Standard disclaimer: I don't own the series.

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AN: Okay, sorry for not posting last week. I was sick. :P Go figure. Anyway, I'm better now ^_^

Here are the reviews:

Meeerf: Hiya! Heh, I thought you might like the last chapter ^_^ I've been wanting to do that scene for a long time now, but just haven't been able to get around to doing it. Heh, I suppose not ^_^ Hn... maybe I should try that combo...

Oh, yes. Ah, and she's borrowed Aeris' from Before Crisis/Kingdom Hearts II, just for the record. You never know what she will end up in. I think it's time for everyone to have another change of wardrobe. See, this is different than a normal RPG, seeing that the characters are constantly changing clothes. Nina probably could pull off the opera dress, eheh.

Uh... I blame that scene about the bathing suit on the fact I was still sick when I wrote it. But, yeah... she was probably embarrassed and shy about the whole thing. Hehe. Oh, yes. I bet she could have... I bet you're gonna love this chapter after its finished! Wahahaha! Turnabout is fair play, after all. ^_^

I thought about doing that, but it just seemed more interesting to have it that way. Heh, won't that be a fun secret ^_^

Rogue Kaiser: Hiya! Yup. Uh, I'll take she's really shy for a 100, Alex :3 Oh, yeah. Hehe, you will LOVE this chapter then. It's Nina's turn to make someone squirm. It's amazing what nerve and courage one can work up when they are plastered ^_^ Oh, yes. Troy and Jin are no strangers of getting pounded by Manna for being really stupid.

Nina Windia: Hello Miss Windia! It's been awhile! How be ye? Right-o. Anyway, ya know, I'm not really sure how that whole "destined cycle" idea came up in fics. When I first started reading them, those that did a story that covered all the games (1-3) just bunched them together and called each game a destined cycle. The fic "Reborn Again" plays wild and loose with this idea. (shrugs) I dunno. I don't think that BoF I ever mentions it. Well, there is one line of dialog in the opening scenes (before you press the start button) that mentions that the dark dragons plan on repeating the cycle of meaningless wars. Or something like that.

Yeah, I know. I didn't want Wyatt to go boom, but... yeah. Heh, I think that the Prof. has that covered. Hee, glad you like Nunnally. Yup. She's Ryu's full sister and Demus' half sister. Yeah, I know. It is kinda sad :(

Funny how you seem to be right about that. (shifty eyes) So, are you in cahoots with my flying monkeys??? Cuz I mean you are really good at predicting this stuff... O.o; Ah, the not everyone making it to the end isn't over yet. But, it won't be what you think. Just remember, I always right the wrongs in my stories. And always expect the unexpected. ;3 You never know WHO will be the pilot for that giant robot.... hehehe. ^__^

Glad that the explanation cleared everything up :) It was interesting trying to come up with the back story. Heh... won't that be a surprise :)

I'm glad that you like the old man. I can say that he's not my character... But by now you probably know who he is. Yup, it's Ryu 3 my Ryu ends up fighting.

Hee, she might be talking about Mary. Ghost girl's gonna be explained in a little bit. Also as to why Nina has such strange powers... Heh, I have never played Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, but it looks fun :) I was taking the suggestion that Anime Monkey had a long time ago :) BTW, the "I reject" thingy as well as the tech name for Sari's attack was from Orihime from Bleach. Yuki really does watch too much anime ^_^;

Oh, yes. I did damage the fourth wall, but the flying monkeys will pay for the damages ^_^

Hee :) Then you will love this chapter :)

Glad you liked Nina's reaction. You know, I reread through the earlier parts of this story and have discovered that Manna and Deis do act a lot alike. ^_^; That might or might not be intentional (looks innocent)

Glad you like the story so far!!!

Anyway, thanks for all the reviews!!!

Okay, this chapter is sorta special. After this chapter, however, the plot will get back to locating the last of the Goddess Keys. But before that, I have to allow some payback for Nina. I mean she is getting teased constantly for her crush on Ryu as well as for her naivete and shyness. Hehe... yeah. See, I'm not a completely heartless person. Nina's just the easiest to tease on the subject of love. Oh, and FYI, um... never mind. lol Long story.

Okay, I am going to have to talk about a couple of Legend of Mana fics that I have been reading lately. Why LoM you ask? I ask why not? Uh, right...

Anyway, the stories are The Descent of Mana: The Lost Swords by Tiamat42 and Memories and Imagination by Meeerf! They are great novelizations of the game and I think they are really good stories! Besides, they are Heroine/Elazul stories! Goooo that pairing!!! Yeah, you should go read and review them!

