//------------------------------// // Disc 2- Part 4 // Story: Setting Sun of Thieves // by Shadow Hero //------------------------------// Sunset brought the group to were her pet flew off to. “This is the place.” She said as they stood in front of Mayan style temple. “It looks out of place,” Sonata commented. “Look, it’s the same style as the Ifrit one, so watch out traps.” The red-yellow haired girl said. “I hope they're not like the ones from Zelda games,” Zidane whispered to Link. “They’ll be a breeze for me if that’s the case.” Link whispered back to Zidane. “What are you whispering about?” Sunset asked. “Nothing.” The pair echoed. “Let's go then!” Sonata proclaimed, running up the stairs. “What did I say about looking out for traps?” Sunset chastised as she jogged after her. The interior of the temple had strange markings upon the walls leading into a locked door with pathways to the left and right of it. Link stroked his blond goatee in thought. “None of you can read them?” He asked in curiosity. “I did learn a bit from Eiko,” Sunset said walking up to markings. “To get to the rainbow phoenix you shall need two keys. One ocean blue and the other flame-red... That's all I can make out.” “I'm guessing they are each down one of the pathways,” Sonata said with a shrug “So we should split up to find them faster. Link and I can go down the one on the left, you don’t mind do you?” Zidane asked Link. “I don’t mind, it sounds like a plan,” Link said as he gave Zidane a thumbs up in agreement. “Just give me a moment, I’d like to cast a spell as a precaution in case things get dangerous,” he said before moving his arms back and cupping his hands together. Quickly, he separates them to swirl his arms around clockwise, Link then thrusts his hands into the air causing wind to spin and gather into a glowing orb above his head. Once fully charged, it flew over to the entrance of the temple. “Farore’s Wind will allow us to get back here quickly,” he said. “Farore’s Wind? It seems like a handy spell.” Sunset said as she watched the orb. “Very, Hylia knows how many times it’s helped me get out of a jam,” Link said as the orb remained tethered in the air. “It will stay here until I either dispel it or activate it to teleport either Zidane or myself here.” He explained. “Can we get going?” Sonata asked while bouncing on her feet. “I don't see why not,” Zidane replied as he entered the left pathway. The pathway leads the duo into the bottom of the temple, torches lighting ablaze as they made their descent. “That's kinda cool and creepy at the same time,” Zidane commented as he passed a few of them. “Either magic or spirits, the torches lighting on their own remind me of Chrono Trigger when Crono and his friends go to confront Magus.” Link said. “I always meant to play that game.” Zidane idly mused. When the two reached the bottom, they were greeted by small plate formations surrounded by lava and red Bombs that littered the room. “We must've taken the fire path.” Zidane said as he watched the movement of the Bombs. Link reached into his pouch quietly, his tunic taking on a brief flash of light as its colours go from green to red. He reaches his hand back in to pull out a bow, the quiver magically appearing onto his back. “Hopefully they’re not the suicidal kind of Bombs and they’ll just focus on lobbing fire spells…” The Hylian whispered with hope in his voice. “I have met some that used fire on their allies causing them to grow in size.” The monkey tailed man said as he shivered as he summoned his daggers, one having been inlaid with Ice materia in its core. The bombs seemed to not have noticed the two, a group of five of having chosen to instead bicker about something. “We can either try to sneak by, or we can take a chance at attack since we have the preemptive strike advantage, your call.” Link suggested. Zidane took a moment to weigh the options. “A sneak attack sounds good.” He decided to crouch down. Reaching back, Link takes hold of an arrow and nocks it into his bow, he pulls the string back and takes aim, he takes a gentle breath to steady his arms. With a twang of the string, the arrow is let loose as it flies straight toward the closest Bomb. The sudden impact caused it to explode which alarmed the others to look around for the cause. Zidane jumped behind the frenzied group and shot a small chunk of ice at one which caused it to freeze. Unable to move, it fell to the floor as it shattered upon impact. Afterwards, he backflipped away from incoming fireballs. Taking advantage of Zidane’s distraction of the bombs, Link knocked another arrow into his bow and aimed. With a small focused charge of magic into the arrow’s tip, it