Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ A Time Mixup! ❯ A new land... New allies await! ( Chapter 15 )

Chapter 15

A new land;

New allies await!

Trunks moaned heavily as he walked along the worn path, his eyes tired. The path cut through emerald fields speckled with flowers, and crossed over hills in the distance. The air was cool and pleasant, but Trunks was growing very tired of walking. He'd decided to pack away the U.T. in case the land where they now tread also had machines outlawed. Goten skipped along through the grass, and Trunks had to constantly remind him not to power up. The inability to fly was beginning to bug Trunks, especially because his feet really hurt. Trunks yawned, barely watching where he was going Suddenly, Goten let out an awestruck yell that caused Trunks to trip. He caught himself before he hit the ground, and shot an angry glare at Goten. He was about to complain when suddenly, a huge shadow covered everything. Goten pointed up, his eyes glinting.

"A flying ship!"

It was, quite literally, just that. It looked like an old style ship that Trunks had seen in the textbooks at school. It was unremarkable except for the fact that it flew. The loud choppy sound of propellers cut through the air and Trunks now saw that the ship was held up by a cluster of propellers that were suspended where the ships sails would have been. There was a set of propellers at the rudder as well. Trunks stared at the thing in shock. How is that possible?! His mind raced, trying to figure out how such a cumbersome obsolete object could fly. Perhaps there was ki energy involved, but he couldn't really feel anything spectacular on the ship. True, the ship did have a few fairly impressive souls on board-Trunks could feel the outpouring of their ki-but nothing like that would be able to suspend a ship in midair like that. Trunks's curiosity got the better of him, and he let his own ki reach out to search the planet. Perhaps there was someone really powerful that was making it fly. Trunks at first felt no one, but then, suddenly, he felt a pang of hateful energy halfway across the world. But Trunks noticed something about the energy that made him forget the floating ship that was above them. The energy was the same as the one he'd felt on Spira. The same energy he'd felt in Sin. Trunks immediately stopped reaching out. The energy was horrifying to the extent that it made him dizzy. The energy hadn't felt as widespread as Sin's, so Trunks knew that it couldn't possibly be Sin himself, but it was the same… Goten's young voice snapped Trunks out of his horror-filled daydream and into reality. And the reality was, that the ship was now hovering above them, much lower, and a man stood looking over the side. He had long blond hair that whipped about his face in the unruly winds. Goten was piping out a greeting, hopping up and down.

"Hi there!!!" Goten exclaimed. The man shook his head, and addressed Trunks.

"Have you two not heard about the traveling ban?" He asked. Trunks shook his head. He knew not to give away too much about their origins.

"No… I haven't heard anything about that."

The man sighed heavily.

"The king has placed a ban on traveling to protect you people from the monsters that have reappeared in Baron. What country are you from? Maybe the message never got there."

"Uh…" Trunks grinned. "My friend Goten and I come from the west. We're… Homeless orphans."

Goten blinked at Trunks.

"We are?" Trunks glared at him and hissed under his breath.

"Yes!" Trunks smiled politely at the man in the ship, and offered an explanation. "Please excuse him. Our parents died when he was a baby, and he doesn't really know what orphans are. We travel from town to town looking for work and a place to stay. We came here because we heard about a potential job." Trunks hoped that the explanation was valid. The man smiled and nodded.

"Oh. You've come to join the task force? You're awfully young to be a fighter… Are you trained in magic?"

Magic again… Trunks thought miserably. I wish I could learn it… He shook his head. "I'm here to fight. I can fight really well-just trust me."

The man shrugged again.

"Alright then. We'll have to take you back to the castle and run you through the basic training before you can start, you know. That includes an interview with the king. We have to make sure you're steadfast. Can't have any deserters win a war against monsters."

Trunks nodded. He wasn't interested at all in hearing about the tests. He knew he could pass those with his eyes closed.

"Sure. Okay."

The man on the ship nodded to someone behind him, and a ladder was lowered. Trunks smiled and clambered up it. Goten followed him reluctantly. Once aboard, the man with the blond hair smiled at him.

"My name's Kain Highwind-Captain of the Royal Guard of Baron, as well as the leader of the Dragoons. What's your name?"

Trunks smiled.

"My name is Trunks. This is Goten."

Goten nodded happily.

"Hi there! Your armor's cool!"

