FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Chocogala was nothing short of celebration, of everything to do about that most noble beast of all. The chocobo. Workhorse, beloved pet, wild beast, brother-in-arms and so much more to many. The festival brought in many admirers all across the world of Ivalice, some of them even bringing along their own prime-breeding chocobos in a variety of colours. Females of superior stock, males of pure blood, fighters of utmost strength and diligence, carriers of utmost endurance, all chocobos of every type and purpose were brought here to the grand fair celebrating their existence. Situated in the Lindblum Park of Archadia's capital city, known as Archades, banners of cheerful mascots in white and pink flew with cheer as plush toys and collectibles abounded across the fair itself upon various stalls where both children and adults delighted in hoarding as much as they could. Every colour exploded in one's face, every taste to rot your senses until a sweet-induced stupor would overcome you, and yet there always was a certain amount of class amongst the people joining. Middle-to-upper class only, the truest of pursuants and admirers of that great feathered beast. The actual gala was taking place in a ginormous park perhaps five blocks away from the Hopkins Archive which was a major sponsor of the tournaments. Advertisements drowned everybody's vision, screaming with bright red and white to BUY THIS or TASTE THE JOY or BE YOUR OWN INDIVIDUAL by buying the same product everyone else would at some point. But whilst the crowdgoers and admirers were enjoying the majority of the festivities, candied mascots and chocoplushies galore, the more serious contestants were preparing their mighty steeds for the upcoming events. Roy waited in the stables whilst brushing down his own steed Cyrus, an ordinary yellow beast of dull orange beak and a firm look in his glazed blue eyes. To all intents and purposes he looked like every other chocobo apart from his purple saddle with number emblazoned upon it, number 47 in Ivalician. But what really attracted most people to his appearance were the enormous black diagonal scars streaking deep into the feathers along both sides of his body, going right across the wing region that left a ridge bare and divided between feathers. The raptor used his hand brush smoothly combing the front chest, looking around at the stable area which was incredibly well-ventilated, had perfect white stalls with good space to move around in and the most bouncy soft hay to lay down in. Spared no expense concerning the avian pride of Ivalice. And yet despite all of its cleanliness, it felt rather too clinical, like a hospital office rather than a fun event and Roy had the constant feeling that a doctor was going to come round with a "special treatment" involving five rounds of lead. "Gotta admit," began Roy, "first time here ah wuz expectin' a warmer welcome." "Archadia is never warm," said a voice above his head, "the more armour one wears upon their kingdom the colder their heart." "Look at youuuu gettin' all philosophical." "Have you LISTENED to these idiots around you, Roy? They all cough up their sputum unending about love and patriotism for a nation that cares naught about them, as nothing more than cannon fodder!" "Is this ACTUAL opinion or are you just biasin' yourself?" "A little from column A and a little from Column B." "Whut about Column Kweh?" "Don't, please." Roy stood up after brushing down the chest fully as he smirked up at Cyrus' beak. His eyes looked piercingly down upon Roy, his voice somewhat young and breathless like a knight who only just reached thirty and already was tired of conflict as he continued. "Your accent is terrible for my language." "Ahm sorry, ah never studied professional Chocolese, or is that Kwehnglish? Ah forget." "Ugh...I am glad you are not a comedian, or else the stink of fruit would follow you days after." "HAH! You though, damn you always got a ringer for me." "I am not a ringer, I am a jouster."

The raptor let his chocobo rant whilst he examined the saddle to make sure it was on properly, jostling it slightly as he retightened the belt strap around the steed's waist. In the stall itself was a box full of Roy's equipment for the tourney alongside the various chocobo accessories such as brushes, claw scraper and food. "The true experience of contest is mortal combat, not some child's game proclaiming to be their 'final fantasy' for the fourteenth flipping time." "Ah preferred thuh ninth one personally," joked Roy, "also you do realise AHM thuh one in great danger, not you?" "I am a participant." "Yeah, in no danger cuz you know you got rules protectin' you, nobody takes out thuh steed, only thuh rider." "My performance matters, Roy. If I do not prove myself as a noble beast then I am worthless...at least that's what those humes think of me." "Well we'll show them...an' if we don't win well...you know me an' you got a plan later on." "Ahhh yes...the infiltration. Normally I would not agree to such criminal elements but considering they are Archadians." "Man, everybody hatin' on thuh Archadians, they can't all be bad!" "No...that's true. The nice female here, she had...lovely fingers brushing across my chest...rubbed me quite perfectly on the neck, mmmhhhhhh..." Cyrus closed his eyes slowly losing himself, fondly with a smirk on his face of pure bliss as he fanned his tailfeathers behind him getting into quite a mood. "And she smelled like gysahl greens hoh mother, I could just TASTE her." "Hohokay there romeo pull back a bit, before anyone starts thinkin' you here for thuh stud contest." "I would have submitted myself, if you let me." The chocobo preened himself cockily, nipping at his neck slightly before trying to fluff up his wings then remembering himself. He looked at both sides of his scarred body and sighed with bitterness. "But perhaps...my generation was not meant to be." "Awww come on," said Roy. "Thuh ladies love scars, trust me you'll get yourself a nice li'l filly an' treat her real good, righ'?" "I admit...the dream of any good male worth their salt is to have children and a heart nearest to contend with. What about you?" "Hmm?" "Do you one day plan to have...children?" Roy looked up at him with a rather pained expression, replying: "Ah...ah can't really have children...least not with thuh one ah love." "Why? ...oh." "Yeah. But hey, maybe we can adopt, that's always good, plenty of kids out there need a mom an' dad you know we got always sum poor thing that needs help." "I must wonder what sort of family that would be, raising a child between a bangaa and a-" "Wh-whutever, we got more important things to think about. Also it's utahraptor, not bangaa." "Agreed. Will we need my 'wings' for the upcoming mission?" "Totally." "Good." A cruel smile came across the chocobo's beak grinning from cheek to cheek as he grinded his claws into the stable dirt, hay crumpling underneath as Roy heard a female's voice calling from afar. "Oho, sum filly lahks whut she smelt over here." "Not today my dear...I need my testosterone for another duty." "Alrighty but uh...remember to keep your dick inside." "Actually it's not a penis, it's-" "WHUTEVER you know whut ah mean!" "Unfortunately I do. Why even wear that ring?" Roy looked down upon his left hand seeing the two rings glinting in the stable light. "Believe me, even if ah wanted it off ah never could." "Why? Is that a curse?" "Well...is it still a curse if nuthin' BAD comes out of it but you still feel lahk you wanna just not have it on you everyday?" "I suppose not, more of a nuisance than anything." "Sum of you guys ah swear, will just not shut thuh fuck up, THAT bitch over there has done nuthin' but squawk abou' this one tahm at summer camp an' ah wanna wring his fuckin' neck." "Now you know how I feel," said Cyrus knowingly.

Entering the Chocogala around midday was a carriage full of chocobo supplies involving mainly food, a proud-looking red wagon with fine wooden wheels and many supply crates rattling in the back. Pulling the carriage itself was a large team of five chocobos, one yellow with whitish-wings, two with red manes, one black with scarred beak and lastly the head of them being pale all over as their rider urged them on with three different reins separating them into three groups. The rider herself was a rather dusty-looking moogle in plain farm clothes of blue. Almost around the same time, a nu-mou walked ahead of the wheels in a very strict-looking suited gown of dark hue with black tips pinched over the ends of her ears. She almost got covered in dust by the moogle's carriage as she stepped back with a fright and almost forgot herself, before sneering with arrogant tone saying: "ExCUSE me!" "Huh?" "Would you mind NOT running over my foot, what do you think this is a chariot race?!" "Sorry marm," said the moogle with a farm accent, "them two brothers on the reins still need breakin' in, kupo." "Well break them in before my FOOT gets broken in, thank you." "Yessum marm. Sorry." A deceitful little blush went unseen from the nu-mou towards the moogle who simply nodded beneath her cap, hiding her own smirk as they headed on forwards. Crowds came flowing in as in the mix of people came another couple, this time hand in hand as two rather strange-looking brown bangaas. One of them was wrapped fully in a blue cloak, obscuring the whole body apart from half of the face showing clear green eyes strikingly upon a completely brown snout. The other was a bold-looking male wearing an impeccable white coat complete with tails trailing down against his tailbase with strips of black and blue, two long ears on either side of his head as they approached the ticketmaster. The entrance was the hard part, but they stood awaiting their call as the male offered his tickets first, the staffmember asking from his booth in good-enough armour: "Name?" "Kolin Faroukh and Jane Faroukh." "...alright, place of origin?" "Rabanasszhtre." "May I ask, why is your friend cloaked so thickly?" "Ahhh, my wife isszh...very sszhy I tell her sszhe isszh beautiful but sszhe cannot sszhtand being sszheen in public, terrible fear, sszho I made her a cloak to let her sszhee the world without fear of being...sszheen." "Ahhhh...well if you just pass through the scanner and put all your items on the tray, you won't have to take off your clothing our scanners can read right through them." "Thank goodnesszh, wouldn't want to be indesszhent after all now do we?" After placing their small satchels of items on the tray which mostly contained gil, the two walked through very cautiously through the scanner one after the other, Jane setting it off rather expectedly as she said nothing before being scanned by a more personal wand-like object emitting magicite rays of detection. Thankfully she did not have to disrobe out as there was nothing actually metallic or magical upon her. Kolin however kept setting off the scanner including the wand before he slapped his head chuckling. "AH, of coursszhe I forget, my chesszht, I had an operasszhion yearsszh ago on thisszh bit here." Tap-tap with metallic clink on the left pectoral. "There'sszh a metal plate I have, forgive me for not mentioning." "Not at all," said the Archadian guard, "all seems to be in order with your ticket so, enjoy the show." "Thank you good sszhir." With practiced eye that blurred over the legit pass, he handed back the punched tickets to the two as they walked in quite relieved, Jane being oddly quiet throughout the whole walk into the fair itself as Kolin asked: "What'sszh wrong my dear? Isszh it not sszhuch a beautiful day at the fair, my love?" "I'm going to fucking kill you," murmured the cloaked one. "What'sszh that dear?" "It's...lovely 'dearest'." "Heheh..." He leaned in close to murmur into the cloaked bangaa's ear. "Firstly, you gotta slur your S's, secondly, come on we gotta make this look good." "I don't WANT to do this," growled the cloak, "why did you make me a fucking girl?!" "Because it's funny, plus you make a really good girl." "I'm thirty-two, how the fuck do I make a good girl?!" "Cuz you squeal like one when I do this." "AAAAAIE!" The male groped "her" ass firmly beneath the cloak causing a squeal to suppress itself before "she" turned to him. "You are such an asshole." "Awww come on, think about it this can be another fun anecdote fer Koopin right?" "DON'T bring him up he must NEVER know about this!" "This is hardly less embarrassing than the sixteen kremlings you took down in the powder room." "Why do you ALWAYS bring that up, holy shit you are a-WONDERFUL husszhband!"

