The Ninth Fantasy - Gaia

by MrAlterad

25. Mountain Pass~Conde Petie

“I really don't think this is a good idea. Kupo.” Mois informed Spike, who had just finished tying a saddle to Choco. Spike appraised the moogle.

She may be right. This may not be a good idea. The three of them were on the northeastern shore of the Mist continent, past the lands of Burmecia, preparing for a risky venture.

“What do you think Choco, you up for it?” He asked his blue feathered friend. She chirped in agreement. “Well, that's good enough for me.” He turned to Mois, “You keep us on the right track, and we should be there by tomorrow.” Choco had an empowering dream when they opened the chest that turned her feathers blue. With the change, she could now swim, just as fast as she could run. She had also learned of a realm called Chocobo's paradise, and to find it, she needed to venture out into the world. Choco wanted to find this paradise, and Spike was more than willing to help her.

With the change, she could also dig in shallow waters for treasure, which Spike made quick use of. The final two chests he could get on the Mist Continent proved to be very kind to the young dragon. He now had a brand new staff with a unique set of spells within. His collection had grown ever since he was separated from the others, having purchased some new ones for rather cheap from the Burmecians. He had also acquired a new robe that made him quicker to use potions, which helped out when fighting alone. Actually, now I have too many items. I need to master some of these before I can move up.

Now intending to leave this continent behind to follow his friends, they were prepared to take a reckless action, riding Choco across the ocean. They had ventured into the underground passage the others used earlier, but couldn't fathom how to get Choco to ride the gargants, so they chose this alternative path. If Choco thinks she can do it, then I'm not gonna stop her!

With Mois guiding them, Choco dived into the sea, Spike and Mois secure on her back, and swam with great speed, into the field of blue. Spike was immediately soaked to the scales, but loved the feeling of the wind blowing past from Choco's speed. It wasn't too long after leaving land behind them that they also left the mist behind them, welcoming them with a view of the horizon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ATE: Where a Promise Begins
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Freya and Beatrix walked into Cid's royal chambers, a number of guards watched the former general warily as Cid appraised them. Marcus and Blank had left the two of them to see the regent while they worked to help out in the cities reconstruction.

“Freya, Beatrix,” Cid began, “it is good to see you're both safe. Princess Garnet was quite worried about the two of you.” He then added, “So I guess you're no longer a General?” Beatrix nodded at his assumption.

“Regent Cid,” she began, “I must apologize for my queens actions. I followed her blindly, and in the end enabled her on this foolish quest of hers. Though my actions demand justice, I must ask that you stay any punishment you intend for me, as I still need to present my apology to the Burmecians.”

“Yes,” Cid nodded, “I will not argue with that. I may have been inclined to punish you, but you put the princess above the queen. I'd say you've seen fit to put reason over madness. Also, Lindblum is technically Alexandrian territory right now, so I really have no desire to return their strongest warrior to them in chains. <gwok>”

“Thank you, I am in your debt,” Beatrix stated as she bowed graciously. Freya stepped forward, she had expected to find the others in Lindblum, but now seeing its ruined state, feared for the worse.

“The Princess and the others,” she began, not masking her concern, “What has become of them?” Cid looked to her and assured they were fine, and informed Freya of the task they took up, as well as informing them that Spike was likely following after them. She considered his words carefully before replying.

“In that case, I will trust them to take care of Kuja,” She hesitated, she did want to go after them, and aid them in their fight, but she had other responsibilities to attend to. “I must see to my people.”

“Ah, just as loyal as I remembered.<gwok>” Cid stated with a sad smile, “I am sorry my fleet didn't arrive in time to save Cleyra, but my troops are making sure your people are safe.” He looked past Freya briefly before continuing, “They've settled in Gizamaluke's Grotto until the queen's been removed from the throne, you can find them there.” Freya thanked the regent for aiding her people, and she turned to leave, Beatrix following after her. Freya stopped instantly, her heart skipping a beat as she stood face to face with someone she had been hoping to meet at Gizamaluke.

