Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy: The chronicles of Four! ❯ "Wait, you called me WHAT!?" ( Chapter 24 )

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any FF games. I would like to thank you all for your support, and for those who don't know, the big guys here won't let me respond to reviews.

 

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Black Belt stood in complete amazement. Only a few hours ago, he had a nightmarish meeting with a crew he didn't even know, and now they nearly had the town hall built in the style Nathan suggested. Iris managed to get her friends to help her with the flowers and the Town Square, and Zero was chopping down trees with his saber while Sabin was carrying the logs to Fighter and Nathan, who were continuing to build the castle.

 

“Amazing! Simply amazing!” Black Belt exclaimed happily, “We're sure to have the town built by the time our friends get back!” However, just as Black Belt finished that sentence, a fight broke out between two workers.

 

“No! We can't build a fence with sticks! People could just burn the place down if we did!” One little girl with an orange cape cried, as the boy, who Black Belt assumed was her twin brother, tried tying two sticks together.

 

“Well, we're not building it out of lego blocks either!” the boy cried back, as his sister pushed his small fence down. Black Belt sighed at the thought of dealing with two underage brats, but walked up to the pair anyway.

 

“Hey, kids, what's wrong?” he asked in the nicest voice he could.

 

“Stupid Palom wants to make a fence out of sticks, but I know people will just burn it down!” The girl piped, as the boy, who was Palom, stuck his tongue out at her.

 

“And dumb Porom thinks lego blocks would be better!” Palom added, and once again the argument continued.

 

“They ARE better!”

 

“No they aren't, you Pebbles reject!”

 

“R-reject!? YOU WANNA SAY THAT AGAIN, PIGGY-FACE!?”

 

“FINE! PEBBLES REJECT!” By this time, Black Belt was amazed he didn't snap... but of course a second later he did.

 

“SHUT UP!” he screamed, and the two twins kept quiet, “Listen, neither sticks nor blocks are a good choice. We're going to use metal. Now, go find some metal and when you do, come get me, okay?” Porom nodded as Palom brought a large metal spear out.

 

“Would this metal stick do?” he asked. Black Belt took the spear and looked at it. It had an insignia of a dragon on it, and the name engraved was “Kain Highwind.” Black Belt looked sternly at the two.

 

“Where did you find this?” he asked.

 

“Oh, down by the river! We found a bunch of them, and they were all dropped by the same guy!” Porom exclaimed, as Palom added, “What was odd was that he dropped them by the river at all! I mean, some of that stuff was incredibly powerful!” Black Belt's face paled as he remembered that Kain died in a horrible river accident... Poor Kain was gone but never forgotten...

 

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As the heroes ran inside Kraken's lair, they hadn't expected it to be an open space in which sunlight shined through, but it was. And they certainly expected to see Kraken waiting for them, but he wasn't. Thief took a step further into the lair, and threw a rock into the center. But even that didn't cause anything to stir.

 

“Is he even here?” Thief asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. Black Mage walked out a bit too, and took a careful look around.

 

“He doesn't appear to be.” Black Mage stated, “Anyway, this gives us an advantage. White Mage, start casting Blink on all of us.” White Mage's eyes widened.

 

“All of us? But... but Cid said only one of us was needed!” she cried, “That's a lot of MP.” Black Mage was about to argue, but Red Mage stopped him and looked at White Mage kindly.

 

“It might be, but it will be worth it.” Red Mage said, “We need time to get to the sub. Not much, but any little bit helps. And with four clones to take care of, that should keep him occupied for at least a little while.” White Mage seemed to relax a little, and began to cast it.

 

“I suppose you're right, RM. Well, let's hope it works! BLINK!” White Mage boomed, and instantly there was a clone of her. The two White Mages smiled at each other, and they both cast Blink on Thief and Red Mage this time. After that, the original White Mage cast Blink on Black Mage, and there was a successful set of clones standing across the originals. Black Mage snorted.

 

“Nice work, WM. Now, I trust you know what to do?” he asked, looking at his own clone. To his amusement, his clone looked as annoyed as he did as it placed its hands on its hips.

