(I do not own Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, or any of the places I use in here. Nor any of the NPC's from the games. OC's are mine. But what they are based off of is not.)

Here's the next chapter! What is the caravan going to do now that they are lost? How are they going to find the tree? And what about the monster that lurks inside?

Enjoy yourselves….

000

"I swear we've seen this mushroom before."

"How do you know that Ele Yana? They all look the same!"

"Well at least I'm trying to help get us out of here; I haven't heard your lazy butt say anything!"

"Girls! Girls! Stop it! This isn't helping us at all."Canestre said as he looked at Ele and Viera. The caravanners were not in the best of moods. It had been a day since they had entered the forest, or so they thought. They were tired from all the walking, and getting on each other's nerves. They ran into the occasional monster, but they hadn't seen any life form for half a day.

"Goodness, isn't there another way to find the myrrh other than walking everywhere?" Tanyia complained.

"Yeah, can't we just send Mog to fly around for it?" Naiya agreed.

"And have him by some chance picked off by some hungry Ahrimans? I don't think so." Giza stated.

"I do look pretty tasty, Kupo!" Mog said as he flew around the lilties heads.

"But we have to think of something. Even if we do find the myrrh tree, we'll be too tired to even have a chance at fighting whatever, or whoever is guarding it." Ryden Koe explained.

"Fine, let's rest here" Kayle said as he plopped down next to a bright mushroom light.

"This is hopeless," Joitieu said as she plopped her bag down. "We're just sentencing Tipa to an early grave."

"Don't say that Joit, we can do this." Alie said comfortably to her friend.

Everyone sat in a circle, drinking water, and chewing snacks. Except for Cross who was standing, and looking at a mushroom.

"Hey Cross! Come sit with us, you need to save energy" Malik said, motioning for the boy to sit.

"Hold on, I need to check something." Cross replied. He walked towards the mushroom studying it. Then he walked back a few paces. He grabbed his ax, and started running towards it. He jumped on it and he landed and started to climb with his ax, making it to the top.

"I think all this walking has made him loopy." Giza commented.

"Please, he was already as loopy as can be" Kayle said, staring at Cross while chewing on an apple.

"Cross, what are you doing up there?" Alie asked. She walked up to the mushroom, staring at her younger brother.

"I can see the whole forest from up here!" Cross exclaimed.

"Really?" Canestre asked as he and the others ran towards the mushroom. "Can you see where we started?"

"Hmm, it looks like it's that way." Cross said as he pointed to the west. "And I can see the glow of the tree coming from that way." Cross said pointing to the north, "but I'm not sure how to get there. Our path doesn't connect with those."

"Well a lot of help that did. C'mon let's keep walking, I'm sure we can get there. " Kayle said ordering everyone to follow.

"Are you sure Kayle? Cross said it didn't connect. We'd just be walking farther away from the tree." Ryden said, defending his friend.

"What would you guys know? You're only fifteen; he probably just missed a path." Ele and Giza packed their stuff and joined Kayle.

"I'm not lying Kayle," Cross said, jumping from the mushroom. "We need to find a way to try and get to the other path."

"Oh really now? Look whose mister helpful now! I didn't see you doing much on the whole ride here!" Ele said, also defending her friend.

"Guys, that's enough. He just wants to get us out of here, as much as you do."Joitieu said.

"What should we do, Canestre? " Viera asked him.

"This is why we need a leader!" Giza shouted. "So we only listen to one person."

"Then let's take the vote, right here right now." Canestre said.

"Candidates can't vote then. So it's fair." Naiya commented as she held Mog.

"Fine, then let's do this one by one." Tanyia said as she stood in front of them all. "I want the candidates over there, and voters here." They all took their spots. "Who wants Malik as leader?"

Naiya raised her hand.

"And who would like Canestre as leader?"

Viera and Joitieu raised their arms.

"Who would like Cross to be our leader?"

Ryden and Alie raised their hands. Alie smiled at her brother, and he grinned back.

"And who would like to have Kayle as leader?"

Ele and Giza raised their hands and Tanyia to everyone's surprise.

