Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy: The chronicles of Four! ❯ Onward and ever upward! ( Chapter 15 )

I am so happy! You all loved my Lich battle, eh? Well, there's a rumor about deletion upon responding to reviews, so I can't say much to anyone except thank you all. I loved my Lich Battle too. I'm sorry about not responding the normal way, but I don't want to be deleted. And if I am, please look me up, Sami-Otaku, on Mediaminer. Anyway, I don't own FF or 8-bit!

 

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After the struggle with the “vile fiend” Fighter had been mumbling about, Black Belt and Sabin had successfully gotten the red-haired warrior untangled. Now they were sitting inside a badly built fortress.

 

“I knew this was impossible…” Sabin mumbled, “What was I thinking, rebuilding this place?” Black Belt took a sip of soda.

 

“If you knew it was impossible, why didn't you tell us in the first place?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. Sabin gave a weak smile.

 

“I didn't want you two to feel like total morons.” He replied, “But we can't do anything more. Fighter has either slashed or destroyed all our resources.” Fighter dropped his sword when he heard this. He got up on a large rock.

 

“So we're just giving up?” Fighter asked, as the sun began to rise, “We're not even going to try!?”

 

“Fighter, I hate to say it, but we have tried.” Black Belt stated, “There's nothing left!”

 

“Haha! That's what you think!” Fighter exclaimed, “Just look around! We have trees! If we put our spirit into it, we can rebuild this barren wasteland! As long as I'm named Fighter McBrown, I'll never give up! And you two shouldn't either!” Sabin stood up majestically.

 

“He has a point! My brother wouldn't have given up! He wouldn't have taken the easy way out! I say we go for it again!” Sabin cried happily, clenching a fist with might. Black Belt nodded, and the three gave a hi-five.

 

“TO ALL OF CHERRY TOWN!” they roared, and began to cut down a tree.

 

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Meanwhile, the four heroes were walking back to Melmond. To everyone's relief and happiness, the ground began to sprout grass, and the trees began to bloom with leaves. The usual Imps and Wolves had come back to their homes, shouting and jumping with glee. A few of them even thanked the four!

 

“No, thank you! Without you guys, we wouldn't have a quest to go on!” Thief said, after a family of Imps had given them a basket of food. White Mage giggled a little, but Black Mage was annoyed.

 

“I hate to point this out, but those guys are monsters! They're supposed to kill us!” Black Mage exclaimed, “For all we know, that crap could be poison!” Thief took out a piece of pie from the basket and ate it.

 

“I sense no danger, BM.” He said, through chomps of food.

 

“Yeah! That's my Grandma's secret pie! And she never used poison!” a young imp said, smiling. A large sweat drop rolled down Black Mage's head.

 

“I give up… Let's just go…” Black Mage said. Red Mage was already ahead of them, but White Mage started to follow. Thief brought up the rear while he ate a small sandwich. The closer they got to Melmond, the more the land seemed healthy.

 

“This is definitely an improvement!” White Mage cried happily, “So this is the power of the Earth Crystal… but that leaves me to wonder what the other crystals do when they're drained.” Red Mage stopped suddenly, and turned around.

 

“That's a good question, WM. For all we know, we might not be able to get to the other crystals.” Red Mage said, suddenly sounding very sad.

 

“Why do you figure that?” Thief asked.

 

“Well, the Earth Crystal made the earth rot. I'm guessing the crystals do something to their particular element. The Fire Crystal might've burned the area it's near, and the Water Crystal could've drowned its dwelling.” Red Mage explained. Black Mage shrugged.

 

“I think you're worrying over nothing.” Black Mage told him, “Let's just go find Dr. Urn or whatever his name was and ask him if he knows anything else. Maybe he could tell us where we go next.” Everyone agreed on this, and starting going to the city once again. When they got there, the town had nearly transformed. Flowers were blooming everywhere, and the ground was thick with grass. The buildings seemed to repair themselves, and all of the people looked much healthier. When they'd gotten into the town square, Dr. Unne was running up to them.

 

“Thank you all so much!” he panted, tired from the run, “My goodness, we've tried to defeat the Vampire… You four truly are the Light Warriors!” Black Mage chortled.

 

“Actually, the Vampire wasn't the problem. But yeah, we did get the Earth orb to relight and the Earth crystal to shine again.” Black Mage admitted, “But now we don't know what else to do…” Dr. Unne handed them a small piece of paper.

 

“My brother in Onrak said he pinpointed the location of the Fire Crystal.” Dr. Unne said as Red Mage and Black Mage scanned the paper, “It's near a volcano northwest of Crescent Isle.” Thief clapped his hands together encouragingly.

