The airship dipped low over the waves as it approached
the shores of the Veldt. Gliding to a halt just a dozen feet
into the shore, it hovered about twenty feet above the sand
as a rope ladder dropped down. Joga quickly slid down half
the way, then jumped the rest of way down, hitting the
ground, rolling and springing up to his feet, spreading his
arms wide with a big grin.
   "Show-off..." muttered Cybril as he climbed down
normally. Cybril waved up to one of the crew on the airship
and he tossed two packs down. Joga and Cybril each caught
one, and then the ladder was brought back up and the airship
took off to the east.
   Joga took a deep breath of the fresh sea air and looked
around. From the large grass plains stretching in front of
him he guessed that the Veldt had faired much better than
the rest of the world from the end of the world.
   "This is great!" Joga said as he ran up the beach to the
grassy plains, flipping a few times on his hands. Cybril
scowled, grabbing both of the packs and walking up to the
frolicking Joga.
   "I'm not carrying this for you," he said tossing one of
the packs in his direction. Joga dove, getting a few grass
stains on his shirt, but caught it before it hit the ground.
   "This is just like before the end of the world," Joga
said as the two of them shouldered their packs.
   "Yeah, I guess so," Cybril said looking around. He didn't
like agreeing with Joga but he too liked the state that the
Veldt seemed to be in. "What's in these packs anyway?"
   "Just some food, Potions, and flares. I understand
airships fly over the Veldt quite frequently?"
   "Yes."
   "After we find Gecco we'll just shoot some flares into
the air and they'll pick us up."
   "Wow," Cybril said without a hint of enthusiasm, "You're
a genius."
   'This guy's gonna be harder to win over than I thought,'
Joga thought to himself.
   "So, bounty hunter," Cybril said, reaching into his pack
for a Potion, "how are we going to find Gecco anyway? This
place is more than just a little huge."
   "The Veldt is known for it's wide variety of monsters,"
Joga said looking to the horizon, "most of them, pretty
intelligent. We just beat one nearly to death and ask for
any info it has on an Imperial Soldier passing through
here."
   "Great plan," said Cybril, shaking his head, "we could
kill hundreds of monsters before we learn anything!"
   "Well of course we won't learn anything by _killing_
them," Joga said with a smirk.
   Cybril gritted his teeth at Joga's teasing and poured a
Potion he found on his busted hand. It healed in seconds,
and he clenched it with renewed strength. "Let's can the
humor and get going shall we?" Joga realized that this trip
would probably have little conversation, and the two of them
started walking east.

*           *              *             *

   The two had been traveling for about a day and half, and
still no intelligent monsters had crossed their path. A
Ralph, several Tuskers, a Wyrven, and a pair of Zombones,
but no monsters that were able to talk to them. As they
found a spot to stop for quick lunch, Cybril flopped
forlornly on the ground.
   "This stinks!" he said, throwing his hands into the air,
"How much longer are we going to have to explore this stupid
clump of dirt?" Joga was beginning to like Cybril as little
as Cybril liked him. He didn't know which was worse: his
lack of a sense of humor, his constant complaining, or his
obvious dislike of Joga himself, for it had become clear
from the way Cybril spoke to Joga that he was not fond of
him. Joga couldn't really figure out why; he'd never had
trouble making friends before.
   'Oh well,' Joga thought, pulling out some rations for
dinner, 'I'll win him over yet.' As he stuffed a mouthful of
dry rations into his mouth, he scanned the horizon for
monsters.
   Joga's eyes suddenly when wide. "Wok!" he said though the
half chewed food, pointing to the south. Cybril looked and
saw a huge man-like creature several hundred feet off.
   "That's just the kind of guy we're looking for," Joga
said, swallowing his food and scrambling for his Break
Blade. Cybril stared at him in disbelief.
   "That's a Hades Gigas!" he said, "We can't fight one of
them!"
   "Why not?" asked Joga, staring back at him, "He's tall.
That's all he's got going for him. Now let's go! He's
already seen us!" True to Joga's word, the enormous man was
steadily walking toward them with an evil smile. Cybril
gulped and reached for his weapons as Joga raced ahead to
confront it. Unsheathing his Swordbreaker and Man Eater he
slowly followed Joga, cursing Joga's foolishness in fighting
such a monster.
   "You shrimps gonna make good snacks," laughed the Gigas
as Joga skidded to stop in front of it. Joga just ignored it
as he went into action, taking a light slash at its shin.
Unfortunately it only served to irritate the giant and it
swung a huge chain clasped to its wrist down at Joga. Joga
rolled out of the way with time to spare before it struck
the ground. Leaping back to his feet, he dropped his sword
and came back up with his bow in hand. He quickly shot two
arrows at the Gigas, not worrying much about aim because of
its size. One stuck the monster's shoulder, the other
sticking into the hand that held the chain. Yelling in pain,
it raised a large foot to crush Joga with. Joga quickly ran
forward, narrowly being missed by the crushing stomp, under
the beast, and to its back side. Spinning, he loosed two
more arrows into it's back. Roaring, it spun towards Joga
and raised both of it fists into the air.
   "Feel fury of Magnitude 8!" it bellowed, slamming both
fists into the ground, knuckles down. The ground exploded
under Joga and heaved him into the air at the force of the
blow. Joga landed hard on his back on the shattered ground
and the air rushed from his lungs. Stunned, the Gigas was
upon him.
   Cybril came suddenly from behind and slammed both blades
up to the hilt in the back of the monster's knee. Cybril
leapt out of the way as the Hadesgigas fell backward and
crashed to the ground. Regaining his senses as Cybril picked
himself up, Joga unsheathed his second sword, a Thunder
Blade, and leaped onto the giant's chest and pressed the tip
to its throat.
   "Okay you," Joga snapped, "we want some information. Give
us some, you live. Resist, and you'll be feeding the worms."
   'Live?' thought Cybril incredulously, 'We gotta kill it!'
   "What you want?" it asked, grimacing from the pain in
its knee.
   "Have you seen any men from the Empire around here?" Joga
asked.
   "What an Empire?" it said, frowning.
   "Have you seen a man dressed in metal," Joga asked, this
time phrasing his question so the beast would understand it,
"that looks like that man over there?" Joga pointed to
Cybril with his free hand. Cybril gritted his teeth and
growled at the comparison to Gecco. Gecco was a traitor and
a deserter. Cybril was still very loyal to the Empire, even
though he did have a slight problem with Akfek.
   The Hades Gigas turned it's head slightly so that it could
see Cybril. "Me see man," the monster said, understanding
the question now, "Me chase him to cave. He run inside, me
not fit."
   "Aha!" Joga exclaimed, "Hear that, Cy? Gecco's in the Cave
of the Veldt!"
   "Wonderful," Cybril said with false enthusiasm, and then
adding, "and the name is Cybril."
   Joga pretended not to hear the last part. "Thank you,
now, as promised, you can leave." Joga jumped back off the
beasts chest and stepped away.
   "You fool!" yelled Cybril, rushing forward and pushing
Joga aside, "We've got to kill it!"
   "No!" Joga yelled, but Cybril slashed at the Gigas' arm,
severing mussel from bone, as it got up. The giant roared in
pain at it's crippled arm.
   "You lie!" it snarled, getting to it's feet, "You hurt
me! Now me hurt you!" With it's still working right arm, it
cuffed Cybril on the side of the head and grabbed him in his
daze. While this happened, Joga ran for his Break Blade. As
he grabbed it, the Hades Gigas threw it's head back and
slammed it into Cybril's chest, releasing its grasp on him
just before impact so Cybril flew back about twenty feet.
Hitting the ground, Cybril bounced once into the air from
the momentum and then lay still, out cold.
   "You next!" he roared, turning to Joga. But Joga was
already upon it, and he stabbed his Break Blade deep into
the giant's already injured leg, just below the knee. The
Gigas screamed in pain and horror as it watched it's leg,
from mid thigh down, turn to cold, grey stone. As it fell
to one knee, Joga leapt up and grabbed the beast's belt and
swung himself high into the air. At the peak of his jump he
reached the monster's neck and slashed wildly as he twisted
through the air. Another deep hit was scored and the Gigas'
cries were cut off as his neck became unliving stone as
well. Joga hit the ground, rolling to break his fall, and
sprang toward Cybril's unconscious form as the dead monster
crashed to the ground, its stone neck snapping in half.

