Altered Tundra

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

Though Jaakuna didn't particularly agree with everything that Emiri felt about the lack of any monsters - even the bat ones - he did find it strange none of them had greeted them upon entering the mines. With as much mist that was in plain view for Jaakuna, it was awfully peculiar. The likely case was they weren't relatively deep into the mines themselves, which meant no monster or fiend would be present. An alternate theory was that all of the monsters have been dealt away for some unknown reason. Maybe the mist reacted to the hostility and killed them all in one fell swoop. Maybe someone came in and cleaned house. Jaakuna didn't know which was the more likely scenario. Henne Mines was a popular hunting ground. It's as ancient as Ivalice herself. Maybe one of the Garif came and tried to improve their skills by challenging the various, powerful monsters that dwelled within the deep within.

"It's strange, I agree, but--" Before Jaakuna could finish his sentence, Emiri took off. He didn't know why, but that honestly was of any importance. With her newfound height and leg reach, Emiri ran faster than she did before. She was almsot as fast as Savayna was when she ran at full-speed. Because of that, Jaakuna would have to take off at three-thirds of his full speed just to catch up to her.

They rounded a few corners, going into the first shaft that led them to another series of turns. It eventually brought them to a three-way crossroads, to which Emiri randomly chose one; though Jaakuna had a feeling it wasn't so random. She seemed content on going deeper intot he mines, which proved one thing to Jaakuna: she had a lot more stamina than he originally gave her credit for. He underestimated her speed, too. This proved to be his downfall when he appeared to lose sight of her. As in, he lost her.

"Fuck."

And just as Jaakuna was cursing himself for being unprepared for Emiri's sudden burst of speed, he sensed something approach him from behind. Immediately, he turned around his arms to the side. His hands started to flicker with red and black mist, forming the sight of a black hilt in each hand and quickly spread about thirteen inches after it, mist forming a red blade. "Who goes there?" Jaakuna called out, readying the pair of twin swords that was the form the Belias Sigil took as it had bonded to his soul.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

"You stole her tome?"

Jaakuna's concerned expression soon faded into a neutral one, then went in the other direction with only a cheek-to-cheek grin that remained. To think that she had done something Jaakuna had thought about doing many times before. That tome of Nadeline's was huge and apparently was pricy. He recalled hearing those talk about how valuable it was and on the black market, it went for millions of gil. Jaakuna had no idea why but during his times of trying to get enough money to keep the maintenance of his Ifrit from going below his expectations, he heard about it from time to time and it always seemed like a dream come true. But now, as he no longer has a need for gil, he didn't even think twice - just like Emiri didn't when she swiped it from Nadeline.

"She's going to be livid with you when she finds out." Jaakuna chuckled, giving her an approving grin. "Well, then I guess we shouldn't waste any more time since you're sure." Jaakuna led the charge into Henne Mines. As soon as they would enter, however, chills went down his body. He didn't know if it was the wind or something else, but he knew it just from that moment alone...

Something wicked this way comes.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

"I bet you taste oh-so-yummy with a bit of tomato sauce over you!" Jaakuna slowly approached the Chocobo. Each step he took, the bird would ready itself to attack. If it was going to die by the hands of the Flaming Sky Pirate, then he would go down with a fight.

In the midst of his rage and unsatiable hunger for tasty, delicious Chocobo flesh, Jaakuna, as if the flick of a switch, was reminded about why they were at Henne Mines: the search for the Zodiark Statue. That had settled him down to the point his hands were no longer set aflame and he gave the Chocobo an apologetic look, to which the bird responded with a huff and would start to walk away, back to Jahara to be teleported back to Rabanastre.

The two were apparently ready for their adventure into the mines, though Jaakuna had briefly glanced to Emiri. "Are you absolutely sure about this? I mean, we can turn back now if you want." Jaakuna wanted to make sure that she was absolutely certain about going into Henne Mines. Once they went in, there was no telling what awaited them. It could be all for nothing and the dream was just that. Alternatively, it could be a trap, and they would be walking right into whoever's hands had sent Emiri that vision/dream.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

"Traitor," Jaakuna commented angrily towards Emiri as she seemed oh-so-cozy with the Chocobo. Why was she giving into its facade of cuteness? It was an evil bastard that would make a fine roast.

