Final Fantasy: Rise of Despair
When we last left off, Hunter and Laura were continuing their hike through the Kudik Peaks while Brently cooled off. All the while the leader of the bandits was hunting fervently through the mountains for Hunter and Laura. Now Blaze, the bandit leader, has caught up with Hunter and Laura and is preparing to unleash the mysterious backdraft style on them.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance, I do own the characters and plot.
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Blazing Fury
"How is he not burning himself?" Hunter asked out loud.
"Like I said, his mana control is remarkably precise. He's creating and maintaining those flames and also keeping them from burning himself." Laura said.
"I hope you two aren't wasting time, because ready or not… YOU'RE DEAD!!!" Blaze shouted in anger as he leaped from the rock he was standing on towards the two.
"Take this!" Hunter started firing arrows one after the other at Blaze as he soared through the air. Blaze kept swiping at the arrows as they came flying at him before drawing a fist back. "Whoa!" Hunter leaped backwards just in time to avoid a punch from Blaze.
BOOM
Blaze's fist hit the ground where Hunter was standing and left a mildly large, smoking crater in its place. "Grrrrrrr…" Blaze growled as the flames on his arms burned more intensely.
"Whoa… that was a strong punch." Hunter thought.
"Hiyah!" Laura drew her rapier and went in to close combat with Blaze. She thrust her rapier forward as he raised his arm, but the flames seemed to intensify at the spot her rapier struck and repelled the rapier. "What!"
"Hiyah!" Blaze threw his free fist at Laura who narrowly dodged to the side to avoid the punch. Laura then began thrusting at Blaze as quickly and as accurately as she could while Blaze would dodge and attempt to counter with his own flaming punches, that were in turn being dodged.
"He's really good." Laura thought. Laura took one more thrust with her rapier that Blaze deflected to the side, stepped in closer to Laura and prepared to strike her with a flaming fist.
"Face your death!" Blaze shouted.
"Take aim!" Hunter carefully aimed an arrow at Blaze and released it.
"Hm? Ah!" Blaze tried to dodge to the side to avoid the arrow, only for it to strike him in one of his arms. "Augh!" Blaze back flipped towards the cliff wall, landed on it, and then jumped off of it towards Hunter. "Yah!"
"Whoa!" Hunter rolled forward and underneath Blaze as he slammed both fists in to the ground and caused a large explosion.
KABOOM
"Blizzara!"
"Hmph." Blaze turned hopped and threw a flaming fist straight downward, melting the ice that came from under him in an instant.
"What!"
"Fire fist!" Blaze threw a fist towards Hunter and Laura, sending a small fireball in between the two when it suddenly exploded with violent force.
"GAH!" They yelled.
"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!" Blaze then dashed at Hunter with an incredible burst of speed.
"Whoa!" Blaze began throwing fist after fist at Hunter at a rapid pace. Hunter was barely able to dodge each flaming fist that came at him. "This guy is relentless."
"Blazing blitz!" Blaze threw an aimed fist at Hunter's chest and nailed him square in the middle of it.
"GAH!" Hunter felt the intense flames strike him in the chest before the force of the punch sent him flying in to the cliff wall with a loud
CRASH
"Now prepare to die!" Blaze shouted.
"Let's fight fire with fire this time." Laura said as she gathered her mana. "Ifrit!" Laura created a red magic circle and summoned Ifrit. "Breath your flaming breath!" Laura commanded. Ifrit inhaled deeply as Blaze looked at it with no fear, and Ifrit exhaled a tremendous stream of flame.
"Hrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggghhhhhhhhhh!!!" Blaze held out both hands and practically caught the flamethrower, sending him scooting backwards several feet, and yet the flames were having no affect.
"Huh… LAURA TELL IFRIT TO STOP!!! HE'S ABSORBING THE FLAMES!!!" Hunter yelled.
"What!" Laura shouted in disbelief. Laura promptly sent Ifrit away, now staring at Blaze, whose arms were practically erupting in flames.
"You know what kid?" Blaze asked. "They say when you play with fire, YOU WIND UP BURNED!!!" Blaze aimed one arm at each of our heroes, and sent out massive blasts of flame from each arm.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" Hunter shouted as the flames were drawing closer.
"Carbuncle!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM
Meanwhile…
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM
"What the heck was that just now?" Brently asked as he heard a loud explosion near by. Brently paused for a moment, shrugged, and then continued walking.
