Final Fantasy: Rise of Despair
When we last left off, the attack on Baguba from the outside was being staved off by Casey, albeit with more difficulty than usual. On the inside however no clear winner is in sight as Matt's hesitancy to kill the agents is not helping to cut down the enemy numbers, and our other heroes are facing a few dilemmas of their own. But none is in worse condition than Heidi, who was utterly defeated at the hands of General Mali.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance. I do own the characters and plot.
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Mystery and duty
"I've been observing you." The nu mou said to Harris as he pulled out a mace. "You are quite skilled in both chivalry and white magic. I don't know how much you know, but I had best assume that you're mastered in both skills." The nu mou said.
"Even knowing that, you realize that you are no match for me." Harris told him.
"We shall see."
"Hmph." Harris dashed towards the nu mou ready to strike him with his swords.
"Water!" The nu mou pointed his hand somewhere to the right as Harris ran towards him.
"Where is he aiming that spell?" Harris asked himself. He looked towards where he was aiming and found an unconscious human body tied to a post that was being enveloped by the water. "Damn it!" "Cover!" Harris teleported over to the unconscious body and pressed a hand against the almost complete sphere of water. "I have to draw the spell towards me…" Harris thought. He focused his mana in a way that it felt as though it was flowing from his hand to the rest of the body, making the water surround Harris instead and explode once it covered him. "Argh."
"Ha ha… aero!" This time the nu mou aimed a spell in another direction.
"Now where is he… damn it!" Harris saw the unconscious moogle and a green tornado was forming around him. Harris used cover once again and teleported in front of the moogle. Harris drew a sword and spun it clockwise against the tornado's counter-clockwise rotation. "Cover!" This time Harris teleported towards the nu mou and swung his sword horizontally. The nu mou sneered and ducked under it and then leaped back from Harris.
"Nice try… but my reflex ability gives me better odds of dodging attacks, you won't be able to hit me while using cover. But just in case… Haste!" The nu mou raised a hand above him as the green roman numerals spun around him quickly.
"Great… this is just peachy…" Harris thought sarcastically.
Meanwhile…
"You're safe now… go!" Casey urged the moogle child down the street that Monty, Mendoza, and Gilbert were guarding before turning around and drawing his own sword. "I shall assist you three." Adam said.
"It would be an honor." Gilbert said. "… Meteor!" Gilbert cast a spell that brought down a large meteor from space to crush a large number of enemies.
"Bolt shot!" Monty fired bullets in to the air that rained lightning bolts down on a few enemies.
"Fire sword!" Mendoza created a sword made from flames, and was slashing through a number of black soldiers before it disappeared and Mendoza had to raise his sword to block an attack.
"Ice sword!" Adam dual wielded his Nagrarok and ice sword and continued to cut down the number of enemies for a long period of time before, "Wild Swing!" Adam spun around with both swords and slashed away at nearby enemies.
Meanwhile…
"Gah!" Matt quickly drew his gunblade and stopped an attack cold before jumping at the viera's head and knocking her out with a single punch. "Ball!" Matt sheathed his gunblade and threw his hands out. From under his sleeves, numerous rubber balls started bouncing about on top of the heads of black soldiers, causing confusion among them. Making them strike out at the nearest moving thing. "Come on!" Matt hurried a number of citizens along.
"Get him!" More black soldiers came charging at Matt.
"Blindshot!" Matt turned and open fired with bullets that released black smoke once they hit the target at a rapid pace.
"Gah! How can that gun do rapid fire?" Someone cried.
"…" Matt decided not to answer and run from the black soldiers.
"Boss… come in boss." Cid's voice rang in Matt's ear. Matt pressed a finger against the radio.
"I'm here Cid, how goes it?" Matt asked.
Meanwhile…
"Going fine. Green gear!" Cid said as he caught the Pandora coin and caused the image of green gears to pass by the black soldiers, soon they all found themselves feeling sick from poison.
"Dagger!" Brently juggled numerous daggers before hurling them at foes and usually striking them in the heart or arms.
"Boss, how many of these bastards have you taken care of?" Cid asked. No response. "Boss? You there?"
