To A Thief - Chapter 39: Stiff vs Gazo

Specializing in covert actions, Thieves aim for the perfect opportunity to attack the enemy.

Jugner Forest

Ripping off the dark pendant from his neck and holding it up to examine, Gazo smirked helplessly. "Heh, I guess it can't be helped. It appears the emptiness shorted this thing out."

He had been jumping along the trees of Jugner to save time and stay out of sight. But that didn't prove to help much when he felt the current tree he was standing on suddenly give away and topple over with him still on top. 

"Eh? Oh please, tree, I am not that heavy," he scoffed, jumping off before he could hit the ground with it and landing gently on the ground. "But then again, we Galka are made up of pure muscle mass. So it is of no surprise," he murmured, standing straight and grinning to himself. "Isn't that right, Brigadier Warrior?" 

Veronaut stood a few feet behind Gazo with his great axe held out as if he had just swung it. His face was red and he was huffing angrily. Obviously, Gazo had been making fun of him. Of course he hadn't toppled the tree over with his weight. Veronaut had attempted to catch the galkan swordsman by surprise and had cut down the tree with one fell swoop of his axe. 

"Shut the f**k up," Veronaut growled. "You're mine now, you little b***h," he said, aware of the fact that Gazo's pendant wasn't working anymore. 

"Oh? Is that so?" Gazo smirked, unsheathing his sword. "Been out long?"

"I said SHUT UP!" Veronaut roared, lunging forward and beginning his relentless attack on Gazo. He wanted this guy's head skewered so bad he could taste it. 

Gazo chuckled as he parried or stepped away from the enraged warrior's swings. "Your attacks are so slow, I could avoid them in my sleep," he said. "In fact, why don't we try that now?" 

The swordsman reached into his satchel and pulled out what appeared to be a sleeping potion. He held it over his mouth and crushed it in his hand, drinking the water that poured out, glass and all. He remained standing after that, but he had his eyes closed and was snoring soundly. 

Veronaut nearly shivered from all of the anger coursing through his veins. "This guy," he thought to himself, wanting nothing more than to f*****g end him... making a mockery of him and s**t. He couldn't help but roar out with each next attack he would send this guy's way. 

Just as Gazo had said, he had continued evading the warrior's attack while he snoozed. He just loved making this guy miserable. There was nothing better than toppling someone out of there high horse, especially those with a short temper. Of course he could avoid such slow attacks in his sleep. His body was trained well enough to sense incoming attacks without him being aware, granted they were slow enough. After all, those that trained in the way of bushido required some type of protection while they meditated their abilities. 

"HUH!?" Veronaut went all chibi with an angrily shocked face as his attacks missed the sleeping foe. "Stop screwing with me!!"

******

"Eh?" Stiff tilted his head as he heard the familiar sounds of Vero's raging in the distance. He had just arrived in Jugner in suit of Gazo. "That can't be good. It sounds like Vero has already engaged Gazo. Where the hell has he been all this time, anyway?" He wondered, picking up the pace and hoping he got there before Vero did something stupid.

Ru'Lude Gardens

"Moku!" Okina called out to the taru mage from the balcony as he made his way to the palace. She dove off of it and plunged straight towards him excitedly. 

"Huh?" Moku looked up at the object flying towards him, then screamed with wide eyes as he saw and heard it was Okina. He hadn't really been paying attention because his mind kept trailing off, but now he was damn well aware. "AHH!" 

Tackling right into him, she hugged him tight and tumbled with him along the floor until she stopped in a standing position and held him up, anxious worry in her eyes. "Did you find Stiffy? Is he oki, oki?" 

"Guuurrh," Moku's eyes became swirls as he was held up before her, falling limp for a second before shaking himself awake.  "Okinaaaa!" He cried out. "You have to stop doing that! It hurts!" 

Okina just blinked and tilted her head curiously. "Huuuuuuuh? I do it to Stiffy all the time, but he never says anything, anything!" 

"That's because you knock him right out cold!" He protested, but sighed in defeat and looked at her. "Yes, he is okay - or was when i found him - it's a long story but, he's gone after Gazo again! And this time they've headed out of Jeuno."

"What?" Annie rose a brow as she approached them with the rest of the group. "All by himself? Who does he think he is?"

"Believe me, he was doing just fine before I got to him..." Moku pursed his lips as he was set down by Okina. "But that's because... well, you see, ah..." 

"He was using the emptiness within him," Claire stated as she made her way out through the palace doors. 