Back to the fight…
Hunter opened his eyes slowly. "I'm… alive? Wait… wha!" Hunter was surprised to find Carbuncle in front of him before it disappeared. "Wait then… Laura!" Hunter turned towards where Laura was previously. "Where is she? Hm?" Hunter noticed five fingers grabbing on to the cliff ledge. "Okay, she's safe for now." Hunter thought.
"Grrrrr… I nearly absorbed my limit back there, good thing I expelled it. But now I need to reignite." Blaze thought. "Hmmmmmmmmmmm… hooooooooooooooo…" Blaze breathes deeply.
"Hm?" Hunter looked at Blaze when his eyes lit up. "I get it! He needs to take deep breaths so he can focus inward on his body to create those flames. But if I attack him now." Hunter drew his bow and aimed at Blaze. "Faster!"
"Hm? Augh!" Blaze took an arrow to the shoulder. "Grrr… air render!" Blaze threw his fist forward. But Hunter knew what was coming and dodged to the side while pulling out three arrows, putting two of them in his mouth, and notching the third. Hunter fired the notched arrow at Blaze, who jumped back to avoid it. Hunter quickly notched and fired a second, Blaze back flipped away from it closer to the cliff edge. "Sonic boom!" Hunter fired at the ground where Blaze was about to land.
"!!!" Blaze was a little worried for a second, but the arrow exploded harmlessly before he landed. "Heh… your aim stinks."
"No it doesn't." Hunter said with a smile. Suddenly the cliff edge Blaze was standing on collapsed and started slipping down the side of the cliff.
"Whoa!" Blaze lost his balance as the chunk of rock he was standing on started breaking in to smaller chunks of rock. Blaze quickly grabbed on to the cliff and found a hand hold. "That bastard…" Blaze growled as he held on to the cliff wall.
"Did you get him?" Laura asked as Hunter pulled her up.
"Yep." Hunter said.
"Whew… good thing too." Laura sighed in relief.
"We'd better get goi…"
KABOOM
"Wah!" Both Hunter and Laura shouted as the part of the cliff they were standing on gave way and started falling down the cliff, bringing them with it.
"What the heck?!?" Hunter shouted.
"Look!" Laura shouted. She and Hunter saw Blaze standing on a smaller ledge down the cliff with his arms back in full blaze.
"You won't be able to beat me like that. I know these mountains like the back of my hand." Blaze said. "Fire render!" Blaze began throwing fireball after fireball at the two falling heroes.
"Up you go!" Hunter grabbed Laura and threw her back up towards the top of the cliff.
"Whoa!" Laura grabbed on to the cliff edge as Hunter continued to fall. "Hunter!"
"I don't intend to die by flames or fall!" Hunter said as he drew an arrow and wrapped a rope around it quickly. He aimed for the opposite cliff and fired. The arrow became embedded in to the cliff wall and Hunter swung to safety, avoiding the fireballs.
"Grrrrrr… RAH!" Blaze did a quick dash for the edge and leaped all the way from that ledge to the other cliff.
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang." Hunter said. "Oof!" He then hit the cliff wall. "Ouch." Hunter quickly snapped back to his senses and pressed his legs against the wall.
"Grrrrrrr…" Blaze was able to bury his fists in to the cliff wall and make easy hand holds for himself as he started clambering towards Hunter.
"Damn it damn it damn it!" Hunter said as he started to run back and forth, swinging like a pendulum gaining more and more height as he ran back and forth.
"Fire render!" Blaze threw a large fireball at Hunter.
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Hunter shouted as he finally let go of the rope from a very high height and jumped off of that cliff back towards the other cliff.
"You won't get away from me!" Blaze yelled as he climbed higher and then jumped to where he was sailing above Hunter. "Rah rah rah!" Blaze began throwing fireball after fireball at Hunter, all of them thankfully missing him.
Meanwhile…
"Man, what are all of these echoes I'm hearing?" Brently asked. "Hm? AAAAAHHHH!!!" He yelled when a bunch of fireballs started raining down. "Yow! Woah! Yipe!" Brently started running around to avoid the many fireballs flung at him. Finally one fireball hit his hat as he finally took cover behind a rock. Brently looked at his burnt hat with sadness, and then looked up at the top of the cliff angrily. "NOBOBY MESSES WITH MY HAT!!!"