You're not seriously thinking about frying that Chocobo, are you?

Jaakuna heard Belias suddenly chime in. He let out a mental scowl. Why not? I'm hungry and I have the means.

But it's a Chocobo.

Yeah. And?

Jaakuna heard Belias give him a disapproving sigh, which Jaakuna knew was Belias telling him not to do it. As he contemplated that option, he heard Emiri say how they'd be able to walk the remainder of the way. Good thing Emiri said that or else the item on tonight's menu would've been Fried Chocobo. It's a shame, really. JAakuna was actually curious how Chocobo would taste. He's had cockatrice before, but he's never had Chocobo before. There was never a chance, unlike this one. He could do it and the Chocobo wouldn't feel a thing.

And then suddenly Jaakuna's mind became corrupted by the unthinkable act of eating the Chocobo that smugly looked at him, unaware that he had been cackling evilly out loud, hands aflame and the light from said flame making Jaakuna appear demented.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

"The only thing I feel is this Chocobo's fur rubbing in places it shouldn't be." Jaakuna itched inside his dark green pants, trying to find that spot that felt the itchiest.

The Chocobo heard Jaakuna's comment and made its trademark kweh noise that Jaakuna had to assume was its way of scowling at him. It huffed as it jumped the gap between the cliff of Ozmone to the entrance to Henne Mines. As it landed, however, it became evident to Jaakuna that the Chocobo was a vengeful creature; for the moment its skinny feet made contact with the ground, it popped up its behind, which sent Jaakuna flying off and landing face-first on the cold grass.

Jaakuna caught himself about a few moments of being on the ground. He saw the Chocobo looking at him with an ever-present smug-like expression. He scowled as the Chocobo denied Jaakuna's attempts to getting on his back. "Emiri, tell this dumb bird to let me on!" Jaakuna demanded, glaring at the Chocobo.

Shuffle your music player and post the first 10 songs

DNA — Kendrick Lamar — DAMN.
Wash it All Away — Five Finger Death Punch — Got Your Six (Deluxe Edition)
Sea of Fate — Rhapsody of Fire — The Frozen Tears of Angels
Vertigo — Eyeshine — Gone Tomorrow
What I've Done — Linkin Park — Minutes to Midnight
I Will Follow You In the Dark — Death Cab for Cutie — Plans
Sleep Tight — Kisum feat. Gilgu Bonggu — The Sun, The Moon
Exodus 04' — Utada Hikaru — Exodus
Welcome Home — Coheed and Cambria — Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV Volume I: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
Heavy — Linkin Park feat. Kiiara — One More Light

What's your favorite stupid movie?

Just to name a few...

• White Chicks - any self-respecting 2000s teen has to love this movie no matter what and this because of one special line: WE'RE GONNA GO SHOPPIIIIIIING!
• Kung-Fu Hustle/Shaolin Soccer - I pair these two together because they are equally awesome, stupid, and absolutely hilarious.
• Superbad - need I even say anything?
• Napoleon Dynamite - I got some sweet skills.
• Austin Powers - Shall we shag now or shag later?
• Machete - now available in space.
• Spy Kids - okay, despite the nostalgia, it's still stupid as fuck.
• Kick Ass - features a kickass superhero who kicks ass and because of that, names himself Kick Ass.
• Kick Ass 2 - now featuring a new superhero by the name of Ass-Kicker.

That's it for the first wave. Second wave coming shortly.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

Throughout the day, Jaakuna and Emiri, though they actually had gone to bed for a few hours, had spent the entirety of the evening until nightfall came planning how they would sneak out and what they would bring with him. They both agreed that the best thing for Jaakuna to bring was his new, fancy sword that ended up becoming less of a burden than he thought it would. Originally, it was a large sword, but it bent to his will to become lighter to accommodate his fighting style. After that was settled, they simply would feign unconsciousness until they were certain that everyone had gone to sleep.

