A/N: Welcome, readers to Everybody Hates Dip. It's been quite a while now since I updated (Arrgh...) It feels great to update again! And y'know, it's a really good thing that there aren't many stories here in this section. And that means no one will mind whatever I write at all... A cool idea in its own way! Though I really want to thank Larvakam for reviewing... So, thanks!

After the second part of the chapter will be the flashback and in the fourth part of the story, it's a flashback in a flashback! (The parts are separated with dashes ( --- ) in case you guys don't know. After that the whole thing (except for the 8th part) will be a flashback.

Disclaimer: I don't own FFT: A...

"Good morning, sleepyhead," A smiling Milly greeted Toynbee as he entered the dining room with tired eyes. The summoner was cooking eggs for breakfast and placed one on a plate. "Did you have a nice sleep last night?"

Toynbee yawned and walked to the table. He pulled a chair and sat down along with his fellow clan members and their guest, Clan Nutsy's nu mou morpher Mosley. "Yeah, I guess. I thought I heard something last night but I guess I was just tired..."

Elnan faked a cough. "Well, yeah... I also heard something but it was probably just nothing... Right?"

Rodrigo eyed the paladin suspiciously. "Huh. You seem like you're up to something, kupo." He crossed his arms. "Yeah. Like You're hidin' a secret. Wanna share it with us?"

"I'm not hiding anything," Elnan countered. "I mean, why would I?"

Lilila decided to pitch in on the two's small argument. "You faked that cough just now."

"...No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't." His voice was harder this time.

"You did."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"DID NOT!"

"DID TOO!"

"I DIDN'T FAKE IT AND YOU KNOW IT!"

"OH SHUT UP! DON'T TRY TO LIE YOUR WAY OUTTA THIS!"

"I AIN'T LYING!"

"ARE TOO!"

"ARE NOT!"

The two ranted on. Rodrigo placed his hands to his furry ears. Toynbee and Mosley did the same. "Oh boy, here they go, kupo..." He buckled himself for another argument involving the assassin and paladin. Hopefully Toynbee's not gonna go in there telling them to shut up because it's early in the day...

"Oh my... They seem to do this a lot, don't they?" Mosley tried to speak over the viera's and paladin's bickering. "It's making me deaf!"

"You're not the only one, kupo!" The two of them crouched under the table, trying not to be involved as much as possible.

"I SAID I'M NOT LYING, LONG EARS!"

"AND I SAY YOU ARE! AND DON'T CALL ME "LONG EARS" YA HALF-WIT!"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLIN' HALF-WIT, RABBIT HEAD?!"

"I AM! NOW SHUT UP BEFORE YOU START AN AVALANCHE!"

"GRAHH!! YOU TWO! STOP IT!" Toynbee suddenly ended up being absorbed into their shouting, much to Rodrigo's dismay. "IT'S FREAKING EARLY IN THE MORNING AND YOU TWO ARE ALREADY FIGHTING!"

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, YOU AIN'T MY MOM OR ANYTHING!"

"I SUGGEST YOU LISTEN TO HIM FOR ONCE, AT LEAST HE'S HELPING IN KEEPING YOU QUIET!"

"THAT GOES TO YOU TOO, LILILA!"

"HEY! WHAT!? NO WAY! JUST WHO THE HECK ARE YOU TO TELL ME THAT!?"

"I'M YOUR FREAKING CLAN LEADER! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO LISTEN TO ME!"

"AND WHY WOULD I LISTEN TO YOU!?"

"I TOLD YOU ALREADY, DIDN'T I!?"

"HEY, YOU SHOULD SHUT UP, LIKE HE SAID! IT'LL MAKE THIS CABIN A LOT PEACEFUL!"

"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!!!"

Under the table...

"Grr... I can't take this anymore! Every day the same thing happens..." Rodrigo gritted his teeth. "If I have to keep listening to those three argue, I'll go nuts!"

Mosley felt a headache kicking in. "I second that... I only wish something would happen that would make the three of them be quiet...!"

At that moment, silence filled the room, replacing the loud shouting of Toynbee, Lilila and Elnan. Rodrigo and Mosley sat still for a moment, before removing the hands covering their ears. Looking from under the table, they saw the three of them mouthing words to one another. Somehow they seem to have a hard time doing it...

"Huh? What's goin' on, kupo?" Rodrigo observed the three. "Did they scream their voices off?"

Mosley shook her head. "No... That isn't it. It looks like they're--Oh my goodness!"

The gadgeteer at once turned his head towards Mosley. "Mm? What's the matter? What are you looking at..." He followed where she was looking at nearly choked on his spit. "Kckk... Whoa!"

Behind the trio was Milly, and next to her was a beautiful woman with a sleek, white body. Long, yellow feathery wings stuck out of her head. She wore a very revealing outfit making her look so distracting... And appealing to men. She had gold hair and she held a green harp.

