To A Thief - Chapter 14: The Opo-opo Girl

A Chapter by Jobyn

Stiff meets the gang! Soon after, he embarks on a journey straight out of a story book. What awaits our young, hyperactive thief in the jungles of Khazam?

After resting my body for a little while and having a much needed shower, I put my new Brigade duds back on and made my way to the main room of the headquarters.

Around this time of the night, most of the members had returned from their endeavors. I decided to introduce myself.. or at least, try to.

After Veronaut's impression of me, I wasn't exactly expecting a warm welcome..

Making his way down the hall and to the left into the linkshell common room, Stiff walked in to a bunch of chatter from various linkshell members of different races who lounged about. They were either talking amongst each other, getting drinks from the bar at the opposite end of the room or doing business with the linkshell crafters.

Once closing the door, heads turned from all directions towards Stiff. They all eyed him with different looks in their eyes; from good, to neutral, to bad.

"Uh.. hey there." Stiff cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck and giving a nervous smile.

They simply stared some more for a few moments longer before returning to whatever it was they were doing indifferently.

"So, this is the new member Vincent told us about.." A voice called out from the back.

Upon turning to the far left, Stiff saw a large Galka sitting down on a sofa feeding some strips of buffalo jerky to a little blue-scaled wyvern. Beside him was a long, pointed polearm that had a decorative steel end.

"Looks like nothing but a sapling." The galka smirked.

"So mean, Bearrrr.. I think he's actually kind of cute forrr a baby." A Mithra with well-kept, tied up light-red hair sitting on the edge of the coffee table in the center purred, sizing up the new member.

"Mrroww.. what's your name, little boy?" She asked him in a seductive tone under a playful smile, her slit cat eyes glinting under her bangs.

Stiff felt his face growing red. "I'm.. Stiff, heh. I'm not.. a little boy.." He replied, turning his head aside. She had to be in her early twenties.

Giggling, she hopped off the table and trotted over to him, bringing a hand to his chest and running her fingers around his shoulders as she walked around him in a close circle. Her tail followed along his waist until she stood back in front of him.

"Mrrooww.. Why of courrrse you aren't. The armor fits you well." She purred, her feline fangs poking out from between her lips as she smiled. "I'm Nanaa. Nanaa Mihgo. It sure is a pleasurrre.."

"Careful, Stiff. She's trying to cast a petrification spell on you!" A young, dirty-blonde haired hume man called to Stiff upon walking into the room. His hair was short, well-groomed and a bit spikey.

"What?" Stiff stepped back cautiously.

The dirty-blonde gave a toothy grin. "I meant in your pants.. that kinda petrification spell."

"...Oh!" Stiff stammered, quickly looking down and then back up at Nanaa Mihgo.

"Tch.. it surrre as hell worked on you the firrrst time, Flint." She smirked, swishing her tail before leaning back against the sofa with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"I know. I just thought I should warn the guy!" Flint muttered as he jumped over to the sofa and laid his arms along the edge, setting his fancy rifle between his feet. "Gods, I'm bushed.."

"Aw, had a long day..?" Nanaa cooed as she made her way over behind Flint and started rubbing his shoulders, running her hands down lower and lower.

"Yep.. was out skinning me some notorious targets.. made quite the pretty penny, I would say." He replied, resting his head on the back rest and shutting his eyes with a sigh.

"You don't say.." Nanaa grinned as she pulled her hands back up with his gil pouch, which was what she had been reaching for to begin with.

Stiff couldn't help but snicker at the display, realizing Nanaa was a thief. Flint was so clueless. But his smirk faded as he felt someone bump into his shoulder hard, making him nearly stumble forward.

"Out of my way, maggot.." Veronaut growled, giving him a brief and menacing glare as he made his way across the room over to the bar. He clutched his axe just as he had earlier that day, never leaving it from his shoulder.

Stiff just glared at him in irritation.

This guy is really getting on my nerves..

