Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Akirame Norwen ❯ Strife in the Forest ( Chapter 14 )

Disclaimer: uh……the number you have dialed does not own Squaresoft, FFX, FFVIII, or Kingdom Hearts….however, I do own the characters Erik, Red, Akirame…and Jerdania!!!

Chapter 14: Strife in the Forest

Riku ran toward the forest, pulling Akira along with him. He slowed down as they came close, and pushed aside a large fern to let her in. They stepped into a clearing, and upon entering scared a small swarm of pyreflies. The flies slowly danced about them, illuminating the clearing with a blue light. Riku glanced over at Akira, his heart racing as he saw the awe-struck look on her face as the flies flew around her. The flies then danced away, following a path through the trees and tall bushes.

Riku laughed as he took Akira by the wrist and chased after the fairy-like lights. The path led them down to a pool of water completely hedged in by the redwood trees and ferns taller than themselves. The room formed by the plants was illuminated by a light that seemed to come from the water. Moon Lilies floated gracefully above the water, glowing in shades of pink, purple, blue and white. Akira gasped at the unearthly beauty, watching as the pyreflies danced over the surface of the water. Riku smiled and bent down to pick one of the flowers, and handed it to her.

"Akira…I…I…lo---" He was unable to finish as the flower he had handed her dimmed, then began to wilt and dry up, turning into a pile of dust that flew out of her hand.

Akira's face was stained with tears as she began to run away, leaving him alone in a place that quickly lost its beauty.

Riku drifted out of his dream, somewhat aware of a warm body close to his. A breeze blew over him, and the body next to his shivered and rolled over, snuggling as close to him as humanly possible. Riku's well-hidden nurturing instincts kicked in and he drew the body close to him, not minding when it nuzzled his collarbone affectionately. Riku gave a sigh and lay there for a moment, allowing the world to come back into focus. Suddenly flashes from last night returned to him. The last thing he could remember was Irvine giving him those drinks, and then getting dizzy… who had crashed next to him? Riku suddenly heard what sounded like Kairi whispering "Awww, how cute."

Well, it wasn't Kairi then. "Irvine, what would you like your tombstone to say?" Jerdania….

Judging by the softness of the body, it definitely wasn't one of the guys…Riku stiffened, afraid to move, for fear of waking the slumbering body next to him. Over a hundred painful forms of death crossed his mind. The body next to him stirred again, evidently about to try and sit up. "Oh man…what am I gonna do, what am I gonna do?!" Riku did the only thing he could think of. He sat up before Akira did, trying to pretend he didn't notice she was there.

"Huh? What am I doing outside…in a sleeping bag?" Akira began to question, her head turning to look at the yawning boy next to her. "Riku?"

"Huh?" Riku turned to look at her, trying to look puzzled. "What?"

"Riku, what am I doing out here with you?" She asked him, her voice now stern.

"I have no idea."

Akira stood up and offered a hand to help him up. "Well, so far so good." Riku thought to himself, grateful that Irvine had left them fully clothed. Who knew just how far Irvine could and would go for a joke? Riku still held Akira's hand to help her keep her balance as she bent down to remove one of her boots.

"You need help with the other one?" Riku asked, figuring she was getting a rock out.

"Nah, I only need one." Akira said, now letting go of his hand.

Riku stood there for a moment, looking at Akira, who stood there holding the boot in her hand, brandishing it like a boomerang. "Run Riku!" Sora suddenly shouted, getting his friend's attention.

"Don't kill him Akira!" Irvine suddenly yelled, stepping forward.

"Why not?! Riku has finally gone far enough!" Akira growled, getting ready for a direct kill.

Riku suddenly found his feet and started to run. "I didn't do it, Akira!" He pleaded, sensing that she had released the laser-guided missile that was her boot.

Fortunately, Riku tripped over a stub of grass, and the boot overshot his head and landed a few feet away from him. "Wow. That was close." He mused as he picked up the boot and pushed himself off the ground.

Bad decision. The group grimaced as they watched Riku drop to the ground after being hit in the forehead by Akira's other boot. "Man, who knew she had such a great throwing arm?" Irvine said, shielding his eyes from the sun.

"Anyone who plays dodgeball as much as Akira would have a great throwing arm." Kairi said, her arms crossed.

"So, uh…we just gonna leave him there?" Sora asked, scratching his back.

"Nah. I wanna get him before the monsters do." Akira said, stomping off in her socks toward the unconscious heap.