"Hey you focused at all?" Brently shouted at Cid as he stabbed a viera in the back with his knife.
"I'm sorry Cid… I let you down." Matt said.
"If this is about the watch…" Cid started.
"It's not the watch. It's everything!" Matt shouted on the other end. "Sheep count!" Apparently Matt had put more enemies to sleep. "I couldn't keep the promise to protect this city, and I couldn't keep my promise to keep you safe."
"Boss…" Cid started to say.
Meanwhile…
"Hm hm hm hm hm hm…" Mali chuckled. "Yes things are going quite nicely." Mali said. Behind her, Heidi's bleeding and unmoving body continued to lay where it was, in a puddle of blood. Suddenly, the body stirred.
"Hm? Still alive?" Mali asked without even turning around. "You truly are a persistent girl. So then, will you turn back and head back down now? Or will I have to make sure that I kill you this time?" Mali asked. Mali finally turned around and noticed something unexpected. "Hm?"
Heidi was holding a glowing white hand over her body, and as her hand passed over her many cuts, they sealed themselves up, even removing the bloodstains from her hair and clothing. "…"
"The reports indicate that you don't know healing arts so how did you… what?" What Mali saw next surprised her even more. Heidi raised her head, and Mali found her eyes still shut tightly, and she wasn't breathing normally, rather her breath was low as if she were asleep. "You're… still unconscious?"
"…" Heidi reached for her katana. She picked it up and took a stance.
"…" Mali thought this over a moment. "Muscle memory? Does this girl possess muscle memory? That is most interesting… but nonetheless, you must perish right here." Mali said as she called upon her sword again. Heidi crouched low and prepared to dash when she disappeared suddenly. "What!" Mali gasped.
CLANG
Next thing Mali knew, Heidi was right in front of her locking blades with her. Mali quickly rolled behind her for a quick slash to the back only for Heidi to back flip over her as she rolled. Mali stood up and narrowly blocked another slash before the two took up a high-speed swordfight, trading blades with each other with such speed that it appeared that only blurs were in their places.
"She's… so much faster…" Mali thought, clearly surprised. Heidi then leaped back and drew her bow and pulled the bowstring. Heidi fired a single mana arrow. "Oh is that all?" Mali asked when the arrow suddenly multiplied in to several mana arrows that were all aimed at Mali. "WHAT!" Mali quickly leaped over the attack only to see Heidi leaping at her as well with her katana. Mali swung her blade so as to catch Heidi's in between the blades. The two landed and were pushing against each other with tremendous difficulty.
"…" Heidi's head looked up at Mali's face. Her eyes still didn't open, her breathing still went slowly.
"Her speed… and her strength at that… how has it increased to reach my level so suddenly? When she's unconscious no less." Mali thought.
Meanwhile…
"Gah!" Harris intercepted yet another spell for an unconcious citizen as he dashed for the nu mou.
"Ha ha ha ha… your sentimence for these people will be your doom." The nu mou said.
"Grrr… wait… why didn't I think of this before?" Harris stood up and drew his swords. Harris crouched low, and then dashed for the nu mou.
"Oh you're so dim to try and charge me again." The nu mou said. "Water!" The nu mou aimed a water spell that started to cover the unconscious human behind him. "Heh heh heh…" The nu mou was feeling very sure of himself, especially when Harris teleported to the human behind him, the nu mou turned around slowly. He had a very smug look on his face. Once he turned around.
SHING
"GUAH!!!" The nu mou collapsed to the ground with two very deep gashes in his chest. The nu mou clutched his bleeding chest as Harris ran back to the human that he let the water spell hit.
"Full-Life!" Harris revived the human. "You became far too complacent." Harris told the nu mou before helping the human to his feet and urging him to run.
"I… may be… a dead man… but… so will these people…" The nu pulled out a button from under his coat and pressed it.
"What?" Harris looked at the button curiously before the nu mou fell to the ground dead and dropped it.
KABOOM
One of the nearby buildings exploded and started to catch fire. "AAHHH!!! HELP!!!" Someone cried.
"Damn it!" Harris ran for the building as fast as he could and dived straight in to the building.
Meanwhile…
"Look out!" A viera child cried.