A few official staff got too close to call as the cloaked "female" went into a hot falsetto crying with delight as "she" hugged the husband closely. "I-i-i cannot...believe that you got ticketsszh to thisszh place!" "Anything for you my dearesszht." A smooch on the cheek was not warmly received despite the false smiling eyes beneath the cloak before snarling: "You said that I make a good "girl" but then you make me wear this fucking hijab!" "Whut, it's a cloak! I cut eyeholes into it, the fuck is a hee-jab?!" "N-never mind point is, you have NO REASON to make me a girl when all I could do is just-thank you sszho much for thisszh wonderful...a-a-anniversszhary gift!" "Mmmmmm indeed." More guards passed in armour not really caring about the couple as Kolin pulled his "wife" close. "How many years has it been now? Sszheven?" "More than enough," murmured Jane. "Seriously, it looks less suspicious if there's a male and a female rather than two guys cuz we don't wanna cause any arguments." "And you are not the girl why?" "Uh, I trained as a baritone thank you, I'm not good for that sorta thing. You however..." "And the hijab?" "Well it's not my fault your purple marks are impossible to cover up." "I thought you had make-up for it." "Yeah but...what if you get sprayed on, or some mud or somethin', this is a lot safer to disguise, plus I'm not sure you noticed but, you have three fingers and a very obvious non-bangaa toe compared to the usual four. Now I can glue some ears onto the side of my head no problem and even put a dual-cover on my snout so it looks more like a bangaa's but you...those fingers are gonna look weird fer not movin' like the rest of 'em." "Fuck's sake...thank god it's not hot today, I can't stand this damn thing." "Well later on maybe we can...take it off." Slowly wrapping his arm around Jane's body, Kolin chuckled with a tender squeeze as Jane murmured into his ear. "You know, you're really making it obvious how badly you wanna fuck me, and it's kinda getting on my nerves." "Alright...after this I promise not to go perving on you, sorry. You don't mind the teasin' though at least, right?" "No the teasing's fine I like that about you, it makes me feel yanno, like we're still bros, just that...just, pull it back a little." "Mmmmm...alright then." "Thank you." Another kiss sweetly upon the cheek, this time from Jane as the husband blushed slightly before moving into the fair further, the plaza a rather resplendent park area that stalls had set up on eagerly to show their useless wares. From specialised names on feather brushes to keychains and accessories everything just screamed to be bought by them. A few plushies admittedly Jane felt rather fond of, and could not help buying one cute little chocobo figurine with moogle riding upon it for a souvenir. With that in mind she started buying more things of a touristic nature leaving Kolin rather short. Not that he minded spending the day out with his "wife" touring across the various exhibits on display at the Chocogala. They had their main objective but that was a long way away yet as they took in the scenery for now. Most of the contests involved Best In Show of who was the prettiest, the fastest and strongest of all chocobos attending. Children even had their own special game involving a scavenger hunt known as "The Trickster's Folly", involving various pieces of a fabled chocobo's belongings hiding all across the great exhibition.

The jousting tournament however was their main objective, slowly wandering away through the many stalls and costumed mascots pretending to be the fattest chocobo, even some of them joining up into a conga line rather hilariously. But first they had to make a stop at an old moogle's red carriage, showing off her wares humbly as a variety of well-mixed food and tender brushes as she asked in old country accent: "Can I help thee, kupo?" "Yesszh," said Kolin, "uhhh how much for the brusszh?" "Five-hunnerd gil sir, allowin' the finest o' comfort fer the noble steed." "My uh, my wife here alsszho would like sszhomething for our sszhteed too." "Oh, where's yer steed then?" "Sszhe at home, sszhick, I would like sszhomething sszhoft for her belly that can fill her up." "Ahh...poor thing, I haff jus' the thing fer ye." She went under the table stall briefly before pulling out a bag of enclosed powder that looked like crushed seeds. "Reagan greens, perks 'em nicely fer a good appetite an' fills the belly more than most kupo." "Ahhh thank you, I'll take three bagsszh, how much?" "Two-thousan'." Money was exchanged but it was certainly not the two-thousand spoken of as the moogle nodded knowingly. "Thank ye kin' sir, tell yer friends abou' Brianna Forsyth's Goods." "I will, thank you madame." Around ten minutes later near the stables, a resplendent-looking knight stood out amongst the various participants looking somewhat like a bangaa in his build with armour like that of a Templar. Fine strong cavalier steel covered him from head to waist, showing his plated chest which in turn was clothed by a blue tabard on top of it with the number 47 on its stitched detail. Nothing but his brown eyes showed underneath his helmet, imperfect blue rings circling around them. The bottom part of his body was wrapped firmly within blue garments like the bottom half of a robe. Not too freely to get caught by his chocobo's legs but enough to garner free movment, covering over his chainmail-clad leggings as he walked out slowly from his stable, before he bumped inadvertently into Kolin. "OH, pardon me." "N-no, my fault I am sszhorry good sszhir...sszhaaaaay, are you perhapsszh Roy MacGregor?" "Yeah?" "AHHHH what a mosszht wonderful day!" A handshake was made between them as Kolin shook with his right, carefully handing Roy one of the bags he bought from Forsyth. "My wife and I are HUGE fansszh of your sszhkill!" "Heh, thank you...your wife seems very shy." "Hahahaaaaa sszhe admiresszh you very deeply I dare sszhay, not a word in the housszhe goesszh without mentioning you sszhomehow, am I right dearesszht!?" Jane kept her head down low looking as if she were blushing hotly keeping quiet throughout this. But in truth she was seething inwardly with contempt and embarrassment as Roy put a finger underneath her chin. They shared a look, eyes smiling gleefully from Roy towards Jane who steeled her gaze. "She has good taste," replied the knight, "and uh, very gorgeous eyes, hhheheheheheh." Fuck you, murmured Jane's thoughts, I did NOT need you of all people knowing about this. "May I asszhk," inferred Kolin, "for an autograph with mosszht deep of praisszhe? My wife would very much appresszhiate it." "Sure, you got sumthin' I can write on?" Kolin brought out a pencil with notepad included to which Roy wrote down in English a time and place.

East Hall 5:30pm

Another handshake was made between them as Kolin gave his gratitude, his wife taking the autograph gently before blushing as she turned but not before Roy gave her a wink and smooch. The flustered "bangaa" strode off promptly to where they next would be, within the actual stage of jousting itself. The main event, for at least them, was a grand amphitheater normally used for theatre at the park. But today it would tell a different story of combat, the central stage cleared to form an oval-shaped arena separated by a fence in the middle. The bare ground ensured there would be no slippage of moss or wet grass as the tourney started, not as prodigious as they expected it to be thinking it was an actual stadium they would use. But the matter of the fact was that the Chocogala was more focused on Best In Show rather than the actual jousts, but for those who were jousting saw it as a great opportunity to be spotted by nobles and talent scouts, as well as for newcomers outside of Archadia to show who was really boss. The seats were in a half-circle around the arena raised above the actual pit itself, a good capacity of at least six-thousand with banners flying full of advertisements including mainly the Zodiac Tribunal screaming to be seen as the best in news. Disdain rolled through the eyes of Jane, Kolin and the odd nu-mou that attended them halfway through their seating. As the folks began to pile in waiting for the show to start with foods and drink, Jane had to let the dark-clothed severe-looking woman with black tips over the ears pass her by a lift of the legs, showing briefly the odd raptor claws underneath as the woman said: "A-HEM." "OH, sh-sszhorry." "THANK you." With a firm shove past the nu-mou seated herself, Jane looking fiercely towards Kolin who simply petted her patronisingly as they were joined by a moogle randomly, Brianna Forsyth who sat next to the male bangaa. The nu-mou however leaned against Jane with a kindly whisper. "S-sorry." "Shhh s'okay yer doing great." "Heehee." They exchanged hands briefly as Jane handed the nu-mou a bag of seeds. The nu-mou in turn gave Jane an odd metallic-looking plug very secretly as robes briefly fluttered against each other to hide this transaction, whilst Kolin proclaimed deftly: "I cannot wait to sszhee thisszh Roy MacGregor, I heard from a GOOD friend of mine a great many interesszhting thingsszh." "Really?" asked Brianna beside him. "Like wut, kupo?" "Plenty enough that I am...curiousszh to sszhee how sszhtrong he really isszh."

The male bangaa said this as he leaned forwards clasping both hands together with the left looking rather oddly stiff, not that anyone noticed as the tournament soon began in earnest. As the crowd finally began to fully seat around the amphitheater in time for the show, the loud booming voice of the announcer came unto their ears, a stridant handsomely-moustached hume of dark complexion with something resembling a bronze megaphone, tingling with magicite. "LLLLLLLLLLADIIIIIIES AAAAAND GENTLEMEN! WELCOME TO THE CHOCOGALA AND FOR YOU TODAY WE HAVE OUR ANNUAL JOUSTING TOURNAMENT! A TASTE OF OPPORTUNITY FOR THINGS TO COME FOR THE REAL JOUSTERS, WHOSE OWN OFFICIAL TOURNAMENT SHALL BEGIN IN A FEW MONTHS' TIME! BUT FOR NOW, ALLOW ME TO WELCOME OUR COMBATANTS!" The audience cheered for those who rode out, a fine group of sixteen people who had joined up into the gala's small exhibition with lances dangling from their arms. To them it was little more than a chance to show off to the crowd as well as sharpen their skill against real opponents. Most of them were in full armour but there were one or two cockier people who had no helmets on at all grinning cutely to the audience full with themselves. Jane and Kolin noted Roy by the number on his chest, his helmet staying on but also no longer wielding his Great Knife, instead holding a large strong lance made of wood. "So how does this work?" murmured Kolin to Brianna. "There are three rules," explained the moogle quietly. "Firstly, only four runs of the arena are allowed before the match is over, kupo. Second, only the rider must be attacked, not the steed itself. Third, the winner is the one who either breaks their own lance upon the opponent, knocks the opponent's helm off or completely thrusts them off their steed, kupo. From lowest to highest points are given for lance-breaking, knocking the helm and throwing the opponent off." "Why break your lance to get a point?" "It proves your strength, kupo. One who does not break their lance with pure strength is considered weak and jousts poorly. We are using wooden weapons after all, real weapons would not break so easily. Each lance broken on their opponent equals two points. Knocking the helm off alone equals two as well meaning that if one broke their lance whilst also knocking the helm off, that gives four points in a single run." "And knocking the rider off?" asked Jane lowly. "Four points, kupo." Nodding gently, they tried to comprehend this as Roy's turn came up around the fifth match, which gave them plenty nough time to understand how the rules worked in this archaic contest of kings. Each time the two combatants jousted towards each other, they would ram the other hard with their wooden lance threatening to dismantle the other. Occasionally one's lance would break, by which they would be then given another lance by a staff member attending from the side.

It was certainly exciting to see two well-armoured fighters on equally-armoured steeds shrieking towards each other with ranged weaponry and soon enough the crowd was going in full swing by the third match, after a particularly exciting double-knockout where both people slammed each other off their rides and went falling into the dust, with one of them just barely winning due to the fact his lance broke. The moment Roy appeared onto the scene he was every part the knight he claimed to be. Stridant upon his steed in full steel armour, his helm patterned somewhat differently from bangaa-styled shapes but still a rather inhuman appearance of its long snout. His chocobo, they noted, had the same armour as the rest covering the head, neck and sides of its body fully leaving only the legs and rear exposed, as well as the saddle which Roy sat upon. For the most part he seemed to look no different from the rest other than by his number upon the blue tabard. "AND NOW, FROM ROZARRIA THE LATEST UP-AND-COMER AND SELF-PROCLAIMED KNIGHT OF DAVENTRY! ROOOOOOOY MACGREGOR ESQUIRE!" "Esquire?!" cried Jane mutedly. "The hell, is he a lawyer now too?!" "SHHH!" said the moogle. "AND HIS OPPONENT, THE DARING DARLING KNOWN AS LADY MADELINE BARNHAM, FROM DOWNTOOOOOWN ARCHADES!" The crowd cheered itself hoarse with celebration for the next combatants, as they watched and waited for the joust to begin with miss Barnham in a resplendent red fabric, armour smooth and glistening underneath of a higher caliber than most. Roy began watching up towards the crowd trying to scan for where his friends were, before he bent down towards his chocobo's ear asking: "How you wanna play this?" "Her shoulder is weak, she cannot thrust very well so she will try to swipe you off." "Alrigh', you duck an' ahll thrust up in her face." "With which lance?" "Don't be a perv." "JOUSTEEEEEEEEEERS! READYYYYYYY!" The signal was made as they watched the announcer start the match, signifying by a flag held aloft before swooping it down in front of them as they charged at each other. The fence between them situated on Roy's right, was of perfect height to prevent anyone thrusting towards the chocobo mounts as Roy waited for the right moment. As they neared each other's range, true to Cyrus' word she swung to try and crack Roy off his mount but the chocobo ducked down lowering his body fast, keeping his rider's head safe from harm as the black raptor made his thrust upwards. A shattering crack straight through towards the sternum, the lance bending hard before the violent snap of wood flew across Barnham's helm as she fell backwards, shrieking off her steed who galloped fast without a rider. Fallen to the dirt without any fanfare, she rolled hard groaning with frustration as Roy smirked underneath his helm much to the cheers of thousands across the stadium. It was a sudden victory, short as it was but it was not over yet for they still had to achieve three more laps per round until they showed who the winner was.