 

“Great! So, let's get moving!” he said. He was about to turn around when Dr. Unne stopped him.

 

“Hold it, cupcake.” Dr. Unne said, “You need a canoe to get there, but the only people to have a canoe for the journey would be the Circle of Sages in Crescent City.”

 

“So basically we're forced into having contact with a circle of old men?” Black Mage asked. Dr. Unne looked like he'd throw something.

 

“Don't talk as though they're nothing!” he snapped, “The Circle of Sages is a group of prophets who've seen the future and predicted the coming of the Light Warriors. Besides the canoe, they have much more information for you all.” Black Mage sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to dissuade his friends from this. Instead, he looked towards Thief.

 

“Sounds like this Crescent Isle is a pretty important place! But where exactly is it?” Thief asked. Dr. Unne straightened his glasses and took out a small map from his pocket.

 

“It's southwest of here.” He replied, opening the map. He pointed to a small city surrounded almost entirely a river, but after that, there was nothing but land. Black Mage raised his eyebrow when he took a look.

 

“I thought it was named because it was… I don't know… an island!?” Black Mage spat, frustrated from the thought of traveling all that way. Red Mage examined the map more closely.

 

“Actually, it IS on a big island, but the real reason it's called Crescent Island is because of the crescent shaped lake it's built in.” Red Mage explained. Dr. Unne seemed unreasonably amazed with Red Mage's theory.

 

“Amazing! No one would've even thought to suggest that!” Dr. Unne exclaimed, “Most think it was just a name given by a fluke! My word, you must have an intellect of a scholar!” Red Mage simply chuckled.

 

“Well, I didn't graduate high school for nothing. I'm not sure about most people, but I was paying attention in History.” Red Mage said, “For example, did you know Imps and Giants are related from a DNA research that took place over 2000 years ago?” Dr. Unne just nodded as Red Mage went forth with his report. Thief just looked as though he'd been hit with a club. White Mage sat on the ground and listened intently.

 

“Oh great… Now we're wasting more time I could be using burning things.” Black Mage mumbled. After it had gotten to over an hour of Red Mage and his useless babble in Black Mage's eyes, Black Mage had successfully dragged Red Mage outside towards the dock, with the other two close behind.

 

“Honestly, who cares if Imps and Giants are related!? We have to kill `em anyway! There's no point to such useless garbage!” Black Mage scolded, storming up to the ship's deck. He slumped into a seat as Thief took the wheel. White Mage sat next to Black Mage, and Red Mage was sitting on the railing, pen in hand.

 

“Ugh… What are you doing now, moron?” Black Mage asked.

 

“Dr. Unne said I would be an immense help in the field of monster research and status development. So, I'm writing down what I know to send to such facilities. This may be my calling!” Red Mage replied, as he excitedly scribbled down some notes, tore off a paper, and began to write again, “Oh, I hope people find my reports helpful.”

 

“I know you'll do well!” White Mage said encouragingly, giving a gentle smile.

 

“Yeah, it's helped us get out of so many jams already!” Thief exclaimed, just as impressed. Black Mage, however, wasn't nearly as praising.

 

“I think they'll find your reports poorly thought out, inaccurate, and basically pieces of crap, like you.” Black Mage mumbled, but Red Mage seemed to not have noticed as he continued to scribble his notes down. The trip was fairly peaceful until Thief stopped the boat abruptly. Black Mage scowled as he kept his balance.

 

“Why the hell did you stop!?” Black Mage screamed.

 

“So I didn't run over these sharks!” Thief cried, pointing into the sea. Sure enough, a small school of sharks swam lazily by.

 

“But they're sharks! They're monsters! We're SUPPOSED to kill them!” Black Mage argued. Just then, a big shark, possibly the leader of the school, flopped onto the deck. He waved his fin in detest.

 

“We're not monsters! We're simply trying to get to our usual Autumn migration spot! Now, I'm sorry we've inconvenienced you, but at least we didn't accidentally hit your ships!” The shark scolded harshly, “Anyway, thank you for your patience.” With that, he dove back into the water after the other sharks. When they were gone, Red Mage immediately began writing furiously.

 

“Sharks appear to be fierce, but in actuality, they just want to migrate…” Red Mage thought out loud, “AMAZING! This could revolutionize the Sea Specimen Protect Units that want so desperately to save these creatures!” Needless to say, Red Mage was quite proud of himself. When they reached the shore, Black Mage picked up a rock and hurled it at Red Mage.

 

“Listen, RM. I don't care about the crap you're working on, so shut up about it.” He commanded. Red Mage stuffed his papers into a pocket and tipped his hat.