quickly ignites with glowing blue energy. With a gentle release, he sends the arrow flying into another Bomb, quickly coating it in ice thanks to the Ice Arrow spell. The bomb falls toward the ground and shatters on impact. Zidane slashed the one to his right with his currently blue-coated dagger, however, it dodged and began to swell up. “That's not good,” he muttered as he dodged a burst of fire aimed at his feet. With a heavy step in his leap, Link sped off quickly over to Zidane, the Hylian putting away his bow. With his hands over his head, blue energy started to swirl above him as he skids in front of Zidane. Link allowed it to drop over the monkey boy, causing a humming shield of magic to twirl around him. The Bomb continued to swell until it erupted, the Hylian’s enchanted red tunic mail taking the brunt of the explosion. When the wave of fire washed over Zidane, he felt no damage besides the force. The last bomb flew away and towards the center of the room, diving into the lava. When it resurfaced, it was larger than before and coloured purple with orange eyes. “You must be here for the key.” It said in a masculine tone as it hovered in place. “You are correct… Wait you can talk?” Zidane asked, visibly taken aback by this. “Not all monsters are as uncultured as a Cactuar.” It replied. “You’re calm considering what we just did.” Link commented as he put out a small fire burning his red hood and cloak. The Hylian’s face was slightly burnt since it wasn’t covered by his tunic’s magic. “We were arguing over who was the guardian of the key, the previous having been exposed during an earthquake not too long ago.” “So, we have to face you to get the key then?” Zidane asked. “You would, but you made my job easy… Unless you want a challenge?” It asked swaying back and forth. “I’d prefer we’d get it without casualties, but I doubt it’d be that easy depending on whoever hired you to guard it.” Link said as he reached back to pull out his Hylian shield and Master Sword, the blade’s reflective edge gleaming with the glow of the lava. “I'm with him on this one. The easy way.” Zidane replied. “Very well then.” The Bomb said before it dove back into the lava, it came up with a key in its mouth, spitting it at Zidane’s feet. “Take this upstairs and the door should open up with both keys.” The Bomb stated, diving back into the lava. Zidane used a weak Blizzard on the key before picking it up. He took a closer look and saw that the ring had wings and the teeth of the key were fashioned as a jagged stereotypical flame. “I hope that Sunset and Sonata are doing ok.” He said pocketing the key. Link sheathed his sword back into the sheath at his waist and placed the shield onto his back. “I guess becoming the guardian was what he wanted..” He said as he rubbed the back of his head. “I’d keep my guard up though, in case there was a catch... Hmm, I wonder if he knew of a certain Bomb that could be summoned via an esper crystal...” the Hylian mused. “Well, Sunset can summon a Bomb. Anyway ready to head back?” Zidane asked. Link looked around at the ground before answering. “If there’s nothing left, we oughta move. Shortcut or walk?” He asked as he straightened up his gauntlet gloves, he raised his hand over his face as a gentle glow embraced it, healing the burns the best the spell could, though the Hylian will need to take care of the scars later. “The shortcut.” The monkey tailed man replied, looking around and finding nothing of interest. With a raised hand, a gentle breeze started to pick up before sweeping over the two, causing a brief flash to fill the room. When the light cleared, they were back at the entrance just a few feet above the ground, and although Link landed softly, Zidane, however, fell backwards onto his butt. “Note to self, practice landing,” Zidane muttered as Sunset and Sonata came from the right pathway. “So, got the key?” Sunset asked as Sonata helped Zidane up. “Yeah, I’m guessing you got the ocean blue key without too much trouble?” Zidane asked dusting himself off. “Well, Sunset had a hard time battling the water skippers,” Sonata said getting a death glare from said girl. “Fire magic did not work well against them yes... but other then that, we got the key.” The red-yellow haired girl said holding up the key, which had the same type of wings as the fire key but the teeth were of an ocean wave. “So onward to the boss room then,” Zidane said pulling out his key. “I can’t help but feel that the Bomb mini-boss gave us his key too easily.” Link said with puzzlement. “I mean sure, it asked if we wanted it easy or hard but I wasn’t expecting him to be serious.” “Wait, the bomb just gave you the key? We had to fight this