I have every intent to whack him upside the head, but I don't want to cause a commotion on my first day.. besides, he looks like he'd make mince meat out of me if I tried.

"Bad day, Vero?" Bear asked as he joined the rude elvaan for a drink; his baby wyvern following after him.

".. I still can't believe they let him in." Veronaut replied, slamming his shot glass on the counter after taking a swig.

Flint motioned behind himself to Veronaut with his thumb while wincing at Stiff, waving his hand once in the air as if saying, 'Don't mind the prick.'

"You know why he made it in though.. we all have a reason for being here. He is just another among us." Bear replied to him, taking a swig of his own drink.

"... Even so, I'll never accept him as one of us." Veronaut replied, not saying anything else.

Apparently, they all knew of my abilities but didn't seem bothered by it. Judging by Bear's take on why they're all here, each member must be capable of extraordinary things.

"Alright, you little dammits!" Vincent's voice sounded out from behind the door at the far side of the room before he burst through it. Claire followed behind him.

Stiff felt a sudden nudge at his side. Turning, he saw Draven standing next to him with a smirk and giving a nod.

"So you made it."

"Heh, yeah.." Stiff gave a humble grin, rubbing the back of his neck. "Wasn't too tough."

"Huh.. pay attention." He motioned to Vincent.

"Here's the deal." Vincent began, eyeing everyone in the room. "I know I said I'd brief you all tomorrow morning, but I've got too much to do to waste my morning explaining to you warts the mission.. so I'll do it now."

He cleared his throat before continuing.

"I've selected certain members for this mission. I will add no more and remove none from the list; as I've chosen what I see fit for this assignment. This mission will be carried out by Nanaa Mihgo as the group leader. The members who Nanaa will lead are:

Veronaut

Flint

Draven

Stiff

Those who have not been chosen for this mission, please leave the room and wait for further briefing in my quarters. I have a different assignment for you."

Claire, Bear, and all the other members who weren't called upon silently left the room without so much as exchanging glances. Once the door was shut and only the announced stood around Vincent, he continued.

"So.. I'm sure by now that you are all aware of the strange happenings going on with many of Vana'diel's creatures?" He rose a brow, glancing at every one.

They all nodded in acknowledgment, aside from Stiff who looked at them all cluelessly.

"You mean like.. the treants and the weird gigas that showed up in Qufim?" Stiff blinked.

Vincent gave him a small nod. "Right. Strange monsters that were once common during the Crystal War have begun to show up in increasing numbers as of late. Nobody knows why, and nobody knows how.. but speculation from my trusted outside sources indicate that there is an underground organization that remains hidden in the shadows whom is conducting experiments with what they think is Magicite."

He paused for a moment.

"Now, I want you all to know, this information is strictly confidential. It must not leave these walls.. you all remember how Wert; our black smith lost his tongue, don't you? The same goes generally for any information that is shared within The Brigade's headquarters. Stiff, I'm telling you specifically as our newest member."

Stiff gulped in response and quickly nodded his head. "Y-Yes, sir."

Flint shivered as he recalled that event.

"Very well. Onto the main objective. My 'trusted outside sources' have told me that a group of rather shady characters have been hanging around the Temple of Uggalepih out in the Yhoator Jungle as of late. Upon further investigation of the temple, they found through research papers that there has been a series of secret experiments being conducted deep in the basements of Uggalepih.. experiments that may have been taking place over the years. My sources have found multiple bodies of those supposedly conducting the experiments, leading me to believe these so-called "shady characters" have begun using aggressive methods to get to this experiment. "

The group all glanced at each other intently as Vincent continued.

"Your job is to take an airship to Khazam and from there head on towards the jungle to make sure we get our hands on that experiment first. Whether its a weapon or a thing, we have reason to believe that no good will come from this shady party getting their s**t-dirty hands on it. It is because of this that you are to dispose of it immediately upon retrieval. Simple, right? As I said before, Nanaa will be leading the group because she knows every nook and cranny of the jungle better than the back of her own hand. She was born and raised in Khazam, after all."

