Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Puppet of Entropy ❯ you called this a fish? ( Chapter 3 )

The Puppet of Entropy.

 

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Sakura Hayakawa.

 

 

Chap 3: You call this a fish!?

 

Tidus awaked, feeling like an entire blitzball team has used his head as the ball for an entire season. He found himself in a strange place: He was on a rock near an ocean and what looked like a temple in ruin.

 

“Is there anybody there? Auron!”

 

“Tidus? Here! I'm here! Tidus!”

 

The feminine voice came from the temple in ruins. Tidus could now discern a frail silhouette clad in blue and white and waving to him from the rest of the stairs of the structure. He felt relief to see that the mysterious chick he met during the catastrophe in Zanarkand was still alive. He promptly began to follow a stone bridge in her direction.

 

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Sakura sighed in relief as she saw the blond blitzball player taking a path to her position. She has felt terror when she found herself alone in front of the ruined temple. After what she has lived so far she needed a friendly presence. Hell, any type of human presence. Even a domesticated animal will be a gift from Heaven.

 

She considered the black manacles on her wrists, especially the left one. She remembered the feeling of helplessness when her body took action by itself and the words she pronounced at that time. Now she knew that it was a weapon in disguise, a weapon she can wield. This thought was baffling. She has no skill in the blade. The small amount of training she received in the martial arts of her land was certainly not up to the point to fight effectively to protect her own life.

 

And what about the other manacle and the crimson collar she wore. Were they also weapons in disguise or something more sinister? She trembled slightly as she dimly remembered the voices in the darkness. Was it a nightmare or something real? She didn't know what was the best option in her situation.

 

She smiled as she surveyed the progress of Tidus. The young man was very athletic and was jumping between the crumbled sections of the stone bridge. She witnessed him as he found something among the ruins, some sort of treasure. If it wasn't reality, she could imagine that they were inside one of those role-playing video games and Tidus was recuperating some silly items like potions that replenish the health.

 

She screamed in dismay as the floor underneath Tidus collapsed and the young man found himself in the water. She sighed in relief when he surfaced and waved at her. She forgot that he was a player in that weird game underwater. Of course, he was a very accomplished swimmer.

 

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Unfortunately, the water was far from occupied by normal fishes. A group of piranha-like monsters attacked Tidus viciously. He brought out his red sword and began to swing in the water. In three rapid strikes, he exterminated the `fishy threat' and waved grinning to Sakura.

 

“LOOK OUT! BEHIND YOU!”

 

It was a much bigger monster that emerged behind Tidus from the shadows. It looked like a cross between a prehistoric shark and an armoured squid and each of its many tentacles had a red light pulsing from the ends.

 

After a few hits, Tidus understood that he couldn't possibly win and began to swim at maximum speed to escape the monstrosity. On the bank, Sakura was wriggling her hands in despair. She could swim but not like the blond boy. At least not enough to do a difference in the battle and she didn't have any ranged weapon. Worse, she still didn't know how to make her dark-grey sword appeared.

 

Tidus managed to escape from the giant creature by luckily squeezing through a crack in the wall of the ruin. Sakura promptly pull him out of the water as the large mass of the monster crumbled the underwater wall trapping them in this section of the temple.

 

“Phew…This fish looked hungry.”

 

“You call this…thing a FISH!?”

 

Tidus smirked and chuckled before the incredulous face of the young girl. Internally he was feeling more and more desperate. `The situation was quickly getting worse. I was out of dreams and hopes.'

 

Sakura was worried. Under the smirk she could see the exhaustion and the cold air was not making anything better especially with the damp clothes of Tidus. They needed a shelter, food, water and dry clothes or at least a fire to dry them. She dragged the young man on his feet and they began the exploration of the ruined temple.

 

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They eventually found themselves in the central court area of the ruin, both cold and starving. The ruined condition of the building was not lifting the spirit of the Japanese schoolgirl. Everything seemed too damp or too completely smashed to serve for anything. She then remarked the first sign of human presence.

 

“Look Tidus! The remains of a campfire!”

 

“Hey! Lucky! Now we just need something to burn.”

 

“And a lighter or matches or two dried sticks to friction.”

 

“Huh?”

 

She turned her head to him, incredulous. “How do you think we can light the fire if we find any combustible?”

 

“Oh yeah! Of course! I know that.”

