Trials of the Valiant Chapter 15
By The RPGenius
Duegran nervously waited for Syldreth. Surely it shouldn't be taking this long? Perhaps something had gone wrong. Perhaps he had been wrong, and she couldn't get out?
His fears were dispelled when Syldreth suddenly teleported in front of him. She glanced at him and he began his report.
"All allies of Ramza have been detained and are awaiting whatever death you choose for them. Oh, wait, I forgot. The traitorous Byblos and the chocobo have escaped, but when they come back, we'll-"
Syldreth cut him off. "I wouldn't worry too much about them. That cowardly bird is likely halfway across Ivalice by now, and the Byblos has shown that he has no real loyalties. Now, about Ramza's foolish followers, give them a night of suspense. Then, in the morning, sink them in some quicksand. That death suits them fairly well."
Duegran bowed. "As you wish. I will greatly enjoy exterminating those pests. But don't you want to keep the girl, Alma, alive?"
"No. Sleeris has informed me that Ajora can no longer possess her, so she is worthless to us."
Duegran nodded. Then, unable to contain his excitement any longer, he asked, "So is Ramza dead?"
"Sadly, no. But I'll get him eventually. After all, he certainly can't get out of that deathtrap of a cave. Well, be sure to kill all those pathetic prisoners. I must get back to supervise the search in the cave."
With that, she teleported, and was gone.
* * *
Ramza groaned. As he sat up, his arm throbbed with pain. He looked around. He was lucky to have just twisted his arm, after that fall. Looking down, he saw why he hadn't been killed: he had landed on the two wizards that had fallen with him. They would not be getting up soon, if ever.
He looked around. The knight who had also fallen was lying nearby, in no better shape than his companions.
Then Ramza saw the large bulk of Worker 8 on lying on the ground, and gasped with worry. His concern was not aimed at Worker 8, for the mighty machine could have fallen twice the distance with no damage. Ramza was worried about Agrias, who was lying on top of Worker 8 and bleeding profusely from the side.
He ran over to her. "Agrias! Agrias, wake up!" he shouted, not wanting to shake her, as it might make things worse.
She groaned and tried to sit up, then gasped in pain. "Aaaahh! I...I think I broke a few ribs, Ramza," she groaned, grimacing in pain.
He looked around desperately for the bag of items he carried with him. He groaned when he found the bag, full of broken glass from the containers of potions, broken upon landing. The potions were puddles on the floor. Ramza managed to find an X-Potion, a Hi-Potion, and a few normal potions intact in the bag. He brought them over to Agrias, who was coughing up blood.
"Most of the potions are gone," he grimly informed her. "I managed to find these, though. I hope they'll be enough."
Agrias quickly drank the X-Potion and a regular potion to heal her internal bleeding while Ramza poured the rest on her side wound. As he poured it on, the wound healed and began closing up. However, the potions ran out before it was fully closed.
Agrias looked at him gratefully. "Thanks, Ramza." She got up, wincing a little. "Ow! I don't think I'm fully healed, yet. Are you sure that's all the potions?"
As she was easing herself off Worker 8, Ramza took a look around at his surroundings. Oddly, the cave seemed to be lit in a gloomy light. Although Ramza could see no light source, there was enough light to see by in a greenish glow.
He looked up, trying to see how far they had fallen. It was a vain attempt, though; the cave's upper areas were too dark to perceive depth.
Suddenly, his ears detected voices approaching. Ramza dived behind a rock to hide, and Agrias joined him. Luckily, he remembered to order Worker 8 just in time.
"Worker 8! Hide!"
Worker 8 hid behind a large rock, just before a Ninja and two Geomancers rounded the corner. The Ninja was talking to his companions.
"I didn't know that jerk Ramza had a robot, too! He might be tough to get rid of. Say, do those things have any weaknesses?"
One of the Geomancers answered. "I don't think so...I suppose that they're weak when they don't have their power source, but Ramza's got all the stones besides the one Syldreth has, so his robot's probably got plenty of power."
"Oh, so Syldreth puts Cancer in her robot to power him? What's to stop us from getting rid of her while she doesn't have it?" the Ninja asked slyly.
"The robot, stupid!" his other companion replied irritably.
Meanwhile, Ramza's heart skipped a beat. He hastily checked his Zodiac Stones, and found Cancer missing. He felt Agrias glaring at him.
"After all we went through to get those, you lost one and DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IT!?" she whispered furiously to him.
Ramza decided to avoid the subject. "Let's get them. They’ll see us in a minute anyway, at least this way we'll have the element of surprise. Ready...attack!"
He jumped out and buried the Ragnarok in one of the Geomancers. The other Geomancer was too surprised to react, but the Ninja charged Ramza, his ninja swords drawn.
Agrias stood and swung her weapon, calling out, "Heaven's wish to destroy all minds...Holy Explosion!"
The Ninja was enveloped by blinding light. When the light cleared, he was little more than an ash pile.
The remaining Geomancer was about to attack when a well-placed punch from Worker 8 sent the man flying into a wall.
Agrias walked over to Ramza. "Well, we'd better get going. The longer we stay, the more enemies we're likely to encounter," she said, gasping.
Ramza could see that, in her weakened state, the Holy Explosion had taken a lot out of her. "Okay, but first I want to rest a minute. That battle tired me out," he lied. From Agrias's scowl, she obviously knew that he was making her rest for her sake, not his, but she agreed and sat down.
Ramza took the resting time to try to decide which direction to take. They could be stuck in here for days, weeks, months...forever...
.