"Akari!" Ryoga shouted as he ran through the dark forest, always following the screams of the girl he liked. "Akari!"
"Garnet!" another voice behind him shouted. "Garnet!"
Ryoga frowned. 'What the heck?' he thought. 'It's Akari, not Garnet.'
"Akari!"
"Garnet!"
"Akari!"
"Garnet!"
"Garnet!"
"Akari!"
"Garnet... wait a minute..." Ryoga shook his head. "Why am I shouting for 'Garnet' now? Hey you!" he told the boy that just came running past him. "Stop confusing me!"
"Can't talk now," the blonde boy in the blue pants and vest gasped. "I've got to save Akari... uh, I mean, Princess Garnet!"
"Princess? Hey, wait a minute!" Ryoga shouted and ran after him. 'Does that guy have a monkey tail?' he then wondered.
Finally, they reached the small clearing in which the horrifying plant monster had trapped a black-haired girl. The noble knight called Steiner was facing the creature with his drawn blade, while the boy named Vivi was crouching on the ground, close to Akari.
"Akari!" Ryoga shouted. "Are you okay? What is that thing?"
"Ryoga?" Akari gasped in surprise. "You're here, too?"
"I don't think we have the time to chat," the monkey-tailed boy said as he drew a pair of daggers. He looked over to the trapped girl, who was trapped inside the bulbous cage that was growing on top of the monster. "It's got the princess!"
"Release the princess at once!" Steiner yelled and waved around his sword menacingly. Only, the Prison Cage did not seem to be impressed.
"Yeah, like it's really going to listen to you..." the boy with the tail grumbled.
"Ryoga... you've got to help her," Akari pleaded.
"I'm on it," the bandana-clad youth nodded. "I suppose you won't mind the assistance, would you?"
"I'd appreciate it, buddy," the other boy said. "The name's Zidane."
"Ryoga Hibiki. Nice to meet you!"
"Likewise... now, come on!"
The Prison Cage screeched as it lashed out with both of its vine-like tentacles at once. Zidane skillfully leapt over it, while Ryoga reached out to grab the vine with his hands.
"Good idea!" Zidane smirked and impaled the other, thrashing vine with his dagger, pinning it down to the ground.
"An opening!" Steiner shouted and ran at the creature. "Have at theeeee!" All the while, Ryoga wondered if that guy was related to Kuno.
"No, stop, or it'll use its..."
The Prison Cage hissed as it exhaled a green cloud that completely engulfed the knight. Steiner stopped dead in his tracks, began coughing and then collapsed on the spot.
"Wh-what happened to him?" Akari stuttered.
"It planted its seeds on him," Zidane said while gritting his teeth. "That idiot..."
'I could easily use my Bakusai Tenketsu to take care of that thing,' Ryoga thought. 'But with that armored guy lying in the way, it could cause more harm than be of any help...'
He leapt forth, quickly picked up the heavy body of the armored knight and leapt back, carrying him to safety.
But that meant he had to let go of the vine of the creature. The Prison Cage used that moment to reach up to its bulb, where the princess was imprisoned. Touching her with his vine, he proceeded to suck some of her life energy out of her body.
"Aaaaaaah!" the princess yelled. "Nooooo!"
"Princess Garnet!" Zidane shouted. "I'll be there in a second..."
"No, stay back," Ryoga said. "I'm gonna use..."
Before either of them could do anything, the Prison Cage used the strength it had gathered by absorbing some energy from the princess to rip its left arm free. Afterwards, it used both vines to pull itself up into the trees, where it vanished.
"No..." Zidane groaned. "It has taken Garnet..." He then looked at Ryoga accusingly. "If you hadn't stopped me, I could have saved her."
"What? If it weren't for you and that armor guy, I would have been able to use my most powerful techniques and..."
"STOP FIGHTING!" Akari shouted.
Both Zidane and Ryoga were taken aback. "A... akari?" Ryoga stuttered.
The sumo pig trainer glared at them as she knelt down next to the unconscious form of Steiner. "There's really no time for you to argue," she said. "This man needs medical help... also, shouldn't you be after that monster to save her?"
"Well... yeah, I guess so..." Zidane said meekly. "I guess I was kind of carried away..."
Without any warning, a plant monster that looked identical to the first one dropped down from the trees behind Akari and Vivi, scooped both of them up with its tentacles and imprisoned them within its bulb cage.
"Heeeeelp!" Vivi shouted.
"RYOGA!" Akari yelled.
"No, not another one!" Ryoga grumbled. "Dang, I've just had enough of them... stand back!"
"Well, okay..." Zidane muttered and did as he was told.
Ryoga then jumped up. All the negative emotions he had gathered in the previous battle, the frustration of not being able to save the other girl, the annoyance at the knight who had been foolish enough to let himself be hit by the creature's spore cloud and the unjustified anger at Zidane, all of that came to the surface and allowed him to use one of his most powerful techniques.
