It took me a while, but here's Chapter 5! And this one won't be horrendously short, either. The reason these take so long is because I'm lazy, I'm a procrastinator, and I play Dungeons and Dragons with my friends on the day I intend to update. Also, my rule of ownership: if you recognize them from the game, they don't belong to me. Anyhow, Chapter 5!

The Boy's Story Chapter 5: The First Job

Cala and Ezel waded through the darkness of the tunnel until they reached a small room. The room was decorated with old furniture that seemed greatly outdated for the time period. On the earthen walls were plans or announcements for various things, and a pair of pictures of the queen and judgemaster with huge, red Xs through them. Cala looked closely at the picture of the armor-clad, brown-haired judgemaster, thinking that he had seen someone like him before. He shook it off and turned to Ezel.

He noticed the other two people in the room: a Viera with short, white hair wearing black clothing, and a Moogle wearing a brown hat and a holster with a gun in it on his hip. They were standing by a table with a frayed map of Ivalice.

Ezel seemed to recognize the two. "Ah, Josele and Klondae. How are you two?"

The Moogle, who responded to Klondae, replied, "We're doing alright. How's the shop, kupo?"

Ezel turned towards Klondae. "It's doing alright. What I'm really interested in is this new project I'm working on.

"Tell me about it sometime, kupo." Klondae sat down and took his hat off.

"Who's your friend?" Josele asked Ezel, upon noticing Cala.

"This is Cala," Ezel told them, motioning towards the boy. "He aims to join the resistance."

Josele looked uninterested. "Don't they all. We're going to have to put him through the initiation. You know that, right?"

Ezel nodded. "I know, I know. In fact, I have just the job in mind." He motioned for Cala to come closer, then showed him the map on the table.

"Here's Ivalice," he began to explain. "We are here," he said, pointing to Koringwood Forest south of Cadoan. "Our intelligence has told us that the palace is planning an area-to-area search for members of the resistance. They plan to use a pattern, but we don't know what they have in mind. However, we know that their intended route is located here, in Bervenia Palace. Your job is to sneak in there, swipe those plans, and bring them back here without alerting anyone."

"Wait a minute," Cala interrupted. "I'm an Alchemist. Alchemists don't sneak very well. Why don't you send her? She's an Assassin."

"Hey, whose initiation is this?" Josele looked up and took notice.

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Several hours later, Cala was perched on the windowsill outside of Bervenia Palace. He cautiously looked in through the window to the room and spotted two Bangaa Defenders guarding the door. He crept around to another window to what looked like the kitchen and spotted no guards outside.

Cala carefully used his mace to carve a hole in the window and pulled out the map he was given. "Let's see here," he said to himself. "The plans should be down the hall and to the right. Hopefully there will be no guards on my way." With that, Cala crept into the hallway and took to the ornate and beautifully decorated walls. He could hear conversation around the corner.

"...is, if nothing shows up soon, I'm gonna start slashing."

"Fine. But remember what happened last time."

Cala quickly spun around and waved his mace. The two guards were dead within seconds.

This was beginning to look like the easiest job ever. The door was wide open and unguarded. All he had to do was waltz in, grab the plans, and jump out of the nearest window. Unfortunately for Cala, a servant came around the corner and spotted him. She was about to drop the laundry she was carrying and run away screaming, but with a point of his hand, the woman merely ran away. No sound came from her lips.

Thank God for Silence, he thought.

In the room, Cala inspected several documents until he found the plan he was looking for. He rolled it up, put it in his pocket, and turned to leave. But standing in the doorway was the person whose picture he had seen in the HQ. The judgemaster. And Cala immediately recognized him as that bum from the real world.

His jaw dropped open as he realized that he wasn't the only one taken here...and that he was in deep trouble.

That finishes off Chapter 5. Thought I'd leave this one as a cliffhanger. Please R&R and come back next time as Cala faces off with Cid!