"Hissss.. I'm not particularly looking forrrrward to running into mom again.. but as you wish, love." Nanaa swatted her hands in the air. "I'm sure therrre's.. money to be had with this experrriment!"

"Tch, pitting me with the maggots.." Veronaut grumbled looking off to the side. He was referring to Stiff and Draven.

"We'll find it. Ain't no better tracker than me in this linkshell." Flint grinned wide, giving them all a thumbs up.

Stiff couldn't help but wonder why he was chosen for this mission since according to Vincent, he chose those he only saw fit for the assignment. Not that he was complaining.

My very first important mission..

I gotta say, my heart was pounding with joy and excitement. I wasn't just ruthlessly fighting my way around the world anymore. I was going to places in order to actually make a difference.

I mean, taking out a potentially life-threatening weapon experiment? It was like something out of a story book! But considering what's been going on lately.. I'm not as surprised as I should be.

To think I started out stealing meat mithkabobs back in Selbina.. it's only been about a month since then.

Stiff smirked sincerely to himself remembering Moku and his lectures.

Where the heck is that little b*****d anyway?

"My, my.. someone looks happy." Nanaa purred as she rested her elbow on Stiff's shoulder. "Thinking about a girrrl back home, maybe..?"

Stiff nearly stumbled back at her words. "What? No way!"

Vincent had dismissed the group and gone to his quarters to brief the others on their assignment. Everyone was pretty much getting ready for bed now for the early morning.

"Ohhh? Then I guess that means you'rrre single.." She smirked, perking her furry ears and bearing her fangs as she pressed herself slightly against his arm."You can come sharrrre my room, little boy."

Stiff's face grew hot. He let out a gulp as he felt her breasts pressing against his shoulder, looking at her from the corner of his eyes.

Must.. not.. succumb.. to "petrification".. spell!

Draven just shook his head and made his way out into the dormitory hallway, muttering, "What a loser.." under his breath.

"He has his own room.." A familiar voice called out as the door leading to Vincent's quarters opened. It was Claire.

She gave a small sigh at Nanaa and made her way over to the two of them, grabbing Stiff by the ear. "Come here, pervert.." She muttered.

"Ouch! H-Hey! I'm not a pervert.. she was the one who was all over me!" He yelped as he was dragged out into the dormitory hallway.

"Mrrrow.. too bad, so sad.. I figurrred the linkshell was out of rooms, so I thought I'd be generrrous~" Nanaa smiled playfully, waving her fingers at Stiff as he was dragged away.

"You will be taking up the last dorm in the headquarters, so applications into the linkshell have been closed until further notice." Claire stated as they walked down the hall.

His dorm was the fourth door down the hall to the left. It was numbered '7'.

"Just my luck, I guess.." Stiff chuckled nervously, rubbing his ear. "Yep, luck." He repeated, motioning to the lucky number seven on his door.

Claire just shook her head and handed him his key. "Get some rest. Your team departs early tomorrow morning."

Stiff took his key and nodded with a smile. "Got it.. and hey, thanks for taking the time to run the course on me.. appreciate it."

Claire froze for a moment, then turned away. "I was simply following orders." She stated before walking away.

The next morning, me and my "team" made our way over to the airport down in Port Jeuno to board the next airship bound for Khazam.

However, thanks to me.. we had a little bit of a delay.

"How the HELL can you not have an airship pass? I can't believe this idiot!" Veronaut growled at Stiff, whom stood in front of the counter looking perplexed as ever after being declined passage.

"I.. I didn't know I needed an airship pass to board this thing. I figured like the ferry back in Selbina, it'd be a few hundred gil.." Stiff rubbed the back of his neck in defeat.

The air travel agents just looked at each other and snickered.

