I flexed my fingers in the soft leather of my new gloves. New weapons and equipment seemed prudent. I had to force everyone to change their navy blue, individually ranked federation uniforms out for plate mail armor and leather under armor. Esqueezeme, Hellfire and Newind still believed we could go back home. Musaki and I knew better. We went through time. There is no going back. My heart broke for Trillian, I would never see her again, my beautiful angel. I shook off the thought of her and picked up the claymore sized sword known here as a Great sword. The weight of it was different from the guns we were used to. Musaki went with two daggers and a pack chock full of bombs no surprise there. Hellfire picked another Great Sword and Esqueezeme went with two pistols, that seemed to kill anything she aimed them at. Newind picked out a javelin and grabbed the bag of supplies Dale packed for him. "Newind, keep the crew that made it on the front half alive. We will go get everyone else. Don't do anything stupid."
"Copy that, keep the crew alive. Don't do anything stupid." He saluted me and mounted the Chocobo. We watched him ride away on the giant bird then turned to face the Mountain in question. " Your sure the ass end is on the other side of that?"
"Yes sir, I'm still getting a reading from it." I sighed. "Maybe we can do this without running into anything too big." My men nodded in agreement, not a single one of us wanted to run into any more unnecessarily large beasts. The space octopus tapped me out on ridiculously large animals today. I knew I would find a few down the line, but not right at this moment would be great.
The trip to the path that led up the mountain wasn't too bad. Dale had given us each enough supplies to feed an army in individual packs that at on our belts. The packs were made with magic so we could put an endless supply of potions and antidotes inside and we wouldn't even feel the weight of them all. I suddenly had ideas for how much money I could put in my bottomless pack.
So far, we battled several wolf like creatures and a couple of cats with bad attitudes. So far, nothing bigger showed up, even though the cats were dicks.
We took a short break to check our supplies and the equipment we gained through battle. I gained experience with my new weapon with each irritating battle. I had to think of the irony. Me, the perfect elite of the Federation of Planets, reduced to using a sword longer than me if I laid down beside it. The best of the best, hurled down the ladder to crawl back up to the top of the food chain again. "Anybody injured?" I watched my men as they shook their heads and flexed their sore muscles. I realized then that the only combat experience we had was with firearms designed for warfare. We barely functioned as a unit in this new world. Another reminder of how far we have fallen. I rose to my feet with grunt and motioned my men to follow suit. "C'mon guys, we're almost there." Hellfire groaned. "We have been walking for hours." Esqueezeme chuckled at his misery. "I thought all that exercise I gave you on the ship increased your stamina?" Hellfire glared at her but didn't comment. "Alright guys, we have a long way to go. Save the bickering for later." As I raised my arms up above my head to stretch my sore muscles, Musaki's blade shot passed my head. I could feel the wind as it passed by me. Something screamed behind me. "Company guys, get ready!" She shot passed me and I turned just in time to watch her yank her dagger free of a tentacle like mass. "What the Fuck! Don't tell me it went through the hole with us! "Horror swamped me at the thought of that monstrosity here on Spira.
Musaki back flipped out of its reach. "Captain, I killed that thing, this is new!" Hellfire charged left and slashed a tentacle off. Esqueezeme dodged and fired at what she assumed was the head. I ducked as it swung a weird ass arm at me, drew my sword and I shot left, dodging it's next attack. Pivoting on my right foot, I changed direction and twisted, my sword sliced upwards. Green goop spilled out of the wound from my power attack. The thing screamed in pain and rage, it took in a massive lung full of air and exhaled a noxious gas. I immediately hit the ground, landing on all fours and retching as the gas invaded my senses. "Jump back! Musaki, I'm blind!" She was on her knees heaving out her insides as well, she mustered the will to toss me eye drops and then threw them to the other two. She took out Antidotes and threw one at me then took one herself. "Stay moving guys. The gas messes with your senses and it's poisonous. It can't attack us all at once if we aren't close together." Hellfire ran left, Esqueezeme moved right and back. "Musaki, move to support, Hellfire deal damage, Esqueezeme, go long range. I'll keep it busy." I kept the thing's attention on me with a barrage of attacks, I had to maintain agro, so I immediately used another power attack to throw it off balance. Hellfire used my attack as an opening and cut off the main tentacle arm. Princessa kept up with a barrage of bullets aimed at the head. I could see it weakening. I moved in for the final strike. Using one final power attack I swung my sword in a wide horizontal strike. The attack was stronger than I thought, it severed the head clean off. The screaming died abruptly and it sank to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
I took a knee, my lungs burned from the effort. "I hope that isn't on the mountain too." Prince's comment caused me to bark out a laugh. "Judging the strength of these fiends, we may have to up our game. We need to be stronger and faster than what's waiting up there." The group nodded in agreement. I looked at the path leading up the mountain. The gate was worn and had flags hanging from it on a massive rope. I could see different colors and designs. Maybe they were the flags of the villages of this country. We will find out soon enough. "Alright guys short break, use a potion to heal up and then we will start up the mountain." I watched them pull out potions and knock a couple back, I pulled one out myself and chugged it then stood up, My team in sync with me. I turned to face the mountain. On the other side of that peak, was the other half of my ship. "Let's go guys."