Akira quickly approached Riku, who was now trying to sit up and was rubbing his forehead where the boot had hit. "Man, you throw really hard." He said, allowing her to help him to his feet. "And I'm telling you, I didn't plan last night."

"Then why did I wake up laying next to you like that?"

"How am I supposed to know…" Riku's voice faded off and the two looked at each other.

"IRVINE!" They both shouted, looking toward the campsite.

Irvine heard the angry call and he hastened as he quickly stuffed everything into his backpack and slung it over his shoulder, apparently intent upon escaping alive. He had just begun to mount one of the chocobos when the two angry teens caught up to him and tackled him to the ground. "Please don't hurt me!" He cried, covering his face from their wrath.

Akirame and Riku took no heed of his desperate request. Instead, they were thoroughly ruffling him, searching for his ticklish spot. "Ha! I'm not ticklish!" Irvine proudly boasted, now crossing his arms.

"Yes you are." Jerdania said, running over to join them. "Right here!" She quickly took off one of his boots and laughed as Irvine began to squirm.

Erik stood at a distance from the group, next to Red, who sat cat-like in his regal dragon form. "The next part of the journey is going to be hard for you." Red stated, remaining motionless.

"It's only for a few days."

"Memories can torture the mind if given the chance. You need to let go of your memories."

Erik sighed and sat down, thinking about what Red had said. For so long…

"Hey Erik, hey Red! Aren't you gonna help us kill Irvine and hide his body?" Sora asked, now approaching them.

Erik looked up and tried his best to put on a fake smile. Thankfully, Sora was dense and couldn't read people well. "Nah, I'm gonna finish cleaning up the site."

"Okay, well…man that is so cool." Sora always got a kick out of Red's morphing into a different form.

Red, now human, rolled his eyes and stood up. "Most people would have gotten used to it by now."

"Not me!"

Erik and Red sighed and walked toward whatever mess was left and began to pack it away. Meanwhile, Irvine was now laying on his back, pinned down by Riku and Akira while Jerdania began to…lick between his toes? Kairi grimaced, and Sora was, as usual, pretty confused by the sight. Either way, Irvine was in hysterics from the cruel and unusual punishment he was undergoing. "Uh…guys…we had really be going now. It's still another five hours or so until we reach Winhill, and the forest is a nightmare at evening." Erik said, now finished.

"Let me go, PLEASE!" Irvine screamed, twisting and wriggling.

"Erik's right, Riku. Let's go ahead and let him go."

Riku shrugged and got up, releasing Irvine. "Thank you, Hyne!" Irvine graciously said, trying to get to his feet.

"When do we eat?" Sora quietly asked, noticing how everything was already packed, including Jerdania's cooking ware.

Riku quickly assembled everyone together. "So, do you guys think we should change partners, or stick with the ones we got?"

"When do we eat?" Sora asked again, this time a little louder and more annoying.

The group mumbled something about not caring, and Riku shrugged. "Well, if that's the way you want it. Come on, let's saddle up and set out."

With that the group rather unceremoniously loaded their gear and mounted the yellow birds. Within minutes they were already entering the forest.

"When do we eat?" Sora loudly asked, making Riku cringe.

"Just dig in your pack and get one of your granola bars out."

"I ate them all."

Riku turned in his saddle to look back at the whining brunette. "You ate them all?! Those were supposed to last the whole week!"

"I was hungry!"

Riku now pulled the bird back so he was facing Sora, who was riding with Jerdania. "Hungry enough to eat 26 granola bars in one night?"

"Hey! I can't help it if I've got a big appetite!"

Riku rolled his eyes and rode back to the front of the group.

"I'm still hungry!" Sora shouted, and was hit in the head by an apple. "OWCH! Hey…woo-hoo! It's food!"

The grouped sighed and tried to ignore the ravenous youth. "Man, I just hope your eating doesn't attract any monsters." Jerdania said, keeping an eye out.

"I doubt it. This forest is pretty tame." Erik commented.

"You've been here before?" Riku asked, looking over at him.

"Once or twice. Camping trips." Erik was beginning to look uncomfortable.

"Don't wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

"Hmm."

Akira heard Erik sigh and felt him shift in the saddle. "You okay?" she quietly asked over her shoulder, wishing she could see him.

"I'm fine, I just…have a history, that's all."

Akira bit her lip and turned her attention back to steering the chocobo. The forest was beautiful in its own right, a thickly ingrown deciduous forest, brightly lit in patches where the leaves of overlapping branches didn't block out the sun. The only sound was the sound of a river somewhere nearby and various birds. "So, this is all we're gonna see for the next five hours?"

