Welcome to Gaia! ::

[Just to explain the reference, the Gemini is a two creature combination that appears closer to the end of Final Fantasy X. It's essentially one Red Iron Giant and one Blue Iron Giant.]

"Two of them actually aren't my students, but Isaac is the highest ranked member of the group. I left him in charge and left a note for him in the town a little ways back." James replied, "They'll make it to Esthar, although I'm sure that it won't be unscathed. I hate these fields for that exact reason. And yes, we ought to be going now."

James led the way, back up and over the hill that he originally came down. He knew the Plains of Esthar well. Every crack, hill, nook, and valley were like a home to him. He had grown up in them. He learned how to fight and move like the beasts of the fields. That was how he taught himself to fight. There wasn't anything in the Plains of Esthar that could stop him.

Thankfully, though, they still weren't that far from Esthar. James had no desire to battle some of the greater creatures of the plains. The thought of having to take on an Iron Giant was terrifying. And the Gemini? Even scarier.

"Tell me Erec," James began, "what do you know of the resent occurrences all across the globe? Galbadia Garden has disappeared. All of the gardens find themselves constantly struggling against the monsters in the area, and occasionally unmarked soldiers appear in the fray. There was an assassination attempt on Alister Sonestark, the Headmaster of Balamb Garden. And now Esthar Garden seems to have disappeared. I'm curious as to what you think. It will make the time pass, don't you think?"

"I am." James replied rather flatly. He had taken Doomtrain at a rather young age, and actually had to fabricate a reason as to why. It was, in all actuality, a rather easy process for him, but he couldn't give himself away. He liked living, and if too many people found out what exactly he was then that wouldn't last very long, "Do not always believe what you hear, however. People can be very deceiving, as well as what they say."

You risk too much, Master. Doomtrain voiced his protest in James's ears, First the SeeD child that you've been watching for a year, and now you hint at possibly something else to someone that you've known for perhaps ten minutes?

Relax, Doomtrain. James replied with an entertained tone, I wouldn't talk to people about who I am if I didn't feel I could trust them. Onyx Silvermyr would not send us a spy.

Then what excuse do you have for the girl? The new Sorceress child. Doomtrain replied, throwing every word at James like daggers, You have not told her.

She is not ready. James's face grew grim for a moment before he immediately wiped it away, In time, I will tell even her.

"Sometimes I regret my decision." James continued the line of conversation with a smile, "Doomtrain can be a bit of a pain in the neck. But his abilities make up for it. Part of me wishes I would have found the Tonberry King and taken on him for the Call Shop and discounts. I'll admit, I'm still hoping to find him and maybe take a second Guardian. But eh...only time will tell."

They had traveled a ways already, just talking making up the time. Although James admittedly was playing with things... He had carefully hidden several spells that he cast to shorten how long it would take the two to make it to Esthar. They needed to get there quickly. There was one more to pick up there before James could return to his students, and he had a few people to see.

[Wow that got long. I suppose that's what happens when James rehashes what he thinks of all of his students. He really does like them all! He's just a tiny bit suspicious of Amara. *holds two fingers close.* But who wouldn't be suspicious of her right now?]

A smile nearly crept across James's features. He immediately picked up that Erec hadn't been listening, but he chose to ignore it. He was likely talking with Cerberus, and Cerberus was no fool. Erec's Guardian had likely noticed the sudden change in surroundings. It would make any guardian suspicious.

"The other students on the team?" James repeated, mostly out of habit than anything else. The thought of them brought a smile to his face, "They're certainly an interesting bunch. The entire team is as follows: Rainer de Weistrasse, Age 23, Rank 21; Isaac Armine, Age 18, Rank 22; Mimi, Age 19, Rank 20; Amara Ambrose, Age 19, Rank 20."

After having given their names, James gave a brief description of each of their physical features. He covered it very lightly, not wanting to waste time on the little details. They were actually already on top of the gates to the City. So as James and Erec stepped inside and got on the elevator that would take them to one of the main roads, James continued talking.