“Greetings, Lady Freya.” Sir Fratley said, hesitating a moment before asking, “Are you well?” She stared at him dumbly, before giving him a smile, trying to keep back her tears of joy. He may no longer be the same Fratley she fell in love with, but at least there was a chance for them to share happiness again, a chance she wouldn't let slip by.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three of them were resting on a island between the continents. The sun was setting, and Choco was spent, put down that she tired out faster than she had wanted. Spike gave her a gysahl green, a green carrot, to cheer her up, and she recovered some of her enthusiasm. He looked back the way they had come, Mist Continent was out of sight, along with the mist it was obscured in.

The three of them appreciated the sun setting over the ocean. The sky taking on hues of red and purple, mirrored by the ocean, was breathtaking. The blue expanse circled around the island uninterrupted, and Spike sat in awe, never having seen such a sight before. His homesickness was far removed from his mind, and sometime tomorrow, he would be with his friends again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ATE: Root of the Matter
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Not too long after they had left the cavern behind them, they crossed through the bottom of a canyon. They saw a large structure, as big as the village of Dali, built atop a pair of roots that crossed the top of the cliff, and they had been looking for a way to reach it all day. The sun was setting, and they had finally found a way onto the cliff.

The monsters on the Outer Continent we a lot stronger than the one's on the mist continent, to everyone's surprise. They could only wonder why, since monsters were born and made of mist, as to how there were so many powerful monsters on the continent.

They fought humanoids, goblins not unlike the ones they encountered back in the Evil forest, but these goblins had magic that made them invisible. Only Pinkie's cannon was able to take them down during that state.

They also fought Zaghnols, and they had tackled enough of those to know how the manage them. There were also griffins, though they were far less majestic then the ones in Equestria. Pinkie had confused a griffin into using a healing wind on them, which Pinkie's cannon greedily copied. Pinkie was quite happy that she now had an ability that could heal her friends.

They were assaulted by the various monsters constantly, but with their combined strength, they overcame every battle, and in quick order, mastered the abilities their new gear provided.

“I think we should set up camp.” Applejack suggested, “It took us all day to get here, it'll probably be half a day till we reach that place anyways.” The structure was the only sign of civilization they've witnessed so far on this continent, and they were hoping there were people living there, otherwise heading there would just be a waste of time. Getting general agreement from the others, they set up camp next to a large root exposed from the ground.

“So. Like. Are giant trees common on Gaia?” Pinkie asked. “Cause these roots are everywhere~ and it's kind of strange!” She poked the root as she appraised it. “These don't look like they belong to the Cleyra tree.” She added as she scrutinized the root they camped near, “And they're also a different color.” The roots back where they came from looked like regular tree roots, only larger than life, these ones had a chalky, and at times silvery appearance.

“I'm not sure, this is new territory for me.” Zidane admitted. “I've been all over the Mist Continent, but never anywhere else.” He also appraised the root, “So there could be a big tree on this continent as well.” He unrolled the map Cid gave them, figuring out their location. “Well, it looks like this continent isn't as big as Mist continent. If we don't find anything at that place on the cliff, we can at least pass through it to see what lies on the other side of the canyon.” He offered, instilling new purpose in his friends as they prepared for bed, Pinkie taking the first watch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So how far do we have left?” Spike quietly asked Mois as he took in the sunrise. The soft cooing of Choco's snoring drowned out by the waves crashing against the shore. She needs all the rest she can get.

“Well, we should be at the continent in a few hours, from there it depends on the terrain. Kupo. When we hit the land, I'll check for where the others are.” Spike nodded at her intentions as he eyed the ring Garnet left for him. He had already mastered it, and the power within would be useful to the others. Soon, we'll be together again. Won't they be surprised. He thought with a smile as Choco stretched, waking up.

As Choco began to get up, a shadow blocked out the sun, and Spike's eyes were drawn up, to his surprise, and alarm, a very, very large monster was floating above the three of them. It smelled putrid, it's flesh dry and broken, bones were visible, it was a large whale, and it eyed them, before falling towards them! Choco and Mois scattered, and Spike teleported as the zombie whale crushed the small island they had rested on.

Spike fell into the water with a splash as he looked towards the monster. What IS that!? And why couldn't it have waited three more minutes! The monster looked towards Choco, then Spike, and went after the young dragon. The situation brought to mind an expression Twilight had once told him. 'For every rule, there is an exception'. This monster wasn't afraid of Choco, and now Spike was in deep trouble.

