Chapter 2: Giza Plains

The day finally arrived where the four friends found themselves at the Clan Building. They were met by the old man, who greeted them with a nod of recognition.

"So you boys are back, huh? Here to register?"

Four enthusiastic nods were his answer.

"So, let's call in a judge."

The old man reached under the counter and pulled out a card. He threw it into the air and declared, "I declare an engagement!"

A judge appeared, and after swiveling his head to look at his surroundings, the judge walked off to a clearing behind the Clan Building.

"Well, go follow him," the old man told the boys.

They eagerly scampered off.

When they arrived at the clearing, the judge stated, "Clan testing, no laws, no looting. Begin."

The judge waved his hand and a Floateye appeared.

With a screech, the blue one-eyed monster flapped its giant wings and took to the skies.

Marche immediately fired two arrows consecutively at the Floateye.

Although the arrows were both dodged, it served its function as a distraction as Vaan leapt up into the air and slashed at its wings. The Floateye cried out, but it was not given any chance to back off and recover. Montblanc fired a Blizzard spell from behind, and the piece of ice smashed into the monster.

The Floateye was dead before it even hit the ground. The judge turned to Ramza, who had done nothing during the testing. "You haven't done anything," the judge pointlessly stated.

"Didn't need to. I knew they would take care of it," Ramza replied with a shrug,

The judge seemed to shrug back as if to say, "Alright fine whatever. I don't care, and I just want to go home, so let's finish this."

"Testing, concluded. Clan passes." The judge then disappeared.

Applause was heard, and all four heads turned to the source. "Very nice show, boys. Very nice show. Let's go in and register you four now," the old man complimented.

-

An hour later, the paperwork was finished and Clan Outlander was officially created. On their way out of the building, they were met by a group of familiar faces.

"Registered, eh?" Jordan asked the group.

"Yeah," Ramza replied. "And you're going to register now, I presume?"

"Yup. We figured that more training won't do us any good if we don't go out and meet other clans to battle," Jordan confirmed.

"Well, good luck with that, then."

The two groups exchanged their farewells before moving past each other.

"Hey, wait!"

Clan Outlander turned around.

"What's the name of your clan?" Jordan asked.

"We are the Outlanders. And what are you going to be?" Marche asked.

"Femme Fatales, of course," she replied with a grin.

And with that, the Femme Fatales turned back around and headed to the clearing.

-

The Outlanders were gathered around the local pub, where they were discussing what to do next.

"We should be looking for people who can return us to our world!" Ramza argued.

"No way! I want to go out and go on adventures and stuff! Returning home can come later!" Vaan protested.

"What do you think, Marche? You've been pretty silent so far, kupo," Montblanc said.

"I think...that this world is a world that is very fun to be in. It's something I've always dreamed about. But now that I'm actually here, I'm starting to miss my own home," Marche said thoughtfully.

"So what are you saying?" Ramza asked.

"I'm saying, we should continue with our lives here, but be on the lookout for clues to return home. We don't need to actively search; just wait for clues to come to us."

"Fine," Ramza grumbled. "So what now?"

"Get a mission, of course!" Vaan shouted gleefully.

"Alright, I'll go do it, kupo," Montblanc volunteered.

Five minutes later, the moogle came back with a grin on his face. "Got one, kupo. We are to head to Giza Plains and get rid of the bug infestation there before the bugs can reach town. The plains are a three day travel, so we should get going quickly."

They were out of Cyril and on the path right away. "Hey Montblanc?" Vaan asked. "Do we have to use engagement cards to deal with the bugs?"

"Yes! You must always use engagement cards, kupo! Otherwise, you might get seriously hurt, kupo!"

"So how are we supposed to kill the bugs permanently if the judge will just heal them after we finish killing them?"

"Well, kupo, I guess the clan book didn't tell you, but the judges can choose who to heal and who not to heal. That's how they apprehend criminals or stop attacking monsters, kupo."

"Oh..."

-

The next three days passed quickly. The Outlanders got into a minor skirmish with another clan, but the clan was easily defeated. Montblanc managed to loot himself a Wizard Hat, while the other three just took some potions off the other clan's hands.

They arrived in Giza Plains in the middle of the third day, where the sun was shining brightly. It would've been considered a beautiful day if not for the numerous Antlions and Jawbreakers scattered around the plain.

As they looked upon the bug infestation, Vaan commented cheekily, "That's a lotta bugs!"

Marche and Ramza rolled their eyes, but they agreed nonetheless.

"So, shall we just run down their and declare an engagement?"

"Yeah!" Vaan shouted his agreement. Unfortunately, his shout attracted the attention of a few of the bugs. The red and blue bugs quickly approached, and as soon as they were withing a respectable distance, Montblanc pulled out a card and declared an engagement.

