Natasha Chapter 1- The Awakening

The town of South Figaro was always one of great traffic
coming in and going out of the city limits.  One thing
that the town had always been known for was its 
absolutely wonderful weaponry.  Everyday merchants and
warriors would pop in and out of the burg to sample what
the city was most noted for.  However, there was one
other thing the city was also noted for.  While not at
popular as the weapons, people did make special trips 
to South Figaro to see this attraction.  

Eric's Tavern had been doing business in South Figaro
for close to 10 years now.  Eric had lived in Narshe for
most of his life, but the first chance he got, he moved
out of the frozen tundras of the mining town, and set 
his sights on a warmer climate.  South Figaro was a 
perfect place for him to reside.  During Kefka's reign
over the world, Eric was kind enough to provide food,
shelter and a good word for anyone who happened to 
wander in.  It was this kind of treatment that kept 
people coming back to his Tavern time and time again.  
However, new people were attracted to something else.

That "something else" stood about 5 feet 8 inches in 
height, and had long, wavy blonde hair halfway down her
back, and deep blue eyes that looked as if the Gods 
themselves reached into the sea and pulled out the color 
themselves.  She had muscles and curves in all the 
right places, and a face that would make an 80 year old
man start up a quest for the fountain of youth.  To say
she was beautiful was like calling a Chocobo a bird.  
While her beauty was indeed breathtaking, and was part
of the reason the customers kept rolling in, this girl
had something else that really drew the crowds in.

"Natasha," Eric called out to his beautiful waitress, 
"Please take these drinks to table six, and ask them if
they want the special sauce on their steaks."

"Sure thing, Eric," Natasha smiled, her words rolled off
her pouting red lips, it would have been enough to make
most men go insade.  Eric was used to it though, since
he had taken her in nearly 5 years ago.  Natasha had run
away from her foster parents home in the city of Jidoor,
a place full of rich pricks anyway.  Seems that her
mother left her on the doorstep of the Karn family when
she was just a mere baby.  Obviously they treated her 
more like a chore than an actually child, because as 
soon as she turned 16, she left the Karns'.  Being the
kind of person he is, Eric gave her a job as a waitress
after meeting her as a customer.  He had been hearing 
her lucious voice for the past 5 years, so it just 
didn't effect him the way it did others.  

Natasha walked over to table six, and placed the 2 
drinks on the table for the men sitting there.  Eric 
then watched her mouth something to the men, he couldn't
hear what it really was, seeing that there was always a
crowd around.  After a quick smile, Natasha walked back
to him and nodded, "Yes, they want the sauce on their 
steaks."

"OK, thanks Hun," Eric looked at the chef, who was in 
the kitched window, then nodded.  

Natasha then walked over to another table, and started
taking another order.  The red dress she was wearing was
absoutely stunning.  One could almost hear the drool
hitting plates as she walked by.  It wasn't as low cut
as some of the outfits Eric had seen her wear, but it
was definately short, and tight, enough to catch the
attention of just about anyone.  It was obvious Natasha
loved her body, and loved to show it off.  Eric had no
idea that this girl, with as beautiful and as innocent
as she looks, could possibly harbor such a power that 
she does.  

A man, more or less copping for a cheap feel, turned 
around and pinched her butt while she was taking the
order for the table she was currently at.  Eric grabbed
a bottle of lemon carbonated water, he knew good and 
well what was about to happen.  This is what people came
to Eric's Tavern to see, the lovely and beautiful 
Natasha defend herself.  

As soon as she felt the man's hand touch the upper part
of her leg, Natasha slowly placed the pad of paper she
was taking the order with, and the pencil onto the 
table, and smiled at the young couple sitting there, 
"I'm sorry, folks.  I have alittle something to take 
care of, please wait right here while I clear it up.  I
promise it won't take more than a second."  

She then turned around to see her tormentor.  The man
stood up, and looked down Natasha with his dark brown
eyes.  He had scars and stiches all over his face, 
making her thing that she wasn't dealing with someone
who just had too much to drink.  She would have to get
rough with this one.  The whole room went silent when
they saw the man get up, they also knew what was about
to happen.  

"Why hello there, pretty thing," the man belched out of
his gaping mouth, "How would you like to come back with 
me to Maranda?  I'm sure I could find something for you
to cook me when we're not spending quality time 
together."

Natasha rolled her blue eyes into the back of her pretty
little head, that was definately one of the worst pick
up lines she had ever heard.  After thinking for a 
second, she finally answered him with a very sarcastic
tone, "Sure big guy, I've always been kind to animals, 
and well, I'm sure the chocobo you've been screwing for
the past 20 years is getting real tired."