Rodrigo couldn't help but let his eyes slide to her... Legs. Erm... Moving along...

Milly faced the woman. "Thanks a lot for your help, Siren." She looked down on the floor, feeling embarrassed for having to call on the Summon for a simple thing such as that. Siren merely shook it off. "Nah, you don't have to feel bad. And yeah, it WAS a good idea you called me to shut these guys up." She rolled her eyes at the three. "Man, what a pain, though. I thought you called me 'cause you wanted to hang out... Man, it's starting to get boring down in that old dump. Nothing but black, black, void, endless black and those old, rotting buildings I actually call a house. In fact, I only get to come out whenever YOU call on me lately... Huh, that's pretty weird."

"I'm sure those other summoners are just busy," Milly reassured her. Siren merely shrugged. From the corner of her eye, she noticed a shocked Mosley and a slightly perverted Rodrigo. "Hey, Milly," She called.

"Yes, what is it?" Siren pointed at the two people staring at her. "Do ya want me to keep 'em quiet too?" Milly turned her head to the direction where Siren pointed at to see Mosley panicking and Rodrigo still staring at Siren's legs, though she didn't notice he was. Milly scratched the back of her head. "Ahh... No... No, please don't."

The Summon blinked, wondering whether Milly wanted to silence them or what. "Are you sure?"

Milly nodded anxiously. "Yes, yes... Please, they've not done anything at all..." Well, maybe Rodrigo, but that doesn't count... "So it's alright for you to go now."

Siren eyed the two for a full minute before answering, "Alright, alright... If you say so. Well, I'll see you later, Milly."

"Alright. Goodbye," Milly said as Siren cast a teleportation spell and sent herself back to where she had come from. Mosley and Rodrigo crawled out of the table and stood up before dusting their clothes clean.

"Oh man..." Rodrigo moped. "That lady sure is hot... OW!"

Lilila whacked the moogle on the head with her fist. Rodrigo rubbed it gently. "Kupo! What was that for?"

Elnan could barely contain his soundless laughter.

---

After having breakfast, Milly had decided to return Toynbee's voice back after casting Esuna on him. He was grateful that she gave him his voice back, until he saw that she was not tending to Lilila's and Elnan's voices. Tapping her shoulder, he asked, "Hey, what about those two? Aren't you going to heal them?" He cocked a thumb at the silent duo.

Milly shook her head. "If I had unsilenced them while we were heading down the pass and they end up in another argument, what do you think will happen?" Not expecting an answer from him, she turned away and continued down the path. Toynbee shuddered. She was right--if Elnan and Lilila were to fight again and they were still at the mountain a possible avalanche would occur, leaving the six of them buried under probably six to seven feet of snow which would take days for them to be dug up and found by one clan.

"Uh... Yeah, good point." He looked in several directions before walking in front of everyone to scout ahead. Mosley, who was behind the entire party, took one last glance at the cabin before turning away to join her comrades in their trek down the mountain. From what Milly had told her during breakfast, if they were to climb down the mountain as soon as they had finished eating their meal, they would arrive at the foot of the mountain just a good two hours before the sun sets.

"Hey, I just thought of something..." She said without knowing that she did. Rodrigo, who was walking just right next to her, gave her a curious look. "What is it, kupo?"

"Once we get down the mountain... Where will all of you go?"

The question caused all of them to pause for a few minutes. Rodrigo turned away to look at the snow he was stepping on. "Huh..." He muttered, "Y'know, I never really thought about that..."

"Yeah..." Milly added. "Neither have I. We only met each other again recently thanks to those letters someone had sent us... Perhaps... We might be parting ways again as soon as we do."

Toynbee felt his heart pound against his chest upon her words. The clan... Parting ways again? Disbanding again after just recently reuniting? He gulped a helpful of saliva. No... He thought. He wouldn't allow it. He can't allow it.

Instead of letting his emotions burst like a balloon, he stated, "We won't know... Until the time comes."

Mosley kept her gaze at the hunter as he walked further away from them. She bowed her head, a feeling of guilt creeping into her heart.

Suddenly a comforting hand was felt on hers. She looked up to see the only moogle among them, beaming her a gentle smile. "Nothing to be sorry about, kupo. It's just that our clan... Has a few issues, so I hope you won't..."

She would take no more, and instead she nodded. "I understand, Rodrigo," She told him. "And, thank you."

Rodrigo released his grip on the morpher's hand. "Glad I could help," He replied before trotting off to catch up with the rest. Mosley followed close behind, along with Lilila and Elnan, who were almost completely left out from this entire part of the story because Milly politely refused to heal them of their ailment.

"Which reminds me, though," Mosley started again, "How did the mountain ever become your clan turf?"

Milly giggled at her question. "Hee hee, it's like you're interested in our clan's little history, eh?" Mosley hoped that they weren't thinking that she was some sort of spy gathering information about their clan, and luckily, they didn't.