Moku sighed and nodded his head. "Yes. Wait, how do you know that?" 

"I was watching everything from the linkpearls before I decided it was time to move on," she shrugged. "It is a perk that comes with the linkgem."

Trivia: A 'Linkgem' is a step up from a linkpearl, and is only in possession by the owners of a linkshell. Through this, they can monitor the positions of their linkshell members, break said members linkpearls, blow member linkpearls up if they have to, and of course access the standard use of a linkpearl.

"The emptiness?" Flint echoed. 

"Err?" Mel blinked as she poked her head to the side curiously. "What do you mean Stiff used the emptiness?"

In fact, they all looked rather clueless as to the matter of Stiff's condition. 

Claire nodded sternly and turned her back to the group. "He's not the only one. There is something you all should know about Stiff and Draven," she began. 

They all listened on in full attention.

Jugner Forest

"Oof!" Veronaut stumbled onto his rear as the sleeping Gazo just about defeated him. It was no use. Even in their sleep, these guys were powerful as hell. Looking up at Gazo and clutching the handle of his great axe hard in frustration, Veronaut said, "F**k you."

The sleeping Gazo held his blade over Veronaut, ready to end the warrior's life as he snoozed.

"Tch," Veronaut gritted his teeth, glaring at the b*****d. What was the point in resisting? If they couldn't even handle the pawns, in their sleep even, how could they possibly hope to beat the man who bested Vincent with little to no effort? Not to mention, Vincent took out twelve of these fuckers in a few minutes.

Just as Gazo brought his blade down in a swift slash, there was a sudden flash of steel followed by a handful of sparks. 

Veronaut's eyes shot open as he saw the back of the figure standing before him, having parried the incoming blow. For a very split second, looking at that Brigadier armor in tatters, he could of sworn he saw someone else. "Vincent...?" He blinked hard. But as the figure turned to him, he realized who it was now. "No. Stiff! What are-" 

"Get back Veronaut," Stiff said to him firmly, but then gave that stupid grin of his. "Just leave Gazo to me. I got some unfinished business with him."

He held up Gazo's blade with the edge of his dagger, shortly before rotating his body around, activating a simple Sneak Attack whilst in rotation and swiftly landed it right on the swordsman's back. 

Of course, this was no Pulse Attack. It was merely a Sneak Attack that would send someone like Gazo tumbling forward and knocking himself into a tree. Surprisingly, he remained asleep. 

"Damn it," Veronaut looked away in shame. "Of all people, this punk being the one to save me... but... he did come just in the nick of time. But just what the hell does HE plan to do against an enemy like THAT? He's nothing but a thief!"

"You should head back, Vero," Stiff said as he walked towards Gazo. "Jeuno is a mess right now. There might still be demons around..."

"Don't tell me what to do... you kid," Veronaut muttered as he looked down, being his usual stubborn self. But the news of Jeuno were new to him. 

"Hehe, you sound like you're doing okay," Stiff told him before turning his full attention to Gazo, whom sat up against the tree while still asleep. Grabbing his collar and pulling him up, Stiff frowned. He knew that Gazo could still react even while asleep, but he wanted him totally awake for this. Inhaling a large amount of air into his own chest until it nearly puffed out, Stiff shouted at the top of his lungs, loud enough to make even the birds fly away and the animals scatter.

"OI, WAKE UP!"

Gazo sprung up awake, clutching his ears and jumping a few feet away. "Ow, f**k! My ears!"

Veronaut gritted his teeth and had one eye closed as he lowered his hands from his ears. "Sheesh... that was loud." 

"Now that I have your attention," Stiff smirked. He jumped back into the shadows of the trees, but not before slapping a warp scroll on Veronaut's forehead along the way. It would send him back to Jeuno against his will via the magicks that consumed the warrior into the piece of paper. 

"HEY!" He managed to shout as he was warped out.

Gazo realized that Stiff wasn't being possessed by the emptiness anymore. Looking around and attempting to sense where he hid among the trees, he grinned and called to him, "You made a big mistake coming after me without the emptiness, kid! This will be so much easier for me now." 

"Don't bet on it~" 

"Hm?" Gazo could have sworn he felt the voice in the tree tops right above him. He sneered and picked up a hefty rock from the ground, chucking it upwards with all his might. 

"Ow!" 

The galka snickered, believing he had hit Stiff, but the rock fell back down with a few splinters of bark.

"Just kidding!"