And then they would execute their plan, which was a simple one. Once everyone had retired for the night, they would wake up and sneak past the guard patrol through the halls of the royal palace; which seemed a lot easier than it should’ve been. The next step would use the secret entrance to Lowtown that was on the west wing of the palace and down a flight of stairs. Emiri so happily lets Jaakuna in on this secret during their preliminary planning stages. Going through there was easy enough. No one knew about it, so it wasn’t guarded.

The pair would make their way into Lowtown and after they met with Old Dalan, explaining where they were going, he gave them his blessing. From that point on, it was to the teleporting crystal and setting a path to Jahara. It only took a few moments for them to spawn in the secret village of the Garif. The crystal alerted the Garif, to which Jaakuna and Emiri quickly evaded due to their vitality being better than them. Plus, as soon as they had set foot on the land, a cloaking spell was placed on them, hiding them from the view of the Garif patrolmen.

And with swift running, Jaakuna and Emiri ran out of Jahara, the cloaking spell ending just as they ran into the night, heading towards Henne Mines, unaware that they were found out…

Jaakuna stopped briefly, hearing the musings from Emiri. “Oh it’s nothing, I thought I heard something. Probably was just the wind.” He gave her a smile as they continued forth.

---

Savayna could have sworn that Lorenzo was just like Jaakuna when he went to work on whatever invention that he was working on. Just like Jaakuna was during the time he spent in his own respective garage as he built some of the many weapons that Archadia used, Lorenzo was as serious as her ex-husband was. He fit the magcite into the contraption that would go around Grant’s neck. He tripped some of the magicite off to make it fit and after a few moments of tweaking with it, he approached his brother, clicking it on his neck.

The suspense was so thick you could cut it with a knife and still not trim it down at all. She waited, giving Grant all of her undivided attention, eager to hear him speak. And as he opened up his mouth, though she heard sound coming from his mouth, it was not what she expected. Unlike his deep, eloquent voice that was pristine and what royalty sounded like, he had a whiny, complaining, completely befitting of all of the whining and complaining he did. The voice was so high, it made most teenage girls sound like a guy.

And as Grant would question why it was so high, Savayna couldn’t help it: she fell to her knees, bursting into an uncontrollable fit of laughter, coughing because of the severity of her cackling. “Come on, say something else, Granella.” Savayna teased him, looking to Lorenzo. “Larry, forgive me, I didn’t think you’d be able to do it, but you’ve truly given Grant the voice that matches his moping.” She gave him a thumbs up as she went back to Grant’s gaze, who seemed to be pouting. “Oh, come on, you got your voice back. It might not be what you’re expecting, but as he said, it’s only a temporary solution until you figure out what is actually wrong with you.”

After a few more moments of getting it out of her system, Savayna would lead the two brothers back through the way they came. Going of a ridge within the caverns, they came up from the entrance of Zertinan to Ozmone, and it had gotten pitch black.

“Just as Grant feared.” Savayna expressed her disappointment, looking directly at Lorenzo. “This is all your fault. Had you not forgotten about the Speartongue’s snot bubble side effects, we would’ve made it in time to Jahara before it was nightfall.” She scowled, bonking him over the head. Savayna made a huff forward. There was still enough light for them to see a path to Jahara. “Come on. Perhaps we can plead with the Garif to give us sanctuary for the remainder of the night. We can suggest it’s a matter of diplomatic urgency..” She mischievously cackled, starting to walk forward, huffing and puffing herself to leadership once again. Thankfully, there was a light coming from Jahara that made it just a little easier for her.

The light remained active long enough for the trio to make it to Jahara. They were about to enter the sacred village, but Savayna heard the stomping noise of one or two pairs of footsteps originating from Jahara, but it came for Savayna and the boys. As if to hide from it, she pulled the boys behind a mountain formation but sneakily glanced at who or what it was. To her surprise, she saw familiar golden hair and a recognizable red jacket.