"Well, kupo," Rodrigo tapped his head, trying to remember how it went. "It wasn't at all pretty at first, but it got interestin' later on!"

---

It has been nearly four days since the clan began searching for turf. From Sprohm up to the Materiwood, all they've done is look for a place to stay and a place where their clan could live and prosper (not like those things that from a village, it becomes a town and so on). They also needed it so people would know where their wannabe clan is so that when people knew of them, they'd just go to their turf and probably ask for membership. All of them had been out, away from civilization just for the sole purpose of looking for turf. Of course since they were out for too long wandering aimlessly, wasting their energy too, that affected much of their supplies.

They took turns in leading; the leader shifted every dawn, every dusk again, then dawn once more. When it was Toynbee who led first, they were just leaving the bangaa town and were headed for Roda Volcano. But by dusk it was Milly's turn and they suddenly turned back and headed towards the Kudik Peaks but they had to camp out along the way because she and Rodrigo were already tired from the trek. So the next day they had already woken up at an hour before noon (Because they walked a few hours more before camping out) and continued their way to Kudik. Unfortunately it was dusk as soon as they arrived at the foot of the mountain, and it was Elnan's turn. They went south of the Peaks and ended up in Nargai Cave, where they got stranded all night and got chased by a ghost 'till dawn. So Lilila came next and led the clan to Baguba Port, but along the way, they got attacked by the Antlions Clan and barely won the engagement, and at the same time, they lost their bearings. At that time it was already four hours past noon and barely dusk yet, but she just let Rodrigo lead the way and found themselves in a path that led straight to Cadoan. They thought things were taking a turn for the better, but they were wrong...

---

"Finally! I can see Cadoan now, kupo..." Rodrigo pointed at the nu mou populated town in the distance. "And look, its almost dusk, too!"

Elnan stretched himself out. "Ahh... Maybe now we'll find ourselves a place to sleep and a nice pub we could stay in..." Lilila smirked at his remark. "Hm.. I guess you COULD put it that way, since we've been out for nearly three days."

Milly made a nervous laugh. "H-Hey, now, let's not fight... At least the important thing is we're finally going into a town." She began walking ahead. "C'mon, if it gets dark then we'll have to camp out again. And I'm sure you all know," She zipped open her pack and peeked inside only to find ten potions and two antidotes left, "We're running out of supplies."

"She's right," Toynbee glanced at them. "Our food won't last long. We have to hurry and restock or we might have to tighten our belts and starve while looking for turf. And if we have to camp out again, then we definitely won't have anything left by tomorrow."

The soldier started marching forward. "Then what the heck are we waitin' fer? Let's go!" He pointed his sword in the air as he marched ahead of them. Milly giggled and Lilila rolled her eyes. 'Idiot,' she told herself before following him. The human archer and moogle thief followed suit.

As soon as they entered the town gates, there was screaming all around town. All looked around, trying to examine the situation. A nu mou ran past them. "MONSTERS!! RUN FOR YOUR FREAKING LIVES!!" Just behind was a coeurl who was leaping towards him. Elnan got in the monster's way and slashed the creature's body in two. The monster fell to the ground, blood spilling everywhere. He turned his head to his fellow clan members. "Looks like there's some monster trouble in town. We should go help out a bit, you know?"

"A-Are you sure?" Milly asked. "In our condition?" Elnan waved his hand back and forth at her, trying to shake away all worry. "No problem! No problem!" He went into a combative stance. "We can beat up a few monsters... How hard can they be?"

There was then a rumbling sound that caused the ground to shake. "What... What's going on, kupo?" Rodrigo wondered. Lilila pointed towards the town square where a cloud of dust was headed for them. Toynbee squinted his eyes to get a better look, only to widen them when he sees hordes of monsters rushing out of town. He was struck speechless for a moment before throwing his hands in the air, and running out of the town shouting, "MAKE A RUN FOR IT!!" The other four clan members looked at the direction of the monsters before screaming and running after their clan leader.

While running, Elnan shouted to Rodrigo, "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

---

It was late at night. It had been four hours since they ran from Cadoan, trying to escape the monster horde that came after them. They fought back a few of the monsters, only to end up getting injured in the fight and even more tired. When the monsters could finally no longer follow them, they were relieved; although the new problem now is that they don't know where they are, and they still haven't found any turf. What's worse, their food supply had run out, leaving them with nothing but a bitten piece of bread and and a can of sardines.

They later realized that they were in Materiwood, because Lilila recognized a certain kind of ore she had found on the road they were on. That also meant that Muscadet was not too far off, and it could take them a couple of hours before they could even reach the town, especially in their current statuses, which were three things: Tired, hungry and worn out.

The clan camped out in a peaceful and quiet spot in the forest. There was a simple tent put up under the leafy branches of a tree, and they didn't bother to put up another since putting up one tent was hard work already, and putting up another would be a waste of energy, especially at the moment. It was then decided that the vieras would sleep in the tent instead, and the rest would have to sleep outside.