 

They seemed to be alone so the two teenagers took the risk to separate and explore the adjacent chambers. Sakura felt lucky to find a piece of stainless-steel and a few dry pieces of wood. The jackpot was however the discovery of a crumbling chest with an intact treasure. It was a dark-grey adjustable belt made of some sort of cloth-like plastic with pockets built into it. To her stupefaction, the pockets were larger than normal, much larger. In fact she managed to plunge her entire arm into a 5 centimetres pocket. Two of the six pockets were occupied: one held what looked like small vials of a turquoise liquid and the other has several dozens of coins of an unknown metal.

 

When she returned she smiled as Tidus has managed to find some stone flints and a bouquet of dried flowers. It was enough to start a fire with her piece of steel and her meagre of dry wood. Rapidly, the two teenagers started the fire in the centre of the courtyard.

 

“I need food.”

 

The stomach of Sakura answered by rumbling and the young girl blushed as she realised that she haven't eaten anything since her forced arrival in this strange world. “Can't do anything about it for now.” She sighed. “You know that this fire will not go for long with the wood we have.”

 

Tidus smirked. “Can't do anything about it for now.”

 

Sakura frowned and advised her left manacle. “You know? I think I can do something about it.”

 

Intrigued, the blond blitzball player looked his comrade-in-pain as she examined her black bracelet and mumbled something about words of power or stupid voices or why it didn't have an activation switch.

 

“Souls! Be my strength!”

 

This time, it was not the awesome display of dark blue energy the first time she activated her weapon. The black manacle dissolved into metallic pixels that reassembled themselves into a dark-grey sword chained to the wrist of the young girl.

 

“Demon Sword. Ready…And now…Last time it was ice…But it's not what we need…hum…”

 

As the schoolgirl examined the blade, she felt words coming unwillingly to her lips. “Dancing blade that burns everything.” A globe of red light appeared in her cupped right hand and she inserted it into the oval polychromatic gem on the guard. The blade acquired a red sheen. “Be reduced into cinders. Fire blade!” Flames erupted along the blade.

 

Sakura smiled a little. “Well…it works.” She then sat down and let the flaming sword near the fire. The length of the chains allowed her to retreat a little to avoid being burn by the heat.

 

“Awesome! That was cool girl!”

 

“Thank you…If only it was me who spoke those words…” Sakura loose her smile and shook a little.

 

“You mean like in Zanarkand when you couldn't control yourself?”

 

The young girl nodded and slumped down, the ordeals of the day overcoming her resistance at last. Exhausted, the two teenagers fell asleep next to the little fire and the flaming sword. And Tidus dreamed about the past.

 

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“What do you want?” Tidus was staring at Auron who stood in front of him.

 

“It was a bad call. Your team lost because of you.” Auron had a disappointed tone to his voice.

 

“You came to say THAT?!” Tidus was shocked.

 

Auron didn't reply, instead silence overtook the area for a moment, before the red clad warrior spoke again. “It's been...ten years. I thought you'd be crying.”

 

Tidus stared for a moment. “Who, me?”

 

The same little boy clad in purple at Zanarkand suddenly appeared then. “You cried.”

 

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A sudden jolt brought back Sakura from an unremembered nightmare. She just had the impression of endless raging against unshakable restraints. She found herself jumping on her feet like a martial artist and withdrew her sword that was now extinguished. Once again her body was controlled by something but underneath she felt a current of urgency and…danger. She shook awake Tidus. The young boy saw that the fire was starting to die, though and sprung up, wide awake at the threat of lack of heat.

 

“Hey, wait! Wait! Don't go out on me! Just hold on. I'll get more wood!”

 

“Tidus! There's no time for that. There's something wrong around here.” The young girl was whispering urgently as the sensation of danger was growing.

 

They looked up as a terrible screech rang out overhead. Hanging on the railing of the second floor balcony was a huge dark insectoid with yellow eyes and a barbed blade on its back. The monster shrieked a battle cry and dropped in front of the two teenagers and flashed a wicked sword blade claws at them. The arm of Sakura moved by itself as her lower body took a more solid stance. She parried the attack and retaliated with a cut to the eyes forcing the creature back and gaining them some breathing room.

 

`Oh my god! I felt the enormous strength of this thing behind the strike. I hope that the one controlling my body has enough skill to protect me…' She advised Tidus taking position on her side and drawing his sword. `…and to help him also.'