He teleported away from the whale as it crashed into where he had just been, and summoned lightning upon the beast. The lightning struck it hard, but the whale was even hardier than the snakes Spike had fought, barely registering as its molted skin crackled from the lightning. The whale turned to Spike and let out a low rumble, and Spike felt himself shrink as the whale swam up to him. This again!? Oh come on! The whale's maw swallowed Spike up, but he quickly teleported out, near Mois.

“Spike! Use a feather on it!” Mois commanded, only confusing the dragon.

“What!? A phoenix feather!? Why!?” He asked as he teleported away from the whale again. The monster was moving fast, and it was hard to swim and get off a spell at the same time, while avoiding it. With all this teleporting, it was just as hard to get to Choco at his current, shrunken size. If I can get on her, we can just flee!

“Just do it! Trust me!” Mois pleaded, and as the whale worked to swallow him again, Spike pulled out a red feather, and hoped Mois knew what she was doing. Letting himself be swallowed, he applied the feather to the zombie whale. The feather gave of a red glow as the magic within it activated, and the whale shivered, and suddenly disappeared into mist, exposing Spike to daylight again. He cough and moved to get away from where he just was, the inside of the whale smelled terrible.

“What? How'd that work?” He asked, confused that the large monster had been done in with a simple feather.

“That monster was an undead type, they perish if you use reviving magic on them.”

Undead? Eww, still, that's a very good thing to know! Choco swam over to Spike as the Mini affect he was suffering wore off. Ugh, that monster must drop a lot of gil! And now it's at the bottom of the ocean. Spike sighed at that thought as he looked to the others.

“Well, let's get out of here before another one of those show up.” He said as Mois got behind him on Choco, “I don't have too many of those feathers left.” Choco chirped in understanding, and they bolted off, continuing their way to the Outer Continent. Even the ocean has monsters, scary!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ATE: Trouble with the Ladies
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The party stood near the edge of the cliff, near the ramp onto the old arching structure. It looked almost like a ziggarat made from a long time ago, vines grew all over it, and it was a wonder that the structure hadn't collapsed into the canyon below it. The party hesitated when they reached the root supporting the structure.

“I'm kinda surprised we haven't seen any mist so far, considerin' the monsters.” Applejack admitted, breaking the silence in an attempt the break the tension.

“I think I can see smoke and movement from within.” Zidane pointed out, “This could be a village. Thought it sure is a weird place to call home if you ask me.” He added as he looked down into the long fall below.

“Maybe it was once a temple that was converted into a village?” Dagger offered. It really was just a single large stone building, composed of several tiers. “Or maybe it is a temple, and those inside live on the other side of the canyon.”

“I say, where there's people, there's a party waiting to happen!” Pinkie said with great excitement. “No Alexandrian soldiers to make things all sad, I say we check it out!”

“Pinkie,” Zidane said while shacking his head, “all you ever think about is parties.”

“Well,” Dagger added as she started crossing the root bridge, “all you ever think about is girls.”

“Uh,” Zidane said, caught off guard by her comment, “That's right! My mind is filled with thoughts of, you!” He replied, only to see that Dagger had crossed without them, leaving Zidane standing awkwardly in front of the mares.

“Dahhh~ You shouldn't have~” Pinkie said as she gave Zidane a big hug, which he was not expecting. Applejack just shook her head and followed after Dagger.

“Um, Pinkie,” Zidane started, unable to get out of her hug, “they're getting hrk-” She squeezed tighter to interrupt him before commenting.

“Oh Zidane.” She started as she looked sadly into his eyes. “Have you already forgotten the date we went on? Do you truly choose her over me?” She asked, looking more serious than Zidane's ever seen her. And suddenly he realized the position he was in.

“Eh heh heh, well, you see Pinkie...” Oh damn, how am I getting out of this one-.

“Gotcha!” Pinkie said as she immediately let go, rolling on the floor, laughing. “The- The look on your face!” She giggled out, “It was priceless~!” She added as she got up, still giggling, gave him a heartfelt smile, and bounced after the others, leaving Zidane standing alone, completely baffled.

“How did I end up in a group of girls like this...” he said as he shook his head, a small smile slipping through. Following after them, he saw Applejack and Garnet be greeted by small green men with short red mohawks.