"Gah!" A nu mou wielding a mace clubbed Syack from behind. "Oooooggg…"
"You should have stayed at the retirement home old man…" The nu mou taunted.
"I'll finish him. Firag…" A moogle spellcaster started to say when…
"Star Cross!" Syack created the holy star that swept over the nearby area with its holy light. The Black soldiers that were exposed to the light all perished from the magic light. "Heh… I may be old, but I've still got it." Syack said. "Go on." Syack urged the child. "I've still got more to do." Syack ran as fast as he could to the nearest street.
Meanwhile…
"Okay, everyone in this area has been evacuated." Hunter said to Kyle.
"Good. Duck!" Kyle shouted. Hunter and Kyle ducked under an incoming arrow while Hunter retaliated with his own arrow. "Bolt breath!" Kyle turned and spewed lightning bolts from his mouth on to numerous black soldiers. "Laura!" Kyle shouted.
"Hiyah!" Laura kicked a human that was trying to attack her from behind in the gut before skewering him with her rapier. "Don't worry about it! Cura! Blizzara!" Laura first healed a few wounds before impaling black soldiers with a few icicles.
Meanwhile…
Matt had stopped where he was as he listened to Cid on the other end of the radio. Matt was stunned, he could hardly believe what Cid was saying.
"Boss! Listen to yourself! You call yourself one of the Racemasters and yet you can't even bring yourself to do what's best for the whole city! These guys aren't the townspeople you once knew anymore! If you really want to keep a promise you made to this (censored) town and to my dad then you need to get a (censored) grip! If you want to protect this town then fight these (censored) (censored)!!!" Cid yelled on the other end of the radio.
"…" Matt stood where he was amidst the destruction and the flames with his eyes wide open at what he just heard. "You know… I don't think anyone, not even in the over two-hundred years I've been around has even said that to me before." Matt thought. "That… was a real kick in the head, and… man, I've been so stupid." Matt thought while slapping himself in the forehead. Matt cracked a smile as a tear leaked down his cheek "Cid… you know your language is about as colorful as your dad's. Well Cid, I've got a promise to keep." Matt thought as he turned around and pulled out his gunblade.
"There he is!" Numerous black soldiers rushed at Matt at once.
"Thundaja!" Matt raised a hand above him and called down gigantic column of lightning that obliterated the black soldiers charging him. "Still more?" Matt asked, apparently back in to his happy-go-lucky personality.
"Oh… my…" One guy started to say.
"Unlock blades." Matt pressed on two switches on the sides of the gun handle and the blades of the gunblade opened up like a pair of scissors. "Rotate ninety-degrees." Matt pulled the hammer on the gun and then flicked it back once the blades were on the sides rather than on the top and bottom of the barrel. "Open vent three!" Matt slid open a vent on the top of the handle. "Flamethrower!" Matt did a variation of fireshot, but instead it was a large blast of flame that spread out over the black soldiers.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" They shouted as they burned alive. Once Matt finished, he messed with the switches on the handle again and returned the gunblade to its normal look while running through Baguba. "Okay Cid, I'm off to handle as many of these losers as I can. And I bet I'll take down more." Matt said.
"Okay, loser buys lunch after this." Cid said over the radio.
"Deal." Matt said.
Meanwhile…
"Hiyah!" Mali and Heidi both pushed upward against each other and knocked each other's swords out of their hands. Both blades went spinning through the air as Heidi and Mali started throwing punches and kicks at each other. Mali blocked one kick and threw a punch that Heidi spun around and attempted to backhand her. Mali ducked while Heidi hopped and they both threw a sweep kick and spin kick respectively, both of them missing.
"…" Heidi landed as Mali jumped from her crouch and attempted to drop kick her. Heidi did an upper-cross block and then seized Mali's foot.
"Ah!" Mali gasped as Heidi swung her over her head and attempted to slam her in to the ground. However Mali landed on her hands and glared at Heidi. "Grrrrrah!" Mali kicked Heidi in the gut from her position, forcing Heidi to let go of her leg. Mali sprang in to the air off of her hands while Heidi leaped in to the air. Both of them caught their respective blades in mid-air and prepared to strike each other.