Stiff glanced at Draven for a second, wondering what his take on this situation was. Draven just put a hand to his own hip and sighed, shaking his head at him in response.

"This is a pretty big deal, Stiff.." Flint started. "An airship pass isn't easy to come by.. and you don't look like the kinda guy who's wallet is burning with gil."

Just in case you're wondering, an airship pass costs around 250,000gil.

Most adventurers plan their fees out before starting out in the open world on their own.. kind of like a college fund. You have to worry about Airship Passes, Chocobo license fees, and all the essentials.

"I fearrr we might have to brrring this up to Vincent.. he's going to be pissed." Nanaa muttered. "Please tell me you have a Plan B, Stiff."

Stiff gulped. "I.. I.."

"Just a moment." The mithran travel agent spoke up as she looked through a list from a file cabinet. "Your name is Stiff?"

"Yeah.." Stiff nodded, raising a brow.

"Stiff.. there is only one Stiff on this list.. and I'm sure such a strange name could only belong to one person. That must be you. Tell me, are you in any way acquainted with a Sir Moku?" She asked.

Stiff's eyes widened in surprise. "Moku? Yeah! He's a friend of mine.. tarutaru; about as tall as my knees."

The travel agent nodded. "It says here that Sir Moku has issued an airpass under your name. He paid the fees on the spot upon his arrival to Jeuno a couple of weeks ago."

"Oh, thank gods!" Flint slumped his shoulders in relief.

"Phew.. this Moku just saved yourrr hide, Stiff." Nanaa relaxed her tail.

"I don't believe it.. Moku paid.. that much for me?" Stiff asked aloud. "But.. why? That's way too much.."

"He must have known you'd be too stupid to attain one for yourself." Draven stated with a smirk.

"Can we get a move on, then? The longer we wait, the more of a chance we've got of failure. Move your asses." Veronaut grunted as he threw the door to the boarding bridge open.

Stiff smiled helplessly as he was admitted entry.

Thanks, Moku.. I owe ya one.

"Hey, there wouldn't happen to be any sky pirates, would there?" Stiff asked with a nervous chuckle.

So we eventually boarded the ship and flew off to Khazam. Talk about fancy flying..

This thing was literally a flying ship! We were so high up off the ground, it felt like I was on top of the world. Hell, even the crags looked tiny from up here.

We undocked at the jungle city of Khazam after a 2 hour flight. It wasn't that big, to be honest. Maybe a little bigger than Selbina.. but it was damn pretty and so exotic, being a small portion of the vast jungles that belonged to this region.

The best part? It was bustling with cute mithran women.

Stiff gazed at the surrounding area in awe. "Wow.. this place is cool!"

"I know, right? I mean just look at all of those mithran cuties! They sure look happy to see me again.. isn't that right, ladies?" Flint grinned as he went over to a pair of mithran girls who were having a nice conversation. Wrapping his arm over their shoulders, he winked at the two of them before shortly receiving a double-sided slap to the face.

Walking back over to the group, he chuckled and rubbed his face. "Yep, they just can't keep their hands off me."

"Welcome to Khazam!" The young, blue-haired travel agent behind the counter in front of the entrance to the village smiled after admitting them entry. She leaned over the counter and swished her tail slowly, gazing at Draven with a purr.

"I hope you enjoy your stay.. if you need a tourrrr.. let me know?"

"Don't need one.. thanks." Draven replied, making his way through.

Her feline ears lowered against her head in disappointment.

"Hey, I could use a tour when I'm not too busy!" Stiff smiled as he looked around. He was so fascinated by new sights, especially exotic places like Khazam.

"Aww.. that's cute." The travel agent cooed, patting Stiff on the head and ruffling his hair before turning to the next passenger.

Stiff just froze for a moment before moving on. "Okay.."

Flint could be heard snickering behind him.