The man's face filled with rage, obviously he didn't 
take kindly to her remark, "What did you say to me you
little bitch?!"

"So you're stupid and hard of hearing," Natasha 
snickered, "Who wouldn't a dreamboat like you?"

Small trickles of steam started to flow from the guy's
semi bald head, he was now really upset, "I hear you're
a pretty good fighter, Darlin'.  Let's see how you do
against me!"
    
Natasha yawned as the man's shadow totally covered her,
"OK, kiddo, I'll play with you for a second, but let's
make it quick, in case you haven't noticed, I've got
tables to wait in here."

Without another word, the man reached with his huge, 
bear-like paw and attempted to grab her head.  The only
flaw with that plan was, there was no one there.  Within
a blink of an eye, she had totally disappeared out of 
his sight.  Before he could make another move, a knee
hit him in the solarplexes.  He stumbled back a few 
feet, gaping for air.  She knew right where to hit him
to knock the wind out of his massive body.  He tried to
uphold a good defense as the collected himself, but 
before he knew it, a leaping cresent kick caught him 
right on the butt of the jaw, knocking the few teeth he
had left, right out of his mouth.  This shot send him
to the hard wooden flood, almost head over heels.  The 
hard "THUD" was followed with several "Oooohs" from the
people watching.  They knew that had to hurt.  

Dragging himself to his feet was more of a chore than he
thought it would be.  Still breathing hard, and trickles
of blood running down his chin, he rushed at Natasha, 
who seemed to have her back turned to him, accepting
the praises from the audience.  Little did he know, she
was expecting him to do this.  At the last second, she
whirled to face him, and used his momentum to lift his
mammoth body over her head and hold him there for a 
few seconds.  She then sent him crashing back down to 
the floor he had just crawled from.  

This time, she rushed him, once again catching him off 
guard, another quick kneelift into the stomach, and 
he bent over gasping for air he really didn't have to
begin with.  She then bent over and rose her left leg
from behind, showing excellent flexiblity, and planted
a kick right between the eyes.  His eyes rolled back 
into his cranium as he could see everything blacking
out.  He was literally out on his feet.  He started 
babbling nonsense words with the words, "I'm Sorry!" 
filtering in and out of his sentences.  

Natasha smiled, "OK, I think he's had enough.  Time to
take out the trash."  She then hoisted the semi-concious
behemoth onto her shoulder and start to walk towards the
door.  The man kept babbling in jibberish at the people
who stared at him as he walked by.  It was obvious she
had literally knocked him silly, with only a few well
placed hits.  

Eric gracefully opened the door to the tavern as Natasha
made her way over to him.  Then with one more display
of strength, she power lifted the man over her head,
and then tossed him out the door like a sack of old
potatoes.  

Everyone just looked at her in shock.  Many had heard
of her ability to fight, but never before had they seen
such skill.  She dusted her hands off, as if she had
just finished a hard day's work and focused her 
attention on the crowd watching every move she made.

"Is there anyone else out there who would like to 
discuss a problem with me?" she asked.

Quickly the people went back to eating, drinking and 
talking to their friends or family.  Eric walked over to
her, just to make sure that Natasha was alright.

"Are you OK?" Eric asked, "This one was pretty big."

"Yeah," Natasha answered, fixing her hair, "Biggest one
since..oh...I'd say that Imperial Major a few years
back.  What was his name...?"

"Marshell," Eric answered, "Yeah, he was pretty big.  
They just don't make 'em like that anymore."

"Major Todd Marshell," Natasha smiled, "He was one of
those damned MagiTek Knights, I wasn't expect that son 
of a bitch to use magic on me.  Freakin' fire spells
out of no where."

Eric grinned, "I remember you were very upset he singed 
your hair than anything.  

"Asshole paid with his ear too," she snickered, "How am
I supposed to look my best with my hair looking black
and burnt?"

Eric looked down at her body, "Oh...I'm sure..."

"Shut up," she interrupted with a laugh, "I've got to 
get back to work."

----------------------------------------

That night, Natasha laid her head down and quickly fell
to sleep.  She wasn't very tired at all, but she always
did get the rest she wanted, and never had trouble
falling asleep.  It was a normal night's work for her 
tonight, so she just closed her eyes and drifted off
like normal, without a care in the world.