"Sora, I thought you were eating."

"I finished."

"I gave you that apple about thirty seconds ago!"

"I told you I was hungry."

"Please don't tell me he's going to talk through this entire trip!" Jerdania pleaded.

"You got a problem with me talking?" Sora challenged, pointing a thumb at himself.

"No, just you complaining." Irvine said, twisting around to look at him.

"Why's everybody picking on me?"

The group tried their hardest to hold back their laughter as Sora began to mope.

Suddenly, without warning, Riku halted. The group fell silent and stopped behind him. The suddenly grew tense as they watched Riku listen, and the entire forest seemed to fall silent. Not a single sound was made as Riku's hand moved towards his sword, and the rest of the group began to reach for theirs….

A small green object flew into the middle of the group and landed in Sora's hand. "Huh? What's this?" he said, looking at it.

"Sora! It's a gernade! Hurry, throw it back!" Erik screamed, unable to tell if it was live or not.

Sora, in his blind panic, threw the gernade as hard as he could, sending it straight up into the air where it burst into yellow smoke. "Oh man! It's a smoke gernade! Hurry and cover your mouth!" Irvine shouted, bringing his shirt up over his face.

The others quickly took action as the smoke descended and shrouded them in a noxious yellow fog. Riku quickly unsheathed his sword and tried to see as his eyes started to water.

Erik and Irvine were suddenly grateful for the hours of training that their instructors had put them through, for they already knew what to expect.

The first attacker lunged from the right, where it was met by a powerful blow from Erik's fist. The hyena flew back into a tree and fell to the ground unmoving. "Red! Do something about the smoke!" Erik hastily shouted, blinking as his eyes filled with tears from the smoke.

Red quickly jumped off his Chocobo and tried to quickly morph, only able to get his wings unfurled from his body, leaving the rest in human form as he was attacked from behind by another one of the hyenas. Irvine quickly took action, shooting the beast squarely in the head.

Red pushed himself up, letting the dead animal slide off his back. Deciding not to risk another ambush attack, Red quickly spread his wings and made quick, powerful strokes, clearing away the thick fog, then furled them away.

Once the fog was cleared, the group got their weapons ready as their enemies emerged; a group of bandits with two more hyenas for them to contend with. "Oy! There's more of them then he told us, mates!" The apparent leader of the gang, a tall, burly man with an earring, shouted to his friends in an English accent.

"Now wot, Skyzer?" one of the other bandits asked, looking panicked.

Skyzer, the leader, quickly put two fingers in his mouth and made an ear-piercing whistle, causing several bandits to leap out of the woods and make one last attempt at attacking them.

Kairi and Jerdania did an excellent job of defending themselves, Kairi making a sharp blow to a skinny man that tried to hit her with a club, breaking his nose. Jerdania steered her chocobo around and dashed past a tall, thickly built, bald bandit, using one of her daggers to quickly sever the suspenders holding up his large pants as she passed by. The man, still trying to figure out what had happened, tried to run after her when his pants quickly fell around his ankles, causing him to trip and fall face first to the ground.

Just when the group thought they had taken out all of the bandits, Skyzer, the leader, made a quick and hasty move while the rest of his group was still fighting/loosing. He moved around to the first occupied and weak looking person he could find and quickly lunged at her, tightly wrapping his arms over hers and pulling her off of her chocobo. "Let me go!" She screamed, thrashing and trying to kick him.

"Akirame!" Riku screamed, abandoning his chocobo, ready to cut the man's head clear off his shoulders.

Akirame violently kicked one of the man's legs, making him laugh. "That won't do ye any good. That leg ain't real."

"Oh yeah, what about this one?" Akira growled, giving a good kick to his other leg.

"That…" The man wheezed, now cringing. "would be my real leg."

"Ha! Come on guys, help me out here!"

"That's enough." Skyzer said as Riku approached, now reaching in his pocket for something.

"Don't you dare hurt her!" Riku shouted, holding his sword out to the side.

The rest of the group heard his scream and followed after him, weapons drawn. The man pulled the object out and now brandished a wicked looking….stick?

"The heck? That's just a stick! What are you gonna do, give her a splinter?" Irvine laughed, lowering his gun.

The "stick" in Skyzer's hand suddenly shook to life, opening its eyes and mouth, revealing a pair of deadly fangs. "Eep! It's a snake?!" Kairi screamed, backing up.

