Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Tag! ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

~00~;;: Um, yeah...this is late. ^_^;; Hehe, sorry. I've spent the last week or so plotbunny-hunting, but to no avail. *sighs*

living flame: OK OK OK OK! ^_^ (LOL) Whew! Here ya go!

Riny Beoulve: ^_^ Aw, thanx! Well, here's what you were waiting for!

Auron is my man: I'm glad you're liking this. And yeah, Auron does kick ass, doesn't he? ^___^

Sakura: *blushes* Thank you! I'm glad you find this story not too serious and not so funny that it's stupid. But be warned! *Points finger skyward dramatically as thunder crashes* It'll get a little more serious down the road! Mwahahahahaha-*coughcoughhack* ....-_- dammit, bad guys make it look so easy....

And sorry to disappoint you starlight and '00', but...I'm just doing bio right now. Maybe later in the story I'll take a shot at Ultima. I dunno *shrugs*. It really depends on how the story turns out as it goes. Even I don't know right now! Sad, huh? ^_^

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Tag! -Chapter Two

by ChibiBoko

"Now there's a common misconception with spells such as bio. People think that it's just a spray of poison that hits your oppponent -or something like that. That's wrong."

"It is?" Wakka scratched his head. "Huh."

Lulu nodded at him, turning back to Rikku. "The spell...alters the physiology of the target, for lack of better words."

"Alters the...body?" Tidus was dangerously losing the thread of the conversation.

"Not physically, at first. In the immune system, there's certain...parts that can be manipulated." Lulu could be seen casting about for words. "The caster must visualize taking hold of these parts and twisting them in a certain way in order to produce the effect desired."

Rikku scratched her head.

"It's hard to explain precisely something that's only seen in the mind." Lulu sighed. "Do you remember how I told you to cast fire spells?" She asked the Al Bhed girl.

"Uh huh!" The blonde nodded. "You told me to close my eyes, and picture really hard in my mind that I had a really hot ball in my hand and to think only of that ball while I chanted the spell."

"Not in those exact words, but I believe you got the point succinctly."

The young girl cocked her head. "So that's kinda what you do for bio too?"

"In a way that's what you do for all spells, simple or complex. It's just that with the complex ones it's like picturing one ball of fire in your hand, then adding another, and then another, and so on."

"Like juggling?"

"Exactly. Like...mental juggling."

"So Rikku will have to think of more than one thing at once in order to successfully cast the spell." Auron summarized without expression. He got to his feet and started down the path to the riverbank. "I think I'll sit this one out."

Tidus yelped. "No way are you leaving us to deal with this alone!" He snagged the bottom of the dark man's coat and dragged him back to the spot beside him. "If I gotta, you gotta too!"

Auron scowled as he sat down muttering.

"Now close your eyes and visualize say, a machina." Lulu had kept on with her lecture through their antics, ignoring the asides from the peanut gallery as unnecessary distractions.

"Why?" Rikku blinked, sitting down cross-legged.

"It's good to picture something that you're familiar with. Because you're going to mentally take some of it apart."

"I can do that!" Rikku smiled and squinted her eyes shut.

"Alright. Now, picture some of the parts getting weakened.."

"Like rusty and old?" Rikky quipped, eyes still closed.

"Wait!" Wakka interrupted desperately. "Where's Yuna?"

Lulu paused. "I believe she went into the nearby village for food with Kimahri."

"That's his version of 'hunting'?" Tidus pouted at Auron. "Why don't you let me do that when it's my turn to cook?"

"Kid, you've never had to worry about cooking dinner since that first time."

Wakka winced along with Auron at that disasterious memory. "I think that was the first time I've ever seen esuna be used for that kinda thing."

"Why do you ask, Wakka?" Lulu was getting impatient with the sidetracking.

"I just wanted to know if she was gonna get back soon." The redhead chuckled awkwardly.

"With her esuna spell." Tidus muttered. Auron nudged him into silence.

"If we could get back to the lesson?" Lulu glared at the three. Silence. "Good. Rikku, be sure you're comfortable."

She instructed. "This is a dangerous spell if miscast. The slightest deviation from the proper structure of the spell you're constructing can cause unexpected results in the target's body. Do you understand?"

Rikku shifted a bit. "Yes."

"Close your eyes again, and picture a machina- no, better make that a person instead." Lulu corrected. "It might be better if you visualize the same thing I do."

Rikku nodded, concentrating.

"Do you see it? Good."

Tidus yawned.

"Now..."

Tidus fell flat in front of the campfire with a groan, still damp from his impromptu bath in the river. It took him forever to get all the slime off him. He scratched his head. And he still wasn't sure if he got all of it out of his hair. Lulu and Rikku moved to make room for him. Wakka sat with his back to the fire, sulking.

"You weren't kidding when you said unexpected results, Lulu." He groaned. Rikku blushed and looked down at her hands.

It was about sun-down before Auron finally took charge and told them to call it quits. Wakka and Tidus had breathed a collective sigh of relief. Apparantly Rikku's mental aim was as good as her concentration.

In the first attempt, Lulu's mog was somehow turned into a frog that had them all chasing it around the forest for hours trying to catch it. Tidus winced as he pulled some thistles out of his shorts. The second time she turned poor Wakka's skin purple. Third time had covered Tidus in an inch-thick layer of green slime. The fourth time saw Auron's infamous jug turn invisible. That was when the ex-monk's patience had run out.

Tidus had to grin. Serves him right for volunteering me that third time around... His stomach interrupted him with a discontented growl.

He grinned sheepishly as the others turned to stare at him. "Uhh, well, we didn't exactly get a chance to eat. Where're Yuna and Kimahri anyway? It shouldn't take that long to walk to the village and back."

He sulked along with the still-purple-skinned Wakka. They couldn't figure out a way to change his skin back, so he had to wait for Yuna and her esuna spell.

The leafs in the dense bushes rustled slightly. He grinned ferally as he watched his prey foolishly chat away at each other without care, unaware of his presence, his plans.

He froze as the blond boy -Tidus, he remembered him being called- abruptly cut off what he was saying and look over his way.

"There you are!" Tidus jumped up with a grin. "Have you found it yet? Or maybe we should get the help of the little woodland fairies?" He couldn't resist teasing.

"Shut up." Auron stalked toward the fire from the path to the river.

The clump of bushes sighed in quiet relief. He was still secure here, unnoticed. He didn't relax though; if anything, he became more tense at the sight of the one-eyed man. He ground his teeth angrily. How dare he....

His leather whip creaked from being clenched so tightly. How dare he come back!

TBC

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~00~: Ya know, now that I think of it, a big part of what took this chapter so long was trying to figure out just how to write Lulu's damn lecture! *sags exhausted in her chair* Lemme know if it makes sense at all, okay?

Enter the bad guy! ...Sort of..^_^;;.

…Oh yeah, I should probably warn people of this now, but I'm thinking of having a little bit of shounen ai in here. Nothing really big, just kinda cutesy, ya know? *Shrugs* I still haven't decided if I will or not yet though. If it does show up, it probably won't be for a while.