Final Fantasy: Rise of Despair
When we last left off; Hunter, Laura, and Brently were teleported to Kudik Peaks. While Brently was enjoying his freedom, Hunter and Laura has to deal with being ambushed by bandits. While Hunter was saving Laura from the bandit hideout, the mysterious bandit leader was dispatching Brently to avenge his fallen men. Now that Laura and Hunter have wiped out the bandits, what will happen once the bandit leader comes back? Read on and find out.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance, I do own the characters and plot.
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Fists of flames
"Hunter, what is keeping you?" Laura asked. She and Hunter were on a mountain trail with Hunter lagging behind as they turned down a fork.
"Sorry, just marking our trail." Hunter said as he finally stopped chiseling in to the rock.
"Marking our trail? What for?" Laura asked.
"These mountains have quite a few paths, we might end up walking in circles, and if I keep marking our trail at each turn, we'll know which way not to go next time." Hunter explained.
"People could find us this way you know." Laura said.
"Another reason I'm doing this. What if our allies see this? Then they'll be able to find us." Hunter said.
"What makes you think they'll follow the marks?"
"I'm marking the trail with your name." Hunter answered. Laura's eye twitched a little bit at that, but it wasn't that big of a deal so she calmed down.
"Okay, what if someone hostile follows the marks?" Laura asked.
"Well, that is a possibility, but that is a VERY slim possibility, after all we took out the bandits. What's the worse that could happen?" Hunter asked.
"I guess you're right." Laura said reluctantly.
"Thank you."
"Weakling." Laura said with a smile.
"…" Hunter decided to just breathe and let it go.
Meanwhile…
At the mouth of the bandit's cave, the leader of the bandits stood there, mouth open in shock as he quivered, before dropping the bag of treasure. "MEN!" He shouted in worry. He ran to each one of the burnt bodies and checked to see if they were alive. "Come on… don't die on me. Stay alive damn it!" The leader shouted.
"Boss… is that… is that you?" One of the bodies weakly asked.
"Oh thank goodness, you're alive." The leader ran over to a bangaa body. "Hang in there."
"Boss… I… I won't make it…" He said.
"No… no just hang in there." The leader said as he supported his subordinate's head in his arms.
"Boss… you've always been… so fair to us… thank you for… for that…" The bangaa said before he coughed.
"No… don't… don't go now…" The leader said as a few tears welled up in his brown eyes. "Tell me who did this!" He shouted angrily.
"A… hunter and… a red mage…" The bangaa said. "Boss… thank you… for everything…" The bangaa coughed even more before he closed his eyes and passed away.
"Grrrrr…" The fighter let his subordinate's head rest on the ground. He wiped away his tears, stood up, and tightened a blue bandana around his spiky brown hair. "Men… I will avenge you. No one does this to my men and gets away with it!"
Meanwhile…
"Oooooohhhh… aaaaaaaahhhhhh…" Brently moaned in pain as he tried to sooth his burns in a mountain spring. "Man… that guy… ooooohhh… that guy was insane…" Brently said. That's when a frog hopped right next to him.
"Ribbit."
"I mean, how did he even do all of that? Oooohhh…"
"Ribbit."
"Whatever that guy was… aaaaaahhhh… doing was not any style I've ever heard of." Brently said.
"Ribbit."
"In fact, is that even a conventional style of human fighting? What do you think?" Brently asked the frog.
"Ribbit, ribbit."
"Yeah…" It was silent for a moment, then Brently breathed deeply. "Boy… I really need to find someone other than a frog to talk to." He said while nodding his head.
"Ribbit."
Meanwhile…
"So… where are we going?" Hunter asked while preparing to mark the trail again.
"Duh… Materia Woods." Laura said.
"Good point. That may be our best chance of meeting back up since that was our last destination." Hunter agreed.
"Great, let's go then." Laura said as she walked down the left fork.
"Laura, that's not the right way." Hunter said.
"No, we have to go this way to get out of these mountains." Laura said.
"If we go this way, we'll exit the mountains at a point closer to the Materia woods." Hunter said, pointing to the right fork.
"No we need to go this way." Laura argued back.
"No, this way." Hunter said.
"This way." Laura said.
"It's this way." Hunter said.
"This way."
"This way."
"This way."
"It's this way Laura!" Hunter argued louder.
"This way!" Laura argued louder.
"Hello there." A paladin with red hair and brown eyes said.
"What!" They snapped.
"Uh… I was just saying hello." The paladin said.
"Don't be rude to our clanmaster!" A gladiator shouted.
"Yeah, or I'll shoot you." A gunner shouted.
"Sorry." Laura sighed.
"Oh it's alright." An assassin told them.