It's fucking cold. That's the way I would describe this mountain. Pristine white snow that we sank waist deep in, we had to fish Musaki out a couple of times already and she was now perched on Hellfire like a damn parrot. The black stone of the mountain was thrown in relief against the white and the ice blue of the oppressive fucking cold. Esqueezeme shivered next to me as we huddled close for a short break. Hellfire looked at me like I lost my mind, he was, of course, forced to stand in the center of us as we huddled around him. Esqueezeme hid all of her face in her scarf. "Why does it have to be cold?" I glared at Hellfire again. He has been saying that since we began the trek up from the Calm Lands. I looked up at Musaki as she started fiddling with her equipment. "Problem?"
"I'm getting a faint reading nearby. I can't figure out how close though." She showed me the tablet's screen. Sure enough, a faint pulsing sound came from the device. "Is it worth checking out?"
"It might be the weapons room. If so, I can refit the weapons and Armor we have so they appear normal for this area." I glanced at them, the thought of finally finding our weapons sounded like a tempting offer. "Is it on the way to Zanarkand?"
"It is."
"Then we make a short pit stop, if it's the weapons, we make it fast. Only take what we can carry, nothing more." She nodded in agreement.
"The Ronso village should be just past that cliff there, we can ask around for more information there."
I stood and they joined me. "Let's move." We trudged through the snow towards the village nearby. The hope of a warm fire first on our minds. A growl at our six O'clock caused us to jump and roll to the left or right, away from the immediate danger as a massive beast with thick tree like horns and the body of a 6 ton lion but the teeth of a wolf blew past us. "What the Fuck is that?"
"I don't know, but it's about to get messy." The last time I said that particular word aloud, My ship and every crew member on board was sucked into a black hole and spit out here. I don't think we will have the same luck this time. The massive navy blue furred, black horned monster stalked us as we backed up towards the cliff. It swiped at us with claw tipped paws bigger that Hellfire's head. It missed as we rolled in different directions. Hellfire was standing near the cliff by the time I stood and whirled to face it again. "Hellfire, move!" As I shouted, a person shot passed me and launched skyward. They dropped on top of the beast and I noticed the spear in their hands. Person, is a strong word for the woman that stopped the beast from charging at Hellfire. She stood and her amber colored cat eyes tracked the beast as it stalked around her. She wore fur lined leather armor, she had silver hair, blue fur and a black horn on her cat like head. Her ears flicked as she watched the beast. "Can you fight?" Her voice was deep and steady. Hellfire nodded and drew his sword. I flanked the thing on it's right, Esqueezeme jumped to take it from behind and Musaki flanked left. "Good, Behemoth is the strongest beast of the mountain. I guard Mountain." Her tail flicked in agitation. The Behemoth charged forward again. Hellfire jumped in front of the woman and yanked her down, he raised his hand in a feeble attempt to stop the charge. His hand glowed orange for a second, then fire launched out of his hand like a bullet out of a gun, hitting the Behemoth in the right shoulder, it was driven right by the impact. It skidded as it tried to turn. It tumbled over the cliff, roaring in fury. Hellfire breathed heavily. He stared at his hand in shock. "Did you just shoot fire out of your hand?!" I was yelling, I could tell because he was staring at me like I killed a puppy. "I think I did."
Musaki crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. "How?" Hellfire shrugged. "I thought 'I hate this fucking beast, I hate this damn trip, I hate this cold' I didn't think about protecting the woman, and it just shot out of my hand." Esqueezeme raised a brow. "You were ranting in your head and then fire came out of your hand?" Hellfire took a second to think about it. "That about sums it up." The cat woman laughed. "You gain magic, yet bicker like kits." I turned to the Woman. "I'm Jason Darksky, this is my crew, Shani Musaki, Princessa Esqueezeme, and Prince Hellfire."
"I am Kyet, a warrior of Ronso tribe. I owe Prince Life debt." She bowed to Hellfire. I stared at her in shock. Hellfire gaped at her. "I didn't do it for a reward."
"Kyet knows this, Kyet is a Warrior, Owe Life for Life. It is The way of the Ronso."
"But I'm not a Ronso." She tilted her head and for a second she looked more like a cat in that moment. "Take to Tribe, make you Ronso." I gaped this time.
"Do you have the power to do that?"
"Khimari, our Chief, does this for me." She turned and nodded in the direction we were headed. "Come, be Ronso."
As we followed Kyet to her Village, I got a chance to talk to Hellfire again. "Is this what you want?"
"If it's a custom of her people, She owes me her life, as she said. Maybe we can gain a powerful ally. Did you see that Jump. Kyet has power. We can get to Zanarkand faster this way." I had to give him credit for thinking about this at all. There is more than muscle to Prince Hellfire.