CLANG
The blades clashed once again, but this time Heidi kicked Mali in the gut and sent her sprawling down on to the tower roof. "Augh!" Mali cried as she went sprawling. "This girl is… what!" Mali didn't finish that thought. The next thing she knew, Heidi thrust her sword forward from mid-air, and green mana extended from the blade flying towards her like a constantly lengthening blade. "Hah!" Mali somersaulted away from the mana and landed right next to the edge of the roof with her looking down below.
CHING
"What!" Mali was shocked to see that the green mana come out of the side of the tower at an angle and still continue extending until it stopped suddenly. Mali looked behind her and found the mana coming from Heidi's blade piercing through the roof. "Unbelieveable… to think that her mana could not only pierce through this roof, but even continue extending through the wall of the tower as well. And this tower is made of adamantite." The mana on Heidi's blade disappeared as she stood up. "Who are you?" Mali asked Heidi.
"…" Heidi crouched down and pressed a glowing hand against the ground.
"Is that… it can't be! Ugh this has gone on long enough. I must end this right now!" Mali put two fingers together and brought those fingers up to her cheek as they glowed a purple color. "Black blaze!" Mali thrust her fingers forward as a mighty blast of flames that were black in color flew towards Heidi.
"!" Heidi seemed to notice, but nonetheless was blasted by the blast of flames and burnt quite considerably.
"This is the end!" Mali shouted angrily as she swung her blade at Heidi. The blade sent out a purple arc that flew towards Heidi as she staggered. The energy wave struck Heidi and she staggered backwards more as it cut in to her skin, Mali then dashed past her and left a deep gash in her waist.
SHING
Heidi finally collapsed. "I ought to kill you. You little wench…" Mali hissed. "Hm?" Mali stopped short and looked over the edge of the tower and saw Harris leap out of a burning building with people slung over his shoulders. "Hmmmmm… But then again… I just thought of a much better use for you…" Mali said sinisterly as she looked at the next closest tower to her and Harris with her blade glowing purple in color.
Meanwhile…
"Whew… glad I managed to get everyone out." Harris sighed. "But… where did Heidi disappear to?" Harris looked around for a moment, but as he was walking, his ears perked up and his eyes narrowed. "Wait… what's this feeling?" Harris looked up and saw a large purple energy wave flying towards a nearby tower and slice straight through it somewhere between halfway up the tower and the top of it. "AH!" Harris gasped. Harris quivered a little when he saw it. "That… technique… it can't be…"
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" Some near by people screamed as they saw the tower begin to tilt towards them.
"I've got to… hm?" Harris turned around towards something falling through the air. "What is… NO!" Harris shouted suddenly when he clearly saw the falling object. Heidi was unconscious and falling through the air. Harris looked at the collapsing tower, and then at Heidi.
"Let us see what is more precious to him… if the answer is what I think it is… the outcome should be most interesting… hm hm hm hm." Mali thought to herself while watching from the tower.
"I… I… I'm sorry…" Harris thought. Harris focused inward and stood still for a moment.
"Hm? His mana… is it… it is but… it can't be…" Mali thought while sensing Harris' mana.
"Okay… I'm ready!" Harris opened his eyes and dashed towards Heidi, kicking up a cloud of dust as he went. He ran faster than he has before, and he leaped from building to building with incredibly agility finally leaping towards Heidi and catching her. "These wounds… I'll have to treat them later, right now…" The second Harris landed, he dashed for the collapsing tower that was drawing closer and closer to the cowering people underneath it.
"His speed… it is most surprising…" Mali thought as she observed this.
"Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" Harris halted among the crowd, lay Heidi on the ground and then caught the tower.
"Whooooooaaaa…" Nearly everyone gasped as Harris held up the tower.
"This is… heavy…" Harris grunted. "Go!" Harris shouted at the people staring at him. They all ran away from under the tower, Harris turned around and tossed it above him as much as he could. The tower got quite a few feet above him, but before it could come back down Harris leaped up towards it spinning as he did so. "HIIIIIIIYAAAAAH!"