Toynbee managed to start a fire with a few sticks he found nearby. The fire was weak due to lack of fuel, however it was enough to heat them in the coldness of the night. The archer leaned back on a tree and rubbed his shoulders to create friction. "How come it's so cold all of a sudden?" He asked. Lilila popped her head out of the tent and replied, "Well, the Materiwood is connected to the roads which lead to Muscadet, to the Nubswood, to the Lutia Pass and unfortunately," She sighed, "Back to Sprohm..."

Upon hearing this, Elnan shouted, "Oh great! We're just goin' right back to where we started!" He threw his hands in the air in frustration. "I don't believe this! You mean we went all this way only to end up going back to square one!?" He dropped himself down on the grass and mumbled, "It can't get any worse than this..."

As soon as he said that, the sky began to make a rumbling noise before rain showered upon their campsite and drenching them like crazy. The fire was doused immediately. Tiny drops of water fell from the leaves of the trees towards Milly and Lilila's small tent, causing it to dampen. Milly shook her head hopelessly. "...We'd best head to sleep." She lay down on the spread out mat and curled herself before going to sleep. Lilila sighed and did the same, only on her mat.

Rodrigo rolled his eyes at the soldier. "...You just had to say that, didn't ya, kupo?"

"Oh, shut up!" He snapped before drying himself under the tree. "We should've just stayed in Sprohm if we were going to end up back there anyway!"

"Let's just go to sleep," Toynbee said, already sick of Elnan's complaining. "You're not the only one tired right now." Elnan was quiet before sitting next to a tree and leaning on its trunk. "Well, tomorrow won't be as bad as today..." He closed his eyes and went to sleep. Rodrigo was overheard him and thought, I'd watch what you say, kupo...

---

The next day...

Oh, man...

Rodrigo wakes up from his sleep, his body feeling stiff and his position uncomfortable. The ground really wasn't a nice place to rest on, especially if it rained the previous night. He wondered why he didn't just sleep on the tree branches instead; they seemed to look big enough for anyone to sit on or rest on. He lets out a moan before closing his eyes and attempting to go back to sleep. Everything was just going along well for them, is all, and it would be best if he did--

"EEEK!!"

The shriek causes the moogle thief to bolt up from his sleeping position and look around frantically. Oh no... He thought. That was Lilila's voice! Panic was spread on his face like peanut butter on a sandwich bread. He fumbles his way to his dirk before shaking Toynbee awake. "Kupo, kupo, wake up!"

"...Hunh..." Toynbee rubs his eyes before opening them. He yawns loudly and looks down at the moogle shaking his helpless arm. "Mmm... What is it, Rodrigo?" He asked, a little pissed at his moogle companion for waking him up. He'd have Elnan remind him to use him for target practice later. "It's too early you know that..."

Rodrigo flails his arms wildly in the air. "L-Lilila and M-Milly-"

Immediately the human archer bolts up from his position, knocking the moogle aside in the process. He gets his bow that lay beside him and heads straight for the girls' tent. Rodrigo gets up from the ground, rubbing his side before waking up the soldier who was snoring moderately on the bark of a large tree. He shakes him, trying to wake him up. Elnan makes a muffled noise before attempting to open his eyes. "Fhrlagrhh... Wha..."

"Wake up! The girls are in trouble!" The soldier promptly ignores the moogle's command, causing him to fume. An idea suddenly popped in his mind and leaned in the soldier's ear whispering:

"They stole the last of our food."

About a split second later the soldier jumps up from his sleeping position, screaming words of an unspeakable language before running off to the vieras' tent, sword raised in the air. Rodrigo follows suit behind him. He never did quite understand that guy...

---

Once there, Toynbee pulls up the flaps and aims an arrow at every place he looked. "What happened!? What's wrong!? Millyareyoustillokay!?" He spoke the last part in one breath and started breathing steadily. Milly was huddled along with Lilila in the corner, who was shaking more than her younger kin. Milly pointed at the ground. "L-Look..."

The archer turned his head to where her finger was pointing at, to find some kind of blue blob that had two yellow eyes and had a slimy body. In its mouth was a can and a few vials, and at first, he wondered what they were, until after recalling what Milly had shown them the previous night, he quickly realized that it had eaten all of their supplies. The creature spun its head around to face him, before making an evil grin. Toynbee gulped. This guy still looks hungry...

It crushed the items in its mouth before letting out a cry. It lashed out at the archer, catching him off-guard and sending them both tumbling out of the tent. Toynbee ended up on the ground with the flan on top of him; its teeth were bared and it make a few attempts to rip Toynbee's skin off. Fortunately, the archer was quick to dodge, although he has no idea how he would be able to keep it up. With his hands, he pushed the flan away from him, but his hands were absorbed into its body and he tried to pull them out. However, the flan seemed to stick itself onto him, sending a cold, piercing kind of attack through his hands, similar to the way he would feel when his hands were numb.