Climbing back onto her chocobo, Madeline panted and tried to rotate her shoulder harshly gasping as Roy obtained another lance. The black raptor circulated his way round to the other side of the fence to keep it on his right waiting for the next turn. With the flag swept down again they charged and to the lady's credit Madeline thrust hard with all her might, snapping her lance hard into Roy's lowered chest and blocking his shot to strike her. The third round however he came back with a vengeance, Cyrus charging with a sudden spurt of fury as he viciously plunged the wooden lance shattering across her chest as she fell straight off into a nasty fall. Wounded a little too badly as she fell on her bad arm, she resigned herself from the contest with a wave of surrender as the audience cheered and gasped with amazement at such ruthlessness, jeers from her fans as Roy rode calmly around the fence. For the most part the intruders-to-be were impressed, but they would soon see Roy's truest credit to his skill in the following matches. His second opponent was an accomplished young lad of two years jousting in flowing green tabard, a hume of Archadia aspiring to be a true knight with plenty of knowledge but very little experience. His spirit was confident, and his steed graceful of pure breeding but he lacked the strength and determination of the much more dominating Roy, who for starters towered a head above him. There was no contest when he rammed the 20-something squire off his mount every single lap, but the boy was given great credit for always getting back on and at the very least breaking his lance twice. Round three of the tourney handed him a much more challenging opponent, an old veteran in his 50s who was immeasurably sturdy as rock wearing solid white, with perfect poise on his honed steed who had perfect strong legs. The two also had a much more focused communication between each other of an almost instinctive level, which Cyrus noted and warned Roy of as to be a proper challenge. The first two laps of the field Roy and the old veteran broke each other's lance netting them both on equal fielding. But then Cyrus told him that the old hume had a bad problem turning. On the third lap, they rushed furiously towards each other as Roy readied himself into thrusting position, the veteran responding perfectly as he braced himself to jab right for the raptor's helm. But with a tug of the reins Cyrus suddenly sweeped out towards the left ducking fast as the hume's lance thrust straight into the air with Roy right alongside him. The knight of Daventry plunged brilliantly into the old man's waist straight from the side with a cracking snap of the wooden length, forcing the old man to fall and tumble harshly onto solid earth. Gasps of shock came from the crowd, but they soon turned to cheers of amazement upon seeing that the veteran was alright and not wounded badly, standing up in their seats even with shrieks of awe at the blue-coloured knight. Brianna, the moogle in disguise watched in utter fascination at Roy's tactics mumbling: "My...gods, he...how can he do that kupo?" "What?" asked Jane. "He guides his steed with such poise, such dignity, such SKILL! Look, he barely had to turn the reins and yet his chocobo instantly knew which way to dodge, that's a professional maneuver, no greenhorn should know that, not even the veteran could do it kupo! He can shift the weight of himself and his steed with such perfection to come in line directly towards the other rider, it's incredible! How can he DO THAT, kupo!?" "I have no idea."

She intensely began to watch as Roy scoured his way up to the final match, his fourth opponent who was by far the most experienced. An actual captain of the Archadian knights who did jousting as a professional hobby, but by no means was he a slacker with a solid war-torn chocobo mount of battle-hardened scars and armour. The darker yellow feathers indicated this as the raptor asked: "Okay whut's this guy's deal?" "He is very experienced, this one has fought through many wars, be wary Roy." "Whut's our strategy?" "First run we make, I will dodge left and when he tries to strike, deflect his lance with yours. Second run, I will jump, that way I will give you a solid strike towards his helm and see how he copes. Third run, I will duck and turn so you can strike him in the back, I don't have a plan on fourth." "Alrigh', let's do this." The final round began as the Archadian captain shifted his weight slightly, bracing himself for what he hoped his opponent would do. At the sweep of the flag, they charged against each other, fury in their chocobos' eyes as the distance closed fast. The moment Cyrus dodged left they saw the captain make his move, turning fast to counter him but Roy was ready. Both lances struck against each other scraping harshly as they finished the first lap. Just as planned so far. Second lap however was a little different. As the raptor charged waiting for Cyrus to brace his legs at the right moment, the Archadian noticed the tenseness in his opponent's legs and braced himself in turn. In the span of two seconds running Roy's chocobo cried to him: "DUCK! DUCK!" The hume captain lifted himself up in a sudden bounce from his seat, forcing his chocobo to flap itself upwards to vault as he tore his lance straight ahead to where Roy might have been. But the black raptor had ducked immediately as Cyrus crouched down into a low run straight underneath the hume's grasp as the second run was made without any contact. The crowd turned antsy, clamouring of excitement as the captain saddled himself once again with his chocobo taking the brunt of his weight sturdily without complaint. Wings fluffed themselves up in stern defiance as if challenging Cyrus. "Whut's he sayin'?" asked Roy. "He's taunting me, he says our little trick won't do anything against honed battle instinct." "Hm...if that's thuh case maybe we gotta stop actin' on battle instinct." "What do you mean?" "Don' fight lahk a warrior. Fight lahk a maniac." "And how do you plan on doing that?" "...jus' follow mah lead." As they made their third run, the captain ran forth readying himself for a daring sweep attack hoping to crack the helm off of Roy's head. But the raptor had other ideas and decided to charge only a few feet before suddenly stopping just short of the hume reaching him. In his rush to attack, the knight swung too early as Roy leaned back, with Cyrus ducking downwards whilst the hume kept rushing forwards. "How's THIS?!"

With a furious striking thrust, the wooden lance surged forwards fast as Cyrus braced his legs and leapt forth in a sudden charge screaming frenzied as the captain literally impaled his head on the raptor's lance. Not only did the lance snap fully, but the helm went clean off from the hume's head in a glorious explosion of splintered wood shattering across his face. Tiny chips scratched across his skin showing fully the proud vestiged dark tan of the captain glistening slightly with a fresh few cuts. Given another lance for the fourth and final run, Roy braced himself grinning eagerly at his opponent unmasked. He was in the lead points-wise already but if the captain was able to break his lance and knock Roy completely off then he would be ahead so the raptor focused mainly on steadying himself on his mount as they made their charge. Sneering with battle fury the captain made a half-swing to force Roy in ducking, but instantaneously followed up by a vicious thrust to the helm that forced him to almost dismount, snapping the lance brutally in his face. But Cyrus had felt the swing of Roy's body and turned desperately towards the left to help him steady on his balance. The crowd gasped frantic with fear knowing that if Roy slipped fully then the Archadian knight would win the tournament as Roy clinged feverishly with his head towards the racing solid earth underneath. Turning himself hard within a half circle, the chocobo veered towards the fence as Roy grabbed on to hoist himself back up, almost spinning out like a chariot without its steed. Gripping both fence and Cyrus' head offered to him, he pushed himself back up and threw triumphantly his hands into the air as the crowd roared cheering at such an amazingly-controlled recovery. "Wha-INCREDIBLE!" roared Brianna. "H-HOW DID HE...K-KUPO THAT WAS AMAZING!" "Keep it down," hissed Jane, "you're supposed to be undercover." "Y-y-yes...I...h-hoh kupo that...what an incredible sense of his steed he developed I just...how could he learn to guide that beast so easily, it's almost like they understood each other perfectly." "Yeeeees...I wonder too." Despite having his suspicions Jane clapped gladly at the victory of the black raptor smiling at the audience all around him as well as shaking hands with the Archadian he defeated. A noble display of showmanship as they attested the other's skill before he could take his place on the podium of champions. With trophy in hand in the form of a golden lance and chocobo helm modelled into a smaller size, the screams of six thousand praised him and his steed Cyrus, bowing to the crowd humbly as his rider murmured: "You gonna get pussy alllll over you after this." "Why? I don't like cats." "Ah mean, we takin' you to thuh stud farm after this." "...and it's not even my birthday."

The smuggest grin a chocobo could make was revealed that day as slowly people made their way towards the Hopkins Archive to celebrate another successful year of the gala turnout. The party itself was held within a long central hall wide and resplendent like an arched cathedral interior. Banquet tables underneath brimming chandeliers of the purest magicite-infused candlelight, the creme de la creme of Archadian society and others amongst the teeming crowd of what must have been at least three hundred people. Supple pink floors of coloured marble from the Phon Coast along with the finest Rozarrian foods made it the fanciest dinner they had ever been to in their lives, for the most part. It was most certainly the fanciest dinner for Kolin who gazed upon all of the most sumptuous morsels of roasted beefs and delicate little sandwiches along with everflowing fountains of fondue and chocolate on different tables. Roy's tickets as well as the disguises had managed to work in allowing three of the Clan Koridai members to infiltrate the place. Kolin and Jane Faroukh slowly made their way through the crowds taking samples of the food whilst they passed, the husband of the two bowing with utmost elegance towards any who approached him. He knew that bangaas did not have the greatest reputation in Archades the capital, and he did everything he could to disillusion them of their bias with grace and dignity. Every sneer they met he responded with perfect curtsy, every roll of the eyes he complimented on a beautiful item of clothing with such envy that it positively tickled the nouveau riche. And yet despite all this, Roy was dealing with the opposite being fawned over at all sides by the haute couture, all of whom greatly lavished their rapturous applause on his sanctimonious skill with beasts. Admittedly Roy felt incredibly out of place holding a champagne glass whilst wearing an immaculate grey woollen suit that felt soft yet lean against his body, coat tails hanging down towards the back of his knees with a high white ruffled collar covering the sides of his neck. He appreciated the odd hypocrisy seeing the dismissive glare between the Faroukhs and the adoration upon him giving him no reason to consider their laughter genuine, surrounded by a crowd of humes in four different skin colours and seventeen different colours of cloth. He was reminded of old nature documentaries on tropical birds and mating rituals seeing this horde of sycophants hover around him asking: "May I ask who did your tailor?" "This is actually my lawyer's suit," replied Roy politely, "always keep it for a spare emergency." "And what emergency is that?!" "When I have to argue on who foots the bill." "Oh HO HO HO, ohhhh good sir you are a CARD!" "If I am then I hope it's your birthday, and I mean the kind of card that doesn't say how old you are because that's no way to treat a lady."