"I have been Rainer's superior since she became a SeeD member. She was placed very specifically under my care, although at the time I didn't really understand why. Some of the world's recent events gave me a better understanding. You remember the attempted Assassination of Alister Sonestark?" He paused, looking to Erec to gauge his reaction, "Rainer is the one that made the attempt. She was never charged, though, because at the time she was being possessed by one of the world's two newest Sorceresses. Something went horribly wrong, though, and Rainer stole those powers away, becoming a Sorceress herself."

At about that time, the Elevator made it down to the streets of Esthar and James and Erec could walk around in the city's open air. It was much more comfortable than the crowed elevator full of other Estharans. James couldn't help but wonder and watch though. Had the city blacklisted him? It didn't seem like it.

And it would seem that the city hasn't been affected by Esthar's recent actions in the world. That will make travel around much easier. If the kids and I were blacklisted, then things would be much, much harder.

Keep talking. If you pause for too long, Erec will be suspicious.

James did as Doomtrain ordered, and continued talking. He led Erec toward the shopping district as they walked, "You already heard about Isaac, the leader of the team. I suppose Mimi would be next, if you go by order of addition. Mimi joined the team in Deling City about two weeks ago now, I'd say. She was a messenger from Balamb Garden, sent to pick up a group of SeeD that were looking for the mobile Garden itself. That was an interesting day."

He paused, thinking back to the attack on Deling City. It had been all over the news, "It was the day that Galbadia Garden attacked its own Capital just to remove four SeeD from its midsts. Anyway, moving on. Amara is the last one to cover, right? We picked her up in a small village on the other side of the plains. She had been transfered to Esthar Garden from Galbadia of all places, right in time for Esthar Garden to disappear. My guess is that Galbadia wanted her there for some reason, but plans went wrong and she ended up with us."

Finally reaching the shopping district, James stopped near a small bar. With a smile on his face he said, "Geez. I feel like I talked your ear off! Can I buy you a drink? Everyone needs to relax for at least a little while."

Crash! A large vehicle would slam into a building in Esthar. Large roar that made the ground quake followed by the poundings of the a large creatures feet to the ground. Quite some time had passed since Kino had relaxed on the rooftops of Esthar, But he wasn't get paid for simply sleeping. Kino now walked with his head facing the ground, backed arched forward, and both hands in each pocket to their sides. Running the opposite direction were civilians, frantically trying to get as far away from this racket as possible. "Behemoth!" A man would yell as he'd run the opposite direction Kino had been going.

"Kino, are you sure we can handle this thing?"Carbuncle would ask nervously as the young swordsman would draw closer to the source of their goal.

Kino stopped as raised his head to gaze into those crimson red eyes of the beast. Lifting his right hand out of his pocket to scratch his right side of his head. "Yeah.... probably.... " He then paused to think about the question further before finishing. "... maybe.." Kino then sprinted forward, lowering his right hand to grasp the handle of the sword that had been strapped to his waist, below his back.

"OK!" Carbuncle would say confidently, usually Kino was correct about things like these. As the next word 'probably', would come out of Kino mouth, carbuncle would respond hesitantly, "Probably?" As Kino dashed forward with 'maybe' out his lips, Carbuncle would yet again respond more energeticly, "What!?"As Kino dashed forward, his eyes closed halfway, his thoughts began to wonder.

Behemoths are located outside Esthar.... but what is it doing here?

(Alright, skip. Everyone's better!)

Isaac and the group arrived in Esther only minutes ago. The ruckus made Isaac mentally sigh, "We just got here... Can't we get a break for half a second?" The crowd ran past them as they made their way forward. Isaac was getting mildly irritated and he started hopping from people's heads to another head. The behemoth getting ever closer.

Knives flickered in his hands, the box being left with Mimi for the time being. "There, a SeeD. Lower rank with those tactics... James?" He spotted the large man from his position. "James! Where ya' been?!"