Elnan, who was headed their way, still kept his sword up and didn't look like he could see them. He called out, "Elnan! Elnan!" The soldier was completely oblivious to what was happening to him, and, as if in an impulse, he called again, "Hey, idiot!"

At once he stopped, a vein popping onto his head as he turned shout at him, "Who the hell are you callin'--!?" He stopped and saw his ailing companion along with the flan which was slowly attaching itself to Toynbee's body. With a disgusted look, he asked, "Dude, what the heck is that!?" Toynbee however, totally pissed off at Elnan's denseness, shouted in reply, "We have no time for that! Get this thing off me! It's trying to kill me, can't you freaking see that!?"

He sprinted to where he was before giving the flan a good slice with his sword. The wound seemed to close up though, barely dealing damage to it. Angered, the flan turned its attention to Elnan and threw itself on him this time. Both fell to the ground, and Elnan struggled to free himself from the flan's grasp. Flailing, he yelled, "What the hell!? Get it off me!" It bit his arm. "YEEEOWCH! GRAHHH!!! HELP ME!!!"

A ball of fire appeared out of nowhere, striking the flan like a stake through its heart. The fire engulfed it, releasing its grip from Elnan and melting like ice on the ground. It made an inhuman sound before turning into a blue puddle and leaving shards of the vials, a crushed sardine can and some of their food, covered in the monster's stomach acids.

Clutching his chest, Elnan backed away from the flan's remains. "Wh...What just happened!? And where'd the heck that fire spell come from, anyway..."

Toynbee, who was nursing his injured arms, looked at where the fire had come from. His eyes widened when he saw Rodrigo, standing there with his hand open and in front of him. He seemed stunned for he was standing there like a statue, unmoving and his eyes were staring in the area in front of him. From his palm came out dark smoke, which was blown away by the cold wind.

"R-Rodrigo..." Toynbee approached his friend, "Are you okay?"

The moogle trembled, before falling to his knees. "Did... I just do that?" He asked him, not taking his eyes away from the puddle the flan remained. Toynbee nodded. "Yeah. You did. When did you learn to--"

"Toynbee! Rodrigo!" The two turned their heads to the direction of the voice to see Milly and Lilila running up to them. Milly saw Toynbee's wounded arms and brought a hand to her mouth in surprise. "Oh my... Toynbee, are you alright?" The young viera asked. "We need to get you healed, now!" She started casting a healing spell on his arms, trying to ease away the pain.

Lilila however, went over to Rodrigo who was still on the ground. "Rodrigo! What happened? You look pale! And..." She sniffed the moogle a bit before pulling her head away quickly. "Jeez, you smell singed... Were you burned or..."

Rodrigo calmed her down. "Kupo, I'll be okay. But..." He looked past the viera. "I'm a lot more worried about Elnan and Toynbee. Milly," He turned his head to the said viera's name, "Is Elnan gonna be okay?"

"Mmm," She replied, taking a quick look at the soldier who was headed straight for the vieras' tent to get some sleep. "I've already healed his wound too. He's just a bit tired, that's all, so he'll be alright."

The thief got up from the ground as the two vieras went back to their tent. He was about to catch up with them when Toynbee stopped him.

"What is it, kupo?" He asked.

"...Where did you learn to use a spell like that?" The moogle remembered that he had recently just unleashed a ball of fire at the creature that attacked them. He scratched his head. 'Well, kupo, it's like this..."

---

"So you had already had some knowledge about magic at the time?" A fascinated Mosley asked Rodrigo. He nodded. "Yeah. I learned it before I met Lilila. I usually went out to the magic school in town and I always saw how the teacher did it. He would say a bunch of words, and make a shape with his hands then the spell just comes out. Then I found this book someone had dumped in the trash and saw that it was a book filled with lots of spells."

"My..." Mosley placed a hand to her chest, astonished that he would find something like that in the garbage. "What did you do with it?"

"I took it home of course!" He exclaimed. "I read the book everyday, and at the same time I went to the school to learn more about it, except on rainy days since my mom wouldn't let me."

Mosley sweatdropped. "I... I see..."

"It was hard trying to practice, but it wasn't long before I had finally gotten it... Only I couldn't control it."

"So when you cast it at the time, you still weren't used to it... And I think I know why."

Rodrigo's eyes widened. Toynbee, despite his distance from them, was listening too. "You do?" Rodrigo asked the morpher. She nodded because she herself was a mage.

"Yes. It may have been because of your age."

"My... Age?" He repeated. She nodded again. "You were still very young and although you practiced casting spells, you didn't practice your control over them--where they would strike, what it was supposed to be attacking, and the like. Not only that, you didn't have enough willpower to cast the spells at the time. You were afraid something might happen if you cast it... Right?"