"SHI SHI HOKODAN!" Ryoga yelled, hurling the sphere of destructive energy at the monster, making sure to aim low enough that it wouldn't hit Vivi or Akari.
The Prison Cage let out an inhuman wail, before it sank down on the ground, his bulb collapsing into several, limp leaves, so that Vivi and Akari were set free.
He panted. 'That's it... I did it!' he thought.
He wasn't prepared for the sudden burst of pollen the plant released upon its death. Ryoga, Zidane, Akari and Vivi all got engulfed in the same spore cloud that Steiner had fallen victim to.
Ryoga stayed conscious long enough to see the others falling down to the ground. "N-no..." he muttered. "Akari..."
'Hey, get a hold of yourself!' the Sylph shouted from within his mind. 'You can't faint now!'
But it was too late: Ryoga's eyes closed themselves as he fell into an uneasy sleep.
The first thing he saw after waking up was the face of an unknown boy who was wearing an orange bandana on his head. Ryoga also noticed that he was lying in some sort of wooden cabin.
"Looks like you're a pretty tough guy," the boy smirked. "From what Zidane told me, you completely totaled that monster."
Ryoga sat up. "Where... where am I?"
"Aboard the Prima Vista," the other boy explained. "The ship of the famous Tantalus Theater Troupe... well, former ship, actually," he sighed. "Now that we crashed here in the Evil Forest, we probably won't be able to salvage her... the name's Marcus, by the way. I'm one of Zidane's buddies."
"I'm Ryoga..." the martial artist introduced himself. "What happened to the others? What was that stuff the plant blew at us? Are Akari and that kid all right?"
"They're going to be just fine," Marcus assured him. "That thing tried to plant its spores in your bodies, but we gave you an antidote, removing the spores. You'll be okay in no time. See, the kid's fine as well." And he gestured over to the other bed, where Vivi was lying.
The young boy waved. "Hello."
"The girl is downstairs, talking to the boss," Marcus said. "She didn't get hit with quite as much spores and was able to recover much faster than the two of you." He stood up from the stool he was sitting on. "Well, I'm gonna see if Sir Rustalot has waken up as well. We had to lock him up in one of the other rooms, or else he would have caused some trouble for sure. See ya later!" And he left the room, leaving Ryoga and Vivi alone.
Ryoga tried to stand up, but his limbs weren't quite obeying him, they felt sluggish and limp.
'Don't strain yourself,' came the voice of Kane. 'He's right, you have to rest for some time.'
'You better listen to us, we can tell if our summoner feels fine or not,' Ran smirked. 'But, you know, we could help you recover much faster if you would summon us...'
"I guess that would be a good idea," Ryoga agreed.
"Did you talk to me?" Vivi wondered. "Sorry, we didn't get the time to get introduced yet... my name's Vivi. And you are Ryoga, right?"
"That's right," Ryoga nodded. "I'm a martial artist." He looked at Vivi curiously. He wondered if the boy had a reason to keep his face hidden in the shadows of his hat.
"Is that something like a monk?" Vivi asked. "I've seen you fight that monster... that was really awesome! I wish I could have done something as well, but I was petrified... I was so afraid, I couldn't move at all. I couldn't use any spells... I'm a Black Mage, you know?"
"Black Mage?" Ryoga wondered. "Um... that doesn't mean you're evil, right?"
"N-no, of course not!" Vivi seemed shocked that Ryoga would even think something like that.
'Black Mage merely means that he specializes in attack magic,' Kari explained. 'Compared to the White Mages who specialize in healing magic. Can we now get to the part where you summon us?'
"Okay, okay, no need to get snappy," Ryoga grumbled.
"I... I didn't want to sound snappy," Vivi apologized. "I guess I'm not used to talk to other people, aside from my grandfather..."
"I wasn't talking to you, kid," Ryoga smirked. "I was talking to my friends, the Sylph. Come out, you guys!" And he invoked his new summoner powers for the first time.
In a green flash, the fairy-like summoning spirits appeared. "Much better!" Ran sighed and stretched her body. "I really prefer to fly around instead of being cramped up in a summoner's mind..."
"That's one of the risks that comes with our job," Kane shrugged. "Deal with it, sis!"
"Who... who are they?" Vivi gasped.
"We are Espers," Kari told the stunned, young mage. "In other words, summoning spirits."
"I... I've heard about them," Vivi muttered. "But... but aren't they called Eidolons?"
"Well, yeah, that's what the people of this world are calling us," Kane explained. "Now, oh summoner, what can we do for you?"
"You could start with helping Vivi and me to recover from those spores," Ryoga smirked.