[no biggy, more entertaining for me]

Being the only one to run towards the Behemoth as well as being the only one running down the street, would catch the collosal beast's attention far more than Kino would've liked. The behemoths claw now made a horizontal sweep towards the young swordsman. Quick to react, Kino's hands pulled the sword from behind him, tossing it in front of him. Soon the blade would stabilize as it remained in front of the running SeeD member, he would take a jump and use the blade to stand flat on, as if it had been an air board. Although he could not lift himself through his special gifts, objects were a different story.

It only took less than a moment before Kino had risen, standing on his sword, above the devasting attack that soon crushed everything in it's path. Kino would immediately feel the harsh winds from that one large attack, causing him to waver for a moment before finally regaining control. As he rose even higher than the behemoths height, Kino would jump off, now diving down towards the Gigantic beast. The behemoth quickly taking notice, would use its other claw to thrust upwards for a direct hit. Kino of course, would not have done anything without a plan.

As both Kino and the Behemoths claw would draw closer to collision, Kino's sword which had followed him, now moved ahead of him, then circling to collide into the back of behemoths claws, Kino now slipped between the fingers of the Behemoth, scratching his leg against the nails as he passed between the fingers, rolling down the arm which he managed to turn into a run.

The telekinetic user now completely made his way down the arm of the behemoth, reaching his destination not too long after. A leap forward mixed with a spin and his right hand would shoot out a Fira spell from its palm and crash into the Behemoths forehead. The explosion causing Kino get pushed away from the behemoth and his sword coming from the side to guide him towards the ground, but wavering as it did.

Kino now turned to face the Behemoth through curiosity of whether he'd at least killed it. Eyes widening in surprise as he noticed, the smoke cleared up around the Behemoths face, only to see a light scorch mark on its forehead. His eyes closed halfway to its original state as a smile etched its way to Kino's face. "No good huh?..." A cut leg and recoil damage showed that Kino took more damage than the Behemoth. Kino! Carbuncle would shout in concern before the even more furious behemoth roared towards the young swordsman, causing him to wince at heavy winds gusting towards him. Huff... huff... the strain now took ahold of him.

[Forgive me for using Monsters from the other Final Fantasy games, but I have good intentions. It makes things much more interesting.]

Save the girl! Doomtrain howled, Your very presence destroys her focus!

"Isaac, there's no time!" James immediately spat out order, running directly toward Amara. The Behemoth had taken notice of her now, "Met with Erec! Get in as close as you can, and pummel that thing into a stupor. You two will be the bait that keeps that thing occupied. You can handle it if you use your hand to hand!"

The Behemoth swung its tail sharply, and with a surprising speed through it in Amara's direction. Without really thinking, James quite literally pulled Amara off her feet and kept running, never losing any momentum. The tail of the Behemoth came crashing down on the point where they had been just moments before.

You're reckless.

Bite me.

"Are you alright, Amara?" James would have waited for a reply, the worry on his face apparent. She may not have been fond of him, but she was still under his care. Worrying about her was a necessity, and she was even starting to grow on him, "We need to keep going. Hate me as much as you will, but don't let it cloud your judgment. This is no Behemoth. It's a rarer breed, one that I didn't think ever came off the Island Closest to Hell. It's a Behemoth King, and it's going to take us all to get rid of it."

Without another word, James headed off into battle again. As he ran, he cast triple on himself in order to increase his spell output. It was necessary. Accessing the triple magic that he just used, he cast Hastega, Protectga, and Shellga. It was just a start, but the entire party was going to need the buffs in order to survive. Especially Kino. The Behemoth had taken a particular interest in the first thing that got in his way.

The Behemoth King, seeing his attack miss its mark, howled with fury. It seemed to be immune to the insanity caused by a Sorcerer or Sorceress's powers, and so it went back to its original target. Looking toward Kino, the Behemoth's eyes glowed with fire and in an instant it shot a Firaga spell at the boy. In the same move, it turned and fired the same spell at both Isaac and Erec. Mimi and Rainer were left unharmed because they had not yet made it into the battle.