Meanwhile…
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaa OOF!" Hunter hit the ground pretty hard as he turned around. "Hunh? HOLY CRAP!!!" Hunter quickly got up and avoided getting crushed beneath Blaze's fists.
"Ramuh!" Laura summoned Ramuh right above Blaze. "Strike him down!" Laura commanded as Ramuh raised his staff.
"Grrrrrr…" Ramuh caused a huge lightning bolt to come crashing down towards Blaze. Right before the bolt struck him, Blaze rolled out of the way and towards Laura. "Take this!" Blaze once again began throwing several fireballs at Laura, who was deftly causing them all to disappear with every swing of her rapier.
"Bring it on!" Laura dared as she lunged at Blaze and Blaze lunged at her. The two threw fists and rapier at each other. Blaze punched low, Laura would dodge to the side and attempt to stab backwards at him. Blaze then spun to the side while performing a sweep kick to knock Laura to the ground. "Ah!"
"Now die!" Blaze raised his blazing right fist and was preparing to bring it down on Laura with all of his might when.
"Aim: Arm!" Hunter fired an arrow that hit Blaze's right shoulder at a critical point, causing the flames to be extinguished on his right arm and causing his right arm to go limp.
"Why you!" Blaze completely forgot about Laura and turned to face Hunter as he threw as many fireballs at Hunter as he could with a single arm.
"Whoa!" Finally one fireball hit Hunter and sent him sprawling across the ground.
"This is the end!" Blaze shouted as he leaped at Hunter.
"Ball!"
"Hm? Doh!" A rubber ball hit Blaze forcefully and sent him slamming in to the cliff wall. "What?" Blaze looked at who threw that. "You're still alive?"
"Brently!" Hunter called out surprised.
"Nobody… calls me short… or messes with my hat…" Brently said as he drew his knife.
"Fine then… I'll just KILL YOU ALL!!!" Blaze shouted as his exposed his right arm to his left arm, causing it to reignite.
"Why you…"
"Laura! Save your mana for healing! We'll need it for this guy." Hunter shouted.
"… alright." Laura agreed as she stopped preparing mana.
"Brently can you…"
"I'm not taking orders from you! Raaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!" Brently shouted like a psycho as he charged at Blaze. Brently jumped at Blaze and started swinging his knife rapidly as Blaze blocked and tried to counter with his own fists.
"Actually Brently, you're doing exactly as I wanted you to do." Hunter thought. Hunter prepared an arrow and fired it at Blaze.
"Whoa!" Blaze swerved his torso to the left to avoid the arrow, but he left his legs wide open, allowing Brently to roll right underneath them, jump up and stab him in the back. "AUGH!"
"Got you now!" Brently said.
"Not yet! Graaaaaa!" Blaze threw Brently off of his back towards Hunter.
"Oof!" They shouted as they crashed.
"Cura." Laura cast cura on the two of them, getting them back on their feet, ready for what Blaze would do next. "Hang on, barrier!" Laura cast barrier on the two of them before Brently ran back in with knives drawn.
"Fire Render!" Blaze threw a fist forward, sending another fireball at Brently. Brently jumped it while throwing his knives at Blaze. Blaze ran towards the cliff wall at an angle, dodging the knives, jumped towards the wall and started running along the length of it.
"No!" Hunter drew his bow and started to prepare an arrow when Blaze threw a fireball at Hunter, knocking his bow out of his hand. "Augh! Brently he's attacking Laura!"
"Oh fine." Brently said as he pulled out a ring and a beanbag with a smiley face on it. "Ring!" Brently threw a ring at Blaze, "Smile!" He then threw the beanbag at Hunter. Hunter felt a brief boost in speed. He ran and grabbed his bow, drew an arrow, aimed, and fired.
"Whoa!" Blaze dodged the arrow but jumped right in to the ring. "Gah!" Blaze hit the ground with the ring wrapped around his arms and upper body.
"Now you're mine!" Brently shouted as he drew his knife and charged in.
"You'll pay now!" Laura shouted as she drew her rapier and charged in.
"Grrrrrrr… no… I won't let you get away with killing my MEN!!!" Blaze shouted as his arms suddenly flared up. Fire exploded from Blaze's body, incinerating the ring wrapped around him and blasting Laura and Brently backwards.
"GAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" They shouted.