Right, and there's a Bof fic that I have been reading called Of Gods and Dragons that's a really good BoF3 novelization that I think you guys should go read and review! But, I guess everyone already knows about that one. :3 Read and review anyways!

I feel obligated to say that this chapter contains mature themes in it… you know, like drinking and other stuff… :3 I do not condone underage drinking of any sort and feel obligated to say not to over drink for those who are over the 21 age limit. Or something like that ;3

Anyway, here's the next chapter! Enjoy :3

“I seriously don’t believe this,” Nina muttered to herself. She shifted from one foot to another and glanced at Ryu in his boxers.

A small blush crept across Nina’s face. She had to admit Ryu was really handsome. With his blue hair, green eyes, tanned skin and perfectly well toned body, Nina figured that every hot blooded woman within a 20 mile radius would be all over Ryu. She was right, of course.

She wasn’t ignorant to the looks and stares Ryu received from the woman population. She also wasn’t blind to the fact that Ryu tended to flirt a little with those women. In his defense, it was usually women that knew him as Siegfreid. Nina still didn’t care. She was in love with Ryu and like hell she was going to share him. Especially after he confessed his feeling for her.

She just didn’t know how to talk to Ryu…

“Nina?” Strife asked in concern.

Nina looked up and grinned slightly. “Sorry,” Nina said. “I was… um… distracted. Strife, why didn’t you tell me you were my brother?”

Strife sighed. “It’s very complicated.”

Nina frowned in annoyance. “I get that. Hey, tell you what. We can talk all about this when we finish off Legence for good, okay?” Nina said with a forced smile.

Ryu and Strife both a concerned and confused look, but nodded nonetheless. Nina turned her attention back to Ryu and smiled slightly.

“I think that it’s time to get going.”

“Okay,” Ryu said as he started to walk out of the room.

“But first,” Nina said. “We are going to change your outfit. You can’t go out in boxers…”

Ryu blushed. He didn’t even realize that he was still in his boxers. What he still couldn’t figure out was why Nina was staring at him with that look on her face. He had seen the look in other women’s eyes, but it was just strange to see it on Nina.

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Ryu coughed as he looked in the mirror. Nina had insisted that he changed his clothing. He argued at first, but in the end, he just couldn’t resist Nina’s sad, puppy dog look.

Ryu was currently dressed in a gray long sleeved shirt, dark brown pants, and a white-gray sleeveless coat that fell to his knees. He had on a pair of brown gloves and a pair of brown leather boots. He still had his red scarf around his neck, as well a breastplate that bared the insignia of Shevat, which was a red bird shaped sigil.

He ran a gloved hand through his blue hair and pushed his bangs out of his eyes. He didn’t even have time to notice that his hair had gotten slightly longer. He smiled to himself and turned to face Nina.

Nina nodded in approval. She had convinced everyone that it was time to change clothes. Sari, and strangely enough Manna, liked the idea. Troy and Jin on the other hand didn’t seem too excited with the idea.

Sari was seated on the bed and was currently in a black, tang-top skin tight shirt and a short gray-white flared miniskirt and a black pair of tights. She had on a pair of black boots and a brown long sleeved jacket that also bared the sigil of Shevat on the back of the jacket.

Manna was standing next to Sari. She had donned on a blue shirt that the sleeves came to the elbow and a pair of khaki colored pants and black ankle length boots. Her ears still retained their many piercings and she still had many bracelets on her wrists. Ryu questioned her on the disappearance of her gothic appearance. Manna had merely shrugged and told Ryu to mind his own business.

Jin had begrudgingly agreed to Nina’s plan, but said that he wasn’t going to change into something too flashy. Nina had to wonder what Jin considered “flashy.” His outfit wasn’t too different from his other, but the robe he wore was longer and was a darker color of green and had a gold and white border around the hem of the bottom, neck, and sleeves of the robe. There was a gold and silver dragon sigil on the back of the robe. He had on white-gray pant and black boots.

Nina was curious about the dragon, but decided to let it drop.

Troy was currently dressed in a black shirt and pants. He had on a black, long sleeved trench coat that was left open and wore a pair of black gloves and a pair of black boots. The coat bore what appeared to be a leviathan curved around the head of a spear on the back of it. When questioned about it, Troy merely shrugged and said nothing on the subject.

Nina nodded in approval of everyone’s outfits.

“They look great!” Nina clapped her hands.

“Right, but what are we going to do now?” Ryu muttered as he adjusted his breastplate.

Jin sighed. Sari nodded and cleared her throat. “Ryu, Nina, and I will go to Worent. I have already contacted Captain Johnston and he said that he has gotten the clear to enter the Golden Plains and thus, Worent. Manna and Troy have agreed to go back to Dragnier and look for clues as to where Gideon has gone.”

