A.N. Thanks Shadow knight1121 for continuing to read this, and Demica Webb Kempton for reviewing, when I know someone is R+R, I know I have a reason to continue with this, especially since they keep me motivated and might influence on how fast I update the story, Just saying...

?: I think they get it

Me: Wha... How the hell did you get here!

?: Well I am a soul,

Me: True, well since your here, do the disclaimers,

?: Fine, owns nothing in this story except Himself, and any plot changes,

Me: Good, Now enjoy the next chapter of FFIX: The Dark Knight...

Chapter 3

I woke again that night a few hours before dawn. I looked around the camp and saw that almost everyone was where they were a few hours ago. Except Steiner. He was sitting at the entrance to the camp, keeping watch for dawn or any monsters. I walked up to him. "Hey," I said quietly,

He looked around at me with surprise, "Sir Akio, you've awoken!"

I smile slightly and take a seat on a boulder near to where he was sitting, "So, what's up?"

"Its... nothing," He muttered while looking back to the Mist covered field in front of them, "An internal dilemma that will not stop me guarding the princess,"

I sigh before stating, "Fine, but would you mind dropping the formality. I barely remember anything about myself and being called 'sir' is kind of annoying."

"Ok, Akio," Steiner said quietly, "But I must maintain appearances in front of other people,"

"Fine," I said, "So long as you don't call me 'sir' 24/7"

Steiner chuckled then suddenly brought his head up, "Ah, that's right," He said while standing up, "You need a sheath for your sword don't you?"

"Yeah, I was hoping to get one at the next village," I said while looking at the floor,

"No need, I have a spare that should fit your blade well." He said before rushing back to the camp site, I sigh, Why is he so different when he isn't in front of the others? I thought to myself, Is it his duty to stop him being impolite,

Chances are that is correct, The soul said, its voice echoing though my mind,

So his duty is also to guard the princess against impolite behaviour? I asked it,

Actually its part of the Knights code that all members of an army have to swear to, The spirit explained, I specifically states that Knights must be exceedingly courteous and polite at all times unless its to another knight, and even then, no one must hear them speaking lightly or they will be excluded from being a Knight.

At this point Steiner came back holding a long leather sheath, Obviously designed to be worn on the back. "Will this do Akio?"

"Yeah that should do." I said as I took the sheath, and put it on, buckling it at the front. "Fits my back pretty well actually,"

"It should hold your blade," Steiner said, "It once belonged to the last Dark Knight to serve Alexandria, may it serve you well."

I took my blade, reversed it across my arm and slid it inside, "A perfect fit..."

Next day, Dawn:

As we were getting ready to leave a small pink dot began rapidly approaching us from the forest. Vivi notices it and shouts "Look! There's something coming!"

"Wait! Kupo" It said to stop us doing anything, "I'm impressed, kupo! First time I've seen anyone escape from evil forest. You must all be strong, kupo!" Ah yes the famous lecture from the moogle, "But don't get cocky, kupo. Lots of stronger monsters ahead, So take this!" The moogle said before handing Zidane a small flute, "Use it to call one of us if you need help kupo!" It seemed like it was ready to depart but it looked at me and stopped. "Kupo!" It exclaimed before flying over to my and hovering in front of my face.

"Erm... is there something on my face?" I asked it,

"Here take this kupo!" It said as it handed me a small medallion, tinted slightly pink in colour and with a moogle's pom-pom engraved on it, its chain being pearls of the same shade.

"Thanks, but why?" I asked it,

"Don't you remember, kupo? You saved my life in there!"

"I did?"

"Yeah! I was about to be grabbed by one of those brown cage like plants kupo, when you pushed me out the way and got caught instead!"

"It makes sense... but I got hit with amnesia so..."

"Oh... well anyway kupo, show that to any moogle and they will help you kupo, it shows that you are a friend of the moogles kupo!"

"Then I gratefully accept. Thanks!"

"Kupo!" It said as we left, As I was leaving I heard a clang on armour, and chuckled to myself.

2 hours later:

We were standing in the middle of a vast field, the mist blocking our view of anywhere we could go. Zidane and Steiner were arguing again, Vivi was trying to calm them down and Garnet was just watching the spectacle. I sighed, "Will you two stop arguing for a few minutes so we can get out of this mist?" I shouted, my anger evident in my voice. Just then the mist lightens up and reveals that we are surrounded by Mus and Pythons. "Great. Just perfect." The sarcasm evident in my tone of voice.