Rodrigo nodded. "...Yup. I guess I just didn't know what would happen and I might've hurt somebody." His face lit up. "But now I can cast spells and control 'em too, kupo! No sweat!"

Mosley remembered their clash the previous day. "Yes... I remember."

"I was just wondering though..." Milly pitched in their conversation. "Where IS that book you were talking about?"

The moogle stopped. Mosley was about to ask what was wrong when he had knelt down, took off his yellow rucksack and opened it. He took out a book which was covered in strange symbols and had runes on the cover. "Here it is, kupo," He showed the book to them. Mosley, Milly, Elnan and Lilila stared at it in awe. "There were a lot of words I didn't understand but I managed to say them... Except for those spells that seemed to be much longer than usual and had words I couldn't even pronounce, kupo..."

Mosley took the book from him and flipped through the pages. There were spells for both black and white magic, as well as blue magic and a small yet detailed explanation about Summoned Monsters. As a mage, she had been educated in the arts of both black and white magic, but mostly white magic and only very recently did she become her clan's morpher, for she wanted to understand monsters better. Not only that, she knew how to read spellbooks and cast them even by just reading the book in an instant. The pages of the book bere old and worn out, probably because it had come from the old ruins of a magic village, or maybe it was a special tome someone had taken away from its resting place and thanks to the hand of fate, it ended up in the Baguba Library where it was accidentally thrown in the garbage.

But hey, who knows?

"What an interesting book this is!" Mosley exclaimed, intrigued by the spells she was reading quietly to herself. "There's even some small information about Espers and the like... Along with some knowledge of blue magic!"

The other four who were around were slightly overwhelmed by the sudden change of her personality. Rodrigo tapped to ask if she was okay "Uh... Kupo..."

She yelped and almost dropped the book. She turned and felt herself redden as she cleared her throat. "Ahh... I am sorry..." The morpher closed the book and gave it back to Rodrigo, who placed it in his bag. "No harm done, kupo." He put on his bag again. "So, can we go on with our story now?"

"Oh, yes, yes!" She insisted. "Please, do go on."

"Alrighty then, kupo!" He called out to Milly, "Milly, you continue the story, kupo!"

Milly, who was caught by surprise, was about to protest when she realized that she might cause a ruckus if she does. "Well... Alright." She started recalling the day they arrived in Muscadet again. "Hm... Ah! Now I remember!"

---

After a few more hours of rest, Toynbee led the group again and set out to Muscadet. It was by noon when they had arrived, and Toynbee took a deep breath as he smelled the fresh forest scent of the viera populated town. "Ahh..." He let out a sigh. "It's great to be back in this place. I don't remember how long it's been since I left, though..."

"Yeah," Lilila agreed, "I'm sure you are." Toynbee eyed her with a look that said, "What do you mean?", and being an archer and all herself, she was just as perceptive as he was.

"You must be wondering what I'm talking about, eh?" Toynbee flinched. He nodded, and she chuckled. "Heh... Well, I was born in Baguba Port, remember?"

"Ohh," He recalled their first greeting with her and Rodrigo. "Yeah, I remember that one."

Lilila noticed a trembling Milly just next to her, and wondered what was wrong. "Milly? Something the matter?" She knelt down to her fellow kin. Milly didn't answer her. Her voice was caught in her throat due to a memory that was kept in her mind but was let out for some reason. She covered her head with her hood, leaving only her ears out.

Toynbee also noticed and realized what was wrong. "Oh, man..." Lilila turned to look at him. "What? What's wrong?" He knelt and patted her back gently. "Milly, don't worry. The scary guy's not coming back, remember? The judge took care of him and he's in jail now."

Milly peeked from under her hood and attempted to smile. Toynbee smiled in return before he stood up and straightened himself. "Well, we'd better get ourselves to an inn then," He told his fellow clan members and looked around for a pub. Elnan, who spotted it first, pointed at it. "Hey, is that it?" Everyone looked to where he pointed at and saw the sign which read, "Spina Lodge".

"Yep, that's the one, kupo." Rodrigo trotted ahead. "Let's get going already. I'd like to sleep in a real bed for once..."

The other four laughed a little before following just behind him.

---

"Oh, hey, it's you again, kid," The pubmaster recognized Toynbee at once as he entered the pub. "So, are ya 'ere for a drink or..." He was cut off when he saw his fellow clan members come in just behind him. "Eh! What's this, eh? You've got y'self a clan now, kid?"

Toynbee nodded. "Yeah, I did. So, can you give us a room? We've been out four days and..."

The man had already jotted down something on a notepad before lending them two keys. "Here ya go, then. One's got three beds in 'em and the other one's got two. Hope ya enjoy your stay then." Toynbee gladly accepted the keys and handed him some gil before walking upstairs along with the clan. At the second floor, Toynbee handed Lilila a key. "Here. This is for your room and this one," He raised his key, "Will be for our room."

