the party had encountered a problem in the shape of a nest of tough monsters. they had to pass it to follow kuja, and they only had one way to get by, and that was to be stronger. they had been lucky to escape the enemies in the nest, but now they needed to train somewhere relativley safe. as a result, zidane, freya, garnet and vivi were wandering the mist below lindblum, fighting weaker enemies to train. they had however run low on supplies and money as well. luckily, they had encountered a caravan of travellers who were willing to sell them a few items.

'you gotta be careful around here though.' the driver of the caravan said to zidane as he handed over the money for potions.

'why?'

'been some bandits around here lately. ambushin folks tryin to make their way past. robbin em form every penny and everythin they got.'

'well, i don't think they'll be much of a problem.' freya said. zidane nodded.

'they'll not get anything off us easily. right, vivi? you'll just burn em... uh, them, to a crisp.'

'um, yeah.' vivi said.

'if they have any sense they won't attack us.' garnet confidently predicted.

~~~~~

as it happened, for the rest of the day, there was no sign of any bandits or anything but monsters. but the sun was setting, and the gloomy mist was becoming pitch black.

'alright, i think we camp for the night then head back to the airship tomorrow. we should be ready by now, right?' zidane said. they had set up a tent, all four of them carrying one each in case of some accident. so far, all four were still useful

'we should be if we do some training on the way back to the ship, yes.' garnet agreed.

'what supplies do we have?' freya asked.

'10 potions, 1 antidote, 3 phoenix downs and 2 days more food.' vivi said.

'if rusty were here, it'd only be five minutes more food. i'm sure he used to be in the cavalry but he ate his chocobo.' zidane joked.

~~~~~

they'd found the bandits, when they had been near the airship at noon. the bandits had not been smart enough to not attack. they had confused everyone with a spell, and before they knew it, zidane and freya were shrunk by the bandits. vivi had readied a spell, thinking it was on a bandit, and thinking it was a fire spell. his confusion meant he was wrong, and he mistook the surprised yell for a bandit getting hit. he then readied what he thought was an ice spell as the confused zidane attacked him. the barely noticable blow still shook vivi back to clarity. he saw the actual bandits, and instead of casting the firaga spell on the shrunken zidane, blasted a bandit with it. the others ran off, the singed bandit trailing behind. vivi quickly tapped zidane and the shrunken theif looked around in confusion.

'vivi? when did you get so tall?'

'i didn't, the bandits shrunk you and freya.'

'oh. well, get garnet to unshrink us with mini. say, where is freya anyway?' zidane asked. they turned and saw freya fruitlessly bouncing her spear off a petrified boot. zidane quickly shook freya back to sense, and the trio looked in dismay at a normal sized problem for two shrunken party members and one who was not very tall or strong anyway.

garnet stood there, not moving, because she was petrified. she was loooking to where vivi had been when he had cast break on her. she was yelling out in surprise, trying to tell vivi of his mistake. in his confusion though, he had not realised it. and he had petrified garnet instead of burning a bandit.

'this is not good.' zidane said.

yes, zidane, my thoughts exaclty. garnet thought. of course, no one heard her and they continued to speak.

'we don't even have any softs, do we?' freya said. vivi shook his head.

'no. we didn't need any.'

'you'll have to try and carry her vivi.' zidane said.

'what?'

'zidane is right. garnet is too big for us to do anything. you need to try.'

i'm still here you know... garnet sighed in her mind

'uh, okay...' vivi said, nearing the petrified woman. he wondered how to lift her without causing problems, and tried to pick her up by her arms, but they were above his head. as he did that, he knocked her over.

'vivi, be careful!' zidane yelled and ran to try and catch the falling statue. luckily, she landed on grass. unluckily, she also landed on zidane.

i'm okay, i landed on something coushiony.

'ow... not soft...' zidane complained from below garnet's petrified bottom.

hey!  

~~~~~

they were left with only one choice. vivi carefully dragged her back towards the airship. what had been an hours walk at most now would take them a longer time, as vivi had to drag the petrified princess himself as well as fight any monsters alone. the black mage was getting very tired very fast. garnet was also getting tired, of being dragged across the grass

if you three don't clean these stains off before you turn me back i swear i'll have eiko turn you all into frogs and feed you to quina! dagger mentally threatened, unheard by her two shrunken and one tiring but unaffected companions.

'the sun's setting.' freya noticed. the mist was getting darker.

'vivi, set up a tent.' zidane said. vivi pulled out his tent from his items.

'uh, i don't have a tent pole.' vivi realised. zidane checked and found he had two.

'great. there's not even a tree or anything around to set it up on.' freya said.

'look around, there has to be something we can prop it up over...' zidane said.

i know where this is going. garnet sighed mentally.

~~~~~

'sorry, garnet, but we're in a real jam here.' zidane apolgised.

oh good, you know i'm still concious here and i will be all night and more. and you still used me as a tentpole.

'i hope she doesn't mind too much...' vivi said.

'don't worry, she'll kill us quickly.' freya noted.

it's not like i'm able to object, is it, i am an object for now! garnet complained with her thoughts.

~~~~~

luckily, the next morning, the mini spell wore off, and zidane and freya were restored in size. unluckily, this didn't make carrying garnet, who was still petrified, any easier. they found she had to now be carried over obstacles, and put down quickly but gently as they were on rockier ground. the uneven terrain meant monsters leapt out from nowhere, and garnet was convinced the next one they would just drop her and smash her by accident.

just stop carrying me and have someone run to the airship and get a soft! garnet yelled. no one heard. luckily, the problem was solved when the bandits popped up again.

this time, they were ready, and made sure to take vivi out of the proceedings fast. freya shouted a warning, but the bandit pricked vivi with the needle fork, the quina fork that they used to eat a delicacy called petrified frogs. used on anything, it turned it to stone. however, the three bandits had been so intent on getting rid of vivi, zidane and freya quickly beat the bandits into submission, but as the three bandits fled, they now had two problems. vivi was now standing as petrified as garnet was, except that garnet was of course lying down.

'great. now what?' zidane sighed.

'only one choice. zidane, go to the airship and get softs. i'll guard them until you get back.' freya said.

'alright. be careful.'

'you too.' freya said. zidane sped off, and would reach the airship soon. freya gently placed vivi on his side to make sure he did not get knocked over and damaged, then she sat down on a rock, and felt a small pinprick on her leg. she thought it to be an insect bite, and reached down to find...

...the bandits had dropped their fork.

'oh, typical.' freya sighed as she felt the light pinprick start to petrify her. a few seconds later, freya was a statue as well.

at least zidane can count on us not going anywhere. garnet complained. the other two petrified party members did not hear her.