"Absolutely. This here snake is none other than a Camosnake! One drop of its poison could kill your little friend here twenty times over!" The man informed them, holding the snake away from Akira's face.

The snake justified the man's statement as it snapped out, coming within a mere inch of her neck. "Dude, how do you know all of that?" Erik suddenly asked, winking at Irvine, who was the only one who understood what Erik was up to.

"Yeah….how'd you learn all of that?" Irvine asked, hoping the others would get the drift.

"Oh…I uh, I used to be a biology teacher." Skyzer said, now distracted.

"Oh…when did you decide to…uh….change occupations?" Jerdania asked, making Irvine silently praise her for her quick wit.

"Oh…it was for reasons that weren't even my fault! One day, I had left the classroom momentarily to get some supplies from the office…"

"And?"

"And one of those little 10th grade brats decided to play with the lab snake, which I had repeatedly warned them was poisonous, but none of them ever listened to me!"

"Man! I agree, 16 year olds are brats." Irvine said, making Erik raise an eyebrow.

"No kidding. As I was saying, the kid takes out the snake and starts teasing it, and then the snake bit the little brat! And they blamed it on me!"

"For shame! You should do something about it!"

"Yeah, your right…Eeeyy…I know what you're up to! Cut it out now!" Skyzer angrily said when he saw that they were moving closer.

He now raised the snake even closer to Akira's face, twisting his face into a snarl.

"Don't just stand there, do something!" Akira shouted, watching the snake out of the corner of her eye.

"What do you want from us?" Riku barked, unwilling to see his friend harmed.

"Well, you could start by showing us your hands. All of you."

"What? We washed them already!" Irvine sarcastically said, pulling off his gloves with his teeth while he still held his gun.

"Aye! Don't be a smart aleck!"

The group quickly ungloved themselves and waited for Skyzer's next order.

"Check their hands boys." Skyzer ordered.

The men that were still capable of moving nodded as they quickly grabbed the ungloved hands and turned them palm up, searching for something. Riku gulped as one of the bandits took his wrists and twisted his hands so they were palm-up.

The sudden sound of two jeeps and a good number of soldiers quickly caught everyone's attention. "This is the Galbadian SeeD troop 41!" A voice shouted from somewhere in the forest from a megaphone.

Irvine's eyes got big. "Troop 41? I know those guys! Hey! Guys! This is Irvine Kinneas! Student number JHN15-9! Help us out here!!" Irvine shouted, trying to see where they were.

"Remain calm! If you do not clear this area within the next five minutes, we will be forced to shoot!" The voice replied.

"Forget that, just shoot!" Irvine yelled.

"You have two minutes remaining."

"Ack! What are we gonna do, Skyzer?" one of the lackey bandits asked nervously.

"They're bluffing."

"And I'm not!" Erik hastily reached into his pocket and pulled out a clump of black powder, which he tossed over Akira's head into Skyzer's eyes.

"Ahh! Blind powder! I can't see!" The man screamed, letting go of Akira and the snake as he began to rub his eyes.

Akira instantly jerked away from the man and dashed over to join her companions. "You have one minute remaining!" The megaphone shouted.

Erik and Riku quickly took advantage of the situation, rushing to take down the bandits. What ensued was pure chaos, between the bandits desperately trying to escape, and the time limit growing shorter. Why weren't the soldiers doing anything?

As Erik attempted to take down Skyzer with a sweep-kick, one of the two remaining hyenas attacked him, grabbing his hand and mouth at once in its giant mouth.

Erik froze and looked into the animal's brightly glowing amber eyes, quickly getting the message that the animal was sending him. He knew that if he resisted, the hyena might clamp down with its massive jaws, and would be more than capable of completely mauling him.

After a moment, Erik tried to inch back, and was met by the hyena's razor sharp teeth now puncturing his skin and muscle. Erik screamed in pain and his animal instincts took over as he angrily took hold of the animal's head in his free arm and with a single, sharp twist, crack. Erik looked up to see the last hyena approaching him, then freezing in its tracks. The sickening sound of the animal's neck breaking was all it took to put enough fear in the other animal to make it flee.

"You have thirty seconds!" The megaphone shouted, making everyone freeze.

"Let's get out of here!" One of the bandits screamed, barely escaping a sweeping blow from Riku's sword.

Skyzer, still blinded, staggered around, trying to get the powder out of his eyes. In his blindness he tripped over something and landed on his face.