"We are in Kudik Peaks right?" An alchemist asked.
"Yes." Hunter said as he and Laura stared at them. "Um… which way goes closer to Materia woods?" Hunter asked.
"That way." The paladin said while pointing to the right fork.
"Thank you." Hunter said with a sly smile. The clan of five walked away. "Ha! See?"
"Alright alright." Laura said as they headed down the right fork. "Boy… that clan reminded me of something."
"Yeah… they kind of reminded me of… a few people. Can't put my finger on who." Hunter said.
Meanwhile…
"Say… who's that?" The gunner asked pointing at someone walking towards them.
"Hey you guys!" The guy shouted, his blue bandana flowing in the wind. "Have you seen two people, a hunter and a red mage walk by here?"
"Why do you ask?" The paladin asked suspiciously.
"Just tell me now…" The man growled.
"We won't tell you anything if you're going to speak to our clanmaster that way!" The gladiator said.
"Fine…" The figure said as steam started coming from his arms. "I'll make you tell."
Meanwhile…
"Hmmmm…" Brently was now just wandering around the mountain aimlessly. "Where should I go now? I need somewhere where I'll make a big score." Brently thought outloud.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!!"
"AARRRGGHH!!!"
"DOOOOOHHH!!!"
"DWAAAHHHH!!!"
"MOMMYYYY!!!"
"Whoa… what was that all about?" Brently wondered as each blood-curdling scream sounded.
Meanwhile…
"Clanmaster…" The gladiator moaned as smoke was coming from his many burns. That's when a fireball hit him and killed him instantly.
"Shut up." The man growled as he walked over to the defeated paladin. "Now tell me what you know!" The man shouted at the paladin.
"I'll tell you… nothing…" The paladin said weakly.
"YOU WILL TELL ME!!!" The man shouted angrily as steam started coming from his arms again.
"I won't sell out anyone."
"Grrrrrr… hm?" The man noticed something on the ground, it looked as though it read 'Laura'. "Hmph… fine… I'll just find Laura myself." The guy said.
"!"
"Oh… so you've heard that name… thank you for the information." The man said as he left the paladin to die with his comrades.
Later…
"Hmmm…" Laura was thinking about something. She and Hunter were now at an area that had a cliff edge on the left, and a cliff wall to the right, and several boulders on the mountain path.
"Gil for your thoughts?" Hunter asked.
"I'm just a bit bothered by something." Laura said.
"What?"
"Before you saved me, those bandits mentioned a boss."
"So?"
"They acted like… he wasn't with them."
"Well, what's the worse that could happen? He'll probably be the last one alive out of them."
"You know what… you're right." Came an unknown voice.
"Hm?" Hunter and Laura turned around to find a figure standing on top of a boulder. The figure was a human fighter, he was about 5'11" in height, had brown spiky hair, brown eyes, metal body armor, however instead of a helmet he had a blue bandana wrapped around his forehead, and his clothing was blue and red in color instead of the usual brown.
"Who are you?" Laura asked.
"You're right… I am the last one of those bandits alive." The fighter growled.
"You're the bandit leader huh?" Hunter said as he turned around.
"Yes… and you know what ticks me off the most?" The fighter asked.
"What?" Laura asked as she drew her rapier.
"When arrogant, ungrateful whelps like you guys go around harming people LIKE MY MEN!!!" The fighter shouted.
"Your men? They were kidnapping her." Hunter said.
"No harm would have come to her. But…" The fighter said as he clenched his fists, steam starting to rise from them. "… it is far too late to guarantee your safety."
"Bring it." Hunter challenged.
"Hmmmm… hoooooooooooo…" The fighter inhaled and exhaled deeply, closing his eyes, seeming to relax.
"What is he doing?" Laura wondered. The fighter brought his legs together, standing straight up with his arms crossed in an X pattern in front of his chest. The fighter then opened his eyes and thrust his arms to his sides, and like striking a match and lighting it, his arms caught fire, glowing brightly in all of their fury.
"Whoa!" Hunter gasped.
"Fire render!" The fighter threw a fist forward and sent a large fireball at Hunter, Hunter dodged backwards while preparing an arrow, aiming, and firing. Before it could strike the fighter, the fighter swiped one of his flaming arms in front of him and deflected the arrow.
"What the hell is this?" Hunter asked.
"That mana flow… his mana control is unbelievably precise…" Laura said in awe.
"Now you shall feel the wrath… of Blaze… the last practitioner, OF THE BACKDRAFT STYLE!!!" The fighter shouted.
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Blaze has made himself known, how will Laura and Hunter fare against this man? And what is the mysterious backdraft style? Only I know the answer to these questions. Ha ha. Read and review.