"Consider it done, boss!" Ran smirked and wiggled her fingers. Her sisters joined in, and a sparkling, green dust slowly sank down on both of them. In no time, they felt the regenerative effects of their powers.
"How did you do that?" Vivi wondered. "I feel much better now."
"You ever heard of the white spell 'Regen'?" Kari asked him. "Well, what we are doing is practically a bigger version of that spell, and it can even affect multiple persons at once."
Ryoga began to realize just how useful these powers could be in any battle.
Just then, the door opened and Zidane came walking in. "Hey, Marcus told me you had woken up and I wanted to... WHOAH!" He jumped back in surprise when he saw the Sylph. "Wh-where did they come from?"
"Mr. Ryoga summoned them," Vivi explained. "I think he is a really powerful summoner, Mr. Zidane."
"Aw, I'm just a beginner," Ryoga admitted. "I'm actually a martial artist..."
"A summoner?" Zidane wondered. "Those are Eidolons? And here I thought Princess Garnet was the only human being who could summon them..."
"The princess?" Vivi asked. "Really? Is that why you wanted to kidnap them?"
'Uh-oh...' was all Zidane could think when he saw the angry expression in Ryoga's eyes.
"KIDNAP her?" Ryoga shouted. "That means... you are just a band of kidnappers?"
"Now, calm down there!" Zidane told the upset martial artist. "She wanted it this way, you know?"
"What's THAT supposed to mean?" Ryoga frowned.
"Ryoga... why don't you just settle down and listen to his side of the story?" Kari suggested. "Maybe it isn't quite as it seems..."
"All I know is that he is a kidnapper, and maybe even a thief or worse."
"I PREFER the term 'treasure hunter', you know?" Zidane grumbled. "All right, I admit, at first, we really wanted to take her away, no matter if she wanted to come along or not."
"I knew it..." Ryoga grumbled.
"But... as soon as I got the chance to speak to the princess, I learned that she wanted to get away from the palace anyway. We tried to sneak her out of Alexandria on our ship, but Queen Brahne found out about our plan and sent a Bomb after us."
"A... bomb?" Ryoga wondered.
"Big, floating fireball monster, can blow itself up to cause huge damage," Ran explained.
"Right," Zidane nodded. "And while we managed to escape, the damage it did to the Prima Vista were so big that we had to crashland in the forest. That Steiner guy is really a captain of the royal guard, he was on board when we took off, so we had to take him along."
"It was just a coincidence that I was on board as well," Vivi said. "When the ship crashed, we were thrown overboard, into the forest, where the plant monster attacked us."
"But... why would the princess want to be kidnapped?" Ryoga wondered. "And why did you want to kidnap her in the first place? To press some money from the queen?"
"No, it's more complicated... and I'm afraid I don't really have the time to go into detail. I still need to get out there and try if I can save Garnet."
"Garnet?" Ryoga asked.
"The princess' name," Vivi explained. "Princess Garnet til Alexandros XVII."
"I just wanted to know if you two would be interested to come along as well," Zidane said. "You are one heck of a fighter, and Vivi seems to be quite a capable Black Mage."
"B-but... I was scared. I could barely move the last time," Vivi stuttered.
"Are you kidding? I've seen the spell you hurled at the guards back in Alexandria," Zidane grinned.
"B-but I didn't even hit them... I hit the princess' cloak..."
"Well, okay, but I'm sure you'd be a great help. You're a Black Mage for crying out loud. Show us what you got!"
"A-all right... I... I'll try my best."
"And what about you?" Zidane asked.
Ryoga frowned. "Well... I've just found Akari... and I don't know what she would say if I left her behind, in the care of..."
Zidane sneered at him. "In the care of a band of bandits, you wanted to say?"
"Well... yes."
"I talked with her and the boss," Zidane said. "And she was the one who suggested to ask you for help. May I repeat her exact words?" He cleared his throat. "Ahem... 'Ryoga is one of the most warm-hearted people I know, and I know that if you ask him, he would help you. He also wouldn't just leave a helpless girl to her doom.'" Zidane winked. "So, was she saying the truth?"
Ryoga had to admit, he didn't like the idea of what the plant monster would do to the princess. The only thing that kept him here were his own worries for Akari.
"Well, okay... I guess it's the right thing to do."
Zidane smiled. "Great! Just let me ask Sir Rusty if he wants to come along as well, and we're on our way!"
"A-are you sure it won't be too late?" Vivi asked. "What if that monster already ate her...?"
"Naw, I'm pretty sure it only brought her to its master," the young thief said. "Everyone knows that the ruler of the Evil Forest is a monster that controls all of the evil plants in the area..."
"In that case, we shouldn't waste any more time," Ryoga said. "Sylph, let's go!"
"Okay, back into our summoner's mind, girls!" Akane smirked.
"Awww..." Ran groaned. "I don't wanna go back in there..."
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(Posted Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:08)
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