"Sounds good enough for us." Lilila shrugged. The two opened their rooms and left their things inside before going out again to do personal things. Elnan went to take a well-deserved bath, while Rodrigo stayed in the boys' room to take a rest. Lilila also went to bathe, and that left Toynbee and Milly alone together at the dining hall, eating a well deserved breakfast after what had happened at the Materiwood. Milly ate some fish while Toynbee ate some eggs and toast.

"Huh, Milly," Toynbee noticed that she was eating fish that morning. "I didn't know you liked fish... Or maybe you're on a diet?"

Milly shook her head. "No. I'm just hungry and I felt like it." She glanced at his plate. "And are those actually enough for you?"

"Well, yeah, I guess. It's just that... Someone like you is eating something someone like me would be eating while I'm eating something someone like you would be eating."

Milly raised an eyebrow at his statement. "Why? Is there something wrong with what anyone eats?" Toynbee shook his head. "No. I'm just saying that I thought that you would be eating something like this--" He pointed at his plate with his fork, "--instead of that and the like."

"So to put it simply," She said, "You expected me to eat eggs and toast."

"In a manner of speaking... Yeah."

Milly pouted. "Just because you're a human doesn't mean you can say whatever you want," She said irritatingly.

"I'm not. I'm just saying what I was thinking about."

"That's the same as saying whatever you want but..." Her smile returned. "It's okay I suppose. A lot of people do that all the time."

The archer was relieved that Milly saw that he had no hostile feelings against her, and they continued eating. He took a bite off his toast and scanned his surroundings. There were unusually a lot of people that morning in the pub, and as he recalled when he usually went there to have a break from his training sessions, not too many people would be around during the day. In fact, it was more rowdy and more lively at night, where lots of people, who were coming in from work or other strenuous activities, came to have a drink or to meet up with others to chat or have dinner.

He noticed a bunch of merchants in one table, and in another one were some travelers. At a closer inspection, they seemed to look like they were frustrated about something and just couldn't find a way to solve it. Better see what's going on, He told himself before standing up and heading for the counter. Milly, who was still eating, saw him walk away and asked, "Where're you going?"

Toynbee stoped and looked over his shoulder to look at her. "Oh, uh, I'll just be going over there," He pointed at the counter. "You keep eating, okay?"

Milly nodded and returned to her fish. Toynbee however, walked over to where the pubmaster was and called, "Excuse me, sir..."

The man turned around. "Oh, hey, it's you again," He said, feeling a bit surprised. "What is it? Is something wrong with your..."

"Those guys," He cocked a thumb at the merchants. "What's going on? They look like something happened to them."

"Ah... That," He said, taking a quick look at the people at the table, "Nothin' happened to 'em. Just so happens that they're stuck here."

Toynbee gave him a curious look. "Stuck here?"

"Aye," He cleaned an empty glass mug before placing it on the shelf behind him. "There's been some trouble in the mounts of Lutia, you see, and they've been willin' to traverse it so they could head over to the Deti Plains on the other side. I don't know what their business is there, but that's all I know, kid. Even those travelers be headin' for Deti."

"Can you tell me what kind of trouble is going on, exactly?" He asked. He was quite curious about what was going on at Lutia Pass at the moment, since the only trouble there would be the avalanches that occur and block the roads. The pubmaster, not feeling at all why he wouldn't tell him anything, said, "Well, if you're really interested, here's the thing: Monsters are amok on the pass, and by monsters, I mean monster like the ones that attacked Cadoan recently. Pretty wild and pretty dangerous too, if you ask me. Several clans 'ave gone and tried driving them out but..."

"...They just can't seem to get rid of them, is that it?" He said, finishing the man's sentence for him. "Aye," The pubmaster nodded. "'Tis like taking care of a bunch of cockroaches that just can't seem to die. No matter how many times ya step on 'em they'll keep comin' until yer surrounded, kid."

Toynbee turned away from the man to give this matter a bit more thought. You'd wonder what the reward for this would be, though... It's like the clan there doesn't even give a hoot about their own turf... He thought and suddenly realized something. He turned back to the pubmaster and asked, "Why doesn't the clan there take care of it?"

The pubmaster gave him a skeptical look. "Kid, what is the matter with ya?" He almost yelled, "There's no clan in those mountains! Why do you think other clans are trying to drive the monsters out? Just to get gil? Heck no! Not just that! Other than gil, the mountain itself is their reward! They can claim the mountain as theirs once they get those monsters off the pass!"

The man's words struck Toynbee like an arrow, echoing in his mind even. He stood there like a statue, speechless of what he had just heard. After regaining his senses, he shook his head and asked, "Can I see the paper regarding the mission?" He handed him the posted paper, which read about someone asking for help in getting rid of some monsters. And like the pubmaster said, the reward was a good amount of gil, and the mountain as their turf, if they wanted.

...This is giving me an idea... The archer thought as he read through the paper...

---

That night...