 

“Of course I do. I'm a branch-off of you.” The BM clone said, smirking, “Just leave it to us.” With that, the original heroes tiptoed to the edge of elevated room and looked down. Since the hallway into Kraken's lair ended in a staircase, they were almost exactly above the submarine Cid had mentioned, though it looked in bad condition. Meanwhile, the clones stood in the center, and the Thief Clone was making some rude remarks about Kraken. A rumbling of the entire shrine meant that he'd definitely heard and was most unpleased.

 

“I hope you know what you're doing, RM!” Black Mage whispered, as Red Mage had begun to climb down and hang onto the edge of the platform. However, the sudden force caused him to nearly fall off as Thief grabbed his arm quickly.

 

“Forget if he knows or not! Let's go!” Thief said, and jumped off the edge, swimming towards the bottom where the sub laid. Red Mage let go and let himself drift off towards the sub as White Mage swam after him. Black Mage looked back one last time and saw the battle was just about to start, and then he jumped as well.

 

“So, you horrible brats think you can defeat me?” Kraken asked, stopping in front of the clones. He was clearly ten to twenty times their size, and his tentacles did look like they'd crush the clones in no time. Nonetheless, the BM clone stood unafraid as he made the next remark.

 

“We've beaten Lich and gotten Kary to join us. You're no different from them!” the BM clone spat, “Besides, I'm in just the right mood for takoyaki anyway!” This made Kraken angrier, and his skin began to turn purple.

 

“You insolent fool! How dare you threaten me with your Japanese dishes! I am no common octopus, nor am I the typical idiotic fiend you've come to get used to!” Kraken roared, attempting to blow the clones back, but they stood their ground.

 

“You think you can beat us?” the RM clone asked, as the wind died down. Kraken laughed maniacally.

 

“Beat you!? I will tear you apart and rip you asunder!” Kraken replied, and flailed his tentacle madly. Each clone got slammed with one, and they merely faded away as each one was defeated one after another. Kraken became outright furious when he couldn't find the heroes' dead bodies where they'd fought. Instead, he found a note left by the BM clone, which read `You just beat some clones, loser.' Kraken ripped the note in a rage.

 

“WHAT!?” he screamed, “Those fools DARE to dupe me!? I will CRUSH them!” With that, Kraken became to swim over the edge as he saw the submarine. Quickly catching onto the purpose of the clones, he swam towards the submarine, an unholy evil grin growing on his face.

 

Meanwhile, our heroes managed to make it safely into the submarine, but the inside didn't look good. Thief and Black Mage spent the first few moments using Fire2 on all of the mold that had begun to grow, and now Red Mage was doing his best to start up the engine. Unfortunately, the ship had been in disuse so long, nothing seemed to be working.

 

“How's it going back there, RM?” Thief asked, as White Mage straightened up a chair and Black Mage was looking out the window. No one saw the look of horror on his face as Red Mage answered.

 

“Not good. I can't get it to start up, and I'm not even sure if it'll hold up if I do.” Red Mage replied. Suddenly, Black Mage let out a scream that caught everyone's attention.

 

“Well, you'd better hurry up because Kraken's coming!” he screamed. Thief ran to the window.

 

“What!? He destroyed the clones already!? Man, RM, hurry it up!” Thief cried. Red Mage began to sweat as he tried to flip levers and push buttons as fast as he could in an attempt to get the old sub started, but nothing seemed to work. On top of that, everyone else had started screaming, and Red Mage could hear Kraken laughing as he swam closer and closer. At this point, Black Mage ran into the control room as White Mage and Thief began to barricade the doors and windows.

 

“RM, aren't you done yet!?” Black Mage asked, exasperated. Red Mage wiped his forehead off and shook his head.

 

“It's no use! I can't get the ship to respond to any of my commands!” Red Mage replied, and he sounded just as panicked. A sudden blast caused the ship to shake, and Thief fell right into Black Mage as Red Mage caught White Mage. Kraken suddenly appeared outside the ship's windshield.

 

“Hello, little children.” he said darkly, his teeth showing as he talked, “It wasn't nice of you to try and trick uncle Kraken, now, was it?” With that, Kraken slammed another tentacle into the ship, and everyone was lucky he hadn't bashed the windshield in. But he did manage to knock everything over. Red Mage crawled out of two chairs that had fallen onto him and grabbed one of the controls, but Kraken laughed harshly and hit the sub again, sending Red Mage hurtling backwards. Black Mage stood up and dusted his robes off.