 

“I'm sorry, BM. I merely forgot that you didn't graduate high school, so such matters might be nigh too complicated for you.” he said, which wasn't a smart idea. Black Mage looked sourly pissed off, and he was sure the veins throbbing in his head were visible. Finally, he snapped once again.

 

“AT LEAST I KNOW THIS!” he screamed, aiming a Bolt2 spell at Red Mage. But, with pure luck, Red Mage spotted a penny on the ground and went to pick it up, and the bolt missed him entirely. Black Mage howled a war cry and began to throw a tantrum like a spoiled brat.

 

“BM, are you gonna be okay?” Thief asked, running over to help his psychotic friend. Black Mage got up and dusted himself off.

 

“Yeah. I think the salty sea air is making my brain go funny.” Black Mage replied, although he really was talking about Red Mage.

 

“Then let's head for the town quickly so we can get the cleric to heal you.” White Mage said, supporting Black Mage as though he'd broken a leg.

 

“Can't you two heal him?” Thief asked, tilting his head. Red Mage looked down.

 

“We haven't the powers to do that just yet.” He replied, “We haven't had enough experience with life or battle to yet discover how to cure the mind. But that's why there are clerics.” White Mage nodded.

 

“He's right. So, all the more reason to get to Crescent City.” She said, “Gee, is it me or does it feel like we're just destined to get there? Everything feels like they're pushing us so we have to go there.” Black Mage mumbled something unheard as they set through the path. After a long trek through the woods, made no easier by the old hydra they'd gotten directions from, the four found Crescent City.

 

“Is it me or is this place duller than Melmond?” Black Mage asked, “Where is everyone?” Red Mage took a guide off a local newsstand and read it.

 

“Well, Crescent City is like a trading community for warriors just passing through. No one really can live here.” He replied, “Although the fact that the Fiend of Fire is around here doesn't help.” The other three snapped to look at him.

 

“What!?”

 

“We're that close?”

 

“Where do we go, RM?” they all kept asking. Red Mage, however, had as much of an answer as they did. He suggested they look for the Circle of Sages, but after an hour, they had no luck.

 

“I knew Unne was a liar.” Black Mage said in a told-you-so way, “I knew I should've just killed him.” Even White Mage admitted that the search was wearing on her. But just then, Thief turned in the direction of a small forest, listening intently.

 

“Thief, what's wrong? Do you hear something?” Red Mage asked.

 

“Probably hears a dying wolf or something.” Black Mage commented, as Thief ran towards the trees. He beckoned for the others to follow.

 

“Guys, this way!” he called before disappearing through the trees. The three followed quickly, and soon they heard chanting, which they assumed was the Sages. Within a few minutes, they had entered a sacred clearing behind Thief, who was simply watching the old men. One of the men stopped chanting and walked over to them.

 

“At last!” he boomed, “The prophecy rings true! The Light Warriors have arrived!”

 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're here.” Black Mage said, “Listen, we're in a hurry. Give us the canoe and tell us where we can find the fire fiend.”

 

“Black Mage!” White Mage hissed angrily, but the old man nodded and handed then an ore.

 

“As you wish. The canoe is in the Crescent Lake.” He told them, “Listen well. The river is like a maze, and the volcano to the fire is dangerous. You must be careful.” Black Mage's eyes widened.

 

“We're going into a volcano!?” he asked, a hint of worry in his voice. The man nodded.

 

“Where else did you think Kary, fiend of Fire, lives? It's a perfect dwelling for her.” He said, “Besides, it shant be a problem for a Black Mage as yourself.” A drop of sweat rolled down Black Mage's head.

 

“Besides, you have Ice2, right?” Thief asked. Black Mage raised an eyebrow.

 

“Thief, no. We didn't have time to shop, remember?” Black Mage said, “Not like we could afford the damn prices anyway.”

 

“Relax. We could use some toning up anyway.” Red Mage said, “Let's just go outside, train for a bit, then head to wherever Kary is.” White Mage and Thief agreed like little drones, but Black Mage had a small problem.

 

“RM, look at the prices. We need 40,000 GIL just for spells for me.” He stated, showing Red Mage a pricing guide. Red Mage just smiled.

 

“It'll work out, trust me.” Red Mage said confidently, “Onward, troops!” With that, he marched outside. Black Mage sighed heavily as he, White Mage, and Thief followed.

 

“Oh, I trust you… I trust you to get us killed.”

 

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Yay! A new mission! But can our heroes afford their spells? Will Kary wait to unleash her fiery wrath? Does the canoe work? And will Red Mage accidentally end up killing everyone? Find out in the next awesome chapter, so click that Review Button!