BOOM
Harris thrust a foot at the tower. The area his foot struck began to crack and expand over that whole chunk of the tower, and then finally shatter in to millions of harmless little pieces. "I've… got to get Heidi to safety." Harris thought while taking a deep breath to recover from his seemingly impossible feat. Harris focused inward again, stood still for a moment and then scooped up Heidi, looked around and ran in to the nearest building he could see.
"Hmmm… his mana is back to its normal level now… but it was… hm? Wait a minute…" Mali turned to the side and noticed Matt running through the streets, shooting or slashing his way past many black soldiers and occasionally throwing some projectile at them. "Most amazing… despite the emotional strain this should put on him he is still doing his duty that he has supposedly sworn himself to. This should be most interesting."Meanwhile…
"Damn it… are we all that's left?" A bangaa asked a human.
"I think that there are about five hundred of us right here in the square with a few others at various districts." The human told him.
"And pretty soon it'll be just those guys and my new buddies taking care of them." A moogle's voice rang over them.
"Hm?" Everyone turned to the nearby clock tower, though the tower was pretty tall, it was pretty short compared to other towers. At the top of the tower, they saw Matt standing at the top, arms crossed and with a smile on his face. "Heh… you think you can stop us Mister Mayor?" The bangaa asked.
"I am quite able you know." Matt rang out to them.
"Heh, but CAN you? After we've lived here for so long?" The bangaa asked. Matt closed his eyes as the smile turned to a slight frown. He then opened his eyes.
"It was difficult, but in the end… I have made a vow, even if it took someone to remind me about it. I'll finish you guys with three moves." Matt said.
"Three? Ha!" The bangaa scoffed.
"Well, four if you count Mog Peek!" Matt focused his vision. "Pandora!" Matt flipped the sun and moon coin and caught the coin. "Black Ingot!"
"What!" Nearly everyone gasped. The images of black tubes passed by their eyes.
"There, you guys will have… ten minutes at best to live if you don't beat me." Matt said.
"Why you…" The bangaa started.
"But it won't last that long. Pandora!" Matt flipped the coin again, still influenced by mog peek. "Chroma Gem!" Multi-colored magnets flashed in their eyes before most of them asleep. "Pandora! Red Spring!" Matt this time caste haste on all of them. Matt waited around for a few minutes before all of them that were awake suddenly fell over dead, or the ones that were asleep stopped breathing. "Hm… three minutes. I thought they'd last five." Matt said. Matt shrugged and then jumped between buildings towards the gates.
Meanwhile…
"Unbelievable…" Mali thought. Not angry or frustrated, but more like she was lightly surprised. "He hardly had to lift a finger and he took care of them all." Mali looked all around the city from various places at the top of the tower.
"Madeen!" Laura took care of an entire street by summoning Madeen.
"Sonic Missle!" Hunter tied together three arrows and fired them as if they were one arrow down the street, all the while they were emitting sonic waves as they flew.
"GAAAAAHHHH!!!" The black soldiers cried as they died from the sheer force of the sonic boom.
"Bangaa CRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!" Kyle took down a whole street with a loud sonic boom.
"Star Dust!" Syack caused meteors to rain down on the street and crush any black soldiers they struck.
"Hmmmmm…" Mali pondered while watching all of this and Adam and the other three clearing out a large crowd. "That only leaves… the outer forces. But somehow… I don't think they'll last either."
Meanwhile…
Heidi opened her eyes slowly. "Uuuuuuuhhh…" Heidi moaned while looking around weakly. She was in some windowless room in a bed. Otherwise the room was rather plain with wood flooring and stone walls. She found Harris standing over her with concern in his face.
"Good, you're awake." Harris sighed.
"Harris where am… AUGH!"
"Don't move." Harris said with some alarm. Heidi saw that she wasn't in her usual clothing, she was in the workout clothes underneath her usual outfit with several bandages around her waist, part of it stained red in blood.
"Harris what…" Heidi started to ask.
"I healed the wound, but you still lost a lot of blood, you need to keep still for a while." Harris said.
"If you… healed the wound… what's with the bandages?" Heidi asked weakly.
"To try and keep you from moving, and I did use them to stop the bleeding earlier." Harris answered.
"What about Baguba?" Heidi asked.
"I believe it's still under siege."