 

“All right, you giant sack of ink! I've had it with you!” Black Mage growled, and got into a magic-casting position. Kraken laughed.

 

“Aww, did I make the little mage cry?” he cooed, “What are you going to do? Tell your mommy on me?” Black Mage merely smirked.

 

“Oh, much worse...” he replied confidently, “BOLT3!” And out from the sky, a giant bolt of lightning slammed near Kraken, barely missing him. But it hit the ship instead.

 

“BM, what was that for!?” Thief asked, getting an upturned bookcase off of White Mage, “Are you trying to kill us?”

 

“Wait for it.” Black Mage commanded, and soon the ship sped away from Kraken and up towards the surface with incredible speed. The four watched as Kraken, in his confused wake, grew smaller and smaller. Red Mage smiled.

 

“Incredible! Your spell was exactly what we needed to get moving!” he exclaimed, “We may just have a chance now!” Thief turned away from the window for a second.

 

“You meant to hit our ship, didn't you?” he asked, as White Mage began to pick up a few books and place them back onto the shelves. Black Mage shrugged and put his hands into his pockets.

 

“More or less. Either way, I would've bought us some time.” he replied coolly, “But now we have to keep going if we wanna thrash him for good.”

 

“But what do we do?” White Mage asked, as she finished organizing everything. Red Mage opened the door on the top of the sub and began to climb out.

 

“Remember what my father said? We have to get Kraken out of the water.” he answered, “So, the first thing to do is get away from the docks or the city, and make sure the land around us is completely dry. BM can take care of that later, though. Right now, let's just get out of the water.” With that, the four climbed out of the submarine and onto the docks. The sky was overcast, but Black Mage reassured everyone that rain wasn't possible right then, and they ran along the shoreline away from Onlac until they came to a grassy, yet very moist field.

 

“Now what? Do we wait?” Thief asked, when they'd stopped running. Red Mage was checking the ground, and shook his head quickly.

 

“No. Far from it. We have to prepare the battlefield to suit our favor. Right now, even the land outside the city is soaked with water.” Red Mage explained, “So, BM, Thief, let's cast Fire on the ground and dry it up.” Thief's eyes widened with worry.

 

“Won't that set the land aflame though!?” Thief asked. Black Mage chuckled.

 

“No! Because there's so much water here, it'll keep the fire from igniting anything!” Black Mage exclaimed, “But likewise, the heat will cause the water to evaporate, drying the grass! RM, that's an ingenious idea, and I can't believe it occurred to you to try manipulating our field beforehand!” Red Mage smiled with confidence, and along with Thief and Black Mage, began to cast Fire spells until his MP ran out. And it did the trick! Nothing burned, but nothing was wet anymore. And, to continue their luck, Thief managed to bring some of the Ether Dry that Cid kept in his ship to restore their MP.

 

“Perfect!” Black Mage said happily as he chugged his drink down, “Now we'll be more than prepared when our seafood salad shows up.” White Mage, however, still had her concerns.

 

“I'm still worried it'll rain.” she stated simply. Black Mage finished the last of his Ether Dry and sighed.

 

“It's not happening.” he said simply, “The air's not thick enough for it.” And just then, Kraken emerged from the water, smiling viciously. He didn't take notice of what was happening as he stepped... or more, slugged onto the land.

 

“Haha! That little chase was useless! I will stop you here and now, foolish children!” he laughed, his eyes gleaming red. Thief yawned.

 

“You've said that three times already and we're still standing here.” Thief said, “Despite what you say, I think you're about as stupid as Lich was.” Kraken's face turned an unpleasant red.

 

“WHAT WAS THAT!?” he roared angrily, “You're comparing me to Lich!?” Black Mage snickered.

 

“At least Lich was too stupid... or maybe not stupid enough, to leave his field advantage!” Black Mage called, and pointed to the ground, “Didn't it ever occur to you, in that ink-filled head of yours, why we'd take so much time to lead you here?”

 

“Take a look around, Kraken. The land around us is completely dry, and the ground soaked up whatever water you brought with you. You're as good as dead.” Red Mage stated, but such threats didn't even phase Kraken, whose smile was still spread across his face.