Nina looked at Jin. “What are you going to do?” Nina figured that Jin would want to go to the Foundation and be with Yui and Momo. She was wrong.

“I am going to your group,” Jin replied in a calm voice. “Is there a problem?”

Nina grinned slightly. “No, not at all.”

Ryu turned around and faced his group. “So, it’s settled! We will be heading out as soon as possible!”

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A few hours later, the two parties headed out and parted ways. Nina was sad to say goodbye to Strife and Mina, but knew that she had no choice. She was not about to drag them into this fight. Mina may be immortal, but she could still be killed by normal means. Strife still needed to recover from the poisoning that almost killed him.

The group had hoped to be able to speak with Garr, but he was still held up in a meeting, so they were forced to leave without even saying hello.

Nina had said goodbye and was now currently standing in what the Worens called the Golden Plains. The Golden Plains were just that, a wide-open plain area that seemed to shimmer like gold against the bright sun.

She wracked her memory and remembered that the Plains were considered sacred to the Woren. The Plains were where the Woren sent their dead kings and queens as well as priestesses to meet Tora, the Huntress and the patron goddess of the Worens.

Tora is also known as the Goddess of War and also patron god of the Highlanders. She is the embodiment of the element Fire. Her avatar is War-Queen Mardeia of the Worens. She appears in the form of the Weretiger.

Tora is actually a female goddess, but most mistake the Hunter for a male because of the association to war. It was said that Tora was among the first to raise her hands against Myria. Tora is a very noble and honorable god and will not stand for foul play. It is said that it was she who gave the power of transformation to the Worens and the knowledge of strategy to the Highlanders.

Nina currently didn’t care too much about the history lesson from all those years ago. She was currently dodging several lizard men that were trying to do her in. She was very unaccustomed to fighting with short swords and had to rely on her fireballs.

Jin and Ryu were having no trouble taking down several of the lizard men that were trying to attack them with their short swords. Nina also realized just how deadly Sari was in combat.

The girl apparently opted to fight with a pair of gold and silver chakrams. She was like a dancer on the battlefield as she was able to dodge the lizard men gracefully without getting hit. She apparently had some range on those things. When the lizard men backed off and tried to regroup, all Sari had to do was throw the chakrams to slice them into ribbons. With Yuki’s recall ability, Sari was able to return her chakrams to her hands.

Nina growled and shot another fireball at the lizard man that was about to slice her in half. She sighed in frustration as Jin and Ryu finished off the rest of the lizard men. Sari placed her chakrams behind her back and Jin and Ryu sheathed their blades.

Nina looked up and realized that the sun was setting. Jin nodded and started to walk over to a clearing that was devoid of dead lizard men bodies. The others followed and soon they started to set up camp for the night.

They were still a bit far from the village of Worent and would not be able to reach it before nightfall. And Nina decided that she did not want to fight anything on the Plains at night.

The camp was soon set up and Ryu headed off to fish for dinner. Nina noticed that Jin had somehow managed to get a hold of some meat, but was not about to question him as to where he got it. There were just some things she was better off not knowing.

After Ryu returned with some fish, Jin prepared their meal and they ate in silence. Jin finally decided to speak up and started to outline the remainder of their stay in Worent. Jin pointed out that the Worens were not known for being very friendly and if not for Cyrus arranging for them to meet with their leader, War-Queen Mardeia, chances were they would get shot on sight for just being on the Plains.

The Woren were a tribe of cat-people, resembling tigers. Also sometimes called the Fullen. They are natural fighters and vary slightly in appearance from region to region. They are very rare and have been hunted to almost extinction, more so than the Dragons.

They follow very traditional practices, such as the fight for a mate, as demonstrated between Tiga Lee and Ryu Bateson in regards to Katt Chuan. They also have the ability to transform into the extremely unstable, powerhouse Weretiger. In this state, they are incredibly powerful and fast, but also berserk. It is unknown if this is a clan trait, or a DNA quirk due to the mating of a Brood and a Woren.

After dinner, the group decided to call it a night. It was getting really late; the moon was already high in the sky. Jin decided to take first watch while the others slept. Sari and Ryu climbed into their different tents while Jin stayed seated in front of the small fire they had made.

Nina was just standing around. She just couldn’t sleep. Jin looked up and noticed Nina absent-mindedly standing around. He gestured her to sit next to him. Nina walked over and sat down and stared at the fire.

“Is there something wrong Nina?” Jin asked.

Nina blinked and looked up at Jin. “Ah?”