The judge, upon seeing the bug infestation, declared, "An engagement has been declared. Laws for this match: none. Begin!"

Marche asked Montblanc, "Why aren't there any laws?"

"They're monsters, kupo. I don't think they'd care if they were given a yellow or red card," Montblanc deadpanned. "It's not like red cards affect them anyway, kupo. Something to do with the card's magic and the monsters' inherent abilities, kupo."

Their talk was interrupted by a blue Antlion. Its jaws clicked loudly as it attempted to bite Marche, but the Archer was smart enough to leap back. He fired an arrow into the monster's mouth, but it all it did was annoy the creature.

Quickly backing up, Marche continued to fire his arrows until the Antlion fell. In all, it took eight arrows to fell the creature. Scanning the battlefield, he saw that Montblanc was carefully firing Thunder spells into areas where they would affect more than one enemy, as it would save his magic and do more damage. Vaan was nimbly dancing around a Jawbreaker, giving it a few cuts here and there. Ramza was using his Shortsword to hack away at three Jawbreakers and two Antlions at the same time.

"Boost!" An arrow was fired with great power at a Jawbreaker approaching Ramza's back, and the arrow pierced the red bug's head, killing it immediately.

A cry of "First Aid!" was heard, and Ramza healed a few gashes.

"Boost!" Another arrow found its way into an Antlion, but rather than hitting the head, it buried itself into the bug's abdomen, wounding and angering it at the same time. It turned around to face Marche, but a stab of Vaan's Jack Knife to the head quickly killed it.

Two more Jawbreakers took its dead comrade's place.

"Whoa!" Vaan shouted as he ducked backwards to avoid the snap of the bug's massive jaws.

Using his feet, pushed away from the bugs while Marche fired two more arrows at the bugs. They hit nonvital areas.

Just as the two bugs were going to charge Vaan and Marche, a guts-covered Ramza appeared with a nasty grimace on his face. Being covered in the guts of a lot of bugs would do that to you.

Ramza swung his blade down at the first Jawbreaker's neck, decapitating it cleanly. Or...not so cleanly, as he was hit with a splatter of goo.

Scowling deeply, he turned to the second one and proceeded to chop it to little pieces. It seemed that he was taking his anger out on the poor Jawbreaker.

Ramza's angry blows stopped when a whistle blew. Looking at the judge, he heard the judge say, "The battle is over. Clan Outlander is victorious." A clap of his hands, and the Outlanders were healed and free from all nasty bug goo.

Montblanc hurried over to the smoldering corpses of the bugs and quickly busted them open, looking inside of them for anything he could salvage. "C'mon, kupo! Come help!"

In the end, all they found was some gil. It wasn't a lot but it was enough.

-

Another three days passed, and Clan Outlander arrived back at the pub. Montblanc approached the bartender while the other three sat down at a table. Drinks were ordered and the three boys relaxed for a quick moment.

Montblanc came back quickly with a sack of gil and a sword in his hand. A Silver Sword.

"We got a Silver Sword and 2400 gil for the mission, kupo!" Montblanc cheered as he handed the sword to Ramza.

Ramza stared at his new sword for a few seconds before looking back up at Montblanc. "Wow. This is awesome. But I think I'm going to stick with my Shortsword until I master the technique. First Aid is a pretty useful technique to master."

His friends nodded in acceptance.

"That doesn't mean that I'm not going to keep this though," Ramza warned.

"Yeah, yeah," Vaan waved off the warning. "So Montblanc, got us another mission?"

"Nope, sorry, kupo. There are some, but I think they're a bit out of our league at the moment."

"...Does this mean we're back off to training?" Marche spoke up.

"Yup, kupo!"

The three boys sighed.

"I wonder what Jordan and her clan are doing," Vaan wondered as the Outlanders left the pub.

-

As the four headed to the training ground, Montblanc suddenly stopped and let out a small, "Oh!"

Ramza, Marche, and Vaan turned to face him.

"I forgot! I gotta go head to the store to get a little something, kupo," the moogle informed his clanmates. "I'll meet you three at the clearing in about half an hour, okay, kupo?"

The boys nodded and headed off, while Montblanc turned around and headed back towards the town.

It wasn't long before Montblanc arrived at the Ramsen Armory, where a cheerful young woman greeted him. "Hi Montblanc, how's it going?"

"Hey, Delia!" Montblanc responded with a smile. "I'm here to get something that teaches Time Magic!"

"Well since you're also a Black Mage, how about a Firewheel Rod? Or a Sleet Rod? They're beginner weapons for Time Mages, but they also teach a stronger version of Fire and Blizzard!"