Pause for raucous laughter a little too hard from this joke as an older gentleman inquired: "May I say, ahem, sir Roy, your beast is absolutely astounding, how DID you train such a fantastic thing?" "Trust and diligence. You trust in your steed with your very life and he takes that fully with understanding. Chocobos are a proud noble race who know what it means to undertake that, and that is something that Cyrus has taught me at least one year ago." "A year ago?! Gosh that is not a long time." "Some people you just hit it right off with, you know. When I was working at the legal firm on my first months in Rozarria, about fourteen months ago, I found Cyrus beaten and abused beyond all belief. I took him to someplace safe, healed him up, and made myself his legal owner with the documents from my firm." "Your firm?" asked another lady. "Well, the firm I work with, Barnham and Associates. I would give you a card but the old pockets got run out whilst greeting an' meeting around all of this city Archades." "OH, Barnham, that was the name of that lady you were jousting with!" "Huh...hhhahah, funny coincidence huh?! But no she, I've never known the lady myself but she fought her best so I can't say fairer than that." "I must say have never heard an attorney taking up the reins." "Technically I'm a doctor, of canon law so I guess I'm more akin to that of a bishop." "In that case we should call you father and hold the sauce!" "Too late, my champagne's blessed when it passes my lips!" "HaHAHAHA! AH, there she is, Mrs. Hopkins!" Amongst the crowd was an unmistakeable red lady. Red all over, red suit, red blouse, red hair frizzled feverishly with red face of punchable lips, pressed forth like two slices of an apple floating in a glass of urine. She shook his hand however gladly with eyes twinkling like jewels as they were introduced by another haughty elite. "Mrs. Hopkins may I introduce Mr. Roy MacGregor, esquire." "Mr. MacGregor," said the red lady, "I must say your performance was admirable at this year's Chocogala." "The pleasure's all mine," said Roy bowing, "thank you for having me." "It is...very unusual for someone of your...caliber to have been in it." "I always aim to be above the crowd like any good citizen. Course I should be taking lessons from you on that." "Hoho, yes indeed. Have you ever been to the Archive before?" "No I can't say I have, but it's good of you to preserve your history, that's important. Helps us to learn not to repeat the mistakes of our past." "I quite agree, very much. You must tell me where you purchased that steed." "Oh I didn't purchase him, I rescued him." "Hm, well in that case consider my Archive to be a rescue shelter for all these...poor artifacts." Smugness did not suit her, or perhaps it did showing her face to be very like a clown's whilst being fellated. However Roy simply played it cool resisting the urge to burn his piercing gaze into her teeth silently hoping they would rot fully adding: "You're a humanitarian Mrs. Hopkins, a credit to your people." "Hmhm, thank you. It is good someone of your caliber can see greatness." "Believe me...I can see it for miles, may I have your autograph? If you think I am worthy enough to be bestowed on such a gift." "Hmhmhmhm, well, I think I can bless you with this rare honour, Mr. MacGregor."

After writing out a flourished autograph for him to keep with commiserations and their names, he sated himself with another drink before courteously excusing himself to make his way towards the bathroom area of the west hall. It was now 5:30pm, and the plan was almost ready as Roy bumped into a female nu-mou who dropped her glasses case in front of the bathrooms, male and female doors facing each other. "OH! You blithering-" "Woah s-sorry ma'am lemme get that for you." Kneeling down to pick it up, the female sneered haughtily up at the black raptor before snatching the case back promptly from him. "THANK you." She soon remembered herself however and promptly shook his hand in return. "Mr. MacGregor...your skill in the joust tournament was most exceptional." "Thank you...sorry for bumpin' into you miss." "That's quite alright. Good day." Turning stiffly away, she had left a small present in his hand as she walked into the ladies' bathroom. It was also a strange tiny metal plug the length of a cigar like Jane had obtained as he walked iinto the first hall of the west wing near the bathroom doors. Nothing but straight on for all four rooms of treasured relics, the only thing separating them was the sculpted archways as he found his first objective. A large barrier of glimmering orange magicite blocking anybody from passing through with its solid force. With the metal object in his hand safely, he pressed it firmly against the barrier and the moment he did, there came a strange energy pulsating from the plugtip slowly deteriorating the barrier itself, promptly draining its magic properties by some odd anti-magical reaction that dissipated half its shield. With hole now open he softly made his way in before pulling out the plug as the barrier went back up fully, never fully deactivated enough to alert the guards but enough to allow him entry without alerting security systems. He turned on his omni-tool. "Ahm in." "Great, just got in myself," replied FG. "You had any problems?" "Nah, Cid and Dahlia fixed up a really nice anti-magic thing, isn't it neat?" "Yeah sure is...you remember how it goes?" "Each hall has a panel with some puzzle, we have to solve it within two minutes of each other." "Thassit, if you have any problems you can always take a pic of it an' send it over to me, likewise if ah get any problems ahll ask you." "No problem there, unless it's one of those cube things." "Naaaah, ah don't think they got those in Ivalice, alrigh' let's do this." The hall before him was long and dark, terrifying to the lone intruder as he crept his way in through between the exhibits. Sculpted priceless artifacts ranging from ancient vases to triptychs to dioramas all showing an ancient medieval life, one even moreso than what Ivalice was now certainly enjoying itself in. Both raptors also obtained a diagram of each hall close-up courtesy of Rzepka's cartography skill showing each and every trap that was in the place, as well as where each of the codelocks would be. Whenever Roy was not certain of a place he could step without alerting anyone, he swept out a hand of crushed seeds out into the air that had been pressed so finely that they were actually useless for eating but rather had turned into dust powder. Almost perfectly like a spy movie, the magicite did not react to being touched by the dust and revealed itself fully before him as glowing orange laser-like lengths tripwiring across the hall in very specific points of reference, allowing him to quickstep over around any possible guarded areas. "Roy?" asked the omni-tool. "Yeah?" "I'm at the first puzzle, what about you?" "Almost...there." Crouching down between an ancient drinking vase and a sculpted moogle almost too nakedly realistic, the utahraptor carefully opened up the hidden panel by pressing his fingers into the telltale cracks as it swung open. The first puzzle for him was a rather odd numeric combination lock, equating the odd artifacts to that of numbers with two actual numbers underneath the puzzle to answer with.

_Vase X Vase = Bowl

Vase X Bowl = Sword, Bust

Bust X Shield = Scroll, Lantern

Shield, Lantern = ?, ?_

"Hokay ah got a weird math puzzle tryin' to use artifacts fer numbers, whut about you?" "Some kinda block puzzle," replied FG. "Don' tell me...Rubik's Cube?" "Fuck no, thank god, there's like nine squares but if I press one, it flips both itself and any that are touching it. I think I have to make all the squares match and form a picture underneath." "Aw man that shit's easy come on you got that. Alrigh' do it slowly an' press 'em any way you want but when you finally get four squares all in one corner ready to flip, wait fer me okay?" "Alright." Roy began to think through the logical answers trying to break down the puzzle, sighing with a shrug of his head. "Alrigh' whudda we got here...thuh fact these other two equations got two symbols mean...that thuh first one adds up to a singular number. Alrigh' so we gotta multiply an answer that shows up a single digit so...not one tahms one cuz it shows thuh vase an' bowl are different numbers...not four tahms four cuz that's double digit so vase means either two or three. Alrigh' next one...bowl's definitely not four, alrigh' so thuh vase is...hhhhmmmmm...mmmsmrtwenty fffhmhnhhhhh...that means..." Mumbling to himself briefly he allowed the numbers to flow inside as he softly figured out each section of the puzzle. Eventually, after about a minute and a half he finally had his answer and input it, but only the first number, nearly getting caught up in his solving as he waited for FG. "Alrigh' ah figured it out, you ready?" "Almost...jus-dammit no...um...fuck, if...wait, I...do this...then-AH, okay, okay I'm ready!" "Put it in, ah solved mine." "Okay." Both raptors solved their puzzle almost instantaneously together, chuckling happily at their little boost of brainpower as the first panels began to recede with a careful locking motion within. The sounds travelled further along the hallway as they slowly made their way through. The next hall was the same to both but had a now-different set of trip-lasers in the form of magicite projected via light-sensitive arrays. Nothing they had not already seen in the first hall but being a little more complicated in its setup made things a bit interesting in their search for puzzle 2. "Don't use yer nanos alrigh' FG?" "Well yeah obviously, wouldn't wanna knock over anything." "...so uh...howsat dress workin' out for you?" "Fuck you." "Heheheheh...seriously, good disguise, that Kruz of yours knows a good thing about 'em." "I really did not have to be a girl again." "Whut do you mean again?!" "F-forget it, forget I said anything!" "Oooooh come on now, you can't just slip that past me, ah ain't gonna forget unless you tell me." "What does that mean even?! Alright I found the second one and-...Okay I got fourteen cards lined up, they all got diamonds, clubs, hearts and spades and the usual numbers...funny, I didn't think they had those-wait...why is one just the number one I thought it was A for Ace." "Uhhh it's Ivalice dude, A means ten." "Oh for FUCK's sake fucking Triple Triad bullshit, okay never mind uhm...fifty-two cards with no joker, if these cards are all placed in a certain order that follows the pattern below, what will the number and suit of the 26th card be? Huh...okay I think I got this um...one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four..." "Alrigh' you keep countin' on that an' ahll jus-aw dangit." Another math puzzle. This one at first seemed completely wrong as three equations scratched out with the third left unfinished allowing him to rotate two numbers for the right answer, with the following statement above it.

All of these equations seem to be wrong, but under one condition they are all actually correct. What is the answer? 8 - 6 = 2 8 + 6 = 2 7 + 6 = ?

"Okay ah got a...weird-ass equation setup here, eight minus six is two obviously but it ALSO says eight PLUS six equals two." "Okay that's not right, that's fourteen." "But now it tells me that under one condition they are all actually correct, an' ah gotta figure out whut seven plus six is." "Um...thirteen, right?" "Nnnnnot for this one." "Well, I figured out my puzzle pretty easily, the suits were no problem I just got a little mixed up with the letter A, fucking dumb stupid card games." "Hahahaha, you lost money on 'em?" "No I just can't figure out how to play, this one time Fayne taught me how to play but I just got really mad and threw the table over." "Pffft, man you a bad loser." "It makes no sense god dammit!" "Well we can't take too long on these, who knows how much time we got an' ah wish ah had a watch or sumthin'." "Doesn't the omni-tool have a watch function?" "...son of a bitch." "Hahaha, yeah I forgot too." "No ah just figured out thuh puzzle, damn it's kinda obvious...alrigh' you ready?" "Yep." Again both put in their solutions perfectly on sync as the next rumbling occurred of solving the riddle of the archives moving in to the next hall along where the sounds were coming through. The third hall was no more difficult than the previous, at least from Roy's perspective for he had no idea how FG was handling the traps. Secretly he assumed that being a former criminal he had a much easier time working his way around these sort of systems, before he chided himself for being judgemental towards FG's past. It took them barely any time to find the third puzzle. Interestingly, both of them had to deal with a slide puzzle concerning the movement of one object into a specific spot on their individual diagrams which admittedly took longer than they wanted to say. But after carefully debating between each other on when was the perfect time to link both simultaneously, they opened up the fourth and last puzzle for each of them. Following their similar themes, Roy found himself facing an odd diagram of a poor-looking soul struggling to replace lights on a street as he read his last riddle. "Fuck here's a real weird math puzzle. A quiet road is lit by ten sleek magicite lanterns. In the middle of thuh night, all thuh lanterns are blown out by a magic surge and they have to be replaced. Unfortunately, thuh new magicite is poor quality and breaks every two hours. Thuh engineer can only manage to bring a new replacement lantern every three hours. How many lanterns will still be lit after twelve hours?" "Wow that...sounds really complicated." "It does, damn." "Be even more difficult if we couldn't read this." "Haha, yeah man ahm glad we got that handled, how long it take fer you?" "Long enough, so my puzzle is...um...how many ones are there between one and a hundred-and-twenty?" "Wait whut?" "That's the one I was given, how many ones are there between one and a hundred-and-twenty, if you wrote down each and every number separately." "Awwww fuck man...uhhh...you need help?" "Lemme try it on my own first I'll call you if I need it." "Alrigh'...lantern breaks every two hours...engineer can only come every three hours...that sound lahk a losin' battle, that makes no sense. Alrigh', so every hour after one breaks, engineer comes back to fix another one. Meaning...maybe one?" Scratching his head, the puzzle confused him slightly until FG called out from the omni-tool: "Okay Roy. I'm kinda stuck." "Huh?" "Do you know how many ones there are between one and a hundred-and-twenty?" "Uhhhh...well mah puzzle's kinda weird so why don't you take a shot at it an' ahll figure out yers?" "Alright, what was it again?" Roy repeated the puzzle back to him and let James try to figure it out, letting his own brain work much more efficiently on a puzzle that he clearly understood with good memory retention. Mentally keeping back each and every number he came across with a 1 involved somewhere in it, it only took him three minutes of solid counting before he came up with the answer. "Fifty-three." "Huh?!" "That's yer answer, thuh number one pops up fifty-three tahms." "Oh, cool! Um, okay your puzzle is kinda weird for one thing." "Yeah?" "Well, it says the lights go out in the dead of night, and then asks how many'll be lit twelve hours later." "Yeah?" "Well...that's noon isn't it? None of the lights would be on during daytime anyway." "...motherfucker." "Heeheeheehee, was that it?!" "Son of a-fuckin' wuz!" "HAH, awesome okay lemme put yours in thanks man." "Same to you, god dammit that one wuz devious."