By now, all but three of the bandits, including Skyzer, had escaped, and were now being held by their intended victims. "Hey, yo! Soldiers! You can come out now! We got everything under control!" Irvine shouted.

There was some rustling from the forest, and only two people emerged, a man and a…very short woman. "Woah! I can't believe it! You guys handled them all by yourselves?" The woman exclaimed, bursting with excitement.

"Mostly. Where's Erik? He's the hero."

Erik shouted to them from somewhere in the forest, his voice anxious.

His arm was still trapped in the animal's locked jaws, and the more he struggled to get the mouth open, the tighter the hold seemed to get. He was instantly relieved when his companions, plus two strangers and three captured bandits came to his rescue.

Irvine swore when he saw the sight of Erik kneeling on the ground, his arm covered with dark red blood. "What happened?" Akira asked, quickly rushing to his side with Kairi to try and help him open the mouth.

"It bit me and wouldn't let go, so I broke its neck." Erik hissed through clenched teeth as he put a massive effort into prying the jaws open.

"You what?!" Irvine said, now joining the effort.

"I….I broke its neck." Erik breathed, now hardly believing it himself.

"Guys, the only way we're going to be able to get this ugly beast's mouth open it to hack its head off and take your buddy here to Winhill in our van." The man said, looking at Riku.

Riku wordlessly stepped forward, waiting for the others to get out of the way. With a single, powerful stroke, he managed to slice through most of the animal's short neck, and had to kneel down and apply pressure to get through the bone, then the sword easily sliced through the rest.

The animal's head dropped to the ground, making an incredibly gruesome sight. "Man….I can't think of a place to mount that without scaring people away." Irvine said, grimacing.

The man pulled a…pillow case? Out of his jacket and pulled it up over the head and Erik's arm, tying it securely just under his elbow. "I wish we had some medical supplies around…but for now you'll just have to try and bear with us."

"You guys had chocobos, right?" The woman asked, helping Erik up.

"Yeah…"

"Uh….I think your bandit buddies just stole them."

The group looked over their shoulders to see that, indeed, the chocobos were gone. "No! Our stuff! What are we going to do without our supplies, Riku?!" Sora shouted, demanding an answer.

"Sora, shut up! We have Erik to worry about!" Akirame shouted, finally fed up with Sora's behavior.

"Don't worry about it. There is another group of people out here that will round them up for you. These bandits have been giving travelers some hassle for about two weeks now." The man informed them, placing strips of cloth around the wrists of the three captured bandits.

"So….what about us?" Irvine asked, tapping his boot with his gun.

"There's room in our van for you guys. Come on, let's go." The man offered, leading them away from the site and into the forest. A single van lay waiting for them, along with a megaphone and a tape player that was laying on the hood.

"The heck? Where's all the soldiers?" Irvine asked, looking disappointed.

"Oh, it's just us. Haven't you heard of the Winhill Bogus Troop?" The woman asked, picking up the equipment and opening the doors in the back.

"No…"

The woman sighed. "Man, and I though we were infamous. Get in, and I'll explain it to you."

The group climbed into the back of the van and sat down on the two rows of seats that faced each other. The woman climbed into the cab, shoving the three bandits in as well, and opened a window so that she could talk to them as the van started up and began to drive out of the forest.

"You see, about 10 years ago, we had a massive problem with thieves and whatnot taking advantage of travelers here in this forest."

The group looked at each other at the mention of the name. "You've heard of him before?" The woman asked.

"Yeah. We're actually on our way to meet him." Riku explained.

"How cool! Anyhow, Laguna came up with this idea that instead of having to use a whole police force and deal with the cost, he could form a troop of volunteers instead, and use different methods into confusing the criminals. So basically what we do, is we flush them out, where another group of people capture them!"

"Ingenious." Irvine said, soaking in the information.

Erik was beginning to sway a bit, woozy from the loss of blood. "Erik, you okay?" Kairi asked, her team-medic instincts kicking in.

"I feel really dizzy." He said, blinking to clear his vision.

"That isn't good. Man! All my supplies were in my bag!" Kairi growled as she searched her empty pockets.

"Guys, Erik isn't looking so good. How much longer will it be?" Kairi asked, checking Erik's pulse and feeling his forehead, which was now beginning to feel warm.

"Only two hours, and we're going as fast as we can. Do you think you can hold it together."

Kairi looked at Erik, watching as his jaw firmly set with determination. "Yeah, I think he'll make it."

Akira quietly sat next to him, watching his face. How badly could that animal have hurt him?