"HEY!"

"Over here-"

"-Over there!"

"Oi!"

"North!"

"South!"

"East!"

"West!"

It was all very disorienting. Even for a samurai like Gazo, with heightened senses, he completely lost track of that annoying little runt. 

"The jugular veins," Stiff's voice spoke from within the trees. "Severed with even the tiniest prick of say, a dart, could disrupt the flow of blood going from the head back to the heart through the... uh... well, you get the picture. So I'm no good at this medical stuff, but I have a clear shot from here!" 

Upon speaking, a dart flew right past Gazo's neck, deliberately missing. 

"And from here."

A second dart flew from the opposite direction in the same manner. 

Gazo began to grow infuriated with this foolishness. "Quit playing around, jackass. Come down here and fight me like a man." 

Stiff snickered. "You haven't fought many thieves in your time have you, samurai?"

"Tch, acting all tough," Gazo scoffed and held his blade out. "Fine then, I'll just have to come after you!" So he jumped high up off the ground and landed gently on a thick branch. He saw no sign of the thief, but kept his wits about him. 

He couldn't hear or see a thing. Not even the rustle of a tree leaf brushing against a person. As he tiptoed along the branch, he was suddenly taken aback by an incoming face that came at him upside-down. 

"HALLO!"

It was Stiff, of course, hanging from a separate branch above with the use of his legs and smiling in a playful manner. 

Since the sudden taunt had caught him off guard and he was standing on such a thin branch, Gazo couldn't help but lose his balance. He grunted and fell backward, but not before hurling his blade straight at the hanging thief's face; something that would have killed him if he hadn't missed by half an inch. That would have ended his mission of bringing back the catalyst in failure. But at this point, he didn't care, he was that pissed.

Well, to be fair, he did manage to graze Stiff on the upper cheek before the thief had swung back upward.

"Ouch... you've gone and done it now," Stiff called out, moments before plunging from the tree tops and landing on the soft grass with his dagger in his right hand and Gazo's katana, which he had caught as it grazed him, in his left. A bit of blood trickled down from the small wound. "To think you were reckless enough to throw your own weapon at me."

Gazo pushed himself off of the ground, using his hands to rise up into the air and land on his feet. He glared at Stiff, deciding he was tired of playing.

"I could just keep this blade for myself as punishment for your stupidity, but then again... it serves no purpose to me. Keep it," He said, throwing it back at Gazo as if it were some useless loot. "I'm more of a dagger kind of guy, anyway," he grinned, spinning his dagger in his hand and pointing it at the swordsman. 

Gazo growled in anger as he kicked his sword up with his foot and caught it in his hand, charging at Stiff in the similarly enraged manner of a previous opponent. He was so angry in fact, that he didn't even see the thin string that his foot had kicked up which was hidden within the thick grass. 

Stiff's face had suddenly become the end of a big, cut section of a tree trunk coming straight at Gazo and crashing into his chest with what felt like the force of an airship. It wasn't until it had hit him and sent him rolling back that Gazo realized it had been tied to two ropes on each end that were suspended from somewhere above in the tree tops. 

As the log came back his way, Stiff jumped up on it and held onto the ropes as he swung with it. "That looked painful," he smiled helplessly. "Gazo, I'm disappointed. How could you not see this when you were up there with me? I guess you just weren't expecting it. Pff! Some samurai you are. I'll have to thank Veronaut later for cutting you down from that tree earlier, because it sure came in handy."

Gazo choked out a mess of blood as his chest throbbed in pain, hardly letting him breathe. He remained on all fours, fighting to keep consciousness. It felt as if his chest had been crushed entirely by that tree trunk. "He set up that trap while I was dealing with the warrior? That son of a b***h."

I know, I'm bad. But this guy had it coming. Like I said before, I won't forgive the Descent for what they have done. And I definitely won't forgive Gazo for betraying Sister Eri and turning me into a monster.

I won't give him the satisfaction of having me turn into one or fighting as one, though.

"Had enough?" Stiff jumped down from the swinging tree trunk and frowned at the struggling swordsman. "I'll end it now, if so." 

Gazo just choked out a laugh, pushing himself off the ground. "Come on, don't try to act so tough just because you have the advantage of the trees here! I had you like a trapped mouse back in Jeuno." 

"Pfft," Stiff rolled his eyes. "That's what being a thief is all about; using your surroundings to your advantage. Besides, you weren't fighting a thief in Jeuno... I was just drunk with rage, is all. I must admit, it was a flaw on my part. Us thieves aren't the best in direct combat. Not unless you're slow."