With the final fourth puzzle solved for each of them, the door opened up showing a secret back wall at the very far rear of the building. Roy and James came out from both wings separately to find each other meeting as they saw the records now revealed slipping their way inside past the tapestry hanging over the door. The raptor was, for once, now wearing his armour or his scissors and was back in his standard jeans like he always had been, his robe now wrapped around himself to keep it with him whilst Roy kept on his grey suit with tails hanging back. "Nice suit," said FG chuckling. "Nice jeans," said Roy back sincerely. "Glad to see those got through thuh galaxy safe." "Yep, still lasting me a good couple of years." "Don't you wash them though?" "Magic underwear remember? Cleans everything all out nice and good every once a while." "Ahhh...nice, good thinkin'. Alrigh' lessee whut we got here." The room within was somewhat dark, but it was well-lit by small luminous blue orbs of magicite glowing gently from all around them. Cabinets full of records stood on either side of them, the room large enough to hold at least ten people as they saw a central panel. The centre of the room showed a pentagonal construct, a podium where there lied a book firmly stuck into the impress of the podium rendering it unmoveable. No matter how hard they tried to pull it, it would not come out as they scratched their heads together. "Welp," said FG, "what now?" "We can still read it," said Roy, "we got our omni-tools to take a picture of, righ'?" "Oh yeah! Alright now we need...sixteenth of Capricorn..." Turning the pages of the book which allowed itself to open provided it remain on the podium, James soon found the date most recently added with a startling revelation of how many names were inside the book. Dates, type of deal and name of person hiring her goons for a particular mission, or sometimes for a request she made herself. "Holy shit look at this, look at all these names!" "Ohhhh sum o' these people are not nice," said Roy wincing, "ah recognise a few of 'em too, sum crooked people up in this even if they uh...use more polite words for whut seems to be thievin'." "This could blow a huge hole in their reputation, but...seems kinda stupid to name all these obvious." "Probably to make sure nobody cross her, if she goes down she gonna take a whole lotta people with her." "There...this isn't a lot of stuff here though that's really damning, I mean it's not really clear." "There's a reference number on each, that must be in all these cabinets but...who's Maggie?" "Huh?" All of the names were written out in full, except one that was made around the month of Capricorn. One simply known as Maggie, given the task of "Retrieval". "That's weird," asked FG, "lemme see if we can find a reference." Tracing the number to the correct filing cabinet they found within an entire sectioned array of memstones, all of which had been noted and tagged by labels pertaining to the correct reference number on the book. Gingerly they began to listen in on what the magicite had recorded, stone pulsating with its memory as both Roy and James recorded its words in turn to make a copy. "What do you want exactly?!" "I know it has been a while, but-" "Not long enough. You shouldn't be here, I've had enough to deal with after you left swanning off on your adventures with-" "Shut up. I have need of your services Becky dearest and I need part of your group to deal with it." "Why not someone else you can buy, what need you have of me and my people?!" "Because you will not refuse me...and I know that your people are very experienced so it is a great honour that I come and ask you of this turmulent favour. You will be most greatly rewarded." "...fine. What do you want?" "I need two artifacts retrieved from the Lea Monde grand cathedral, the Sercian Stone and a most recent artifact. One that was obtained by a group known as Clan Koridai." "Wh-wh...WHAT!? Maggie, are you serious?!" "I am never not." "My people are persuasive yes but this is a church! Are you insane, think of the outrage it could cause!" "Exactly, think of the news that would happen if two artifacts get stolen from the greatest cathedral of Western Valendia, and ESPECIALLY if your husband's paper are the first to obtain it." "...that...is one way to look at it but, if anyone from the church found out-" "Are you serious?! When has your conscience ever stopped you from your previous 'purchases' to this dubious archive?" "I am doing those relics a SERVICE, out of the hands of filthy little pigs that'll just sell it worthlessly for at least sixty gil on the marketplace, I am giving these things a home!" "With yourself to flaunt with, you don't buy a wolf to give it peace you buy a wolf to make people know you mean business." "Silence! I have a standard to maintain in this wondrous city, something YOU will never know when you insist on being a vagrant!" "We all have to get to the top our own way Becky dearest. And you know exactly what I can do to you if you do not do what I say...your mother is not the only one who has authority over you." "......alright. Alright, you...we will obtain these relics for you, what are they precisely?" "The Sercian Stone and whatever Clan Koridai have brought in recently. I know not what they will bring but I have a diagram for you concerning the Sercian relic, there will not be many guards around Lea Monde's reliquary apart from one old feeble woman. If you encounter the clan whilst infiltrating do NOT encounter them, and if we must for whatever reason have to fight...then kill them, and dispose of the bodies. We do not want them even post mortem to start causing any difficulty by their presence." "Fine. But on one condition." "What?" "YOU go with them. Anything that happens in that church is YOUR responsibility, I will not go down for this, I am the heiress of the Zodiac Tribunal for gods' sake I do NOT need the church to come down on me like a god-driven sack of-" "Aren't you recording this already? Like you do with all your clients?" "H-...h-h-h-how did you-" "Dearest Becky...you forget who you are dealing with. You might have father's personal contracts for all your stature to protect with...but I have mother's strength and diligence, something YOU will never have. I know plenty of things that can destroy your reputation, things that no one should ever know about you. Now I care little about being caught as much as you do so, let's just say that your insurance...is MY insurance also. Now...let's make a deal, shall we?"

All of a sudden James felt rather poorly, wincing slightly at the very prospect of a great conspiracy set against his group as Roy shared his concern. "Man who thuh fuck did you piss off?" "I don't know! Whoever this Maggie bitch is she's gonna find I'm a lot more difficult to deal with than some old lady...heh...not that she was any easy, but that voice was definitely her, that bitch who shot Baldwin and Mariel." "So ah take it these artifacts are still safe?" "Yeah, we chased them off...but wait, why does somebody want SPECIFICALLY the artifact that we got, when they...who the fuck knows about that?!" "Ah dunno, who'd you take it from?" "Some weird clan of animals way up in northeast, I say animals but more like just, they wear animal skins it's all sorta messed up but the point is they WANTED me to get rid of it." "You think sumbody up there wants it back?" "But...no that, why would they ask for the one we got and some OTHER artifact?" "Ah dunno, but we got this audio recording thanks to our omni-tools an' we got Mrs. Hopkins on tape, an' it'll look lahk we never took a damn thing so folks'll be none thuh wiser." "Right...hokay let's get out of here. She said something about fathers and mothers, sounds like this is one of Hopkins' family." "We'll check this out once we leave, now come on." Sneaking their way back through the archive's halls they decided to team up towards the west wing and cautiously tread over any tripwires linked to the alert security system. It was all going so well until they reached the red magicite barrier, tapping it with their plugs to find them suddenly not working as the magic simply refused to be broken. "Uh...ohh." "Wh-whut, whysit not openin'?!" "I don't know, Cid said this would work!" "Whysit not doin' it, it worked before! "I don't KNOW why it's not working what do I look like a fucking mage?! Shit, um...it's alright, Kruz said there was a backup, um...wait what colour was this thing before?" "Kinda orange ah think." "Okay, so it's red now, that means...fuck, they have a changing one um, Cid warned us about this he wasn't sure or not but, they may have had a barrier that can change...sorta, makeup, type, whatever, if it got broken through?" "But we didn't alarm nobody!" "I know that I jus-...shit, okay we just have to stay here and wait for Kruz, he said he would meet us out here." After four minutes of waiting fearfully with no security coming to approach, there came Kruz himself on the other side of the field barrier dressed in his Rabanastran clothes still as he smirked awkwardly. The party was quite a distance away from the west hall so nobody could see them clearly enough. "Lemme guess...it changed its magic type." "Yep," said FG. "Is there any way out?" "Sorry, those plugs were catered specific towards one alignment, its composition change we should have predicted." "But how do we get OUT?!" "J-just lemme think, you got whut you wanted?" "Yep," said Roy, "we got thuh data recorded that incriminates Mrs. Hopkins gladly, as well as this other mysterious person." "Great, we can make a memstone copy of your copy but first...hmmmm...only way to get you out of here is by security themselves but..." "Can't we just," stammered FG, "say we got lost or something or like we walked into the wrong area, people do that, they're stupid!" "I dunno about bein' in the wrong area but...only way we can get you out is by security." "Ah gotta plan," replied Roy. "Huh?" "Put yer robe back on, just follow mah lead." The raptor put on his robe almost immediately covering himself up fully before Roy grabbed him by the hands putting them on his own head and neck as if the two were about to embrace. "What are you doing?!" cried FG. "Trust me." "Okay THAT is not something you get to ask me after only a month-" "Shut up an' kiss me." "WHAT!?" "Kruz, ahm kissin' your wife, make a scene an' get everyone out here, we gon' make a scandal that distracts everybody." "H-hold up, I-MMM-MMMMPH!" Not even waiting, he grabbed FG suddenly and pressed his lips against him in a viciously assaulted kiss, rough and passionate as the smaller brown raptor squeaked and cried out with a muffled grunt before being subdued shortly. Kruz simply watched, gobsmacked at the bestial groans coming from Roy as he forced himself into the role imagining James as a sexy lady, the said "lady" in question whimpering and panting with at first some resistance by a form of outrage but eventually found himself losing into his kiss. The hot tongue of the utahraptor promptly dug into his throat, fiendishly suckling the inside of his cheeks with eyes closed shut as he did his best to imagine something else, whereas James was slowly starting to turn his sounds more and more feminine. Suddenly Roy pulled himself back against the wall to let James lean onto him, grappling him by the lower back as a muffled squeal came down his throat from the raptor cloaked as their tongues feverishly danced within each other's mouths, not so much a passionate waltz but more of a spastic tango. The two continued to kiss, drool slightly coming down each other's lips against their will as a sense of distaste crossed over Roy's lips whilst James nearly felt his eyes flutter at such brutishness. He did everything he could to not let his body follow too much into the role as he pressed his chest against his rival, hands grabbing tight along the back of his head to keep him close before they fully began to part. The two panted towards each other more from losing breath than anything else, James' wincing mewls compared to Roy's bass breaths. Both turned towards Kruz still panting as the smaller raptor breathed: "Why...aren't you...DOING anything?!" "I," stammered Kruz, "I-i just......waitin' fer the climax I guess." "KRUUUZ!" "OKAY OKAY heh-hem...WHAT IN GODSSSZH NAME ARE YOU DOING?!" "A-AAAAH!"