"Well looks like we have our winner!" Giza cheered.

"But the majority of people don't want him as leader." Joitieu countered.

"Well, too bad so sad, now let's get to moving." Kayle ordered. They all grumbled and followed him, mostly to shut him up. Secondly because he was the so called leader of the caravan now.

000

After about another hour they came to a dead end. The caravanners all looked at Kayle.

"So what now o' fairest ruler?" Malik sarcastically asked.

"Well, looks like we're going to have to go back." Kayle ordered.

"We just walked all the way here though!" Naiya protested.

"Maybe we should take a rest." Tanyia offered.

"You're just trying to make up for the fact that you voted for that tyrant." Viera hissed at her.

"Oh like you haven't done anything wrong lately?" Ele said as she glared at the yuke.

"Look, let's just walk back to where we came from at a slower pace, okay? Now let's get moving." Giza ordered as he followed Kayle

"I'm sorry if I'm not too keen on wasting another day walking around the forest." Ryden Koe mumbled. Cross looked at his friend. Even Ryden was getting upset, and besides Canestre, he was one of the calmest people he knew. He had to do something.

"Hey Kayle, how about we just rest for the night? It's getting dark, so how about we look around when the sun rises?"

"Are you telling me how to run the caravan?" Kayle said as he turned and faced Cross.

"No, I'm just offering a sugges-"

"I'm sorry, I thought I was leader. And besides, why would I take advice from you when I have Ele and Giza?" Kayle said as he walked towards Cross. "You know I'm getting pretty tired of your crap."

"Kayle, stop this nonsense." Canestre said stepping forwards. "We don't need any more conflicts."

"Oh Canestre, don't worry. I'm just going to make sure he never does it again." Kayle said as he unsheathed his sword. Cross grabbed his ax, and they faced each other.

"Cross, Kayle stop it! You're acting like idiots!' Alie screamed. Kayle and Cross ran to each other. They clashed weapons and pushed into each other. Kayle then tripped Cross and brought his sword down.

"STOP!" Ryden screamed. Kayle's weapon stopped in mid swing, from the spell. "You both need to cut it out. All of your bickering is already tearing this caravan apart. And we've just started."

"I'm sorry Ryden, I need to do this." Cross said as he kicked Kayle's sword from his hand. Kayle was pulled from the spell and tackled Cross. They wrestled across the ground until they hit into a mushroom. Cross pushed Kayle off of him and unto the ground. Kayle tried to stand up, but the ground under him started moving, until he was thrown into the air over the mushroom tops.

"Kayle!" Ele screamed while she ran to where her friend was.

"What the hell did you do farm boy?" Giza said as he lifted Cross by his shirt neck.

"Nothing, nothing, I didn't do that." Cross defended while he brushed his shirt off.

"Guys, I'm okay! That mushroom top pushed me to the next path! We can get to the tree now!" Kayle screamed.

"Hmm" Canestre said as he walked towards the mushroom. "It seems that this top repels what goes on top of it. This is probably how people make it to the tree."

"So we just jump on top of it?" Joitieu asked.

"It seems so." Tanyia replied.

"Well looks like through their bickering we found our salvation." Malik said as he jumped on the mushroom and flew over the tops. Everyone else did the same, with Naiya holding Mog, and Cross carrying the chalice over last.

000

On the other side of the path everyone was dusting off from the ride. The mood seemed better since they had now found themselves closer to the tree. They all looked at Kayle and Cross to see if there was going to be a round two of the fight.

"How about we just worry about the myrrh now? And deal with the conflict later?" Viera huffed. "We need to hurry and get this drop."

"Viera does speak the truth. Let's get focused and prepare to deal with this." Naiya offered as they started walking down the new path. The new path was mostly empty. Until they met some hell plants and the occasional hedge pies. They were quickly dealt with arrows, and Fire spells. The caravan then came to an opening that led to a giant log. It was blocked by three hell plants, a hedge pie, and two gremlins.