"But Harris…"
"Don't forget, Matt IS one of the Racemasters." Harris told her.
Meanwhile…
Casey had apparently healed his wounds since he looked much better than he was last time. "Hmmmm… two hundred left… I was hoping to save some for you Matt if you came to your senses but… I guess another sword of the judge will finish this."
"Hold on! Just because I can't leap as far as you in one jump doesn't mean I'm not here!"
"Matt?" Casey looked up and saw Matt landing on the ground from the top of the wall. "So, you came to your senses." Casey said with a smile.
"Hey, since when do I turn down a challenge?" Matt asked. "Open vents one through four." Matt opened up the vents on the sides, a vent on the top of the gun, and one more under the gun handle. "Unlock blades." Matt pressed on two switches and the blades opened up like scissors again. "Initiate rotation." Matt pressed down and held the gun's hammer and the blades began spinning around and around continuously.
"What the heck is this?" Casey asked.
"You mentioned some sword of the judge right? Well you're not the only one with new techniques. Demi!" Matt cast Demi on the gun, but as the sphere formed, it was drawn in to the gun by the spinning blades and then once again gathered in a constantly growing and pulsating sphere. "Demi Ray!" Matt pulled the trigger on his gun when it seemed as though it couldn't hold it any longer. The gun sucked in the sphere and then let out a humongous beam of purplish energy. The beam mowed down a number of black soldiers as it traveled until it struck a part of the ground somewhere in the middle of the black soldiers. The area it struck began to uproot as a purple dome of energy expanded and consumed the black soldiers.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!" It was like they were being exposed to the demi spell, only far worse. The pushing and pulling was in more flux than normal and crushing them from the inside and out at once. When the dome finally disappeared, all the black soldiers that were inside were dead. Their eyes were completely white, and blood leaking from their mouths.
"That's that." Matt said confidently.
"Bah… my Sword of the Judge could take that many down easily." Casey said.
"Yeah I'd like to see you try and match that." Matt teased.
"Ha! How about we wrestle then?"
"Better yet, how about I kick you in the shin and then you kick mine, see how can take it better."
"Well how about we…"
While this trade of barbs was going on, Mali continued to watch from above. "Hmmmm… these Racemasters… are indeed powerful, they may even be a match for… Bah! Never mind." Mali looked around saw all the defeated bodies of black soldiers all around. "Hmmm… the attack may have failed, but I have some valuable information regarding our enemy." Mali said with a smile. "But at the same time, there are now new questions that arise with this information. The most curious ones out of them all are that paladin and that girl." Mali continued to say to herself. "I suppose the only thing I can do is report to Marshal Agon." Mali said. A black substance started to creep up Mali's legs, and as it did so Mali started to sink in to the tower as if she were turning to black ooze. After a few seconds, Mali had disappeared.
Meanwhile…
"Hmph… it seems the attack failed."
"What do you make of it Ize?" Colonel Cious asked Ize. The two were standing at the top of another part of the wall, quite a ways away from the gate.
"While I'm happy to see how fallible General Mali truly is, it still leaves me surprised that the enemy was capable of stopping this." Ize answered.
"I suppose Mali won't be scorned so much for this failure." Cious sighed.
"No… she won't be scorned at all. Her and those other generals are all the little pets of our majesty." Ize said with disdain towards the generals.
"What does that make us?" Cious asked.
"Hmph… we should head back." Ize said bitterly. Ize held out some vial and threw it against the ground. After a puff of smoke occurred, the two had disappeared from where they stood.
Later…
"Where are Harris and Heidi?" Matt asked. All of our heroes, minus Harris, Heidi, and Brently if he counts as a hero, were gathered at the town square along with a number of sobbing and crying townspeople who were mourning over their dead relatives or friends, all of their bodies gathered in the square.
"I don't know… we lost them when we split up." Adam answered.
"We're right here." Everyone turned towards an alleyway that Harris was walking down while supporting Heidi on his shoulder.
"What happened to you?" Laura asked when she saw Heidi having to lean on Harris' shoulder.
"Oh…" Heidi turned a head to Harris, Harris shook his head. "Nothing."
"Hmmmm…" Casey noticed this but decided to leave it be.