The crowd turned upon instant hearing Kolin's outrage as the babble of conversation turned mute. People began walking to see the source of the argument, seeing greatly with some bewilderment the knight MacGregor having his arms wrapped round the strange cloaked female. Roy started babbling with a script in his head. "I-i-it's not whut it looks lahk, ah swear she...sh-she jumped on me, she shoved me through thuh damn barrier a-a-an' ah couldn't get out-" "SSSZHILENSSZHE! I will deal with YOU in a minute you fffffucking horndog, but YOU! How could you DO THISSZH TO ME!?" "A-a-ah!" squawked Jane worryingly. "H-h-honey...pleasszhe...I-" "All I have done for you, everything I have put mysszhelf through to give you a better life, I have poured all of my MONEY into you and my HANDSSZH are raw and THISSZH ISSZH HOW YOU REPAY ME!?" "K-KOLIN I...I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THISSZH!" "WHAT!?" "YOU...all you do isszh flaunt your money everywhere, you never sszhow me the sszhame love that you sszhow me when we are out, YOU LOVE YOUR MONEY MORE THAN I DO!" "THAT'SSZH NOT TRUE!" "YESSZH IT ISSZH KOLIN! I TOOK YOUR NAME, AND YET YOU NEVER GIVE ME ANYTHING, YOU WILL NOT EVEN GIVE ME CHILDREN! AM I JUSSZHT A TROPHY FOR YOU, A POSSZHESSZHION FOR YOU TO FLAUNT, I FEEL NO LOVE FROM YOU AT HOME, YOU ARE ALL ABOUT APPEARANSSZHE BUT UNDERNEATH ISSZH NOTHING BUT A COLD-HEARTED BUSSZHINESSZHMAN!" "I HAVE WORKED MY ENTIRE LIFE TO BECOME WHO I AM NOW, YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSSZHTAND I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE HAPPY WITH A SSZHIMPLE LIFE!" "But it'sszh not sszhimple! You...you give me a home but money cannot hold me at night an-...a-a-and...make love to me..." Jane turned with a forced sobbing straight into Roy's chest as he looked around awkwardly, doing everything he could to not hold her too closely as he tried to look a third party as much as he could before the lady put her hands on his face. The audience watched on eagerly lapping up this strange drama, including Mrs. Hopkins who was rather too intrigued to call security just yet. "I sszhaw...thisszh great beautiful beasszht today, I have longed to have known him and he...he knowsszh about love...he undersszhtandsszh the passszhion I need...that...y-you could not give me." "Um...m-ma'am?" replied Roy. "You...ahm not part of this, ah...ah appreciate your passion for me but...this is not thuh way to go about it, ahm...ahm not available." "But...b-b-but you and me...w-we are..." "If you need...advice or help concernin' marital issues, then ah can help with thuh law office ah work with...but this is not how you start a new life away from yer husband." "Away from ME?!" cried Kolin. "I have done EVERYTHING for you for the passzht sszheven yearsszh and SSZHTILL you ignore my need for you! You...you blind sszhtupid fool I have gone through enough jusszht to be with you again and now you tell me your heart belongsszh to another?!" "I'm sszhorry," murmured Jane, "but you...you are not-" "Not WHAT!? Not the one you wanted?! Not the one whosszhe heart belongsszh to WELL WHOSSZHE HEART ISSZH IT!? Do you care about MY heart, do you care about the fact I have gone through literally WORLDSSZH to have been with you AND NOW YOU TELL ME I CAN NEVER HAVE YOU?! _I WOULD DIE WITHOUT YOU, AND NOW YOU HAVE CONDEMNED ME, YOU CONDEMNED MY HEART FOR ANOTHER PERSON I NEVER EVEN MET, AND I CAN'T EVEN HATE YOU FOR IT BECAUSE YOU'RE A FUCKING IDIOT, WITH THE MOST ADORABLE FUCKING THING TO LOVE AND TO BE WITH! I SOLD MY HEART TO THE DEVIL FOR YOU, AND ALL YOU'VE DONE IS PITY MEEEE! _"

For the briefest moment there was a ring of stillness throughout the air as Kolin's voice breached from his throat. No one had said a single thing amidst the party guests, as champagne glasses tinkled softly amidst quivering hands of pure amazement. What was even more strange was the fact that Kolin halfway through his outraged speech, had stopped shouting in Ivalician altogether and had ranted in his own language, one unknown to any of them. Jane started crying with more tears, but this time they were not hers as the persona. For a brief instant it was James himself who started weeping at the pure rage outburst from his close friend. He almost forgot himself, whilst Kruz remembered where he was despite his quivering lip on the edge of tears and boldly sneered with distaste back into his persona, asking: "Could...could sszhomeone pleasszhe...take down the barrier sszho I can...talk with my wife?" Security that had arrived on point brimming with gold-painted cloaks slowly took down the barrier temporarily, setting off the alarm system by an intricate-woven spell over the field as Roy and Jane softly walked out with apologetic thanks. Both bangaas walked off towards a certain window, staring out upon the horizon. Jane hugged him tightly with most deepened shame, but it was James who spoke next as he whispered briefly into Kruz's ear. "I'm sorry...I'm...I never knew-" "S-shut up," murmured Kruz, "we'll talk over this later j-just-...just follow my lead." "I never knew...how...how strongly you felt over-" "I SAID SHUT UP!" Torn between his own feelings and that of his persona, he made a move to strike at FG with a backhand before Roy stepped forwards. But the moment he did Kolin pulled out a gun from his pocket and pointed it directly towards Roy, the audience gasping with shock and fright as security rushed in, the kremling planting his gun against Jane's head as he roared in Ivalician: "DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE! OR I WILL MAKE SSZHERTAIN THAT ME AND MY WIFE ARE BETROTHED FOREVER, PERMANENTLY! _" "THUH FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" cried Roy not playing along. "Much more than you will EVER know, my dear misszhter knight of Daventry! Now...tell me what time isszh it." "Uh...six-thirty, why?" "Because it's time for us to leave." Kruz grinned wickedly as in that very moment, there came a loud explosion from every bathroom overflowing with white billowing smoke, screams from party guests falling to the floor panicked upon hearing a bombing run on their doorstep. The doors of both bathrooms had just simply detonated wide open with a harmless pale of smoke, but the noise was stultifyingly powerful that it rocked the very walls as Kruz grabbed onto James and leapt straight out falling from the window. "_NOOO!" Roy ran forwards desperately from the floor as he staggered his way back up, finding there was a carriage now racing off towards the streets of lower Archades in a sudden rush with five chocobos at the helm. In the back of it was two familiar-looking reptiles falling into the pile of fresh hay situated underneath the now-burst tarpaulin top cover. People who were not so thrown about by the explosion including Mrs. Hopkins and security, rushed up to find the same thing. "Wh-WHAT WAS THAT!?" "That carriage...is that...wh-what is going ON here?!" "Ma'am!" One of the security members rushed up and conferred close enough for Roy to hear. "The records have been breached." "What?!" "Seems like nothing's taken, but the codes are out and someone broke in." "I...that cannot be, I-...you." She pointed towards Roy violently. "What did that woman say to you?!" "Sh-she...um...she lured me in, ah swear, she said she got trapped on thuh other side of thuh barrier, she wuz already on thuh other side but ah got pulled in, she had sum kinda...thing on her too, wuz sumthin lahk this!" Bringing out the plug-like metal object he handed it over to Hopkins who glared at it fiercely, almost as if about to break it by her potent red brim. "This...was a setup, that FOOLISH charade was to keep everybody busy and YOU were the patsy!" "W-wh-WHUT?!" "What kind of lawyer are you to be so STUPID you worthless ignoramus?!" "Ah never HELPED that woman madame Hopkins, she used me to cause a scene with whoever that other guy wuz, those two must be fuckin' robbers ah saw a case lahk this back in Rozarria, Bonnie an' Clyde shit!" "SECURITY!" Her scream radiated across the place as a whole group of golden-cloaked humes stood firmly with attention. "Get your mounts and chase down that chocobo cart which was parked in spot 4-B, NOW!" "Yes ma'am!" "Ahm goin' too!" cried Roy. "What!?" "Nobody makes a fool outta me, especially not sum fuckin' shitscale lahk them two!" "Shitscale?!" "Heh...from one bangaa to another, either way those two are fuckin' dead." "...I like your style. Roy was it? Good jouster on a chocobo?" "If ah can catch criminals with any ah will." "Good, then YOU help me and I will reward you IF they get caught, now follow me!"

Out in the streets, there was a rampant chocobo carriage on the loose screaming towards the crowds of people as it turned hard at top chocospeed being guided by a moogle at the reins. Sitting right beside her was a nu-mou screaming silently as she grabbed on tight enough to splinter wood beneath her fingernails, her dark robes fluttering up in the breeze as Clan Koridai's mounts raced through on three reins being held between them, one shared by Ashe and Luke, one shared by Lightning and Rinoa and one single rein for Cadbury screeching ahead with wild laughter, for a chocobo that is. The stone cobbles rumbled underneath their feet, the wheels turning constant with a wooden blur as people screamed all about, women and children frantic with both fright and joy respectively at such an exciting scene of most criminal activity underfoot. Houses on both sides whistled briefly past, signposts hanging above doors flapping violently from the breeze left behind by the carriage wake. Popping up from the back was Kruz and James looking around quite fraught at the scenes going by, the soft hay underneath making it hard to gain footing. "I THINK THAT WENT QUITE WELL!" cried Kruz cockily. "WENT OFF WITHOUT A HITCH!" "OTHER THAN THAT FUCKING DRAMA!" replied James. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?!" "LIKE I SAID, IF YOU PLAY THE PART OF A CRUEL TYRANT CAPTAIN, YOU HAVE TO MAKE THEM BELIEVE YOU ARE A CRUEL TYRANT CAPTAIN!" "I THINK THAT ROLE GOT A LITTLE TOO REALISTIC BACK THERE, WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT THIS!" "SURE, GIVE ME AN AWARD OR SOMETHING, I'LL THANK THE ACADEMY BY POST!" "ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" cried Dahlia up front. "OH YEAH!" said James. "I MEAN JUS-BRIIIDGE!" The two ducked underneath an upcoming bridge as they ran down an old waterway now repurposed as a street, smirking rather fearfully as he continued. "I MEAN OTHER THAN A FUCKING SOAP OPERA, SURE!" "WELL EXCUSE ME FOR BEING A GOOD ACTOR!" replied Kruz. "WILL YOU TWO BE QUIET KUPO!?" cried Navarro. "YOU SOUND LIKE A GRIEF-RIDDEN COUPLE AND I THINK YOUR PART OF THE OPERATION IS OVER NOW!" "YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD HIM!" shouted James. "THE THINGS HE SAID, I MEAN I AIN'T GONNA FORGET THAT! I JUS-...UM...GUYS!" "WHAT!?" "WE GOT COMPANY, LOOKS LIKE HOPKINS' GOONS ARE AFTER US!" "GOOD, RIGHT ON SCHEDULE, IS MACGREGOR AMONGST THEM?!" "NO?!" "THEN YOU TWO HAVE TO FEND THEM OFF, BUT DO NOT HURT ANY OF THEIR CHOCOBOS!" "WHY!?" cried Kruz. "THEY'RE THE ONES CHASING US!" "BECAUSE SO HELP ME FARAM I WILL MURDER YOU MYSELF IF YOU SO MUCH AS HURT ONE HAIR ON ANY CHOCOBO ON THIS VERY DAY!" "ALRIGHT ALRIGHT! FUCK YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO DO ANY OF THE HARD WORK, YOU JUST HAD TO SIT ON YOUR ASS ALL DAY!" "DO YOU WANT TO DRIVE KUPO!?" "NO NO, YOU'RE GOOD UNLESS YOU KNOW HOW TO USE A GUN!" "NO, I DON'T BECAUSE UNLIKE YOU I FIGHT FAIR!" "HERE THEY COME!"