"Oh no you don't! Capture!" Hunter fired a mana net at Blaze in hopes of capturing him. Blaze performed a karate chop with his flaming left hand, cutting straight through the mana net, and then throwing another flaming fist forward sending a fireball at Hunter. "What? AUGH!" Hunter got nailed by the fireball and sent sprawling backwards. "Oooooog… URK!" Hunter felt Blaze's foot pressing down on his chest as Blaze prepared to drive a flaming fist through Hunter's skull.
"Now you're going to pay dearly. You messed with my men, you ended their lives too soon. You're no better than those blue bloods from the days of old. And now you'll pay." Blaze said.
"Blue bloods?" Hunter asked.
"GRRRRRRRRRRRRR…AUGH!" Before Blaze could strike Hunter, a giant blue claw swiped him away. "What the…" Blaze looked up and saw Madeen towering over him.
"Madeen! Strike him now!" Laura commanded.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…" Blaze braced himself for the blast of holy mana that Madeen was preparing to charge up. Madeen closed its glowing mouth, then opened it, firing a beam of holy mana at him.
Meanwhile…
Two figures landed on to a mountain ledge with a thud. One figure let a third one off of his back. "Now where are we Master Casey?" Adam asked. Kyle and Casey looked around for a moment.
"Hmmmm… If I had to guess I'd say Kudik Peaks." Casey answered.
"I know Laura is here somewhere. But where?" Kyle asked frantically.
"Kyle, calm yourself. You'll work much better when you're calm." Casey said calmly. "She could be anywhere. The Kudik Peaks is a very large very…"
"Master Casey! I can smell them from one peak over!" Adam said.
"Okay then…" Casey said.
"I see them!" Kyle saw Madeen just blast away a fighter with flaming arms. "Whew… she's safe." Kyle sighed in relief.
"Wait… that technique… what was that fighter using?" Casey thought to himself. "He's still alive." Casey said suddenly.
"What?" Both Kyle and Adam asked.
Meanwhile…
The three of them couldn't see anything but dust for several minutes. "Did you get him?" Hunter asked.
"I'm not sure, he's proven to be a surprising foe." Laura said as she walked closer to the dust cloud.
"Well, I'm gone." Brently said as he turned around to walk away.
"Hey wait a minute." Hunter said.
"I don't have any obligation to sta-AH!" Brently suddenly got hit from behind by a fireball.
"What?" Both Laura and Hunter gasped. They turned to face the dust cloud only to receive large fireballs in their face. "AH!"
"I won't… let my men down…" Blaze growled as he walked out of the dust with his arms still ablaze.
"What is with you?" Hunter asked. "Why compare us to nobles?"
"Nobles?" Laura asked.
"I mean, nobles pretty much don't exist anymore." Hunter said.
"Because, you're just as selfish as they were. Not caring at all for people like my men." Blaze said. "Almost immediately after the Black King gained power, people like my men became the first to suffer. After having their homes burned and destroyed, they crawled to the doorsteps of nobles. And do you know what happened?" Blaze asked angrily.
"How should I know?" Brently asked while still on the ground.
"Those damned nobles spat in their faces." Blaze hissed.
"And what about you?" Hunter asked suspiciously. "How do you know so well?"
"…" Blaze stared at him angrily. "Fine then, you're about to die, so I'll give you this grace." Blaze said. "I used to be one of them. A noble." Blaze said.
"A bandit?" Laura asked surprised.
"SILENCE!!!" Blaze shouted. "My mother and father, they were well off. But they were kind. They gave charity to others often, although my father was usually away for some time." Blaze said. "My parents wanted me to be able to defend myself, so they found my teacher. The one to teach me the backdraft style I know now. One day… after the Black King took over, I saw a bunch of peasants, begging at the doorsteps of nobles, just wanting even a piece of food. And they were kicked out."
"…" The others looked in sympathy.
"Oh well, those nobles got what they deserved soon anyways. The Black King soon ordered the Black Army to attack every noble home they could find. Many of them did die, but some like my father and I escaped. Along with a few others. But my mother, she died, she died at the hands of some man from the Black Army." Blaze said. "I saw him before I escaped, he was clearly skilled, he felt sure of himself, and angry at the rest of the world. I got separated from my father. But I heard that he's dead now."
"Your…"
"I said SILENCE!!!" Blaze shouted at Brently. "Then I decided to use what was left of my fortune to buy food and blankets for those peasants. When I finally found them they tried to rob me. I figured it was natural since they were turned down by anyone they went to. I beat them, offered them the supplies, and then they begged me to lead them."