The silence in the party was evident until Steiner, decided to be Steiner. "This is your fault you damned monkey!"

"Hey! What the hell did I do you rust bucket! You were the one shouting and bawling!"

"Shut up, both of you! Fight fiends first!" I shouted at the two blockheads.

Play FFIX battle music now

"Damned squirrels!" I shouted as I charged into the group of Mus in front of me, while drawing my blade. I slashed one before the rest knew what was going on. Then they all surrounded me. I drew in a deep breath as time seemed to slow. One jumped up from behind me. I slashed it in mid-air as another charged at me I reversed my blade and stabbed it in the face. At this point they all started to throw stones at me. Damn, I thought to myself as the stones were about to hit me, If I jump, all that will happen is me getting hit in mid-air! What the hell am I supposed to do!

Jump, The spirits voice echoed in my head, Your next skill will look better when launched from the air,

I decided to play along, and jumped as high as I could. From up here I could see that I got the most enemies as all the mus focused on me and the pythons split up among my friends. Right I'm in the air so you mind filling me in on the plan? I asked the spirit,

Now think of a raging fire enveloping all, Your energy will respond to that and form around your blade, the spirit explained, Once the flame is around your blade, drive it into the earth, the resulting shock wave will kill all of the mus.

I did as it said, pointing my blade towards the ground and having it next to my head. As the energy was forming I asked the voice, This technique have a name?

Dark fire, its kinda crap but it does have fira and firaga equivalents.

Sweet, The energy was fully formed around my blade as I reached the peak of my jump. "Dark Fire!" I shouted as I dived towards the mus. They all started to launch stones at me but the energy created black aura around me, destroying the stones before they reached me, "Its over!" I shouted as I reached the ground, plunging my blade into the earth. As soon as my blade touched the earth a wave of black fire echoed out from me and enveloped all the mus surrounding me, killing them all. I was breathing heavily afterwards though. I turned around to look towards where the others were, and saw that they were having trouble with the pythons, although there was a lot less. I pulled my blade out of the turf and started to head over to them.

Wait, the spirit said, You can kill the pythons from here!

Wha... How? I asked it, Dark fire isn't a projectile,

Unholy thunder is though, It told me

I'm guessing I have an ice attack similar to blizzard?

Nice guess,

I stayed quiet for a while before asking, So I'm guessing I have to think about lightning, the energy focuses around the blade, then I launch it from the blade at the Pythons? I asked it,

You catch on quick,

I stated to focus my energy, it seemed to be quicker than Dark fire. Once the energy was finished charging I thrust my blade towards the pythons while shouting, "Unholy thunder!" once I finished saying the name of the technique, a purple thunderbolt launched from my blade, and struck the first python before continuing on in a chain, killing all of them. I smiled that we survived but the exhaustion of using the techniques caught up to me and I fell to one knee panting heavily.

Stop music now

The rest of the group rushed over to me, "Whoa, nice attack," And similar praise came from everyone but Steiner,

"Are you an idiot? That was among the weaker of the Arcana skills of a Dark knight."

"How am I an idiot when I have no idea what their techniques are rusty?"

"Guys we need to keep moving" I said as I got back on my feet, my exhaustion forcing me to lean on my blade,

"Your not going anywhere after using that much mana," Garnet said angrily,

"Heh... you really are naïve aren't you, princess?" I said, looking directly at her with a small smile on my face,

"Princess," Steiner began, "Dark Knights don't use mana."

"What, but how did he use those techniques?"

"My actual stamina is the price for my techniques, which is also why I fainted after killing that huge plant." I finished,

Zidane, Vivi and Garnet are exceedingly surprised at this fact.

"The more stamina I put into each technique, the more damage it does," I explained, "How else do you think I killed all the mus?"

"If its stamina then..." Garnet mused aloud, then pulled out her staff and cast cure on me. I instantly felt better.

"That's better, thanks," I said to Garnet.

"Hey," Zidane said to get my attention, I turned to see a small pouch handed to me, "There are some potions in there, use them after each technique," He smiled slightly, "We do need you alive you know,"

"Heh," I said quietly, before stating to the whole group,"Cm-on, lets keep moving,"

A.N. So what do you guys think, don't be afraid to review, and I don't really care if you criticize but just don't flame! Thanks guys and see you next time,