 

“I have no concerns for your so-called field advantages.” Kraken said, “For water can work with any element! Water is what controlled the eruption that led to Kary's death. Water is what's fueled the wind above the Sky Tower for so long. And my manipulation of the water is what caused Melmond to rot.” Kraken looked up into the sky and finished with, “And it looks as though it will rain. So, I'll win anyway.” As he spoke, Kraken failed to notice a tiny patch of blue in the thick clouds, and the patch began to expand quickly until sunlight started to come through.

 

“Oh, really, Kraken?” White Mage asked innocently, “Define what the conditions for rain is.” Kraken suddenly looked up into the sky again, and his overconfidence was quickly replaced with fear.

 

“What!? NO! How can this be!?” Kraken asked, as he shielded himself from the light, “It's drying me up!” Sunlight blared through all over Kraken, and he began to shrink slightly.

 

“Now is our chance!” Thief called, “Attack with all your might!!”

 

“Bolt3!” Both Black and Red Mage called out together, and several giant blasts of lightning hit Kraken as Thief did a jumping slash with his katana. White Mage used Harm2 to keep the sky shining as bright as possible on Kraken, who was starting to grow weaker and weaker until he could barely lift a tentacle. Black Mage looked at Red Mage, and they both nodded. Together, they formed a Bolt/Fire combination on Kraken. The fire burned off all of his tentacles and the bolt fueled the fire as Kraken's body began to burn aflame.

 

“I will not be defeated so easily!” Kraken screamed, trying to slither towards Red Mage and Thief. They merely stepped back out of Kraken's reach, as he roared with pain.

 

“We've already won, Kraken.” Black Mage stated, smirking, “Your greed to kill us did you in.” And Kraken saw that Black Mage was right as the last of his tentacles fell off, immobilizing him completely. But instead of crying or even screaming, Kraken merely laughed.

 

“Fools. You all are fools! The fiend of wind will avenge me!” Kraken yelled as he was slowly eaten by flames, “You will never stop Chaos from awakening... I PROMISE YOU THAT!!” And finally, whatever was left of Kraken burned to ashes.

 

“Did we get him this time?” Thief asked, as Black Mage took a jug of empty Ether Dry and began filling it with Kraken's ashes.

 

“Sure looks like it.” Black Mage said as he finished, “Anyway, just to make sure, we'd better go back to Gurgu and throw his ashes in. I'm sure Kary would love to see her killer defeated in his opposite element.” White Mage nodded slowly in agreement as Black Mage began to walk southwest.

 

“But then what do we do after that?” White Mage asked, “Where do we go next?”

 

“Well, Kraken said that the last fiend is in the Sky Tower.” Red Mage replied, “That's near Lufenia, so we should go to Lufenia and see if anyone has any suggestions.”

 

“There's a problem with that.” Black Mage stated, stopping to let his friends catch up, “Lufenia is surrounded completely with forests, and our airship can only land in the meadow. Not only that, but Sky Tower is supposedly surrounded by a vast desert and high cliffs all around.” Thief had caught up first, and the group continued in their direction.

 

“I'm sure there's a way into the Tower. How would the fourth fiend get up there?” Thief asked.

 

“According to the old texts back at the White Institute, the fourth fiend was a dragon.” White Mage remembered, “He probably flew.”

 

“No biggie, then. We'll just take our airship.” Thief concluded, but Black Mage scoffed.

 

“Didn't you hear me!? Our ship can only land on meadows. Either way, we're not getting in.” he mumbled, as the Highwind came into view.

 

“Regardless, let's just head to the Lufenian continent first. If that doesn't work, we'll go and see the Circle of Sages.” Red Mage said, and added, “But not after we dump Kraken.” Black Mage grinned as the four headed onto the ship. He sat at the table in the living room with Kraken's jug as White Mage laid on the couch. Thief went on the deck to keep a lookout, and Red Mage once again took control of steering. Within a minute, the airship hovered off of the ground and was heading southeast towards a familiar volcano, the final resting place for the Light Warrior's most devious enemy.

 

“On top of Mount Gurgu.... Kraken lies dead...” Black Mage sang, as they flew.

 

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Well, with the third fiend down, our heroes have three of the orbs lit! But, didn't they have to actually touch the Crystal to relight their orb? Or is it automatic when a fiend is killed? Well, they'll find out soon enough, so until next chapter, click that Review button!