brain thing that controlled water.” Sunset said angrily. “It’s not our fault that it was happy we got rid of its competition,” Zidane said raising his hand in defence. “But he has a point, only one just handed the key you don’t think whatever is waiting for us in there could be worse?” Sonata mused, which shocked Sunset and Zidane abit. “Exactly, by the way. What did this boss look like?” Link asked curiously. “It was a ball of jelly that formed the surrounding water into tentacles.” The siren answered. “That sounds a bit like… No, that couldn’t be right. What did the room look like that you fought it in?” Link asked with disbelief in his voice. “It was a square room with a small pond in the middle with four islands... It had spikes on some parts on the wall... Why do you ask?” Sunset asked with a raised eyebrow. “...That was Morpha, also known as a Giant Aquatic Amoeba, although what it’s doing in Zidane’s world is what I’d like to know...” Link said with a frown. “The door just appeared when we beat all the monsters.” The red-yellow hair girl said. “Wait, what door? Monsters? You said you fought Morpha.” Link said confused. “It leads to the room with Morpha in. It kinda had a blinding light when it opened.” Sonata said. “Strange as that may be, I think it’s time to head thought the large door,” Zidane said pointing to the door. “Whoever or whatever is behind it, maybe responsible for bringing Morpha here.” Link said as he withdrew his sword and shield. Zidane gave Sunset a nod, both walked up to the door and placed the keys into their respective slots. The keys turned on their own causing the door to open with stairs heading upwards. “Ladies first,” Zidane said gesturing toward the door. “Nice try, you should go in first so us ladies don’t get hurt,” Sonata replied getting a nod from Sunset. “You are ladies, but you’re capable of defending yourselves.” Link said as he walked through the door and up the stairs. Zidane held both daggers in hand as he followed. They didn't need to walk that far up, when they reached the top there was a flat area with large torches that had red or blue crystals instead of fire surrounding the edge. “Strange choice of architecture,” Sunset said as she examined the room. In the back was purple fire in a large bowl. “Strange, nothing’s here,” Sonata said. The flames seemed to react and shift, a giant bird made of fire thusly launched its self in the air before landing in the center of the room letting out a loud caw. “You had to say that.” Zidane said annoyed. When Link saw the phoenix, the sight reminded him of something long ago back when he used to be human. The Hylian raised his sword skyward as he channelled his magic, electricity starting to race along the blade. Link quickly kneels and impales his sword into the ground, causing it to shake and send out bolts of lightning travelling alongside toward the avian. The phoenix got hit by the lightning before taking flight again and circling the room. Sonata launched a spiral of water out of her katana at the avian, successfully knocking it into a wall. It shocks it off quickly because it launched a fireball at the siren. Seeing this Zidane aimed the tip of the dagger with blizzard materia at the incoming attack and launched a chunk of ice at the fireball. Once the projectiles collided, the resulting explosion scattered flames upon the ground. Link brought his sword back before quickly jabbing at the air toward the fiery bird, allowing a thin beam of energy to fly out of the tip of the blade. The beam hit the Phoenix in its chest, eliciting a loud caw before flapping its wing violently causing a strong gust of wind that pushed the group back. Sunset launched a bolt of electricity out of the tip of her rapier before running up to the fiery bird. “Sunset!” Zidane called out but she kept running. As she got close, the phoenix slapped her away with its wing into the wall. Seeing this, a sweltering rage bubbled within Zidane causing him to glow. Meanwhile, Link had grounded himself using the Iron Boots, preventing himself from being blown away. Quickly putting away his shield, he whips out a clawshot and aims the phoenix’s tail, Link grips the handle and arms it with a click. Upon releasing the trigger, a claw shot out attached to a chain. When it hit its mark, Link pulled hard on the handle an attempt to get the bird grounded. As it fell, Zidane ran up with his body blazing. “Take this!” He said as his speed doubled, letting him slash as fast as he could from multiple directions. He slid to halt just in front of the bird as he connected his two daggers at the pommel. “Let’s end this!” He exclaimed, spinning the blade in front of him and finally