"I wouldn't mind giving you the tourrr.. if I didn't want to get out of herrre as soon as possible, little boy.." Nanaa gave a helpless smirk. "I've got a bit of a.. interesting rrreputation here."

"You've got an 'interesting' reputation everywhere." Veronaut snorted.

Stiff sighed and made his way over to Draven as the group walked towards the chocobo stables. "Hey, man! Looks like the Warchief Wreckers are together again, eh?" He grinned, patting his back.

Draven sighed and shouldered Stiff's hand away. "You're still boasting about that? It was a simple victory over an orc.. you need to let that title go. Besides, new members of the linkshell gain the title of Brigadier upon joining. Trust me, it's a much more valuable title than our old one."

Stiff blinked at Draven, then looked forward again. "Oh.. cool. 'Brigadier'.. has a nice ring to it, heh."

Am I weird for liking our old title better? I wonder why..

Anyway, I decided I'd keep track of my titles from now on. It's good reference. It adds value to you as an adventurer, supposedly.

So we made our way outside on rented chocobos, riding them out into the vast jungle and riding past both creature and adventurer. Nanaa rode on hard and fast, navigating the jungle without even paying attention to anything in front of her.

I could have sworn I saw her sharpening her nails even..

After going through a series of underground tunnels that branched out from the Yuhtunga Jungle into Yhoator, we eventually stumbled upon rugged terrain filled with gaps that the chocobos could no longer cross. Just beyond the terrain stood the large Temple of Uggalepih. It was quite an extraordinary though aged structure, but was generally avoided by everyone.

It was often referred to as the temple of hatred; isolated by nothing but ruin.

"Herrre we are!" Nanaa exclaimed as she daintily hopped off her chocobo.

"Looks like we'll have to ditch the birds.." Flint sighed.

"Let them go back to Khazam. We don't need others knowing we're here." Draven said.

"No s**t." Veronaut frowned as he got off his bird.

"Aw, man.. does that mean we gotta walk back?" Stiff sighed.

But before anyone could answer, a little 4-leaf bud sticking out of the ground suddenly began to tremble. As it began to rise up off the ground, Nanaa quickly brought her hands to her ears and turned around.

"Everyone plug your earrrs!"

They all did so immediately upon her order as a small, oval-shaped creature with a round head and beady white eyes burst out of the earth. Everyone except Stiff, who looked around at them all in surprise, then down at the creature.

"Huh? What is that?" He blinked.

Right after, the little creature rose its leaf-like arms and began to spin on its thin little feet, seemingly singing to the group in a high-pitched tone that sounded like some messed up chocobo whistle.

"So.. tired.." Stiff slumped around, shifting his weight from one leg to another before his back hit the ground. He was sound asleep, snoring peacefully on the soft jungle floor.

"F****n' idiot.." Veronaut muttered under his breath while covering his ears, waiting for the right moment to take out his axe and smash the little creature into the air like a golf ball.

After doing so, the group watched it fly off into the distance with a high-pitched wail, glinting once in the sky before vanishing from sight. They all turned to the sleeping Stiff, who was completely knocked out.

"How did I know this would happen..?" Draven sighed, kneeling down and shaking Stiff.

"Crap.. those black mandragoras have the nastiest sleeping abilities out here. We're lucky to have not been put to sleep even with plugged ears." Flint stammered.

"Looks like he's going to be out forrr a while.." Nanaa mumbled as she opened his eyelids.

"Leave him." Veronaut said, placing his great axe on his shoulder. "We can't afford to lose any more time."

"I guess.. we can hide him in the trees?" Flint suggested as he looked up.

"We might have to.. he could possibly compromise our position." Draven said, pursing his lips regrettably and taking Stiffs legs. "Moron.."

"Sorry, Stiff." Flint shrugged, taking his shoulders and lifting him up with Draven. The two of them somehow set him up in the tree tops on a wide branch, securing him by ropes to make sure he couldn't fall.

From the foot of the tree, you couldn't even tell he was up there.