Gazo clenched his fists, just staring the little b*****d down. How is it that he has been brought down so low by a mere kid thief? Preposterous! Swinging his arm at Stiff, he chucked the black armored and spiked gauntlet he was wearing at him and used the diversion of having the thief avoid it to begin running in the opposite direction. "I'll just have to lead you away from the trees and out into the field, then! The outpost a few yalms from here will do. Let's see just how tough you- WHAT?"

Just as Gazo was nearing the edge of the woods into the clearing of the road leading towards the outpost, two blurs of green emerged from the ground and began shooting countless, thin little needles at him. He had just enough time to put his hand over his face and turn to his side to avoid receiving any of them to his front side. The end result was still very painful. The little green, cactus-like critters with stubby legs and arms squeaked and hopped about before burrowing back into the ground out of sight. 

"Cactuars!?" Gazo groaned in pain, but continued to drag himself out into the clearing. "Are you kidding me? Ugh..."

Stiff followed behind him casually. "That's right. I decided to pick some up at the greenhouse in Jeuno on my way out. They're relatively harmless when store or garden-bought, unless they're provoked. And let me tell ya, what you did to their greenhouse really ticked them off," he sighed. "I've ran into my share of wild cactuar in the Altepa Desert- painful experiences, so I knew all too well the "needle mines" these guys could make. Oh, by the way, I tipped their needles with poison."

A bit much? Maybe.

But if this guy had chosen to run away during our fight, I wanted to make sure he wouldn't make it out alive.

Gazo was wheezing by now, having a hard time breathing and staying conscious due to the fact that his chest area was smashed and because of the poison now coursing through his veins from the needles protruding from his left side. Still, he continued to drag himself towards the outpost. He was in the clearing now, away from the trees. Away from that oaken hell. 

Surprisingly, Gazo still had enough strength left to run.

"I guess this is as good a time to end it. But I want to make sure he won't be getting back up," Stiff muttered, holding out his dagger and charging up a Pulse Attack. "Also, I'd like to try that." 

Reaching into his satchel, he pulled out the dagger he was using during his training with Draven back at Ghelsba when the two had first met and closed his eyes to concentrate. It started out as nothing more than a few white sparks, but surely, the dagger he now held in his left hand began to form a secondary Pulse Attack; just like he had done a while back inside the emptiness. It had taken him months after that just to be able to mimic what he did that day. 

"Here goes nothing!" He readied himself, activating a good Flee and running towards his enemy. 

Gazo turned as he heard the loud sounds of the Pulse Attacks. "Two!?" He grunted in surprise. "He could make two of them at once!? That's impossible!" He began to run even faster; as fast as his legs would take him. But to his utter relief, he began to see something spectacular. His pendant began to emit darkness once again. It was functioning again!

"Haha!" Gazo laughed. "So much for that... kid! You don't have me... just yet..." He began clutching his pendant. 

"Oh no you don't!" Stiff growled, pushing himself to sprint faster. But realizing he wouldn't make it in time if he didn't do something, an idea hit him. It was a crazy and possibly dangerous one, but he had no other choice. 

Facing the ground as he sprinted, Stiff thrust the Pulse Attack on his left hand down hard into the earth. Just like before, it pulsated into an explosion of energy that he timed well enough to flip himself into the air and be sent flying towards the teleporting Descent. He was going at twice the speed that his Flee ability otherwise gave him; nothing but a beam of light to someone who would be watching due to the streamlining of his remaining Pulse Attack. 

You can bet your a*s that his attack connected to Gazo in time. And the way he was flying at him without being able to stop caused both himself and Gazo to fly right through the outpost and into the hill on the other side, leaving a nice big crater along its side due to the explosion. Gazo of course, was done for. He had been screaming the entire time, up until he met the hill side with such a force that all the bones in his body were practically crushed. 

Dying, Gazo looked up at the young man who bested him. The man who had finally defeated him. To think that after all these long years, there was still such pure power and skill left in this world. "... Stiff..." He murmured, no longer calling him a simple 'kid' as his vision began to black out, the valiant face of his foe being the last thing he saw before passing on. 

 "... Stiff." 

___________________________________________________________________________________

Stiff finally awakens as a true thief! 

But what about the crumbling Jeuno? What of Draven?

Find out what happens next in Chapter 40: Monster