 

They fought for quite a while. Sakura yelped during a pass as the claws sliced through her right upper arm. Blood flowed but the controlling entity merely tightened her guard. With dismay she understood that she and Tidus were committed to win or die. They couldn't retreat without exposing themselves to a lethal strike.

 

Suddenly, one of the makeshift doors to the room exploded and several armed men rushed into the room, followed by a girl in a bodysuit and goggles. Sakura felt hope blossoming in her heart as she recognized firearms. The girl stepped up alongside the two teenagers and nodded at the monster. She then flashed what looked like a set of clawed metal knuckles on her right hand.

 

Sakura was puzzled that the new girl teamed up with them but that the rest of the men were merely standing out of the fight. During the fight, the schoolgirl found herself taking more and more actions by her own will. Especially when she protected a team member from a strike or when she cooperated to do a double attack. From the coin of her eye she caught her new ally pulling out a small object from her belt and pulled something away from it. She then threw the now recognizable object at the creature.

 

“A grenade! Take cover!” The young girl promptly threw herself to the floor on her own initiative and Tidus shortly imitate her after. The grenade went off blowing the top half of the creature completely apart before it dissolved into pyreflies. The resulting cloud was once again absorbed by the three gems of Sakura as the Demon Sword returned to its manacle form.

 

Meanwhile Tidus walked up to the girl looking at her as she lifted her goggles up. Tidus stared, mouth wide open for a moment, as he remarked the swirling pupils in the green-leaf eyes before sighing. “Whew! That was close.”

 

The Japanese schoolgirl was wincing as she examined her wound. The cut was still bleeding and she used her handkerchief to stop the blood, not noticing one of the men walking up behind her. All of a sudden, the two teenagers were grabbed by the arms, Sakura gasping in pain as the rough movement opened again her wound. Tidus was struggling immediately against the contact.

 

“Hey! Lemme go!” He shut up as several more of the men surround them and pointed guns in their faces. A familiar fear was seizing again the young girl. She was now without a weapon and she knew the lethal potential of firearms. She simply froze in fright.

 

“Fryd yna druca?” (What are those?) One of the men turned to another.

 

`Oh no! They don't speak Japanese.' The odd thought lingered in the mind of Sakura. `Hey! Wait a minute! I wasn't speaking in Japanese before…' Her eyes widened. `Oh my god! I wasn't speaking my native tongue since I awaked in zanarkand!'

 

“Fiends! Eh risyh teckieca!” (Fiends! In human disguise!)

 

A third then cut in, looking at the other 2 men. “Oac! Ed ec cu!” (Yes! It is so!)

 

One of the men suddenly stepped in front of Tidus, brandishing a knife and holding it to his throat. Sakura gulped. She was strangely more frightened by the violence lurking around those men than by the various monsters she met before. Was it because they were human?

 

“Fa gemm dral?” (We kill them?)

 

Suddenly, the girl decided to speak up, staring at the man who had the knife to Tidus' throat. “Fyed! Fryd ev drao yna risyh?” (Wait! What if they are human?)

 

The man stopped for a minute, before pointing the knife at the schoolgirl who nearly lost the control of her bowels. “Drao yna dra cysa eh taydr.” (They are the same in death.)

 

The girl seemed mad now as she spoke again, this time with a definite angry tone. “E vunpet ed! Fa pnehk dral fedr ic!” (I forbid it! We bring them with us!)

 

She then turned and walked over to Tidus. Sakura held her breath, praying for a miracle.

 

“Cunno.” (Sorry.) She seemed to smile sadly before driving her knee into the stomach of the young blond man, making him groan in pain for a moment, before passing out completely. Sakura took a breath to scream but was slammed in the back of the head with the butt of a gun and fell unconscious.

 

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Notes: Thanks to Sephlier and Drachegirl14 for their reviews and comments.

 

I am very satisfied with the shape of my story so far. I hope it is the same with you.

 

I should make sure that everybody understands that it was not the fayth that sent Sakura in Spira. Four cosmic forces are responsible. They will remain mysterious for now. A hint: All their names begin by the capital letter `D'.

 

I purposely translated the Al Bhed because I didn't like it the first time and not everyone is capable to translate it on the spot.

 

Speaking of translation. Yes, they don't speak Japanese or English in Spira. If we take how the game is created then everybody should speak Japanese but many writers said that they speak English. (Of course or they would be unable to write their stories.) So, once again, we have the `mysterious-method-of-instant-insertion-of-a-complete-foreign-language'.