protect it… for your daddy… for Cid…" Matt said, failing to hold back a few tears. "For Cid…" He repeated quietly. "My best friend…"
End of flashbacks…
"I… failed." Matt thought to himself while leading citizens down the guarded street to the factory.
"Is everything okay Master Matt?" Monty asked as he fired a few fireballs.
"Yeah." Matt lied before running back to find more citizens.
Meanwhile…
"Heh… well… they got me quite well with that last attack." Casey sighed as he used cura to heal his wounds. "Aura…"
"Jump him!" Several black soldiers surrounded him and grabbed him around his limbs, waist and neck while a fighter with his fist covered in flames came at Casey.
"Meltdown!" Casey's skin glowed an orange color before a large explosion occurred. The explosion took down numerous black soldiers, and Casey himself would be dead had it not been for aura. Casey stood back up, although now considerably burnt. "Grrr… still one thousand five hundred of them." Casey growled.
Meanwhile…
"Hiyah!" Heidi stood back up and charged at Mali with her katana.
"So be it." Mali said. She easily dodged Heidi's attack and slashed her sword at Heidi's stomach.
"AH!" Heidi cried as the twin blades cut in to the flesh around her stomach. Heidi dropped her sword and staggered backwards as the blood came flowing out of the wounds. Mali then disappeared and reappeared behind Heidi.
"Die!" Mali slashed Heidi's back multiple times.
"AUGH!!!" Heidi cried in agony as the blades penetrated her back a countless number of times. Heidi staggered forward, kneeled, and then fell down on her side eventually lying on her back. "Her speed… and strength… she's just like…" "AUGH!" Heidi didn't have time to finish that thought. Mali stabbed her sword in to Heidi's shoulder very deeply and twisted it back and forth a few times, causing excruciating pain as the blade dug deeper in to her shoulder.
"Hm hm hm hm… I'll let your wounds finish you off now girl… I warned you though." Mali said as she turned towards the edge of the tower and continued to watch, leaving Heidi to bleed to death a ways behind her.
"Harris… I'm… sorry…" Heidi thought before everything went black.
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The plot only thickens now. It seems as though the attack is going Mali's way, but only time will tell. Read and Review!