"We're doing what?" A totally dumbfounded Elnan asked Toynbee that night during dinner. "You heard me," Toynbee replied to his question. "We're going to Lutia tomorrow to get rid of the monsters there."

Elnan and Lilila were silent for a full minute before they burst out laughing.

"Oh... Oh, yeah... That's a good one!" Elnan said in between laughs. "You've... You've gotta be kiddin' me, right? Going out to kill some monsters... Ahhaha..."

"I know, right?" Lilila agreed. It was pretty obvious to the other three that they would not at all agree to the plan of going out the following day to clean Lutia free from the monsters.

Irritatingly, Toynbee slammed his hands on the empty table. "I'm freaking serious," He said, eyeing them with a deathly glare, which caused them to stop laughing at once. "Now, if you don't want to go through with this plan and if you want to go for another few days of wandering around aimlessly looking for turf, then I suggest that you two had better leave the clan now or regret that you ever joined this clan in the first place." Milly and Rodrigo shuddered at the archer's looming anger towards them. The other two gulped and stayed quiet. Toynbee calmed down. "That's good. Now, like I said, we're going to get rid of those monsters at the pass."

"But how are we going to do that, kupo?" Rodrigo asked, his sudden fear replaced by an interest in the matter at hand. "You did say that the monsters are like the ones at Cadoan, right? How the heck are we supposed to get rid of 'em?"

"I'll have to agree with him on that," Elnan said. "The last time we fought them, they almost nicked us!"

"We didn't fight them," Lilila remarked. "You were the one who were making us get rid of them, remember?"

"Shut up."

"Alright, instead of fighting amongst ourselves, we should be preparing for tomorrow, right?" Milly intruded. The two turned their heads away from each other in annoyance. "I still don't see how we're going to beat them though," Lilila told them. "They really left us all worn out after what we went through at Cadoan."

"Yeah," Toynbee agreed to her statement, "But why do you think that was?"

All of them were silent.

"Ah... I dunno, kupo." Rodrigo turned his attention to Milly. "Why shouldn't we have fought them again?" He asked, trying to recall what she had told Elnan in Cadoan when he insisted on going off to fight the monsters.

"Hmm..." Milly reminisced on what had happened. "Well, let's see... There was this nu mou running off, then the coeurl, then Elnan cut it in two, then there was lots of blood, then he said there was trouble in town and we should be helping, then I asked if he was sure despite our current state, then he--"

"Wait," Rodrigo stopped her. "What was that just now?"

"Huh? Oh you mean the part when he says that its just a bunch of monst--"

"Not that! Before that!"

"You mean when I asked if he was sure despite our..." Suddenly she realized what he was trying to say. "Ohh... That. So," She turned to face Toynbee, "We weren't in a proper condition at all to fight the monsters, that's why we had a hard time beating them... Right?"

He nodded. "Exactly. Which is why..." He stood up. "I'm going with Lilila to buy some supplies." At once Lilila turned her head at the archer. "WHAT! Why do I have to do it???"

"Because if I took Milly, she wouldn't be able to determine which would be necessary for our battle tomorrow--"

"Hey!"

"--And if I took Elnan he'll just be bawling on me to buy him some fancy equipment for himself--"

"What the hell!? You take that back!"

"--And Rodrigo doesn't want to."

"HEY! Kupo, I told you not to say anything!"

"So there." Lilila gave Rodrigo a dangerous glare. The moogle gulped and trembled in his seat. After a while she sighed and said, "Alright, I'll go with you. Anywhere's better than being with Elnan I guess." The two walked out of the pub together.

"Dammit! You two better take those back!"

Rodrigo smacked his head. "Just let it go, kupo." Milly giggled in her seat. Elnan opened his mouth to protest before closing it and sitting back down.

It's just not fair... He moped to himself quietly.

A/N: And there you have it, everybody! Chapter 9!

I decided to divide the flashback into two chapters instead of just putting it all in one chapter. Both chapters are going to be long anyway and the more chapters, the merrier!

I added the breakfast scene when I had decided to come back and continue writing this (I was too busy playing Suikoden Tierkreis, Final Fantasy VIII and Chocobo's Dungeon 2 and I was too worked up with COF after I wrote the previous chapter) and those other ideas just came into my head. The morning campsite scene was too hard for me to do since I had a hard time trying to decide whether or not I would just add a monster in the scene or Lilila just found out that someone came and stole all their food. Instead, I put the two together and, BOOM! I wrote what you read on that part. The flan was a weaker level than them so Rodrigo managed to nuke it pretty easily with a fire spell.

Siren from the 1st part of the story is based on Siren from FF8. I was playing the game at the moment I wrote the 1st part so I decided to put her in when I made the three (Toynbee, Lilila and Elnan) argue. Rodrigo's a bit perverted in this chapter but not so much.

So, please R&R and tell me what you think! No flames though.

Thanks for reading!-Zip