James outburst brought their attention back towards the horde of a dozen golden-cloaked chocobo riders coming up from behind them, the raptor pulling out a gun from amongst the hay alongside Kruz as they braced themselves for a fight. For the most part, the riders themselves were a mixed affair of swordsmen, mages and actual gunsmen who fired first, shooting for the wheels of the carriage or the travellers' heads. Flaming balls of fire tore across the distance to strike burning across the carriage rear, causing FG to summon water in order to counteract the fires from spreading, whilst Kruz kept him covered. Panicked cries were a constant noise throughout the streets as Navarro guided her team through, constantly rearranging her navigational route as she made a mental note of where she was in Archades compared to their destination. Dahlia was crying fearfully, hands over her face whilst grabbing on tightly with her legs to the front part of the carriage right beside Navarro. She trusted her friend to keep constant travel but the sounds of flaming gunfire from the back set her off her nerves, shrieking: "WHY WAS I EVEN A PART OF THIS PLAN!?!?" "WE NEEDED A FEMALE ON THE INSIDE KUPO! YOU WERE THE ONE WE NEEDED TO PLANT THOSE BOMBS IN THE RESTROOMS!" "I-I'M NOT A TERRORIST, IT WAS JUST A DISTRACTION!" "AND IT WORKED PERFECTLY WELL SO YOUR PART OF THIS PLAN WENT SWIMMINGLY, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT!" "LOOK OUT!" Pointing hard at right in front of them, they found themselves suddenly upon a market square amidst a dozen stalls of fresh fruit and vegetables. Screams rang through from both stall vendors and attendees as they raced right through a vegetable stall, the chocobos ducking their heads low to ram straight through the table splattering the whole carriage with a mixed produce "MY CABBAGES!" cried a vendor. "SORRY!" screamed Dahlia. "SO SORRY, WE DIDN'T MEAN IT, WE DIDN'T-AAAAGH!" A gunshot almost came within six feet of her upon the side of the carriage as she ducked back to the front cowering fitfully with hands over head, tomatoes and cabbage leaves rifling all over their faces as one head of lettuce smacked James right on the back of his head. "OW, FUCK'S SAKE!" "LEAF HER ALONE JAY-HAY-HAMES!" mocked Kruz laughing. "SHE ALREADY LOST HER HEH-HEAD NO NEED TO LOO-HOOSE YOURS!" "SHUT UP! GODDAMMIT FIRST YOU MAKE ME A GIRL NOW YOU FUCKING JOKE ABOUT THIS?!" "IF YOU CAN'T FACE LIFE WITH A SMILE JAMES THEN THAT'S NOT A LIFE WORTH LIVING!" "DON'T YOU START BEING POETIC ABOUT SHIT WE'RE TRYING TO FIGHT OUR WAY OUT OF THIS-JESUS FUCK!" Another burning ball of flame came down right upon the carriage itself, splashing hard onto the hay as flames wafted viciously from the top like a carriage from hell. James blasted everything he could with water and doused the flames quickly enough, despite the rocking of the carriage as it made its way through the straightest streets, twisting turns only upon a few corners every once a mile or so. Navarro had her objective, keeping her eyes focused up ahead towards the southeast quadrant and not on the dozen riders screeching behind her with laced fury upon their steeds.

Despite the guards alerted there was not enough of them within lower Archades as they noticed the houses get smaller and smaller, as well as the certai smell of poverty turning worst amongst them. The people they passed began to look more ragged, more slighted, more rocky upon cobbled streets given less attention than the rest of the nice city. Reaching the slum area, the riders and carriage burned through the district as people were smart enough to get out of the way keeping close to the sides well away from the central thoroughfare. Kruz did his best to fire back without hurting any of the chocobos, as well as trying not to shoot when amongst busier streets in case of misfire on the general public. Unfortunately their enemies did not have so strong a moral code blatantly trying to shoot back at any opportunity regardless of health and safety. The kremling did however manage to shoot two of them at the far back right in the lung or shoulder, crippling them enough to stop riding after them or even killing them outright to fall off their steeds gasping with pain. "WE'RE AT THE TARGET!" shouted Navarro. "BRACE YOURSELF!" "THIS BETTER WORK!" cried FG. "IT WILL!" shouted Kruz. "HOW ELSE YOU THINK WE GOT TENNYSON OUT OF THIS CITY, KHHAHAHAHA!" Staring down right before them at the very edge of the slum's city walls was a gigantic portal to an open sewer. As disgusting as it was like a cavernous anus sluicing its drooling effluence, it was the only way through as they went down straight through, the five chocobos screeching right through into darkness. Or at least, what was thankfully not darkness due to the ambient lighting made from cheap magicite lanterns flickering above their heads with constant half-vigil for as best as their life expectancy could. It was however enough to help them see through the widened tunnels without too much grisly detail underfoot. The riders chasing however were not so eager to come through the horrid gunk of shallow goop which gave the escapists plenty of time to smile as they turned right towards another channel, avoiding any iron gates up on the horizon for a clear shot at the exit. "HAHAAAAA FUCK YOU ASSHOLES!" cried FG. "YEAAAAAH LOOK AT YOU, PRISSY LITTLE BITCHES CAN'T HANDLE THIS SHIT" "FOCUS JAMES!" cried Navarro. "WE ARE NOT OUT OF THE WOODS YET KUPO!" "SO WHAT, THEY AIN'T CHASING US, NOW YOU JUST NEED TO KEEP OUR BOYS AND GIRLS STRAIGHT AND WE'LL BE OUT OF HERE IN NO TIME!" "This place is terrible," whimpered Dahlia, "uuuuugh...I'm going to need ten, sixteen showers after this!" "SAME HERE! YOU THINK I ENJOY THIS, TRUST ME I WANTED US TO RAMPAGE THROUGH A SAUNA, OR A SPA, THAT'D BE NICE!" "I definitely need something after this." "WAIT...WAIT WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" Roaring down behind them by a minute later, was two glaring bold eyes of piercing light and a monstrous sound clacketing upon the sewer pass. At first James thought it was an actual train carriage coming down upon them, but then he saw something large and looming come out from the top of it. A cannon, pulsating with magicite resonating with violent pulse. "GET DOWN!"

The shot that blasted through the tunnel was deafening to all their ears as the chocobos screamed with panic, frightfully running for their lives as Navarro desperately held them on forwards to run straight. The fear in their feet was swift and gave them an extra boost, squawking to each other now afraid by natural instinct. "THEY GOT A FUCKING CANNON?!" "OHHH I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THIS!" cried Kruz. "I WAS NOT EXPECTING A MOTORISED CARRIAGE!" "WH- MOTORISED?! _" "YEAH, WELL TECHNICALLY! CID TOLD ME ABOUT STUFF THEY WERE DOING IN ARCHADES, STEAM POWER WITH MAGICITE-CONTROLLED BOUNDARIES AND ARMAMENTS! BUT PEOPLE DON'T INVEST IN THEM MUCH BECAUSE CHOCOBOS GOT TO HAVE USES STILL, LOTS OF MONEY IN REARING THEM!" "_I DON'T NEED A FUCKING ECONOMICS LECTURE HOW THE FUCK DO WE FIGHT THIS THING?!" "AS WE ARE NOW?! ...I GOT NOTHING, NAVARRO YOU MIGHT WANT TO SPEED UP!" "THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE KUPO!" "OKAY THEN, JUST CHECKING! LOOK OUT!" Ducking fast, both James and Kruz saw a slot open at the front of the carriage showing two rifles poking out, firing rapidly upon the rear of James' carriage with a stray fire of bullets pinging off the walls sharply. There was clearly people inside the steel carapace driven by whatever engine it had allowing it to run unabated. But the raptor assumed that somebody was working the pedals inside it. The chocobos pushed out everything they got, as their claws tore underfoot beneath the sewer passageways splashing up the gunk behind them. With panic rising in everybody's lungs it took their minds off the smell, despite Dahlia turning sick enough that she vomited out the side of the carriage splattering underwheel as she rocked back and forth clutching her stomach. The bumpy ride did not help either as she winced, seeing finally the breath of light from outside coming closer to them. The sewer passage soon ended and they were out in the forests surrounding the southeast of Archades' walls, the rushing green leaves upon all sides of them and grass underneath giving a deep sigh of relief to the nu-mou, unspoilt except for the terrifying death carriage that came straight down upon them from behind. The beastly chariot looked even more frightening outside, glinting like a stone coffin studded with screwed points, two lights and a slat wide enough for a hume's head to fit through from the central front for both the shooter and driver to gaze through. The cannon above was a monstrous sixteen-inch length pointing down upon the red wagon, charging up another blast ready to go in a moment's notice as the raptor cried: "LEFT GO LEFT, IT'S FIRING!"

Turning harshly through another point of the woods, Navarro turned harshly as she guided her chocobos cautiously, turning just in time to go streaking off away from the cannon shot pounding its magicite core into the dirt. A blackened burning ash explosion tore through the soil underneath, smoking it to a small crater the size of a two chocobos' length. In turn the metal beast steered promptly by a hume's hand from within, constantly on their tail as Kruz fired best he could into the thin slats hoping to kill off the driver. But with the constant rumbling of the wagon he was on it was turning the shot to be impossible, and soon they were nearing their own exit point as an end to the operation. And it was not a place for a good combat scenario to be shouting: "WE NEED TO GIVE THIS GUY THE RUNAROUND!" "WHAT?!" cried the moogle. "WE CAN'T HAVE THIS THING COME TO THE EXIT POINT, IT'LL FUCK US UP AND MY SHIP'LL BE SPOTTED!" "THEN UNLESS YOU HAVE A PLAN TO DISABLE THAT MONSTROUS THING YOU CAN KEEP FIRING, KUPO!" "...RIGHT, TURN RIGHT IT'S CHARGING UP AGAIN!" Navarro did her best but the cannon fired a little too quick ahead of them whilst in mid-turn. Sensing what the carriage in front was about to do, it turned its cannon towards the chocobo group in front with most of its view obstructed by trees. But the blast radius of its firing strike pumping out hard was enough to claim one victim. Screeching from the back-and-right, Fayne's chocobo Asch felt his legs torn from underneath, crying with blood-searing agony as the cannon blast hit too close to the side of him and ripped his feet apart. Shrieking as his legs began to break, it only took three brittle snaps of bone before he fell underneath the wheels, crushed by accident as their escaping carriage twisted neck and upper sternum completely into a bloodied smear that mixed into his long reddened hairs. Navarro's first instinct was to scream, hearing Asch's cry as it rent her heart asunder with her face turned white. Dahlia screamed in turn seeing the chocobo fall almost in slow-motion. But then came Navarro's second instinct as responsibility took over, a hand shaking with burning rage. "Forgive me, brother." Drawing her sword she sliced the reins off of Asch completely to cut him off from the pack, making sure that the carriage remained moving without dead weight to slow them down. Luke, the chocobo of Baldwin with short hair, screeched in howling rage with agony for his fallen brother but Navarro forced him to stay on target. "I KNOW! I KNOW NOW KEEP RUNNING! IF YOU STOP MOVING NOW THEN WE WILL ALL DIE AND YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO AVENGE YOUR BROTHER'S SAKE, IS THAT CLEAR?!" Keeping dominant authority she forced the bereaved Luke to keep on target, along with the head of them being Lightning making certain that he would remain under orders amidst tearing up with grief. The moogle had other ideas however as she handed the reins over to Dahlia, promptly saying with a cold fierce look. "Take them." "WH-WHAT?!" "Take them now." "B-but, I can't-" "YOU CAN AND YOU WILL SO HELP ME GODS! _" "...a-...a-a-alright but...what are you going to do-_NAVARRO NO!" Without even saying anything else, she thrust the reins into the nu-mou's hands before jumping onto the back of carriage and vaulting herself front forwards onto the steel machine rumbling behind them, much to the chagrin of both Kruz and James. "WAIT, NAVARRO HOLY SHIT!" "WHAT THE FUCK IS SHE DOING?!"