Jin merely shook his head and pulled out what appeared to be a flask. Nina gave Jin a questioning look. Jin merely smiled slightly and held the flask out in Nina’s direction. Nina frowned but took the flask and opened it. She sniffed the opening and grimaced.

“Yuck! What do you have in this?” Nina asked. “Wait… Jin, you drink?”

Jin laughed. “Weren’t you wondering what I but in the meat to give it that sweet flavor? You seemed to like it well enough.”

Nina grimaced. “You put alcohol in the food?”

“Just for flavor,” Jin said with an innocent look on his face. “Nina, are you seriously telling me you have never gotten drunk?”

Nina nodded. “I’m only twenty… Besides, Jin aren’t you suppose to be the mature adult here? Are you trying to get me drunk here?”

Jin shook his head. “No, but I figured that you might like to try it at least once. Besides, with all the stress that you have been going through the past few months, don’t you think you need to relax a little bit?”

“Jin, you have a four year old daughter!” Nina snapped. “This can’t be good behavior for her to follow!”

“That’s why Momo’s with Yui and not me right now,” Jin stated. “Besides, do I look like the type of person that would get a child drunk?”

“I’m only twenty, Jin.”

“That’s just one year away from legal drinking age,” Jin said with a grin.

Nina sighed and downed the flask. She nearly sputtered as she pulled the flask away from her lips. “Ugh, this stuff is GROSS!”

“Yeah, but it grows on you,” Jin smiled as Nina handed him back the flask.

“Jin,” Nina started. She had a question that needed to be answered and Jin seemed like the only candidate to ask.

“Hm?” Jin asked. He was apparently downing his drink.

“Um, what do you know about…sex?”

Jin spit his drink out. “Come again?!” Jin choked.

“I mean… it’s not like my parents ever talked to me about it… and um…”

“Why ask me?” Jin said as he took a deep breath.

“Um…” Nina looked embarrassed. “Because you… you know… you’ve had sex… right?”

“Nina?” Jin questioned. “Are you drunk already? That wasn’t even really strong…”

“No! No,” Nina steeled herself. “I mean… I just…” Nina turned bright red.

“Oh gods,” Jin sighed as he placed his face in his hands. “WHY are you asking about sex?”

“I… I mean… it’s just that I want to take my relationship with Ryu… oh…” Nina turned another shade of red.

“You want to have sex with Ryu?” Jin sputtered out. “Why don’t you just talk to Ryu about this?”

Nina giggled nervously. “Um, it’s just that Ryu’s had sex…”

“And the perfect person to talk to about this…”

“And I want to appear mature to him on the subject…”

“Why does this involve me then?”

“And you’re a doctor, so I figured…”

“Wrong kind of doctor Nina…”

“So… um yeah!” Nina giggled again.

Jin blushed slightly and cleared his throat. “Nina… I don’t think that I’m the right kind of person to talk to about this.”

“So, does it hurt?” Nina asked. “I mean does it hurt when you first have sex?”

Jin sighed in aggravation. “Nina!”

“I mean, I remember a few nights ago when I walked past the room that you and Yui were staying in and I heard a lot of yelling and moaning. That’s why I was asking if sex hurts or not,” Nina said with a small grin.

Jin shook his head. “Nina…” Jin croaked out. He just was not sure how to answer that. “The… um…” Jin took a deep breath.

Jin shook his head and took a deep breath. He slowly started to explain everything in perfect detail to Nina about having sex. Nina merely nodded her head to everything that Jin was saying.

When Jin was done talking, Nina smiled and stood up. “Thanks for talking to me about that Jin,” Nina said.

Jin sighed and waved Nina off. “Right, sure…” Jin muttered as he took another drink from his flask. “Whatever you say…”

Nina smiled in triumph and walked off to the tent that Ryu was sleeping in. Jin looked over at Nina and gave her a questioning look. Nina merely smiled and waved Jin off. Jin figured he was better off not knowing after all.

Nina entered the tent and laid down next to Ryu’s sleeping form. Okay, so she was a little curious about sex and wanted to try it out sometime, but now just wasn’t the time. Yeah, Jin did explain that it was a good stress reliever. Nina knew that she would do it when she was ready. But not tonight.

Nina smiled and snuggled up next to Ryu and laid her arm across his chest. She just had too much fun torturing Jin on an embarrassing subject. She thought he might be a bit prudish, but she had no idea that he would freak out over having to explain sex to a virgin.

Besides, it was time for someone else to squirm. She was tired of being embarrassed. With those thoughts flitting through her mind, Nina slowly drifted off.

 

To be continued…