Can't think of an excuse for not updating much. I'm not that good of an author. Also, I don't really agree with Crazy Gunbladergirl that working on multiple stories at the same time is a bad idea (I read some of her fics, and no offense intended).
Oh, and please excuse the blooper I made sometime ago. I had to fuse two chapters together since Rydia's tale is short enough to have its own chapter entirely and ended up deleting a chapter.
Rydia's Tale: The Eidolons Shackled
Just a day or two before Ceodore's adventure began, Rydia was heading to the Feymarch to visit her adoptive parents Queen Asura and King Liviathan.
When she got to the Feymarch however, she found that the queen was a bit different.
Asura spoke with Rydia" Why did you return?".
" I-I just thought I would see everyone again" replied the green-headed summoner.
" Now you have seen them, just leave" said Asura, coldly.
Rydia paled" What? Can't I just come visit once in a while?".
" Your place is in the realm of humans" said Asura.
" Now, dear. Rydia is like a daughter to us, surely it wouldn't hurt to let her visit?" intervened Liviathan.
Before the three could discuss it any further, Liviathan sensed a presence not far from his chamber.
" No, Rydia, you must leave" said Liviathan.
" Why?" inquired the green-headed woman.
There's nothing to fear" said Asura as her husband warped Rydia out just as a young woman with a different shade of green hair entered.
Liviathan confronted the mysterious being" What brings you here?".
" I want your powers" said the woman in a monotone voice.
" Not if we can help it" replied Asura.
The mystery girl was unfazed" It is pointless to resist, Bahamut is already under our control?".
" The hollowed father of the Eidolons! What are you?" exclaimed Liviathan.
The mystery girl didn't bother to respond and instead stole the two Eidolon royals' powers.
Meanwhile, Rydia woke up just on the outskirts of the Feymarch. When she came to however, the Eidolons were all turned to stone.
Fearing the worst, Rydia hurried back to Liviathan and Asura's chamber.
By the time she got there, her adoptive parents were already petrified to a degree.
The two royals could barely say anything when Rydia tried to speak with them.
The green haired summoner was devastated" Oh no! Despite your warnings I've caused this." With that, she headed out of the Feymarch.
As Rydia made her way through the Passage of the Eidolons, there were few obstacles except one where she encountered some goblins.
But when Rydia tried to summon, no Eidolon responded. Exasperated, she threw a fire spell at the monsters before moving on.
Just as Rydia reached the surface, she began to look for her companion" Luca?."
But her friend seemed to be missing as well.
A nearby Zusuddenly swooped after Rydia. She barely avoided its attacks and tried to focus on her black magic.
The monster was mostly unfazed however. But just as Rydia was about to give up, canon fire from above destroyed the Zu.
Rydia smiled when she saw her rescuer on board a familiar red vessel with a drill attached.
The woman was shorter then Rydia and had red hair and a similarly colored outfit.
" Luca! Where have you been?" smiled Rydia.
Luca shrugged" I was bored and took the Falcon on patrol, monsters have been multiplying lately."
Rydia shrugged" I'm surprised that your father let you do anything like fly an airship or anything."
" He doesn't know, getting him to let me be an engineer's apprentice was painful enough" replied the red head.
" Yeah, that sounds more like the King Giott I know" said Rydia.
While the two girls were speaking however, a red-wings airship appeared and attacked the dwarf castle.
" The Red Wings! Something must be up" said Luca.
Rydia nodded" Yeah, something must have happened to Cecil if the Red Wings just attacked for no apparent reason."
" We'd best go check on my father" said Luca.
The Red Wings already left by the time Rydia and Luca made it to the castle. Even then, they were a split few seconds too late.
As Rydia and Luca entered the throne room at the castle, they met with Luca's father, King Giott.
Luca greeted her father" father! are you all right?".
Giott replied" I should be asking you the same, though this castle is strong enough against attacks as feeble as the last."
" What of the Crystals?" inquired Rydia.
" Three of the crystals are now in the hands of the enemy, the one in this castle was taken by a young lady with the same abilities as you" said King Giott.
" What? Really?" gasped Rydia.
Giott nodded grimly" Yeah, she fought off half of my most battle-hardened warriors and took the crystal just like that."
" There's just one more crystal in the sealed cave, right?" chirped Luca.
" Then thats where I will go" said Rydia.