“Rally-ho!” They greeted, and Applejack immediately replied the same to them, and Dagger copied her, and they entered the town together. One walked up to Zidane and Pinkie.

“Rally-ho!” The dwarf said with a wave, right in front of them. Zidane looked to Pinkie.

“What's up with these little guys?”

“Rally rally ho ho ho!” Pinkie replied to the short man, and he copied her, letting her through.

“Hey, wait for-” Zidane moved to follow Pinkie, but the dwarf got in front of him.

“Rally-ho!”

“Seriously?”

“Rally-ho's oor sacred greetin'!” The dwarf explained, as if it was obvious.

Wow, I didn't think I'd run into anyone with a thicker accent than AJ. Another villager, wearing a robe and hood came up and elaborated. Wait, that's a woman!

“If ye dinnae say Rally-Ho,” she explained, “then ye cannae enter Conde Petie, hametoon o' the dwarves!”

“Now hold on just a minute-”

“Rally-ho!”

“Rally-ho!”

They interrupted in unison. Zidane stood there dumbfounded for a moment. He clearly did not like the idea of saying the dwarven greeting, but his friends were already in the town.

“...Rally-ho” Zidane said with no enthusiasm whatsoever.

“Rally-ho! Ye can pass!” And the dwarf in front of him moved out of his way with a smile. Zidane shook his head as he entered Conde Petie. He quickly ran into Applejack, who caught Zidane's eye, she concealed a smug grin as she approached him.

“They sell weapons and goods here, so we can resupply.” She informed, and Zidane did just that, along with Applejack. “I like this place," she admitted, "it's a lot like Dahli. Homely and full of hospitably. Only this time, no secret black mage factory.” She said as she gave him a big smile. “Oh, ya might not wanna talk to Garnet, she seems to be a little annoyed with ya at the moment.”

“Hey Applejack! Come check this out! They've got weapons!” Pinkie appeared out of nowhere and pulled Applejack along to a vendor, against her will. Zidane let them be and asked around to see if any of the dwarves knew Kuja. His search turned up fruitless. All he learned was that the dwarves wouldn't let outsiders pass to the other side of the canyon. Something about it leading to Sanctuary, where only newlyweds may venture. There was also something about a thief going around town, which surprised him.

But I haven't stolen anything...

Reaching the vendors, he found that AJ and Pinkie were still shopping. Actually, it seemed more that Applejack was arguing with Pinkie as to what her cannon is suppose to shoot, and Kaiser Knuckles was apparently where the orange mare drew the line. Something about 'shooting punches is beyond ridiculous'. As they argued, a Black Mage casually walked up to the vendor and bought some food from the dwarf.

It was so casual, in fact, that none of them noticed it was a Black Mage until it had started to leave, its purchase in hand. Applejack stopped mid conversation as she appraised the mage walking away.

“Ya have got to be kiddin me! There's a factory here too!?” She asked, as if the mage existed only to prove her wrong. That made the mage suddenly stop and look back, and seeing the ponies confused the mage, but when it saw Zidane, it turned around and fled. “Get back here!” Applejack cried as she chased after it.

“Get Dagger, fast.” Zidane asked of Pinkie, “Our lead is running away!” Pinkie let out a disappointed sigh, having wanted to do a party. But she saluted Zidane and zipped off while he chased after Applejack. They had a Black Mage to pursue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike could not believe his luck. When they got close to the Outer Continent, they had started looking for a beach to get on from, as most of what they saw was sheer cliff. One of the chocographs he had indicated there was treasure on the very beach they landed on. They found it, and inside, were twelve Peridots! As well as a lot of phoenix feathers and a pair of metal gloves. I... guess I didn't need to be stingy with those feathers.

He hadn't had anything better than ore to eat for some time, so the Peridots were a very pleasant surprise. And just like the other gems, he felt a familiar presence from this kind. ...Shining Armor? He thought the powers would only be tied to his mare friends, making this an unexpected surprise. Though it's been a while since he last played with Twilight's brother, the dragon was still fond of him.

“Kupo! They're not too far from where we are!” Mois said excitedly as her pon pon stopped glowing.

Did my luck increase when I left Equestria? He wondered as he gave Choco a sly smile.

“Lets surprise them with a grand entry!”