Trunks had to agree. Kain wore dark armor that shown in the sun. He had a lot of medals and ribbons on a vest that he wore over his armor, and a long spear was strapped to his back. There was a helmet buckled to his belt that was topped with a plume of feathers. He looked like one of the warriors that Trunks had seen in medieval war movies. He wondered exactly where they'd ended up, but he decided to hold his questions until he met with the king. After all, who better to ask than a king? Trunks smiled happily. For once, things seemed to be falling into place. Kain turned and nodded to the soldier at the helm of the ship.

"Helmsman, take us home." The soldier saluted.

"Yessir!"

The ship made a sharp turn, causing a sweep of wind to wash over the deck. The wind played in Trunks's long hair, lifting it off of his shoulders. The boy walked to the edge of the deck and leaned over the rail, peering at the horizon. He'd never experienced flying this way. When he used his own ki to fly, he had to concentrate, and riding in an air car was quicker, but much less exciting. He wondered if this was what the Flying Nimbus was like. He'd never ridden it.

The ship was surprisingly aerodynamic, and it cut through the air like a knife. Trunks watched as valleys and rivers flew by, watched as mist boiled out form beneath the ship. Trunks recognized the yellow forms of chocobos grazing in a field and wondered if he was in a different era on Spira. Trunks smiled in the cool wind. There were so many different scents in the strange world that he was now in-everything smelled fresh and new. He felt hope in this place-and for once felt that he may be able to fix the horrible thing he'd done. Trunks was suddenly aware of a small form beside him. He looked down into two eyes that were filled with stars. Goten grinned up at him, his innocent face full of curiosity.

"Trunks, are you excited?" Goten smiled, his face brimming with happiness. "I am! A king! We get to meet a real live king! Wow-I wonder what he's like-is he nice? I hope he's nice. I wonder what I should say to a king? I don't wanna make him mad." Trunks laughed softly.

"You won't make him mad, Goten. You can't make anyone mad."

Goten gave Trunks a puzzled look.

"Are you sure? 'cause I make you mad all the time…" Trunks laughed again.

"Yeah, but not that mad. I don't think you need to worry." Goten grinned happily.

"Thanks, Trunks. Now I'm not as worried!"

Trunks smiled, patting his friend on the head.

"Good. At least one of us isn't."

The airship roared over the countryside, until finally, a palace appeared on the horizon. Trunks was amazed by how ancient it looked, and at first he thought that it may be ruin. But as they approached it, Kain gave the order to slow down, and finally they were hovering above a palace and town that were anything but ruins. The city was bustling, and people were pointing at the ship excitedly. Kain walked to Trunks and Goten, grinning.

"That's Baron City. Have you ever been there?"

Trunks shook his head.

"No. Wow, it's great! Really busy!"

Kain nodded.

"They get excited when they get to see an airship. We're the monster task force, so we're all that really keeps them safe from the creatures out there." Trunks looked at Kain.

"I didn't see any monsters."

Kain grinned.

"We've been doing a good job."

The airship maneuvered between the towers of the palace into what appeared to be a landing bay. As it slid into a narrow holding bay the propellers slowed until they stopped. Kain gave the order to lower the gangplank and several technicians dashed on board. Kain laughed and gestured towards them.

"Those are the Master Engineer's flunkies. Every time I take an airship out I get bombarded by them."

A gruff voice sounded out behind Kain, making him jump a bit.

"I wouldn't call it a bombardment, Captain Kain."

"Cid!" Kain whirled about, surprise in his voice. "What is this, a surprise inspection? Do you not trust me?"

Cid laughed.

"You think I trust my baby with the likes of you?! Every time you borrow it, I see a new problem! Look at that propeller! It's bent!" Trunks almost immediately could sense that Cid wasn't threatening at all-on the contrary, he appeared to be very jolly. He was old, with a shock of blue-gray hair jutting out from under a pair of goggles. He blinked at Trunks and Goten, then looked back at Kain.

"Who're those two? New recruits? Awfully young, ain't they?"

Kain nodded.

"Yeah, they are."

Trunks smiled politely, stepping forward to shake Cid's hand.

"Hello, I'm Trunks. This is my little brother Goten. We heard about the requests for soldiers and decided to sign up!" Cid looked them over again.

"You've trained, right?"

Goten nodded.

"Yeah! A whole lot!" Trunks smiled.

"I have some experience. I guess there's gonna be a test?"

Kain nodded.

"King Cecil'll decide how intense it'll be. Now then, we'd better take you to meet him."

Trunks nodded.

"I'm looking forward to it."