*             *              *             *

   Cybril awoke sometime later, Joga having just fed him a
Potion. Joga tossed him another and waited for him to down
it to make sure Cybril was wide awake. As he finished it,
Joga's mood changed from helpful to furious. Joga picked him
up by his armor and threw him roughly to the ground.
   "What's your problem?!" he yelled, standing over Cybril,
"Your stupidity almost got us killed!" This set Cybril off.
No way was he going to take this from some rankless bounty
hunter. He leaped to his feet and slammed into his stomach,
sending the unprepared Joga to the ground.
   "Me?!" Cybril screamed back, "You were gonna let that
monster go free and kill us in our sleep!" This set Joga
off. No way was he going to take advice from some clueless
bounty-hunting rookie. Quickly gaining his feet, he rushed
at Cybril and started swinging. Cybril blocked the first few
and smacked Joga in the jaw, but was caught by a kick in the
stomach. As he stepped back from the blow, he ducked another
swing and punched Joga, hard, in the leg. Dropping to the
ground from the sudden loss of mussel control, Joga saw
Cybril leap at him. However, Joga brought his legs up and
caught Cybril again in the stomach as he dove for him and
sent him flying over him. As Joga got back up, he realized
he had lost his cool and that Cybril wasn't the wuss he had
thought he was.
   'You're gonna pay for that,' Cybril thought, getting up
as well, 'It's time I used that Gauntlet of yours to my
advantage.'
   "Cy, Cy!" Joga said smiling, "We can't fight like this.
We've got a mission to complete. We need each other."
   'So we do,' Cybril thought, but said nothing, 'I'll kill
you after we have the traitor Gecco and I'll get the
credit.'
   "I admit," Joga continued, "I lost my cool. But we've got
a job to do, and such petty quarrels like this, well, they
not only hurt the mission, but they hurt any chance we have
as friends!" Joga smirked as he finished and extended a
hand. He knew how cheesy the last part was but getting along
with Cybril was a must until the mission was over.
   "I agree," Cybril said, smiling on the outside. Inside he
seethed with anger at Joga's 'nice guy' speech. He withheld
his emotions, though, and shook his hand instead. "We've got
to work as a team, not as enemies."
   "Great!" Joga said, surprised at Cybril's easy
acceptance. "I guess working as partners on that Hades Gigas
taught us that we need each other."
   "Guess so," Cybril said, all the while holding back the
urge to strangle Joga, "Come on. The Cave is just a few
miles to the south." Joga nodded and took the lead while
Cybril grabbed his pack. As he followed behind him, Cybril
smiled at how, soon, Joga's back would make a wonderful
sheath for his Man Eater. He couldn't wait.