“Kweh!” And they were off, Spike's eyes forward.

There's a villain to defeat, an evil queen to dethrone, and treasure to share with friends. This adventure is going to be awesome!

---

~~~~~~~~~~~
Moogle Notes:
~~~~~~~~~~~

'Howdy Equestrian, Mois the moogle here with more tid-bits about Gaia!'

'Choco is one of the few lucky chocobos to make the journey to Chocobo's Paradise.'

'Her feathers turning blue allows her to swim and find treasure in shallow water, but finding it in the deep ocean is still outside of her capabilities.'

'In addition to being destroyed by means of revival, zombie type monsters also take damage from healing magic. Mostly though, if you have the feathers to part with, most anyone can handle an undead monster, assuming it doesn't handle you first.'

'The dwarves are a nice people who keep to themselves, though I honestly have a hard time understanding them. Kupo!'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike the Dragon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Items Equipped: *New Items Acquired*

*Oak Staff: Stop, Bio, Drain

Add ST: Slow.

Magus Hat: Slow

Raises Ice Elem-Atk

Glass Armlet: Steal Gil, Antibody(mastered)

Elem-Def: Water damage reduced by 50%.

Magician Robe: Auto-Potion(mastered), MP+10%

*Peridot: Ramuh, Thundara(mastered), Brotherly Shield

Lvl-18 HP 640/640 MP 98/98

AP 1/23

*Auto-Reflect(15) - Automatically casts Reflect in Battle.

Add Status(3) - Adds weapon's status effect when you attack.

Antibody (4) - Prevents Poison and Venom.

*Ability Up (7) - Doubles the amount of Ability Points earned from battles.

Generosity (6) - Lowers the price of items by a small amount.

Auto-Potion (3) - Automatically uses Potion when damaged.

*Dragon Scales(0) - You take no fire damage.

Abilities:

Black Magic:

Fire 6 MP - Causes Fire damage to single/multiple targets.

Blizzard 6 MP - Causes Ice damage to single/multiple targets.

Slow 6 MP - Slows a single target.

Thunder 6 MP - Causes Thunder damage to single/multiple targets.

Thundara 12 MP - Causes moderate Thunder damage to single/multiple targets.

Stop 8 MP - Stops targets from taking any action.

Poison 8 MP - Inflicts Poison to single/multiple targets.

Bio 18 MP - Causes Non-elemental damage and Poison to single/multiple targets.

Drain 14 MP - Drains HP from the target and transfers it to the spell caster.

Friendship's Magic:

Spike's Flame 0 MP - Green and harmless warm fire. Perfect for lighting up any party.

Teleport 2 MP - Increase chance of physical attacks missing Spike for short duration.

Whining 4 MP - Causes enemies to flee. You get no rewards from fleeing enemies.

Flame Breath 8 MP - Causes Fire damage to a single target. Cannot be reflected.

Rainboom 14 MP - Causes Non-elemental damage to multiple targets, Slows and Confuses.

Brotherly Shield 20 MP - Generates a powerful shield on the party that blocks a single attack.

Trance - Can use Tetra-Breath, mixing three Black Magic spells into a breath attack. It cannot be reflected.

Author's Note:

Here, have a rag.

Mist continent is the one in the bottom right. Outer Continent is above it.
Thank you for reading my story, and I hope you've been enjoying it thus far!

Comments

[MrAlterad]

I want my stories in sync sooner, so I'm switching to 4:1. This will make both stories catch up at chapter 30.
Also, I'm starting to have doubts of adding the Red Appleblade, anyone feel like sharing their thoughts on the matter?

[GMZ_Casper]

5298127
Perhaps have the Red Appleblade drained the user (aka Applejack) of MP equally (or half that) to the HP gained. That should be a fair trade off, and maybe later onward with an upgrade, the ability's negative ability can be reduced to half...or something like that.

[Wild Blaze]

mm a question when will spike see the truth of war and the damage that it cause, cause I know that he looks like a child but remember he is like 4 years younger than twilight

[MrAlterad]

5313767 Well, considering that the CMC is around Spike's age, maybe, I consider him a child. A very capable and intelligent, but naive and innocent child. But that's my opinion.
Spike may or may not see what becomes of Alexandria at the beginning of disc three. We shall wait and see!