"Really, kupo? That's amazing!"

"I know! And since you're such a good friend, I'll give one of them to you for a discount."

"Wow, that's really nice of you, kupo!"

"Yeah, but it's still pretty expensive," Delia warned the moogle.

"How expensive?" Montblanc asked. "'Cause I only got 1500 gil to spend, kupo. The rest of the money is what my clan earned, and I don't want to spend all of our money on one item for just me, kupo."

"Lucky you then, 'cause it's 1320 gil for either one of them!"

"Kupo!"

"Yeah, so which one do you want?"

"How about the Firewheel Rod, kupo?"

"Alright then. Here you go! One Firewheel Rod for 1320 gil. Thanks for the business. Come again!"

"You bet, kupo," Montblanc said as he thanked her profusely.

-

When Montblanc arrived back at what the Outlanders dubbed "their clearing", he found the three boys sparring against each other.

Ramza swung his sword at Vaan, who ducked under the swipe and leapt sideways into Marche, pushing the Archer off balance. Just as Vaan was about to strike Marche in the throat to denote that he was "dead", Ramza appeared and instead blocked the Jack Knife.

Marche rolled away with his Longbow in hand and jumped back, arrow already strung. The arrow flew straight at Ramza, but the Soldier knocked it out of the air with the flat side of his blade. Unfortunately, this little distraction cost him as Vaan managed to approach the Soldier and nick him along the ribs. It was a minor blow, but a blow nonetheless.

"Ha! You're dead Ramza!" Vaan cheered.

Ramza sniffed in disdain before moving off to the side.

Now it was just Vaan and Marche. Marche, having the long range advantage took two steps backwards while firing as many arrows as he could at Vaan.

Vaan, being a Thief, was nimble and could easily dodge the majority of them. One or two would skim right over him, leaving small traces of blood on the part that was hit.

Ignoring the minor amounts of pain, Vaan continued to dodge while moving forward, until the gap between the two was large enough to be closed with a simple leap.

And that's what Vaan did. He leapt into the air, and Marche followed with his bow and arrows. Vaan continued to show his agility by twisting his body while in midair to avoid the missiles. The moment he landed a foot away from Marche, Vaan swung his Jack Knife at Marche's throat, but stopped right as it was about to pierce his jugular.

"You're dead Marche!" Vaan cried again. "Ha! I win!"

The two losers sighed while Vaan did a little victory dance.

Montblanc decided that now was a good time to reveal his presence. "Hey guys, I see you've been sparring, kupo."

"You bet! And I kicked their butts!" Vaan shouted gleefully, still doing his dance. He was like a little boy on a sugar spree.

Marche sighed at Vaan's childishness before asking Montblanc, "So, you get what you wanted?"

"Yeah, kupo!" The moogle pulled out his new weapon and proudly displayed it to his clanmates. "And you guys don't have to worry, I didn't use any of our clan's money! I used my own gil, kupo."

"We don't really mind if you used the clan money, Montblanc," Ramza pointed out. "You're the one who has basically introduced us to this world, so we would be eternally grateful to you."

"Yeah," Marche agreed.

Vaan was still in his victory-induced dream world.

"Thanks guys, but I still wouldn't feel comfortable doing it..." the moogle trailed off. "Anyway, my Firewheel Rod can teach me Fira for the Black Mage job or Haste for the Time Mage job!"

"Time Mage?" Marche asked.

"Yeah, I just decided that now was a good time to learn some new things! Once we start facing stronger enemies, my three basic spells won't be as effective, kupo!"

"So can you show us?" Vaan asked, finally back to normal.

"Yeah, just give a moment to find out about the new spells, kupo."

-

The boys continued to spar lightly while Montblanc slipped into a meditative trance.

Opening his eyes, it was apparent he was no longer in the clearing with his friends, but in the world of the weapon. The name of the two spells he could learn suddenly appeared. To his left, he saw the word Fira. Under it was a scene where he himself was shooting out a large blast of fire at a Panther.

Turning to his right, the word Haste was displayed, followed by a scene where he was using it on his clanmates.

Montblanc nodded his acceptance, and suddenly he was back in the clearing. Blinking twice, Montblanc suddenly got an influx of information, and he groaned aloud.

The three boys looked over to see Montblanc back to reality, although the moogle was doubled over, holding a hand to his head.

"You okay?" Marche asked with concern.

"Yeah, kupo. Learning two spells at once is killer on you, kupo."

Getting up, the brave moogle pointed his Firewheel Rod into the air and a burst of a blackish-colored magic could be seen forming on the tip of the weapon. The three boys watched in wonder as Montblanc announced loudly, "Fira!"