Luca chimed" I'm with you. Besides, my necklace holds the power to break the seal on the cave's entrance."
" Are you sure about this?" said Giott.
" Yeah, besides we will not be going alone" said Luca.
Giott sighed" I had no idea I'd raised such a stubborn daughter. All right, but please do not overextend yourselves my ladies."
" Thanks dad" said Luca.
Giott addressed Rydia one more time" Can I trust you to watch over my daughter?".
" Yes sire" said Rydia.
The two girls stocked up on a small supply of potions at the item shop before heading back to the Falcon.
When they got back there, Rydia was surprised to see two familiar, yet slightly different, figures.
One looked like a boy and the other was like a girl. Except that they weren't human.
Luca grinned at her green-haired best friend" I told you we weren't alone. These two are Calca and Brina."
" More of Cid's work?" inquired Rydia.
Luca replied" I fixed Calca and Brina up actually. I also upgraded them so they should be of some help."
" All right, where to first?" said Rydia.
" We should head for Tomra, without your Eidolons you need better equipment right?" piped Luca.
" Yeah, you're right" said Rydia.
Rydia, Luca, Calca and Brina flew the Falcon to the small town not far from the Sealed Caves.
The weapon and armor shops had not much to offer, but the two girls bought stronger armor and a couple new weapons.
When they were ready, the four headed to the cave.
When they got there, the door ahead from the entrance was still securely shut.
" Looks like we're just in time" said Rydia.
" The Red Wings could probably break in if they attacked with full force" said Luca as she used her pendant's imbued magic to undo the seal.
The sealed cave was the same as when Rydia last traversed it with her old comrades Cecil, Kain, Edge and Rosa. Some of the doors were traps, but Rydia and Luca took care of those with Calca and Brina's help.
After a long trek, the group entered the final chamber where the crystal is.
Luca addressed Rydia" We should take it with us."
" Okay" replied the green-haired summoner.
But before they could get farther then the crystal chamber, a monstrous demon wall emerged.
" It figures it would not be easy" said Luca.
Rydia sighed as she through a thunder spell at it" Lets just take care of it quickly."
Luca slammed a Spider Silk onto the monster while Brina and Calca combined to form Calcabrina to help fight off the monster.
Even that did not slow down the monstrous wall much, but Rydia eventually wore it down long enough for Luca and her two automatons to finish it off.
The rest of the trek out of the cave was uneventful until they ran into the Mysterious Girl.
The girl coolly spoke" I see you saved some effort for me."
" What do you want?" demanded Luca.
The mystery girl replied" No need for you to know. Just that there is one worthier of the crystals then you."
" What?" exclaimed Luca.
Calca and Brina launched themselves at the mystery girl, but she simply blasted them with magic, stunned Luca and Rydia and took the crystal by force.
Shortly afterward, Luca and Rydia woke up to find Calca and Brina damaged and the crystal stolen.
Rydia sighed" Good thing we're still alive, but so much for the crystal."
Luca was slightly dismayed at the sight of her two prone dolls. And when the two girls exited the cave while carrying Calca and Brina, they found the Falcon intact.
Luca shrugged" that girl wasn't even pretending to take us seriously. She could have destroyed the airship and killed us."
Rydia helped Luca put Calca and Brina down on the Falcon and addressed her companion" Well, we'd best head for Baron."
Luca nodded and took the helm. With that, they sped off to the surface part of the blue planet.
En route to Baron, Rydia saw something at a distance" Hey look!"
Luca glanced to see two people riding a Black Chocobo. Rydia gasped as she recognized one of the passengers" Its Palom! But who's that with him?".
Luca spotted a blond girl riding with Palom and frowned" That sneak! After all that sweet talk he gave me."
Suddenly, as the two girls got closer to Baron, a Red Wings airship accosted them. To make things worse, Calca and Brina popped up, and something was wrong.
Luca addressed her dolls" Calca! Brina! You're all right!".
But the two dolls responded with a thunder spells. Luca gasped" Oh No! Their behaviour circuits have gone haywire. Rydia, try to outmaneuver the Red Wings while I deal with those two."
While Rydia tried to evade the Red Wings' canons, Luca took almost no effort in flooring Calca and Brina with her battle axe. Rydia however was not so successful with the airship.
" Luca! We're going down!" she exclaimed.
The Red Wings had damaged the Falcon so badly that Luca barely managed to land it on the island of Agart before it crashed into the ocean.