"Let's hope he keeps quiet when he comes to.." Veronaut frowned.

Pretty embarrassing, huh?

Why do these things only ever happen to me? How was I supposed to know-- you know what, nevermind.

They left me there and went off into the temple on their own, infiltrating it and scouring the lower levels for any clues or signs of their objective.

I woke up about two hours later. Surprisingly, my team still hadn't returned.

"What the hell..?" Stiff shook his head, looking around. "Where am I?"

After a short moment, he realized that he was tied to a large branch atop a tree. He couldn't even see the ground from here because of the giant leaves, so he couldn't determine whether he was really high up or just a few feet off the ground.

"They left me tied up in a tree!?" He exclaimed at no one in particular. "Whoa!"

He could feel the tree swaying as he made a ruckus, halting his squirming.

"Okay.. remain calm. They didn't just leave me here.. they just.. went on without me, right? To save time.. yeah, that must be it. When they find the objective, they'll come back and untie me." He reassured himself. "Draven wouldn't let them leave me would he?"

After about twenty minutes, Stiff was already bored to no end. "They could have at least untied my hands so that I could drink from my canteen.."

He stopped as he felt a bit of water trickle onto his forehead. Looking up, he saw a large leaf just above him that was dripping water. He hadn't noticed it before since he just now had rested his head back against the tree.

"Water.." He mumbled, opening his mouth and trying to catch the falling drops. It was fresh water, most likely left over by the rainfall.

The large leaf was suddenly pushed down by an unknown force, causing the puddle of water that was built up on it to cascade forward onto Stiff's face.

"Aghh..!" Stiff coughed and choked as he unexpectedly swallowed more water than he meant to. His head was entirely soaked. "What the hell was that!?"

He could hear a playful giggle from within the trees.

"Oh man.. I'm not alone up here.." He muttered, shifting his eyes left and right. "Wh.. who's there?" He called out.

He heard another soft, feminine giggle as the tree leaves shuffled about, making him gulp as he grew nervous.

"Maybe it's just my imagination.." He told himself aloud. "There's no way anyone would be hanging around in the tree tops in an isolated place like this."

After it grew quiet, he sighed and slumped back against the tree as he closed his eyes, chuckling to himself. "Yeah.. I've just been here too long. My mind is just bored and is imagining things."

Haha.. someone up here in the trees. That's such a stretch.

Those guys better hurry it up before I start imagining something worse.

As he opened his eyes again, he was greeted by a pair of mischievous, multi-colored bright blue and green eyes. The left eye was blue; right eye was green.

"BOO!!!"

The young girl suspended upside-down by her curly tail that was latched around the above tree branch screamed out at him playfully. She had been hanging like this; face just inches from Stiff's.

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Author's note: Illustration created by Okinawas2

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"AHHHHHH!" Was all Stiff could let out in response, backing himself up against the tree with wide eyes. He was so not expecting that.

The strange girl doubled over in laughter at his reaction.

At first glance, I thought I was looking at a Mithra.. but at a second glance, I saw that it definitely wasn't a Mithra. I saw no feline features whatsoever.

She had a brown, furry tail that was curled at the end; much like those monkey-like Opo-opos roaming around this jungle. Instead of cat-like ears, she had a pair of round Opo-opo-ish ears matching the color of her tail that stuck out slightly between her blondish, sun-bleached hair.

This girl was hardly wearing much save for a rugged top and a small, ripped cloth tied around and between her.. lower body.. it could easily pass off as a loin cloth. She looked no older than myself- maybe a year younger. The rest of her slightly tanned skin was exposed.

If I wasn't currently having a heart attack, I might have been able to notice how fricken' adorable she actually was.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Stiff is met face-to-face with a new species of.. whatever this strange Opo-opo girl is!

Who is she and what is she doing all alone in the middle of the jungle? And why does she have such undiscovered features!?

Find out next time in Chapter 15: A Chance Meeting

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