"Alright guys, you know what to do." Kayle said. They all broke off into pairs to take care of the monsters. Canestre and Joitieu ran to the hedgepie, while Kayle and Ele, Ryden and Naiya ran towards the gremlins. Alie and Cross, Giza and Tanyia, Malik and Viera ran to the hell plants.

Canestre and Joitieu were dodging the hedgepie's fire spells, and then Joitieu used a blizzard blast freezing it, letting Canestre go in for a killing blizzard hit. Kayle and Ele dodged the Gremlin's fast tassel with ease. Kayle then chopped it off, and Ele blasted it back with an aura hit, killing the creature. Naiya had a bit of trouble with the tassel, getting a bad hit to her knee cap. Ryden hit it with a stop, and cut off its tassel. Naiya ran up and killed it with her spear with a stab through the chest. Alie was blocking the blasts from the plant with her shield, letting Cross run in and slice it apart with his ax. Giza was shooting from the back, hitting it a few times with his arrows. Tanyia then ran up and hit it across the face with her hammers, stunning it, and then smashed down killing the odd plant. Viera had slowed the third plant, letting Malik run in carefree with his mace, destroying the creature.

The caravan looked at the large log, feeling the presence of the Myrrh tree.

"Well guys, looks like these past few days have finally paid off." Naiya said trying to keep spirits high. Everyone nodded and walked into the log together.

000

The caravan walked out of the large log, and came into a very large opening. The myrrh tree was seen at the back, but there was a small plant between them and the tree. They walked towards it, and saw the plant was a small Malboro.

"So this is what's blocking our path, a half-pint plant?" Giza laughed as he walked near it. The Malboro hissed at him, sucking a substance from a mushroom, then turned and did the same to another. He then used that to start to grow, and when he was done he was twice the size of any house that resided in Tipa.

"Holy crap of all craps…"Malik uttered. All the caravanners looked stunned, and didn't move.

"We have to fight this thing. No matter how big, we can take it." Kayle said as he ran up to the creature. Everyone followed their leader. Kayle ran up and stabbed the being, which hissed and threw him off. Canestre and Viera hit it with a Fira, setting the plant on fire. It hissed more, and started focusing on a spell. The air turned dark as it set a curse spell on the caravanners. They all ran but Alie was unfortunately hit by it. Viera ran to her side and dragged her away to cure her. Malik then ran up and tore away some of its roots with his mace. It sputtered out a green gas at the lilty.

"Don't breath in Malik! It's poisonous!" Ryden screamed at his friend. Malik held his breath as he ran out of the spray. Joitieu ran up and hit it with a blizzard blast, and Naiya chipped away at the plant. Giza shot an arrow at the beast, hitting it many times in its large mouth. It sputtered out the blood, and the blood seeped down it. The bluish blood hit its roots and sizzled. Ryden Koe, seeing it was acidic, took his dagger and wiped it through it and threw it at the beast. The Malboro squealed and shook many times. Tanyia took this time to smash its remaining roots with her twin hammers while Ele shot it with aura blasts from her racket. The monster, bleeding and wounded, started flailing about. Cross took this chance to run up and slice through the middle of it. The monster collapsed at the hit, and tried fighting from its laying down position. Kayle took the new position in mind, and ran and jumped off of Giza's back and dragged his sword through the beast slicing it in half. The Malboro gave one last breath and died, dissolving into the Miasma. The tired caravanners looked at each other with smiles. They had defeated the Malboro, and now had earned their second drop.

"Guys! Alie's not well!" Viera screamed. "I cured and cleared her, but she's still wet with sweat!" They all ran towards the yuke and clavat girls. Cross dropped down and looked at his sister. She was pale, and shivering. But her body was covered in sweat.

"We must hurry, Kayle get the myrrh and let's head back to the caravan." Canestre solemnly spoke. "We might not have too much time."

000

Oh no! So they finally stop fighting and bickering, long enough to get un-lost and get their myrrh drop. But since Alie's cursed what will happen to her? What about her brother and Kayle's feud? Why is Tanyia siding with the Trio? Why the hell does this always happen to them?

Tell me in a review! :D

Next chapter: The caravan heads out to find what is wrong with Alie, to the only place to go…Marr's Pass….