The black magic turned into flames as it left the rod into the air. As the flames died down, Montblanc grinned at his friends. "Nice, hm, kupo?"

"Definitely!" Vaan cheered.

"Now, here's my other one!" Pointing his rod at Ramza, the slowest in terms of speed of the bunch, he started to focus his magic. This time, a greenish-colored magic started to form on the tip. "Haste!" the moogle shouted, and the green magic shot straight at the Soldier.

Blinking in surprise, Ramza was shocked as he felt the effects of the magic take place. As a Soldier, wearing heavy armor was a must, as Soldier tended to fight short range with enemies. Due to this, Soldiers were considered among the slowest in a clan. However, Montblanc's magic made him feel...light!

He was a lot faster now! He started to take a jog around the clearing, when Montblanc suggested to Marche that he shoot a few arrows at the Soldier.

Marche acquiesced and fired a single arrow at his friend.

As the arrow approached Ramza, the Soldier easily stepped to the side avoiding a shot that would normally give him difficulty.

"Whoa! What is this?" the Soldier wondered.

"Haste! It's my Time Magic spell. It makes the target a lot faster. You'd feel lighter, and everything would be in slow-motion. Unfortunately, it takes up a lot of time to use, and it needs lots of power. I can probably only use it once per match, unless we get some ethers, or until I get stronger."

"Cool!" Vaan said.

"What about your Fira spell? How much magic does it take compared to Haste? And the other three spells?" Marche asked.

"Well, I think Fira takes up a little less power than Haste. And Fire, Thunder, and Blizzard probably take up around a third to a half of the power that Fira and Haste need, kupo."

"Wow, that's some strong magic," Marche commented.

"Yup," the moogle agreed.

"So you guys ready to retire for tonight?"

The three boys looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure."

When they got back to Montblanc's place, the three guests immediately stuck their hands out for a game of Rock Paper Scissors.

"Winner gets bed," Vaan announced.

Again, using his faster reaction time and cheating skills, Vaan copied what Ramza put out, which was a scissor. Marche had a rock.

Marche groaned.

-

A/N: This is a pretty short chapter. For the next few chapters (maybe), they'll each be focused on a mission, and some time that the clan won't be on a mission, like training or something. And the bios are for chapter 1 only, so you get to know my characters a little more intimately. I might do it again when I add more characters to the Outlanders (which will definitely happen sometime), or introduce another clan that'll have a big part in the story.

PS. And yes I know that you need to know 5 black mage spells before learning time magic, but eh...whatever.

-

List of all the places in FF Tactics Advance:

Cyril: Busy town. The monster bank is on its outskirts. Ramsen Armory, The Prancing Chocobo.
Sphrom: Bangaa mountain town. Home to the prison.
Bervenia Palace: Capital of Ivalice.
Muscadet: Mainly viera town hidden deep in the woods.
Cadoan: Nu mou town. The seat of knowledge and alchemy.
Baguba Port: Moogle town with a large mercantile airship port.
Nubswood: Deep, dark forest. Popular hideout for thieves.
Giza Plains: Rolling grassy plains. Muscmaloi grows here.
Kudik Peaks: Towering peaks. Home to an endangered tiger.
Uladon Bog: Deep and dangerous bogland dotted with islands.
Jeraw Sands: Hot sands blow in this largest desert in Ivalce
Lutia Pass: Much-traveled pass, with the occasional roadshop.
Koringwood: Refreshing wood filled with ambient pure magic.
Ulei River: Largest River in Ivalice. Winds through swamplands.
Aisenfield: Plains where the thirteen knights of legend fought.
Roda Volcano: Volcano asleep for 300 years. Recently active.
Eluut Sands: Dangerous desert home to many fiends and treasure.
Nargal Cave: A cool wind blows from inside this cave. An ancient city is said to sleep in its depths.
Salikawood: The chirping of birds can always be heard here. An abandoned keep stands in the middle of the wood.
Delia Dunes: Desert area famous for its barking sands. Said to be formed from a celestial beast's bones.
Gotor Sands: Desert famous for its mirages and red chocobos.
Ozmonfield: Gently rolling plains with occasional insect plagues.
Deti Plains: Flatlands of yellow sand and red earth. Amber can often be found here among the rocks.
Siena Gorge: Deep valley. A source of amber, like Deti Plains.
Materiwood: Lush green forest famous for its materite ore.
Tubola Cave: These caves were once mined for their mythril.
Jagd Dorsa: Lawless jagd. A deserted town.
Jagd Helje: Lawless jagd where ghostly voices are heard.
Jagd Ahli: Lawless jagd destroyed by its own wild magic.
Ambervale: Beautiful valley where rocks glow amber. The kings of Ivalice had a summer palace here.