slashing through the avian. The Hylian had to blink in surprise when he noticed Zidane glowing. “...Was that Trance?” Link asked as he focused his attention on the bird in case it had managed to survive the onslaught. Zidane took a step back and kneeled as the glowing stopped. “Yup, and it’s kinda hard on the body.” He said before shaking his head and standing up, his daggers aimed at the bird. The Phoenix seemed to caw before exploding into flames, when it died down it left a small blue phoenix. “Ray!?” Zidane Cried in confusion upon seeing the smaller bird. Sonata went over and helped Sunset out of the rubble. “Okay, what's going on?” Sunset asked. Ray flew over into the bowl in the middle of the room, causing the bird to grow in size. He flew, spreading his wings now a rainbow colour, ultimately landing in the center of the room. The blue phoenix pointed a wing at the wall behind Sunset. She turned around and began to read what it says out loud. “This place lends it fire to young Phoenixes that want to prove something, bathed in the fire its esper powers awaken… Wait does that mean?” She asked her pet, he nodded. “Ray, you didn’t have to...” “Wait then why attack us?” Sonata asked. “Perhaps it was a test?” Link guessed as he took off the Iron Boots to place back into his pouch, its form shrinking to fit inside. “Ifrit did the same, so what now?” Sunset asked. Ray cupped its wings causing a ball of light to appear. The light descended and hovered in front of his master. “I, Phoenix shall be there for you no matter what.” The blue phoenix’s voice echoed around the room. “I see it no other way,” Sunset said accepting the light into her heart. Ray smiled, he shakes his body causing his rainbow feathers to float around the room before disappearing in a flash of light. “Now that’s something you don’t see every day,” Zidane comments as he put his hands behind his head watching the feathers fall to the ground. Link placed his hook shot away and kneeled to pick up one of the fallen feathers, the light gleamed over it revealing a rainbow of colours. He places it softly into his pouch. Link then hums a little fanfare that reminded Zidane of the victory theme after a battle. The Hylian slashed at the air twice, twirled his sword, then sheathed it into its holster with a loud echoing clang. “So we should head out, Choco is still with Montblanc.” Zidane said as he pocketed some of the feathers. “Still up for more exploration?” He asked Link. “I think I’ve had enough for today, but there is one thing I’d like for you to keep me updated on, and that something is if you find anything else out of place, like Morpha.” Link said as he stroked his chin in thought. “Before you say the words, there is a little something I’d like to give you for allowing me to travel with you guys.” Link said as he held out his leather-covered hand. “Really, what?” Zidane asked with a raised eyebrow, curious about what it may be. “I’d like to transfer some of my void energy into you so that you can cast Nayru’s Care, it’s a variation of Nayru’s Love but instead of protecting an ally from harm, it’s a , spell that will allow you to slowly heal others, it's only for a single target though but if you’ve got enough magic, you should be allowed to cast it over a wider range if you practice enough with it.” Link explained. “Neat, that can come in handy in a pinch... So what do I do to inherit some of the energy?” “A simple physical contact will do, a handshake.” Link said as he kept his hand out. “That’s easier than shooting a ball of energy into me.” The monkey tailed man said as he shakes Link’s hand. Zidane sees Link’s right-hand glow with a golden triangle formation, strangely coloured flicking light travelled from out of his arm and into Zidane’s. The Genome then felt a surge of energy rush through him, almost feeling like a jolt, the feeling vanished as quick as it was felt. “All you have to do is hold your hand over someone and show compassion, the spell will cast naturally afterwards.” Link explained. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind. Our contract is up.” Zidane said. With those words spoken, Link was surrounded by a blue transparent crystal. “Tell your Bahamut I said hi, I mean I don’t know him personally, I’m just a big fan of the awesome guy,” he said with a grin before vanishing back to his world. With Link gone, the trio headed to the entrance. Upon exiting, Zidane noticed Vivi running towards them. “Vivi? I thought you were with the others.” He asked the out of breath black mage. “We*Huff* here*huff* Shot out of the sky!!” Vivi answered as he tried to catch his breath. “Okay, what happened?” Zidane asked concerned about the others.