As the duo recovered from the impact, Rydia and Luca inspected the damage done to their ship.
" We sure took heavy damage" remarked Luca.
Rydia shrugged" Any chance we can fix it?".
Luca pondered a bit, before Rydia spoke again" 'You Kidding? I can get this patched up in no time!' That's what your master would say, right?".
Luca brightened up again before she spoke" You're right, lets go to the Agart Mines after we stock up to see what we can find."
After a quick stop in town to buy potions and eithers and gather info, the two girls went into the Agart Mines to search for materials.
The mines were swamped with monsters, but Rydia dispatched those easily with her magic. And as they went deeper into the mines, Rydia found a Mythril Bolt in one of the cave's urns.
And that wasn't all, before they reached the bottom floors, Rydia and Luca fought past Quadro Dolls, which looked like Calca and Brina, from which Rydia helped salvage more parts.
At the bottom floor of the mines, Rydia and Luca found a treasure chest which was guarded by a turtle-like monster. (I forget what its name was, and is Squaresoft that obsessed with turtles or something? No offense).
With a bit of difficulty, Rydia and Luca smashed the monster and found some Argentite in the treasure chest.
Rydia shrugged" Well, now we should be able to repair the Falcon."
" Yeah, but we should probably rest at the inn before we do anything else" replied Luca.
After a good night's rest at the inn, the two girls returned to the airship to fix the damage.
After a bit of tinkering and hammering, Luca sighed" Still a bit short, I can't fix the ship with what we have on hand."
She then turned towards the prone figures of Calca and Brina" I'm sorry."
" You're not actually thinking of scrapping Calca and Brina for parts are you?" inquired Rydia.
" Its the only way to get the ship off the ground right now" said Luca.
" Wait! You can't do that! Didn't you grow up with them?" exclaimed Rydia.
" But what choice do we have?" replied Luca.
Rydia reached into their item bag and pulled out the mythril parts she found in the mines" Can you use these?".
Luca inspected the items and said" Great! Thanks Rydia! There's even enough material to repair Calca and Brina."
After a bit more work, the airship, Falcon, was fully repaired and Calca and Brina were back on their feet and no longer malfunctioning.
Before anything else could be done, a tremor had shook near Agart.
Luca gasped" oh no! Did you feel that Rydia?".
Rydia nodded and the four of them rushed to the scene of the tremor.
There, not far from Agart, was one of Rydia's eidolons, which resembled a giant man.
" Titan!" breathed Rydia.
But something was wrong, the man-like Eidolon could not presently hear the green-haired summoner. And whats more, it was targeting Agart.
" Its heading for Agart!" cried Luca.
" Titan! Stop! The town's in danger!" shouted Rydia.
But the Eidolon did not respond other then to turn around and unleash his quake spells.
Luca, Rydia, Calca and Brina barely avoided the spells. Luca sighed" We'll just have to fight him."
Calca and Brina's combat systems were still not fully functional, so Luca and Rydia tackled Titan themselves with magic and physical attacks.
Eventually, Titan used its Gaia Rage spell on both of them. Rydia began to despair as it prepared to finish them.
Suddenly, a black-garbed man with silvery-white hair appeared and smashed Titan. The man was very different, yet familiar.
Rydia gasped" Thanks, but who are you?".
The Man in Black did not respond immediately, but he spoke to Rydia and Luca" The Tower of Babil awaits, we must hurry."
Rydia, Luca, Calca and Brina looked in the direction that their mysterious dark-clad rescuer indicated, and sure enough the Tower of Babil was glowing.
" The past is beginning to repeat itself" spoke the mystery man.
Though initially wary of the mysterious Man in Black, Luca and Rydia boarded the Falcon with Calca, Brina and the man in black.
What Rydia did not know at first was that her newest ally is Cecil's older brother Golbez, who is barely recognizable outside his dark blue armor and helmet.
But the green-haired summoner and her companions were about to begin a mission to protect their world.
Rydia's tale ends here at this point. I know I spoiled the identity of the Man in Black, but I'd think its pretty obvious to anyone who's played the Lunarian's Tale sub story of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.
Also, please excuse my hypocrisy, but the side quest I covered was where you would have to get certain rare items (in the game mind you) to make Calca and Brina playable in the game's final chapter: The Crystals.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please feel free to review.