She pulled her eyelids open, and saw the area around her
was not the bedroom that Eric had given to her in the 
back of the Travern.  Instead she was surrounded by a 
very dense fog, and a flouresant green light shooting 
out of the sky.  She stood fast, not knowing what to
expect, but not letting confusion cloud her thinking
either.  A shadowy figure with neon green eyes shot out
of the fog and glared at her.  It said nothing to her,
just stood there and beamed its green eyes at her.  
She still wasn't intimidated, and stood with her defense
fully upheld.  The figure nodded, as if to commend her
on showing no fear in the situation.  

"Impressive," a voice boomed from above, "Ordinary 
humans have trouble maintaining their posture when 
faced in such a confusing situation.  I commend you,
Miss Chase."

"Who's there?" she answered quickly, "Where are you?"

"Who I am is a question that will be answered in the 
future, you need not worry about that now," the voice
responded, "Where I am..well, I am everywhere.  I'm 
infront of you, behind you, above you, below you, you
get the idea.  I'm always watching."

"Always watching?  Are you some sort of God?" she
questioned.

"Why...yessss," the voice hissed, "You could call me a
God.  And I am here to help you, in a way no one else 
can."

"You don't have anything I need," Natasha snapped, "I 
am perfectly happy with what I'm doing."

"Now now now, you poor thing, haven't you ever wondered
Who you really are?"

"Yes," she said, "But it doesn't mean that much to me. 
My parents obviously didn't give a damn about me, so 
they gave me up the first chance they got!"

"Ooooh, you're going to be so surprised," the voice 
shrilled in excitement, "I can't wait to see the look
on your face when you find out!"

"So you're going to tell me?" she asked.

"No," the air filled with short giggles, "You're gonna
have earn that for yourself."

"Earn?"

"Riddles my dear!" the laughs got louder, "Puzzles!  
Mysteries!  I don't give things away for free you know."

"So what are these riddles?" she sounded interested 
now.

"See See!  I knew you'd be excited!" echoed the voice,
"Well, I can't tell you now.  You'll have to earn 
yourself clues about your father.  I can give you a
riddle now though, if you feel like starting on your 
quest..say...tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?!" Natasha yelled, "Don't you know the
responsiblities I have?!"

"Yes Yes Yes.  Would you just shut up and listen?" the
voice started to sound alittle annoyed, "Rock and Metal,
Set A'Blaze, what was once a town, turned into a maze.  
This made stood strong, it stood upright, until 16 came
to bring it down, with all their might."

"That's it?"

"That's the location you have to go to for your 
next clue!" the voice beamned, "This is going to be
so much fun!"

Natasha narrowed her eyes.

"Oh be a good sport," it sighed, "I promise you'll be
surprised in the end."

Natasha sighed, then nodded, "OK..I'll go."

Right as she said that, everything seemed to spriral 
off into nothingness.  The next thing she knew, it was
morning, and for the first time in her life, she didn't
feel right about herself.  

---------------------------------------

Two hours later Natasha stood out in front of the 
tavern with Eric.  She was dressed in the very finest 
in leather suited armor.  It was jet black, and had a 
very glossy look to it.  It hugged her body very tightly
and really showed off some of the finer curves her body
just happened to have.  For a final touch, she fasted
a purple velvet cape around her neck and let it tumble
all the way down her back, almost touching the ground
below. Pulling the strings on her black thigh-high
leather boots until they were to her liking she arouse
and cluched a fine silver katana with a matching padded
velvet handle.  She twirled the sword in her hand like
a fan, then sheathed the weapon underneth her cape.  She
then took the mate to the sword, and placed it under the
left side of her cape.  She was now ready to fullful 
this "game" the God was playing with her.

"Are you sure you won't change your mind?" Eric asked

"Well, Eric, this is the first chance in my life I've
had to figure out who I really am," she answered, 
"When I look at myself in the morning, I want to know 
that the girl I see in the mirror really is like 
everyone else, and has had a family.  I've never really
known who I am....and that's something I want to 
change."

"I understand," Eric said, "I won't try to stop you...
not like I could anyway, but I want you to know that
the door to my Tavern will always be open to you, 
Natasha Chase..or whatever your last name ends up 
being."

"I will come back, Eric," she smiled, "It might not be
as waitress, but I promise to return to see you some
day."

"You take care of yourself, OK?" 

"Now Eric you know, I can take care of myself," Natasha
grinned as she hugged him, "Thank you for giving me the
chance to make a good living, I will always be in your
debt."

Eric laughed, "If you end up being a Queen or something,
I want half of everything you get!"

"Yeah right!" she laughed back, "Like I'm some kinda 
royality."

After saying her final goodbye to the only friend she 
really ever had, Natasha boarded a boat, and headed to 
the docs.  There she hoped to find a boat..and a clue
to this mysterious riddle.