"But they still tried to kidnap…" Hunter started to say.
"I told you that no harm would have come to her. We never attack families, defenseless travelers, or anything of that sort. They may have been rough around the edges, but they were all good men and women." Blaze said sadly. "And you killed them." Blaze said darkly as his arms started glowing brighter. "AND FOR THAT YOU'LL PAY!!!"
Meanwhile…
"I won't let him…"
"Kyle let me handle this." Casey said.
"What… but…" Kyle started to argue.
"That man is out of your league Kyle. But I'm out of his." Casey said. He crouched somewhat, then jumped off of the ledge they were on.
"Don't worry Kyle, Master Casey will handle this." Adam said.
Meanwhile…
"NOW DIE!!!" Blaze thrust his open palms forward, sending out a large blast of fire that was threatening to envelop our heroes.
"Damn it…" Hunter said.
"No! I'm too young to die! I've got too much to live for! Too many things to steal!" Brently cried.
"So… this is it huh?" Laura asked. Suddenly something crashed in to the ground in front of our heroes and then a gust of icy wind met with the flames and canceled it out.
"What?" Blaze was shocked by this. When the dust and steam cleared, Casey was standing in front of the group.
"Casey!" Hunter shouted.
"You're here!" Laura shouted relieved.
"Noooooooo… now I'll never get away…" Brently whined.
"Who are you?" Blaze hissed.
"The one you would find wise to surrender to." Casey said.
"No way!" Blaze threw three jabs and sent three fireballs at Casey. Casey merely slapped them away with his hands, not even showing the slightest sign of discomfort. "Grrrrrrr… Rah!" Blaze was dashing forward towards Casey.
"Earth render." Casey tapped a foot on the ground and sent a tremor along a straight line that sent Blaze flying backwards.
"Whooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaa!!! OOF!" Blaze hit a rock very hard. Blaze stood up and noticed Casey charging at him. He narrowly jumped out of the way and started running along the cliff wall. Casey turned, ran backwards, and spit a lightning bolt from his mouth that had enough power to cause a large chunk of the cliff wall to shatter.
"Take that!"
"AH!" Blaze fell with the chunks that crumbled. And was buried beneath the rubble.
"Go figure, we have a hard time with this guy. And he just utterly defeats him." Hunter said.
"Hey, he is a Racemaster." Laura said.
"GrrrrrrrAH!" Blaze burst from the rubble only for Casey to appear behind him and put him in a neck hold. "Gack…"
"Now then… I give you a choice." Casey said.
"What?" Blaze asked.
"Number one, I could snap your neck like a toothpick right now." Casey said.
"The second?"
"Come with us, and have a chance to avenge your mother. I believe I know who her killer is, and if I'm correct, then you have your chance." Casey said.
"…" Blaze was surprised by these words. "Mother…"
"Well?" Casey asked.
"Is he serious?" Hunter asked.
"Laura!"
"Kyle!" Laura turned to find Kyle jumping towards them with Adam on his back. Laura and Kyle ran up to one another and exchanged a brief hug. "Are you alright?"
"The question is if you're alright Laura." Kyle said.
"Hey Adam! Good to see that you're doing well." Hunter said with a smile.
"Ah Hunter. Good to hear from you again." Adam said.
"Well?" Casey asked again.
"…" Blaze stayed silent, and then sighed.
Later…
"Just to warn you… if you do anything to hurt Laura, I'll kill you." Kyle threatened Blaze.
"I'd like to see you try." Blaze snapped back.
"Hey! Let's not fight amongst ourselves." Casey said.
"Just so you know… I'm not joining you guys to help you. This is for the sake of my revenge." Blaze said.
"Fair enough." Casey said.
"I'm still not sure we can trust this guy." Hunter said.
"We really don't have a choice Hunter." Laura said.
"Wait… did you just call him Hunter?" Adam asked Laura.
"Um… well… never mind that." The group was finally leaving the Kudik Peaks, preparing to head for Materia Woods.
"I will… have my revenge." Blaze thought. His eyes then darted to his knew companions. "Hmph… I still don't like those two. Killing my men. They better make up for it."
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Read and review.
Hello Everyone, be sure to read "Final Fantasy: Last Chance" By Shining Riku. It's just starting and so far I'm liking it. So don't be a slacker and just go read it. Chop chop.
But once again, you may read and review.