"Fine then… don't tell me." Laura sighed. Once everyone turned away from the two, Harris leaned his head closer to Heidi.
"We don't want to concern them with what you told me. If anyone should know it should be Casey and Matt." Harris whispered.
"I understand." Heidi whispered back. "There is one other thing I'm bothered by." Heidi whispered.
"What?" Harris asked.
"Before I passed out, I was sure I had more wounds than this, yet you said I only had this wound in my waist."
"You did. You had no other wounds." Harris said.
"How strange."
"Ah-hem." Matt cleared his throat and turned to everyone present at the square. "Fellow citizens of Baguba, it is with tremendous difficulty that I say these words. In the past few hours, the black army had infiltrated the city, and we have reason to believe they were among us for a very long time. It was with the aid of our esteemed guests that Baguba has survived." Matt paused and let a few people cry. "We have lost many good men, and we have lost many esteemed friends and family, but now my friends is not the time for regret. Now my friends, it is time to take action. Do not let the cruelty of the black king reach you, rather show your spirit, and rebuild Baguba, but now is the time that I be more active in taking a stand against the black army."
"Hm?" Nearly everyone was pondering what he meant by that statement.
"My friends, I must leave Baguba." Matt said hesitantly.
"What!"
"Mister Mayor!"
"It wasn't your fault!"
"Don't leave us!"
"I must leave Baguba, and I'll return, once I have guaranteed the future security of Baguba. My friends these heroes that came to us in our time of need have been traveling Ivalice, they have seen the tragedy and chaos that has gone on for years. They have been facing danger and openly opposing the Black King in hopes of one day destroying his reign of terror for good. And now these heroes need my support!" Matt told them. People seemed stunned at first, one person started to applaud. Everyone turned and saw Heidi clapping her hands slowly. More people started to join in the applause until it finally built up in to thunderous applause.
"So, you are coming with us?" Casey asked with a smile.
"You bet old friend." Matt told him. "Cid, I want you to take care of things while I'm gone." Matt told Cid.
"Me?" Cid asked, a little shocked.
"Hey, you can take care of yourself can't you?" Matt asked him.
"Well… you know what? I can handle things here." Cid said confidently.
"Good, but before I go I believe I won our little bet." Matt told him.
"Dang it." Cid reached in to a pocket and pulled out some gil for food.
"Firaja!" Matt turned to the dead corpses while pointing a hand at it. A gigantic column of fire rose up from underneath the bodies and incinerated all of them.
"Aeroga!" Casey summoned a large tornado to carry away all the ashes out of the city.
"Well, it seems like I've been forgotten about. Good, I'll just make the slip while they have." Brently said from a nearby rooftop. The second he turned around, "WHOA!"
"Where do you think you're going?" Matt asked him.
"But you were… you… how the heck did you get up here so fast?" Brently asked.
"Come on, fork it over." Matt said.
"Fork what over?" Brently asked nervously.
"The watch…" Matt said threateningly.
"Uuuuuhhh…" Brently decided it was best to fork over the watch. Brently reached in to his pocket and handed Matt the gold watch.
"Now then, pay for the engine."
"What?"
"The engine that you blew up we were working on." Matt said.
"But I don't have any money…" Brently whined.
"Fine then. You'll have to pay us back another way." Matt said.
"With what?"
"Blood sweat and tears."
"Huh?"
"You're coming with us." Matt said.
"Us? You mean us as in…" Brently turned and looked at the group of heroes that was watching from below the whole time. "Ah crap…" Brently moaned.
"Well Harris, things are looking up." Heidi said.
"True." Harris said.
"Hm? What is it?"
"I'm just, not sure where to go from here." Harris said.
"We're going to find Cole." Casey told Harris.
"Cole? Who's that?" Monty asked.
"He's one of us." Matt said as he hopped down from the building, holding Brently by the shirt collar. "He's… oh hang on." Brently zipped in to an alleyway, dropping a doll replica of Brently, and came back out of the alley with the real Brently.
"Dang it!" Brently cursed.
"Cole is the nu mou Racemaster." Matt told them.
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That is the end of the Baguba story arc. And of course, I leave you with more mysteries, so read and review.