“What the fuck?” She stated, irate. What on Ivalice were these two doing here? “We’re following them.” Savayna suggested, though it was more of an order. The blonde, instead of going towards Jahara like they originally planned, went to follow Jaakuna and Emiri. Whatever they were up to, she wanted to know.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

With the death, albeit more personal, of the final Speartongue, Mateus had faded away and Savayna flipped him as he did. After he was gone, she snapped her left index, middle, and thumb fingers to cease the ice that had Lorenzo frozen. Whether he would catch himself before falling was on him. The important thing was that Grant seemed to have what they needed. So she'd happily go over to him, seeing for herself exactly what it looked like. Upon viewing it, however, she echoed his nauseated expression. The slime, the goo - it was going to make her hurl up the breakfast she had earlier in the day.

"So, that's supposed to make you talk, huh?" She joked, giving him a laugh.

Savayna sprayed some misty water magick over it while in Grant's hand. As the brown and forest green slime washed off, the magicite would slowly be revealed. To her surprise, it didn't look like any magicite she had seen. The Sonosis Magicite was flat and it swirled to the top like a spiral dome. It had deep ridges starting at the top that led to the flat surface. It was as big as Grant's palm and it didn't have the same shine that typical magicite had.

"I wonder--" as she spoke, the magicite had a gleam of pure white, specks of magick shooting from the top. When she stayed silent, it went away. "I see, so that's how it works. It responds to sound." Savyana said as low as she could muster, seeing Lorenzo finally join them. She would gesture him to be shush.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

"And another one bites the dust."

With combined efforts of Hume and Esper, the Speartongues fell one by one. Grant took out several of them with a Darkja and a ray of bullets from his gun. Mateus nabbed three of them with one swing of his mighty trident, their cries envigorating the merman esper. Savayna fed off of Mateus' joyous warcry as she too let out one of her own, blasting speartongue after speartongue with her magick and swinging her Ice Queen sword at them. If they weren't sliced to bits by her masterful swordswomanship, then they were frozen then sliced to tiny chunks of ice. This would continue until just a few remained.

And as soon as she would eye them, the toads seemed unfazed. This brought a smile to her face as she gave Mateus a devious look. The two might bicker, but boy did they love killing monsters. It was what they bonded over. Plus, they had this rivalry going on. who could kill the most before the bell rung? Only one way to find out!

Savayna rushed and Mateus did the same, but midstep, Lorenzo called out to her, flat out ordering her to freeze the Marilith. She huffed, but she noticed that it would be easy. However, Mateus cackled as he eyed it too. Savayna looked to him, irate. "No, he called me. I'm going to freeze it."

"Your aim sucks. Besides, you stole one of my kills. I should get this one."

"Merman please, you blocked my shot. You're lucky I didn't cave us in with my last shot."

As they kept bickering, little did either of them know they had unleashed their respective blizzaga towards the snake beast. Sure, they froze it where it had been pinned, but due to their egos flaring, the freezing area of effect also included Lorenzo and - well, as Savayna would look over, assuming she did her duty - she noticed that he was frozen with a petrified expression his face. "You see, now look at what you did, you egotistical asswipe!" Savayna snapped at Mateus.

"I'm not the one with the bad aim." Mateus retorted with a pout, turning his head around as if like a child.

"Oh sure, like that's going to solve any problems." She huffed, looking to Lorenzo and the snake beast. "You'll be fine," she said, sighing as she refocused on the beasts in front of them. "Grant, Mateus - just let Larry freeze for now. He needed to chill out, anyway. Let's just focus on the Speartongues." She told them. "we'll distract two of them, Mateus, and Grant you'll take the other one. And this time don't shoot the icky snot bubble, okay?" She reminded him of his past mistake. "ready...GO!" And her and Mateus took off, taking on the two on the left and right respectively. Using enhancements from their magick, the two would pierce their two respective Speartongues against the furthest wall, killing them instantly.

That only left one for Grant to deal with and no other distractions. You got this, Grant.