Slamming her feet onto the top of the roaring gun carriage, she swooped down immediately with her small right hand gripping one of the headlights before stabbing her sword right into the interior of the slat below, stabbing violently where a hume's gun was pointed at from. Shrieking rage full from the moogle's throat, Navarro tore into the gunman's face as he couldn't get far away enough to prevent being shanked in the face, six times as he choked and sputtered hoarsely with screams from within. Blood flew across her face spattering onto the ground rushing below, with one of the humes inside trying to shoot but she dodged like an acrobat, swinging further to the left of the slat before driving her sword right into another man's shoulder. Catching enough of it, she twisted the blade harshly to drag him up to the front until she could see the white of his eyes as she repositioned herself, her right foot on the bottom part of the slot for balance as she plunged her fingers into the hume's eye. Screaming until his voice broke, she kept him stable by the twisting sword in his shoulder anchoring him to the spot, fingerfucking his eyesocket with a psychotic frenzy as pus-ridden bursts smeared across her furred fingertips all whilst she screamed with unshakeable rage. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAARRRRGH! _" With vengeance satisfied upon seeing the man wounded, blood gaping from his left eyesocket as a quivering pus-filled hole, she saw at least six of the dozen chocobo riders from before starting to catch up to them finally. With her sword pulled from the man's shoulder, she drived it back in straight into the hume's throat and tore it wide open, crackling the top of the spine in the process as she leapt back up to ride out the rest of the escape. Then she realised that she was on the perfect space to be shot at with guns and magic from those riding up behind them. "_NAVARROOOOO!" James cried out with arms open wide to take her back onto their carriage, himself quite stricken with shock at the sight of her brutal display of violence alongside Kruz who simply stood gawping. But before she could jump back, she saw a flash of silver run through the trees beside the metal carriage, lost within the forest like a dozen blades unsheathed. Her warrior's instinct beckoned her to wait, and soon she saw much to her surprise first one then two riders become violently decapitated by the shadowed light. The unseen blade cut through their throats, slicing off completely their head from their bodies yet never harming the chocobos themselves. Panic rose through only briefly as the mounted steeds one by one began to separate into the woods, shrieking from panic but otherwise not in any mortal danger as the other riders cried out furious at this interruption. "WH-WHO'S OUT THERE?!" "I CAN'T SEE HIM!" "HOLD YOUR STRIDE DAMMIT WE CAN'T LET THOSE THIEVES GO SCOT-FREE! Wait...WHO'S BEHIND ME- GH-GHRRRRK! _" "_SURPRISE MUTHAFUCKER!"

Slicing forth from between the trees was the shadow of another chocobo shrieking high above the rider who last spoke, slicing his neck apart from behind by a dozen blades glistening in the dappled light. Roy rode forth stridant upon his steed in full regalia armour as Cyrus swung out his wings showing both had been now tipped with silver steel, drenched with hot blood crashing down hard with a booming sweep of dust as he hit the ground running. Roy almost instantly blasted a shot of ice furiously into one other hume's face, striking fully with the force of a cannon. The rider was not dead until he fell rolling onto the dirt, crumpled with a snapping neck already forced back from the violent blast of ice until two riders now remained. He had a sword which swiped violently upon Roy's head, but it would do no good against Cyrus who, still running alongside after the carriages had six blades in one striking back against the lone weapon, clashing to a scraping sheen before he shanked his wing to the very side. The lone hume stood no chance as his throat was torn apart into a bloody festoon that draped thickly upon the back of his own chocobo's neck. Without a rider who soon fell off, the last chocobo had now been freed of all responsibility and tore off shrieking into the forest glade, the black raptor racing off towards the two carriages as he waved over at Navarro. The moogle was still on top of the metal chariot, the distance uncertain for her to reach back to her own carriage as Roy cried: "JUMP!" He brought out a hand towards her willingly keeping pace alongside the iron monster as she leapt straight over towards him, landing into his grasp tightly as she latched onto him like a newborn baby. "GET ME BACK FRONT KUPO!" she cried. "ALRIGH' HOLD ONTO ME GOOD, AHMA 'BOUT TO GO TURBO! CYRUS YOU READY TO FLY!?" "KREHHHH!" " WUUULD!" Strking both hands out behind him he blasted a mighty gust of wind furiously like a howling storm, roaring straight ahead as Navarro grabbed on tighter than death itself to Roy's shoulder. The wind went screaming past her ears like a banshee upon the morn as suddenly they found themselves racing up ahead past the roaring steel carriage. As soon as she was close Navarro hopped back onto her seat and took the reins back from Dahlia, who now had turned white with shocked determination desperately doing everything she could to not fuck up. "THAT CARRIAGE IS STILL CHASING US!" cried FG. "ANY IDEAS?!" "YOU GO ON AHEAD!" shouted Roy. "AH HAVE AN IDEA!" "THIS BETTER NOT INVOLVE YOU KISSING ME AGAIN!" "TRUST ME, YOU'LL BE THUH FARTHEST THING FROM MAH MIND AFTER THIS!"

Navarro motioned her pack of chocobos to run fast as they could, right to their final destination which was a large plateau upon a cliff at the very bottom of the forest area. Part of a grand canyon region somewhere in central Valendia, smackdab in the middle of Archadia's established kingdom, the Broken Petal stood hovering upon the plateau waiting for its passengers to arrive. The drawbridge was ready, the plank all extended with a wider form to accept greater cargo onto it. Cargo such as the red carriage that went racing up along the deck before screeching to a mighty halt upon the very ship itself, shrieking sighs of relief as they finally stopped. But whilst the remaining chocobos and Clan Koridai were now safe, there still laid the matter of the cannon-equipped carriage ready to come down upon the plateau and start aiming towards the ship. The raptor knight however had a daring plan, desperate but he knew he could pull it off as he launched himself off of Cyrus, planting himself fully in front of the oncoming path of the steel monster. His mind burst with instinctive fear already boiling up inside of him. "GET BACK!" he called to Cyrus. "HEAD OVER THERE UP NEAR THUH TREES!" "WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" cried his mount. "THAT THING WILL KILL YOU!" "Naw...it's not. Ahm not afraid of no iron horse anymore." Seeing the tone of his piercing eyes, Cyrus stood waiting to the side safely as the crew watched from the Broken Petal high above, floating itself away out to safety as they watched Roy stand in the very middle of the steel carriage's path, arms wide open as if taunting it to come close. "What's he doing?!" cried Dahlia. "He's fucking insane!" replied FG. "What the fuck's he think he's gonna do?!" They would soon see exactly what he would do, as Roy grinned cruelly towards the steel machine bracing himself by regressing slightly into an old fearful memory. One he would never forget for its vividness of grey, yellow and red. "Don't step too close son...it's not safe past the yellow line." "O-okay daddy." "We'll be in Coney Island in about...fifty minutes from now." "...that man's too close to thuh line daddy." "Hmm? Wait...what is he-" The man who smiled at him, transfixed forever in his memory. A sad-looking man, harrowed and fifty-something, the last thing he would ever do was grin sweetly at the young boy who gladly smiled back. "Ahm not afraid of you." A man so wrapped within his own misery he did not even realise what unspeakable horror he would commit upon that eight-year old child that day. "Ahm tired of runnin', whether it's chasin' sumbody or runnin' away." All that boy could see within the next five seconds...was a roaring steel demon of blinding yellow eyes draped in the blood and flesh of that old feeble human. "Ah will not let you control mah life again." The monster's scream swallowed his own fearful scream as his black-scaled face glistened with red brimming from the steel carapace. His eyes dripped tears to this very day transfixed before the yellow lights. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" With scream resonating across his being he ran towards the steel beast, the carriage so familiar yet different to him in its design, but similar enough to become his own personal demon. Nowhere near as fast, nowhere near as terrifying, but just close enough that he felt his taste for personal victory. The remaining people within the carriage composed mainly of two cannon operators and the actual driver, were transfixed with insolence and outrage almost laughable at the lone individual rushing towards them. Then he began to pick up speed, charging as if he were about to score a brutal touchdown on the end field. Then they felt the sudden crunching thud directly beneath the slatted front. "_THIS RIDE IS OVER! PERMANENTLY! _"

Eyes piercing from his skull, the raptor rushed forth into a screaming gale of pure fury as he crushed his well-armouredd shoulder against the carriage front pushing his claws into the dirt. Screaming steel wheels grinded underfoot forced against the wind pressure forced by Roy himself, buffering it with utmost resistance until hopelessly coming to a stop. Scraping a foul dual line of dirt into the plateau by a length of twelve feet, the ground tore up underneath Roy's feet pushing him back briefly as the machine screeched to a slowing halt, before he turned the gale itself into a northeasterly icy cold striking the wheels on the left with vicious binding frost. The steel beast without equal speed in both sides began to turn strikingly fast, Roy dodging out of the way as he watched it roll brutally into a crumpling loud collision, rolling towards the edge of the cliff as those within screamed panicking in lost confusion. Roy had no mercy as he made one final charge, roaring with the most ruthless shouldercharge yet as the power of wind from his fists burned through his nanos raw, crashing against the slow-rolling machine as it suddenly spun forwards with increased velocity, guided by his ferocious strength. The carriage went straight off over into the abyss, the sounds of three people shrieking to the very end now faintly echoing downwards as the Broken Petal watched with absolute shock at the knight's strength. The black raptor simply stared down towards the grey blip as he smiled smugly, feeling a weight of relief for his own personal self. "End of thuh line...heh. Been waitin' fer that one to come up a loooong tahm." He stared up towards the flying ship and waved up towards the other raptor gladly, grinning absolute upon his dark features as James waved back unnerved by the display before Roy rejoined with his steed Cyrus on the other edge of the plateau. Dahlia and Kruz watched in turn rather fearfully, not sure entirely on his disposition as she asked them: "Is he...is he alright James?" "Um...in what way?" "Well I mean...he...that was...that was frightening I just...hoh...I think I'm going to be sick again." "I think the whole thing was pretty frightening quite frankly, but what matters is that...regardless of how he did it, he stuck true to his word and got us all out safely, with no surviving guards to expose our identity." "Indeed," added Kruz, "what matters most is that we're all safe and sound here on the ship and our own mission was a success." "NOT all of us," snarled Rocino bitterly. "We...he..." She turned towards the four chocobos still remaining as she undid their reins softly, the short-haired Luke now free to allow himself to grieve as he cried out for his brother back to where the forest laid. Screeching at the top of his voice until his feathers rang sweet, despair ran through him as the other chocobos said nothing, silently crestfallen almost as if mourning for their fallen brethren. She did not say anything further as she slowly took them below deck cautious with their mood gently pulling by the reins. Luke was resistant but eventually had become too bereaved to start trying to fight again once the cold glimmer from Lightning had asserted her pack authority promptly, giving in to mourn beneath the helm of the ship. Dahlia joined her in needing to be someplace away from the sky for a bit, as Kruz and James stood out on the ship's railing before it slowly descended to let Roy upon the ship. He brought Cyrus in turn alongside him once the drawbridge had come out with the knight's prompt salute to the kremling captain. "Roy MacGregor esquire reportin' for duty...captain." "Hm," said Kruz, "esquire huh? You're gonna have to explain that one later on to me." "Any questions ahll answer for ya, just means ah get to mah next mission with a lot less hassle." "Well...I suppose that's true. But first you put your steed back in the stable along with the other ones down below deck then we'll see about other missions." "Roger that, um...see ya later FG." James nodded frankly more concerned about other things as he watched Roy disappear down below with his steed alongside him, noticing the folded silver wings glistening still with blood as he turned towards Kruz. Before he could even ask the kremling walked over towards his room and went back to his duties as captain of the ship, knowing he was going to get a lot of grief from James over what was meant to be just a small act but had been something much more than expected.